This week went by way too fast! I am not feeling ready for the summer to be over, but ready or not it's going to be September in just a few days.
Last Saturday (the 23rd) was a busy day. I had a stake choir practice in the morning (preparing for stake conference) and then my friend Rebekah and I went to brunch together. That evening, the missionaries came over for dinner. We actually knew they were coming this time! 😂(And by the way...when the missionary meal calendar came around on Sunday, I noticed that we were signed up to feed the missionaries on the 23rd and not on the 16th, so I had it right and someone else got mixed up. Just glad it all worked out anyway!) I can't remember what I did in between brunch and the missionaries coming over but it was probably Seminary related. Frank was busy most of the day taking care of an emergency problem that came up at work. (He was able to resolve it, though.)
On Sunday Seth was ordained an Elder before our church meetings. Our bishop and the high councilman assigned to our ward were there and it was lovely. After church, Tammy and I had more Seminary visits. We were able to visit 4 of the 7 youth who are coming into our class from the other ward and they seem to be really great kids. We have another visit scheduled this Sunday with one more of the youth from that class. The other two are a brother and sister but we haven't been able to visit them yet because as far as we know, they don't know they are in our class yet. Their bishop is supposed to be talking to them, but he hasn't been able to do that yet. They are the two who have not attended much in the past, so we're not sure if they will come or not, but hopefully they will give it a try. Those visits took the whole afternoon...when I got home, Seth and Frank had dinner ready, which was nice! I was also able to talk to Jared for a bit.
Frank has been having a lot of trouble with his left shoulder for the last month or so...it hurts when he moves it certain ways. It seems like it has been getting worse, so he decided this week to go see a doctor about it. He decided to work from home on Monday, hoping he could get in to the doctor that day, but there weren't any appointments available until Tuesday in the late morning. He worked from home on Tuesday again (just in the morning...his boss told him he could just take the rest of the day off since he worked a lot of hours on Saturday) and then went to his appointment. The doctor doesn't know exactly what is wrong without doing some imaging, but our insurance requires that he get an x-ray before getting an MRI, so the doctor sent him to get an x-ray right then. Our insurance also requires him to take an antibiotic for 10 days, so he is doing that too. So far, the antibiotic does not seem to be helping...his pain has not diminished at all. The doctor called back today and said the x-rays show he has some arthritis in that shoulder, but there could be other problems too so he told him to go ahead and schedule the MRI. He'll be getting that done on September 9th. In the meantime, I feel like he groans every time he moves--not fun!!
Meanwhile, Seth started college this week. He has one class (history) on Mondays & Wednesdays and two classes (Film Study and Math) on Tuesdays & Thursdays. So far, it's mostly been introductory stuff and he hasn't had any homework besides some reading for his Film Study class. I took a few photos of him before he left for his first class on Monday:
Seth also went to Institute Wednesday evening and he is planning to start attending the YSA ward this Sunday.
My week was mostly consumed with Seminary preparations although I did have some down time too. On Tuesday the counselor in the stake presidency who is responsible for Seminary asked to meet with Tammy and I (a Zoom meeting) to talk about our class. I think he mostly just wanted to make sure we have the support we need, which is nice. I don't think we're actually going to know what we need until we get into classes for a week or two, but hopefully we are prepared. I spent most of the day on Wednesday planning my two lessons for next week. I still need to prepare some things like Power Point slides and at least one handout, but at least I have a pretty good idea what I'll be doing for those two lessons. I also did a lot of other Seminary related things like making an updated birthday list and a lot of other things that I have forgotten now. I could literally spend all my time doing Seminary stuff...there are still a lot of things we could be doing to get ready...but I'm trying to find some balance! 😅 Yesterday I took a break from Seminary stuff and did some other things I've been wanting to do, such as going through all my craft supplies and reorganizing the cabinet that I store them in.
I did do a few other enjoyable things this week. I read the entire book for book chat...it was an easy read and pretty entertaining so I enjoyed it. (The book is called Falling Like Rain.) The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, with a lot of sunny days, cool mornings, low humidity, soft breezes, and high temperatures in the 70s or low 80s. Frank and I went on a walk Wednesday evening and again this evening. On Wednesday we walked down by the river behind our house:
Tonight we walked further, but it wasn't as scenic, so I forgot to take pictures. I've also taken the opportunity to walk out on the deck as much as possible, even if it's just for a few minutes. I've been doing a lot better at going to bed earlier and getting up earlier so I've been able to catch a few sunrises and I have seen some deer too:
I've also done a little bit of coloring, which is very therapeutic.
Today I went to the temple with Tammy and another sister in our ward. Tammy and I were talking to try to figure out a time to do something for Seminary, and discovered that we both had appointments to go to the temple today for the same session, so she invited me to go with her. It was nice to go with friends and to not have to drive. The temple was beautiful as always but I didn't see any butterflies today.
Even though Frank worked from home on Tuesday, he did go to the temple to do his regular shift that night. Today he had an interview for the new position that he applied for a week or two ago. He says he doesn't feel really great about how the interview went, but I think he's probably being too hard on himself.
Seth worked today but wasn't scheduled the rest of the week so he has had plenty of free time. He did get a call tonight asking if he could cover a shift for tomorrow so he is going to do that.
I've been really trying to step back and let him figure out all his college stuff without help from me. I haven't been waking him up or reminding him to go to class or to do his homework. (And so far, he's made it to all his classes on time. 😊) If he had gone away to college somewhere I would not be there to remind him or help him, so I feel like he needs to learn to do these things on his own. I also told him a few weeks ago that if he needs something from the store, it is his responsibility to let me know on either Sunday night or Wednesday night (I go grocery shopping on Monday and Thursday mornings). He has some things that he eats that Frank and I don't, and up until now I have been checking those things and buying more of them when they get low. I told him it is his job to do that now. Sometimes he has remembered but not always. Yesterday he got up pretty late and he said "Oh, have you been to the store yet?" When I told him I had, he asked "Did you get bread?" (He uses white bread but Frank and I use whole wheat.) I said "Nope. I didn't know you needed more." Hopefully after things like that happen a few times, he will start remembering to let me know what he needs. We've also been setting down a couple of ground rules like he can't play video games after 8:00 pm, because that's when we go to bed and he can get loud when he is playing sometimes and that wakes us up. Also, if he is not coming straight home after classes he needs to let me know because he has my car and I might need it. (He came home an hour after classes one day this week; fortunately I didn't need my car.) We are figuring things out and hopefully when he is ready to venture out on his own he will be better prepared.
That's all I have to report from these parts for this week.
