Friends

The weeks fly by, don’t they?  I enjoy going to the temple every week.  It brings a peace into my life that I was missing.  I remember being in the habit of going every week after my mission and I always enjoyed that.  I am thankful I can go all the time again now.  

Friday I was out for a walk and saw the Elder’s serving in our ward.  They were out talking to people and knocking doors.  It was nice to see them and it even surprised me that the one Elder remembered my name.  They are good young men.  

We worked this week at getting some more food storage.  We haven’t added anything for about two years, except what the Hubbard’s gave us last year before their mission.  We were able to fill up about 13 buckets with grains.  I am thankful I can buy wheat here locally.  

Saturday Neal and I went to two open houses.  We are starting our search to buy a house here.  The market isn’t the best for our area of choice but I pray that we will find something. It was interesting to go look at the houses.  We also drove by a few others that I saw ads for.  It made me feel over whelmed.  I am thankful we aren’t rushed to find something quickly since neither of the houses we looked at would work for our family.   

Friday Ruth went to a special luncheon the school PTA did for all the kids who had straight A grades for the first semester.  She enjoyed going.  She said the best part was that two of her good friends, Emmy and Anna, (who area also in our ward) were there.  I am thankful she is so happy and has made good friends here.  Ruth also accepted a calling from the ward.  She will be one of the youth choristers.  She will take her turn conducting music in Sacrament meeting.  She will do a great job with it.

This week in Sacrament meeting we did something unique, at least I hadn’t seen it done before.  They invited the congregation to come up and say something about a favorite hymn and then we sang a verse from that hymn.  It was really nice.  Many shared thoughts about how important hymns are to their lives.  It made me think a lot about my Dad.  He sang so well.  He was always singing, from the time he was a young man he was involved with choirs and groups.  We sang in our home together.  Many of the songs that the ward members talked about had some connected memory for me to my Dad.  It made me realize how my love of music came from him.

The boys have been working hard to get their pinewood derby cars finished this week.  Last night they went to the cub masters house and had their cars weighed in and checked.  The races are on Thursday.  They did a great job with their cars.  Neal did a great job helping them.

Sunday evening I had my friend Kathy contact me.  She was a good friend when I first moved to the Waco area.  She was the one who helped me get through that change, of living so far from family.  I remember the day she moved from Waco and I cried.  It was hard for me but I was able to make more friends that were a great strength to me.  Kathy’s family has been living in Oklahoma City for a few years.  We have seen each other a few times since she moved from Waco, she still had family in Waco and would come visit us whenever she was in town.  Her husband just got a job in Idaho and they were moving this week.  She asked if they could stop at our house for the night.  It was fun to have them come.  The kids are all getting older, and more of them, they have six now.  We were friends when we had toddlers and babies, now they are teen agers.  They got here Monday night and slept here and then got up and going Tuesday.  They were driving on to Utah yesterday.  They planned on getting to Idaho today.  That is a long drive.  I hope the best for them.  I liked what she said to me yesterday that she knew she had to try to see me again because she didn’t know when she would get south again and I don’t know when I will get to Idaho again.  It might be long time before we see each other again.  I am glad that it worked out for them to stay here.

It has continued to be cold here.  We get highs around 45 and lows around 20.  I am thankful that it is sunny and clear skies.  It is cheerful to look outside but I don’t like being outside for too long because I get cold.  I look forward to spring time.