Happy February 💖 and Happy Sunday! And, yay, we have some sun today and enjoying a current 41º with a slight breeze.  Yesterday we were smothered in snow that started around 11am, and just kept falling, and falling, until we reached just around 9 inches.  

Paul sent me this video clip yesterday afternoon.  It looks like so much fun!

This past week was busy but manageable - I didn't feel so overwhelmed (with things like traffic court 😢). I think school was easier this week because we focused on a specific family theory, instead of general ideas that seemed so random to me.  I did well on my test and completed my assignments by Friday, so I was able to enjoy the weekend (except for the snow) 😊

My reading assignments this week were centered on the Family Development Theory.  It was fun to reminisce about our younger days and how we all survived the 8 stages of development. 

Kim  2 Years

Probably around 1980-81

Okinawa 1983

Thanksgiving with Adam

Okinawa 1998

Josh and Adam with Helen and Auntie Thell

These photos were taken when we lived at Yokota

Kim leaving Okinawa - getting ready for her mission

I could go on and on adding more photos, but funny thing is I really have to search to find pictures that don't have a grandchild in them.  😊

Timberview Middle School made the news this week as the students made huge improvements in their math scores - some of them 90% up from their last test scores!  Of course, we all know the reason why . . .

They are so fortunate to have

Cory as a Math teacher!  She is an amazing 

teacher to the kids, and even to adults who can't figure things out (I know from personal experience 😊)

      SUNDAY SELFIE  

EVERYONE should do a Sunday Selfie!

I'll send out a reminder next Sunday 

Sayre has a birthday this coming week, on February 7th.  He will be 6-years-old!  Dad and I are leaving for Iowa on Wednesday to celebrate with them.  We are looking forward to getting away for a few days and getting some good play time with Sayre.  He is going to teach me all about Sneaky Sasquatch 😀

I LOVE how adorable everyone is!  Just missing Ben and Sayre so. . .

Sayre

Ben

Parting Thoughts Tonight ~

I felt my week went pretty well compared to how I was feeling last week.  I felt organized, I felt I was prepared for all of my school assignments and tests, and even took Shannon out to lunch on Wednesday to celebrate her birthday without coming home feeling drained.  I think it was Friday, I was counting my blessings for the week, and I truly could name them "one by one"😊.  Oh, and also I graduated from Physical Therapy on Tuesday - so yay, I'm happy to be done with that!  Then today I found out that our good neighbors, Melanie and Dave, were in a bad accident on the way to the Temple yesterday.  They weren't hurt but their car was totaled. Also, this week, Dave fell for a financial scam and they lost a huge chunk of money.  Our friend who lives down the street, with her husband and two young boys who are both autistic and a 5-year-old with Downs, fell down on some ice and broke her femur.  And then another good friend in our Ward was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer (His wife passed away less than a year ago of pancreatic cancer) . . . I don't think I need to go on, but it makes my heart hurt that so many people are suffering.  We always hear the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?".   I found some quotes I wanted to share - 

"In my own life, I have found that sometimes my prayers to be more like the Savior, have been answered through my times of trial. My broken leg taught me to have more sympathy for physical suffering. My miscarriages taught me to be more compassionate. My depression taught me to be less judgmental.

How can we hope to be like Him unless we have also become acquainted with grief? Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “How can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, ‘Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!'”

The Savior gave us this commandment: “I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (3 Nephi 12:48).While this perfection won’t be attained in this life, the commandment is in place so we continue to strive for better. 

Elder Clark G. Gilbert of the Seventy said, “Our future will be determined far less by our starting point and much more by our slope. Jesus Christ sees divine potential no matter where we start. He saw it in the beggar, the sinner, and the infirm. He saw it in the fisherman, the tax collector, and even the zealot. No matter where we start, Christ considers what we do with what we are given. While the world focuses on our intercept, God focuses on our slope. In the Lord’s calculus, He will do everything He can to help us turn our slopes toward heaven.  And if we, too, focus on our slope and not our present circumstances, we may find that the changes wrought in us by faithful endurance through our challenges are directing our slope toward Him.

and finally a word from Elder Holland - “Keep Trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.”

Hope you all have a really wonderful week! 🌸