Week of May 3 - 9, 2020

Highlights:

Spiritual

This Sunday was another Fast Sunday and we were emailed recorded testimonies from those who chose to. Our stake president was the first testimony and he was very uplifting and encouraging. Our stake has had only two people affected by Covid19 and they are recovering well. It was nice to hear a few testimonies, even from those who don't get up in Sacrament Meeting when we are at church. Sunday included scripture study, Music and the Spoken Word, some talks on BYU tv, reading scriptures and conference talks, and quiet.

No temple again this week.

I continue to listen to a Conference Talk every morning and studying my Book of Mormon and Come Follow Me every morning.

I have indexed 8493 records and reviewed 52530 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

I so enjoyed talking with Allison, Grace, and the rest of the family via Marco Polo on Sunday night. Mike was getting ready to head out to work. He is doing well and is on the Covid19 team while working full time. Schooling continues and is going well. They are still waiting for news from Amazon as to if and when he will convert to permanent. Allison is great and takes time for herself by doing the Couch to 5k workout as well as Fitness Blender. She has made and shared some amazing recipes. Adam is working hard increasing his school grades, and last week he took the whole oven door apart and cleaned it. I might be a ton jealous. Grace is doing well and loving coloring her hair crazy colors. She has also participated in a few Zoom meetings with Young Women leaders. Joshua hit the one year anniversary of his fall and skull fracture and seems to be doing well. Sam is becoming quite the artist and colored a wonderful picture of Joseph Smith. Their current TV obsession is watching some guy who gets stung by various insects and determines pain of sting on a range. Last week, their Air Conditioning went out but they called their regular a/c guy who was able to just replace the motor, something they had money in savings for, which is a blessing.  They are all healthy and doing well while staying home.

The Ethan Rice Family

We had a few great Facetime conversations this week. Wade has a new pirate ship made from a big box and has had quite a few adventures. Ethan got some cool LED lights from Amazon and added them to Wade's riding dump truck and Kaylee's scooter. Ethan has been helpful in locating a possible new rear end for Dad's car this week too. Cameo shared a school homework project of Kaylee's: creating animal fact cards. She did a great job and I learned a lot!

 I received these for Mother's Day on Thursday from Ethan and Cam via Wade and Liz.

It was the best treat to see other people. They headed out of town Friday night. They had wanted to go camping but every site was taken, so they stayed in their trailer at the location it is stored at. 

The Doran Rice Family

Kelsie's week started with a greeting from church friends.

The week included work, home school, Zoom meetings and caring for family and pets.

Morgan

Morgan worked part of the week, and then he and his friend went camping and fishing, using our canoe.

Kayty

Kayty worked hard all week and managed to keep up her daily goals. She called her endocrinologist to reschedule her appointment, and was told the doctor she saw one month ago had quit the practice! I was just devastated. She had such a good relationship with this doctor and was testing her blood glucose daily. Now she has to search out another doctor. So disappointing. Plus she only got one month of meds so she is now back to the black market 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan and Jessica and the girls had a good week. Work is going well for Nathan. Jessica is thinking about working for VIP kids teaching from their home. They stopped by and tried out their feet in the pool on Monday and came by on Saturday to swim. I was having so much fun that I forgot to take any pics.  

Dad's Garden

We are now keeping the tomato count, not including the cherry tomatoes. Total picked as of this week is 89. Basil has been growing and I have made a few caprese salads for Dad this week. 

Other highlights

Early Monday, Dad headed under his jeep to see how bad the damage was to the rear end. It ended up being worse than he hoped, so he determined the rear end needed to be totally replaced. He spent the next day calling junkyards with no success.

Tuesday was Cinco de Mayo and we celebrated with fajitas for dinner.

A huge load of gravel was delivered Wednesday and we began hauling wheelbarrow load by wheelbarrow load to the back yard. Much will also be used on the road in front of ours and the neighbor's houses. Others have purchased new road material in the past and we felt it was our turn to do the same.

Thursday I went to Sam's Club and actually saw smiling faces and happy people. Then, at the gas pump, the kind man behind me offered me a sanitizing wipe to clean the handles. To be honest, this Pandemic has brought few opportunities to see or witness much service. I have seen Allison and her family do kind things including a gift for a high school senior who won't have a graduation ceremony. We have loaned things to people at church who needed them and then had to ask over a month later kindly if they were finished with them. We offered vegetables many times, but only a few people dared to come to our back yard. No checking on anyone. Many seem to just be concerned about their own health and staying away from anyone else that might harm them. Even late at night, Dee talked to a friend who's church members had shamed for a Facebook post. Can you even imagine? So this day, I tried to put into my memory the wonderful happy faces, seeing Wade and Liz, and the very kind man with the sanitizing wipe.

Thursday, the bed I had ordered for the playroom (one of the few goals I will get completed this year, arrived and Dee and Kayty helped me get it put together. Kayty was such great help by separating out the various hardware screws, washers, etc.