HIghlights
Spiritual
Dad and I attended the temple on Tuesday night, intending to complete our last 10 sealing ordinances that we had been given by Sharynn. Another group: a couple and his sister had brought at least 50 names, so we ended up helping them for over two and a half hours. It was a blessed experience to kneel at the altar in the temple, and experience daughter after daughter sealed to her parents. It literally brought tears to my eyes as I thought of that mother, that father, waiting for each and every child to be sealed to them. We attended the temple Wednesday night for a wonderful endowment session.I had set a goal to attend the temple 30 times in 2016 (between temple shut downs) and ended up with 32. Dad can go every week, and always goes when he is out of town, so he attended 55 times.
I completed my reading of the January 2017 Ensign this week. I wanted to complete the Book of Mormon one more time but I only got to Ether 1.
Indexing has been harder and slower...fewer records to do and fewer names in each record. This year, for my final total, I have indexed a total of 51,840 records so far this year. I doubt I will get that many done next year. Ship Logs for Immigrants arriving in New York are all complete and digitized, and marriage records, while full of information, take much longer (I spent three hours early Saturday morning, just to see how many I could do and didn't get much over 100 records done.) I still intend to continue. My goal last year was 5000...and the goal for next year is 5000 too.
One of my goals was to help others more, and that involved substituting willingly for those who need to be elsewhere instead of serving in their callings. I was able to help out on 22 occasions.
Family
The Wilkins Family
The Wilkins family had a wonderful week off! They pooled their Christmas money and purchased a ping pong table.
They also enjoyed playing their new family games
The Ethan Rice Family
Here is a pic of Daddy and Wade on Christmas Eve
I spoke with Cameo this week. She is keeping up, though still fighting off an infection. We were able to face time with Kaylee on her special day: Happy Fourth Birthday, Kaylee!!! She celebrated early since Daddy had to work, at Stone Mountain Park.
After the song, and a candle in her own very special piece of cake, I had a fun and very long chat that included a very creative game of hide and seek. Ethan provided the way for me to travel out and my plane ticket was purchased on Monday.
Ethan came home from work with the flu on Wednesday...no fun! He sounded better on Saturday. Hope this doesn't go crazy through the family!
The Doran Rice Family
Busy work week.
Morgan
Busy work week, and Morgan started the week sick. No fun!
Kayty
Kayty had a slow work week, but she and her work friends got "into" puzzle doing, so her week was full of puzzles.
Lilly even helped...
The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan and Jessica are purely enjoying the break, even in the sub freezing weather. Nathan made a new table for his storage unit so he can go there to work. Jess was able to go shopping alone with Annalee napped.
Work
Just a few emails and some training for dad this week.
My work: take down Christmas. What began a few years ago as a necessary thing to do on my week "off" from Kaylee no has become a regular event. I start on the 26th or 27th. I just like the look of clean and bare when it gets to January 1st. The Village is still up for a couple more weeks, so, while the shelves are all cleaned off, the old items that fill the shelves like photos etc are packed away.
Dad's Garden
Dad's tomato seedlings are going crazy, so he got some chicken manure (commercial) and completed his final garden prep.
Year of the House
Morgan got sick and was unable to help Dad with the attic insulation, so I did what I could on Thursday...now the walls around the top of the living room are better insulated. Dad will blow in cellulose insulation after we do some prep- removing empty boxes, etc.
Other highlights
Rain...lovely rain.
Great batch of chicken pot pie soup and home made rolls came from my hands on Friday night.
Trying to make our kimchi on Saturday night. Spanish rice for dinner. We are quite global in our old age.
Not so highlights
Dad did fix the washing machine, with a simple and inexpensive part. A different parts company technician figured it out immediately. We were given the less experiences, encourage them to buy a big expensive part technician on our first call. So we spent over 800 dollars needlessly. We sold it on Craigslist for $225. Made back the $100 for parts, one very unnecessary! We have part of the new washing machine paid for too.
New Year's Eve
I publish this blog on December 31st since it makes the printing easier when I have the blog book created. I keep hearing, since a few celebrities have died in the last few days, that 2016 was the worst year ever.
What? Worst year ever? We live in a country and operate under a Constitution that gives us the freedom to Worship where we want, work as hard as we want and keep what we make (well, a lot of it), where water is clean, food is plentiful, you can eat what you want when you want to, and have it prepared in moments, where laws keep most living with respect, where we have schools that both boys and girls can learn all they want to and be anything they want to become.
Worst year ever?
No, not at all!
Six healthy kids. NINE healthy grandkids...and number TEN on the way.
Our oldest three children are all home owners!
Morgan has someone very special in his life and he and Christy share lots of fun times with Doran and Amber and family.
Nathan doing super well in school.
Kayty alive! Not to be taken for granted at all!
Nano and Grandma alive, well, thriving and happy.
All have jobs that want jobs.
We have been very, very blessed!!
I think when I jog...and the last few jogs have been filled with thoughts. Dad's job has been a trial for years, but especially this year. I was going to work full time next year, but I really can't leave this entire house, yard, etc. to dad alone, so part time will be the most I can do. I was thinking about a theme for my goals next year... I at first thought of how depressing dad's job situation makes things...vacation time is unclear, insurance is unclear.
I was reading a book Jessica and Nathan gave me for Christmas entitled "In Mary's Arms: A Christmas Message for Mothers". In the chapter "Replacing Fear With Faith" talks about the angel visiting Mary, and that the first thing we learn about Mary was that she was afraid. "Fear not, for thou has found favor with God." (Luke1: 30) Mary had to have been afraid, but distinguished her is that she went headlong into her fear and found her faith.
Isn't that amazing! She found her faith in the midst of her fear.
That is also the message shared by Gordon B. Hinckley, the prophet we will study the teachings of in Sunday School this year. Be happy. Be positive. Have faith. He planted trees every year. They demonstrated that, through good seasons and bad seasons, things do grow and produce fruit. So this year, I am going ahead, facing my fears...for dad's job, for Kayty's health...with faith. Head on. You will see trees in various seasons on the blog. My ornaments next year are already cut out (Dad is a superstar!!!): slices of an oak tree limb found when Dad and Doran were squirrel hunting last year.
Now, to go over my last years goals.
Spiritually, my prayers have improved. I have worked hard to eliminate "luck" from my speech, when it comes to a good experience and recognize/point out the blessings involved. My sabbath day observance has improved. My fasting is ok and I didn't read my patriarchal blessing every month like I had planned. Will work on that next year. My temple attendance was what I wanted, even with not being able to attend as many early sessions due to concerns over Kayty, and not being able to attend with Dad due to cub scouts. I did read every Ensign Magazine cover to cover every month, and will continue in that goal next year, since it's not yet a habit. I read the Book of Mormon almost every day, and read it completely two times and almost a third time. I indexed more than 5000 names. I was more friendly to our neighbors, but sometimes I get driven nuts...gotta work on that one!
As for the Year of the House, with Wade Wallin's help, we fixed the front porch and master bedroom ceilings, plus better covered the skylight cover ups in the bathrooms and the ceilings look great. I painted the front porch ceiling and door and wall trims, the entry way, the living room, and the kids' bathroom. Ceilings where repairs were made were all painted. New doors were painted, trimmed and installed in the entire house (except Kayty's room - I have to be able to get in if emergency arises). I started the playroom clean out and transformation.
I did a ton of decluttering this year! Pantry, closets, drawers, cupboards, even cleaned out and donated decorations from every holiday.
My exercising/jogging has changed, since I hesitate being gone too long, so I jog about 35 minutes and try to squeeze in some exercise. Next year, that needs to improve. I hope to turn the playroom into a guest room that is also a place to exercise. Nothing fancy, just soft floor and space to move.
Well, that's last year. I am working on my goals for next year. Better family home evening study time, a few day trips for dad and I, and visits to see far away grandkids. We need to complete the house projects: the insulation, the master bathroom, and the playroom floor. Lots of plans in the works as celebrations and traditions are tweaked. We also had some very unplanned major expenses that hit us hard, especially when one large expense happened during a furlough week. Furlough weeks mean no pay and no work, but bills still have to be paid: house payment, health insurance, utilities, etc. Our house payment also is going up next year. Quality experiences over quantity spent will guide next year.
Spiritual
Dad and I attended the temple on Tuesday night, intending to complete our last 10 sealing ordinances that we had been given by Sharynn. Another group: a couple and his sister had brought at least 50 names, so we ended up helping them for over two and a half hours. It was a blessed experience to kneel at the altar in the temple, and experience daughter after daughter sealed to her parents. It literally brought tears to my eyes as I thought of that mother, that father, waiting for each and every child to be sealed to them. We attended the temple Wednesday night for a wonderful endowment session.I had set a goal to attend the temple 30 times in 2016 (between temple shut downs) and ended up with 32. Dad can go every week, and always goes when he is out of town, so he attended 55 times.
I completed my reading of the January 2017 Ensign this week. I wanted to complete the Book of Mormon one more time but I only got to Ether 1.
Indexing has been harder and slower...fewer records to do and fewer names in each record. This year, for my final total, I have indexed a total of 51,840 records so far this year. I doubt I will get that many done next year. Ship Logs for Immigrants arriving in New York are all complete and digitized, and marriage records, while full of information, take much longer (I spent three hours early Saturday morning, just to see how many I could do and didn't get much over 100 records done.) I still intend to continue. My goal last year was 5000...and the goal for next year is 5000 too.
One of my goals was to help others more, and that involved substituting willingly for those who need to be elsewhere instead of serving in their callings. I was able to help out on 22 occasions.
Family
The Wilkins Family
The Wilkins family had a wonderful week off! They pooled their Christmas money and purchased a ping pong table.
They also enjoyed playing their new family games
The Ethan Rice Family
Here is a pic of Daddy and Wade on Christmas Eve
I spoke with Cameo this week. She is keeping up, though still fighting off an infection. We were able to face time with Kaylee on her special day: Happy Fourth Birthday, Kaylee!!! She celebrated early since Daddy had to work, at Stone Mountain Park.
 |
| Tubing down a mounting. The pic with her going on the big tube with Ethan is precious! |
 |
| Looking at all the pretty lights |
 |
| Decorating a cookie |
After the song, and a candle in her own very special piece of cake, I had a fun and very long chat that included a very creative game of hide and seek. Ethan provided the way for me to travel out and my plane ticket was purchased on Monday.
Ethan came home from work with the flu on Wednesday...no fun! He sounded better on Saturday. Hope this doesn't go crazy through the family!
The Doran Rice Family
Busy work week.
Morgan
Busy work week, and Morgan started the week sick. No fun!
Kayty
Kayty had a slow work week, but she and her work friends got "into" puzzle doing, so her week was full of puzzles.
Lilly even helped...
The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan and Jessica are purely enjoying the break, even in the sub freezing weather. Nathan made a new table for his storage unit so he can go there to work. Jess was able to go shopping alone with Annalee napped.
Work
Just a few emails and some training for dad this week.
My work: take down Christmas. What began a few years ago as a necessary thing to do on my week "off" from Kaylee no has become a regular event. I start on the 26th or 27th. I just like the look of clean and bare when it gets to January 1st. The Village is still up for a couple more weeks, so, while the shelves are all cleaned off, the old items that fill the shelves like photos etc are packed away.
Dad's Garden
Dad's tomato seedlings are going crazy, so he got some chicken manure (commercial) and completed his final garden prep.
 |
| Samples of his peppers, dehydrated and ground |
Year of the House
Morgan got sick and was unable to help Dad with the attic insulation, so I did what I could on Thursday...now the walls around the top of the living room are better insulated. Dad will blow in cellulose insulation after we do some prep- removing empty boxes, etc.
Other highlights
Rain...lovely rain.
Great batch of chicken pot pie soup and home made rolls came from my hands on Friday night.
Trying to make our kimchi on Saturday night. Spanish rice for dinner. We are quite global in our old age.
Not so highlights
Dad did fix the washing machine, with a simple and inexpensive part. A different parts company technician figured it out immediately. We were given the less experiences, encourage them to buy a big expensive part technician on our first call. So we spent over 800 dollars needlessly. We sold it on Craigslist for $225. Made back the $100 for parts, one very unnecessary! We have part of the new washing machine paid for too.
New Year's Eve
I publish this blog on December 31st since it makes the printing easier when I have the blog book created. I keep hearing, since a few celebrities have died in the last few days, that 2016 was the worst year ever.
What? Worst year ever? We live in a country and operate under a Constitution that gives us the freedom to Worship where we want, work as hard as we want and keep what we make (well, a lot of it), where water is clean, food is plentiful, you can eat what you want when you want to, and have it prepared in moments, where laws keep most living with respect, where we have schools that both boys and girls can learn all they want to and be anything they want to become.
Worst year ever?
No, not at all!
Six healthy kids. NINE healthy grandkids...and number TEN on the way.
Our oldest three children are all home owners!
Morgan has someone very special in his life and he and Christy share lots of fun times with Doran and Amber and family.
Nathan doing super well in school.
Kayty alive! Not to be taken for granted at all!
Nano and Grandma alive, well, thriving and happy.
All have jobs that want jobs.
We have been very, very blessed!!
I think when I jog...and the last few jogs have been filled with thoughts. Dad's job has been a trial for years, but especially this year. I was going to work full time next year, but I really can't leave this entire house, yard, etc. to dad alone, so part time will be the most I can do. I was thinking about a theme for my goals next year... I at first thought of how depressing dad's job situation makes things...vacation time is unclear, insurance is unclear.
I was reading a book Jessica and Nathan gave me for Christmas entitled "In Mary's Arms: A Christmas Message for Mothers". In the chapter "Replacing Fear With Faith" talks about the angel visiting Mary, and that the first thing we learn about Mary was that she was afraid. "Fear not, for thou has found favor with God." (Luke1: 30) Mary had to have been afraid, but distinguished her is that she went headlong into her fear and found her faith.
Isn't that amazing! She found her faith in the midst of her fear.
That is also the message shared by Gordon B. Hinckley, the prophet we will study the teachings of in Sunday School this year. Be happy. Be positive. Have faith. He planted trees every year. They demonstrated that, through good seasons and bad seasons, things do grow and produce fruit. So this year, I am going ahead, facing my fears...for dad's job, for Kayty's health...with faith. Head on. You will see trees in various seasons on the blog. My ornaments next year are already cut out (Dad is a superstar!!!): slices of an oak tree limb found when Dad and Doran were squirrel hunting last year.
Now, to go over my last years goals.
Spiritually, my prayers have improved. I have worked hard to eliminate "luck" from my speech, when it comes to a good experience and recognize/point out the blessings involved. My sabbath day observance has improved. My fasting is ok and I didn't read my patriarchal blessing every month like I had planned. Will work on that next year. My temple attendance was what I wanted, even with not being able to attend as many early sessions due to concerns over Kayty, and not being able to attend with Dad due to cub scouts. I did read every Ensign Magazine cover to cover every month, and will continue in that goal next year, since it's not yet a habit. I read the Book of Mormon almost every day, and read it completely two times and almost a third time. I indexed more than 5000 names. I was more friendly to our neighbors, but sometimes I get driven nuts...gotta work on that one!
As for the Year of the House, with Wade Wallin's help, we fixed the front porch and master bedroom ceilings, plus better covered the skylight cover ups in the bathrooms and the ceilings look great. I painted the front porch ceiling and door and wall trims, the entry way, the living room, and the kids' bathroom. Ceilings where repairs were made were all painted. New doors were painted, trimmed and installed in the entire house (except Kayty's room - I have to be able to get in if emergency arises). I started the playroom clean out and transformation.
I did a ton of decluttering this year! Pantry, closets, drawers, cupboards, even cleaned out and donated decorations from every holiday.
My exercising/jogging has changed, since I hesitate being gone too long, so I jog about 35 minutes and try to squeeze in some exercise. Next year, that needs to improve. I hope to turn the playroom into a guest room that is also a place to exercise. Nothing fancy, just soft floor and space to move.
Well, that's last year. I am working on my goals for next year. Better family home evening study time, a few day trips for dad and I, and visits to see far away grandkids. We need to complete the house projects: the insulation, the master bathroom, and the playroom floor. Lots of plans in the works as celebrations and traditions are tweaked. We also had some very unplanned major expenses that hit us hard, especially when one large expense happened during a furlough week. Furlough weeks mean no pay and no work, but bills still have to be paid: house payment, health insurance, utilities, etc. Our house payment also is going up next year. Quality experiences over quantity spent will guide next year.
