Week of April 26 - May 2, 2020

Highlights:

Spiritual

Sunday began early with a Kayty rescue. I couldn't go back to sleep so I indexed. I got ready for Sunday with a dress and curled hair. We watched Music and The Spoken Word and then sat to watch BYU talks. However, this week, instead of General Authorities speaking, there were talks by school staff directed at students. So, we ended up having our quick and quite Sacrament ordinance and then going on with the day. Talks were read, scriptures were studied. Sundays are very very quiet and we end up reading and studying until we can justify going to bed. One thing we did do was take a tomato to a single sister in our ward, and then we drove by the temple. People were parked looking at the temple or were walking outside the fence. Eyes met with one mom and her two little kids and you could just see the looks of longing to be back in our temple and in our church building. It has been hard to be so alone and out of contact with ward members.

No temple visits continue.

I enjoy my Come Follow Me study every morning and when that is complete for the week, I continue reading on my own in the Book of Mormon. I also love listening to General Conference talks every morning and learn even more on the second time through.

 I contacted my ministering sisters the week, I texted and emailed them.

I have indexed  8082 records and reviewed 41601 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family is managing to do well. Mike continues to work long hours and studies in between. They enjoyed watching a meteor shower and a comet appearance last week. Most of their days are spent doing school work, doing puzzles and playing games, plus creating the best food. Allison was blessed with some extra money so she purchased a new dishwasher, which is a blessed luxury now that the whole family is home more. She has also been doing some painting in the master bathroom. Adam sadly broke his glasses and new frames replaced the ones he really liked. Sam is still a great Pokemon fan and he is also beginning to play the piano, sharing a rendition of Hot Cross Buns for us on Marco Polo. Grace is auditioning again for LVA, this time playing her viola. She shared a lovely song that she plans on playing for that audition. Joshua is doing well and is as busy as ever.

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo, Kaylee, and Wade had a good week. Sadly I had to cancel my flight to see Kaylee's dance recital...or rather postpone the flight. While Georgia is lifting the quarantine, it seemed just not a good time to travel and my flights were being changed so much it became crazy. Ethan is doing well working from home and is feeling totally better after his severe ear infection. Cameo continues to keep up with kids and mom duties, even helping Kaylee make stovetop cookies late one Friday night. Wade gave Papa an extensive FaceTime tour of the house late the other night. Kaylee texts me sometimes during the day. They were able to get some leaky roof repairs completed on Saturday. Ethan was also a great help as Dad was working on his jeep. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber, Kelsie, and Kooper had a busy week. Doran's company did not have enough work for him, so he had to take Friday off. The kids enjoyed time with him and they came out later for a visit and to play with cousins.

They worked more on their paver project.

Morgan

Morgan is doing well and continues to work.

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. She even received the nicest card full of kindness and compliments from her boss. She stayed home Saturday (though she refers to home as work now) and completed some projects to help her pit aka room be more organized.

The Nathan Rice Family

Ellie spiked a fever Sunday morning and was very sick most of the week. She was tested for Strep, Influenza and even Covid19 and all were negative but the 104 fever continued through the week until she seemed to feel better on Thursday morning. We were able to play with the girls, even Emma, on Friday evening for a little bit while they got away to get something to eat. We had so much fun!!

Dad's Garden

We hit our first 90-degree day last week, and four days later, we hit our first 100-degree day. Blossoms do not turn into fruit at those high temperatures, so with over 100 degree days in the forecast, we realized there would not be abundance to can in our tomato harvest. Some plants have blossoms but no fruit, and that most likely will not change now. Tomatoes are being enjoyed as they come in. More basil was planted thanks to a gift from a friend, Brent Hall. 

Other highlights

This was Dad's first week in a month back with all his coworkers. It was nice to be back as a team, though the future is very uncertain. With flights down to nothing, contracts have been pushed out months and there is no certainty as to what they will do. Dad did have plenty of work to do all week since one supplier is very busy. They did announce a layoff on Friday, though how many will be reduced is yet to be seen. 

I spoke with Nano a few times this week. She is well, but terribly confused. Her language skills continue to decline and she becomes frustrated as she tries to explain something and forgets the words she wants to use.

Dad's co-worker, Mark Mientel, came over to get one of our masks. He was so friendly, shook hands, hugged us goodbye, and made us feel more human than anyone else has outside of the family.

I spent a lot of time going through the freezer in the sewing room and doing an inventory. I then added some cheese frozen in meal size bags to keep there in case this happens again. While I am emptying the back porch refrigerator, I am taking note of foods that last well and then determining what to buy. I have found that romaine hearts left in there bag last much longer than the cut-up salad. While I have had plenty of food during this pandemic, lettuce and salad was always a concern. The updated inventory is laminated and taped to the outside of the freezer.

Dad's vehicle rear-end lost all fluid on the way to an appointment at a supplier on Friday. I had to drop everything, pick him up in my car and take him to the supplier, and then sit for a long inspection of numerous parts. He worked on the car Saturday morning but it quickly became too hot to continue. 

This isolation due to this pandemic continues. Our greatest blessing has been from our children. The ones out of state have been so good, checking on us via phone, facetime and Marco Polo. The ones in town have come by and visited and kept in such good touch that we have never felt alone or isolated. It is difficult with no church and seeing no church members, so our kids have been a superhero. Police have stated that they have found many older people dead in their homes, not from Covid 19 but from families who make sure they are home and safe, but never see or say anything to them. Loneliness is real