Week of May 17 - 23, 2020

Highlights:

Spiritual

Sunday was good. The broadcast of "Music and The Spoken World" was full of lovely music, and we were able to view three talks on BYU tv including President Nelson's first talk he gave after being sustained in Solemn Assembly as President of the Church. He has always emphasized the importance of seeking guidance from the Holy Ghost and how important it is to hear what the Lord wants us to do. 

Sunday visits included one from Dorrie as well as Nathan, Jessica, and the girls. 

This week, I completed my second time listening daily to General Conference talks and began my third time through. I continue to study the Book of Mormon daily with both the Come Follow Me lessons as well as my own reading. 

I have indexed 9132 records and reviewed 45182 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

We Marco Polo'd the Wilkins Family on Sunday. They are doing well. Adam recovered from his throat ailment and is completing his school work this week. He has improved his math grade, which he is thankful for. This was the last week for Grace, Joshua, and Samuel. Tuesday was a final parade with families decorating cars and driving through the school parking lot and waving goodbye. 

Last Zoom meetings. And then Virtual Graduations!!!

And that same evening...

Allison shared this on their last day of school:

These 4. I can't even express my profound gratitude and awe. It. Has. Been. A. Year.

It started in August with me getting a 3rd part-time job to bring in some extra money. Which meant more responsibility for these guys. They stepped up to help without a complaint.

Our world crashed in October when Mike lost his job. I increased my work hours a lot to bring in some money to make up (a little bit) for Mike's job loss, we cut out every extra entertainment/hobby/fun expense and asked them to step up even more. And they did it all. They never once whined about how much they lost through it all or the extra work. They handled it all with grace and class and faith. I know it was hard on them, but they did it anyway.

When Josh was in the hospital in December, Adam and Grace took incredible care of Sam on top of their other home and school responsibilities during those days and following weeks of doctors appointments and physical therapy sessions.

There were some really, really hard dark days there. Days where the only reason I got out of bed was because I knew these 4 needed me. They became my reason for going on in all of the hardship of working and not sleeping and not knowing day after day.

And just when job stuff was looking up and light gleamed, the pandemic stuff hit. And they left the security of schools and friends and teachers to finish the year at home.

It has been a year like no other.

Throughout it all, though, these 4 have been amazing. They have prayed and fasted and sacrificed and worked hard. They have grown and laughed and learned. They teach me every day what life is really about, and I am so amazed and proud.

Happy Summer! We did it!

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan and Cameo and the kids had a good week and are spending the weekend in their travel trailer fishing and getting away from the house. Work is keeping up for both Ethan and Cameo and the kids are now adjusting to summer break. We so enjoyed watching her recital via Zoom on Saturday morning

The Doran Rice Family

Doran and Amber and family finished school this week and headed up North Friday for a work training for Doran and for some cool family camping. Unfortunately, the road was awful and they lost two tires on their vehicle. They were blessed with a good Samaritan who helped them get some air in until they could get to town for the repairs. Doran called on Friday night to let us know how they were doing and they hoped to have a good rest of the weekend. However, by the time tire three popped, they gave up and returned home. 

Morgan

No news from Morgan this week. 

Kayty

Kayty had a good work week. She was disappointed her concert in California scheduled for July was canceled. She also saw a horrible twitter display by Harry Styles, so all her merchandise she has gathered for years was sold on Poshmark. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Jessica had been sick all week and had a Covid19 test taken. They were hoping to get the results so they could still go to Jessica's mom's trailer in Young, but no results were shared till after the holiday. So sad. Nathan spent the week working and devising something to help haul the canoe from vehicle to body of water. 

Dad's Garden

Tomato picking continues daily. I canned 10 quarts and 1 pint on Saturday. More and more basil is thriving which is great news. 

We have picked 356 tomatoes and lots of cherry tomatoes so far this year. 

Other highlights

We worked on moving a little more gravel on Monday. We ended up getting more in the back yard and in the front yard at the end of the driveway. 

With bulk trash pickup this week, Dad got a lot of stuff raked up and I helped him bag it and haul it to the pile. Trees were also trimmed. He spent a lot of time testing and repairing the drip watering system. 

We took dinner to the Sister Missionaries this week. 

We lost someone we hadn't seen in years this week. Phil Hazlett had some health problems for years, and passed away. We contributed to a plant purchase and I made a salad with fresh cherry tomatoes on is for the funeral luncheon. 

We are still waiting for the car part for Dad's jeep to arrive.