Week of January 24 - 30, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We enjoyed Sunday attending Sacrament Meeting by being able to partake of the Sacrament, having a lovely solo by a newer ward member, and then listening to Sister Sturgis as she prepares to "leave" for home MTC training Wednesday to serve in the Cambodia Phnom Pehn Mission. She has always wanted to serve a mission and has already been studying the language ahead of time. The rest of the day was quiet. 

Temples remain closed for work for the dead. 

I continue my morning foundation of General Conference Talks, Book of Mormon reading, Come Follow Me study and prayer. 

I have indexed 1508 records and reviewed 11299 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

Last week went pretty well. It was nice not to have school on Monday. So they enjoyed their holiday hike. Sam was thrilled that they saw a bunny! Josh was allowed to return to school Soccer practice has been a bit odd... such a big field and very difficult to locate where the team was unofficially practicing. However too few arrived on time and the practice was canceled. Mike got all the cars repaired this past week: alternators repaired, etc. So they are back to two cars. He also diagnosed the problems with the dishwasher. It still is under warranty so it should be repaired this coming week He figures the motor is the problem. They enjoyed Ward Conference online on Sunday, and Adam and Josh participated in recording that. Grace's wrist continues to have wrist pain, though they're keeping it wrapped up and hope for the best. They enjoyed a Sunday hike and saw more rabbits. Their upcoming week is very busy. Allison works at the temple three nights. Grace has an orthodontist appointment. Adam goes on 

Thursday to get his driving learners' permit. They also have Stake Trek Kickoff. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo, Kaylee and Wade are doing well. Kaylee spent her week testing for the school gifted program. Their weather is good and they have been enjoying the less humid and warm days. They headed out for a weekend camping trip on Friday night. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran started his work week in a very cold way...

And no, he wasn't even in Flagstaff!

Kelsie got braces this week. 

Kooper is doing very well in karate and has already won a trophy and this week achieved his tiger belt. 

Morgan

Morgan borrowed the canoe for a fishing trip on Friday cut short by rain. They had a good time.

Kayty

Kayty had lots of overtime hours again this week. She took the weekend off to sleep in. After working 12 hours a day, she was too tired to do much else. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan, Jessica and the girlies had a good and busy week. Nathan's car unfortunately continues to have problems and may need another rebuild and a new head. They are saving up for that now. Jessica's parents have Covid so she has been bringing them food so they can recover and rest. 

Dad's Garden

Garden is doing well. It loved the rain this week. I picked a gallon sized bag of snow peas as well as oregano and basil. Dad picked spinach and radish greens for a salad. Cabbages look good. The older tomato plants have lots of tomatoes on them. 

Family History

Some Valentines created by my Dad, William Allan Kew

Other highlights

Nathan came over Monday night and made a temporary fix with Dad for our water heater. I had a wonderful hot shower that night and it was glorious!

Rain this week was so awesome! We even had hail on Monday! 

I got a great idea thanks to Allison and began taking a Constitution 101 class from Hillsdale College. 

I went to get some fruits and veggies and looked up at mountains surrounding us and they had snow on them! Four Peaks was absolutely beautiful!!!

Saturday was a jog in the fog and I even got to go by the temple. It is most of the time dark when I am out now. They used to have the spire illuminated when temple workers were coming early on Wednesday and Saturday but that doesn't happen anymore. 

Got my goal chart for the year all printed up and hung up and began working: practicing piano, trying calligraphy, and working on house projects. I even got the dinner menu planned. 

Nano had a bad day. She was crying for Scott, saying she hadn't talked to him in years. She also said a woman came last week and took her purse and things. I did visit and took her Christmas tree home and she must have not known who I was. Not sad, just hoping she can get over this seeking to be upset about something.

Not so highlights

The new president has issued 43 executive orders in 10 days. Never ever in my life have I ever seen or experience anything like this in the United States. I have no words for what is ahead. However, with great trials come great blessings. I have read the Declaration of Independence again this week. I have listened to lectures on what our founding fathers were seeking for when the Constitution For The United States was created. I have learned that the federal government was to be granted very specific powers, especially those dealing with intrastate travel and commerce. The No Fly list instituted after 911 is NOT constitutional. You are placed on a list forbidding you to travel. You have no recourse. There is no reason and no way to get off the list. I am so thankful Allison shared the sources she uses and am grateful to know of one I have trusted for years to learn from.

More important, I have been able to taken through my depths of sadness and feeling lost, that my trust and faith in Jesus Christ are the ONLY thing that I can depend on and rely on through good times and bad. I have not been able to attend the temple in nearly a year. Something never happening before. I remembered a talk by Elder David A Bednar in General Conference:

“We do not come to the temple to hide from or escape the evils of the world. Rather, we come to the temple to conquer the world of evil.”

So during this time I cannot attend the temple and I was feeling separated, punished and alone, I was doing my best to conquer the world of evil by having faith in Jesus Christ. Now it feels very hopeless at times, and yet my total faith in Jesus Christ gives me strength to get through the day. I am so grateful that the Spirit guided me years ago to turn off the mainstream media news. Right after I did that, three journalists I admired totally left their careers, without explanation. I felt then that something was not right and they made their choices for a reason. More than anything else, trusting in God and knowing all the good people that do the same makes so much difference in my days and weeks. I do not know what the future holds, and it may be very very tough, but I know for certain that I can have faith in Jesus Christ and that when there is no peace on earth, there is peace in Christ. 

Week of January 17 - 23, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We had a good Sunday. Church was good and we endured our high council speaker and had a wonderful solo by a ward member to enjoy. 

Temples remained closed for work for the dead.

I completed my fifth time and began my sixth time enjoying General Conference talks daily. My morning foundation of Conference talk, reading in the Book of Mormon, and 20 minutes Come Follow Me study have been so helpful. 

I have indexed 1173 records and reviewed 8158 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

We had a good Marco Polo visit on Sunday. The family is doing well. Mike is continuing to work many hours during this busy season for Amazon. He is also working on one of their cars, which is having alternator troubles. Allison did another week of hard work during the shut down at the temple. This week returns to a more reduced hour schedule as Nevada is in its umpteenth month of a 30 day pause. The kids are doing well. Adam played all the Sacrament Meeting music on Sunday and has a special musical number coming up to play. Grace's arm continues to hurt but after a long visit to urgent care, there was no apparent break in the bone. Her Young Women's leader found her a special treat: her favorite Sweet Tart chews candies. She used her day off from school time to prepare for Sam's birthday by blowing up tons of balloons, wrapping his gifts and decorating the house with streamers, plus she made Sam some crepes for his birthday breakfast. Josh is doing well and will return to school this week after his Covid symptom restriction. He is a happy kid as always. Sam had a wonderful seventh birthday, complete with his aforementioned breakfast crepes, Orange chicken for dinner, and gifts that included Bey Blades, slime and an indoor basketball hoop. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo and the kids are doing well. They continue working and schooling remotely. Wade is all ready to start playing tball in a few weeks. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper are doing well. Doran works long hours and Amber is back remote working. The girls had fun while the boys went camping on Friday night. 

Morgan

Morgan doing well and busy at work. 

Kayty

Kayty enjoyed one day to sleep in and then worked overtime the rest of the week. Nothing much else to do other than watching movies as she works. 

The Nathan Rice Family

Nathan, Jessica and the girls had a good week with a few bumps and bruises. Ellie fell into the shopping cart and hurt her upper gum so all trekked to the dentist to see if stitches were needed. Thankfully all was well and there was no charge. Jessica's parents were exposed to Covid so she has been busy getting them groceries, etc. Nathans' work is as busy as ever. 

Dad's Garden

Snow peas are very plentiful, and I got a lot of basil off for a couple of meals this week. We have small tomatoes on one set of vines and we picked and ate one cabbage. Citrus isn't as plentiful but sure is tasty. 

Family History
 More scanned letters from my dad. It seems he was writing to his sister, my Aunt Muriel, and they referred to each other as skunk. 

Other highlights

This really wasn't a highlight. Dad walked into the garage on Monday morning and the water heater from the solar panel was spewing water all over. He cleaned up and got all the hot water turned off. Later, he contacted Jessica's Dad and they set out to locate a water heater like that one. Seems none in Arizona...and it is being shipped across the country now. Hopefully sometime next week. So, it has been a week of sink hair washing and sink sponge baths, and adding hot stove water to laundry loads.

I visited Mom on Thursday. She is really confused and paranoid. I did get to meet her nurse practicioner and she is a very nice and fantastic person. So glad she is taking care of mom. We are trying to figure out what to do to help Mom not feel like everyone, especially me, is trying to kill her. I did get her Christmas tree undecorated and hauled and stored away here. 

Doran organized a guy campout on Friday night. Dad, Kooper and Nathan could come. Morgan ended up having to work. They enjoyed sleeping out near Lake Pleasant, a little rain, good food and some target shooting. 

Sporadic rain has been very enjoyable this week.

Not so highlights

Another long week and a disappointing outcome of an election. I am trying to pray every morning and night for the country and our leaders. Friday was a rough pill to swallow, however, as we woke up to our gas prices going up 25 cents a gallon and Kayty's insulin costs skyrocketing. Not sure why President Biden felt it so necessary to put so many workers out of work on his first day in office and then to make insulin and epi-pens no longer low cost on his second day. 

Week of January 10 - 16, 2021

Highlights:

Spiritual

We enjoyed a wonderful Sacrament Meeting. I thought so much about Joshua's first Sunday passing the Sacrament. While during the time we could not attend church for months and I was so grateful for Dad holding the priesthood and being able to provide the Sacrament emblems for us, I will never ever again take for granted those wonderful young men who carefully and dutifully prepare, bless and pass the Sacrament every Sunday for us. Never again. I now look at those young men with such gratitude for their service. And today, one new deacon, and the first person I met when our ward was realigned years ago, Trey Larson, was the deacon who served us by bringing us the bread and the water. What a joy it was. 

Temples remain closed for work for the dead. 

I did contact my ministering sisters this week. No more inmate mailings. My inmate was released to a halfway house and the prison ministry is nonexistent at this point. 

I continue my morning foundation of General Conference talk, Book of Mormon reading, prayer, 20 minutes of Come Follow Me study, and Gratitude Journal entry. 

I have indexed 807 records and reviewed 5002 records so far this year. 

Family

The Wilkins Family

The Wilkins Family continues to work hard with many extra hours at work and schooling at home. Happy 7th Birthday to Sam on Wednesday. 

The Ethan Rice Family

Ethan, Cameo, Kaylee and Wade are doing well, busy with work, and Kaylee remains in remote home schooling. We had a good facetime visit on Saturday afternoon. 

The Doran Rice Family

Doran, Amber, Kelsie and Kooper are doing well and had a good week. Happy Birthday, Kooper on Wednesday. We celebrated his birthday at our house on Saturday. 

Morgan

Morgan is busy working and doing well. 

Kayty

Kayty is doing well and worked lots of overtime this week. She also made the final payment on her car! Hurray!!! Paid off!!

The Nathan Rice Family

We had such a wonderful visit with Nathan, Jessica and the girls on Sunday! It was the last time they could play with the Village and they had a good time. Nathan finished rebuilding his car engine this week and was so happy to take it to work and home. They are doing well. 

Dad's Garden

Harvest of beets, cabbage, snow peas, oregano and basil continue. More tomato plants are ready to go into the ground. While we have had no freezes, the weather has been cooler this year and the tomato starts are struggling with it. 

Family History

More Childhood discoveries from my Dad, Allan Kew (William Allan Kew)

Other highlights

I had a great dentist appointment on Monday! Next appointment in July.

Got the village all taken down Monday and Tuesday. All packed up!

Joyous jogs this week with many many American flags flying on flagpoles, something I hadn't noticed before. I also enjoy a couple of beautifully lit houses and Christmas trees in the windows. 

Not so highlights

Someone climbed into our back yard one night/early morning and tore down from our flagpole our Trump 2020 flag and threw it on the ground. It was ripped up all over. We had another one from the Trump Trains of last year and replaced it quickly, but I find it sad that someone who barely sees the flag but a moment as they drive by had to climb into our yard and rip it up.