13 March 2016

Dear everybody,
   Happy day to you all.  I imagine you all know by now, that no one is running against Dad for Sheriff this time. I don't think the timing for this particular blessing could have been any better.  It's never happened for us before, and may not again, but we're sure happy about it! 
   Today is Gran's 83rd birthday; we didn't do anything big. She's had a lot of phone calls, Jake's family came out and we had birthday cake, she went to all three meetings...I think it's been a good day for her.
   Recently I've realized something about myself, I haven't been counting my many blessings, I've been counting my burdens instead! I'm pretty sure that's not how the song goes...and for good reason!  In the future I will be more careful not to focus on what may be difficult for me, but rather on the good things.  And in fact, it may be that the burdens are actually blessings, if only I knew. So if I get to complaining to any one of you, please remind me to straighten up! :)
   It's been cool and windy the past couple of days, and now it's starting to rain. The snow is almost gone too.  Spring is early this year, but we really did have lots of snow this year, so I think we'll be okay.
   In reply to Aimee's letter: Wow, those birthday cakes were wonderful, and you make it sound easy!  James, I love the cubbies, and is that a heater in the bottom right corner?  I noticed the baseboard heater is gone.  Stephen, what can I say about your bridge...it is not only strong, it is BEAUTIFUL!  Wow, I'm sure your teacher was pleased and impressed with your work.  Will you be putting it on display somewhere?
   In world news, Nancy Reagan passed away last Sunday, the 6th.  I didn't get to watch the funeral, but I hope to watch some clips online, if I can.
   Love to each one of you. I hope the next week will be a good one. I pray for you all, in your homes, in your school, in your travel, in your work, in your play, in your callings, etc...
   Love Mom/Johanna/Nana
  
Here's a picture I saw on Facebook this week. It's the cast of Mr. Roberts...it just makes me smile, seeing them this way. It's one of my favorite movies. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing it too.

Hi Everyone!

I love that picture, Mom!  Very fun to see!  I am so very happy that no one is running against Dad this year!  WOOHOO and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

A few highlights of the week - especially for Noah.  He was officially accepted into the GT program at school.  They started testing him in January and called me last week to set up a meeting so that I could sign the paper saying it was ok.  He is loving it!  He finished up his basketball season with a great win, 38-21!  He has really enjoyed playing basketball this year.  And he placed 2nd in the school spelling bee for 1-3 graders!  We're pretty proud of him!  Annie participated in Solo and Ensemble this week with a flute solo and got a 1!  She was very excited about that!  Ellen had a rough day in PE this week, but handled it very well and things went much better the next day.  Earlier in the week her class was given two options for activities and asked to sign up for one.  One was basketball and the other was JustDance.  Ellen chose basketball and ended up being the only girl playing basketball.  Four captains were picked, then they chose their teams.  Ellen was picked last, which wasn't such a big deal, but then her team was not nice to her at all.  They wouldn't ever give her the ball and were very critical whenever she did get it.  So the next day she went a little early to talk to her teacher and asked if something different could be done.  Her teacher mixed up the teams and Ellen ended up on a much nicer team with boys who would pass the ball to her and were encouraging as well.  She is really growing up!

We have been getting A LOT of rain.  It's like a normal spring!  Very nice!  This afternoon we even had a small thunderstorm.  Probably our one thunderstorm for the year.  It ended with a nice rainbow too!

So, a funny thing about having teenagers sometimes is slang words and how they make me feel old.  Ha!  The newest from Stephen, he says is all the time, is "saw".  I'm totally guessing on the spelling.  It has replaced 'sup, as in " 'sup dude?"  It is now, "saw dude?"  Same meaning, just slightly different word.  So weird!

I am really enjoying the strength training class I told you about.  I've been going for 5 weeks now and am feeling stronger!  And I like it!  I LOVE our trainer!  The newest thing we started working on this week is handstands.  Way harder than I thought they would be, but a lot of fun too!  Right now we are just working on getting up into a handstand against the wall with only our feet touching the wall.  I can do it, but it takes me a few tries to get up there.  Eventually the hope is to be able to do a handstand without a wall and then maybe to even walk on our hands a little.  It's not something I ever even thought about doing, but I'm really excited about it!  It is supposed to be really, really good for your posture. 

I have been struggling to maintain regular scripture study and had a thought this week about how to do better.  I decided to really try the ponderize thing that Elder Durrant talked about in General Conference last Oct.  And I thought that I should tell all of you about it to kind of help keep me going.  My scripture for this last week was Deuteronomy 31:6  "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."  I thought a lot about needing to trust the Lord.  To have courage and faith even when things are really scary.  I actually thought about it as I was trying to do a handstand for the first time.  It wasn't all that scary, but our trainer, Annie, told us that when we first got our feet up in the air it might feel like the wall had disappeared and that we were just going to fall over.  But that the wall wouldn't go away.  It was going to be right there to catch us.  And wow, did it feel like that wall had disappeared!  So crazy!  Annie even told us that we had to have child-like faith that the wall really was there.  I was so excited the first time my foot just touched the wall!  I didn't get both feet up, but I touched it and got an idea for where it really was and where I was in relation to it.  I feel like that with my spirit.  Most of the time I'm just putting very little effort into it and not getting close to the Lord and so not feeling like He is there.  But if I will put more effort into it, practice if you will, and also work at strengthening my spiritual muscles in other ways, scripture study, prayer, keeping my covenants, etc., I will get closer and closer to Him and be able to realize that He is there and isn't going anywhere.  He will catch me. 

My ponderize scripture for this week is going to be Alma 34:26-27 

 26 But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.

 27 Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.

Sorry that was so long.  Just lots of thoughts...

Love you all!

Aimee

Just wanted to let you all know...

James Mom called a few minutes ago to let us know that his Grandma passed away this evening.  They took her to the hospital yesterday.  She was not feeling well and kept complaining of lots of pain.  They did say that she had a small spot of pneumonia but weren't sure what was causing the pain so they kept her there.  No idea yet when the funeral will be.  James, Stephen, Annie, and Noah were planning to go down this weekend to help his parents move back in with Grandma.  We'll see what happens now.

Love you all!!!

Aimee

Thanks for letting us know, please give Kathy our love and sympathy.  Would you please send their address; I'd like to send a card.  Love you, Sweetie!

Mom

Sorry it took so long!  Here is the address of Grandma Staples' house that Steve and Kathy will be moving into on Monday.

5286 Hwy 1 S.

Hall, MT  59837

We're leaving in the morning to go.  The funeral is Saturday at 11.  Most of the kids and I will come home Sunday afternoon, but James and Anne will stay a couple more days to help his Mom and Dad move.

Love you too!