29 April 2018

 Hello everybody!

   Wow, April is almost over . . . and that means that Calvin's birthday is TUESDAY! Then we'll have three 6 year olds! Happy birthday, dear Calvin!

Gran went with me to Stella Dunn's funeral. Charlie's daughter, Shannon, and her family, live in Texas now; Heath and his family live in SLC. I had seen Heath pretty recently. Seeing Wayne's and Luena's kids: Shelby, Christy, Becky, Joey, Rodney, and Alana, was so sweet, and they seemed just as happy to see me. I think Stella's boys, Vic, Wayne, and Charlie, are going to get the place ready to sell pretty soon.  

  President Moon and I were invited to another training meeting, this one was last Tuesday evening . . . from 6-9:30! It was long, but really good too. Elder Bowen, of the Seventy, Pres. Nelson, the Idaho Falls Mission President, and one member each from the IF and Rexburg Temples, taught us. There were 18 Stake Presidents, and 18 of us Stake RS Presidents.  

  Then this Thursday evening, we had our Stake RS meeting for all the sisters. We asked six members to bear testimony of Christ, and 2 non-member sisters too. We had a light dinner and a musical number. One of the non-members was Beth Cannon. Oh, my goodness, the whole evening was just what I had hoped it would be, and more. Beth's testimony was so wonderful; I wish I had recorded it. She also announced that she will be retiring from school teaching at the end of this year. Which of you kids did she teach?

  One day last week, a co-worker suggested that I apply for the Clinical Coordinator position on Med/Surg; that's basically the assistant manager. I didn't take it seriously, until several others said that same thing. One even mentioned it to the Med/Surg manager and she came to my office and begged me to apply. The position has been open for several weeks, but they haven't found the right person. So I applied. Then this Wednesday, I had an interview and it went really well. The night after the interview, the stress and unsure feelings I had been having became MUCH WORSE. I couldn't sleep, I felt sick . . . kind of panicky. So, the next day, I withdrew my application and felt better, immediately. I do think it was something I could have done, but was is right for me? No. Is there someone else who will do it better? I'm sure there is. And there has been another internal candidate and one external candidate turn in applications since I did. One of them will be great with this.  The nice thing about it is, I still have a job. 

   My boss, Mikel, and I went to Pocatello on Friday, where we had been asked to be in a panel discussion for a break-out session at the Idaho Health Care Association meetings. The turn out was low, but the discussion was great. I was afraid we would talk and the audience would just stare at us. But they were very engaged. They were Nursing Home (rehab) and Home Health managers, mainly from southern Idaho. Our discussion was on improving communication between hospitals and their facilities during and after the time patients have been discharged to them; mainly to prevent readmission to the hospital. Medicare will withhold payment to hospitals with high readmission rates. Madison Memorial has been working very hard on this for quite some time and has made enough improvement that we were asked to come and tell about our processes.

   The guy who was the moderator for the panel discussion was Brent Schneider. He works for Qualis, in Boise; and he lives in Meridian. He thinks that Hessing's live in his Stake!

   This morning I got to teach the 5th Sunday lesson at Homestead Assisted Living, in St. Anthony. Then I got to help with the 5th Sunday lesson in our Ward too. 

   Last week, Dad was in McCall for meetings and got home Friday. Then he taught a class all day yesterday and we went to the movie last night. He woke up with a migraine this morning. I think he's been pushing himself . . . just a bit. And neither of us really enjoyed the movie, The Avengers: Infinity War. I used to enjoy that sort of thing, but the violence is so cruel that it just makes me want to get up and walk out . . . one long battle after another.  I'm pretty sure we'll pass on the next one. I apologize to anyone who really enjoyed it! 

   Anne, Gran has enjoyed getting both your letters and just wrote back to you; I'll be mailing her letter tomorrow. Thank you for writing to her; she loves getting letters. 

   I know Sam or Natalie might write this week, but just in case they don't, I'm including a picture of Alida; she broke her arm! But the picture makes it look like she's not in much pain. So that's great!

   Aimee, you had mentioned the Senior missionaries section on the LDS website. I had stumbled across it a week or so ago and Dad and I spent some time with it the other night. It makes it seem more real and doable. It even lets you know how much money it would cost in the various missions. I'm pretty excited about it. 

   I'm sure we are all looking forward to hearing all about the Washington DC and San Diego trips. Our family sure gets around! 

Love to you all,

Mom/Johanna/Nana