19 May 2019

 Dear everybody,

   Today would have been my Daddy's 91st birthday. This evening, a group of us met at the Parker cemetery, left flowers, and visited for a bit before it started raining.   

   This week, instead of a living off the land type of book, I'm reading Man's Search For Meaning, by Viktor E Frankl. I often avoid studying holocaust history, but this was recommended by a friend at work and I really am enjoying it and learning a lot. Much of what he tells about the effects of prison camp life has helped me understand a character in the Children of the Promise series, and how he survived the prison camp in Korea. 

   Cody Atkinson passed away on Thursday.  She and her husband, David, were friends of ours in St. Anthony 2nd Ward, and our families knew each other for many years before that. She and David had returned from a mission just a few months ago, then it was learned she had Leukemia. 

   The Interfaith Women's group I am involved with will be having a booth at the Fisherman's Breakfast this Friday. We got a late start in preparing for it, but I think it will still turn out alright. 

   Anne, I hope you had a wonderful 17th birthday and we are all looking forward to seeing pictures of your prom night! 

   Love to all of you. I hope each one of you have a good week.

   Mom/Johanna/Nana

Hello Everyone!

How was your week? Ours was pretty good. Hopefully I can remember everything I wanted to tell you. 

James is still sick. We're pretty sure his cold has turned into bronchitis or maybe even pneumonia. Not totally positive because he has no intention of going back to the doctor. He is still able to get up and go to work, but most physical exertion tires him out pretty good. He's trying his best to rest and recover.

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight and he asked them to give him a blessing. Our Elders right now are Elder Day, he's from Edmonton, Alberta, and Elder Winfield, from Mesa, Arizona. Elder Winfield is waiting for his visa to come through, then he's heading to Portugal. We like them both a lot. 

Noah came to me this week and told me that he is fluent in 2 languages: English and pig latin, and speaks a little bit of at least 3 others: Spanish, JavaScript, and C. He's been doing a lot of programming at school lately and loves it. He got to participate in the BotBall challenge, where they had to program their robots to do specific tasks, like pick up a can. He was so excited about it! And he has a new favorite shirt!

Spencer is getting better and better at reading. His principal, Mr. B stopped me after school the other day to tell me that he had been helping in Spencer's class that day and got to listen to him read. He said that he's been pretty stressed as the end of the year gets closer and listening to Spencer read so well and so confidently just totally made his day. He wanted me to know. It was so nice!

I got to go for a quick bike ride this week and it was beautiful! 

On my way back I stopped and walked around the cemetery. It was so peaceful. I hadn't actually seen our friend Mike Dixon's headstone before, so it was nice to see that too. 

Annie and Ellen finished Seminary this week. I think they are both looking forward to that extra bit of time in the morning. Anne had a busy day yesterday. She went to the Breakfast Club with Sister Goodwin, her seminary teacher and former YW President, then walked around the Farmer's Market. Then went to pick up the boutonniere for her date. Then came home and helped clean up and fold laundry. Then she went to Addi Bollinger's at 3 and they and Allison Hadley got ready for the dance. The boys got there around 5:30, with takeout from Panda Express which they all ate on top of Bollinger's hill. Then pictures and the dance. She called at 11:30 asking if she could stay out till 12:30 so that they could go get ice cream. She was so happy when she came home. And she looked amazing. And she's getting pretty good at coming home right when she is supposed to be home. She pulled in the driveway at 12:29 and walked in the door at 12:30 on the dot.

I got a sweet message during Sacrament meeting today from Sister Silvana who lives in the branch Stephen is serving in. She sent a couple of pictures! She said, in Portuguese, that Stephen is doing well, that he is a good missionary and that they love him. With the help of google translate we were able to converse a little bit. I learned that her son is serving in the Brazil Goiania mission which is near Brasilia. I thought it was pretty neat that she was feeding Stephen, and we were feeding missionaries here, and I'm sure another family was feeding her son, and we were all just loving our missionaries together. I love that this big world can feel so small sometimes.

I really liked the Come Follow Me lesson this week. I love in Mark 10:21 which is part of the story of the rich young man where it says, "Then Jesus beholding him, loved him." I also really love verses 25-27. With God all things are possible. 

And I have to show you these too. Naomi was practicing her selfie skills on the way to church. 

 

 We love you all!

Love,

Aimee