5 February 2017 - Cold and windy

   Back to "mostly normal" would be the theme for the week. There have been a few out of place happenings such as Monday, before FHE by Samuel, there was a call from Michael, Kathleen's brother. He explained that Catherine had been admitted to the hospital when they got back from Washington because of low blood counts. They couldn't figure out why she was dropping her hematocrit. After 8 days they finally determined the diagnosis, Multiple myeloma. A blood cancer in the bone marrow. This is the same cancer variety that Larry is fighting. The beginning symptoms in both of them were very different. Larry had pain and breaks in his bones along with a rising Calcium level. Catherine had intestinal bleeding, no pain, but a continuing drop in blood component levels. They are not blood relatives so it does make one wonder if there are any environmental similarities between the two of them.
   Monday Stephen worked at the construction company. They are working on building a school and he was doing the caulking around huge windows. He came home very tired but satisfied with being able to work. Kathleen taught Seminary that morning on the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Of course the title to the book should be ‘The Acts of the Resurrected Christ Working through the Holy Spirit in the Lives and Ministries of His Ordained Apostles,’ according to Jeffrey R. Holland. The book of Acts is a wonderful segway from the mortal life of Christ to His works through His apostles. It shows how His church was organized in the beginning and is a witness to the truthfulness of the restoration of His church in these latter days. The book gives a glimpse into the early church members receiving personal revelation, living the law of consecration and having love one to another. It details the workings of the apostles, from choosing members of the apostleship to the receipt of revelation for the whole church and the blessings of missionary service. A great reason to study the scriptures.
   Please remember to add Stephen to your prayers this week since he is assigned to give 3 talks for stake conference. He needs the inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost and would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for him. 
   Tuesday was a day off due to the end of the semester. Stephen went to work for the construction company so it was just Samuel and his Mom getting the house organized and cleaned. Kathleen made it to the gym to work out but Samuel didn't want to go since he had a basketball game that night. Stephen and Samuel were suppose to go Home teaching but Stephen let Samuel go to the game and he took Kathleen as his companion. She got a little taste of what it would be like to go on a mission with her husband...not bad.
   Wednesday was cold and windy. Seminary was early and chilly. Stephen taught school at Soos Creek Elementary in the First Grade class that he really likes. There was a "reptile man" who came for an assembly with his snakes, turtles, alligators and lizards. Stephen got to pet the alligator who was trained to sit on command. He saw a child be wrapped around by a Boa constrictor but who wasn't afraid at all. He enjoyed the day.  They asked him to teach that class for the remainder of the week since the teacher was getting a new infant in her house. It appears that her niece had a child while on drugs and the infant was removed right at birth. It is so tragic when addictions are so great that nothing or no one else matters in this life. You can only feel sorrow for the situation, the infant, the teacher and the young mother.
   Thursday was still cold and windy. It was so cold that no one wanted to out in the weather. Stephen was back to the first grade class that requested him. He had to cancel the work he had scheduled with the construction company but since they were going to work outside it was probably a blessing for him. 
   Friday was so cold that it started to bring down freezing rain. It started after Kathleen made it to Seminary so they still had seminary even though school announced that it was 2 hours late due to the freezing rain. Samuel got to stay home until 9:00 but he was already up and showered and dressed before they got the message. Stephen was still teaching first grade at Soos Creek but it was 2 hours late also so it was a short day for him. Kathleen and Rebekah ran some errands in Federal Way, including going to a Natural foods store, to DI and to Winco. They had to make it back for Samuel. Rebekah has been extra busy with her work, piano lessons and three online classes from BYUI for her web design major.
   Friday night warmed up enough to melt everything and Stephen and Kathleen went to the movies at the Auburn 17 theaters. They saw Rogue One which they enjoyed because it goes right into the first Star Wars movie ever made and gives you some background on that. 
   Saturday was a temple day for Stephen. He made the 7:00 AM session and then after he returned and Samuel was done with his chores, Samuel went to "hang out" with Parker Welch and Stephen and Kathleen cleaned off the back porch. The chicken which had been "free ranged", like to eat the dog food on the porch and poop all over the place. They moved her pen closer to the house for easier feeding and then chased her down and put her in her pen. She has started to lay eggs again already. The porch was to be pressure washed but the nozzle was broken on the pressure washer so a broom and scrubbers had to be utilized on the porch. After it was sufficiently clean and dry the swing and grill were put back on the porch. It looks so much better now and Kathleen doesn't mind going outside to the back yard.... She was able to clean out a couple of garden boxes along with the outdoor clean up. There is plenty to do outside and lots of plants to transplant here and there. it will be fun to get it going again. Hopefully many of the plants survived the winter cold. There's going to be a lot of pruning of fruit trees, too.
   Sunday was Fast and testimony meeting. All three members of the stake presidency came to our ward since there was a baby being blessing and President Morgan was invited to be in the prayer circle. President Stroud and Stephen are the other two and already in our ward. It looked like they were going to change the bishopric or something. It was so fun to see. We had two confirmations after the baby blessing and that left only 20 minutes of testimony bearing. Kathleen felt the need to bare her testimony but she didn't want to take anyone else's time so she waited to see if there was going to be a lull in the meeting. When Sr. Manning got up she thought she wouldn't be able to but Sr. Manning went toward the back of the room so Kathleen got up and bore her testimony of the importance of knowing the mind and will of the Lord through the Holy Ghost. She used the example of the early apostles and the restoration of priesthood authority that allows us to have the gift of the Holy Ghost who bears witness of Jesus Christ. After church we went back for choir practice and Samuel is staying with Rebekah for a stake youth choir that will perform next week for Stake conference.
   Fires were started every night this week. It has been that cold, windy but mostly dry. Now the forecast is for snow tomorrow. We'll see. Probably cancel seminary... Not a problem... ;-)
   Wishing you the best week of the New Year. May you all be blessed!!!