9 October 2016 - Happy Birthday, Joshua & Kimball

Monday, Stephen came home around the same Kathleen cam back from her class at the hospital. Stephen said he wasn't sore from "rustling cattle" but he was tired and still had a cough.

From the garden....yummy goodness.

Tuesday during the day, the garden vegetables were picked so that they would be in before the rains came back and soaked them. There was plenty of tomatoes this years along with good amounts of summer squash, pumpkins, butternut squash, kale, collard greens and leeks. The corn was eaten by some kind of critter. They pulled down the husks and consumed the kernels. It was pretty much a total waste. Samuel had a volleyball game, unfortunately they lost.
Wednesday was a first birthday for Joshua. No one answered their phone so a message was left wishing him a very happy birthday!!! There was some very fun FB posts showing his ability to walk and get around so well. He's going to be a sports star some day... ;-)
That night was a YM combined activity where they learned how to sew on buttons, learning food prices, oil changes and other life skills.

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Thursday morning Stephen and Kathleen went to the temple in the morning. That evening Stephen had a meeting with Mission president. He came home very pleased with the meeting. Saturday there was a baptism of a man from Iraq who was just learning English. He lives in the Scenic Hill ward and they were great during the baptism by learning the prayer in Arabic and several other phrases. The man was very humble and his young daughters were the translators for his baptism. His wife did not come. They were Muslim so it will be interesting to see how he comes along in the gospel.
Friday when Kathleen went to work she was assigned to help out in a c-section. It happened to be a member of the stake who was in the OR. The poor girl had labored for 3 days trying to have her baby. She couldn't get completely effaced and so had a c-section and her baby ended up in the NICU. He was still there on Saturday and it looked like he was going to be there for awhile. His grandparents were at the hospital and Kathleen got to see them and talk with them. They seemed pretty happy that the baby was finally here. Both the Mom and Dad were friends of Ben and Sarah from the James Hill Ward. The world is made small in the gospel.
Sunday was fast meeting and Stephen presided for our ward. Kathleen bore her testimony as well as several little children and a few other adults. We had some visitors there with the missionaries and it was a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel's joy and peace.
Sunday night, Stephen and Rebekah went to a single adult meeting that was a "break the fast" dinner. They took soup and bread sticks so hopefully they'll have plenty of food. The soup was a copy-cat version of the Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi soup. Hopefully it turned out.
 A call to the Brighton home was unanswered but a message was left wishing Kimball a very happy 8th birthday. We look forward to seeing her in less than 2 weeks to witness her baptism and celebrate such a marvelous choice for her. Her Grandma Jestes will be coming from Arizona. It will be very fun as that weekend we'll have an apostle of God visiting in our stake. Such excitement!!!