JANUARY - A MONTH OF INCREDIBLE HIGHS BUT HEART WRENCHING LOWS

At the beginning of the month, we were wishing this month of January would come to an end quickly. The month began with the death of our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. He had been ill for quite a long time but it is never easy to say good bye to a beloved prophet. President Russel M. Nelson was set apart as the president of the church and as our new prophet. We are so grateful for a peaceful, non competitive, process for sustaining the new leader of our church. The whole process is under the direction of the head of our church, Jesus Christ.

Within a couple of days of President Monson's passing, we learned of the deaths of four other people to whom we have connections. Marsha Haines, a friend from Spokane, died after suffering with stage 4 cancer. The husband of a friend, Mary Lou Knowles, also from Spokane, died after suffering a stroke. On facebook, we learned of the passing of the sister of Garrett McClintock, a friend we met in Russia. He was on an internship in Moscow. He grew up in my home town so he knows many members of my family. His sister died of complications from MS. These notices of death all came the day after we learned of the tragic death of Ryan Folsom. He was married to Lauren Thompson, the sister of our daughter-in-law, Katie. We had just had been with them, in Medford, on Christmas eve at the Thompson's home. Ryan was a former BYU football player and had just finished medical school. He left Medford on a Sunday morning to travel to northern California for a meeting with the administrator of a hospital he was considering for his internship and residency. A girl, who was suicidal, decided she would swerve into another car and kill someone, along with herself. Ryan just happened to be right where she was. Such a senseless act. He left behind his wife, Lauren, who was pregnant, and 2 young sons. The funeral was held Saturday, the 20th. We did not attend but many came from all over to pay their respects. We were thrilled, also, that so many people contributed to a 'Go Fund Me' account. Over $300,000 was raised for this young family. That will help Lauren get into a house and be able to stay home and raise her now three boys. (She had her new son January 29.)

The sadness didn't end then. The following Monday, we learned of the death of Heather Peterson, the daughter of a family in our ward. Heather was a Mia Maid when I was in the YM's presidency and, for several months, she served as the Mia Maid President with me. She served a mission in Honduras and was currently living in Utah County going to school and working. She was killed on highway 189 when a car crossed over into her lane and hit her head on. She was on her way back home after visiting her parents here in Heber. So sad. Her funeral was very touching. She was loved by many.

The month didn't end without more sad news. On January 30th, we learned that Paul's sister had passed away the night before. She was in a care facility having struggled with the effect of Alzheimer's for the past year and had lost all recognition of her family a few months ago. Her death was kind of expected but never easy to accept without some sadness. 

Now for the happy things of the month......

Right after the first of the year, we went to Todd and Kailee's home so they could give us the Christmas gifts they had for us. One was not ready until this time. Paul got some BYU comfort socks and a set of BYU barbecuing utensils. When I opened the present they gave me, I thought, 'How sweet, a cast of two clasped hands.' Todd asked if I knew whose hands those were and I said, 'Are they to represent my hand and Paul's or my hand and the Savior's?' He told me to look close and notice the age of the hands.  He then let me know they were the hands of my parents - my 100 year old Dad and my 97 year old step mom who is like a mother to me. I immediately started crying. Such a priceless and thoughtful gift. It is sitting in our dining room on the buffet and every time I pass by it by heart leaps in gratitude for such a beautiful reminder of the love these two have shared over the years. A little note: I took a picture of the hands and sent it to my dad. He called me and during the conversation told me to kiss the hands each day. I do that with my heart every time I look at it.

Paul's BYU barbecue utensils

At the first of the month, Todd and Kailee brought our Christmas gift to Aria so she could open it in front of us. It was a gray elephant chair which she loved. 

Aria is a little afraid of lit candles.
On her first birthday, we set a lit candle in
front her and, of course, she tried to touch it.
Yes, she got burned so lit candles are not her
favorite thing.

The next Sunday, we celebrated Aria's birthday. Todd and Kailee brought her up for Sunday dinner and I made Hostess Cupcakes for us, instead of a birthday cake. We gave her a toddler's Fischer Price I-pad for her to play with when she comes to visit. 

The BIG package

The following week, we celebrated her birthday with the rest of Kailee's family. We met at Pizza Factory where Todd and Kailee treated us to pizza and salad. Aria then opened her present - a Paw Patrol Tower. She is obsessed with the Paw Patrol characters and was so excited to have the tower to go along with her collection of Paw Patrol characters and their vehicles. 

The gift inside.  It took Todd some time
to put it together at the restaurant
and Aria couldn't wait to play with it.

Aria's birthday celebration worked out perfectly with other plan we had made for that same Saturday. We met the Rust's at a breakfast place in Sandy, Penny Ann's Cafe, which specializes in pancakes. After breakfast, we went to the new Hale theater in Sandy to watch the performance of Aida. We had seen that show before and had remembered it was a little dark but we were sure glad we had attended this production of it. The show was like a Las Vegas/Broadway production complete with acrobatic ladies coming down out of the ceiling. The lighting, costumes and sets were out of this world as was the play itself. We were blown away. The timing was perfect. After the play was over, we could make it to Provo just in time for Aria's birthday party.

The incredible new Hale Centre Theatre.  Obviously
this picture was taken off the internet and snapped on my phone.

Just after the first of the year, we had a visit from a couple from Russia, Ludmilla and Nikita. They were visiting our friends, Valya and Tahir, also from Russia but living in Salt Lake City now. Tahir brought them up to our home and we took them all to lunch at Cafe Galleria in Midway. It is always fun to reconnect with our dear friends from Moscow. We were happy to hear that Valya didn't come because she was experiencing nausia from being pregnant. Of course, we weren't happy that she was sick but that she is expecting a baby.

We went to our first, and probably only, BYU basketball game at the end of the month. Todd needed a ride home from the airport as Kailee was in Idaho. We picked him up, ate dinner and went to the game together. It gave Todd something to do rather than go home to an empty house and it was fun for us to be with him at a basketball game. The team won so that was good.

Deon and Gary came up this month for Garret McClintock's sister's funeral. They stayed with Garret and Kristen for the first part of their stay but came to our home for Sunday and Monday so we could plan the excursions for our cruise in May. We invited Garrett's family to join us for Sunday dinner. 

My Dad and Rita hit a mile stone this month - their 50th wedding anniversary. There are not many second marriages that make it to 50 years but when you live to be almost 101 and 97, respectively, it's possible. They celebrated by going to dinner with family members in who could make it.

Aren't they darling!!!!
150 candies for 100 years old  + 50 years of married.

Elder Geddis, on the right

Now as for missionary news. At the first of the month, we got a new missionary, Elder Geddis. He replaced Elder Ferry and is now Elder Carpenter's companion. It will be fun to get to know him. 


We conducted another zone meeting, as we do every month. Besides the mission business and focus, we taught our couples how to present a family plan to the members of their stakes. Many had not had training on it and Elder and Sister Hauser, the mission AP's, asked us to present it to the newer couples. We hope the couples left feeling the meeting was worthwhile. We felt like it was successful.



Our Stake Presidency put on a Stake Mission Conference for all the Bishops, Mission leaders, ward missionaries and full time missionaries. It was an incredible night with lots of ideas as to how to be more effective, not only in using Elder Millar and I, but in reaching out to our inactive and non member friends and family. Hopefully it will spur on the missionary effort in this stake. The meeting was well attended and everyone left with an added commitment to further the work. One of the changes made was how we will hold our Stake Missionary Coordination meeting. From now on, we will meet with half the mission leader every other week. They are to have their ward missionaries also come to this meeting and hold a ward missionary council for that one hour. The elders and ourselves will rotate into each meeting to discuss the ways we can better serve them. It should be much more effective than the way it's been done in the past.

The friendship bracelets

We continue to teach the Parcell family a Family Home Evening every other week. We taught them about forgiveness this month as a followup to the lesson about saying sorry. I made friendship bracelets for them to have to remember to always forgive each other so they can be friends. The children loved the bracelets.

We got a text from Nicole Hogland this month, telling us she was in need of money to pay the motel in which they were staying. She and her husband, Travis, are back in Heber so Nicole can attend a drug court. That is a necessary requirement because of her many failed drug tests with child protective services. She is trying to get her children back but keeps having relapses with prescription drugs. If she doesn't attend this drug court they will throw her in jail. The problem with drug court is that they have no means to support themselves as Travis's work is in Payson. Nicole is required to get a job but the money won't come if for a while, if she can even keep the job. We met her at the motel and took her to Panda Express for dinner. She told us all that had been happening with her and we agreed to pay the rest of the money due the motel so they could stay there till the weekend. (We have already helped her to the tune of about $200, the fee for an ankle bracelet she was required to wear.) We paid the motel and hoped that would be the end but, on Monday, we got another text telling us she needed money for her prescriptions and that the Bishop wouldn't pay it. We called the Bishop and convinced him to pay for the prescriptions this one time so she could stay working. She claims she gets ill when she doesn't have this particular drug. When the Bishop wouldn't pay her rent, she got upset and said some pretty bad things on Facebook and in a text to me. I responded, defending the Bishop and the Church. Nicole took exception to that so we haven't heard from her since. We only hope she and Travis can get their act together. 

The Sponge Bob emoji to tell
us she's ready!!!

The best thing that happened on our mission was with Jessie. We have been teaching her since last March. Throughout December and the first part of January she kept canceling our appointments. We finally told her that when she was ready for us to come back she could call us. We didn't expect to hear from her but we did. She wanted to meet with again at our regular time. We went and invited her to come to church. She said she would and we told her we would pick her up at 10:45 on Sunday. We text her Saturday night and she said she was still planning to come. On Sunday morning, I got a text from her at 10:20. I thought for sure it was a cancellation but, to my surprise, she sent a dancing sponge bob saying "I'm ready!" This was amazing. We picked her up and took her to Sacrament meeting and Sunday School. When we were waiting for Relief Society to start, Paul came and got us because Elder Bednar was speaking in our home ward, which meets in that same building. On the way into the chapel, I told Jessie that Elder Bednar was like Peter, James, or John - an apostle of the Lord. We listened to Elder Bednar speak about his experience being present at the selecting and ordaining of our new prophet. It was beautiful and very spiritual. When the meeting was over I told Jessie that I wanted her to shake Elder Bednar's hand. We got up after the closing pray and walked straight up to where he was on the stand. Usually the aisles are so jammed with people trying to get to class but this time it was like the parting of the Red Sea. No one was in the aisle. I shook Elder Bednar's hand and introduced Jessie as someone investigating the church. He took both her hands, looked straight into her eyes and said,"If you will listen to what these missionaries have to say and do what they ask you to do, God will tell you in your heart that this is the only true church." Jessie was crying as was I. She was really touched and felt his spirit. When we met with her the next Tuesday she said she was still floating. Oh the power and miracle of the Holy Ghost testifying of truth.

That about wraps up our month of high and lows but, all in all, it's been a good month.  


Now it's Aria time.......

Posing as she unwraps her present.
Love the pony tails.

At Blaze Pizza with Todd and Kailee.
Aria taking sole possession of the soda pop.

Loving the sweet cream dip at Pizza Factory. 
No need to eat bread sticks with it.

Is this picture fit for a fashion magazine or not? 
Too cute!!

Playing with her Fischer Price I-Pad