Sunday, December 12, 2010

What a week!

Dave had a rough beginning this week at work, but after receiving a priesthood blessing from our home teacher he was able to end the week on a great note. He is much calmer and is able to leave work at work, which he has always tried to do. The missionary effort is going slowly right now since it is the holidays. He keeps informed with the missionaries and tries to go with them to teaching appointments each week. He is anxious to get on his bicycle so that he can explore the area more, but it's dark when he leaves for work and it's dark when he gets home!!

Aimee is doing amazing at the MTC! She has learned so much and grown so much in her testimony. We hear from her each week and can feel the love that she has for her companions and for her Savior!! I can't believe how the time has flown by, she has two and a half weeks left before she heads to Cambodia!! The blessings that we as a family have received because of her willingness to serve the Lord is overwhelming! Our own love of the Savior and our own testimonies have grown so much since she has entered the MTC.

We received a couple of messages from Wendy this week that were surprises! The first was that she ended up in the ER because she had had an allergic reaction to some dogs. It's really strange because she hasn't ever had a problem with animals before and now all of a sudden. The homes that she had been at are friends that we have had for many many years and they have always had pets! Both friends have felt so bad, but Wendy has been so gracious and let them know that they shouldn't feel bad! I wish that I had been there to be with her, I understand how hard it is to have to go through that treatment! But her grandparents were there with her and Grandma took great care of her!! Thanks Momma!!

The other surprising news came as a generous donation to Aimee's mission fund. We have had to humble ourselves and ask family for help in supporting her on the Lord's errand. The generosity and kindness of extended family and friends has been overwhelming! The amount of gratitude we feel toward those family and friends is something that we can never repay. We know that the Lord will bless each one of them in their efforts to support Aimee. We received this news this morning before we left for church, so we went with the right spirit to our meetings today and felt an outpouring of love from our Savior!!

Kaitlyn and I have been reading some great books this year, I keep a list of our reads on the side bar. I love that time we have together at the end of each day. It's the time that we take to read scriptures and a book. I've tried to read to her every day since the day she was born! It's been great. I did the same with Aimee and Wendy, but once they could read comfortably on their own they didn't want me to read to them any more. I've read to Kaitlyn the longest! I love it! Maybe it's because it's the only thing that I can do with her that doesn't cause me to be in pain, it's very relaxing for me and calming for her. I also take that time to let her read to me, it helps her with her reading skills and I can assess where she needs help. I ask a lot of questions at the end of each chapter to see if she is able to understand what is happening in the story. I started to do that when she started school. The only trouble with me reading to her each night is that she doesn't think she has to read on her own. This next year I'm gonna try harder to get her to read for her 20 minutes every day as part of her homework. Wish me luck!!


I was able to finish several projects this week and pull out a few more that I've been trying to finish. I get so excited when I start a new project, but then after a while I get bored with it and put it away. Like the crochet tablecloth that I started in August of 2009 while we were living in Italy. Well, it turns out that it is WAY too big for a normal dining room table, so maybe I'll make it into a bedspread for our KING size bed! When I get that finished I'll be sure to post pictures. I was hoping to also work on some other Christmas cross stitch projects, but it seems that my stocking pattern book has disappeared!! I guess I might have to just start emptying my craft boxes to find it.


I started this cross stitch project in 1990!! I try to work on it every December and I FINALLY finished it this week. I love these beautiful scenes of Christmas. This particular piece was very difficult for me to do because the detail is so fine. I'm glad I finished it though. I have two other pieces that are from a collection of "plates." Each of the others that I've done I have put in round plastic wood looking hoops. And each Christmas they come out to replace every day pictures in the living room or in this house they are hung in the entry way. Now I just need to find a hoop to put this one in. I sure hope I can find the other patterns for the rest of the collection. My goal was to do one for each year of our marriage, don't know if that is going to work out or not.
This is 3 to 6 month baby dress with short sleeves and booties in purple.

This is 3 to 6 month old baby dress with cap sleeves and booties in blue.

This is a 45" blanket and large burpcloth double layer of brushed flannel with crocheted plain trim.

This is a 36" blanket and small burpclothes double layer of brushed flannel crocheted with plain trim.

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