Sep 26

September 26, 2006

Big family news!! Baby Emery is a boy! We’re so excited. What an adorable little family that’s going to be, with a big sister to boss everyone around and two little brothers to drive her insane. Daddy and Mommy will have fun, fun, fun. Veda says they might name him Jaron (or Jaren, or Jeron—I forgot to ask) Emery because Jaxon and Jaron go so cute together. I like that. It would be very cute. Veda also said everything in the ultrasound looks perfect, so our new little boy is doing just fine.

Cade and Andi have been telling us all week to get our mail, so we finally did today. They sent me a birthday cake with candles, noisemakers and a birthday banner. The cake even had Happy Birthday written on it. So cute! I was just delighted. What a sweet, thoughtful thing to do. They were worried it would be stale because they had it delivered on Friday, I think. Anyway, it was all wrapped in plastic and tasted delicious. Too delicious. Cade said I would gain 5 pounds in the MTC. If that’s all I gain I’ll be delighted.

Today we got more info on welfare and employment services. The last two hours of the day we finally got something specific to our assignment. A lady who works in the church office in Salt Lake as a supervisor for LDS Family Services came down and met just with as, as we’re the only Family Service missionaries in this group. She talked about the church programs for unplanned pregnancies, addictions, and the new materials the church has for family and marriage training. It would be exciting if we could get some of these programs going in Cibecue. It was all still pretty general. Hopefully we’ll talk to our supervisor in Snowflake on Monday and find out more specifically what he wants us to do.

Devotional tonight was Elder John G. Madsen from the Quorum of the Seventy. He spoke about the atonement and was of course amazing. Glad we took lots of notes because he gave us some great insights.

Lynda Reiley called and said Shannon Chelson has been appointed to take Robert’s place on the school board in St. Anthony. We thing she’s a great choice. For one thing she’s a big Reading Recovery fan. I like that. In addition she’s really a smart lady and has certainly had lots of experiences with her own children in the school system. We’re pleased that she’s taking Robert’s place.

My knee is a little better today, i.e., it’s not killing me, at least. Robert has me on a regimen of excessive Ibuprofen and twice daily Icy Hot massages, plus two Tylenol every 4 hours. Once I get in bed, following the evening massage, he brings me a hot pad and I keep that on my knee until it cools down. While this all sounds a bit primitive, I’m actually feeling better and at least able to walk at something just above a snail’s pace.

Well, goodnight to all our family. We love you and miss you all so much. We sent cards to the grandkids and put a picture of us in each card. Sometimes when I write them letters I put $5.00 in the letter. Robert says he thinks they’d rather have the money. We don’t worry about you because we know you are all quite capable of managing your own lives without our daily input, although it certainly hurts to admit it. And besides that we know our Father in Heaven will bless you and care for you if we serve Him to the very best of our ability. We are blessed to share our lives with such good people. I know the MTC is getting to me, but can’t close without saying the gospel is true. Be true to it. It is the greatest gift we’ve been given.