To celebrate the birthdays this past week I made one of Aaron’s favorite for Sunday dinner, lasagna. Bode was ok with the birthday dinner but his favorite is meat…..give him a chicken breast, steak, roast then he would be great! He’s a carnivore! We have gotten back into our routine of going on a family walk each Sunday around the neighborhood. It’s needed. It helps us unwind and the kids talk with us more such a win-win in my book.
After meeting with the AP’s, I worked on my sporadically written email to the missionaries which hadn’t been going out because of my lack of technical skills that would have made me aware that it wasn’t going out but now it is fixed as of today. The best thing that happened today was that my dad arrived from Utah. He will be staying with us for a whole month. It will be great having him with us. Good time and memories to be made. Bode had a soccer practice tonight. He practices 3x a week. He is excited to be playing again and being active. Zac is back at driver’s Ed again this week. He will have spring break off and then two more weeks. No permit yet, hopefully next week. Jessie had her friend Sabrina over to play after school. She loves, loves to be able to play with friends. Allie was able to find a beautiful dress for prom. She and Jenny found it had a dress shop in Salt Lake. Megan did some touch up sewing on some beading but other than that no alterations. Yeah! Yeah for wonderful family members being there for my Allie girl. Makes my momma heart so happy. J
My dad joined me for zone meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was so touched and impressed by our missionaries. My dad has such a tender heart that the spirit touches deeply. Love him! Wednesday night Gpa, Bode, Jessie and I went to the Houston rodeo. It was a complete downpour the whole entire time. We were drowned rats going into the arena. The rodeo is the equivalent of Pioneer Days and the Utah State Fair combined. There are the warehouse like buildings with animals, food concessions and wares to sale. There are tents outside with food concessions, petting zoos, muttin bustin, animals to ride and carnival rides galore. The actual rodeo is inside the NRG arena with more food concessions and then once the rodeo is over a concert begins. Lots of big names…Pitbull, Miranda Lambert, Darius Ruckus, Kid Rock, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley among others. The night we were there it was Brett Elderedge who I have never heard of before. We were all done by 10:30 but it was a fun night. The concert was a first for Gpa, Bode and Jessie.
Thursday we had our meeting with our newest missionaries for our more in depth discussion on Adjusting To Missionary Life and the Atonement. I felt the discussion on how to utilize the tools found in the booklet to adjust was very beneficial. The missionaries really just got it, which I hope translates that they will use it. ;) Personally I always learn something more about the Atonement when we have this meeting. It means more to me every time. Afterwards I went to do weekly planning with a companionship. It was time well spent. Unfortunately as I was rushing to get back to pick up my dad and Jessie from school, I got a speeding ticket. I am so mad at myself. Uuugh!! I want to blame it on driving Aaron’s car but I was more worried about getting back then paying attention to how fast I was going. Bleh! Bode’s soccer has been canceled due to wet fields. Big bummer for him.
Friday was the end of the quarter for the kids. They are doing so much better in school. They are taking more responsibility for getting their homework done. Jessie even shorten a play date yesterday because she had assignments that she needed/wanted to do well on that were due. At our MLC meeting the focus is to help our missionaries see what is required to baptize and in doing so we emphasize the key indicators that make the most difference. The missionary companionships need to be working with about 18 investigators for at least one to be baptized. To find 18 investigators they have to talk to about 300 people. It breaks down to they need to be talking to 10 to 20 new people a day. Of those 18 investigators they help understand the need to come to church, pray, read, keep the commandments, accept a baptismal date, develop member friends, and in most cases leave their old life (family, friends) and behaviors behind. It is a lot we ask for people to join the Church and we are constantly trying to find truth seekers who want to come to understand that faith in the Savior and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end is the only path home to God. Missionary work is hard work but well worth it!
Jessie had Avery come over after school on Friday for a play date. They were playing outside having great adventures. All was going well until Jessie was screaming bloody murder. She had kneeled in a red anthill. No Bueno. With all her screaming Avery jumped up on one of the outdoor chairs and ended up getting a bloody nose. So simultaneously I was trying to calm and care for Jessie and calm and care for Avery’s bloody nose. Great Fun! Avery had never had a bloody nose before so a bit disconcerting for her but she remained pretty calm. Jessie had over 40 ant bites on legs, a few on her hand and arms and several ants crawling throughout her hair that had to be removed quickly. Bode went on a Scouting camping over nighter in Conroe. I mentioned to his leader I was worried he didn’t have good shoes for hiking. He reminded me any shoes were fine because there are no hills to actually hike. I forget Texas doesn’t have mountains to hike. ;0 Silly me. Bode had a great time even if he was woken up in the middle of the night getting drenched by a storm that rolled through.
Zac went paintballing with a friend Saturday afternoon. His first and he had a fun time. He came home with a lot of welts and bruises but had great time regardless. We have another Torchy Taco lover! For dinner, we all went out to Torchy’s. Gpa loves him some Torchy’s. We just had to share the love of Torchy’s. It was a great way to end the week. ;)