Axe Bomb

Hey there!

I hope you had a great week. I’m excited to hear about your move and your new companion. You sent me your new address and I googled it to see if I could figure out if the mailing address should go to Allston or Boston. Google puled up pictures of an apartment at that location that I think might be yours. It looks like a nice place! Maybe you can show us around your place on our next Messenger call. I hope you are enjoying a new change of scenery and new opportunities for teaching. And I hope you get along well with your new companion. How did the move go? Were you able to fit all of your things back in your suitcase? Did your plants survive? Your cactus looks like my Christmas cactus. Although mine is really sad looking and I'm thinking about throwing it away.  It's supposed to bloom once a year, but mine never does. I think yours may be a Thanksgiving cactus since it bloomed last week. It’s very cool that you have the opportunity to open a new area. I assume this means you didn’t have appointments and contacts already set up, so this will be a challenge.  Hopefully all goes well for you.

It’s been sort of an uneventful week at our house. Here’s what’s happening;

1. The ward is doing a family history scavenger hunt contest. Our family hasn’t been terribly competitive, but your Dad has done some fun activities with the kids. Last Sunday they were all laughing their heads off comparing our faces to ancestors. I’ll attach some pictures.

2. Jett was symptom free and tested negative for Covid on Monday, so he was able to get his second dose of the vaccine.  Hurray!

3. The kids are very excited to go back to primary. Maybe next week.

4. I spent a lot of time this week running errands and shopping trying to get ready for Christmas. Always so many details and so much to do! Since I lost all of my documents when the computer crashed, I had to recreate my mailing list for Christmas cards., hopefully I can get those in the mail this week. 

5. I also tried to take advantage of the “good” weather and get outside for some yard work and window cleaning.  Can’t remember the last time I went out to do weeding in December. Hopefully we get some snow soon!

6. Ty is also dying for some snow. We had a zoom meeting with his ski coaches and I was very impressed by everything their program does. I hope Ty loves it and learns a lot. He was able to go up to Woodward on Friday and Saturday. There is not much open, but he was still very excited. He traded in his old snow pants for some that are enormous! Like size XXL. What is he thinking? Lol.

7. My “secret sister” brought me a little painting of you as a missionary. It’s very cute.

8. Over heard at our house:

Me: Blake I bought you…

Blake: I’m not touching that stuff. 

Me: have you smelled it? It’s not bad. 

Blake: nope. Not doing it. Kids Axe bomb each other at school. Everybody hates it. 

Later…

Me: Ty would you like some Axe body spray? 

Ty:  Ew no. 

Later... 

Ethan: oooh. Can I have this? (Apparently too young to know better).

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Dad: Tate do you want a nap?

Tate: No! I'm not crying!

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Tate: Don’t go in the bathroom. I was a bad boy. I peed on the floor on purpose.  

Me: *Rubs temples

9. Local and National news is depressing. Racism, gun violence, Omicron variant detected all over the US. Still don’t know the implications of Omicron. The Supreme Court is likely to defy decades of precedent and overturn Roe v Wade. We also don’t know the all the consequences of this action, but Sotomayor is worried about the integrity of the court itself. “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” While this ruling will be about abortion, it will also be about whether the Supreme Court is just another political body with no true respect of the constitution. 

10. We ended the week on a high note: Gingerbread houses at Great Nana’s. Nana is amazing. Don’t know how she has the energy for it all. 

Today I taught my Sunday school class the words Soterilogical, Calvinism, Arminianism, Universalism, Sovereign, and Predetermination. They love me.  Lol. In our lesson we talked about the idea that God is Almighty, all powerful, sovereign. He has the power to offer salvation to each of His children. But he also gives the gift of agency and free will. We have to choose to be faithful and accept Christ in our lives. Our actions will not always be perfect, and we will need repentance. But ultimately God will judge us according to our works and the desires of our hearts. Elder Russell M. Ballard said, “When he does judge us, I feel he will take all things into consideration; our genetic makeup, our mental state, our intellectual capacity, the teachings we have received, the traditions of our fathers, our health, and so forth.” I think this is the very definition of a sovereign god—one who is powerful enough to truly know us and the desires of our hearts, yet still allows us to make our own choices.

I came upon this quote from President Oaks, and I thought it might be applicable to you as you are setting goals for yourself and a new area:

"I reminded the missionaries that some of our most important plans cannot be brought to pass without the agency and actions of others. A missionary cannot baptize five persons this month without the agency and action of five other persons. A missionary can plan and work and do all within his or her power, but the desired result will depend upon the additional agency and action of others. Consequently a missionary’s goals ought to be based upon the missionary’s personal agency and action, not upon the agency or action of others."

Much love to you,

Mom