Life Lately

Abe participated in the stake musical last weekend, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the church in Singapore. He is so glad to have rehearsals over and asked us not to schedule anything on Saturdays until Christmas. Abe also finished his second round of bread delivery, selling 14 loaves of bread in one afternoon. He was still short and took some preorders for this week as well as a standing order for 2 loaves/week for the foreseeable future. I hope he doesn't get burned out.

Mary's rehearsal schedule is also picking up speed as the middle school's production of "Beauty and the Beast" draws nearer. Opening night is 4 weeks away!

We got to talk with Spencer while he was in the Philippines. Once in a warehouse and once on the tarmac- his Philippine leg looked exhausting but he's headed to Mississippi for another 4 weeks of training. (Hopefully with showers and beds.)

I was feeling a bit busy when my sister sent me a note saying her phone had Christy's 31 alarms set! That's crazy! I'd forget what the alarm was supposed to remind me to do!

I spent a lot of time studying this week, my mind is reeling with bookish things and drawing blanks on what happened in the day to day. Allergies have returned and we are doing our best to remove textiles from children's rooms- replacing curtains with vinyl shades, removing rugs and any extra clothes/linen from closets- they can't store anything but clothes currently cycling through a frequent wash cycle.

Dan is off KETO this week, hallelujah! I miss eating toast with eggs or having the ease of sandwiches when we are full KETO. But after loading this week he has a lean two weeks and then his next race. The haze has been a bit disruptive as far as consistent workouts (for me anyway), but it is lightening up and we've had some blue skies lately.

FHE tonight.

A busy, yet mundane week. Except for two exceptions when we briefly lost Moses. Yes, this just happened last week. Yes, he escaped twice this week. The first was at church and we didn't notice he was gone until someone brought him up from the parking garage. The second was last night after we talked with you. We went upstairs to rehearse our song and came down to find the front door open and Moses gone. Unsuccessful in our search, we sent Mary home to put Scout to bed while we ran around the dark neighbourhood... Mary called to say he was home, upstairs, playing cars. We failed to realise all of our children were home and Abe got locked out. He'd run all the way to the school looking for Moses and we'd shut the gate and locked the door.

Every day is busy: school, voice lessons, errands, rock climbing, play practices, piano and Chinese, lots of homework and early bedtimes.  Thank you for helping Mary with her talk. She is going to give it to night for FHE. We are also watching the new Book of Mormon video released by the church. 

We spent our date night wandering bookstores for classic books Mary can read,  and listening to the F1 race from your pool. We couldn't see the cars, but we could see the busses as they drove infant of the stands... Which is what Moses would prefer to see. He'd be in heaven if it was a race made for dump trucks and busses rather than Ferraris. (Speaking of Ferraris, there was a race car driver visiting our ward on Sunday, he isn't currently on the circuit but drives for the team in Australia, and was here for the F1 this weekend. ALL of the 10 year old boys had to talk to him.)

The Norm.

I’m writing!

Long over due and it seems every time I do sit to write I don’t know where to start. The norm is happening and Moses and I are falling into new routines as all the other children attend school.

Maeser’s reading has improved immensely and his hesitancy to read has subsided. I am grateful there are fewer tears every time we open a book. 

Scout's adorable lisps are headed out the door. She is starting speech therapy at school this week. Her original assessment showed that we had grown used to her words and I didn't even notice how difficult it was to understand her. Her therapist wrote out the following for us and it's hilarious:

Scout's speech assessment: 

cup = tup

girl = dirl

wagon= wadon

lamp = wamp

rabbit = wabbit

plane = pwane

slide = swide

green = gween

frog = fog

flowers = fower

shovel = sovel

watch = wats

Scout has learned to endure school, she loves the friend part, and is completely exhausted by the time she gets home.

Mary is absorbed in middle school and the school play. Last year she had a difficult time turning assignments in electronically and prioritizing tasks. She hasn’t had any trouble with either of those issues this year. To Dan’s chagrin, she choose the play over running cross-country and she and Abe have started taking voice lessons.

Abraham remained in the advanced math class this year, is rock climbing whenever he has a free afternoon, taking both piano and voice lessons and last week officially promoted (do flyers make it official) his bread making skills. He thinks he’ll be a millionaire. I’m just glad it’s bread, he originally was going to compete with his cousin’s lemonade stand.

And Moses.

Our dialogue goes something like this:

“Mom.”

“Yeah?”

“MOM.”

“Yeah?”

“MOM!”

Me stopping everything, looking directly at/walking over to/ picking up child, “What?” 

“I have a secret. I need to go pee.”

I knew Scout was a huge asset to me accomplishing anything in less than an hour, but I had no idea how much he needed someone at his level, on the floor, undistracted by anything.

He’s my constant companion- except for when Imelda watches him so I can exercise. He loves to run any errand I’ve got... and he stopped taking naps. 

Dan has recovered well, and is back to riding, running and swimming. It’s a huge stress reliever, provides productive research time, and I think he sleeps better. I’m thankful his back doesn’t have chronic pain and I hope he finds a solution to strengthen it.

In the last 4 weeks I’ve tried to be better at my church calling and more supportive of those who have to make some heavy decisions for our ward/stake. I am accompanying a friend to her cancer treatments, I moved another friend out of her apartment because of an abusive relationship, took a cooking class by a friend from El Salvador, agreed to work on the ASIA Women’s Conference again, begun voice lessons, and have a list of books I hope to read in my spare time. 

When I reread this I realize I haven’t mentioned God at all. His light permeates everything we are doing or trying to do. I am thankful for the opportunities our children have to teach and lead gospel discussions in our home. I know the Come Follow Me program is inspired. I especially appreciate the daily conversations that happen between Dan and I, or with Julie. I am thankful to hear of and witness their testimonies of Christ in how they live, love, forgive, and respond to chaotic or difficult situations. I am learning to do and be better. 

Life is good. God is good. 

Here’s to writing again.