Stop Gambling

Amelia got transferred to West Bank last week! Her new companion is a native Spanish speaker (I think). Looking on the map it appears her new area includes Audubon Park and famous parts of NOLA. I am excited for her to learn Spanish with a vengeance now. It will be tough BUT worth it. We joined in a mission-wide zoom meeting with the missionaries and their families. At one point there were nearly 400 callers into the meeting! President and Sister Chard wanted their missionaries and their families to hear the mission goals and updates. We saw a slice of Amelia when Hermana Webster spoke for a moment. We have an obligation to pray for those our missionary is teaching, to find those searching, retain those investigating, and for safety. 

Tuesday evening was the CHS choir concert. An hour before the concert Mrs Sene texted me to change to plan for group photos. She wanted professional photos of the choir Wednesday during my lunch and prep time, which would’ve totally worked out. I suggested taking photos directly before or after the concert but that did not seem appealing to her…until Tuesday evening. She requested photos between each choir in front of the audience. I have no shame so that was fine with me! It was a bit awkward to drag out my lights, plug them in, adjust my camera settings in front of hundreds of folks. Eh, guess that was free advertising! The boys helped carry and position the lights which was a huge help. Con Brio sounded amazing! The choir is also very large this year as compared to other years. Mrs Sene said Concord is divided into half boys who want to work and the other half are goofing off, she said it’s challenging to get work done. Phillip had a part to deliver at the mic about the concert theme “in-between.” That is not an easy thing for him! He is making strides to be a leader in band and choir. 

It’s parent-teacher conference week. Justin and I met with Mrs Hodges about Josie. She scored really low on the reading AMIRA test, to the point she might need resource again. I think she reads just fine! Hodges was also a bit confused because she did not see Josie struggling with reading. The students will take the AMIRA again this month, hopefully she will test better this time. Phillip is struggling with ELA, he had an “incomplete” grade because he was missing two essays that make up 80% of the grade. He needed his notebook to write the essays so off we went to CHS for a meeting with his ELA and Math teachers. He was missing a rhetorical analysis of President Bush’s 9-11 address and another essay writing a letter from the POV of a boy living in the early 1900’s. He caught up on his missing math homework Thursday. The rhetorical essay was a different level of pain. I helped him research it while waiting for his MCO choir to start. He basically, just sat there moaning and babbling. Painful, I tell you. Evelyn was also struggling with an assignment in Social Studies using the 5 areas of geography to analyze Niagara Falls compared to Miami, which city could you best survive a zombie apocalypse. Let’s just skip the drama…it was a weekend full of moaning and procrastination. 

We attended the NSD band showcase Wednesday night. All three HS bands performed their show for everyone to see how amazing these students are. It was fun to watch Phillip and Bodhe take charge of the front ensemble. They had a huddle and created a team attitude. Later Phillip…yes Phillip…was dancing in front of the entire audience when all the bands came together for the last band number. The front ensembles did not have a task so Phillip and Bodhe started dancing. Warmed my heart. 

The girls did a little thrifting Thursday before MCO. Josie wants to be Harper, from Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella for Halloween. She has a red umbrella, needed a yellow jacket, red skirt, black boots, and a B/W polka dotted shirt. Evelyn scored some really cute tops. That was quite fun. Later Josie went with me to Fred Meyer. I saw in their weekly ad some Pokemon squishville figures I’ve been looking for, for months. Score! The boys at school will be thrilled. 

Phillip had a band retreat all day Friday. I hear they went golfing, ate lunch out, went to the village mall, and had a catered dinner. Honestly, the staycation was a nice change over the usually Utah trip. He got to be home for at least Sunday’s General Conference sessions. He begged me for $60 for spending money, he’s broke! 

I took 6 giggling girls to the mall…on purpose. Evelyn wanted to celebrate her birthday with a girl’s hang out at the mall. Before the mall Maleena, Delyla, Sophie, and Macy came over to do whatever pre-teens do for a couple of hours. I dropped off Macy and picked up Lyla then headed to the mall. Josie came along to be my buddy. I peeked the girls a few times wandering about chattering and smiling. Evelyn got some sparkle spray from Milk Jelli, she’s in heaven. 

General Conference was so restful. In-between sessions it was time to put away the lemon decor and drag out the pumpkin stash. Josie and Evelyn sort of did the fall shop with beardy and dooter. It was not as appealing this year, I kept stealing items when they were off on adventures. I found some nifty green yarn shred stuff that is really fun to decorate with. Evelyn lost her blessed mind after the second session because she did not want to do the dishes. Justin did the dishes the previous evening because she was out with her friends. She did not understand why she had to dishes when she did part of them yesterday. She only wanted to do the dishes from yesterday and none from Saturday. She finally huffed off and just did the dishes. I am proud no one except Evelyn needed to wear an afro. Phillip came home and fell asleep on the couch after a long day at the Kuna competition. CHS earned 1st place overall! Way to go guys. After dinner Phillip lost his own mind when it was time to write the rhetorical analysis essay. He sat and moaned for 4 hours. Justin had Phillip watch the speech and explained from his POV how that speech shaped America. By 10:45 pm Phillip was angry and not making any progress. It was time to throw down. He had to finish the essay by 2 pm on Sunday or he would not attend band practice Monday evening. That is about the worst consequence possible for Phillip right now. He went to bed angry and sulking. He popped awake around 8 am on Sunday and busted out the last 3 paragraphs in less than 45 minutes. Praise be to God for sleep and threats. 

We ate candy, consumed a veggie tray (well, not the tray), and enjoyed apple doughnuts for our conference treats. The veggie tray was exceptionally delicious. I cannot believe a bag of peanut M&Ms cost $20. Food prices are tremendously high right now with gas prices hovering around $5 per gallon for gas and $8 for diesel. Josie sewed a koala craft she got for a birthday several years ago. Evelyn slept with her head in the couch. We had Legos out to step on. The general gist of conference focused on daily discipleship. President Christofferson threw down on the topic of gambling! That is a topic I’ve not heard about in dozens of years. President Oaks challenged us to balance secular learning with gospel learning to increase our spiritual understanding. We are invited to study the Book of Mormon. Missionary work and sharing the gospel was also mentioned in nearly every talk.