Penverick

I am honored to announce that Maverick and Penny welcomed a goose child, his name is Penverick. Now we have an honest-to-goodness gaggle of porch geese. The reason is quite silly…I bought Santa and Mrs Claus outfits…plus an elf. Gotta have 3 to get all the cute outfits at the same time. I am so relieved Penverick came AFTER the wedding. At least our geese are keeping the commandments. 

No real updates on Justin’s job search. He’s had a few interviews this week. The most promising job is with Blue Cross Blue Shield, but they said the turn around would be 10+ days after his interviews. Justin is filling out all the applications and working with head hunters every day. He is very pleased his sports coat fits his new svelte body, he’s lost over 80 pounds now. 

Tuesday was voting day. Justin went around 11 am and reported the lines we snaking around the church inside and out. Idaho was voting on Prop 1 (yes for abortion, no for current law to stay), Senator, Representatives, Governor, and local leaders. It was a very important election. With all the recent newcomers, mostly democratic or liberal, the uptick for changing Idaho from a red state to a blue seemed to be the largest issue. Election results kept our state a red state, phew. The division is equalizing so there is no telling what may happen at the next election. Thank heavens Prop 1 was not passed, abortion laws will not change this time around. After work I stopped at home to give dinner directions then head off to the Stake center, aka voting precinct, to cast my votes. The line wrapped around the inside halls twice! The wait was 3 hours long. I witnessed a miracle. My coworker Heidi Ipsen was near the front of the line when I joined the end of the line. She voted and left with her kids in tow. An hour later she was back with 7 pizzas, bags of chips, candy, and cookies. I heard her unique laugh drifting down the hallway, peeked around the gal in front of me to see this SINGLE MOM of 3 jovially walking down the hallway passing out treats to little kids and big adults who had not anticipated the 2-3 hour wait. She is an absolute goddess. How she thinks of serving others like that when her own circumstances are less than ideal is what makes her the someone I want to emulate. While I was finally checking in to vote the precinct director lamented that she did not have the staff nor time to tell the guys on the other side of the gym divider that they could not play basketball that night, the church was monetarily reserved by the city as a voting precinct that night. I happily volunteered! Heck, I boss kids around all day. Indeed voting with basketballs smacking the floor every other second was rather distracting. My vote cast, I walked out and around to the gym. I politely asked the 6 guys playing basketball that tonight was not the best night for their practice session, and to come back another night. Their immediate response was, we belong to the church and have the right to play in their church gym. That really stoked my fire. The attitude and entitlement. I quickly responded that I too was a member and this was also the chapel I worshipped at BUT the building was rented out. They didn’t care, continued to play. I walked in and demanded $20 per basketball player to give the precinct director as sub-rent. The guys muttered that I was a bitch and eventually left because playing basketball for $120 was out of their budget. Gracious. I don’t even want to consider what a non-member would have felt about that interaction. What image are we portraying to others? 

I went to MCO this week to get attire stuff worked on and more singers checked off. I was rather disappointed that out of the 15 that came 5 had not fixed their attire! They wore the same attire without fixing hem lengths, getting the right bowtie, or fixing their shoe issues. I must say that rankled a bit because here I am working two jobs and volunteering for this position at MCO only to have folks waste my time. It stinks! My favorite excuse is still: I’m wearing the right pants but the satin strip fell off. Somehow his trousers also turned from black to navy blue. That is exciting! I enjoyed listening to the music floating down the hallway as I sent out yet more emails about corrections that will never happen. Yay!

This week at school my students are learning to make greeting cards in Adobe Express. I heard the expected whining at first, after a little while whining turned to enjoyment! Students will have the chance to share their cards with someone they love for Thanksgiving. I was excited to examine the results from our 4 weeks of typing. I actually have a 2nd grader who out-typed the entire 5th grade! She is amazing. My favorite part of working with elementary students is, of course, teasing them. They love it and I love it. Being silly once in a while is so refreshing. 

I edited another session and a half this weekend. I went grocery shopping at Winco this week just to change it up a bit. I loaded a few items up that were growing sparse and getting ingredients unavailable to Walmart. I also helped the girls switch out their summer clothes with winter clothing. In the process we worked to tidy their room. I am excited to report more than 80% of the carpet is now showing. I offered the Goddess Heidi Ipsen a photo session. The last time she had family photos was when her son was born, he’s 8 now! I figured after her divorce she needed some cute updated photos of her family. 

The new YW presidency could not make it to the weekend’s youth Temple trip! I was thrilled to be asked to go help with the girls. We plowed through all the men’s names Grandma Debbie gave us for Christmas. Embarrassing we are just getting to those names! The kids (and I) kept forgetting to bring the envelopes. Brother Braithwaite confirmed half of our family names. Goodness me, the spirit was so powerful my eyes were leaking, Brother Braithwaite could barely speak. A few of my ancestors were very excited to have their work done! Josie invited her friends over for an afternoon playing warrior cats in her room. They were up in her room for a couple of hours! I caught sight of several terrible looking wounds acquired as the clans fought each other. Don’t worry only markers were harmed in the encounters. I am relieved this trimester is over. Hopefully, I will do better to keep the kids on task instead of waiting until the last three weeks. Report cards are coming out this week. 

I watched the movie Amazing Grace about William Wilburforce’s 20 year fight in Parliament to end the transatlantic slave trade. The struggle was real! I cried a tear or two listening to the conflict finally resolve. What a fight to fight! We also tried watching the Messenger about Joan of Arc. I forgot it was a 3 hour movie, we made it through the entire film. The girls were mostly bored after the first hour. However, that movie remains my favorite depiction of Joan’s story. 

I am grateful for Amelia. She is giving her time and talents to the Lord in order to find those searching for truth and light. I am grateful for a warm home, food on the table, heated rooms in the morning, and love in our home. I am grateful to Father Lehi for his discourse in 2 Nephi 2, contrast that discourse to what is found in the Old Testament! He UNDERSTOOD the gospel, he KNEW the gospel inside and out. If he knew all that 600 years before Christ and those principles are still very relevant what else did he know? It was eye opening to me to contrast his message to his sons with the messages we’ve studied the past 3 weeks in Come Follow Me. I’m grateful for opposition in all things.