This week...
...Jason was being crazy on our drive home from church. Oh wait. He's always crazy!
...these three kiddos were playing so well together. They were getting along enough to cuddle nicely on Sunday afternoon.
...Paul was helping Jason make biscuits for Sunday dinner. That boy likes to cook.
Nice, quiet coloring at the table. See, we do have moments of calm. Not many, but some. :)
The girls were being silly with my sunglasses at Alex's birthday party. Katie, Sydney, Claire, Emma.
Then we had some photo bombers! Paul and Trenton wanted to be cool too.
...Jason gave the most amazing talk on kindness at church. So we followed up on kindness in our Family Home Evening. Jason spoke of how the Savior taught by example to be kind to everyone. People that were sick or afflicted, that others typically shunned or passed by, the Savior stopped to help. Jason then shared the example of how people had shown kindness to their family one Christmas by leaving a whole pile of gifts on the doorstep. They wouldn't have had much otherwise. He shared how he started mowing Sister Armstrong's lawn in high school and about their conversations when he was done or took a break. When he was having a hard time after he came home from his mission for knee surgery, and wondering what to do with his life, Sister Armstrong asked him to come mow her lawn. They talked again. She listened. And that helped. Then Jason shared how he has wanted to cultivate that same kindness in his life and that of his children. He shared about the PUD man that came to help us with our fan when we first moved in. We would turn the fan on and it would turn off our DVD player. This man came and tried all that he could to get that fixed. We were impressed with him. Later that year during Christmas time, Jason saw our PUD friend at the hospital. His 15 year old daughter had cancer. So Jason decided to give his holiday pay (he defers it until the end of the year) to help this family with medical costs. He even got a prominent man from the community to match his amount. Another time, when we were in Othello, Jason, while serving as Executive Clerk, overheard a man in our ward asking the Bishop for financial assistance. He could tell that the man was humbled to have to ask for help and Jason wanted to do something. That night, we took all of our extra cash from our envelopes and gave it to the Bishop to give to this family. Jason ended his talk with this little poem quoted by President Monson: I have wept in the night for the shortness of sight that to somebody's need made me blind; But I never have yet felt a tinge of regret for being a little too kind. Jason did such a great job and touched so many people by his personal examples. He was also so overcome with emotion the whole time, which doesn't normally happen. Everyone could tell that these examples had had an impact on his life.
...we went on a picnic. The kids put their own food together and we packed it all away in our baskets for the looooooong walk out the front door and across the street to the park. :0)
...we planted a tree. We've wanted to add some landscaping to the front yard since...well to be honest, since the day we moved in. We just had to wait for the funds to be available. Paul helped with this project for cub scouts.
Did I say that he was helpful? Let's rethink that...
Our neighbor, Dan, knows his stuff when it comes to planting trees. He was out front when we started and then picked up a shovel to help us dig. His stepson Mason came over to help too. Wow, what a nice neighbor. We were thankful for their help.
...we found a leak. And it was on the inside of the wall! Bad news guys, bad news! We turned the water on to use it for the tree and I noticed water leaking out from underneath the siding. What?! So Jason quickly turned the water main off and we assessed the damage. Jason ran to Lowe's for a part, but we soon realized that you have to have special tools to fix the problem we had. Expensive tools. Luckily, the guy working for Aho was able to stop by on his way home from work. Phew! With that weight off our shoulders and our pockets feeling just as light (ugh!), we had solved the leaky faucet problem. Our friend Tyson, from Zerorez, let us borrow a fan to put in the crawl space to dry out the water that had leaked down there.
...Emma went to see the eye doctor. She was having trouble seeing the things that her teacher projected through the document camera, and she wasn't that far back in the classroom. We went to my cousin Dr. Kurtis Hill. She's going to need glasses.
...Paul and I practiced our drawing skills. We like to watch a drawing channel on you tube that takes us through drawings step by step. It's www.easydrawingtutorials.com. But we just watch their channel on you tube. Here's their logo so you can find it to!
...we sprayed the built-ins. Jason is really amazing! I can't believe that we are at this step of the project. Sometimes you dream about things for a long time and they never happen. Well, Jason certainly made this dream happen. I can't wait! Tyson Chapman helped Jason put up the Zip Wall for the paint booth. He's also here to work on an Adirondack chair for his wife as a surprise for her birthday.
