My Dearest Brother,
This was a pretty amazing week so prepare for a long letter…
;-)
Since I already typed this up once I am just copying and
pasting this experience for you. This is from Monday, March 18th:
[SEE MY MONDAY POST TITLED "TENDER MERCIES"]
Pretty cool, huh? Since that experience there have been a
few other things that have happened this week to make it an excellent week.
On Wednesday Jake took the day off of work so that we could
take care of many projects that
needed tending to around the house. With both of us in school and working there
are a lot of things that go neglected around the house. We had shut the door to
our extra bedroom and ignored the results of The Fly Infestation of 2013 in
there, there was a hole in the ceiling of our family room where a broken light
fixture had once been, we had a couch in our garage for several weeks, broken
blinds in the family room (also a result of the fly infestation of 2013), etc.
etc. The list really does go on, sadly enough. I was done with it all and I
knew that I couldn’t change everything on my own.
Because Jake was home I got to attend a Multi-Step class at
the gym that day. It was a really fun class and I left energized and ready to
tackle the house. And tackle we did. We cleaned and cleaned and fixed and
organized the whole day long. We made a trip to Wal-mart to purchase new blinds
and curtains and light fixtures and everything. We rearranged the basement to
fit the new couch we were given. It took us from about 10:00 am to 9:30 pm. We
ended the day sore and exhausted but so pleased with the results of our hard
work. The house has a completely different feeling about it now. It feels more
peaceful to be here and we are happy and content with it. It is amazing what a
difference hard work can make!
We decided to celebrate Easter today because next Saturday
is Jake’s birthday and next Sunday is our Fast Sunday because of General
Conference and Stake Conference the week afterwards. We set up the kids’
buckets last night and I have attached a picture of them for you. The huge
fluffy animals were only $10.99 each! The only thing that isn’t included in the
picture is the pound of strawberries that I got for each of them. I set those
out first thing in the morning and both kids have been munching away at them
all day. We put little treats and crackers in eggs and hid them all over the
living room for the kids to find them. They weren’t as interested in what was
in the eggs as the fun in finding the eggs. Nathan especially would go around
the room and every time he found an egg he would hold it up and yell, “I found!”
We took the opportunity before going out to their baskets to
talk to the kids about the reason we celebrate Easter. We talked about Christ’s
death and his resurrection and Abrielle was totally transfixed on the idea that
Jesus Christ died to save her. She kept repeating over and over, “Jesus died to save Abrielle? Oh yeah, it’s ‘cause He
loves me.” It was really precious and really warmed my heart. I think that it
left a good impression on her which is, ultimately, the most important part of
the holiday.
We took Abrielle to a group Karate class yesterday to see
how she liked it. We were impressed by the outline of the class and their focus
on taking turns, fitness, discipline, self-control, and self-esteem. I think she got pretty overwhelmed with the
experience and retreated to me for a while. She doesn’t do well with
overstimulation. However much we liked the class, the prices are
unrealistically high. To give you an idea… it is more expensive than mom and
dad paid for me to be a classically trained pianist every month. Yikes. There
is no way that we could afford it. So we will continue to search for what is
right for her. She absolutely loves preschool and I am glad that she has that.
Nathan continues to talk more and more. He has been
especially clingy this week as he has been getting his molars in. I certainly
don’t mind most of the time as I am the one that he wants to be with and I love
to snuggle him and comfort him. The hardest times are when he is constantly
holding on to my pants as I am trying to do things around the house. This
becomes especially awkward if I am wearing pajama pants that insist on not
staying up…. But I try to be understanding and have spent a good deal of time
holding him.
Jake passed his Business Law exam on Saturday and earned 6 credits for the class in doing so. He will pick up with school a lot more this week and I don’t know if I already mentioned that he could be done with this program in only 1 year. It will almost certainly take longer than that but it would be nice if he were finishing up at WGU when I am finishing up at SLCC in Fall of 2014.
My alarm is set for 12:05 am so that I can get up and
register for summer semester. I definitely have the butterflies about it… CALCULUS… but I know that this is the
path that the Lord intended for me and for my family and I know that as I work
hard that he will support me.
I have been on Spring Break this week and it has been a much
needed break. I only have 6 weeks left of this semester. There is a lot to do
in that time but I am going to attempt a different focus to help me get through
it. I realized that I spend a lot of time thinking about why I am unhappy and
dwelling on those points. Granted, I have some legitimate reasons now and then
to be unhappy. The problem comes when I dwell on those things. I have decided
to try and ask myself, “Why am I happy right now?” I believe that as I shift my
focus to the reasons I have to be happy that I will be better able to manage my
problems with anxiety.
This past week Kayden’s Grandmaster teacher, Alex Chernin,
told mom and dad that Kayden needs to improve his stamina. Alex suggested
getting involved in some kind of sports activity. Mom and dad have decided that
he will be following a regime of regular exercise. You know what that means?
WOO HOO!!! This girl has something that she can still teach her smarty-pants
brother. On Thursday I took Kayden through a 25 minute Boot Camp-style workout.
He was completely convinced that he was going to die by the end. I was proud of
him for sticking with it and I made him some of my special homemade chocolate
milk for a recovery drink. I also made him a gourmet pasta lunch that mom said
was delicious. I will be working with him every Tuesday and Thursday while he
is in town and I am over there while Abrielle is at preschool. The other days
of the week he is supposed to get up at 6:30 am to work out on his own. You
better watch out! He is going to be pretty tough by the time you get home!
We had the opportunity to go out with Mom and Dad for Jake’s
birthday on Friday night. We went to Zac’s semi-final church basketball game
first and they crushed the other team. The score was like 53 – 38. After
congratulating Zac we went over to our favorite sushi place – Nagoya. We got
lots of DELICIOUS rolls. I have decided that I am the kind of person that would
probably handle sashimi just fine. (Sashimi = chunks of raw fish). I like the
freshness of the rolls that have large pieces of raw fish on them and I don’t
even need tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) to get them down easily and enjoy
them. I also LOVE fresh ginger. That beautiful pink stuff that they serve on
each plate? Yeah. I eat that stuff like CANDY every time we go. YUMMY!
Dad and Jake got dessert at Chili’s afterwards while mom and
I sat and exchanged calendars for the summer. Her summer looks pretty bad
through May but she isn’t nearly as busy overall this year as she was last
year. For that, I am very grateful. It makes me sad when she is gone for so
long. We had an absolute blast with mom and dad. We laughed a lot, had
delicious food and even better conversation. I am so glad that we have a great
relationship with them.
After dinner Jake and I went off to the Oquirrh Mountain
temple for a cleaning assignment. There were over 40 volunteers there so we
only had to work for a little over an hour before we got to head home. We still
got home after midnight but we were grateful to be able to fulfill the
assignment.
I told you that this letter would be long… there was a lot
more that I could’ve said but I will leave it at that. We are off to the Dunford’s
house to have dinner with the extended family to celebrate Jake and Bryce’s
birthdays that are up and coming.
I love you so very much, dear brother. Know that you are in
my thoughts and in my prayers always.
LOVE ETERNALLY, Shayla
Easter Baskets for the babies!
_______________________________
QUESTIONS FOR MY DEAR READERS: How and when are you celebrating Easter? Have you ever had sushi/sashimi? Are birthdays a big deal in your family? How do you celebrate?
Loves...Shayla
P.S. Sorry for the complete lack of pictures this week!
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