Posts

April 2023 Newsletter

-
Image
 It is approaching the end of April. The weather has begun to heat up a little: We had temperatures in the 70s for a couple days before it dropped back down and snowed a couple days ago. There are starting to be little buds on the trees and grape hyacinths have begun to appear in odd corners here and there. I'm ready for summer. A countdown has begun: Steven has informed me I only have 11 more lessons to teach for seminary, ten if you consider that the last day will just be the assessment. I love teaching seminary but it gets harder and harder to wake up in the morning and be coherent enough to feel the Spirit at that time in the morning.  I'm still working at JoAnn Fabrics. I spend most of the time at the register, but occasionally I have been assigned to the cut counter, which has given me more opportunity to become more familiar with where things are in the store. I enjoy working there; most of the people I interact with are very friendly and I enjoy talking with them about
Post a Comment
Read more

A Stomach Bug and a New Job

-
 This morning I kneel before the porcelain throne, my humble offerings pouring from my mouth. I'm grateful seminary was canceled on account of the weather so I can dedicate myself wholeheartedly to this force which will not be denied.  On Saturday I had a job interview at JoAnn Fabrics, and after an hour long chat with the manager, she offered me a job! This week is background checks and paperwork (is it still called paperwork if it's all digital?), but I should start next week! It will be strange working again, even if it will only be part-time, but it is one of my favorite shops to hang around in, the people there have always been super nice, and I'm looking forward to it!
Post a Comment
Read more

A Visit to the Endocrinologist

-
Image
 On Tuesday I went to the endocrinologist for a follow up visit. I had blood drawn for labs last week, so Tuesday I was hoping for some good news, but also looking for an explanation for why I've been feeling so tired lately. I'm not sure exactly what I wanted to hear: "Yay, the cancer is gone and you can forget it ever happened!" would have been extremely wishful thinking.  "Yay, the cancer is gone, but you still need to take your meds for the rest of your life and come in every six months or year for a check up to make sure it stays gone." would have been more realistically optimistic. What did I really hear? I came away from that appointment in kind of a numb fog. Yes, part of that is because I was tired (I took a nap in the waiting room while waiting for the doctor to be ready for me) and frequently have brain fog. (What's Steven's boss's name again - the one he talks about all the time and I made that crochet bee for?) In spite of the fog, I
Post a Comment
Read more

The Year in Review: Me

-
Image
 I've written a lot about myself already this year. I wrote about my thyroid cancer recurrence and surgery. (See here ,  here , here , here , and here ) In October I got to do another radiation treatment. (See the f irst time here . This post also has an explanation on how the radiation treatment works.) This time, things were a little different. To begin with, they made me go on a low iodine diet for the full 10 days before the radiation. I couldn't eat anything with iodized salt, sea salt, dairy, or egg yolk, and because it is hard to tell in prepared foods what uses iodized salt and what used non-iodized salt, I had to be wary of any food with salt as an ingredient. Thank goodness for the resources available on the LID Life Community because they have done the research to find out which packaged foods are safe to eat, and even what foods at certain restaurants are okay.  Last time I did the radiation, I didn't start on my thyroid medicine until after I had done it. This
Post a Comment
Read more

John's Homecoming Talk

-
Image
When I was young, my siblings and I used to walk to the local high school to use the swimming pool there. The pool had a high dive as well as a low dive, and on occasion I would climb the ladder to the high dive and stand at the top and look down into the depths of the pool below. Sometimes I gathered the courage to jump, and sometimes I couldn't take that last step, but rather turned around and went back down the ladder to safer ground.  John was given the opportunity to speak in church today. He has spoken in other sacrament meetings in other wards over the last few months. He had his scriptures open. He opened his mouth to speak... and no sound came out. He tried again, but it seemed like his throat had closed up. He couldn't get the words out. He swallowed, licked his lips, opened his mouth again, but still, he couldn't convince the words to come. After a few minutes, the bishop stood up and put his arm around John and spoke to him quietly for a moment. John returned to
Post a Comment
Read more

The Year in Review: Peter in 2022

-
Image
Peter loves drama, and he's good at it too. This year he has been in production after production, developing his talents. In March he played the munchkin mayor in The Wizard of Oz. ( See here for my blog on that ).  In April he played a lead role in the one act play Abra Cadaver. ( Here's my blog on that. ) At the end of his Junior year in high school, he was elected as co-president of the drama club and was granted stewardship of the traditional Kermit the Frog doll for acting. (There are four stuffed frogs that are passed from a graduating drama student to the drama student that student feels best exemplifies that role. Josh received the "Kermie" for tech while he was in high school. Other Kermies are passed for costumes and light/sound.) In July he performed in the community theater production of The Servant of Two Masters. ( Blog post ) In October, Peter performed as the narrator in the high school production of Puffs: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certai
Post a Comment
Read more

The Year in Review: Hannah in 2022

-
Image
When Hannah was a missionary in Brazil, she met a guy. Elder Moroni Torres was another missionary, from Recife, Bazil. When Hannah returned home from her mission in March 2020, she and Moroni continued to communicate. Since then, they have continued to talk, pretty much every day, and Hannah even returned to Brazil twice to see him. (See here and here .) Eventually he moved to Portugal in order to get a better job. In April of this year, Hannah moved to Portugal. ( See blog post here ) At the time, we didn't know how long she would spend there. After two years of a long distance relationship, they needed to figure out where it was headed, whether they got along well enough in person to get married, or whether they should break up and move on. When she left here, she had a round-trip ticket for just in case things didn't work out, but the date of potential return came and went and she continued on. She got an apartment and a job in a restaurant. At church she was called as secr
Post a Comment
Read more