Tiff's Home for Spring Break!

Tiffany made it home today for her week long Spring Break. Her day began early as she had to catch the 5:30 a.m. train (The City of New Orleans) from Mattoon to Chicago. Thanks to Greg for getting her to the train station and seeing her off. Once in Chicago, she had to go from Union Station to Clinton Street station to catch the CTA train to O'Hare airport. She called me while still on the train to Chicago and said, "I'm leaving from O'Hare, right?" I told her that was right. She has flown out of Midway a couple of times. In that case she has to catch a different train once she gets to Chicago. I should have realized then that she hadn't checked her travel plans too closely before she left. Once she got to the airport, she called and said they were having trouble pulling up her itinerary at American Airlines. (I had told her she was flying American. That means I hadn't checked too closely, either. I was mainly looking at the flight times and flight number when we were talking on the phone last night. Duh. I didn't really look at the airline.) When I checked my copy of her itinerary on the computer, I saw that she was flying Delta instead of American. No wonder. But we finally got it all straightened out and she got checked in with Delta. She said she'd print out her itinerary next time. (When you order your tickets a few months in advance it's hard to remember the details unless you print them off or check everything right before you leave.) Then, once she landed in Salt Lake, she started looking for me and couldn't find me. I had been looking for her, as well. She called me but I didn't hear my phone, so I didn't answer. About 10 minutes after I knew she should have arrived, I looked at my phone and saw I had two missed calls from her. I called her and asked where she was. Come to find out, she was in Terminal One and I was in Terminal Two. That's funny. Terminal Two is where Delta flights come in, but she said she just went to the terminal nearest the gate where she arrived. But we finally got together after a few miscues. Thank goodness for cell phones.

On the way home, we stopped by the Barretts. Steven was there watching the girls while Nate and Lindy went to see Vantage Point. He had agreed to stop by there after dropping Richard off so that Nate and Lindy could leave for the movie. I didn't think Tiff and I could make it in time for them to leave, and I was right. So we met up with Steven and the girls at the Barretts, then we all came over here for the big sleepover. Even Sidney came; but only for dinner and fun, not to sleep over. We had a delicious dinner of Uncle Kevin beans and spaghettios. Sidney loved it so much she had three helpings of each. Camden and Riley enjoyed theirs, too. Then we had mini chocolate chip cookies for dessert. The girls had fun visiting and playing with Tiff and Grampa while Gramma cleaned up. Lindy and Nate came by and picked up Sidney, who was getting pretty tired by this time. After the girls brushed their teeth and had prayers, they watched some Hairspray with Tiff and Gramma before going to bed. They were so tired, and so was Tiffany. I hope they're able to have a good sleep.

Camden's Ear Ache

Yesterday (Wednesday) Steven went with Richard and me over to American Fork to drop Richard off for work. Then we went by Macey's to stock up on some things during the big case lot sale. We got a bunch of canned goods to "beef up" our food storage. (Lindy--you could go get some garbanzo beans while they're on sale. Those are good food storage items.) On our way to Macy's this weird snow storm blew over. It started out as just a few flakes and then more and more. We could see this "ginormous" (as Tiff would say) storm cloud barreling our way, bringing with it wind and snow. We were in the store as the worst of it passed over. Then it was gone.

On the way home we decided to stop by the Barretts. We went inside. All was quiet. No one was there. We could tell that they had made a speedy exit. Not long after we got there, Lindy came home with the girls. Camden was crying and we could tell something was wrong. It turns out, her ear was hurting. She had been at dance and the dance teacher had called Lindy to say that Camden was crying and complaining that her ear hurt. So Lindy took Riley and Sidney and went and picked Camden up and took her to the doctor. The doctor looked in her ear and then took some wax out, but said that Camden's ear didn't appear to be infected. She gave Camden some Motrin and then sent them on their way. Camden's ear was still hurting when they got home, and she was pretty sad. So Grandpa cuddled with her for awhile and she settled down a bit. When Daddy Nate came home, he and Grandpa gave Camden a blessing to help her feel better. I was upstairs with Riley and Sidney. When I said something to Lindy about the blessing, Sidney folded her arms as soon as she heard the word "blessing." Riley read to me about monkeys jumping on the bed, and Sidney read to me to out of a couple of books for about five seconds each.

Before long, Camden started perking up while lying on the couch and watching a movie. We were glad to see her starting to feel better. I told her that I used to have ear aches when I was a little girl and my mom would put something in my ear to help it feel better. When we got home, I called Mom (Grandma Great) and asked her what she would do for my ear aches. She said that she would barely warm up some olive oil (baby oil will do) in a teaspoon and put a couple of drops in my ear followed by some cotton in the ear and then a warm, moist pack held against the ear. I remember that it did help my ear feel better. Mom said I used to scream and scream with my ear aches. I have waxy ears, too, just like Camden. We hope she continued to feel better and that she was able to have a good night.

Good luck to Karalie today with her second chemo treatment. She got lots of fun head gear and jewels at her head-shaving party on Monday. Her friend ended up not actually shaving Karalie's head but just cutting it very short. Also, we're looking forward to Tiffany coming home tomorrow for Spring Break and our sleepover with the girls. We're going to have lots of fun.

Having Fun with Sidney

Today I got to have some fun with Sidney while Lindy had Riley's pre-school at their house. When I arrived there, Sidney was still asleep and Lindy was getting the kids started. She had the house decorated so cute and everything all planned and set up nicely. It looked like lots of fun would be happening. I watched the kids do their puzzles for a few minutes. Riley was being so good and meticulous, doing everything just right. I can't say so much for the little boys, however. Sidney woke up a little later, so I went and got her out of bed. She seemed suprised to see me, but happy. I changed her pants, then we read a few stories. She let me know when she'd had enough, and we went downstairs. She could hear the kids being busy down there. So we went down and said hi to the kids, then put her jacket on and went out to the car. She acted like, "What's going on?" She seemed quite surprised that she was leaving all by herself with Gramma. When I buckled her in to the car seat, she seemed quite amazed. Like, "What's happening? Where are we going?" As we drove along she still seemed as if she couldn't believe what was happening. I needed to get a few groceries, so we stopped by Albies (Albertson's). The whole time she seemed so surprised to be with me on an outing. In the store she started chatting and commenting on everything while we picked out the things we needed. Then we went by the house to drop the groceries off and see Uncle Rich for a minute. She played with him while I brought the groceries in. Then she got to sit up and have some cheerios and apples. She thought that was quite fun. Then it was time to head home. When we got to her neighborhood, she got quite excited because she knew she was going home. I think she thought she was quite the big girl to go on an outing all by herself with Gramma, but she was still very happy to get home and see her mom and sisters.

Last night the speakers at the MTC devotional were Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy and his wife, Kathy. Sis. Jensen spoke about obedience and how the motto of their mission in Rochester, New York, when Elder Jensen was president, was: "Obedience brings success." She told about how one of their daughters had accepted a date with a young man. Someone who knew him said, "I was in the mission field with him, and he wasn't an obedient missionary." Her brother then told her, without knowing the young man, "He's not for you." Sis. Jensen then encouraged the missionaries to "be the kind of missionary you'd like your brother or sister to date."

Elder Jensen spoke about the conversion process which begins with a seeker. That seeking will eventually bring a person to the truth. A seeker is motivated by the light of Christ. The Holy Ghost can register truth with the seeker through a messenger who has a testimony. That leads the seeker to ask, "What shall I do?" The answer is to invite the seeker to repent and obey, which brings about forgiveness of sin. The seeker is born again, their spirit is healed.

I, of course, haven't summarized Elder Jensen remarks very well, but I've given the general idea of what he said about conversion. We met with the new district, District A, after the devotional and they all seemed prompted and encouraged by the Jensens' remarks to be more obedient and to strive to be powerful messengers of the truth, to find those who are seeking, and to be able to invite them to repent and obey.