Life in a Northern Town: FAMILY LETTER 04.22.18

Dear Loved Ones,

We’ve enjoyed a lovely week, most of it with Aunt Marti and Gram, and lots of dental appointments and sports stuff, and FIVE days in a row of sunshine. The weatherman says that all ends tonight, though! Monday 4/16 we just hung out at home, cleaned up from the weekend, wrote and received missionary letters, and got dinner ready. We got to host a play date with sweet little Benjamin Taxeira while his gifted mum, Natalie, took family photos for the Jones Family before Eden left. We had planned to play baseball for Family Home Evening, but a horrible cold sleety storm blew in and ruined our plans. Instead, we still had stadium brats and salad and for dinner, but afterward we had story time from The Friend and talked about how God is waiting to bless us when we choose to obey. Benjamin and Ammon and Niles had a blast together—we will have to get them together again. After FHE, Gram and I read for a bit and Auntie and the big kids went downstairs and watched “The Greatest Showman” (we love that show). I was so tired, I fell asleep with Ammon at 8-ish!

Tuesday 4/17 I had to take James to Bozeman for an 8:30am orthodontic consult. He will be getting braces on July 10^th to correct misalignment and overbite. It was a little soggy in Livingston when we woke up, but we drove over the pass and it was a total winter wonderland. Of course it melted off by noon in the bright sun, but it was so pretty! While I was gone Marti and Gram had an adventure when Gram missed her chair and Marti couldn’t pull her up. Luckily, Richard’s office is less than a mile away and he was able to come help really quick. They all laughed and laughed telling me about this adventure. I figure the one thing you must have as life rolls on and our bodies weaken is a sense of humor—we either laugh at the absurdity or cry in frustration, and laughing is way more fun!

Wednesday morning Addie and her seminary friends got up at 4am to say goodbye to Eden as she left to catch a 6:30 plane to the MTC (which she missed and ended up checking into the MTC in the evening—so funny). I had planned an outing with Gram and Marti for Wednesday morning. We got brunch at Gil’s then went over to Obsidian to have a look around. Grammy bought a cute, fluffy pair of slippers and Aunt Marti found a cowboy picture book by our cousin Howard Post in the toy section. At noon, we went and picked up Niles and James to go to the dentist to get sealants on their molars. After a Costco run and 75 minutes at the dentist, we grabbed Ammon at Rich’s office, and went to meet Heidi at home at 4pm (Addie is gone until 5:30 every night at track practice). We cooked up the pizza and some salmon patties on greens for the no gluten/low carb people. James had scouts, Niles had his first baseball practice, but the other kids didn’t have YM/YW because there was a Mega Mutual activity Friday night, so the girls caught up on homework and laundry. Niles is super excited about baseball and he practices almost every day. He wants to be a good batter (this is his first year of coach pitch) so he’s working really hard at all his skills. It’s so cute. I read with Gram and Marti in the living room in the evening, then went to lay by Ammy and fell asleep. I woke up to edit a paper for Adeline on Google Docs (I love that we can work on homework over our phones, she in the basement, I in my bed ;)

Thursday we got all the kids off to school and hung out at home getting Marti and Gram packed up. At 1 we picked up Ammon from preschool and drove to Bozeman. Marti wanted salmon at Olive Garden, so we ate a late lunch there and I took them to the airport at 4pm. They had a wheelchair ready for Gram and Ammon and I carried in their bags and they were off! We had such a good time with them, I’m so grateful for Ralph and Marti bringing Gram up. It will probably be her last trip, but it was awesome to have her with us. And the boys are totally in love with Uncle Ralph—he could move in with us and they’d be so happy! I got home from the airport at 5:30pm to have orange chicken dinner with the kids (Heidi and James made dinner). Rich was still on his way home from a meeting in Helena. I was supposed to head back to Bozeman at 6:30pm for a stake public affairs meeting, but Addie and Rich weren’t home and I was exhausted, so I decided to phone it in—literally. We all went to bed super early.

Adeline didn’t have school on Friday and neither did Ammon. Ad met her friends and they all rode to the temple with Robyn Jones, Rebecca Smith, and Vicki Denniston. The kids did baptisms, the moms did endowments, and they came home around 3pm. Even though there was no school, she still had track practice at 4pm, so I took her to do that. I worked on laundry, got blood work done, and got a haircut and highlights. The evening Rich took Niles to practice and the girls to meet up for the Mega Mutual and found out they needed a driver, so he drove a car full of kids to Bozeman and I picked up the ballers and got them some taco bell food for dinner and we came home and watched a movie together. Dad came home with the big kids, and they all had a blast at their game night, even though it was mostly our ward, hahaha.

Saturday 4/21 Addie got up early to catch the bus for a track meet in Belgrade. I decided to take Heidi and the little boys over to Belgrade to watch Addie and do some shopping while Rich and James worked on the VW. It was pretty fun—perfect day for a track meet, sunny and 70*. Addie threw discus and javelin and cheered on her friends (she is still on a minimal running schedule with tendonitis, such a bummer). Rich was happy to have the windows back in the bug, the new stereo installed, and the original interior carpet installed. It looks great! He did the new (authentic 1965-style) headliner and upholstery before we went to California, so now we just need to put it all back together and go on a date to the drive in! ;) Addie didn’t get home from her track meet until 8:30pm, then she turned around and went to hang out with Clara while she babysat at Jones.’ Heidi wore a cute new dress and went to party with Sophia. The boys were worn out and fell asleep during a movie. I took a hot soak and got ready for Sunday.

Sunday 4/22 was ward conference for us. My favorite President Hetherington presided and taught us, which was a treat. The YW sang their 2018 theme song, “Peace in Christ” during sacrament meeting and it was beautiful! Such a great song for our day—when there’s no peace on earth, there is peace in Christ. THAT is what is going to get us through the next decade or two for sure. President H shared a cool power point presentation during his Sunday School lesson on creating a family mission plan. He talked about The Whys of the gospel, and presented sobering stats about convert baptisms. The average baptism per missionary these days is something like 1.3 (!!!!) and MOST of those converts are found through member friends and family. He had us repeat the affirmation:” I am a missionary. I need the full-time missionaries to help me in my work” to help us internalize that paradigm shift. He read several scriptures to remind us that we are only accountable for building relationships and inviting. We cannot be responsible for outcomes—“God gives the increase” in his due time. But our willingness to open our mouths when prompted greatly increases the odds of someone using their agency to choose the covenant path. This is not news, but a powerful and motivating reminder to share the good news in word and deed at all times and in all things and places. I also got to teach the creation and Adam and Eve to the Sunbeam class during 3^rd hour. We took a walk in the sunshine to see all the things Jesus made for us. That’s pretty much the best way to spend a Sunday Earth Day, imho. ;)

That’s all the news from us. We hope you all have a great week and feel how much you are loved!

Love, Jamie and Rich and Family