Root Canal, Family Home Evening and Events

Monday morning I headed out into the snow to attend our Mission Devotional. Our Mission President, President Holmes talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I need to do a better job of taking notes, because my memory isn't what it used to be. He promised to send out his talk and slides, but he hasn't done that yet. He is revamping it. I remember it was very powerful and I'm looking forward to reviewing his presentation.

I walked home right after the Devotional so I could take Steve to the Endodontist for his Root Canal. He said the doctor was very good. While I waited in the lobby, I was able to work on several little projects. I took my laptop and was able to study my scriptures, work on one of my Emotional Resilience lessons, and even take care of several things for work.

When Steve was finished with his procedure he was already feeling better than he had for several days. We immediately went from there to our regular doctor for our annual exam. We both really enjoy our doctor and she lets us do our visits together. We are both healthy, and other than a few more aches and pains here and there, we are doing great.

By the time we finished both visits and stopped off to pick up Steve's prescription, our "work" day was nearly over so we went home to work there. Thankfully our work load was light so we were able to do all that needed to be done.

Family Home Evening was so much fun as usual. Elder and Sister Farnsworth were in charge. They played a very fun game that used books. I think it is called "Bring Your Own Book". All the books we had were Church books, but any books would do. There were cards that had various categories on them. Someone picked a card and read one of the categories, such as "A sitcom episode". Then everyone would look in there books to find something that went with the category and said "found it". Then a timer was set for 1 minute so everyone else could find it too. If at the end of the minutes you still couldn't find something you were to put your finger on something and use that. Then we went around the circle telling what we found and the person who read the card had to pick the best answer. For example someone may have found something like "David slew Goliath" for their Sitcom episode. Needless to say, there were lots of laughs. Elder and Sister Stevens showed up near the end so we could get pictures before they left on Wednesday morning.

Tuesday started with our Zone Devotional. Elder and Sister Ure presented. Elder Ure is always a kick. He did a really good job. He is a little technically challenged and asked me to play a song at the end of his devotional because he didn't think he could switch from his PowerPoint to the song. It all turned out great. We stopped in to say good-bye to the Merrells. They left on Thursday morning. We became fast friends early on in our mission. We will miss them. I had a follow-up meeting at 10 to see what the next steps are for getting a calendar app that Daniel wants. We had our Team meeting at 2:00. It was a little more like a Zoo for some reason. Maybe everyone had too much sugar.

Steve left after our meeting to get the car so he could go get dinner for our event that night. We supported the RootsTech 2023 Family Discovery Day Language Recording. Elder and Sister Gong participated in a panel discussion about Family History. It was really good. We had Mo' Bettahs for dinner. That is ALWAYS so good. It was so fun with visit with the interpreters. It seems like it had been forever since we were at an event.

Wednesday was a day of meetings. The Linfords supported Leadership Enrichment Series Event while we got to attend it in person. This is a series that happens every year or so that contributes to the Leadership Pattern Journey course. That course is for all employees of the Church and for any Missionaries who want to participate. It is truly incredible and I am hoping it will become available to any and everyone in the Church. So very good. Periodically they update the videos in the course. Those videos come from the Leadership Enrichment Series. Anyway, we got to hear from Elder Stevenson, Bishop Causse, and Sister Browning in the Tabernacle. There was an overflow in the Assembly Hall. We didn't head out as soon as we had hoped and were worried about getting good seats. Then I got a call from Ljiljana telling us that she got there early and was saving seats for us in the center section near the front. They were AWESOME seats. The seminar was excellent and it was a great experience. 

Afterward, we grabbed some left-over lunch we had in the fridge. Then headed to the Conference Center for our monthly Section meeting. It was so good to see the rest of the people in our Section. The only draw back on the day was how very cold it was and that we had to do a lot of walking outside. Steve's heel was bothering him quite a bit by the afternoon. So, when our section meeting was over we went back to the apartment to finish up our work. With all the meetings we hadn't been able to really do anything all day so we spent an hour or so catching up.

Thursday, we headed to the COB early. We had two morning events and then an evening event we were supporting. The two morning events were the Worldwide Youth Event with Elder Gong, President Cordon, and President Lund - January 2023 and the Webinar for New Mission Leaders - Logistics. On top of that I was giving the morning Zone Devotional. Luckily, my devotional started and was over before most of the Interpreters were even there. I did have a couple of interruptions but nothing too serious. Aaron was in charge of the Webinar for New Mission Leaders. He texted me to say he was stuck on the train and was going to be late. He hoped to be there before his event started at 9:30. 

We also found out that Curtis was not coming to the morning Worldwide Youth event because he was also doing the PM Worldwide Youth event that evening. Apparently he asked Sara to cover for him since Sara was there to Interpret only he forgot to tell us. So we were doing our best to make sure the Interpreters were all set and booths were running correctly.  I was talking with the engineers for those languages that wanted two booths to make sure they were assigned. It was all a little crazy, but eventually everything went well. We had four languages for each of the two morning events with only one language that did both events. It was a little crazy. We had two engineers, one up on the 28th floor and one on the 27th floor. Since we were going to be there in the evening too, we opted to watch the Webinar for New Mission Leaders - Logistics event. I can't believe they are already starting on New Mission Leader trainings.

That evening we supported the PM Worldwide Youth Event and watched the event. Curtis was there and I felt much better. It was AWESOME and I hope you will all watch it Sunday night when it is broadcast to the world. We had a total of 7 interpreters for each language to cover 13 speakers. There as one language that could only muster 2 interpreters and one of them was brand new! The two sisters did a fabulous job. The seasoned sister did the major parts and said she lowered her voice to sound more manly. I am in awe of these interpreters. They do so much to send out the word of the Lord into the language of the people all around the world. It is such a blessing to work with them and get to know them.

Friday was longer than I planned. I had a 9:00 AM meeting so I went in early. Elder Wilcox slept in. He REALLY slept in and finally got to the COB a little after noon. Luckily, he didn't have much to do. We had lunch with my Action partner and her husband from my Emotional Resilience class. After lunch, I went with Sister Winder to the Mission Office where she works. She is tasked to rearrange their cubicles to group people together better. She asked for my thoughts on how different arrangements work. Pros and Cons. After about an hour I headed back to the office to finish up some work I had been doing. We headed home a little after 5.

Saturday I stayed home all day. Elder Wilcox went shopping. I worked on HawkSoft and some of the lessons for the two different classes I'm taking. I also helped Elder Wilcox with some things he was working on when he got back home. 

Sunday was a wonderful day. In my Emotional Resilience class we talked about taking care of our bodies and how that effects our emotions. Diet and exercise are important for more than just losing weight. They affect our emotions in a big way too. Church was really good. We had three speakers and even though they all talked about something totally different, they all sort of talked about the same thing. The theme ended up being how we are to love and care for one another. For our second hour, President Holmes addressed us again in our 5th Sunday Forum. He talked about how he had been involved in the planning of the Come Follow Me program when he was a member of the General Young Men's Presidency. He shared some of the insight he had on the project and what the main purpose of Come Follow Me is. He then turned some time over to Sister Bennion who talked about how we all need to bring the Spirit with us to class. Neither the teacher nor the learner will benefit if they don't both have the Spirit with them. President Holmes also told us they are probably going to be organizing several more Sunday School classes so the class sizes are much smaller. That way everyone can contribute and be edified. I love it!

I love serving our mission. I love being surrounded by the Spirit of the Lord everyday. I love all the missionaries we serve with and live near. I love it all!

Have a Wonderful Week!

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox

MTC Devotional,  RootsTech Begins, J Reuben Clark Law School, and Toothache!

The Spanish Team - Luis and Genesis

Monday was a holiday, which was nice as we needed a little more time to work on our recovery. We had a WONDERFUL Family Home Evening with our apartment floor. It seemed like it had been forever since we last met. The Stevens were in charge for the last time. They are ending their mission this coming week.😭We are going to miss them so much. We have several others on our floor that are leaving soon. The Beeches will be leaving on the 31st. 😭😭This is the hardest part about being on a mission. Anyway, the Stevens played a game similar to "The Newly Wed Game" but a little different. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Elder Wilcox and I WON!!!! He then used the game to introduce some fun ways to jump-start writing our family history. All of the questions he used were ways to spark a family history topic. It was great.

Vilma from the Portuguese Team

Tuesday started with a Zone Devotional give by President Jackson of the Mission Presidency. He talked about the "Be Attitudes". We have moved our Team meetings to Tuesdays for a few different reasons. One is a directive from our Section leaders. They would like all the Teams to hold their meetings on Tuesdays. All employees are to be in the office the 1st and 3rd Tuesday so we can mingle together. Our section meeting will be on the 4th Wednesday every month so that is the third time all employees will be in the office. Their new work schedule is to be in the office only three times a month. Of course our Supervisors have to come in more often because of various events they have. So, we had our Team meeting in the afternoon. 

Tuesday evening, Elder Wilcox and I supported the MTC Devotional with Elder Christofferson. For some reason it was really late getting set up so we didn't have time to order a meal from the cafeteria. So Elder Wilcox went to IHop. We had a great dinner. Elder Christofferson's talk was really good, but I'm sorry I can't remember any specifics.

The French Team - Emmanuel,
Marie, and Alexis

On Wednesday, the Linfords supported the beginning RootsTech event. We will be doing a number of pre-recordings in preparation for the live event in March. This year they will be doing a huge event that will be both In Person at the Salt Palace and Online so everyone around the world can participate. Consequently we are going to be very busy between now and then. If you have a chance to participate either in person or online it is well worth it. Participation online is FREE!

On Thursday we had another wonderful Zone Devotional. Elder and Sister Larsen gave a great presentation on what they have learned from their mission. They will be going home this week as well. But since they live in South Jordan and have actually worked from their home for their entire mission, they don't have to pack anything. lol

Later during the day, I noticed that Elder Wilcox had some Tylenol on his desk. I asked him about it and he said he had a little toothache. Thursday evening we headed to the Jordan River Temple. It has been so long since we have been to the Temple because of our trip and being sick when we got back. We did Initiatory. It was so good to be there. On the way home, Elder Wilcox mentioned he wasn't feeling well and his tooth was hurting worse. He didn't say much and kind of sluffed it off so I wasn't too worried. He didn't sleep at all Thursday night and spent much of the night tossing and turning on the couch because he didn't want to disturb me. I didn't even know he left.

Friday morning I started looking for a dentist first thing. I found one that took our insurance and called. They scheduled us for noon that day. Elder Wilcox was miserable. He was not happy about waiting 4 more hours. While I was telling him about the appointment the dentist called back to say they had a cancellation if we wanted to come in right away. Needless to say we jumped in the car and arrived about 15 minutes later. They took x-rays and found an abscess in a tooth that already had a root canal done years ago. It requires another root canal. The dentist said he needed an Endodontist. He couldn't find anyone that would take him on Friday, but he gave me the name of two. We made an appointment with the first one for Monday morning. The dentist then prescribed a pain killer and antibiotic to help with the infection. He started feeling better not long after taking the pain pill. Elder Linford and Elder Stevens came over not long after we got home from the dentist and gave Steve a blessing. He had a much better afternoon and evening. He slept a lot.

Saturday he slept more and felt pretty good. We noticed his jaw was swelling pretty bad. But the pain was manageable. I did some grocery shopping and got him some Chicken Noodle Soup as he can't chew much because of the tooth ache. He had a good day.

Sunday morning the swelling was worse. I told him he looked like Harry Potter after the stinging spell and made his face swell up. Other than the swelling, he is doing much better. He stayed home while I went to Church. It had been snowing all night and was still snowing in the morning so I drove to Church. It was kind of an emotional meeting. This is one of the largest groups of missionaries going home at the same time. President Holmes had them all stand. Then, with tears in his eyes and a choked up voice he told us how much he loves each and everyone of them. Several of them work closely with him so I know that is going to be hard on him. I know I was very touched and teared up as well. He then proceeded to change the closing song to "Each Life That Touches Ours For Good". I could hardly get through the song. We are going to miss them so much.

I am enrolled in an Emotional Resilience class each Sunday morning before Church. It is SOOOOOO good. I am learning so much about myself. My Action Partner is awesome. We chatted several times this past week as we encouraged each other on our commitments. We discussed what we are learning and how we can help each other. It was so good. My take aways were how I can draw closer to Heavenly Father. I want to pray more sincerely and the truly listen for my answers. I know I get plenty of promptings but I don't always recognize them as promptings. I want to do a better job of that.

But, we have lots of new missionaries coming too. It won't be long and we will be loving them just as much. To quote Kermit the Frog, "Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it." That is what happens on a mission. It is all good.

Please keep Elder Wilcox in your prayers for tomorrow's root canal.  

I hope you have a WONDERFUL week. I can't believe January is almost over. Time flies when you hare having fun!

All our Love and Prayers,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox

GA Wives Meeting and New Interpreter Screen Events

We stayed home on Monday and Tuesday. We were feeling much better and worked the whole day from home so that was good. Monday evening was the Mission Devotional with Elder Kevin S. Hamilton of the Seventy. We were able to watch it on Zoom. One of Elder Hamilton's primary responsibilities is to work with Family Search. He shared with us all the progress the Church is making in that area. It is amazing! When they started digitizing all the microfilm they have it was predicted to take 183 years! Modern technology came along just at the right time and the project was completed in just 13 years. There is an Artificial Intelligence program that is now working on digitizing the vast histories and genealogies of the Chinese people. Doors have open up in countries that have been closed to the outside world. We now have missionaries that are digitizing all of their government and church records. Not long before the war broke out in Ukraine we were finally able to get in and start work on digitizing records. When the war started our missionaries left for safety reasons. The government contacted the Church and wanted to know where the missionaries went and could they come back now and continue their work. Not only did the two missionaries go back, but an additional 8 more missionaries are now there helping to move this work forward. It is AMAZING! The Lord is hastening His work.

I tested again on Tuesday afternoon and was pronounced COVID free. YAY! The Linford's covered a small event on Tuesday morning that was a continuation of the event they did on Sunday evening. 

They also covered an event on Wednesday morning called Seminar for New MTC Leaders. I went into the office on Wednesday for most of the day. We had a PSD All Hands Meeting in the morning. It was pretty good. They announced some new structuring within the department, mainly in the upper management. We are moving to an Area Centered, Church Supported model, which is why we are undergoing so much change at this time. None of us are really sure what this is going to look like so we are just going with the flow until all the bugs get worked. out.

Not long after that meeting we had a potluck luncheon in our team to say "good bye" to Sara. I think I mentioned before that she was on a contract with the Church and it was expiring April 1st. Although we tried to get her hired on full-time permanently with our team, it didn't happen. However, she did get hired permanently full-time in our PSD Department and in our new section so we still get to see her at least once a month. She is the new Sacred Materials Team Lead. So, although we are very sad to see her go from our team, we are so happy for her to be permanently full-time now and still at least part of our section. Jeanpierre was the other one in our team who was on contract. He got shifted to a new division in the PSD department when they did the restructuring several months before the end of the year. We have been praying he would also get a permanent full-time position and he also got hired. He gets to stay in his new division so he is very happy. He works in the Temple Division of PSD. We are so excited for him. I ran into him at the PSD All Hands meeting and invited him to our potluck for Sara. It was nice for him to see the old team again. We all had a great time and of course shed lots of tears as we expressed our love for Sara.

Elder Wilcox stayed home on Wednesday because he was experiencing dizziness. He was able to participate in the potluck and our team meeting after the potluck via a video conference call. As usual, our team meeting went way over time. We started it an hour early since we did it right after the luncheon, but it still went to almost our normally scheduled end time. Hahaha. After that meeting, Ljiljana wanted me to help her with some email templates that were needed for our upcoming Screening Event, so we stayed another hour. By then I was ready to go home. I was a lot more tired than I expected. Since I didn't want to walk home up the hill, I called Elder Wilcox to come and pick me up. I'm not sure I could have made it otherwise. Hahaha.

Thursday was a very long day for us and just about wiped us out. We started with our Zone Devotional which we watched from home. (I missed Tuesday's devotional because we didn't wake up in time.) After the devotional we both went to work. It was our turn to support an event. We had the GA Wives Meeting and Luncheon. Normally it is just the luncheon with a short speaker. It usually takes place in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and we don't normally have to do anything other than get it in PLUNET. This year they are changing the structure. It was a full meeting for 1 1/2 hours followed by a luncheon. It took place in the auditorium in the East wing of the Church Office Building. After the meeting they went up to the ballroom on the 26th floor for their luncheon. Normally our interpreters interpret through the luncheon if need and they are also fed. Now, they will only interpret the 1 1/2 meeting and are not getting fed. They also interpreted on the 27th floor like we do for all other live events. The benefit for us is, we now get to hear the talks. This first meeting started off with a bang. They brought in an expert instructor on the family from BYU. She gave a great talk...that we can't talk about. They plan on having lots more big names and topics in the future. 

There was only one problem with the event on Thursday. Right in the middle of the event, Curtis and I had to join a video conference to talk about the potential new PLUNET replacement. It took up an hour and we missed most of the GA Wives talk. Elder Wilcox got to hear it all and said it was great. I put in my two cents worth on the new potential replacement. It sounds like it is probably a done deal, but they wanted our input anyway. I'm not terribly excited about it. I guess for me the good thing is it probably won't be implemented until after we are done with our mission so I don't have to worry about it. Hahaha. I did tell them what I think we need in the program so I hope that helps.

Elder Wilcox had a treat in the afternoon when he was on the elevator. He got to ride the elevator and have a conversation with Sister Cordon. At the end of the day we got ready for the New Interpreter Screening Event for that night. We had nearly 30 perspective new interpreters for about 16 different languages. We have a couple of other languages that will hold virtual screenings in the next week or so. It was a busy night and fun to meet new people and see some of our team leads who were conducting the screenings. We had a good time, but Elder Wilcox and I were exhausted when it was over. Aaron ran the event and had another event the next morning, so he stayed over at our place that night. Thankfully Sara offered to give us all a ride to our apartment so we didn't have to trudge up the hill. Again, I'm not sure we could have made it.

Friday we didn't get up with an alarm. We needed the rest. This COVID really knocked us out. We didn't want to overdue and have a relapse, so we slept in. I made it to the office by 10 and Elder Wilcox made it by noon. He needs more sleep them me. Hahaha. The event was Aaron's in the morning. The Linfords covered that. I wandered down a little after 11 because Baptiste was there. He interpreted for the event. It was so good to see him and visit for a bit. The Linfords left shortly after the event. There wasn't anything else going on and it was Elder Linford's birthday. They were headed to the Temple and then over to their son's house for dinner and a movie. Elder Wilcox and I hung out until a little after 4 and then we went home, too. We did walk home on Friday. We made it up the hill and didn't die!!! Actually, we weren't even that winded. We felt pretty good all day. We have a long weekend so I'm sure we will be back to 100% (or close to it) by next Tuesday.

Saturday we had to run a few errands. We got hair cuts and did some grocery shopping. I spent some time revamping the Zone SharePoint site. I started it on Friday and did some tweaking on Saturday. I'm pleased with the results. I have to give a Zone devotional on the 24th and I was asked to do it on the SharePoint site. I don't think most people in the Zone even know it exists. Hahaha. I also worked for about an hour on HawkSoft stuff and worked a bit on my list of interpreters. It ended up taking a little longer than I planned. (Typical!)

Sunday was WONDERFUL! I can count on 1 hand the number of times I have missed Church since I joined the Church over 51 years ago and two of those times were the last two weeks. It was SOOOOOO good to be back at Church. We had a wonderful meeting. Sister Stevens, one of our Zone leaders who is ending her mission next week, was one of the speakers. She did such a great job. I will miss her and her delightful husband. We have become great friends with them and it will be hard to see them go. The Johnson's are our new Zone leaders and they are great too, but they don't live in our apartment building. There is just something special with everyone that lives on our floor. We are loosing three couple next week. It will be SAD!

I started Sunday by attending a new Emotional Resilience Class facilitated by President and Sister Faerber of our Mission Presidency. It is going to be great to get to know them better. This was our first class and already I know it is exactly what I need. Sister Winder (aka The Duchess of Winder) is my Action Partner and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better, too. Elder Wilcox made a sign for the Winders with The Duke and Duchess of Winder. This class is going to increase our Faith in Jesus Christ, discover our Divine Identity and Purpose, use time wisely, live a balanced life, and many other things that will help us have Emotional Resilience. It is an 11 week class and I'm excited for it.

Sunday School was great too. We had some more snow today and a lot of rain too. I walked to Church in the snow and we drove home in the rain. Elder Wilcox is not in the early morning class so he drove the car to Church. I'm glad I didn't have to walk home in the rain. 

I hope you have a Wonderful Week! Oh, and Happy Birthday to our beloved son-in-law Sean. Today is his birthday!!!

All our Love and Prayers,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox

First Week of January 2023

This has been an extremely long week of doing nothing. I don't like self quarantining. Even though I ended my last post saying I was feeling so much better, I exaggerated a bit. I have never been one to be sick for more that a day or two, so being under the weather for a week was no fun. I did feel a bit better each day, but that was very slow progress for me. I managed to be somewhat productive for a couple of hours each morning before crashing on the couch for the rest of the day. I didn't eat hardly anything for several days and for the very first time in my life I actually lost a little weight when I was sick! Now the trick is to keep it off. lol

Everyday seemed to be just like the previous day. My "couple of hours in the morning" stretched to an hour or two in the afternoon. Finally around Thursday and Friday I actually spent all day "working". I spent time in the scriptures. I worked on my lists for awhile. I got to chat with fellow co-workers about a few things. I did a research project or two. And I was able to spend some time on Family History. I even reconnected with a 2nd Cousin in South Dakota thanks to some help from Sean.

Steve is doing much better and even went to do a quick grocery shopping trip on Saturday. He spent three days binge watching Lord of the Rings from Wednesday to Friday. I was more tired on Saturday than I expected and crashed on the couch again. We were hoping to go back to Church on Sunday, but realized we haven't been tested yet so technically we can't go back until we have a negative test. We are going to try and get that done soon. We are so ready to go back into regular life.

On Saturday, MyLiege sent me some pictures of Anna's Winter Formal. It turns out she traded in the beautiful pink dress she picked out last week for a new black gown. It is also very beautiful. Anyway, I thought I would share some of her beautiful pictures in our blog since we didn't take any pictures this week.

I hope everyone is healthy and happy! Enjoy your week and especially your life.

All our Love,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox

Happy New Year!!!

I'm sorry I'm a day late, but Elder Wilcox and I came home from Oregon and almost immediately took to our sick beds. More about that later. Let's start with the fun things of last week.

Monday we stayed home all day. It was kind of nice not to have to go anywhere or do anything for a day. It was a very quiet day. Anna and Alyx went shopping to get Anna a new dress for her Winter Formal. It is gorgeous. I can't wait for pictures. Elle played downstairs all day. We hardly saw her at all. MyLiege napped and I dozed. I think the guys watched a football game.

Tuesday we got up early so we could go to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. It was a lot of fun to see how aviation began and where it is now. Steve loved it. It was pouring rain so we didn't do the outside exhibits. Sean was so thoughtful when he got the van and picked us up under the awing and took across the parking lot to the Space Museum. I have to admit, I was much more emotional going through that exhibit since it occurred during my childhood. I was choked up as I saw the man on the moon exhibit. I remember exactly where I was when we watched it live on TV.

Wednesday was a relaxing day. We headed over to Douhet and Kylee's around 3 to celebrate Douhet's birthday. We had so much fun laughing and visiting with the family. Kylee cooked an amazing dinner as usual. 

We finally tore ourselves away around 7 so we could be back to MyLiege and Sean's house to visit with our grandson, Montana, and his fiancé, Lauren. He was the last of the family that we hadn't seen. We had a wonderful visit and talked until after midnight.

Thursday we spent doing laundry and packing. We headed to the airport around 4. Our flight was uneventful, although we did get some turbulence about the middle of the flight. I texted the Linfords when we landed as they were picking us up. We managed to get lost when trying to get to the passenger pickup. lol. We went to the limousine pickup first. Anyway, we finally connected and Elder Linford drove us home. I think it was a little after 11 when we walked through the door. 

By this time, Steve wasn't feeling that great but we got unpacked and went to bed. Friday morning, he was worse. It felt like a bad cold. He stayed home and in bed most of the day. I went into the office for a couple of hours before our manager told us to go home as nothing was going on.  

On Saturday I started feeling bad while we were watching TV before bed. Not too bad, just a headache. I never get headaches so I was not happy with that. Steve was actually doing better on Saturday. He started feeling better about mid-afternoon.  Sister Linford brought dinner over for us. It was a delicious soup and rolls.

We were supposed to go to Eunlan's house for dinner, but with Steve still sick, and I was beginning to not feel so hot, we cancelled. It was probably a good thing too. Besides not wanting to spread germs, neither one of us felt like celebrating the new year. I think we slept OK Saturday night.

Sunday morning I knew I was not going to Church. We had already decided Steve wasn't going to go. Sister Linford texted me that Eunlan sent food home for us so they dropped it off at the door. We let them know we weren't going to Church. Steve continued to improve and I continued to go downhill. It was a good thing that when one of us was at the worst, the other one was feeling better. I could NOT get rid of the headache. That was the worst part. I tried medicine, essential oils, hot packs, cold packs and nothing seemed to work. Steve gave me a blessing and that helped a lot. I actually had a couple of hours with no headache. The headache came back just as I was going to bed so I asked for another blessing to help me sleep. 

I have learned that what we want and what is best are not necessairly the same thing. I just wanted to go to bed and sleep through the night. That was not meant to be. I was up multiple times. I did doze from time to time. Around 5 I woke up and realized I no longer had a headache. I actually felt better! I think I'm going to live!

Steve is headed out to get a few groceries and then we are going to self-quarantine for the rest of the week. I think we will be able to do our work from home. We don't have anything major going on.

So our recap. We had a GREAT vacation. We loved seeing so many family and friends. We loved all the visiting. We loved the hospitality of Sean and MyLiege and the girls. Now that I'm on the mend, I feel rejuvenated and ready to jump back into the crazy world we live in. 

I came up with four resolutions that I want to focus on this year. I didn't want my list to be too long because I know if it is too long I won't accomplish anything. Anyway, here they are:

1. Make my daily scripture study exactly that, DAILY. I will NOT go to bed if I have not done my scripture study.
2. Have more sincere and focused prayers so that I can Hear Him everyday. I realize that I have to change and change is repentance. President Nelson admonished us to "Discover the joy of daily repentance." He also said it will give us strength to overcome.
3. I want to do a better job of focusing on my husband. Too often I let work get in the way of spending time together. I am going to make Steve a priority in my life.
4. Lastly, I want to get healthy. In the past I have focused too much on losing weight and that hasn't worked. This year I am going to focus on getting healthy and the weight will take care of itself.

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC New Year. There are many exciting things coming. Be ready and embrace them. The future is ours to make anyway we want. Now is the time to ACT and not be acted upon. 

Love you,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox