The Lord is my light
though clouds may arise.
Faith, stronger than sight,
looks up through the skies
where Jesus forever in glory doth reign
Then how can I ever in darkness remain?
The Lord is my light; He is my joy and my song.
By day and by night He leads me along.
January 8, 2023
Snowflake, Arizona
Dear Flammly,
This first week of 2023 has been a good one, and I am happy to have some time on this Fast Sunday to tell you about it. (It's amazing how much time is saved by not eating. . .maybe we should always not eat! jk lol)
New Year's day was quiet and simple. We went to church, then came home for snacks and a thoughtful Come, Follow Me discussion led by Exacto about how we learn and how we can know when we have found truth. He is such a good teacher! He really has a gift for engaging our interest and making us want to share our thoughts.
It was a gloomy, overcast several days. My sweet friend Danica brought over a bag of sunshine! She knows of my proneness to seasonal depression and was thinking of me. (Her husband keeps bees, and the honey is from them! So cool! And the little sun is citrus-scented. :)
We had our traditional black-eyed pea cornbread casserole (for good luck in the new year!) and collard spinach greens (for prosperity!) and started a game of Monopoly that went on till Thursday (Exacto was the only one with good luck and prosperity, haha).
Monday it was blowing snow. Exacto and Rosehips and I went on a short, frigid walk with his bow and arrows (so noble!). In the evening we had a nice FHE where we all shared stuff we were learning in our personal scripture study, then we watched How to Train Your Dragon 3 and had kettlecorn. I really liked that movie! I think it's my favorite of the three.
Tuesday there was more snow and it was rainy/overcast all day and DC was back to work. Exacto and I still went running (woot woot!) and I went to a Young Women presidency meeting. Sushi for dinner, which we'd been craving ever since playing SushiGo! over the break. :)
That evening Rosehips and I had a cozy Hallmark movie night at my cousin Kim's house. It was so fun! We watched Enchanted Christmas and they had set out a tv tray just for us (and one for them) so we all had easy access to yummy popcorn and lemonade. E showed us all his art work (he's so talented!) and we cracked up at C's constant replaying of the Pooh Bear song and it was really nice to just spend fun time together. Kim was always one of my favorites, growing up, and I love having her in my life again!
Wednesday the sun finally came back! We went to Five-Mile Draw to see if perhaps there would be thick enough ice for Rosehips to try out her new ice skates on, but alas, it was only sparse or thin. Exacto and Hummer explored the west side of the canyon while I talked to Fluffy and had a very happy conversation over videocall about his upcoming plans.
We had an afternoon activity for YW, since school hasn't resumed yet, and it was so fun! Just games and brainstorming for future activities, but those girls are a joy to be with and I loved getting to know some of the younger new ones better.
Thursday we braved the chilly partly sunny day for a picnic at Pioneer Park. We brought the "wiggle sticks" along and Exacto, Hummer, and Rosehips did their amazing stuff on the basketball court (even attracting the attention of a couple walking their dog), then we read under the cottonwood trees by the stage. I'm reading Castle in the Air to them, trying to finish before Hummer heads back to school, and it is so fun! I am so glad they still want me to read to them! It's really one of my love languages.
Friday there was another chipmunk sighting from the breakfast nook! We started eating in there because the regular table was being "monopolized" (heehee) and it's been fun to see how much wildlife we'd been missing. This chipmunk loves to perch on a particular rock and survey the landscape and he's there almost every time we have a meal. What is he looking for?
That evening DC and I headed to the Valley for a Phoenix Symphony concert that Nana and Grandpa had invited us to. We were so excited to have the time together and to hear Mozart's 3rd violin concerto and to get more grapefruit! Alas, it was not to be. After stopping briefly in Payson to get fish and chips for dinner, we headed south on 87 for a mile or two, then were forced to pull over. The road was closed due to an accident about 6 hours earlier (shudder!). Any alternate route would have gotten us to symphony hall about when the concert was ending, so we turned around and headed home, with a small detour to get (very tall!) ice cream cones at McDonald's. :) It was disappointing to miss the concert and an opportunity to be with my parents, but we were really grateful to be safe and also to have all that time to talk and reconnect with each other!
I've been thinking about something DC shared this morning in our family scripture study. He mentioned that several people in the Matthew 1 and Luke 1-2 are told by angels to "fear not", and asked what things we are afraid of or anxious about. I shared a few things. I tend to get anxious whenever asked or assigned to do something like give a talk or a lesson -- even teaching piano lessons gives me anxiety sometimes. My biggest fears tend to be related to family members, their safety, the possible results of choices they're making, etc. You, my beloved children, are the source of my greatest joy and so also my greatest concerns!
Then he shared these two scriptures:
2 Timothy 1:7
and
Doctrine and Covenants 122:9
And so, fear not. Fear is not from God, and He will be with you, giving you power, love, and a sound mind.
Love,
Mommy
gip
Michelle
Adapted from a letter to Elder Baker dated 6/12/17. His birthday is 6/15 so this was his birthday letter.
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The Week in a Nutshell
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We went to Tucson! We hiked partway up the trail to Wasson Peak, but Rosebud petered out after about 5 minutes and after dragging her along for a while we decided maybe it was a great time to go visit my old house. It was interesting to see the purple garage again, which was further enhanced by the teal trim. We visited Uncle Charles and Aunt Alba in their home for the last time. So many memories there. It felt like going back in time 30 years to sit and have lunch with them at that table where we had so many birthday celebrations and holidays. They accompanied us to the Tucson Temple Open House.
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The tour began at the Tucson North Stake Center, which is where I was baptized! Also my 1st grade year was there and we peeked briefly into my classroom. :) They showed a video there then had us board charter buses to be taken about 5 minutes away to the temple. I loved seeing the Tucson Temple, especially the baptistry and all the unique and Christ-centered art. It is amazing to think that if I were still there growing up, I would be able to go do baptisms every week. What a blessing to the Saints there!
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We visited my cousins W and R before leaving for Mesa. They attend a day program for disabled adults. R was having a hard day, but W smiled and I was able to hug him. I hope their transition to living in Houston goes well.
The house. Oh, the house. It was one of the more frustrating and stressful weeks. Communication problems with the framer, who rarely answers my calls or texts and who sent only 2 people to work for a few hours each day. Finding out from one of those two that there was a drop in the floor of two of the attic bedrooms. Following up with the truss company, it was revealed that it was a 12-inch drop! And in Fluffy's and Ham's room it went right across the middle! I still can hardly believe that the truss company thought this was a great idea. After many conversations with various people, including one over email with an architect, it is looking like we will need to use rafters and joists on those two bedrooms instead of trusses. This is fine but I have lost my confidence in the remaining truss design and want to have a structural engineer review it and make sure all is well.
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There was some small progress otherwise. I decided on and hired our electrician. Vent blocks were installed and the walls poured for the areas with crawlspace. Also I was able to build a tentative schedule for all the remaining work. I project that the house will be finished in mid-October. Building a house is not for the faint-hearted!
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In happier news: Fluffy got his driver's license! The next day Fluffy went on his 2nd date! And then the day after that Fluffy took the ACT! I imagine he will tell you about all those things in his letter. It was a big week for him, and I had some growing pains as his mother. Especially about the date. But I think that it is very good for him to develop friendships like this and feel that it's part of the plan Heavenly Father has for his life.
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Daddy and I had a fun date while Fluffy was on his fun date (Sweet Honey Ham babysat Rosebud and they had fun, too :). We used a gift card to eat at Burger King, then walked on the golf course trails around the temple. There is so much grass out there! And a lovely pond. Then we used a gift card to get pie at Trapper's and sat on one of those Taylor benches that they have all along main street. We were sitting on one at Main Street and Center Street. Cars were zooming by us as we ate our pie and in between the zooming we could hear a livestock auction going on at the rodeo grounds. It was cool. Then we crossed the street to the museum and found a gazebo with a picnic table and trees all around! (Guess where we'll eat next time? :).
Yesterday was a beautiful day. I was blessed to feel more peace about the situation with the house and just felt a lot of joy in being able to go to church and be with the family. Bishop B had asked Grandpa and Daddy to bless with sacrament with Russell*, so I played the organ for the sacrament hymn. As I heard Russell and then Grandpa bless the sacrament, and saw the three of them reverently administering the bread and water, with Hyrum passing it to me near the organ, I felt so much gratitude. For each one of those worthy men / young men, for the restored gospel and how it has blessed my life since birth, for the ordinance of the sacrament itself, and for the Atonement of our Savior!
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"And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God. . .I say unto you, my son, that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence. . . ."
Alma 38:2-3
I love you, Clyn. How grateful I am that you came into our family 19 years ago! You are so bright and good and fun to be with, and you have brought me and Daddy so much joy. I hope your birthday is happy and memorable, with lots of service and also treats. :)
Love,
Mommy
Quotables
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The T’s were visiting us, and after breakfast Ena (age 3) had sticky hands.
Nana: "Ena, do you need some wipes?"
Ena, at the top of her lungs: "EAT some WIPES?!" and then she laughed very hard.
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After Becky sat on the floor so as to be near Baby S while folding a blanket, he crawled away and I came in, surprised to see her sitting on the floor with a blanket on her while everyone was doing their chores. I looked at her quizzically and she explained the situation and said: "Fickle, thy name is baby!"
When a man is kind to dumb animals, I always say he has got some good in him.
― Owen Wister, The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains
Adapted from a letter to Elder Baker, dated 5/29/17. . . .
I will try to tell you briefly about an eventful and interesting week. On Monday, we had Fluffy's BD dinner and party. Rosebud fell asleep right after school and slept for several hours. Between that and work on setting up the bunny palace and planting the big evergreen, the celebration ran really late but it was so fun! Rosebud gave the sweetest FHE lesson spotlighting Fluffy, and the strawberry meringue cake was a smash hit. Also we played a game and he opened presents.
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Tuesday we had an adventure with Grandpa's red truck. I used it to pick up the kids from school so that Ham could bring home his aquarium from school and so we could go to Hector's Hay and Feed and pick up 3 bales of straw to stack behind the bunny hutch (wind shelter, hopefully).
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Wednesday was Daddy's last day of work until the end of July! Woohoo! He is going to look for some non-contract work but for now he's free as a lark for the first time in years. It is so nice! Uncle Duff and Aunt Lori and B and A arrived in the afternoon -- they came to visit for Lori's sister's HS graduation. It was so fun to hang out with them and Nana and Grandpa treated us all to dinner at Eva's.
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. uncle duff (in his last year of optometry school) teaching DC how to do magic eye :).
Thursday Uncle Duff offered to take the kids to their last day of school, and that was a fun bonding time for them (especially regarding having the radio on). Little B and I helped my Dad to plant the garden and it brought back delightful memories of Tucson childhood days. Rosebud's caterpillar hatched! She named it Swirl. Nana taught me and Uncle Duff and Ham a new card game called Trash (it’s kind of therapeutic, actually). Nana and Grandpa left to fly to Oklahoma. That evening Fluffy sang in the seminary choir for Snowflake Stake Seminary Graduation, held in the Main Street Chapel for the first time since about Nana's graduating class. :) We stayed up very late visiting afterward.
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Friday the framing on the house began! It was pretty chaotic out there because the concrete guys were still working on the outside, waterproofing and installing the french drains, so very loud, and the wind was crazy-high, blowing dust like you wouldn't believe. It was happy, though, to see so much progress going on at once. That evening Daddy and I had a very fun date, playing tennis at a park in town until the sun set, then having a yummy dinner at El Cupidos, then watching some Great British Bakeoff and having ice cream.
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Saturday was zauber interesting. It was the Flakes' day to do calf-branding, and at the service auction we had purchased the opportunity to help with it and have lunch afterwards. There was a bonus attached -- Rocky Mountain oysters -- but all of us declined that (ew). It was truly amazing to see real cowboys at work and to get to "help." They let us try everything we wanted to. We tagged ears, gave shots, and branded. Fluffy, Ham, and Rosebud rode horses, too.
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In the evening Fluffy went on his first date! With me! It was so fun! He had planned it very well, and was a perfect gentleman, opening my door every single time we went in or out. Also he was very fun to talk to. We ordered a pizza, then drove on Taylor's Lovelake Rd (near where you were baptized, I think) while we waited for it to be ready. We ate at a park – Fluffy had planned ahead and brought plates and water bottles. Next we went to 5-Mile Draw and hiked down into the canyon while the sun set. We saw a beautiful caterpillar that I've never seen before. Then we drove the temple and sat by the waterfall and talked and talked for a long time. And last we went to McDonalds and Fluffy bought us chocolate-covered ice cream cones! So happy!
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Sunday was nice but I was groggy all day because I slept in too late. :( Daddy played in sacrament meeting to accompany R Flake singing My Heavenly Father Loves Me. It was really lovely. I had a spiritual experience in choir practice after church. We are singing Sally Deford's setting of The Lord is My Shepherd, and Bro. Flake had Daddy pull out his violin and play the obbligato while we rehearsed it. The words of the last verse touched me so deeply. I felt how much the Lord has blessed me, and how much the Savior loves us all!
Thy mercy will follow me all of my days,
And in thine own house thou preparest my place,
With blessings unmeasured my cup runneth o'er,
Oh, what shall I ask of thy providence more?
I feel so grateful for the care He has always given me. He truly is my shepherd. I want to serve Him better!
I love you, son.
Love,
Mommy
Quotable
Ham talking to our cat Puffball: "You want to go outside? In your glitterbox?" (Unfortunately this is the sandbox, as opposed to a regular litterbox).
