Deborah's visit

We had a lovely week with Deborah and children visiting.  Deborah drove up Monday morning.  The children really liked the trampoline and we had weather warm enough so they could enjoy it.

Tuesday the weather turned cooler and rainy.  If you check Steven's coat, you can actually see snow falling... but it wasn't cold enough to stick. From 60's and daffodils to snow... it's MARCH!

  We got a sitter for the kids and Tom, Deborah, Sarah and I drove to Branson to see the SIX-- six brothers who sing a capella. They create all the sounds of the accompaniment-- drums, etc. vocally.

We arrived early to pick up our tickets, then walked over to Andy's for dinner/snack before going to the show.  It showed signs of rain, so I drove the car the three parking sections over to Andy's.  Good thing.  It had been lightening and thundering.  Then rain and hail came to accompany the sound.

Andy's had only outdoor seating... with a pretty ample roof over it.  Did the others want to be safe and sit in the car? Noooo.  We got misted on as the wind blew under the covering, but we also had a spectacular view of raindrops splashing on the ground.

 We enjoyed the SIX program.  Sarah said they were too loud. But I think she enjoyed it. The babysitter spent the night, so  Tom and Sarah took her home the next morning.

Adam's tenant moved out and a new one is moving in.  So Tom worked to finish up the last things that needed to be done before they moved in.  I worked on copywriting and finished my Newsmax renewal series.  Now I need to find more work.

I reached out to people on LinkedIn and tried to connect with people publishing financial newsletters.  I'm hoping I can build relationships that way that will lead to work.

Early this week we got a sad phone call from a less active sister I visit teach.  They are a great couple.  They moved into the ward about 2 years ago and just finished building their dream house the first of this year.  They still have finishing touches to make on it.

The husband had been having headaches.  They went in once... and went to the emergency room.  They said it was cancer and asked if they had a living will.  Shocker!  So sad.  They went to the VA hospital.  At first the news seemed better- tumor on the lung and the head, but both appeared to be operable.  Then, Thursday, the news turned bleak again.  No, it was terminal.  They could remove the one on the brain as a palliative measure, but....  I felt so sad.  They are younger than Tom and I.

When Tom and I were looking at houses for Jonathan and Kristy, many of them had been built as the "perfect" home for the homeowners, without concern for resale. And then they had to move due to age or ill health.  It made me think this is not a good idea.

But it also  made me think about our lives.  If one of us found out we had a short time to live... would we have regrets?  Would we have wanted to have done something else?  Travel more?  Spend time on other things?  It made me appreciate Tom and the fact that he's ALIVE! I think we can always be kinder to each other. And I think we are living the life we want to live.

One day Tom wanted to go and try to visit a young single sister who we had not been able to connect with for a long time.  We heard she'd moved back to her grandparent's house.  So we drove over there to ask them where she was.  She was in the hospital, she'd just had a baby and the baby had some respiratory problems.  So we went to the hospital to visit.  Her mother and the father of the child was there.

They were pleased to see us... at least the active mother was.  We visited and later Tom gave the baby a blessing.  The mother thanked us for taking care of her daughter (Mom lives in another state)  I said, "We tried, but she escaped!"  Mom said, "Yes, that is her modus operandi."

Later that week they needed someone to wipe down walls in a trailer that had been smoked in... so the baby would not have to deal with stale smoke. On short notice we actually had 5 sisters willing to help out.  Two showed up when Tom and I got there and between the 4 of us it took less than 45 minutes to get it done.  We called the others and said thanks... but it's done.  I love our sisterhood!

During the week I cut the children's hair.  Sarah wanted her hair from LONG to short.  We cut it shoulder length.

Saturday night was the General Women's Broadcast.  Deborah, Sarah and I went.  It was nice to have three generations of Fox/Recks going out together.  They had an ice cream social before going into to listen to the broadcast.  It was about strengthening families and valuing motherhood.

We had fast and testimony meeting this Sunday as next week will be general conference.  I invited my neighbor to go to church with me because her car wasn't working.  I agreed to skip choir to take her and then skip part of Sunday School to return  her home.  She appreciated the effort and seemed to enjoy church.

After church I packed and then left with Deborah to go to her house.  I'll hang out there on Monday and then fly on Tuesday to visit Mom.