Family Comes!

Dear Family-

This has been a fun week. It’s been crazy busy in a variety of ways. Friday I committed to write an article that would be completed by Monday. So I worked in that, sent it off for review, got minimal revisions and got it completed. The client was pleased so that was nice.

In copywriting terms, the goal is to land a “whale”—a really big client who brings in a lot of money. If you have one or two “whales” that’s all you need to keep you busy and profitable. I think I might have landed my first “whale.”  I submitted a proposal and have a meeting with them on Monday. I had submitted the proposal over a week ago and had not heard back. I worried…had I charged too much?  I didn’t think so. It turned out I didn’t get her first email suggesting a meeting. So I followed up and her concerns were totally unrelated to price.

I finally got a new counselor called to complete my Stake Relief Society presidency. I visited with her on Sunday evening, and we scheduled a meeting for all of us on the following Saturday.

Tuesday I got my hair cut… finally!  I’d planned on getting it cut for two weeks and my barber/beautician was not there either Tuesday. Today she was!  Kera and family was scheduled to come up on Tuesday, but after getting everything packed, the car wouldn’t start. Also they were to have left later because they needed to get Nathan’s passport application in. In the evening I went to a relief society activity. They’d planned it at for the park, but after about 2 inches of rain that day, they decided to move it back to the church. Better than rain or “mugged” with humidity at the park, I think.

I had wanted to get Tom’s truck seat repaired or find a seat cover for it. The hole right where you sit keeps getting bigger and bigger. The seat is not a simple bucket seat. It’s a split 60/40 seat and they don’t seem to make good covers for them. To actually get it recovered is half a fortune. I’m thinkin’ about an Arkansas fix. Duct tape anyone?

Kera and family, sans father and two oldest arrived on Wednesday afternoon. The children fanned out to explore the fort, play with the kittens, ride the zip line and bounce on the trampoline. They are very self-entertaining.

Thursday Tom volunteered to take the missionaries to their exchange. Since it’s in Mt. Vernon, they’re only a few miles from Jonathan and Kristy’s. So after the exchange (we got a greenie) they went to visit for an hour or so and brought back Miriam to visit with cousins. Kera and I went out early to pick blueberries in the drizzle. Then we took Matthew to Cub Scout camp at the church. Late in the evening Andy and Katie and truck arrived. The house was all packed up and cleaned. All is done in Vicksburg… except Nathan is there sort of working. He is working for a construction crew, when they have work he can do. Because of the rain, he has not worked as much as he wanted to or expected.

Friday Miranda and family drove over. They met Kera in Springfield and she and Dan M headed north to their father’s house in Chicago area to help him pack up. His house has sold. He’s put in an offer on a house in the Russellville area and they needed to get him all ready to move. I hear they have made great progress and the ward has helped them put stuff into trucks. The kittens had even more little ones who wanted to hold them… and we had a few more scratches to wash and band aid.

The Stake RS is responsible for feeding the leadership on Saturday of Stake Conference between training sessions and the 7pm general adult session. It had been assigned to Houston ward, but Bishop Openshaw’s son, wife and 3 children were involved in a small plane accident and all but the 5 year old boy were killed in the crash. Two older children were on a mission or a foreign exchange student. A difficult time for the family and ward. So West Plains took over the food and did a marvelous job.

I had my training session from 4-6 and got to know my new counselor better. We had a great evening session of stake conference. Before I left, I’d tried to work with Miranda to get food ready for Father’s Day. We made lasagna and Miranda made tasty cupcakes. Then we learned Tom really wanted cherry chocolate cake… so today (Sunday) we made that, too.

Sunday Stake Conference was held at Dunbar Auditorium in Mountain Home. It was delightful not to have to travel to stake conference!  I made lunches for the Mission President and wife and the Temple President and wife who were speaking at the conference. I thought my secretary and her daughter were going to come and spend Saturday night at our house and help with that… but she ended up with a sick daughter. I was glad I had most of the stuff for the lunches. They just didn’t get into the cute bags she always provides.

Saturday evening we learned about ward and family councils. Today we learned about temple work and missionary work.

It’s been fun to have 9 grandchildren and a few children with us!  I love my family.