Catching Up and Counting Blessings

It has been a very long time since I last posted here on my blog. My life has been such a joy in recent months. As you know, our two Elders came home. Matthew arrived in January from Russia and Jason came home from Los Angeles Spanish speaking mission in March. In between we sent Elder Ryan Otis off on his mission to Everett Washington and cheered on our Senior Hunter Otis in his play Les Miserables. It was a whirlwind to say the least.

It is a joy to have our oldest sons home. They have grown to be fine men and so helpful as always. Matthew plans to attend BYU in the fall and is working at his old job making windows for the summer at Anderson Windows. He lives with friends in Cottage Grove during the week and comes home on the weekends to spend time with us. He is also the Ward Mission Leader.

Jason is still seeking employment. Please remember him in your prayers if you can. While he is looking he's helping me in both our gardens and brushing up on his fishing skills. He keeps our freezer full of fish and I couldn't do without him in the garden. He has made the work so much easier. Now that it's planted and the hot wire is up, he can put all his efforts into his job search. He wants to attend BYU in the winter session.

Hunter has his last concert in High School Choir this week. He has his senior recital on Saturday and his Seminary Graduation on Sunday. He finished his Eagle Scout service project on Saturday! Way to go Hunter. He graduates from High School next week! Wow! He plans on going on his mission next February! We are so pleased he has chosen to serve the Lord.

Ryan is serving the Lord in the Everett Washington State Mission. He is serving presently on Camano Island. It is directly accross from his childhood home in Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island. He is doing great!

Terry has nearly fully recovered from his accident last October. WE thank God each day that he is still with us. He just completed his very first solo project at work and I'm so proud of him. He is such a joy to our family and we love him dearly.

I am now the canning manager for our ward. So much to do and so little time I'm finding. I'm prayerful about preparing our ward for hard times ahead. I'm teaching the sisters how to garden, and store food. I am also teaching bread making classes. In July we'll have a cannery class brought to the church to show everyone how to put dried goods in #10 cans for long term storage. I'm excited about this. I pray that all those sisters involved will gain much needed knowledge that month to prepare every needful thing during these trying times at hand.

Well, that's it in a nutshell. I pray that you all are happily gardening and enjoying the warmth of spring. Tomorrow I post pictures of our beautiful garden as it's first budding out. Soon we'll have green beans! Hooray!