Catching Up on a few things

Cameron finished his year at LCS (Lewisville Christian School) Preschool with a bang. He received an attendance award, the bible verse (memorizing a bible verse a month) award, and the “best friend” award for his class. His teacher said that he was always a friend to everyone. He is our little social guy! The school had a final performance and Cameron just sung his heart out!

Ella Mackillop (one of his best friends from church) and Cameron were in the same class this year (and the two years before when we did co-op preschools) . They will miss each other next year when they each go to separate Kindergartens.

Wesley was in a cub scout troop this year through his school. Ken was the cubmaster and so they had a lot of fun together. He is one requirement away from being a Tiger Scout—he will get it soon! We are going to take a break from Scouts for the fall and then start up when Wesley turns eight in January doing scouts through the church.

Both Wesley and Cameron(we just forgot to take the camera to Cameron’s end of the season party) finished another season of soccer. They are really improving and are huge contributors to their teams. Cameron is on the THUNDER and Wesley in on the ROCKETS.

Seminary was a huge responsibility this past school year. I had to get up every morning at 5:00 a.m. to be at the church and ready to teach by 6:00 a.m. It was extremely challenging, but very rewarding. I enjoyed getting to know each of the students, their talents and abilities, and to see them progress in the gospel.

Here is a picture of me and most of my class (a few had already left) on the last day of seminary (we had a breakfast/party). I finished teaching on Friday, May 23^rd and on Sunday, May 25^th I was in the Bishop’s office getting called to be the new Primary President. Well, no rest! I am grateful that I can serve and humbled that the Lord trusts me to teach and lead His children.

Seminary graduation was on June 2^nd and because of our latest Stake split, four of my students graduated in the Carrollton Stake and 11 in the Lewisville Stake. The Stake Centers are fairly close to each other, so I spent some time at both graduations.

I am so proud of all of them for sticking with seminary for four whole years. When I was a teenager, I went to seminary during the school day across the street from my High School every day for one of my class periods. It was easy for me to graduate. These students really had to sacrifice! I only had to teach for one year; I can’t imagine attending for four at 6:00 a.m. Below is my sister-in-law Sara. She also graduated this year in the stake, although she wasn't in my class.

My sister Leslie’s baby Nikolas (who was 3 months old in this picture) has had several health issues since birth. They finally had to take him to a Children’s Hospital in Austin, Tx (a few hours away from home—College Station) to get some more testing done. They found out that he is in stage 4 (there are only 5 stages) kidney failure. So after lots of blood draws, a few surgeries, several medications, and two blood transfusions he is doing better and about ready to go home. I went down there and stayed with them at the Ronald McDonald House right next to the hospital for a few days. I brought Conner (my sister’s 2 ½ year old) home with me since he was going stir crazy in the hospital. The hospital is very child friendly with playgrounds, play rooms, libraries, etc. but still an active 2 ½ year old cannot last long in a hospital without going a little crazy. It has been fun to have the little guy. He is so happy, well-behaved and enthusiastic.

As you can see, our boys had so much fun together they played until they were exhausted.

We also watched a dog (Dutchess) for a friend of mine. She is actually a great friend and my visiting teaching companion. Dutchess (a mix between a poodle and a schaenzer) is still a puppy, so she was full of energy and loved to be around the boys. The boys really took good care of her and loved playing with her. But no, we (or at least “I”) are not ready for a dog yet.