A Quick Update

Here's an update on our lives.  Because, ya know, you care.

Spencer spent most of last week in Lexington, Kentucky, at Toyota's Lean Manufacturing plant.  (It used to be that I was too tired to think about his being gone.  Now I find that I don't sleep so well when he's gone, no matter how exhausted I am.  I just need him. here.)  He spent three solid days doing homework for his current class, but he got all of it finished (math), so now he just has to attend the last couple of classes to be finished with this one.  Big accomplishment; AND it gives him a bit a free time on the weekends and in the evenings to do other things.

My school is KILLING. ME.  I am currently taking a Strategic Management class, in which there is a run-your-own-business simulation.  I am not graded on the simulation; I will have to write about my experiences and decisions later on. Only guess what?  This simulation is taking me an average of 4 hours of homework daily to complete.  Unfortunately, I can't jump ahead to the next "quarter" in the simulation, because there are other teams involved.  So, for example, I spent 6 hours yesterday (Saturday) and another 45 minutes today (Sunday) to get Quarter 6 completed.  It is due at noon tomorrow (Monday).  So Quarter 7 will not be opened till 1:00 tomorrow, but it is due by noon on Wednesday.  So I'll spend about 3-4 hours each day on Monday and Tuesday in order to have the assignment done on Wednesday.  I'm think that my written statement will look something like this:  I hate this dumb simulation.  I think this course should be worth MANY more units than it is.  Thank you for taking over my life.  Do you think they'll accept that?  Best of all, I'm failing miserably at running this virtual company.  I'm projected to finish two years at -$9M.  Amy says I should go into government.

A member of the bishopric asked if I thought I might be able to head up a ward activity in April or May.  I hope he reports back that Sister Hill looked like she might meltdown right then and there.  I also got a call from the stake Scout leader asking me to be the Family Life merit badge counselor in April and May.  I haven't called him back, but I'm pretty sure that's gonna be a no.  I've been attending ward conferences and teaching my Primary class.  Youth conference is coming up.  I gotta be honest.  I'm kinda sick of church. (And it wouldn't be a big deal without school.  So "alls I know is" I gotta get this school thing behind me.)

In better news, I ran 4 miles yesterday.  It felt really good to accomplish that, because you shoulda seen me on January 1, trying to walk through a mile.  Ugh.  And I just keep getting stronger.

Also, I get to teach Primary.  It's what keeps me going to church right now.  (Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE the Church.  I love the gospel.  I love the Savior.  But I might be a little tired...)  I love those kids so much!  Last week Annie's little sister, Lucy (a Sunbeam) did not want to go to her class, so Annie asked if Lucy could come to our class.  I told her she was welcome to stay.  Annie ran to the restroom, so I just started talking with Lucy (who is PRE.CO.CIOUS).  She told me many things about their recent visit to Disneyland, and it was a delightful conversation.  Her mama came and took her to her own class.  Then we went to Sharing Time, and Lucy and her teacher sit in front of our class.  Sister Curtis did a Sharing Time where the Primary was divided into groups.  The Sunbeams (there were a couple of visitors) had their assignment, and our class had our assignment.  Ours was to answer the question "How much money did Judas take?"  So we read the scripture about it.  I had to explain to the kids what "betray" means.  I said, "It means that some people gave Jesus's friend, Judas, some money in exchange for him telling them which person was Jesus so they could arrest Jesus and kill him."  I didn't realize that Lucy (in front of us) was listening to our group until she piped up, "That was NOT choosing the right!"  I looked at her, and her little face was showing her distress.  I said, "He wasn't a very good friend, was he?"  She shook her head very solemnly and said, "Heavenly Father wants us to be a good friend."  What a good (vibrant, active, head-strong) girl!

Briana has been struggling with some health issues on her mission.  Her president's wife called several weeks ago to keep us in the loop, which tells you that this is more than a case of the sniffles.  I am anxious for p-day tomorrow so we have more word.  They were able to get her on some meds.  Last week she still wasn't feeling so great.  I hope that tomorrow shows a little more light in her life.  (Why can't we choose what we pass along to our kids?)

Taylor had a rough go a few weeks ago, but the mom I have keeping an eye on him (Hi, Denise!) says that he seems to be doing better.  I'm proud of him for the courageous way he's facing difficulties.  He only gets snail mail about once every 3 to 4 weeks (sometimes even longer).  I know that when he gets mail he always feels better.

Taylor's best friend, Logan, had to come home from the MTC for health reasons.  I know Tay will be sad for his friend and for the fact that he can't really do much from Canada.  We're sad for Logan, too, mostly because we know he's sick.  Our poor boy!

Ashtyn is doing really well right now.  She's spent some time looking at apartments, apparently (I just learned this from Landon).  She hasn't applied for school yet, though, so I hope she's not terribly disappointed if she doesn't get into her program immediately.  She can get started, though, and that will be good for her.  Mostly I'm just thankful her health has been as good as it has.  This past week she had to work Saturday and then 8.5 hour days because the plant needed a shut-down for some mechanical reasons.  She hated that, but then she got to leave early on Thursday and have Friday off, along with this weekend.  She doesn't LOVE her job, but she does love having her own money.  It's a decent job, and she knows it.  I am grateful that she has something to do each day that gets her up and going (early!), because I know that that helps with her health, too.

Landon went to CHHS's prom last night.  To say it wasn't a good experience would be a pretty serious understatement.  This weekend is WJHS's prom, and he said he thought he might ask one of the girls from his debate class to go.  I think it's a great idea, and I hope he'll do it.  He was a sad boy last night (breakups hurt!); this morning he seems to be doing a lot better (though he says he only slept for about 3 hours last night).

So there it is.  Ups and downs for everyone--mostly ups (we seek after these things), for which we are very grateful.