New primary presidency member

A few months ago, Genia Rasmussen (left) joined our primary presidency.  We haven't had primary due to Covid, and we haven't met in person too often, but this meeting we got together for a socially distanced Christmas  lunch and to divide up gifts to deliver, so we got a picture for the ward history.  I love these ladies (Spring Campbell is on the right), and I'm grateful to serve with them.

 I'd like to record how we've been serving in our callings during this past year.  The pandemic was unprecedented of course, and so there wasn't any instruction for awhile.  Primary Presidencies around the world had a variety of restrictions and  a  variety of philosophies about the role we should play when we didn't have in-person primary.

In the middle of March, church (along with everything else in the world it seemed) closed down.  Here in Grand Junction, we had a stay-home order for 2 weeks, which was then extended a few more times and ended up being about 6 weeks I think.

The Come Follow Me program of the church, which is home-centered and church-supported, seemed truly inspired and made it easy for families to have home-church and home primary.

As I pondered and prayed about it, I felt like we needed to maintain a connection with the children and families in our ward. By the end of March I made a video message to send to the families, and although it took a month or so to figure out a manageable plan, we have been doing the following ever since:

Monthly virtual newsletter

Video message from a presidency member

Individual visits on each child's birthday (during the stay-home order we left things at the door)

Monthly outreach (ice cream truck delivery, small gifts, notes in the mail)

Weekly Zoom music time with our amazing music leaders, the McPhees

Several family baptisms!

...and starting this month, we've been making weekly Come Follow Me for Primary video lessons to provide extra support to families who may struggle with teaching the lessons.

I have felt so much love for the children and truly felt connected to them.  I'm so grateful for the inspiration of the Holy Ghost that has guided me along the way.

Merry Christmas 2020!

As you can see, Kyle got to come home for Christmas!  He was here for 10 days before heading back to Washington, D.C.  He says he won't get leave again until next Christmas. :( 

Christmas was very low key as the world was still in the middle of a pandemic.  There were no parties (yay for me!) or getting together.  Not even with Kayla and Melody.  Because we got Covid tests 2 days before Christmas in preparation for a family reunion after Christmas, and Kayla tested positive.  Thankfully, she was asymptomatic, so she was able to take care of herself and Melody, but she had to isolate for 10 days...right in the middle of the reunion, Christmas, and New Years.  Such a bummer.  We did, however, go over on Christmas Eve for PJs and Christmas Day for gifts.  She stayed on one side of the room with a mask on and we stayed on the other side with masks on.  Thankfully we all stayed healthy, but we weren't about to let her spend the entire holiday alone.

We've purchased matching PJs for the girls before, but this is the first year we've all had matching PJs.  It was so fun!

 

Kyle's first military leave!

In Marine lingo, they call this "boots in the house."

Kyle got to come home!  Between Infantry training and his Permanent Duty Station (which I'm not putting on the internet), he got to come home for 5 days.  

It was so nice to see him; and a little bittersweet to see that he's the same old Kyle, a little more grown up, and lot of unique experiences behind him, but still our Kyle.

Normally, during boot camp they have uniform classes and fittings.  Since he was there during a pandemic, he didn't get those.  So this is him figuring it all out on his own:

I had to get a picture of all his gear.  Fun fact: Marines pay for all of their own gear, and food, and internet... there were a lot of surprises for me.

I sure would have like to see him in his dress blues (the uniform folded up in the suitcase), but that will have to wait for another time.

My post from Facebook:

Today: a journal entry

At the airport, the baggage handler:

"Are you a Marine?"

Kyle: "Yes"

Man: "Can I shake... how about an elbow bump? Thank you for keeping the bad guys away. Thank you for your service."

Kyle's been home for a few days and the first time someone thanked him for his service in my presence (at the bank), I was glad for a mask because I got emotional. It's something I think is so cool and he's earned it! It's something I'll get used to.

What I'm not sure I'll get used to? Saying goodbye. That totally stinks.

 

Kayla received her endowment!

Kayla received her endowment in the Monticello Utah temple on November 14th, 2020- exactly 23 years to the day after I received mine.  It was pretty special.  We had the whole temple to ourselves due to COVID restrictions.  I'm so proud of her and her decisions to move forward in good ways.  Love her!

 

Blue Star Moms

Blue Star Moms are moms who have a son who is serving or has served in the military.  It's been a neat thing to be a part of, as I've realized being a military family is a different world and not many people understand it.  Here, we understand one another!

In November, I had the honor of accompanying two other Blue Star Mothers to present a gold star flag to a Gold Star Mother- a mother who lost her son.  It was hard but nice to be there and honor her and her family's sacrifice.

 

Expanding the patio and other projects for Jason

Jason did a project for me- expanding our back patio.  All we have are rocks out there so it will be nice, and it's just the start- we'll do more to have an eating area and possible a hot tub someday.

Jason also helped his parents out with some remodeling at their house:

Oh, and we got a queen size bed for Kyle's room/guest room!

One beautiful fall day, we set out to take some family pictures for our Christmas cards!

Then we tried to recreate our engagement picture from 23 years ago.  That was kinda fun!