2021 - January-Hope

 

                                                                    
 

Happy New Year!  With optimism we welcome 2021.  2020 had some very troubling times and events that we hope will not be repeated this new year. We do know that we will have a few months of the pandemic to contend with but with faith and peace we will move forward.  Hopefully 2021 will be better than this

"You were taught in the spirit world to prepare you for anything and everything you would encounter during this latter part of these latter days.  That teaching endures within you," by President Nelson.  So whatever this year has to bring to us, we will face head on, knowing that God is in control.  We look forward to making memories with family and friends.

We celebrated the 1st and 2nd by watching football playoffs and basketball games.  I also finished one of my new Christmas puzzles. 

 

Thank you Ginger, Debbie and Jaikka.  It was a fun one.

Lon has been busy working on the rebuild for Kip.  He got the bathroom done

and 

  on the 14th we began installing the kitchen.

I continue to travel to Twin Falls 6 days a week, 3 for Mom and 3 for Alma.  Then I go and help Lon when he needs an extra set of hands, like installing a bathtub and the cabinets.  I am still a pretty good gofer for him.  

On the 16th, Alma called to say that A-to-B Transport has agreed to pick her up and take her to dialysis again!  YEA!  No more Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday trips to Twin.  

We were called and set apart as the English Connect 1 teachers for the Jerome Idaho Stake on November 24th, 2020.  We didn't receive any materials for about a month.  When we did receive them, they were all in English.  You can't expect a Spanish student to be able to read instructions for class in English when the class is English 1!  We had the books sent back and ordered them in Spanish.  We had our first class set up for January 4th.  The Spanish Missionaries, 2 sets of Elders and 1 set of Sisters, are to find and invite people to the class and we will teach basic conversational English and the Missionaries are to attend and present a brief Gospel message as well.  No one showed up for our first class😔.  The covid-19 numbers continue to rise and we felt prompted to cancel the classes for a time to see if the numbers will start to go down.  Both Lon and I were prompted that we needed to be cautious with this virus for a bit longer.  The Stake Presidency are trying to set the classes up virtually until the virus is under control but nothing has begun as of yet.

We are now allowed to sing in Church!  We have to keep our masks on but we are thankful for this privilege.  We began the new year with all of our 2nd hour classes meeting virtually.  This is a blessing for us until I realized that I would have to teach my 4th Sunday lesson virtually😲.  But maybe this will help me get over the fear so that when we meet face to face I won't be so scared to teach.

Mom was thrilled to be able to go to the lunch room for all of her meals in December.  That little bit of freedom really boosted her morale.  On the 13th she had a covid test, went to the ear specialist to check on new hearing aids with Judy and had her first covid shot.  She had no reaction to the shot.  On Friday the 15th we got the call that she tested positive😞😢.  She has no symptoms but had to be moved to the other wing of the care center and of course is in strict lock down again.  They moved her chair and basic necessities.  I told her that she was on vacation in a new part of the center.  We are all trying to be very positive and encouraging.  Only time will tell the outcome of this set back.

Our nation is in turmoil with riots and protests, deaths and sickness.  We are to swear in President-Elect Joe Biden on the 20th and President Trump supporters are threatening mob violence over the whole nation.  President Trump is not taking defeat gracefully and neighbor is pitted against neighbor.  It is a very sad time for the United Stated as there is no unity here right now.

Another quote from President Nelson really sums up where we are now.  "The road ahead may be bumpy, but our destination is serene and secure, so fasten your seatbelt, hang on through the bumps, and do what's right . . . your reward will be eternal."

I started going with Lon to work on the remodel.  It's time to wash walls and finish up the little repairs and lay the carpet.  Almost finished.

I wonder just how many times I have washed these same walls over the years?

The carpet is laid

The finished kitchen.  Lon was a little sad that the home is done and ready to rent.  It was a great project for the winter but we still have February to face😟.  Hopefully we can find something to keep him busy.

Mom was able to move back to her room on the 25th.  She never did have any signs of the covid and was very happy to get back to her room.

George and Kim invited us to take a drive on the 30th.  They wanted to drive north and see what the week of snow had done in Ketchum.  We drove to Wendell, Gooding and as we crested the hill dropping down into Fairfield saw our first snow.

North of Fairfield is Wells Summit where snowmobiling is very popular.

The parking lot was filled with at least 50 trucks and trailers.

It was a beautiful day

We drove on to Soldier Mountain Ski Resort

This is the old rope tow, now they have a conveyer belt

This is where I tried skiing and hated feeling out of control as I went down the bunny hill

Trying to show you how deep the snow is piled on the roof of the ski lodge

(Kim always does the driving for us and George is shot-gun)

We then drove to Belview and on up to Hailey and Ketchum.  We ended up at the SNRA  Headquarters.

 

We had a tough time figuring out what these were?

But we got closer and realized that people were para-sailing, using the wind to propel them around the field on snow boards.

We definately have plenty of wind for this sport!

The snow was very peaceful and beautiful.  We were thankful that it was not in Jerome though!

The trees were filled with snow

As we were heading home, we saw a huge herd of Elk on the south side of Belview.

The only problem was that they were down a private lane so we couldn't get great photos.

The private lane with a lone elk in the center, the rest are off to the left 

An elk nibbling on leaves

We left home at noon and as we headed home, just south of Shoshone, the sunset was amazing.

We had a great day with two dear friends.  It is always an adventure when George calls and wants to go for a drive.  We got home about 6:30.

We met with the Spanish Elders and Sisters on Sunday and we will begin our English Connect 1 classes in February.  We are excited to begin this calling.  Our covid-19 numbers have been going down for two weeks and we are back into Phase 3 here in Idaho. The vaccine is now being offered to anyone 65 years and older.  We are praying that our numbers will continue to go down so that we can get our temples opened soon.  Good-bye January.