Missed hearing from you last week. Phone call or not - say hello!
It's been a busy week. Noah Duncan was in Texas for a feral pig ranch shoot out. He knew folks that were gifted with a three day $600 per day trip, that did not want to use it, and drove in with some friends. Cooper drove down to the Austin area early Thursday morning to pick him up and bring him back home.
Thursday they ate a quick dinner and were back out the door at Cooper's friend's graduation party, a good friend from the Weatherford ward. Friday evening they were back out again watching a friend's play, and then another party. Saturday evening Cooper had to work at Stumpy's.
What a blessing Noah's been! He helped with the tree cluster out front hacking and sawing off tree limbs, loading debris in the tractor trailer, blow torching recently cut limbs so keep them sealed from bugs, pulling vines out of the trees. You get the picture. The area looks so much better! That was Friday. And boys with their toys are happy to help!
Saturday the project was to fix the broken sewer sprinkler head Sawyer ran over dumping debris on Friday. This is the first time a broken sprinkler head has involved repairing the PVC pipe, but Noah knew how to dig down, cut, and re-cement the new pipe. Then the vacuum broke. The short I've been nursing along for years required cutting and rewiring, and Noah knew how to do that as well.
In honor of his help Noah got to pick the movie, and the ice cream flavors.
Saturday morning I spent at my first Search and Rescue meeting, without the dog. I have a lot to do before I can be eligible to bring him, and then will have to determine if he's eligible to be trained. If I had the combination of Ranger's obsessive ball drive with Wagner's non aggressive behavior, he'd be perfect. Wagner is obsessive about walking, so I hope to convert a toy to that drive. He could be trained in trailing (finding alive or last seen Alzheimer patients, juveniles, missing) or human remain detection (tornadoes, homicides) or both.
Between Friday afternoon's debris removal and Saturday morning's hikes, I spent last night, all night, itching the newly developed poison ivy and hundreds of bug bites I didn't know I had. And I was wearing long sleeved shirts, pants, and boots both times, with bug spray! Miserable!
Your siblings finished up school with a half a day Wednesday afternoon. There was much rejoicing and a few corn dogs eaten at their celebratory lunch. Sawyer and Miller's favorite past time, in their first week of school free time is to play Blitz ball in the backyard. They're willing to mow, they've measured the field, and constructed a back stop they put up and take back down. I love it.
Both boys have been invited to play on all star teams, Sawyer's is based out of Stephenville thanks to a co worker of Dad's at Tarleton. Sawyer will also be playing basketball in the Glen Rose summer league, both leagues for free.
Speaking of baseball, Dad took the two boys on Tuesday to a Rangers game. I can't remember the team they were playing, but Miller had on a Ranger shirt, and the other team's hat. They were prepared to buy tickets when the arrived, but a man that couldn't stay offered them three of his season tickets, allowing them to be behind home plate. Such a blessing. And no nose bleeds. Miller got a ball. He has been asking all season to go to a game, and was so excited to go. Happy graduation from elementary school!
Miller's award ceremony was Monday. Of notable mention is his perfect score in Mathematics on the STAR test, all A's all year, all E's all year (excellent behavior), highest AR reader in class, and third overall in the fifth grade.
Breyer also had her award ceremony. She received the third highest AR reader in her class, and all E's. I know I'm missing something, but I don't have her certificates in front of me at the moment.
And of course this weekend, especially tomorrow, we celebrate as a nation Memorial Day, those who died wearing their uniform. Dad took me and the kids to Granbury's Field of Flags. Each year it gets a bit bigger and better, and was very well visited while we were there. This year they added photos and a paragraph or two on those who had died serving. I learned that the BlackHawk Down movie was based on a man that was born here in Texas. We're considering painting the field's rusty fence as Sawyer's Eagle Scout project.
We took Noah to Granbury's lighted boat parade, the opening of boat season. It was much bigger than the closing of boat season Labor Day parade. We still need to find a better viewing spot, as the boats turned around before even coming close to us, and were on the other side of the lake. But it was nice to sit together for a minute, with the dog.
I read Elder Bednar’s “Prepared to Obtain Every Needful Thing” where he explained that the programs and activities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are becoming ever more home centered and Church supported. My favorite question was instead of asking, “What did you learn about the Savior and His gospel today at church?” we should be asking, “What did you learn about the Savior and His gospel this week in your home?” I asked this question at home before family prayer, and no one reflected enough to comment. I told them how I appreciated Noah's willingness to serve us, as a visitor, as would the Savior. That was the challenge of the week, taking responsibility for their learning in our home.
Bednar said, “Each member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an individual responsibility to learn and live the Lord’s teachings and to receive by proper authority the ordinances of salvation and exaltation. We should not expect the Church as an organization to teach or tell us everything we need to know and do to become devoted disciples and endure valiantly to the end. Rather, our personal responsibility is to learn what we should learn, to live as we know we should live, and to become who the Master would have us become. And our homes are the ultimate setting for learning, living, and becoming… Making our homes sanctuaries wherein we can “stand in holy places” is essential in these latter days. And as important as home-centered and Church-supported learning is for our spiritual strength and protection today, it will be even more vital in the future.”
Love,
Mom
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