* We drove home from Nebraska! It was a super SUPER long drive but we made it home safely and found everything well and undisturbed when we arrived.
* We had 2 days to get Seth all packed up and ready for BYUI. We had to get the Cadillac registered, insured and get the title transferred. We also stocked up on dry goods from Walmart to fill Seth's pantry.
* On Friday, the girls, mom and Seth loaded into the Caddy and headed into Boise to dad's work. From there, mom rode with dad and the girls kept Seth company and off we went to Rexburg! We arrived at the hotel around 8pm and we ordered some pizza for dinner. We had heard that it was "first come, first serve" for picking the room in the apartment and so we decided it best to arrive 30 minutes BEFORE opening to ensure a good spot in line.... Well... there ended up being no line and dad and Seth were the only ones there! haha... Needless to say, Seth got his pick of room and bed (he's in a 3 bedroom/3 bathroom apartment with 5 other guys) and we think he picked the best one!
* Mom and dad have committed to attend the Temple each week... and we've been successful thus far!
* Our debt journey is still going strong! Dave Ramsey has a 9 week course called "Financial Peace University" where all of the 7 babysteps are laid out and expounded upon as well as investing and protecting your investments. I have always thought it would be beneficial to do a class and I'm excited to say that we started one 2 weeks ago! Stephanie has organized a class to be coordinated with all of her extended family and invited dad and I to join in. It's each Thursday and we've really been enjoying it!
* B.I.G. changes for August and McKendra... they called us up and shared their exciting news - they have decided to get married on April 5th! That's in like 10 weeks! They are wanting to get sealed here in the Boise Temple with a ring ceremony and reception afterward... There's lots to be done but we are so excited for them and especially thrilled that they've made it a priority to make it to the Temple!
* We've all made new goals in each of the following areas: Spiritual, Physical, Educational and Financial. With that has come a renewed dedication to hitting the Rec center. Dad and Ben have been getting up early and lifting weights MWF and then doing cardio (Ben has been doing the Couch to 5K app) TTF. Mom and the girls even started attending a Zumba class together... We're really trying to make health a priority!
* We started back to the Co-op. I'm teaching a Geography class (specifically about different Countries) that Nathan and the girls attend and then while I'm teaching (that same geography class to a different age group) the kids go to a Math class (math concepts taught through games). Meanwhile Ben is in the Shakespeare Theater class where they are practicing for the Play - Much Ado About Nothing that will be performed in May. Ben is one of the leading roles - Claudio.
* Driving home from Rexburg (after dropping off Seth) we got a much later start than we were hoping for. We were tired and so decided to take up Craig and Robyn's invitation to stay the night at their place in Kimberly. The next morning before heading home, Robyn invited the girls to help feed the goats and sheep.. they were in heaven! It's now their dream to have livestock! haha
Spiritually Speaking...
* Well, we've had a few weeks of implementing the new Come, Follow Me curriculum and I am loving it! It has really made our daily Enrichments more focused and in-depth (and not to mention much easier for me in regards to planning!) We have been doing a bigger FHE on Sunday's with daily enrichment lessons the rest of the week to cover all of the material in the book. I've also been texting out a visual of the reading assignment to our family group text on Mondays, the scripture that we're memorizing on Wednesday and then a question to ponder that goes along with the reading on Friday. I'm hoping this is a help (more specifically for August and Seth) to keep the CFM lessons on their minds. There are many resources available online and grandma got me an Activity Book to go along with the weekly readings for Christmas that I have found to be very helpful! Some of the things that we've done are:
- Had an indepth lesson on the lineage of Jesus Christ (traced back to Abraham). Then we talked about WHY Family History is so important and then visually laid out our own personal lineage as far back as we could go through both the Vogt and Carlson lines. Everyone really enjoyed this!
- Memorized Luke 1:37 "For with God nothing shall be impossible" Related this to how sometimes our mortal minds can't comprehend how something will be accomplished but with God all things are possible (we discussed this with Mary - the mother of Jesus and Elisabeth - the mother of John the Baptist)
- Blessings come in their own timing (God's timing) and submitting our will to His
- Discussed parables (the 10 virgins and the parable of the sowers) and how we're all responsible for our own learning
- FEAR NOT! We wrote down things that we were afraid of in our journals and then we read some specific scriptures of when angles told people (Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds and Zacharias) to Fear not and WHY the Lord doesn't want us to be fearful and then wrote "Fear Not!" over our fears.
- Memorized Luke 2:52 "And Jesus increased in Wisdom and Stature and in favor with God and Man" There was a really great article in the New Era that went along with HOW Jesus grew/increased in these 4 areas so we chatted about that and then thought of ways our family can also develop an increase in each of these areas
- Aubrie came up with a game like "Headbanz" except they were of people we'd been studying in the scriptures with the weekly lessons that we wore on our foreheads and had to ask questions of each other to figure out who we were. Another night, we played Charades and had to guess people or situations we'd been learning about.
- As we were studying about the birth of Christ and more specifically about the Wisemen bringing gifts to the young child Jesus - dad and I came across some insights that we hadn't really every thought about before...In the Law of Moses, the poorest families could sacrifice a turtledove in place of a lamb (Lev. 12:9). When Mary came to the temple, she brought this substitute because the Holy Family was not blessed with worldly riches (Luke 2:24). Joseph must have felt overwhelmed when the angel commanded him to take his family and flee into Egypt. They had no means to make this journey, and so is it plausible that Heavenly Father sent Holy Men bearing gifts that allowed them to accomplish His commands - by giving them the means to move/flee into Egypt and help them live until Joseph was able to provide a living in Egypt. There are times when we too feel unable to do what the Lord has asked. In these moments we should remember that our Father will care for us as He did His own Son. If we are patient, He will send others “bearing gifts” that allow us to accomplish what seems impossible!
Overall, I've really been happy with how things are going! The kids all have great attitudes and come ready to discuss and learn! I especially love how we focus on 1-2 chapters a week in the New Testament and really DIVE into it and go well beyond just the surface of the scriptures - it's like we've given ourselves permission to go slow and let the scriptures sink into our hearts and daily lives!
* Nathan received his first calling in the church! He's our Ward's newest Temple and Family History Consultant! They called several youth and will be having a training in the near future to show him what this new calling entails. He's been pretty excited and it was so adorable seeing him stand and get sustained in church! Ok, speaking of "Adorable" there's a little story that I've forgotten to write down but I don't want to forget it! so... now's the time!
It was last October and Nathan was attending the Temple for the first time! Dad, Seth and Ben all went as well. When they were at the clothing counter and the lady asked Nathan what size he was, he looked at dad for some direction to which dad replied "Do you have size Adorable?" They both smiled and she said "Yes, I have that exact size." Isn't that the cutest! Now we joke and say that Nathan is "Size Adorable!"
* I love that the Holy Ghost can impress upon our minds things that will be helpful to us! The girls have been super sick this past week and on the 3rd day, Aubrie mentioned that her "throat feels like there's knives in it!" and so I grabbed a flashlight and had a look inside of her throat - to which I was greeted with white spots all over it! A quick look inside Lexi's mouth showed the same white spots - Strep Throat - nooooo!! Ain't nobody got time for 'dat! Well, I realized that I needed to take them into a clinic to get some antibiotics so we get ready and head over to the nearest Walk-in Urgent Care Clinic. As I'm filling out all of the Patient History and Insurance forms a thought pops into my mind - "Go home and use Teladoc." I stop for a moment and was like "Hmmmm.. yeah, that's not a bad idea." Teladoc is a benefit we have with Xylem (and even though I'd never used it, I've thought it was a great service - one where you facetime with a real doctor and it's a fraction of the cost). So I decide that we're going to go home and use Teladoc and so I go back up to the front desk and tell her that "I have been reminded of a benefit service we have that I think we'll use and so I need to withdraw my girls and go home." Yes, it was a tad awkward and embarrassing but I was motivated by the amount of money we'd save! Before I leave I say "Just for future reference, how much does a doctor visit here cost?" She informs me that just to see the Doctor would have been $165 and then for him to check for Strep would have been another $80! So it would have been $245 for EACH girl!! I would have been surprised with almost a $500 bill if we had stayed!!! On the way home, I KNEW that the Holy Ghost had prompted me and brought this service to my mind. Amazing, right!? We get home and I get us set up with the Teladoc service and before we knew it, both girls had been "seen" and an antibiotic Rx had been called in to our local pharmacy! Total cost - $90 vs $500! Seth had also been fighting with an infection on his finger that wasn't going away with neosporin and we had texted a picture of it to Uncle Morgan who said he needed an oral antibiotic to clear it up. We had told him to just go to the BYUI clinic but then I thought that would be a perfect thing for Teladco, too! I called him and asked if he'd been to the clinic yet - to which he replied he was on his way there right then! I told him to turn around and go home and use Teladoc - which he did and had an antibiotic in hand that evening! And not sure what was going on, but Nathan also had a really bad infection on his finger (both his and Seth's were the result of an ingrown fingernail) and we'd been fighting it with bacitracin all week which didn't seem to be helping... you guessed it - Teladoc to the rescue and he, too, was on an antibiotic by the end of the day! So when all was said and done (4 Dr visits + 4 Prescriptions) we were at a total of $200 vs closer to $1,000! HUGE BLESSING!!
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