January 17th - 23rd

 In Our Family This Week...

* We pretty much stayed home the majority of the week. Mom took another Covid test on Monday and surprisingly it came back POSITIVE again! So we quarentined for another 5 days. Lexi, Aubrie and Nathan were sick most of the week as well. Thankfully it wasn't horrible, and we mainly had congestion and coughs. After 5 more days of staying home, we ventured out for an eye appointment for Lexi to get some contacts for  Rugby. Dad also went back into the office for work - since he hasn't had any symptoms and the test he took came back negative.  

It's been about 4 months since I last posted all of the numbers so here they are:

Total Cases in Idaho: 358K (up from 260K 4 months ago)       

Total Deaths in Idaho: 4,324 (up from 3,000)

Total US Cases: 70.5 Million (up from 43.6 million 4 months ago)         

Total US Deaths: 865K (up from 701K)

Total Worldwide Cases: 350 Million (up from 220 Million 4 months ago)    

Total Worldwide Deaths: 5.6 Million (up from 4.5 Million) 

And I don't think I ever mentioned about the Omicron Variant. So to begin with we had Covid 19 emerge here in the US in January 2020, then we had the Covid 19 Delta Variant and now we're dealing with the Omicron variant (which thankfully is MUCH less severe than the original disease but much more contagious). We can see that in our numbers... Here in Idaho, originally the highest day of positive tests was with 1,486 positive tests recorded. However, this past week was a peak with 4,220 cases reported in one day! That is a HUGE difference! Youth Activities were cancelled this week but our Stake has decided to continue on as normal meeting in person for both hours. But if you're sick or don't feel comfortable attending in person, The Sacrament is authorized to be given at home for the next few weeks.

* Lexi got Contacts! Aubrie got hers the other week (but Lexi was sick on her original appointment day). They're now ready to be able to see during Rugby practices and games - yay!

* Dad and Maggie were able to go hunting. They came home with nothing - which is the first time that's happened this entire Duck season! That's OK though because we have a freezer full of duck meat!

* Ben finished up training at his new job! His last shift they had him be solo for about 8 hours (of the 12 hour shift) and he did great! He's super excited to start his full night shifts this next week! His shifts will be from 6pm - 6am. He started switching up his sleep schedule this week in preparation for it! We've never seen him be so excited and LOVE working! He literally can't wait for his next shift once he's off.... we hope this enthusiasm stays (which he is assuring us it will! haha)

* Aubrie and Lexi both utilized their quarantine time to do some artistic projects (in addition to learning some new duets on the piano with each other!). Aubrie did a wonderful acrylic painting and Lexi crocheted an adorable outfit for Lambert!

Spiritually Speaking...

* Ben is really wanting to advance in the Priesthood and he met with the Bishop today for the next step! He's thinking he'll be ordained in the next couple of weeks. That's one things about Ben - he has such a love for the gospel and the Priesthood and he's so excited about this next step!

* During Come Follow Me this week we talked about the Holy Ghost and shared experiences when we felt the influence of the Spirit. Aubrie shared an experience where earlier this week during her personal prayer she felt inspired to pray for Ben that he would be able to retain all of the information he'd been learning at his new job.  Well the very next day Ben came home from work saying that his new boss had come in that day and did an hour and a half "exam" hitting him with all sorts of scenarios that "could happen" and how Ben would handle them! Ben announced that during that entire hour and a half, he didn't miss a beat and got every answer correct! Now that's a blessing!

* Also in my own personal CFM studies I came across how Adam kept a "Book of Remembrance" that he taught his children from and how we need to keep our own histories (which I think I've done a fairly good job at - with keeping a weekly/yearly history for the past 11 years!) However, I came across this quote from President Spencer W Kimball that read:

"... What could you do better for your children and your children's children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved?"

and this inspired me to share MORE... share when I/we have fallen and recovered or triumphed over adversity! I know that my posterity reading our family history will think that everything is just peachy and blessed for us (and honestly it truly IS!) BUT... we still have our struggles and our sorrows and I'm doing a disservice by not sharing those moments and focusing only on the positive. So.. this is me committing to taking the Prophets counsel to share it all!