HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And just like that, Christmas is taken down and a New Year welcomed in.  Rick had to do a few doctor/bishop things during the day.  He had a member that came down with pneumonia super quick and it was a bad case but he didn't want to get admitted due to lack of insurance, so Rick kept him at his ER overnight Saturday night to watch him and check on tests. He showed improvement so he let him go home, but checked on him Sunday and Monday and then gave him a blessing yesterday afternoon.  He is only in his 30's but it was a bad case.    He got a text from a family in the ward that their little girl was telling her friend about the Captain of the Candy that came and popped her arm in and made it all better!  She was referring to Rick and how the kids line up at the Bishop's office after church for a piece of candy.  So I guess because he divvies it out, he was the captain. She had nurse maid elbow a month ago and they had taken her to the doctor and a clinic but they just splinted it thinking it was sprained.  They called Rick to get his opinion and he went over to check on it and knew what it was.  He popped her elbow back in and that was what she was referring to.  So funny.

Then Rick tried his hand at ceviche for our New Year's dinner with the Schoenrocks.  We headed up there around 5.  Paul did prime rib, potatoes, rolls, green beans, and we brought the ceviche, guac and chips, and fruit.  Ginger made the cheesecake we always take turns making and had picked up these cute sugar cookies with 2019 on them.  We played games and rung in the New Year a little early.  Rick had to work today so we were in bed by 10:30 although Caden stayed at the Schonerocks to have a movie marathon night with Barret.  Wyatt was down at his cousin's house so we didn't see him.  This morning I am reflecting on what improvements/ goals I need to make or things I need to change this year.  It can be difficult to take a hard look at yourself and the life you are living and realize that you can and should do things better.   So I wrote down a few things.  On Sunday a member who left the church as a teen but came back a few years ago after the birth of his first child, spoke.  He has a masters in English from Harvard and he is similar to Morgan in his love of literature.  He said that he had not given a talk in church since he was 14 and although he teaches as a profession, he was nervous in this venue.  He gave an awesome talk and his talk was based on bells, seeds, and words.  He mentioned the song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (which is one of my favorite Christmas songs) I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.  He said he wrote this when he had gotten word that his son was injured in the Civil War.  "And in despair I bowed my head: there is no peace on earth I said, For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will-to men!   Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:  God in not dead, nor doth He sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, good-will to men.   A reminder that even in our despair or challenges there is hope to be found.  He talked about how Christ taught and used seeds a lot.  He said that a seed doesn't look like much but has such potential to change and grow into something amazing and that we each have potential in all of us.  His point on words was journaling and how powerful words can be to elicit change.  He said that he has been journaling this year and in the day to day he doesn't see patterns or maybe the Lords hand but as he has gone back and read this past year he has seen how the Lord has worked in his life and patterns emerge in the looking back an helps in the moving forward.  Anyway it was a great talk and I really agreeded with reading over my journal and it does remind me of the tender mercies that are extended to me daily when I take the time to look for them.  Journaling helps me do that so one of my goals is to continue journaling and even more regularly.

2019 will bring a new life into our lives, boys graduate from high school, Caden will leave us for a misson, and our girls leaving the Utah Valley where they have been for the last several years!  So here is to a beautiful new year to embrace what comes!