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Because John has been officially fired from his job, we will no longer have health insurance at the end of this month.  Being as sick as frequently as I am, don't think this doesn't terrify me.  I have done everything I can to fill every possible prescription as well as get contacts ordered for me and the girls for a year, as well as visiting the dentist one last time.  Also, I decided to get a mammogram. John ordered a mammogram for me when I first turned 40, but the requisition form sat in my pile of "important" papers back in our PA house for years.  I figured after that much time, it had expired and I pitched it.  Then, when we first moved here, he gave me another requisition, but I "lost" it.  John has always made the joke that it's not going to look too good for the wife of an OB/Gyn to be diagnosed with breast cancer because she didn't have early detection.... So with only three weeks left on the insurance, John filled out yet another orde

I will share with my family this letter I just wrote to Glo because I don't want to forget this. I have had so many beautiful experiences over this past year.  I have tried to share them with Glo and on the blog but I know I have forgotten some of them.   Dear Glo, I just thought I would share this with you in a letter and with the family on the blog before I forget. Ella Williams called me today.  I talked to her just now and she told me about a dream she had.  In her dream she was talking with an old girlfriend and her friend was telling her about all her troubles.  She was telling Ella how hard life was for her and Ella said she was feeling so sorry and sad for her friend.  She was feeling burdened by the troubles her friend was telling her about. At the end of the dream Ella had the following thought:  "Sometimes, people walk a road of suffering they do not deserve because they will need to help others in the future".  This was the message Ella he

I don't write these experiences to brag.  I write them to remember.  When I'm sitting in some tiny branch in the middle of rural PA, and I feel like nobody likes me, I'm going to remember these wonderful times with the Young Women of the Chelsea Ward. This week was "Capture the Flag" at Timbertown Park.  I've never played CTF, and I figured that I would just sit on a park bench, watching the girls and taking a picture or two.  However, I should probably know by now that that just isn't going to happen to me. John had the keys to Greenie, so I took the convertible.  When I drove up, parked and got out, the girls came running over to me shouting, "It's SISTER KENNEDY!"  The barrage of questions then began about the car.  When did I get it?  Is it mine?  Why haven't they ever seen me drive it?  Yeah, they were talking about that for a good five minutes. Then, even though I wasn't in charge of the activity , all the questions get th

Is it possible to have a bad day in the temple?  I mean, without Satan there, shouldn't things always be on the up-and-up?  I stand as a witness--it IS possible. This past week was another intense one for me.  My regular shift Thursday night, filling in for a friend on Friday night, and an afternoon office shift on Saturday.  The traffic around Detroit has been horrible with some let's-get-everything-fixed-before-the-snow-falls mentality (#WinterIsComing), so it's also taking me longer to get to the temple each time which doesn't add to the experience.  But in full disclosure, I know that all of these petty feelings are my own issue.  Anyway, let's dig in, shall we? Former Boyfriends Johannah has left a trail of former (a. boys, b. friends, c. boyfriends) in the greater Metro Detroit area which now just left me crying at the end of seeing them. Axel Lichtenberg has not returned to BYU.  He wrote Hannah back in the Spring and apologized for ghosting her, comp

Hey Glo, How are you doing?  How is the missionary work in Santa Rosa going?  How are your investigators doing?  Did you have many at church yesterday?  How are things with your companionship?   I hope all is well.  Mommy and I pray for you every day.  You are so strong, I don't always remember you are having a hard time with your trio but I pray for your well being and spirit and safety every day. I am doing pretty good.  I just had a great Sunday nap.  It was too long, so I probably won't be able to sleep tonight, but it was nice because I slept and didn't wake up worried or stressed out, like I so often do.  I think part of it was that I was so tired.  I slept ok last night but I ran the Air Force Marathon yesterday and it really tired me out. It was a crazy running day.  I got up at 5:15 am, got ready, I was staying at a hotel about 25 minutes away.  I drove to the Air Force museum and there are three gates you can enter to park, and then there is o

So, back in July, I was hired as Donor Center Tech (DCT) for Grifols Plasma, a plasma bank. As a DCT, I do finger sticks to collect blood to ensure that donors are healthy enough to donate that day. It’s actually a way cool job, and I work with really fun people, so it makes going to work really fun. It can, however, be a bit monotonous to be in a screening booth for three hours, sticking finger after finger, and measuring red blood cell/plasma proportion. I do get to meet a lot of fun people, and it's cool once you start to know people by face that come in, and you can ask them about their lives. Plasma itself is actually really important for healthcare, because certain medications can only be made using plasma, and because drug companies make so much money off of it, it means that it’s also saving college students from living off of Ramen everyday, as they are paid for their plasma donations. In short, plasma saves lives. Yesterday, I got to work, and was screening donors for

Sunday.  Nothing much ever happens on a Sunday, so maybe I should combine this day with the next half day that I had with Hannah.  We'll see as we go along, shall we? We were up early enough to get to the church in Enoch to run through "Redeemer" (which we had only sight-read twice).  Of course, with back-to-back wards meeting in the building most of the day, it was more like find a piano for ten free minutes and do the best we can.  Which we did.  In the Primary room.  But we only got one run-through in the chapel before the meeting.  I had chills though--it sounded so good. So we sang.  Hannah and I both agreed that it sounded like Elder Thomas was very nervous.  He missed a couple of things which got us both off a bit (me more than Hannah).  When that sacrament meeting ended, we just stayed in our seats for the next one where we were singing again and then Elder Thomas was speaking. I wished I could have stood up and born testimony about the great missionary Elde

I woke up on Saturday, just feeling so happy. There aren't a lot of moments lately where I'm allowed to feel that way (in the temple and with the Young Women being the major exceptions), so it was nice to drop the weight that rests continually on my shoulders.  We were planning on getting up pretty early, but Hannah isn't always the fastest out the door ;-) Before we left though, Hannah had to steal the shampoo from the hotel.  I heard several weeks ago that Marriott has switched from single, sample size toiletries to large bottles to save waste (yay!).  I could hardly believe it when I saw that they had Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner.  I mean, that's what my hair salon uses, and it is amazing!  I forced Hannah to shower the night before just so she could experience what I was talking about.  Well, it just so happened that our shower was low on conditioner, so I asked them to bring some up.  They did.  An entire bottle.  Which Hannah took.  And she used an empty Pro

A couple of months ago, Elder Thomas told me about his homecoming in Utah.  I asked the dates, checked for airline tickets, and decided to go.  He did so much for us when he was in Chelsea that I felt like I owed him BIG TIME.  Conveniently, his homecoming was just a week before Hannie's birthday, so it was a double win! I had been collecting gifts for Hannah over the past few months, and when the day came to leave, there wasn't much room in my suitcase for my own clothes ;-). But saving the money on shipping?  Yes, please. So when I landed in Salt Lake, I called Hannah.  She told me that she was in a cell phone lot, waiting for me, but she would be right there.  This is what drove up: Oh my gosh, she was priceless!  She came straight from Salt Lake Comic Con, so I got to see her in her full glory, and to her credit, her costume was AMAZING! We were supposed to go to bed early because we had a big day the next day, but of course we didn't. The next morning, we w