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It's been a hard pill to swallow, not having a calling.  We've been in the ward almost a year and a half, and nothing.  It's especially hard for me to sit in the chapel each Sunday and hear callings given to other people who moved into the ward after us, but oh well.  I always hope for something wonderful, but I've learned that it's just not in the cards for me. So imagine how happy I was when I was asked to sub in Primary for singing time!  Seriously, I was so excited at the thought of actually having something to DO at church again.  I had the girls go down in the storage room and bring up my box of singing time fun, and I made new visual aids to teach "I Feel My Savior's Love."  I was kinda hoping the chorister would choose one of the other two possible songs (including "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today), but beggars can't be choosers! It was wonderful.  I loved being up front again, and I loved interacting with the kids.  They are a...

What a blessing it has been to be an ordinance worker in the temple.  At first, it was kinda difficult with John being on call 24/7 and worrying that he would get called while IN the temple, but we beat that job into the ground and left it for dead, and since then, we've almost been drowning in blessings! When the temples were shut down because of COVID, John and I had the unique opportunity to return sooner than most because workers were needed to help with the live ordinances.  When we get our shift assignments during normal times, we always hope to be hosting someone for a live endowment because it's really the most special thing to do, but because it was ONLY live endowments, we had the opportunity to host a LOT.  And if we weren't hosting, we were serving as the witness couple which meant that we were basically doing a session ourselves.  What I would have given to have had our children there with us as well. So while so many people have craved being in the temp...

The 4th of July.  Did you know that it ranks first in Americans' minds as their favorite holiday? I was so surprised to hear that--I would think Christmas or Thanksgiving.  Anyway, John was gone for the weekend, so the girls and I accepted an invitation to watch the fireworks at the Bosses' house.  This would normally fill me with dread, especially without Mark there, but man, I sure am working through some stuff in therapy ;-) Glo had to work, and we didn't want to show up too early anyway.  To be honest, we had already started our fast for the following Fast Sunday, so we just had to kind of slip in and slip out or else Teresa would have forced us to eat something ;-) It was a delightful hour and a half.  We played corn hole (I was the ultimate winner with Hannah never winning...).   We played with the kid toys. Actually, it was Glo that got right in there with the other actual  kids and figured out all the fun to be had. And finally, we sat on the t...

One day, Glo, close to tears, told me that she felt bad she had never visited Hamtramck, and the Polish bakery, and Le Detroit Macaron, and the Polish restaurant.  No worries!  She worked a shift at Five Guys that morning, and off we went.  We were running low on gas, and I forgot to fill up near home.  I told Glo that I should probably turn around, but she said "we can just get it when we get there." Nice idea, but I knew where we were heading.  However, how bad could it be? Poor Detroit.  Looking back over the genealogical records for John's maternal grandfather (and beyond), his family lived in Detroit during Detroit's hey day.  Different neighborhoods housing different ethnicities and languages.  Hamtramck was the Polish area and was where John's family settled. The current mayor is even Polish, and when I walk the side streets with the small houses with neat yards all smushed together, I can imagine what it was like back in the day.  But...