Week 62

 Jan 12, 2026

Dear Gracie,

Well, we're back to our regular routines.  Dad left for Mississippi on Tuesday last week and will be gone until Friday this week, so it's a longer than usual trip.  Caytie also left on Tuesday afternoon to return back to Utah.  She, Scott, Kaitlyn, and Emma started their classes during the week.  We miss all of them.  The rest of us (me, Tessa, and Benson) are here just doing seminary, school, preschool, piano, youth activities, band, etc.  

GREAT NEWS!  Tessa finished her (second) drivers ed online course!  Now we just need to practice parallel parking and do some freeway hours, and she'll be ready for the test.

The piano tuner came on Friday.  I knew there was a pencil stuck in the grand piano, but I wasn't too surprised when he also pulled out another pencil and a sticker sheet.  It sounds much better now. 

That night Tessa went to a girls night with some young women, and learned that she was invited to be in the Girls Camp Presidency, so she was very excited about that.  She had earlier been added to a group chat with the leaders and didn't know why. :)  She likes to be involved in planning, so this is a good fit for her.

On Saturday I had my mandolin lesson and then I took Benson to his percussion lesson and then went to the post office, which had closed at 11 (10 minutes before), but the kiosk in the lobby was available, but there was a line, so I waited for thirty minutes to get my package labeled and stamps purchased, and then quickly went to Tom Thumb to get some fruit for Sunday before I had to go pick up Benson, after which we went home and tidied up a bit before five of Benson's friends came over to start a Dungeons and Dragons adventure.  The rest of the day was much slower, as Tessa and I hung out in my room while the boys created characters and whatever else for five hours.  I did some lesson prep, reading, and took a nap, and Tessa worked on a diamond art thing she was given, and it was a nice afternoon.  I made chili for dinner, knowing there would be leftovers to freeze for later--and there was a LOT.  We just don't go through as much food as we used to!

We're still appreciating our new 10:30 church start time.  I really liked all the songs we sang--not anything new, but the words really resonated with me.  (Hymns 72: "Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, who with his love doth befriend thee," 195: "'Thy will, O God, not mine be done,' adorned his mortal life," and 45: "Give me faith, the greater knowledge; Father bless me as I pray.")  We ended with "If You Could Hie to Kolob," which Tessa and Benson did not remember ever hearing before, and they thought it was a pretty quirky song--which it is, but also interesting.

Our Young Women classes changed this week--we split from two groups into three, which will be a benefit in many ways, but was unexpected for the girls until Wednesday when we announced it.  Sister Hicken and I will be with the middle age girls (formerly known as Mia Maids).  Tessa is still with the older girls.  I could tell on Wednesday that some (in my group, in particular, who had been looking forward to moving up and were now not) were sad about the changes.  So I wanted to make it so the girls were glad they were in our class, and I brought a fruit tray and made it all fancy, and also brought fake fruit in a fancy bowl to represent Satan's counterfeit, as the lesson was on Moses 1 and Abraham 3.  They got to eat fruit while we had the lesson.  We talked about how we can recognize the Spirit in our lives, and I made a handout (!) which I think the girls appreciated.  So I think we're off to a good start.

Choir started back up after a few weeks off after church.  We had a potluck lunch beforehand (I brought fruit! ) and I'm excited because I don't have to accompany for a couple months--there are other songs being done on the organ and with another pianist.  I already have the songs I'm doing (for March and April, I believe), and they're not too hard--hooray!  After choir, we (Tessa and I) had a short break before going to the church for a Spanish class.  The area leaders (I think) have asked everyone to learn a language--for many that is learning English, but for even more of us, learning Spanish would be very beneficial, so the Stake called some teachers and they held their first class and a lot of us came!  There's not a set course for teaching Spanish, so they're using the materials they use in the MTC.  It will be interesting to see how things progress each week.  

Directly after the Spanish class, Tessa drove us to the Stake Center for a camp planning meeting, and now she's even more excited to be involved.  I left her there (she had arranged a ride home) and headed home so Benson wouldn't have to be alone anymore (though he had kept busy organizing his D and D stuff and making brownies), and I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce and meatballs--from scratch!  Again, I planned on having extra for freezing for later, which will help on busy nights.  The meatballs were so much better than the ones I usually buy--so I have to decide if the effort was worth it.  Benson and Tessa say yes.

Well, I think that about covers it.  If I sit here long enough, I can think of a decent amount of things to say in the end.   I hope you're enjoying getting to know your new companion, the work is moving forward, and that jolly old Germany is treating you well!

Love you!

Mom

Sunset!

Our neighborhood pond in January: