HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Wishing all our friends a Happy and Successful year!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

And a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

and for those of you with a different preference,

A Joyous RamaHanaKwanzaMas

Student of the the Month

Congratulations to Jim who is the senior high Student of the Month at Emery High School.

*Congratulations to our December Students of the Month
Senior High:
Jim Wilkinson Jim is always smiling, polite, willing to help anyone, he always has a
positive attitude. He is very pleasant to work with and never complains about a project you assign in
class. He always does his very best even when things do not go well.


One of the great things about this is that you get a great parking spot for the month. So we have let Jim drive. - a couple of times, ( the whole quarter block).

We are so proud of him.

friends

I got to teach Relief Society today. The lesson was on Friends. There were two sisters in R.S. one was a non member visiting with her son who is a member and in town visiting her. several statements in the lesson really struck me.

Joseph Smith once closed a letter to the saints: "I am, as ever, your humble servant and never deviating friend, Joseph Smith."

I also was struck again by the fact that the saints thought of Joseph, as Brother Joseph. He was their Friend, the lesson talked of how he was kind, generous mirth loving, 'and yet, although so social and convivial at times, he would allow no arrogance or undue liberites' how wonderful to know that.

...and although a person is a stranger and afflicted when he arrives, he finds a brother and a friend ready to administer to his necessities.

I thank Heaven for my friends, for my life is better for having them in it.

Sharing

I am proud of my sister Carrie for deciding to go to school while still having young children at home. In fact young children are the only kind of children Carrie has at home. Occasionally over the course of her studies, she has called my husband (a psychologist) for help. When she has thanked me for sharing my husband and his knowledge, and for giving up time with him so he could help her long distance over the phone, I have joked that eventually I would call her husband (an accountant) for help with my homework. And when that happened she could share back.

tonight it happened. I was working on my homework and couldn't quite get it right. I tried asking my husband, (again he's a Psychologist) for help with my accounting and it just wasn't working. when I had a brain surge. I have a sister with a husband who is an Accountant. and he was only a phone call away. Well, it ended up being two phone calls. but he was very helpful both times.

Thanks to Carrie for sharing her husband and his knowledge with me.and to Karl for being willing to stay up late and help me. ( I will be calling again)

P.S.
does it strike anyone as funny that I am studying to be an Accountant, with a Husband who is a Psychologist. and my sister is studying Psychology, with an Accountant for a Husband?

Dr.s office.

I have been taking children to Dr's offices for 16 years. I have learned several things during these visits.
such as always take a bag of toys,
some visits go fast.
some visits go slow.
certain times of day are better for quick visits than others.
Kids love to color and draw on the paper that is used to cover the exam table.

In Missouri, I once spent four and a half hours at the drs. office, I called the next day and complained.

Last week I went to the Dr's office with Carie. she has a sore ankle. We got out of the car at 12:53. After checking in at the desk, we had sat down, but not yet opened my book when the nurse came out, talked to carie, about her ankle then turned to me and told me she thought she would just send us to x-ray, it was just down the hall in the same building. (very easy to find).

As we walked into x ray. I started to fill out the papers and the xray tech said to carie, lets go take pictures of your ankle while your mom fills out the papers. I finished them about the time that carie was done getting her "pictures" done. when we walked back into the Dr's office, they took us right to the exam room.
This time I did have time to open my book but not to turn the page, before the Dr. came in. We said hello, he looked at Caries ankle, talked to her about it, It is simply sprained. One week with crutches about 3 more with a brace. Carie was fitted for a brace, then we left.

As we got back into my car I checked the time. 1:35. Wow! I had hoped to be on time to work by three, this was not going to be a problem.

I have had more appts. in South Dakota, but I have not had to wait very long at any of them. I would like to say thank you to my Dr. and his staff for making going to the dr. a faster pleasanter experience.

Thanks Doc.

Summer

Well as this is the last day of the summer it is time for a recap. This summer has been rather busy for us. Carolyn and Katie both played softball, Jim worked his first real job, Lillie was out of school but increased her hours at work. There was a lot of pool going. I went with Jim to Scout camp, Jim and Echo went to youth conference, Jim and I went to girls camp to teach basic orienteering, Echo, Carolyn, and Lillie were in attendance. Carolyn and Echo attended the All Dakotas Young Women Encampment and met Sister Dalton.

We had multiple visits from family and friends. This started with Mike and Niki and there family being with us for the 4Th of July. In August Dan and Heather Saydyk brought their family for a visit (they are friends of ours from Provo, Danny is named for Dan). About two weeks later Nanna and Poppie came to visit, a good time was had by all. Mike and Niki brought their family again for labor day and to celebrate our week of September birthdays. That visit was followed up by a visit from Lex and Barb Palmer and their clan (they are pretty close to family, they are friends from Springfield.) Of course we grilled and had Frank's chicken while they were here. We are getting ready this weekend to meet Mike and Niki and their family in Nebraska City, home of the National Arbor Day Foundation, to help celebrate the Twins birthday. We have greatly enjoyed visits from our family and friends, and we like having family close enough that we can visit in a long weekend.

Lastly I took the EPPP for the third time a couple of weeks ago. Again I missed a qualifying score by approximately one question. I don't know when I will take it again but I am contemplating the end of December, which will mean that I will be able to take my oral boards in January or February, when the board meets next time.

With a notable exception the summer has been wonderful. Jim decided to end his summer on a high note and he went and got a job at Subway. Lillie and I are very proud of all of our children. We take joy in their accomplishments and are thankful that they seem happy to put up with us too (we took a vote last night and they all decided that that was preferable to other options). As we look back on the summer we also look forward to this fall and winter with it's holidays, hunting, school activities and test preparation. We also hope to see more of family and friends and take joy in their company, even if from a distance.

Love to you all,

Thomas (Drew)