2/6/16 First Trombonist from Entz

     Today David tried out for the Mesa Honor Band. He knew that if he made it he would be the first trombone player from Entz Elementary to do so. He has been rehearsing for this tryout for the past couple of weeks. It has been fun to listen as his tone and confidence have improved. The decision wasn't made on the spot so David had to wait to find out. David's teacher Mr. Trout called and let us know. It had been a competitive field but the panel was impressed by David's good attitude and by his determination. We are super proud of his accomplishment but like the judges we are more Impressed by the good attitude he has shown and by his persistence. These are the skills that will carry him long after his days of playing a trombone are past. 

     Another person I am grateful for is Heidi. She did my calling again for me today as I am still under the weather. Bob Rhine, of the High Council, reported back to me that she did a fine job. I knew she would. It's driving me crazy being sick. There are so many things to do. Still, I was grateful to know that Heidi had me covered at the Relief Society event. As for me I did at least manage to get some quizzes graded and watch some Trig videos. The other kids did a fine job of mostly taking care of themselves. I only had to get out of bed when Peter tripped and got a bloody nose. Peter was fine. He was happy as soon as he saw he was going to get to sit in the sink. The bleeding had already almost stopped and he cleaned up quickly. Rebecca and Sarah took turns keeping him cheered up. 

2/5/16 Good Kids

      Today was the day I had to admit I have a cold. Yesterday I had no voice but otherwise I felt fine. Today all I wanted to do was sleep. Heidi helped out at my parent's house while I slept on the couch. Later on Heidi went and subbed for me doing my calling. She went and helped set up for the Relief Society activity. She did great. The kids gave themselves permission to eat in the living room. See how they even put a towel down under themselves? The important part is that they let me sleep. They also took care of Peter. He can be a real handful especially when he misses his Mom. The kids did great. 

2/4/16 Good Neighbors From Head to Toe

     A few days ago our friends the Newtons dropped by a few clothing items they'd grown out of. Among the lot was a pair of gently used shoes that are just my size. My old tennis shoes have holes in them that are getting big enough that I can't simply pretend that it's by design for ventilation. I can wear the new shoes all day and they feel great on my feet. That's been a huge blessing. 

       About a month ago our neighbors Beatrice, Ruth and David invited us over to celebrate 3 Kings Day. Rebecca got the little baby Jesus toy. Tradition is that the person who gets the doll hosts a party with tamales on February 2, the day Christ's presentation at the synagogue is celebrated. There was no expectation they we actually host a party but we thought it would be fun to do anyway. The 2nd proved difficult to coordinate but Beatrice and Ruth were able to come over on the 3rd. It was a good time. We had tamales. They brought some amazing homemade hot cocoa. Some of the kids were even willing to try the tamales. David really liked them even though they were a little spicy. While here Beatrice noticed that my voice was giving out. She suggested chicken soup as her favorite remedy. Today when I got home from work Heidi showed me a big bowl of homemade chicken soup. Beatrice had made it special and brought it over for us. It was so good David's comment was, "we should ask them for the recipe and then we should make it every day". This is high praise from a boy who was once a very picky eater. 

     I am grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing us with such kind and thoughtful neighbors. 

2/3/16 Siblings are Fun

     A couple of the bedroom trash cans needed to be dumped out. After I dumped them and before I could take them back upstairs they had disappeared.  This is where I found them TJ reported that he and Peter were being Storm Troopers. Glad we didn't waste money on toy helmets when dollar store trash cans will do the job. And when they're not being worn you can store trash in them. 

     Here is Sarah entertaining Peter. Peter has his older brother's PJs on but he didn't let it slow him down. He has things to do. Heidi and I often comment on how blessed we are that the kids play so nicely together. It's in my Patriarchal Blessing that my home will be blessed with an abundance of love. That blessing has been fulfilled many times over at our house. 

2/2/16 Mr. Connelly

     Look what I found in my box at school today. It made me feel like an official teacher. For the lesson today I took all of my classes to the computer lab. The kids all worked in a math program called Khan Academy. It's wonderful because it allows each kid to work at their own speed. If they need more practice problems of a certain type it makes up more. The kids do appear to be learning. I had five students make up the exam today since they were sick last week.  They did about as well as the rest of the students have done, which is pretty good. One student came and made up one of the home works that he hadn't turned in. That alone bumped up his grade quite a bit. If he works hard he can continue to improve his grade as we go along. It made me happy to see him improve. I'm really teaching because I want kids to learn. I don't want any of them to fail. 

      As usual Heidi did a fabulous job of holding down the fort while I was at school. Life goes on when I am out of the office and it is gratifying to see that problems are getting solved without me as well. I am so grateful to have such a great team. 

2/1/16 A Little More Rest

     The photos above are from family home evening. Rebecca shared a nice lesson about how by following instructions we can learn how to do things we couldn't do before. She taught the kids how to hold the two ends of a piece of string and tie a knot without ever letting go of the string. By all accounts it was a good and memorable lesson. Heidi took pictures so that I would get to see it. At between 7 and 7:30 pm I decided to lay down for bit since I was feeling tired. I woke up around 4:30 the next morning. Apparently I needed the rest. 

     It was a good day. Filled with the usual Monday meetings. One highlight for me was feeling like Heavenly Father was sending me a little bit of revelation to solve a hard problem. We needed a way to do more work for a client but not in a way that took a lot more time. We had spent a long time working on it and had made no progress. Suddenly an idea came into my mind of a way we could build on the work that has already been done rather than building a new system from scratch. It will work and it's a ton simpler than any of the ideas we've had so far. I feel like it's not my idea, although it came to me. I'm just glad it came because we needed it. 

1/31/16 A Day of Rest

     It was nice to have a good night's rest and not have any major items on the Sunday agenda. At church I got to sing in the choir. It's one of those catchy tunes that is still with me now as I write this. Not in an annoying sort of way. In the way that makes you glad you found the time to sing. 

     This afternoon I got to go home teaching with Pierre to Sister Teeting's house. She is a positive, can do type of lady. This past week, on her birthday no less, her toilet broke and she learned that the floor of her bathroom has wood rot. She hasn't let that get her down. She says that she has come to expect big trials on her birthday but she just works through them and moves on. The first Presidency message was about how having the love of Christ in our hearts makes us happy. Sister Teeting is a service minded soul. She was more concerned about my mild cat allergy than about her toilet. If it was me I'd be pretty annoyed about having my only toilet in the shower for multiple days. Still, she was chipper. A good lesson for me. Focus on service and your own problems demenish or disappear.