Oh, that is awesome to have so much teaching going on!!—& yay for Debi & Mike!—the South American woman hunt is hilarious!!—Spencer just got to be fresh meat at the fireside—all of Rosie’s friends were gawking at him & getting his #!—Haha
Be careful with typhoons & crazy drivers!—& LOVE the Starbucks inspiration!!—we’ve talked about revelation w/ Come Follow Me a lot today—& we had Cal’s baptism today, so feeling missionary spirit! Love you so much!!—so so proud of you 
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Oh, he hated the attention & couldn’t wait to leave 
; it’s been a fun time being with family—spent 3 days up in the smoky mtns—hiking , having Dalmuti tournaments (Maddie won after 2 nights of many rounds!), loving on Nick & Laurie’s new baby Caleb, & just being together;
Had an awkward time when everyone decided to go tubing at the last minute one day —it was going to be an extra $100 for our family, & it just seemed to expensive after all we’ve had this year: broken fridge, broken a/c, giant solar panel payment, baby, wedding, etc.,—so I tried to make it no big deal that we’d just do something else, to which they all wanted to pay for us (worse!!)—& then Anne & Lucy crying about missing it, etc., in the end we sent the kids except Jane & they were fine to pay their own way—turned out fine, but I felt pretty dumb about it—& hard not to compare w/ things being financially tight + Dad’s health zapping his energy, etc while my energy is already pathetic, BUT
It was tender to visit w/ everyone, & remember we ALL have real struggles;
Katie is dealing w/ hard depression stuff after years of not having problems, Kristen has a sister who has completely left the church, Caden has been dealing w/ a lot of depression himself (privately), Rebekah keeps working while Scott stays at home—& Jack seems to be doing well, but autism is always a struggle—Dad kept trying to connect w/ him & Jack couldn’t stand it!—he finally said to Dad when he was asking why he couldn’t be his favorite uncle: “I just can’t trust you!!—you’re too untrustworthy!”—& Scott explained that he really can’t do sarcasm b/c he seriously doesn’t get it & can’t distinguish—crazy huh?, but made sense in a weird way. Nick & Laurie are getting ready to pick where to live as he’s finishing his last year of residency &—everyone’s lives have joy AND hard things—& a talk today was saying how learning to obey even when things are hard is part of how we show our love for God. That’s when faith is learned & strengthened, & I loved a verse in Mosiah I read this week about faith: Mosiah 8:18 about how faith allows us to be more of a benefit to others—I love that faith makes us better able to serve/more useful (& more happy).
It’s fun to see Bro Madsen as Bishop!—he spoke at the end of the baptism & told Cal he was like Nephi—“of goodly parents” & good siblings who had the Gospel—then sweet Natalina looked at me & said, “I guess that makes me Laman or Lemuel!”—haha, she’s about the most thoughtful person on the planet!—here are a few pictures—it’s crazy how big everyone is getting!—hope you’re enjoying time w/ a great companion!—& we’ll pray your upcoming Baptisms go well! Super proud of you—lots of love, Mom
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