This week was crazy busy! I look back at our calendar and I wonder how we did it all. It was nice to get a day off on Monday, but it didn't make the week any easier. I was able to pick up Sarah from the airport on Monday evening. I did work on Monday up until the time her plane was suppose to land. Fortunately, her plane was delayed so I got there with time to spare to pick her up. I parked at a school about a half mile south of the airport, and waited. I unfortunately didn't get any footage of her arriving, because my camera didn't work, but I was so happy for her to be home. I truly did miss my wife and her presence in my life. It was a good weekend, but it wasn't easy being without her. I loved cuddling with her when she was home. Sarah is going to Utah this week for a conference with the new company she is working for, Juvva. Hopefully she comes home with extra ideas about what she can do to improve her business.
A significant thing that happened this week, is on Wednesday I had CPR training and billing as well. While that was less than fun, I was able to come to the rescue of my wife, who wasn't having a very good day. I walked around the school, looking for her. I finally found her. A couple weeks ago, Sarah was made one-on-one with a special needs student. It hasn't been an easy run for her. The student isn't mean, but he doesn't really work that well, and honestly, he just wants to be alone with himself. He suffers from having seizures and he can be pretty stubborn. Sarah needed some relief, so I went to relieve her. I found them outside of a classroom about ready to walk to Mr. Leaf's classroom. So, I walked with them and he kept on getting sidetracked with other stuff. One of the principals came out and he wanted to follow her. She escaped us while he was distracted by a golf cart. He sat in the golf cart and wouldn't move for a while. He is really into magic. So, I showed him one of the only magic tricks I know, which is to make the face on a dollar go from being right side up to being upside down. I tried to teach it to him, but he was getting a bit frustrated with it, which also hinders him from learning.
Finally, we got him to Mr. Leaf's classroom. We showed him some Star Wars videos (of course my favorite episode 2 scene where Obi Wan is being chased by Jango Fett and the seismic charges scene). He wasn't interested. Finally, we showed him Pottermore, because he loves Harry Potter. I had him take the Sorting Hat challenge, and guess what, we have produced another Hufflepuff in the family, haha. However, he was less than excited for the revelation. So we did some other Pottermore tests. One was his patronus. He got a dog, and I got a hawk. And then we took the wand test. Needless to say, he was unhappy with all the results of each test.
Later that week, Sarah and I reunited at school and she was with him. He had made a whittled wand. For once, he seemed happy with everything. She had caught me with Gavin, who had a less than satisfactory week. Friday was his hay day. He and I went on like five or more walks that day, which wouldn't have been that bad. But each walk, he ran a stretch at full speed. But to top it all off, at the end of the day, after we put on his backpack, and after we were ready to bring him outside and did, and while I was watching others get out of the classroom, I noticed that he was looking antsy, and I was right with my prediction that he was going to make a run for it. And run he did. He ran at full speed towards the fence that he usually runs to. Once we reached the fence, I was able to turn him around with my words and funny thing, he beat everyone to the buses. However, he wasn't done running that afternoon. He took off once again down the hall, and I had to tell someone to watch the others while he ran at full speed towards the end of the hall. What a day Friday was. Normally I like walking with Gavin, but this was too much for me that day.
We changed up the day we went to the temple this week. The Hermanas misioneras invited Sarah and I to go to the temple to do baptisms with some recent converts and recently baptized members. We went with the Hermanas, Ellena Perez (12 year old girl), Valeria Lozoya (recently baptized member), and Anna Martinez (shy girl who's been five times), and the President Castaneda and his wife also came. Aunt Kristen had called us on Tuesday and asked me if Sarah and I wanted temple names, which we gladly accepted. Well, we got them all printed at the temple and in total, there were like 50 or so names needing different ordinances done. We were happy to receive the names needing baptisms because Gilbert only takes endowed members that have family names. That said, we should probably find our own names as well.
I was able to perform the baptisms for all of the girls. They were very busy, so they only allowed three names per person. Valeria had brought two names from her family, I think two grandmas. It was nice to drive to the temple. We had Anna and Ellena. We shared music that we liked from the church. Since Anna is a relatively new member, we taught her about faith using the song about faith in the Children's Songbook. We also sang the Wiseman and the Foolishman.
We took some pictures, etc. Fortunately, the sisters had scheduled an appointment, and we were helped almost right away, while others had to wait, probably like a couple of hours. I was able to be voice in confirmations and also helped President Castaneda be voice in some of the confirmations as well. It was nice to be at the temple with my wife and friends.
Later that night, we had a game night with Carlos and several friends at an apartment close to our house. Sarah had invited a girl named Ashley and her boyfriend, Michael, that she had come to be friends with on her plane ride to Boise last week. We also invited Heidi Greathouse. The friends of Carlos and Elizabeth were Enrique and Marina, who use to be a part of the branch. They were a nice couple, who lived on a second floor, in between some noisy neighbors. Enrique, however, had quite the mix of '90s music to show off. We played several rounds of Phase 10, just getting to know one another and having a good time. Some good chips and cheesecake was added. Although nobody noticed, I had beat the game up until that point, making it to Phase Five by the end of it. It was a fun time.
To let you know more about Sarah, a miracle happened on Thursday for her at Mesa High. She was told that this last week would be her last week with the kid that she has been one-on-one with. Another male aide named Angel is going to be assigned to him. I'm glad that happened, seeing as how Sarah was having a super hard time with the kid. I think it'll be better for the kid to have a male aide, and Sarah's friendships with her fellow teacher friends won't deteriorate. The change was caused by a meeting (probably IEP) they had on Wednesday.
Well, last thing. We were able to watch a girl name Jaime and her classmate (Kindergartener). One of the teachers asked us to watch their kids while they were in a meeting. Rather, Sarah watched them while I went to help a neighbor with giving her a blessing for her surgery coming up. Our neighbor is a good friend of Sarah's named Jackie. I went over to her house to perform the blessing. She's not a member, so I explained how blessings work. She got a call that lasted quite a while. Then she was ready. She also helped us later, by helping me jump Sarah's car, which was dead after leaving a light on the night before. Her car is doing better now.
Well, I hope you are doing well. I love you kiddo. I hope your week has been great. I'll give you the Australian Open update in another email.
Love,
John
Djokovic beat Nadal pretty soundly.
Today
Final·Rod Laver Arena
Final
|
I don't really know too much more as I wasn't really interested since Djokovic won.
The big news for me though would be that Osaka be Kvitova in the Woman's final, which is significant because she won the last Open but under super not so fun circumstances. If you remember, she beat Serena in a controversial and rather sad match. However, she is reigning champ now, and under much better circumstances. She even came back to win in three sets. I think the stat said that this is the first woman to win back to back Opens since Serena started playing, and I am super happy for her. Hopefully she has a perfect year and gets the next two.
Yesterday
Final·Rod Laver Arena
Final
 | 4 |
77
|
5
|
6
| ||
 | 8 |
62
|
7
|
4
|
Well, hopefully that's good news for you.
Love you,
John
