Dear Jacob,
Sorry I haven't gotten my letter out before this hour of your P-day. Long story short, I was extremely tired last night and I figured since I have today practically off, I would write you today. Also, this week is Sarah and my Spring Break at Mesa High School, so there is that too. The awesome thing is that since I'm writing you now, I have read your masses email and I just want to tell you I am so glad things are going so well with you, your companion, your area, and your mission. You are doing a great work, and you are being blessed for it. Really, you are blessing all the family for your service, you don't even know.
We invited all of the Arizona family to come to our house yesterday for a dinner, and also to celebrate Ann's birthday.
The preparation for this big day spanned a couple of days, in that we had to get our house relatively cleaned and put together different things. I spent Thursday night, I think, putting together the table we received from our good friends Carlos and Elizabeth Santos. We had arranged for them to come the week that they gave us the temple, but things happened that prevented it from coming to pass. Well, I had finally just said to myself, I gotta get this done, whether or not they come to help. That said, after I had followed the instructions for the table, and got it put together, and was starting on the frames for the chairs, Carlos called and told me that he could come over to help. He helped me finish framing the chairs and screwing the cushions on the chairs. In total, with the help, it took us roughly 1.5 to 2 hours to finish. And what was even cooler is I was in the process of giving back the Santos some blankets they were letting us borrow and they said we could keep them.
The night before the big party, Sarah and I were feeling a bit overwhelmed with the tasks at hand. Sunday was much better in feeling. Sarah was able to go to the stores while I was at work on Saturday to get placemats for our tables and picked up all the food that we needed for the party and a bit for the week. I spent my time when I came home from work that night cleaning the dishes and making Sarah some food.
The time spent with the family was amazing and totally worth it. We had both Ann and her friend Peter and Uncle Steve and Aunt Janell over. A couple of hours before the party, Jesse texted us saying that he was feeling sick and that they wouldn't be able to come. So, of course we missed them. But, we still had a wonderful time.
We had a pot roast with brussell sprouts, gravy, a sweet salad and rolls that Steve and Janell brought, drinks as provided Ann. We then had a strawberry roll cake that Sarah made for Ann's birthday. The food was great and the company was even better. We put the table around the couches and Sarah and I sat on the couch and the four of them used the four chairs we had just made and were at the table. It worked out really well. Steve and Janell brought us a housewarming gift of a nice scented candle from Bath & Body Works and a small little tiny pan for making a pazookie sp?. It was quite nice of them. Oh, and a fan too, for our home for the summer.
Aunt Janell mentioned that there was an app (the family tree app) that when downloaded to your phone can send out a signal to other phones in the surrounding area (based on your FamilySearch login) and you can see how you are related to others in the area. We did it with Sarah and Steve and Sarah and Janell and Sarah and Peter, and the other combinations that do not include Sarah. Turns out that Sarah and Steve are 9th cousins (making Sarah and me 10th cousins and our children will be 11th cousins) hahahaha. Sarah is also related to both Janell and Peter. Anyways, we had a great time, to say the least.
Other things that happened this week:
Well, with regards to work: On Monday, one of our bosses, Jayme Petersen came to see how we were doing as a class. She is actually engaged to another SpEd teacher named Max Leaf, who (besides Mrs. Rodriguez) is a really great SpEd teacher, one of the only ones. Anyways, very long story short, things have been happening in our class (not totally bad things) but just things that need to be fixed, mostly starting with Gavin, but extending to all six kids in the class, and even going as far as other aides and even teachers at the school, but all stemming from us Aides and a LOT from our teacher, Eva Varela. Well, I was standing outside with Jayme at the very end of the day and the teacher had left to go home, and I just kinda bore my soul to Jayme about our classroom situation, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I told her, and later her with Mr. Leaf, all about the things. I told them that I felt bad because I wasn't speaking up or standing up for the kids, or myself.
Well, from Tuesday on, I felt more confidence letting Eva, and the other aides what I thought about what we were doing in the class. It has literally been a daunting task, because old habits are hard to break, especially when you are feeling like you are being attacked or there hasn't been any results. Anyways, it's been a bit wacky, and over dramatic the last few days in class. Sarah even got into a heated conversation with Eva about something that Eva said was fact, but in reality was something she changed to benefit her and her classroom, to the detriment of the feelings of her and outside aides.
Anyways. It's done for now. Or at least this upcoming week. The only thing is, normally time off can ruin any stability or progress that was made before the break. So, we'll see what happens there.
Anyways. We're great, actually. No vlog post again this week. I am super behind. But also, I haven't been getting a lot of video of stuff a late. But, I can change. Although, I wanted to say, after watching some of your other videos from Book of Mormon Live, I have felt like I should do a similar thing, and at it as a feature of my vlog. My thoughts on the Book of Mormon and Gospel topics. So, you are doing a great job.
I love you sooooooo much. We are soooooooo blessed, aren't we. Take care, and let God lead you to make this another beautiful week.
Oh, and Sarah and I went to the temple with the youth of the Guerrero Park and Udall wards this week. It was pretty great. And the girls and boys are really awesome. And also, we were able to visit the Williams and I asked a blessing from Uncle Jesse which was wonderful and profound.
Okay, Love you,
John
