Sewing, Reading, Building, & Talking

Hmmmmm... so where do I begin… we have had a good week, but nothing out of the norm for us. I worked my three days Mon-Wed, and then I was off the rest of the week. I really like having those two days off a week for myself, it is nice to be able to have time to get things done here at home AND be creative/crafty. I have been doing lots of clever thing with my time, the other week I got the bright idea to make myself a dress, not big deal right… well I did not have a pattern, so I just busted out my sewing gear and went to work. I would say the finished project turned out pretty good considering the above facts, just not good enough to post any pictures. It still not finished, after 2 ½ days of working on it I decided I needed a break. So it is hanging in the closet until I pull it out with my ingenious idea of how to fix it. I did however insert my first zipper, I am quite proud! If anything, this dress project was a fun learning experience. I hope to do more sewing in the future.

Stewart got a book called “The Undaunted” written by Gerald N. Lund, for Christmas from my parents. We have started reading the book together, and so far have enjoyed ourselves. Stewart and I have tried reading books together before, but I have always lost interested in the books far before we finished them. This time the book has just enough history for Stewart and love story for me. If we can find more books like this, I think Stewart’s dream of having a wife who likes to read with him may come true.

The other day I got a phone call from a friend with two kiddos; she needed a time out from her kids so she asked if I would take them for a few hours, I was happy to help. We had a fun time, me and the kids; we decided since it was raining outside we needed to build the ultimate fort in our living room. Complete with a TV to watch Tarzan. Below is the fruit of our labor. I think this has been the best fort ever made… by me that is. After the kids went home I decided that a masterpiece this beautiful was worth leaving up until the next day (we needed to get our full use of it). Needless to say Stewart and I ate dinner and read our book in the fort that night. Oh the joys of simple pleasures. PS. this tent was made possible only because of the many quilts Stewart and I have inherited from our grandparents and parents... thanks!

Entrance

Side View

The inside

Today Stewart spoke in church, he was called late Friday night to fill in for someone who was unable to make it today. He spoke on service. Stewart seems to have a natural gift to be sincere, funny, and hold people's attention while speaking. He did a great job and received many complements. He informs me that the text of his talk will be published in next months Ensign… J/K. It was a great talk anyway.

Well, I believe that sums up our week. We are both doing fantastic and enjoying this season of life. Love Your Guts!

Church hopping

Becky had a craving for pretzels today so she asked that I fill you in on what’s been going on while she’s in the kitchen cooking. I love it when she gets a craving for some tasty food because then I get to have some of it too. Maybe I’ll post a picture of her pretzels when she’s done.

Okay let me tell you about our unusual Sunday last week. Just before we got in the car to go to church we got a phone call telling us that church was cancelled. Apparently one of the pipes in the fire suppression system was broken and you can’t have a bunch of people meeting in a building with no fire suppression system. Well there we were, all dressed up and no place to go. So, for fun, we got on the internet and found a Methodist church that had a meeting at 9. It was actually just down the street from our house. We went to a Methodist worship service. The building was much bigger than I’m used to, and it was very ornate with a large beautiful creche up front. I love big stain glass windows. The sanctuary wasn’t very full. There were a few young families with children, but most of the congregation was older people. The music was Christian contemporary. It was the first Sunday after Epiphany and so the message focused on the Wisemen. They blessed the Communion and invited everyone to come up and take it, Becky and I graciously declined. The sacrament prayer in an LDS church lasts about 10 seconds. But in the Methodist meeting the priest has a 5 min. teaching that he gives about the sacrament. It’s neat how they remember the meaning of the sacrament. After the worship service Becky and I came home. I was having so much fun that I looked up another meeting for another church. Becky stayed home to prepare dinner for some guests we had coming over. I went to the Old Greystone Presbyterian Church. The building they meet in is over 200 yrs old! It sits up on top of the hill and, in my mind, represents the blood and sweat of the early inhabitants of Lewisburg. The interior reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of the Kirtland temple, although it predates the Kirtland temple by several years. It was beautiful in a different sort of way. It was elegant because of what it represented. There were no stain glass windows, but it was still charming. Again, most of the congregation was older couples. There were a few young families, but not many. I was reminded of articles I’ve read recently describing a cultural shift away from organized religion. I think it’s sad. Anyway, the music in the Presbyterian church was more familiar to me. There was a big organ in the balcony behind us and the organist played it with all the stops out. There was a choir up by the organ too. They sounded really good. We sang good Christian standby’s that I was familiar with, though some of the words were different than I was used to. There weren’t a lot of us in the sanctuary, but we made a lot of noise; it was fun. There was no mention made of the communion, which surprised me. So that was our little field trip into other parts of Christendom. Today everything was fixed so we held our regular service at our church. It was good to be back “home.”

The rest of the week has gone well for Becky and I. She worked the first part of the week and had the last part to work on various projects that she has going here at home. I had an interesting experience at school this week. A group of instructors came from a medical school in Virginia to teach us how to do male and female exams. We met as a group of 2 or 3 students and one instructor in an exam room. The instructor used his or her body to demonstrate how to do the exam. We each got an opportunity to do the exam. It was very instructional, and not as awkward as we were all expecting. It will help a lot when the time comes for me to do those sorts of examinations on real patients.
We wish you all the very best of everything!

Stewart's Creativity at Work

During Thanksgiving break Becky and I took a trip to Beckley. We stopped at a store called Hobby Lobby so that Becky could look for some supplies for a project she’s working on. She didn’t find anything she wanted, but while wandering around the store my creative juices began flowing. I decided to purchase a wooden bird house, some wooden people, some paint, and paintbrushes. Becky thought I was going crazy, but she went along with it.

I worked on my new project 2 or 3 evenings per week. It was a great release from my studies. I’ve never done anything like this before and so I was nervous about how it would turn out. I was able to finish it during Christmas break and I must say that I’m pleased with it. I think I did pretty good work. It’s kind of a neat feeling to make something with your hands. Here are some before and after pics:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Bowling in 2010

A group of us med-student families got together on New Years Day and went bowling. After a while when we were all getting tired, the group of us broke up into teams… every couple was there own team. Stewart and I actually did amazing working together! We bowled a 157 breaking both of our single high score records! I guess that goes to show what team work can accomplish. Enjoy the pictures!

Here it the proof you all needed... we really did get a 157