Swamped

Yep I know I am a BIG slacker with this blog, but if you only knew what I have been up to you would understand. For one thing work is super time consuming, now that the semester is well on its way we see less students so you think I would be board… nope. I have picked up more projects to work on so in that aspect I am very busy trying to get ahead. My motto at the moment is “Don’t stop swimming or I might drown”. The good news is we were able to hire some really amazing work study students that have jumped right in and have been a BIG help thus far. We really lucked out!

Over the past few weeks after work I have had several opportunities to serve others. We have on occasion different families from our ward join us for FHE or dinner. It has been wonderful to get to know these amazing families better. About a week ago Stewart and I went and hung out with Wendy. We went to the library in Chubbuck and played a few games. We played a game names “Rimmikub” it is a game of skill. I just so happened to win two times out of three. I however was informed when I was walking Wendy to the door that she let me win. Too funny! I had the chance to go visiting teaching, my companion and I stopped by a sister who has not been to church since she moved to Pocatello 3 years ago and invited her to come. I think she may start coming. It was a good experience. Another fun thing that Stewart and I are packing into our week is… Country Swing Dance! Yep you read it right, I weaseled my hubby into taking Country Swing dance lessons with me. Our first class was last week; we are by far the youngest couple in the class. But none the less we had fun and hope to have tons more fun. Well I guess that’s all I have for now. Here’s to the weekend ahead… may you be able to do all you hoped to do, and of course enjoy the three day weekend coming up. Ciao

P.S. For the lucky three who signed up for the pay it forward exchange I am so excited. I already have ideas forming in my head as for what to do for you. This will be so fun!

Pay It Forward Exchange

I got this off my cousin Amanda's blog, I decided this would be something fun for me to do and I could use my creativity to help me. Plus I like the fact that I have a whole year to do it, although I will probably do this before we get busy with packing/moving to West Virginia. Anyway, the info below will explain just exactly what this post is for.


This is how it works: Pay It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie "Pay It Forward". I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange. All the gifts will be made and posted out 'sometime within the next year'. How exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive! What you need to do in return, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. This Exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROMISE TO POST THIS SAME 'PAY IT FORWARD' MESSAGE ONTO YOUR BLOG, WHICH MUST BE ACTIVE IN ORDER TO PLAY. YOU WILL PAY IT FORWARD TO THREE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG. I'd love for you to join me! Will you? Other comments are welcome, but only the first three will be my Pay It Forward recipients.

Back to School

Stewart started his last semester of classes here at Idaho State University; it is hard to believe that we are on to our final chapter of undergrad school. It seems like we have been here forever and yet at the same time not all that long. Stewart has some hard classes this semester, but I am sure that he will pull thru just fine.

Christmas and New Years

Where does one begin? I know I have not Blogged in some time now, I have been on vacation and our internet at home (Pocatello) is not working… it has never worked that great. Anyway, Stewart and I had an excellent Christmas and an okay New Years. For Christmas we went to Bruneau to be with my parents and sisters. We drove over on Christmas Eve and stayed until Monday. While we were there Stewart went target shooting and helped my Dad around the farm. I did not do much, just stayed around the house. We played a ton of games as a family and laughed a lot.

The day after Christmas, my sister Margie called from Chile (she is serving a LDS mission there), she sounded great and excited to be serving in that area of the world. She has a small accent but other than that she sounded like my younger sister. It is hard to believe that she has been on a mission now for one whole year and will be coming home around June 23rd. I am excited for her; this has been such a great opportunity and she has added to her testimony immensely.

Another thing we were able to do while we were in Bruneau was go to the Hegerhorst Family Christmas Party. This Christmas Party has been a family tradition in my family for as long as I can remember and then some. What happens is all the Hegerhorst family in the area gets together and we have a Christmas party/devotional. Every family is in charge of doing something to contribute to the program weather it is a song, a poem, story or a skit, afterwards my Grandma and Grandpa (before he passed away) would sing O Tannenbaum (sung of course in my Grandfathers native language… German). I have always loved this tradition, mostly because I got to see family and enjoy the Christmas spirit. This year the group that was able to come was very small compared to past years; the weather was being difficult to work with so many stayed home and safe. We did have a great time though.

Stewart and I came back to Pocatello on Monday, and to our surprise many of Stewart’s family were assembled at the Hudson’s, so we joined them for their holiday party that evening. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the company of family; we are both so blessed to have family close by.

For New Years we, Stewart and I, did not do anything… I am not lying to you either. We were both blessed to get a cold/sore throat. I went to bed around 9:30pm and Stewart I think came to bed around 11:00pm. He stayed up and read a book that he got for Christmas. We were really boring, but hey if you’re sick your sick and that’s that.

I think that is all the updating I need to do for now. Stewart and I are both back to the normal routines. Stewart starts his last semester of school Monday. I can’t believe we only have 117 more days of school here at ISU. Time is flying fast, a lot will change for Stewart and me this year, so in that regard…. here’s to 2009! Enjoy the pictures.

Stewart Christmas Day w/ His New Targets and Hat.... Thanks Mom!

Ready For Our Nightly Jont Around The Farm

Rupert

Queen Stewart and King Becky (We were playing SCUM)

Family Pictrue in our SCUM Hats

December 22nd

I (Becky) came home from the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission 4 years ago on December 22nd. I can't believe that I have been home for 4 years now. While serving as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I learned so much about myself and the gospel. Wow, how time flies, I can hardly believe that it's been 4 years. What a great experience, I will never forget all the wonderful people that I associated with in good ol' Minnesota.

Christmas Letter 2008

This is Stewart and my Christmas letter for the year, I thought I would post it for those who did not get it in the mail. If you would like to be on our Christmas card mailing list please send us an email with your address and we will be sure to get one out to you starting next year. I promise our neglect for not sending you a Christmas card is nothing personal, just a lack of address. Our email addy is stewartandbeckynorth@yahoo.com.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, has it really been a year? Really where did 2008 go? It seems like it was just yesterday that we welcomed in the New Year. Well besides being in shock that it’s time to write this letter once again, Stewart and I are doing fantastic! Life is wonderful and we have been richly blessed.

Last year around this time I (Becky) was on the lookout for a new job. I am happy to report that I found that job shortly thereafter. I still work at ISU’s Holt Arena when they need extra help selling tickets for different events. My new job however is working as a receptionist in the Academic Advising Center for Idaho State University. It is a great job, Stewart and I get good health insurance and because I work for the university Stewart gets to go to school for $5.00 a credit, which is a huge financial lifesaver. We lucked out when I got this job as it has helped us meet our needs.

Stewart is still going to school here at ISU. He will graduate May 9, 2009. Just one more semester to go! He has been extra busy this past year preparing to pursue his dream of becoming a D.O. Doctor (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine). In May he took the MCAT, his score was a 28, which is competitive for D.O. schools. He then met with the Pre- Health committee for an interview, the reason being he needed a letter of recommendation from them to apply to med schools. That interview was not as helpful as we had hoped; many of the committee member’s slammed Stewart with questions that targeted his personal beliefs associated with ethics. It surprised Stewart that the very group whose job is suppose to help him succeed would try to drag him down for his standards/beliefs. Anyway, with the interviews behind him Stewart focused his spare time on shadowing a D.O. Doctor here in Pocatello, as well as volunteering his time at the Hospital in the E.R.

We ended up applying to four different Medical schools: 1) A.T. Stills, Kirksville Missouri, 2) West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lewisburg West Virginia, 3) School of Osteopathic Medicine (A.T. Stills), Mesa Arizona and 4) Midwestern University College of Medicine, Glendale Arizona. All schools invited us to do secondary applications but we decided to only reply to our two top schools (A.T. Stills, Missouri and West Virginia). Stewart was asked to fly out and interview with both of those schools, lucky for us… and our pocket book, both interviews were in the same week. So on September 26th Stewart took off and was gone for a whole week, it was the first week since we have been married to spend apart… needless to say, it was a long week. Both interviews went well, and we were accepted at the school in West Virginia and put on the alternate list for the school in Missouri. Because of time restraints, we have decided to forgo waiting on Missouri and accept in West Virginia. We will move to West Virginia come July or August of 2009.

Over the past year Stewart and I have had the privilege of serving in a singles ward. If you recall shortly after we were married Stewart was called to serve as the second counselor in his old singles ward bishopric. We loved being able to learn from the great men and women that made up that ward. Sadly, the bishopric was recently reorganized, resulting in us going back to our home ward. We now are serving as ward missionaries in our university married student ward. Even though we both miss the singles ward we are enjoying our new calling and the opportunity to serve together. It has been a great learning experience thus far.

This past summer we had fun going to two family reunions. It was fun to see many of our family members there and to learn what they have been up to. On a sad note my Grandmother, Lucille Willard passed away October 17, 2008. She was a great example to all who knew her and has been greatly missed. On another note, Stewart and I decided it was time to sell one of our cars since we needed the extra funds to pay to hold Stewart’s seat in med school. We sold our Toyota Corolla, making us officially a one car family. The car actually sold recently, so currently we are not sure how having one car is going to work with our schedules, but we will be just fine. This may sound corny to some, but I am really going to miss “Miles”, he was an excellent car and gave us no grief; I hope the new owner will appreciate him as much as we did.

Well, In conclusion, Stewart and I are doing well. We have been richly blessed and have felt the influence of our Father in Heaven guide us along. We are grateful to Him for his loving arms that have been extended to us. We know that without this gospel in our lives we would not be the people we are today. Life together gets better and better day by day! God bless you and your family this coming year.

Loves, Stewart and Becky North