Tents at Church?

Last night we were lulled to sleep by the gentle sounds of a huge windstorm banging the windows and blowing various debris through the neighborhood. When we finally got up nothing seemed too amiss in our area, but we later found that quite a few people were without power. After getting everybody ready for church we got a call that the building had no power, therefore church was cancelled. For an insider's view click here. Actually, we got several calls. Cameron also made several calls to let others know. The church seems to be pretty well organized that way.

Cameron and I were assigned to speak in sacrament meeting today, so it seems obvious to us that we were just not meant to lead everyone astray. Since we already had talks and lessons prepared, we held a little family meeting of our own. We sang songs, prayed, and had lessons. Nursery snack time was pretty popular. We varied a little from the Sunday School norm when the kids built a tent between classes, but I think we did pretty good.

Thirteen Down!

Our Family Home Evenings of past years haven't been ideal. We were sporadic at best, and when we did remember that it was Monday night, we always had a scramble for a lesson or activity. Last year around this time we were trying to figure out how to be more consistent when we had the inspiration to plan our lessons around the Articles of Faith. There are 13 Articles, and 12 months, so we could focus on learning the principles behind one each month (combining 11 and 12 since they didn't offer as much lesson material) and have plans for a whole year. Our experiment paid off. We remembered much more often to have FHE, and we always knew what the lesson topic was. To help reinforce what they were learning, we also started singing the Article of Faith Songs at bedtime. Little did we know that our Esther would be able to learn all thirteen! She still remembers them all and can sing along to the primary CD. Better than that - she's learned at least a little bit about what each one means. What a great FHE year this has been. Now if only we could figure out another years worth of lesson plans we'll be set for 2009. (Any suggestions would be appreciated.)

Here is number twelve.

After singing twelve, Esther surprised us by already knowing number thirteen.

Click here to see one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven.

Happy Birthday Little Guy!

It's official. We've got another two-year-old. We've been considering William two years old for months now, but today it is official. Here is how he spent his special day.



Will wanted to spend the first part of his day coloring.

Then he got to play in the snow for his very first time!



Snow angels are fun!



At nap-time, Esther helped make his cake. The "W" on the red car was her great idea.

Cameron's last case was cancelled and the chief resident said he could come home early for Will's birthday. So after nap-time he opened his presents!



Thanks everybody!

I slaved all day to cook William's favorite foods for dinner: mac and cheese from a box, microwave chicken nuggets, and frozen corn. He ate two plates worth.

After dinner it was time for cake. It only took him five tries to blow out his two candles. Not bad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM! WE LOVE YOU!

A Taste of Home

We love our new home in Michigan, but Grenada was our home for three years, and there are some things we really miss. One food item I was trying to figure out how to take to America with us (without causing luggage weight issues) was Ceres Juice. I thought we would have to say goodbye to it forever, but to my great joy I found some today. Granted, they didn't have half an aisle dedicated to every variety of the stuff like the store in Grenada, and it is a little more expensive here, but it's nice that one of our Grenadian favorites can be on our American shelf too.

p.s. I haven't posted for a while, and there are probably a dozen blog-worthy things that I haven't written about (like Thanksgiving, our anniversary, and all the cute and amazing things our kids have done). Oh well. Such is life.