Weekly Happenings: Not too much happened during the first part of last week that was out of the ordinary. Park play dates, hanging out at home, work, piano teaching, etc. Towards the end of last week (I think it was Wednesday), one of my friends called, asking if we could watch her kids while she took her husband into the ER (he was having severe stomach/abdominal pain). I immediately agreed to watch the girls (their oldest is close to Joseph in age and they are play mates). The play date quickly turned into a sleep over when it became apparent that our friends were not going to be done at the ER any time soon (it was determined that kidney stones were the culprits). We just set up a sleeping bag for the oldest girl on the floor in Joseph’s room (a perk of them still being four) and put the baby in Joseph’s crib which is still set up in our room (I guess it’s good we still had it put together). My friend came and got them in the morning. There have been a few times when friends have come to our rescue watching Joseph either overnight or for long stretches when we have needed to handle medical emergencies, so I was grateful to be able to keep paying it forward and help our friends in a pinch. Friday morning ushered in another crazy experience. I got a text from Paul a little after 9:00 saying that if I heard anything, to know that he was okay. He was on lock down because there was a shooter on base (nowhere near his office, but the entire base was locked down while they were making sure it was all clear). Apparently an airman got onto base with a gun, shot his commander over a dispute of some sort, and then took his own life. While I am very, very grateful that Paul is okay, my heart is so sad because of the loss of life. I’ve been praying for the families of those affected, that they may eventually find peace. After that craziness, yesterday seemed low-key. I went to a stake music training, the boys went to Lowe’s for some stuff for the house, and then we had friends over last night to play games. I thought today would be relatively normal, but we found out that due to immense growth in our area, they are moving a ward that has been meeting at our former stake center (when they created a new stake, our stake center fell in the boundaries of the new stake, so we are currently without a dedicated stake center) into our building and moving our ward into another building. So, in two weeks, we’ll be meeting at a new building and at a different time (1:00 instead of 11:00). Also, our mutual night (the night that the youth meet for activities) is going to change to Thursdays. This will mean that all of the buildings in our stake will be at capacity for wards meeting in them, which means they will hopefully be able to start building another building on some land that the Church has already purchased (most likely a new stake center for our stake). Whew!

The Weekly Weather: It’s been just gorgeous. Cool, breezy, an occasional rain storm…spring at its finest. My only minor complaint is that the pollen counts have been a little out of control (there was one day where I took Joseph to the park and then noticed, as I was putting him into the car to go back home, that the car was literally coated in pollen), but medicine has been able to keep that under control, for the most part. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been on a mini spring break for school (his next set of classes is due to start next week), and has done some stuff around the house (as is the norm). He also found out that even though he is currently working in the IT department, he is being awarded Library Technician of the Year (for his work last year, before he transferred departments). He will get to go to Washington D.C. to accept the award and also gets to tour of the Library of Congress. It will be a short trip (two days or so), so probably not a whole lot of other sightseeing will happen, though he is going to see what he might be able to squeeze in.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much out of the ordinary on my front. I did get released as the visiting teaching coordinator and supervisor (which I’ve been doing for about two years) and (because there’s no rest for the weary, haha) have been called as compassionate service coordinator. Basically I will be helping make sure the physical needs of the sisters in our ward are being taken care of. This usually includes organizing bringing in meals for those who just have had a baby or may be dealing with illness or a death in the family, but there are other things that I will learn about a bit more as I explore this new chapter in my life. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s enjoyed play dates, park days, and library days. He also loved getting to go to Lowe’s with Paul yesterday. They happened to catch the tail-end of the Build and Grow project (a bird feeder). Joseph had a really great time building it and was really excited when Paul put it up in the back yard with some bird seed in it. We noticed this afternoon that the birds are quite happy with it. One funny “Joseph story” that happened this past week occurred when I noticed him playing with some of the “treasures” (some less expensive jewelry, key chains, smashed pennies, etc.) in my “treasure box” (a jewelry box Paul made for me). He proceeded to tell me how much each item cost. I told him he was cute and asked if I could have a hug. He consented, allowed me to pick him up, and then proceeded to tell me that a “Joseph hug” would be $200.00. When I expressed concern about the price, he quickly dropped it to a $1.00. 🙂 Luckily, he wasn’t really expecting payment. 😉

This Week in Pictures: