Sunday September 20, 2015

Dear Cass -

Hi! I hope this little email finds you feeling happy and healthy and still loving the area of Gera! I, like you, CANNOT believe you and Sister Medley are still serving together! And in Gera! There are reasons that you're there! Two of the top of my head that I can think of that I'm sure you know. 1. Lucy! You two have made the biggest difference with her! And you're still helping her. I think for most converts that first year can be really challenging. I'm sure its hard to see for you but I wouldn't be surprised if you've been sent to Gera and are still in Gera solely for Lucy! And 2. The Meckel family. How are they by the way? I'm really hoping that you're still being able to be in contact with them and they're still making slow progress.

So, last week I didn't comment about your previous week's email at all as we were so concerned with telling you about Dad's new condition. So let me back up to that email - when you met with your President for interviews. I'm glad your interview went well and that you were able to receive a Priesthood blessing. Now a few words about obedience...here's what I've learned through a few experiences in life and in the Gospel...It is awesome and very important to be obedient and to be exactly obedient...to our best ability. I'm happy that throughout the last 2 weeks you've seen some blessings come from "upping" your exact obedience. That being said I feel like I need to remind you (because I'm well aware of you're personality:) that there is absolutely no use in beating yourself up for things that you haven't been doing perfectly. While it is great to have a renewed sense of wanting to try and be better at something, you must at the same time realize that we will never be perfect, we can only try our best. Please remember that! (People that wanted to make sure I was reminding you how good you already are...Missy Webster & Papa and Grammy!)

Before I forget...people in the last couple of weeks that have said to tell you hello...Missy Webster, Shali Hiskey, President & Sister Hiskey, and Mr. Miner! I saw him this week for Parent/Teacher visits.

Also - I had to really laugh in that email about all the roads being closed! What the heck? Are they doing lots of road construction, or what? Also - just a reminder to send us some of the beautiful scenery pictures you took:)

So from last week's email...you mentioned the refugees. Yes we do know about the situation. It's on the news all the time. It is a big deal because there are SO many people trying to get in to the European countries that it is overwhelming many of the countries you are right next to. Many, many thousands of people heading into those countries every day. The living conditions are rough in the refugee camps because the countries have nowhere for everyone to go. So even though right now refugees are allowed into Germany you may see that change where they start to accept only a certain number of people a day/week/month just so they can control the situation. Otherwise you end up with hundreds of thousands of homeless people heading right into the cold winter. Very sad. I feel terribly sad for those families who've been displaced from their homes and countries and have to start over. The pictures/video on the news are very sad. Lots of little kids walking or being carried. You'll have to keep us updated on the situation there and what you see.

I'm really sorry you had a crappy bad day with things falling out and people being rude! But, I'm so glad you ended on a positive note. Did you get to meet with Claudia again this week?

Also - I'm glad you had a decently good birthday and I'm thankful for your ward taking care of you. Even though they announced your birthday from the pulpit! Which I laughed out loud about! I still feel bad about you not being able to get our package yet!

And last week's email contained my favorite quote by you of all time..."The world is stressful, and the gospel is true. Period." I love it!

So for us around here this week...

I'm happy to announce that this has been a lot less eventful week. It has felt good to not have any new health crisis issues and just to have a normal school/work week. We did all our normal things like gymnastics, mutual, activity days, piano lessons, helping with the horses, etc. Colten did have Wed. off of school because of the Sophomore plan test. He enjoyed the extra day to work on homework and go to the gym, etc.

Fall is definitely in the air here! We've had a good few days in the 60's and 70's. It's a beautiful time of the year. I watched Finn on Thursday this week while Brooke was coming back from and overnight trip to St. George with Adi. He was good and is getting to have such a cute personality. Dad and I also got to go on a date on Saturday night. We went to Outback and enjoyed a low-carb dinner (more about that in a sec). Then we checked out the chalk the block thing at Riverwoods - which was very crowded but also cool. Then we ran some diabetes related errands and also a trip to Ulta for me. It was fun.

Today I attended the YSA Ward counsel where the emphasis was about Institute and how our YSA stake only has 12% of people enrolled and attending. That's pretty terrible. The church is really stressing the importance of Institute and have now started requiring a 75% attendance to "pass" Institute. During sacrament meeting there were two recently returned missionary girls that spoke. They were awesome and one of the served in New Zealand and totally has a great Australian sounding accent!

I know Dad will give you an update about his diabetes, but here's my perspective. Dad is pretty much a rock star. Within a couple of days he had his blood sugar down to a normal level and has rarely varied from that. That's pretty impressive for the first week! The mornings he exercises are proving to be a little more challenging to know what/when to eat vs. take his insulin.

For me the biggest challenge is what to cook. More than avoiding sugar the whole thing about diabetes is counting how many carbs you're eating. Obviously you can't/shouldn't avoid all carbs, but the blood sugar level and insulin shots are much easier to manage if you're eating less carbs. So, I've really been trying this week to pay attention/help dad count the carbs for meals. Of course especially dinner is up to me. So far we've discovered for home cooked meals pasta, breads and potatoes are pretty hard to handle as they are almost all carbs. So for a quick example when we ate at Outback dad had a steak, veges and a little bit of bread and took only 4 units of insulin. Whereas when we had our chicken pasta Caesar salad the night before he had to take double the insulin and eat only half a bowl of the salad.

Colten is pretty much loving it because we're eating pretty darn healthy with lots of different meats (no carbs). It's expensive and it took me like 5 hours (not an exaggeration) to grocery shop this week. Sundays are way different - we can't just have popcorn and cookies! Last week had omelets. Today we're having salmon, brown rice and veges or salad. I'm constantly looking up foods in my food tracking app on my phone and dad is constantly entering blood sugars and carb counts in his phone. We make a good team! But we are adjusting and by the time you return we'll be pros! I feel like we've been blessed this week with our efforts.

Well - Cass please know that I love you so much and pray for you multiple times a day! I still miss you by the way - just in case you were wondering. But - I know this experience is going to shape the whole rest of your life and I'm grateful for that. Remember to stay positive, try your best and don't be too hard on yourself!

Love - Mom

 River dressed up as you! Spot on!

A cute hairstyle Riv had me learn. Thanks to one of her teachers who has thick, long hair River is realizing that her hair actually DOES look cute in braids! She's been saying for a while now that her braids are fat and ugly.