Elder Jake Hough, 2/25/19--week 31

"Carbon monoxide killed my girlfriend...."

SZIAAAAAAAAAAAASZTOOOOOOOOKKKKKKK AGGGGGGGIIIIIIIIEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!

I just love the feeling of emailing and seeing that my mother is at home and able to talk and then we talk for about 1 hour. Its such a great feeling, dont know if Ill get used to it ever haha! Love ya mom!

Ok!! 

Two big stories in correlation with the crazy title that is displayed  on your screen. We got a call last week from our sweet and kind zone leaders that their carbon monoxide monitors went off and they said they would be in our city to stay with us at midnight....so we were up at midnight waiting haha! We went back to their city the next day, and I was with one of them when the chimney sweepers came and checked everything with the convectors and they ONLY checked one of 3 convectors and the mission presidents wife wouldnt let us stay in the apartment unless we had a written word that the apartment was clear, and sooooooooo.....

"Weeeeeeeee're off to see the turul, the wonderful turul from tatabánya!" 

So they stayed with us for 3 days in the tiniest apartment in existence though its warm and provides, 4 elders with 2 beds a board and a half couch and 1 bathroom that has the shower, and 2 hours in the morning to do that and eat breakfast. It was an adventure, filled with sadness and regret and not being good enough to beat your zone leader at chess...hes super good, and its always one move too. Oh well. There is always another time! 

We went on saturday to meet with an investigator by the name of Dana (though not her name), and we met outside cause we were alone, and then we start the conversation. Well it basically morphs into her asking about if we knew about cultural things going on and if we could go, and then out of nowhere after we talk about the significance of prayer and our relationship with Heavenly Father she asks me "Do you have a girlfriend?" The safest move wouldve been to say YES. But I didnt realize that fast enough and said no I dont that isnt allowed as missionaries. She replied with "Well, here I am!" (Beck Elder told me this morning that Jake's face was priceless. He was laughing at Jake. Of the two missionaries, Jake was unfortunately the one sitting closest to her and was really, really wishing he had an awkward avoidance viking at that moment. Poor guy.)

........

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So I got a girlfriend in hungary on my mission, but I dont call her that. She is just an investigator. In her mind that is it. We probably wont meet with her again unless she asks. (On that note, they are going on their third week straight with no investigators at church on Sunday. Strangely enough, there haven't been any people on the street either to talk to, so then they have to readjust what they do with their time, but they're praying and working hard trying to think of any other ways to get more contacts and would love feedback if you have any. They just want to teach!)

Til next week!!

Hough Elder

"SOOOOOORRRRRRY mom, no pics this week. And to yall as well. I am a despicable human being. Im going back"

Fortunately, Beck Elder's mom sent me this picture last week. :) Jake and I had a wonderful chat this morning, rather unexpectedly. He told me last week, he and Beck Elder were going to go see a castle today, so I wasn't expecting a call. But we didn't get any emails either, when we usually do (at 5am). I just assumed that with the two-hour time limit for emailing no longer in place, that we would just get his emails later. When I got back from the store around 9am, I saw a chat from him that said he could call me around 11am. I replied that I just got back home and that would be wonderful! Then all of a sudden he's calling ;) Turns out the portal that takes them to the missionary.org site was down so that's why he couldn't email. They weren't sure they would get to at all today. And the castle was out because there were only two trains going that way and they left early in the morning when they were shopping and doing other things. So we got to talk instead! ;) Not a bad Plan B!

Jake said it is gradually getting warmer...and it was around 23 degrees F recently. I don't think Beck Elder is a runner like Jake, but the two of them are running together in the mornings so that was neat to hear. What a good companion!

A fun, new experience Jake had this past week was conducting two baptismal interviews. He said those were really awesome and successful. The Spirit was strong and he knew these people were ready to take this next important step. The hardest part of the process for Jake was filling out the paperwork because--you know, Hungarian. Haha! He made sure to have someone check his work though. :) 

I had asked Jake in my email last night how he felt about us doing our "Come Follow Me" time on Monday as a family on the mornings that he does call--we could do our family prayer and discussion from the New Testament together for 15 minutes or so. He liked the idea! I agree with Jake's comments from last week that we've been given this opportunity to talk and communicate with our hardworking missionaries to help strengthen our families and help move the work of salvation forward. Honestly, I can't think of any greater way to strengthen our whole family than to study the life of Christ and to share our experiences and impressions with each other. We have missed Jake in our gospel discussions and conversations these past six months. What a blessing it will be to have his on-the-front-lines perspective as a missionary to teach us and help us see things from his point of view. And for him to be strengthened by the way his siblings and parents are continuing to learn and to grow as we all try to become more like the Savior. It's exciting to me! Jake is excited about it, too. We know he likely won't call every week (the week of Spring Break is transfers, for example), but we've set a date/time to give this a try next Monday at 6am.  

Elder Jake Hough, 2.18.19--week 30

"The Heavens are screaming FAMILIES ARE FOREVER"

SZIAAAAAAAAASZTOOOOOOOOK AGGGGGIEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!

Well. I must say, that this week believe it or not I was talking to my companion holding our tiny phone, and said "you know, it would be so easy to just call home and be like hey GUYS whats up!, but that wouldnt be obedient and my family would probably disown me for that, so I still wont. But it would be nice..." and lo and behold "wish granted!!" The new change to the emails and communications with missionaries and families is unprecedented. (Read the official announcement that came out on Friday HERE) We were in a falu finishing up a visit when we got the call from a member we know saying these things. I couldnt wrap my head around it, my head literalyl hurt from it. I am a missionary, I shouldnt be able to do this! What the heck how when where AHHHHHHHH! My mind might have exploded a few times that night. But as I thought about it, I knew that there would be mixed feelings from a lot of people, but here is what I think. The doctrine of Elder Hough, not to be confused with literal stamp approved revelation haha! I looked back on the last year almost with Presidnet Nelson as prophet, and I noticed two fold. The first being that this work is in every sense of the word ACCELERATING. The second coming is COMING. And Pres Nelson knows this. On top of that he put into place ministering, which is a more spiritually led way to take care of each other in the church, the need for personal revelation an obvious requirement to effectively carry out this calling. The next big step was the family study and shorter church hours, so that the family can study together and have spritual experiences together, thus strengthening themselves as one in Christ. And what better way to do that then to study the life of Christ? And finally, the communication change, which allows the families of missionaries to directly tap into the most important work known to mankind, the gathering of scattered Israel. The chat boxes and video calls now enable us missionaries to share more in detail what this work is like, how we are doing with members, and thus strengthen their connection to this work , which is in fact every members work.

So from what I can see, every single change has been pointing to the strengthening of our families, every thing has been pushing that direction. We have to strengthen them. As President Nelson said "In coming days it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the constant guidance of the spirit through personal revelation." Cant say it better than that! But those are my thoughts on it. I am thrilled to now talk with my family more frequently and be able to call them all on their birthdays. Super super awesome.

Alright! Onto the week! On a sadder note, our two people we were teaching that had baptismal dates both dropped us due to struggles to fully understand or act, which is always super killer, but we had another person we are teaching (for all intents and purposes, his name will be Joe), and Joe accepted A baptismal date as of now for april 21st. he is progressing nicely, we are getting him integrated with the members, and he is an amazing man. Smart mathematician. Likes to fully understand it before going into it, but for the gospel purposes, he is exercising huge faith. Its always a joy to see that!

For some reason, Hungary decided to SNOW on wednesday. So we were out finding in the SNOW all day wednesday, and let me just say: Snow is pretty. Its silent when it falls, its peaceful, but I HATE the cold. HATE it. I would rather it be College Station July than the cold. I jsut dont like it haha! Luckily for me, its starting to warm up a bit. The days have been nicer here. But its spring so its unpredictable what to do. But I digress, the snow and I are "not what you would call sympatico at the moment". 

We also got a visit from Elder Sabin of the 70 for zone conference, and I wont go into the specific things I learned for myself, but I will say that it was a revelatory expereince, and he had some things he taught to us that I myself could work on, that could help me become better, and I will share acouple of them with yall.

Many things are interesting, few things are important

You will only be as happy as you are grateful

(He made the comment that what if we woke up everyday with only the blessings we were grateful for the night before? how would our prayers change?)

Learn from the past but dont live there

Humility is the conduit to heaven

The enemy of something great is a lot of good

These were some that stuck out to me, and a few of them I was like woooooaaah. Az igen. I will be better! Which is all this life is about so onward we go! 

Other than that, we had a very good week. Lots of growth, lots of success, and sadness. A good healthy week in my opinion. I cant wait to hear what will happen in conference this next time in april which is right around the corner, and I know that this is God, the Eternal Fathers work being carried out through his only begotten son Jesus Christ. Russell M Nelson IS the only man on the earth that can receive that specific guidance for us today that we stnad in need of as a whole body. And there are angels around us protecting us as we read the scrpitures and pray EVERY DAY. We stress this with those we teach that to receive the protection we first gotta put it on, it wont put itself on us. Love yall, and have a fantastic week! 

Sziasztok!!

Hough Elder

**We got to video chat with Jake this morning!! We weren't sure how this would work for us since he has no computer or ipad or smart phone--not to mention the 7 hour time difference. But the increased opportunity to talk more than twice a year was really exciting!! I wasn't sure how I would make it from Mother's Day to Christmas (almost 8 months between phone calls). But in his email today he said we could do it! They are not allowed to use member's phones or the senior missionary phones. Fortunately, they didn't have to go to Gyor (an hour away) to email. Jake and his companion were able to use the computer and camera at the branch house right in Tatabanya. Basically, he can call between 1 and 5pm his time (when they have all their chores/shopping done) or 6am to 10am our "America Texas" time. Which makes it hard to capture his siblings. However, I don't think it's a coincidence that the kids had today off from school so we could ALL talk to him!! It was SO AWESOME!!!! It won't be every week, but it's MORE than we ever dreamed would be possible. These opportunities are such a gift!! Their only requirements as missionaries, in Jake's mission anyway, is that they go out and work as missionaries from 6-9pm on Mondays (preparation day). They no longer have a time limit for emailing either anymore, so he won't be quite so rushed. Jake calls it "Miracle Mondays." Haha!

**I asked Jake a little bit more about Elder Sabin's visit and if he got to meet him and shake his hand. Jake got a little more than that! President Hettinger texted Jake while he was on the train en route to the conference to tell him that he, along with a few other missionaries--his former companion, Peery Elder included--were going to be interviewed by Elder Sabin. :o Jake said it was really unexpected and very cool. He asked Jake how long he'd been out, where he was from, he asked Jake how he was doing, asked how his family was doing that sort of thing. Then he asked Jake if he had any questions for him. And Jake said, "Yes, actually. What do you know about virtue because I'm trying to study it and gain more of it and there isn't a whole lot directly stated in the scriptures about this topic." So they chatted about virtue--well, Elder Sabin did. Jake took notes. :) 

Elder Jake Hough, 2/11/19--week 29

"I just love it when they die on me"

SZIAAAAAA AGGGGIIIEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!

I mourn with you all in the patriots victory. The good news is, there will always be another year, another chance, and another opportunity. But in the famous words of Korg "Another day, another doug." We move forward in hope.

This week was a doozy. Let me tell yall, it was nuts. First off last pday after the last email session I took my beloved companion Beck Elder to the most beautiful part of Tatabánya: The famous Madár Turul (giant bird statue). Its also the only beautiful thing in Tatabánya but it sits regally on the mountainside for all to see everyday, so we just had to go this pday to ensure he saw it, and so I could say my goodbyes. Fun fact it is actually the biggest bird statue in EUROPE, so that is saying something! There will be pics below for reference. But yeah, that was fun to return once more and to get those madár pics. You can never get enough of those. It is actually a memorial for the 1000 year anniversary when the hungarians were led by this giant bird aino the carpatheian basin, and fought for this land in the battle of banhida (section of town weve tracted a ton). So its a pretty dope thing they got. Then we visited the barlang (cave) and the lookout tower that are all on the mountain in that national park area, and that was jsut really good hike, felt good weather was good, it was awesome. I will dearly miss it.

Secondly, we taught a progressing investigator who was an engineer and nath teacher about my FAVORITE lesson from the missionary lessons, and the most peace bringing doctrines that I feel we have in this church, and that was the Plan of Salvation (A Szabaditás Terve). He is pronounced aethiest as well, but as we talked about this lesson, the points contained therin about how we are Heavenly Father's Children spiritually, and he loved us so much that he created this earth so we could be like him, learn, and grow, and he sent his son to take and suffer for all of our sins and struggles so that he may help us when it gets really hard, and that was for EVERYONE, and how we will live again because of this atonement, and we have the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father and Christ after this life if we follow him and are baptized by proper authority, this man, very opinionated, became quiet, and he was very reflective. He especially loved the resurrection because he cant use half his body from a stroke, but his countenance changed, and he wanted to believe and know it is true, and he said BOTH prayers for the lesson. It was awesome. I love this dude jsut cause I relate to his interests but I jsut love his faith. Whether he knos its there or not I see it and its awesome. That was a powerful lesson for sure.

Now, I would like to say that I really DONT enjoy it when people die on me, but the story goes that there is a member that lives in a falu out in the middle of no where in Hugnary, but was on our church registry, and was not active or returning member, so we made the travel plans to go out to this city, and to look him up. It would be about an entire days joourney, no telephone number to verify he lives there at the given address, no google maps, so yeah. Piece of cake. But we get out there in really good time and start walking down the road, out of town...and out of town....and out of town until literally we are NO WHERE. WE were in the wilderness wlaking through the hills of hungary, and it was crazy. We go down this road, and see houses finally, and there is a barn that is leaing to one side and about to crash down, there are houses ith windows broken out and no one living there, jsut abandoned looking. Dilapidated. And we were like "Whhhhere are we?" It was pretty surreal, but we had to find this member, who had lost sight of the tree of life, and was in the darkness but didnt realize he was jsut 2 feet from the iron rod. We HAD TO FIND HIM! We find someone, ask them about the address, and he says no idea. Great. Shake his 3 fingered hand and gave thanks, walked back the way we came. Serached for a couple more hours of walking and trudging through the mud and nothing...We were getting to the point where we were like welp this was a great use of time lets go home so we dont get stranded here when we finally, FINALLY find the house. It was the last house on the street, and so we excitedly and with new energy stroll through the mud over there to the house, and we greet the man there. hes polite we ask where this person we are searching for is and he says "Well kids, sorry. This guy died 12 years ago. I bought this house from him"

........

Huuuuuuuhhhhh. And that was that. the guy died. And we had no way of knowing, but now we know, and we can tell the other missionaries that come DONT GO TO SÚR, there is nothing there for you but sore legs and mud. So yeah. that was that. We still felt good we had exercised our faith to find this dude, but that wasnt in the Lords plan I guess. We got home in time as weel which was a whole nother miracle. But that was the week! It was pretty action packed and we are doing great here in the city of Tatabánya, the promised land of Hungary. I love it here and the days are literally flying by its super sad, but I guess that happens when you find the groove.

Love yall! Have a great week! Sziasztok!

Hough Elder

also my email address is changing tomorrow to jacob.hough@missionary.org, due to the emphasis on the name of the church (you can read the talk about the correct name of the Church from our prophet President Nelson HERE) and so thought Id throw yall a bone so if you ever wanted to email me, you wouldnt get confused if I didnt respond. It wouldnt be cause I dont like you, but more because the email changed. But the first one is also a possibility. ;)

Also because I love yall and its valentines day this week, here are a ton of pics. Enjoy at your own pace!

Love this one! I thought it was a statue at first. :) 

January 2019

1st--I spent eight hours of the day, in my jammies at the computer blogging, trying to get 2018 caught up. I only did two posts plus Jake's letter. I had already spent MANY hours on Sunday and Monday working on this project and by the time I was done on Tuesday, my right arm and wrist were aching terribly.



--Karcyn worked on her 3-in-1 Lego set she got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Lee. It was really cool. Pirate ships!

--The kids and I played Quiddler that night and on the 5th hand when I was dealt seven cards, THIS was what I ended up with. Three Qs and three Us!! Not cool.

--On Christmas Eve, I had told Lala Vanko (a branch member in Tatabanya, Hungary) that Jake's 19th birthday was on Dec. 27th and if they happened to cross paths, I asked Lala if he would wish Jake a Happy Birthday for me. He actually called Jake and sang Happy Birthday to him, which was super sweet. On Dec. 31st ("America Texas Time"--Jan. 1st Tatabanya time ;) Lala texted to tell me that soon there would be a birthday surprise for both the elders because Jake's new companion, Beck Elder (fresh from the MTC) was turning 19 six days after Jake! Lala even bought them gifts! Lala is AMAZING!! He loves these missionaries SO much and they feel it. And their parents feel it 5700 miles away!





Hungarian sparkling fruit drinks. Love the little kid on the label. Haha!

 Deodorant and chocolate...just what every elder needs. :)

 All wrapped up!

 The super cute boys and their gifts.

A beautiful birthday cake! Made by the Gaspar family...

I'm not 100% certain, but I'm thinking this might be the Gaspar family. ;)

Dig in boys!

 Haha--Jake ain't waiting for anything or anyone! ;)

2nd--So utterly grateful for ALL that Lala has done for Jake, even before Christmas, and knowing Jake was in Tatabanya for 12 more weeks, I picked up a pair of Texas socks to tuck in the package for Lala that we were sending to Jake. I also have a friend from one of our Oregon wards who went to Hungary on her mission. She follows Jake's experiences closely. I reached out to her and asked if her if she would be willing to try translating my thank you letter to Lala in Hungarian. She was happy to. She actually has a Hungarian neighbor who helped, which is super cool and what a neat thing for them to share. Hopefully it will be a double unexpected surprise for Lala when he gets it. Just copying the letter in Hungarian was quite the workout for my brain and hand.

--On that previous Sunday, Karcyn was taking very seriously, the suggestions in the new Come Follow Me manual for teaching young children who don't like to listen. She sat down with JJ and read to him the story about Korihor in Alma 30. Every once in a while she would stop and ask him to draw what he heard and six awesome pages emerged. I went through them with JJ and had him tell me the story in his own words and I wrote those ideas down. We turned it into a book and decided that this was the very thing that Jake would LOVE to get in his package to brighten his day. 

I LOVE the head of Korihor poking out in the background with question marks while he listens to Alma. Haha! The best!! Alma is holding a scroll, by the way. Not a science beaker. :)

3rd--I spent five more hours blogging then took a break so I could take down the Christmas decorations. This was the first time in 17 years that they came down after December 26th. Most people leave theirs up til the new year or even later. Not me. Jake's birthday is December 27th and since he was two years old, I have always taken them down by the 26th so that he would never equate his birthday with Christmas. I didn't want him to ever feel like those two days were combined. But since we left home at 5am on 12/26 for a trip and didn't get back until late afternoon of the 29th and then I had a stake dance to go to, and mostly because Jake wasn't here at the time, the Christmas decorations definitely went to the back burner. It was weird and honestly, I was not motivated to put them away which is kind of funny because compared to most people, I hardly have any decorations.



--Karcyn was looking out the back door and found this little "gem."

Yeah...that's a snake. First live one I've ever seen in our backyard in 4 1/2 years and in the winter no less.

At first I thought it was a harmless little garter snake, but as I took the picture, I noticed it looks a little too dark and sleek to be one. I didn't stick around to get any more distinguishing details, however. I just herded my kids back inside. Except they all wanted to bring it in the house to keep it warm to which I put an immediate kibosh on. Over my dead body. Which of course was met with crushed dreams and rants of "You're so mean!" Yes. Yes I am. "It's so cold!!" He'll figure it out. "He might die!" I sure hope so. "But it's so cold!" Maybe he should have listened to his mother and worn a coat. (Haven't seem him since...)

--Later that day, I learned several friends from several lifetimes ago, have decided to leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I mentioned this news to Jared from across the room that night and Karcyn, who was sitting nearby on the couch, quietly said, "One of the signs of the Second Coming (of the Savior) is that men's hearts will fail them." We were surprised to hear such an analysis coming from her.



--Cooper worked a lot that last week of Christmas vacation. He was called in early because they were short staffed and he was asked to stay late a couple times. And he learned what it was like to be on his feet for 8+ hours at a time.



--My teenage boys would appreciate this. Haha!

--A special memory from 3 years ago that popped up on Facebook. The day Jake was ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood after he turned 16 years old. 

4th--About two months ago, when he found out it was approved to have in the mission field, Jake asked if we could send him an MP3 player, but he totally understood if we couldn't. So we started doing research and shopping around for one, but we didn't actually order it until Christmas day. Then we loaded 119 hymns by the Tabernacle at Temple Square or just on the piano by Paul Cardall, and even a couple played by Jake himself. :) We made about 30 reprints of pictures that we took the past few months to tuck into the package per his request. I also added a wrapped gift of Texas socks for him as well as Lala's gift/card. I also wrapped up a flashlight and pen with Texas on it and TexMex hot chocolate chapstick for Beck Elder. While I was at it, I printed off a few recipes we've tried since he left home and tossed in a couple packets of our favorite spaghetti sauce mix and taco seasoning. He can probably get those there, but thought he might enjoy a "taste of home." That package weighed 1 lb. 15 oz. Part of the mission rules is that packages sent (emergencies excluded) have to be in padded envelopes only and sent at a maximum, twice a year. Because this mission includes two different countries--other missionaries will likely have to tote the packages around for delivery. They don't want the packs too big for obvious reasons. I had heard from another parent of a Hungarian missionary that DHL is the best way to send packages overseas. When I went to a shipping center in Bryan and said I needed to mail a package to Hungary, they also said DHL was the best way to go. I could send it through regular mail, of course. The only catch is that once it leaves our country, they can't guarantee what happens to it after that. On December 13th, I sent my parents a family calendar for Christmas (knowing full well it wouldn't make it by then) to their new address in Iceland. I was curious how long it would take. It cost $23. And still hadn't arrived by the time I sent Jake's package off. The cost to send the 15 1/2'' by 10'' padded envelope to Budapest for Jake was the great low price of $163. Sending it FedEx or UPS was actually $250 or $330 respectively. So it really was a "great low price." :) Totally worth it to this mama though. I don't necessarily mind the wait through regular mail, but not knowing if it really will get there is a little much for me. This will likely be the only package Jake gets anyway. And it's a good one. It was scheduled to leave the store on Monday, 7th and arrive between Wed. and Friday, 3-5 days later. Whoa!



--A good reminder!

5th--I attended my first American Sign Language (ASL) class! And I love it! Well, it's not a class, class. We have ASL missionaries in the CS3 ward and they are offering free ASL classes to the public on Saturdays from 12-1. The day that I went, we learned how to pray! It was awesome. I really like ASL...a lot. I know I don't know much about it really, but it's stirred something inside me. It might be a path I want to continue on.





7th--We got a couple of hard letters from Jake. He was struggling physically (lack of sleep, lack of sun, lack of running...), he was struggling spiritually and mentally being only a couple weeks into his new responsibilities as district leader and trainer on top of the fact he just had his first Christmas and phone call away from home, his first birthday in a different country away from home and it became this perfect storm bearing down on top of him. We get his letters at 5:30am when we get up and I worried about him all morning, for the first time since he left. We knew he'd struggle with the language, companions, rejection from the people and different aspects of his mission. But I didn't expect him to feel like he was shutting down physically. He's one of the most physically fit guys I know. But I also know he was feeling a lack of confidence in his ability to serve not only as a trainer for a brand new missionary where he was just three months before as well as a district leader. And for the first time, I was acutely aware of the distance between us as his mom and I ached to just hold him and tell him it was all going to be okay. Even if I emailed him that, he wouldn't be able to get my message for another week! Ugh. After the kids left for school, I fell on my knees and poured out my heart and tears to the Lord. I begged Him to PLEASE let Jake feel my love for him. I couldn't do it myself so I needed God to do it for me. After a few minutes of crying and pleading, I felt peace. There was nothing left for me to do but turn it over to God. And I felt better. But I wasn't sure about Jake. I asked our friends who read Jake's letters to please pray for him. I was surprised by the responses I got from friends all over. Some texted, some emailed, some responded on Facebook. Most of them were saying how impressed they were with Jake's faith and the way he sought counsel from the Area Mental Health Adviser in Europe. After I prayed in my room that morning, I felt prompted to send him an encouraging card from the family. So that's what we did.

--Lala texted me later that morning and said that he read what I shared on FB and that he had picked up my son and talked to him. I don't know what they talked about but I cannot tell you how comforting it was to know another parent and friend that I can communicate with is watching out for Jake. If only we had a Lala in EVERY area! What a beautiful world that would be. It was a longer week for me as I thought about Jake. (That Sunday, I fasted for him and for his investigator who was nearing baptism and felt good about both.)



--That morning was so crazy for me, worrying and crying and praying for Jake while working on laundry and then going to the store, that for the first time in my life, I spaced my dental appointment that afternoon! What's worse, my dentist is the Stake Young Men's president that I serve with at church. I texted him and after he laughed at me, he told me not to worry. Still mortifying!



9th--There was an awards assembly in the first grade and our little man, JJ, was honored with the Mighty Mustang leadership award. His cute little face. He was trying to be humble, but he was so surprised and proud, too.

 JJ and his first grade teacher, Mrs. Miller.

 Celebrating after school with ice cream!

--There was a family in our ward whose dog just died. They taught Jake in Sunday School, Calvin in Primary and they were now teaching JJ in Primary. So I grabbed a sympathy card and asked the little boys to write something that they thought might comfort the Beer family. I wish I had taken a picture of the card. They did SUCH a great job. I was touched at what they wrote and drew. JJ asked to see a picture of Daisy and I found one on Facebook. He drew a sweet picture of her...even got her spots right and then wrote: "I'm sorry about Daisy. I hope this will mak you happy."  Calvin said: "I'm sorry to hear about Daisy. I bet she was great" and drew some daisy flowers. I was so proud of the tender sentiments they shared that came straight from their hearts.

--Turns out I have tennis elbow or more accurately, blogging elbow. :( Not cool when you're trying to lift weights and do push ups. Hopefully it won't last long...

--Later that night when Cooper and Karcyn got home after their mutual activities at the church, they were laughing. We asked what was so funny. Karcyn said that Cooper had "wee wee'd" all the way home like the Geico commercial with the pig. He even rolled his window down to "wee wee." Probably not the wisest thing for a new driver to be doing. But it was a fun moment for these two siblings who don't often find common ground. Cooper had even told Karcyn they'd look up the Geico commercial when they got home so she could see the original one. 

11th--Right before Christmas, JJ came home with a small item in a little bag. He said it was for the family but was giving it to Luke. "Okay," I told him. "No problem." 

Until I saw that it was the most amazing child-made ornament I'd ever seen! It was three little snowmen made from his three little fingers on a piece of wood. On the back was his name, school picture and the year. Absolutely precious. 

The first ornament--a token of JJ's brotherly love for Luke.

Part of my mommy heart was touched JJ wanted Luke to have it for his tree in Brazil. I always want my kids to think of and serve others. But the other side of my mommy heart really, really wanted to keep it. And I'm ashamed to say I dwelled on the growing selfishness a little too long that night. But the Lord comforted even my selfish heart and helped me see that JJ's ornament likely meant more to Luke than it would to me. I sent an email to JJ's teacher thanking her for the incredible Christmas gift and told her what JJ did. She wasn't surprised at all by JJ's sweet gesture. But imagine MY surprise (and tearful humility) when JJ brought home another ornament that he and his teacher worked on together that day. The Lord knew then that the amazing Mrs. Miller would bless me with a second ornament to help me remember JJ's first grade year. I will never forget this remarkable token or the lesson I learned about trusting that things will work out. Even little things like handmade ornaments. Thank you, Mrs. Miller, for both gifts.

 

Notice the expressions on the snowmen...meh, happy, and mad. The three emotions of JJ. :)

 The second ornament--the Lord's token of love for me.

--I had an annual Stake Young Women auxiliary training that my presidency was presenting to the ten different local Young Women presidencies around our stake on Sat. the 12th. We have six wards and four branches--the furthest branch is about 50 minutes away (Brenham), but that's just the location of the church building. Most people live even further away than that. It's a real sacrifice of time and travel for the members in our stake and I'm constantly touched by their faith and devotion to serve the Lord. Friday night, the 11th, Jared and Cooper met me at the stake center, along with our High councilman and my counselor Allison, so we could set up tables and chairs and get as much ready as possible. When we got home, it was close to 7pm. None of us had dinner yet. Karcyn and Calvin get home around 4:45 and by the time they unload their stuff and get a snack it's almost 5pm. And their idea of a snack is more like a meal. In this case, it was a big bowl of rice and chili with shredded cheese. It makes having dinner ready for the whole family by 5:30pm a bit frustrating for me. But I certainly don't want to be accused of depriving the starving tweens. Two days before, I had done some training with a YW's presidency so I told the kids that we were doing YOYO for dinner (You're On Your Own). Then Thursday night, Jared had a working dinner meeting, so I declared that night was also YOYO. When we got home from setting up at the church, the kids asked what was for dinner. (Oh? Aside from the meal you had when you got home?) I told them "YOYO." Disbelief filled Calvin's face. "YOYO?? For the THIRD day in a row??? What's the world coming to?" Yes, for three days in a row. Enjoy!

12th--The stake training I was in charge of was from 9-11am. But I was at the church around 7:45am. If the leaders got nothing out of the training at least we had a yummy breakfast waiting for them.

My friend, Annette Jasperson--who was the Stake Relief Society President I served with prior to this calling, asked me later that day how it went. (The RS and Primary were doing their trainings the following weekend). I said: "Weeellll, I think we did the best we could and I'm confident that even the highest functioning unit walked away with something to think about or improve upon. I feel good about what/how things were presented and we've had some really good feedback already. Our numbers were super low though--about 50%. The good thing is that there were at least two people from each unit in attendance and all our presidents were there except 1 who was sick and another who was traveling." The problem is we have nothing to compare to, so maybe attendance wasn't low but more the status quo. Now I know how stake presidencies feel when attendance at Stake Conference is low.

--After the training, I drove over to my ASL class. When I came home around 2pm, I ate breakfast--some of the leftover casserole and crumb cake and fruit that I didn't get a chance to eat at our training. Calvin was getting lunch then, too. So by 5pm, around the dinner hour, I wasn't hungry at all. When the kids came in and asked, "What's for dinner?" a sly smile crossed my face and I said, "Don't kill me, but...YOYO." And then I laughed. Calvin just looked at me and walked out of the room like a rage quit. :) It was pretty funny. I emailed Jake about the incident because we made Hough history. I don't think we've done more than two YOYOs in one week before. Jake responded in his letter, "4 YOYOs in a row?? You gotta save some of the Hough history moments for when I am there geeez. Ha!"

14th--Karcyn ran 1 mile (4 laps) in 10:10 without stopping during athletics! Wowzers!! That is faster than me, for sure!

--Jared finally ordered the Hough Generations picture with both his siblings and all of our kids (just two weeks after JJ was born) with Jared's parents and his Great Grandma Nina. It arrived that day and we hung it over the piano. Look how little our kids are! :)

I love how Karcyn is making herself right at home with Grandpa! ;)

15th--My parents called from Iceland (they can call us, we can't call them). They FINALLY got their calendar! It only took 32 days and they were SO excited to get it. The pictures were from our trip to their house in St. George, Utah during spring break. After hanging up with them I decided to check the status of Jake's package. It arrived at the Budapest Mission Home on 1/10 and someone named "Elder" signed for it. It only took 3 1/2 days going from Houston, to Cincinnati, to Germany to Hungary and cleared customs just fine--within minutes. I have since learned you want to itemize the contents as much as possible. You can't just say "Gift" you need to say "socks, office supplies, pictures, documents, MP3 player, etc." Plus, if the value amount is over $100, it will likely be detained in Customs AND the receiver can be taxed that same amount on the other end and for missionaries, it comes directly out of the MSF (missionary fund) not their personal fund. Jake had told us that he would probably get his package on 1/17--when he'd be in Budapest for Zone Conference. So we were on pins and needles anxious for him to get it and dreaming of the not-so-distant future when he'd be falling asleep to peaceful, hopeful and comforting church music.



SUPER COOL STORY: As I balanced my checkbook later that night, I realized I had dedicated $400 to car insurance (yay teenage drivers) in December. But we were only charged $237 because Cooper had just barely been added to insurance. That left a surplus of...drumroll...$163! Just thirty cents more than the cost of shipping for Jake's package. Truly miraculous!! What a gift! We told the kids the exciting news and again bore testimony of paying tithing and generous fast offerings.



16th--Something happened at mutual that got Cooper bent out of shape. Consequently he yelled at Karcyn on the way home and wasn't being very patient with her. But he quickly felt guilty about his actions so he made a stop at the store and bought her a Snickers bar with his own money to apologize. Although he was a little miffed that the cost of candy bars was a whopping $1.50.



17th--During our Come Follow Me discussion, we were talking about baptisms for the dead in the temple and how Cooper can perform those baptisms now. JJ piped up and said he wanted Cooper to baptize him in August. Up until now, he's only wanted Jared or Jake (who isn't here). I thought that was sweet.



19th--Jared and I went to the temple--the 7am session like we usually do. And it was PACKED! First time I've seen it that way so early in the morning. When we got home, Jared took the little boys out to lunch and shoe shopping. I took Karcyn to my ASL class and then we went out to lunch at Napa Flats to celebrate her straight As. After we ordered lunch, Karcyn pointed to the flowers and said, "That's turgor pressure failure." Say what? I had her repeat what she just said and then explain it to me. "Turgor pressure is when the plant vacuole is full of water, it pushes against the cell wall and causes the plant to stand up straight. But when there's less water in the vacuole, the plant starts to wilt, which is turgor pressure failure. That (pointing to the flowers in our vase on the table) is turgor pressure failure." And she just smiled at me. Well I'll be. I had no idea.

--While Karcyn and I were waiting for lunch, Lala sent me pictures--Jake's investigator GOT BAPTIZED!! We've known about this baptism date for almost 3 months. But sometimes those don't come to pass. I rejoiced to learn it actually happened. Robi needed it and so did Jake! Jake had the special opportunity to be reunited with his trainer, Peery Elder, who came from all the way across the country to baptize Robi in a community pool that night. Of the experience, Jake wrote: I cried as our man came out of the water, and the look on his face was pure peace and calm, and he smiled bigger than I had ever seen him. It was awesome I went straight to him as he cliombed out and gave him the biggest wet hug ever, and peery as well! In church on sunday I was priveliged to confirm him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and give to him the Holy Ghost to be a constant companion for the rest of his life, and that was a wild ride as well, cause HUNGARIAN haha! But it went great. I realized in that momnet that this is my lifes purpose, and that if I go the rest of my mission wihtout a baptism I would forever rejoice in the baptism I witnessed this last week.

Peery Elder (Jake's first companion), Robi, Hough Elder and Beck Elder (Jake's current companion)

Lala Vanko, Robi, Peery Elder and Hough Elder. This was a super special day for the Houghs in Texas, too, because Jake is a part of our family--he's all the way over there in Hungary representing us and the Savior. So we Houghlings back in College Station had a small part in Robi getting baptized too. Besides the fact we've been fasting and praying for him ever since we knew he had a baptism date. Missionary work isn't just about baptisms, though. It's about the change that happens within the missionary, too. But how special when a baptism does happen! I love that Jake would be perfectly content if this was the only baptism he was knowingly a part of his entire mission. "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" (Doctrine and Covenants 18:15).

20th--That morning, Calvin asked if the dishes were clean and Jared said yes, he had run it the night before. Calvin got a bowl out of the dishwasher so he eat some cereal for breakfast. I started to unload it with Karcyn, but as we did so, we came across several dishes that still looked dirty. Odd. That shouldn't happen with a brand new $800 dishwasher. I tossed the dishes in the sink and kept going. But I kept finding dirty things. Finally, I decided that the dishwasher had in fact NOT been run. When I mentioned it to Jared he confidently said he totally did. He remembers selecting Normal Wash and everything. I chose not to argue the point but it was clear the dishes were not clean. I grabbed all the ones I could remember having already put away, plus a few extra and then I inwardly cringed that Calvin had eaten out of a dirty bowl. Ewww. Gross. The next day when I went to run the dishwasher, I pushed the normal cycle and then...start. That's when the lightbulb went on. "Jared, did you push the start button when you ran the dishwasher yesterday?" Silence. "No...I didn't know I needed to. I thought I just had to push normal wash." Hahaha! "It's not THAT fancy! You still have to tell it what to do." Jared replied sheepishly, "Well, I never got the tutorial." Too funny and Calvin was none the wiser.

21st--Jake emailed us his weekly letter and we learned he didn't get his package at Zone Conference. He said he was going to a new trainer meeting in Budapest the next morning, Tuesday, and maybe he'd get it then. What?? How did he not get it? It was there waiting for him. I immediately went to email the mission office to try and find out what was going on. My baby needs his music and a connection from home! This is what I sent:

Hello there, dear missionary friends!

I am Hough Elder's mom. He is currently serving in Tatabanya. We sent him a package through DHL, that appeared to make it to the mission home on Thursday morning, 1/10/19. Someone named ELDER signed for it. :)  I was hopeful (and just assumed) that with a week of lead time, he would receive it at his Zone Conference this past Thursday, 1/17/19. But he didn't. :( I'm really hoping he won't have to wait another six weeks to get it. I found out from Hough Elder this morning that he will be in Budapest tomorrow morning (Tuesday) for new missionary meeting. I don't know how mail delivery works, but is there annnnnnnnny possible way he could get it then? Assuming it is indeed in your possession? I just can't imagine how crazy it must be to manage the logistics for missionaries in two different countries!! There are no judgments here! Just thought a note wouldn't hurt. :) However, if you don't have the package yet, then I definitely need to call DHL and find out what's going on. 

Thanks for your help and God bless!!!

Love,

Jenn Hough

Unfortunately, I didn't get a response from the mission home until the next day, Tuesday, 1/22, early morning for us, but early afternoon for Jake. Sister Hinckley, the sister-in-law of friends of ours who works in the mission office, said they would like to try tracking the package from their end. That's no bueno. I got the message just before 7am and copied and pasted the info I got from DHL so they could see the dates and times and that ELDER signed for it. :) But I didn't intend to make MORE work for them. About 40 minutes later, I got another email from Sister Hinckley. She said, "The package has been found! The name was obscured and was put in an area for Elder Jacob.  We are so sorry it was misplace and so RELIEVED to have found it!" 

I was SO relieved too, but knowing Jake's meeting was over I asked when he might receive it? Sister Hinckley replied "He is here in the office for a meeting for new elders and their trainers. Elder Hough will be so excited!" Oh my goodness!! That is what I needed to hear. Darn that common name of Jacob. Except that all packages are supposed to have the first and last name of the missionaries, so there would have been a name in front of Jacob if it was for Elder Jacob. But all is well. Sister Hinckley said it was definitely a frustrating mystery for them.

--I packed walnuts in the kids' lunches that morning...just to see how that would go. JJ tossed them on the counter when he got home and said, "I don't like these." Shocker. When Karcyn came home she said, "You know those walnuts you put in my lunch? Well, when I saw them I'm like I'm not the picky kind of person so I said this will be my first walnut. So I took a little nibble and said 'Hmm. That's actually pretty good.' Then I took a bigger bite and said, 'Bleh!! That was a mistake!'" Hahaha. Well, I tried. 

--Later that night, Lala sent me pictures. He is so good to feed our boys--tummies and souls.

He also told me that Jake got his package...finally! They confused the package with an Elder Jacob and it was in the Romanian package pile. AHHH!!!! I'm so glad I wrote the mission office asking about it when I did. They told me it got put in a different pile, but I didn't know it could have gone to the wrong country. Yikes!! Haha--can you imagine if Elder Jacob did get that package, how awkward that would have been looking through our family pictures. "Who are these people?? And how do they know me?" 

23rd--I had actually sent Lala a gift for his January 25th birthday that was due to arrive any day. I hadn't said anything about it to him because I wanted it to be a surprise. I had gotten his address from a mom on a mission Facebook page. So I was hoping it would make it there without any problems. He didn't say anything about it on the 22nd when we were chatting. So I looked up the DHL tracking info and saw that it had been delivered on the 22nd but a Gabor Vanko signed for it. Um. Who is that? On the 23rd I finally said something about a package coming for him from Texas for his birthday and sent him the tracking info. He said that name wasn't his. (I know!) But about 45 minutes later, he said everything was fine. I didn't have the right phone number for Lala, so the DHL guy took it to the city office and met Lala's cousin, Gabor to give it to him. I told Lala I didn't think he was Gabor and showed him that my DHL receipt DID indeed have Lajos Vanko on it. :) That's when he saw that the "zipcode" should be 2800, not 2851. Well, 2800 was on Lala's address that I got, but it was right under his name. I had no idea that's what it was for and the people at the shipping place just googled Tatabanya for the zipcode. I told Lala that mailing to international addresses is VERY tricky! He assured me that as long as the city Tatabanya is there, there is no problem. And...not many Vankos live in Tatabanya and they are all his relatives! Haha! Once he got the package, I told him he had to wait until Jan. 25th to open it and he said he couldn't wait that long. But I won that battle--for a day because he asked on Thursday if he could open it at midnight. Since that's technically his birthday, I couldn't argue! I thought he would need to get some sleep because he works at night. But he had Thursday and Friday off, so it wasn't a problem. Except he messaged me to say he fell asleep. Too funny! He work up at 3:30am and opened it. Haha. I told him not to get too excited about it.  

I sent him two "You're Special" plates, so he'll remember that and so he'd have something fun for the missionaries to eat with when he has them over. And of course, a tie with the Texas Flag on it. He loved them so much, he posted them on Facebook. :)

Later that day, he sent me another picture and said it's been the best birthday. Jake was there on splits with Spencer Elder meeting with Robi and his girlfriend, Kata. She's agreed to take the discussions.

I asked Lala if Jake gave him the small gift we put in Jake's package and Lala said no. I wasn't surprised. He's got a lot on his mind. But I told Lala he needed to remind Jake about it. I'd bug him about it myself, but I can't. :)  

--Lala was headed to Italy to go to the Rome Temple Open House and tour the sites. He forgot to tell Jake and was afraid Jake would be transferred before he got back and wouldn't see him again. I told Lala I was pretty sure he was staying because he's training a missionary and they keep those companionships together for 12 weeks. And then I told him to send me pictures of the Rome Temple. Lala said that when Jake and Beck Elder saw the video about the Rome Temple, Jake said: Wow!!! It's such a beautiful temple! I want to get married in the Rome Temple!" for the record, I could totally get behind a wedding in Italy! :)

26th--I drove a suburban full of young men and young women 15-17 years old to the Priest/Laurel Conference in Conroe, Texas. I was so nervous GPS was not taking us the right way, but we got there! Only by the faith of the youth in my car, no doubt. We were gone from 11:30am to 11:00pm, but the youth had a really good time. That morning, before we left the church, Cooper found out he made the State Bowling Tournament! On the 19th, there was a bowling qualifier for the state Pepsi tournament. He bowled an average of 142 and his best score was 166. The tournament is March 9th in Arlington!

27th--Karcyn gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting and did a wonderful job. It was a hard topic, too. "How the Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families has helped me come closer to Christ" (with only 3 weeks experience under our belts). She wrote the talk herself--with the exception of two clarifying sentences that I added. She was excited to be there, she smiled, she spoke clearly and with great poise. This was what the bishopric counselor texted me later.

--Later that night, I had my first self-reliance class about finances/budgeting. I wasn't planning on going, but I mentioned it to my friend and told her if she wanted to go, I'd go with her. She said sure, so there we were. She's actually the group facilitator and is doing an amazing job! At the end of class, one of the ladies from Brenham was telling us she's allergic to wheat and grass and sugar. If she eats sugar her hands hurt. And I froze. Ever since March of last year, Jared's hands have hurt...started in a couple fingers and has spread to both hands. We've tried everything we can think of. Eliminating carbs and dairy. No change. Trying supplements. Nothing. He got tons of blood work done, but it all came back healthy and clear...even the arthritis panel. Jared laments that he's a healthy fat man. We finally went to see the doctor. I was afraid his pain was affecting him mentally and emotionally. So he tried some medication for a few weeks. But that didn't help. Not only mysterious, this was getting frustrating. I've been praying to know how to help Jared for many, many months and yet every path we've tried has been a dead end. 

But then, completely out of the blue, at this meeting for a 12-week course I wasn't even planning on participating in, I heard this woman say sugar made her hands hurt. Could it be?? I went straight home and told Jared what she said. He had actually been complaining that he was feeling really achy that day. Especially his hands. Cooper and I weren't around the day before, but I remember Jared saying they got pizza for dinner. "That doesn't have sug..." and then I stopped. Dawning came to both of us. BUT...they DID stop at BJs for pazookies. That is a ton of sugar! Whoa. I think we might be on the right track. So now comes the task of trying to eliminate as much sugar as possible from Jared's diet. I could be way off base, but I think our family eats less sugar than the average family because most of that is in processed foods (which Karcyn can't eat anyway) and sodas/juices (which we don't drink). Occasionally I get some cookies and we do have ice cream for special treats, but that's about it. Unfortunately, like gluten, I'm finding there's sugar in EVERYTHING. But the very next day, we began trying to drastically reduce Jared's sugar intake anxious to see how he feels. We're not at the 0g of sugar point yet. But fingers crossed this is our answer.

28th--This was the day I was going to drive Karole halfway to Snyder, TX so she could spend some time with Kevin and his family. Chris was going to meet us in Dublin for the swap. Unfortunately, Kevin got sick that weekend so Karole decided to postpone. Consequently, that freed up Monday for me and Karole. So she asked if I would like to do lunch and get a mani/pedi. Yes please! We went to Freddy's, a new place in town that is as close to Steak 'n Shake as we can get. So we did manis/pedis and Freddy's. :) It was a lovely afternoon. A great way to spend a Monday!

29th--Calvin was feeling under the weather and the nurse called to let me know that morning. Poor kid. He hates getting up in the morning, but he doesn't try to get out of school. Just homework. I picked him up around 10am and he rested most the afternoon. Seemed like he had a low-grade fever, but since we have no working thermometer, I can't say for sure. Obviously he'd be staying home Wednesday, too.

--Karcyn slammed her shin on the corner of the dishwasher door that was down. "Owww!!!! Oh man--if I wasn't a member of the Church, that would have been a really good time to cuss. But I am, so I won't!" 

30th--Jared went into surgery early that day so I had to drive Karcyn to her viola sectional and JJ to school. Calvin was still in bed sleeping. JJ, Karcyn and I headed to the garage to get in the suburban. I was messing with the lights and stuff in the house, so by the time I got out there, they were both standing with their hands on the handles, waiting. I asked, "Is it locked?" They said yes. Weird. I never lock the car. It's in the garage. As soon as I pushed the unlock button on the fob, a white and black streak went from the front seat to the back and as soon as JJ opened his door, FLOWER (a neighbor's cat) jumped out of the car!! WHAT THE??? THERE WAS A CAT IN MY CAR!!!!! HOW DID THAT EVEN HAPPEN?? AND WHEN?

Oh man...I am slightly OCD when it comes to my car and keeping it clean. And I'm really uptight with cats and the messes they make and I was praying that there wasn't any damage done to the interior of my car. JJ told me there was a little pee on the floor mat. Well, that's weather tech...so I could handle that. When Karcyn opened her door she was like, "Mooooooooooooom." The cat had pooped on the front passenger seat. :o  

But at least they were nuggets and not the long, intestine shaped mushy stuff. There was a total of two handfuls of poop. I got them in a sack and wiped the seat down with a clorox wipe. I couldn't see any liquid stains where urine would have dried or any other poop. But on the way to school I kept racking my brain, asking myself, "How does this happen? I don't even know how that cat would have gotten in my car. I had a stake meeting last night, but I took Jared's Mazda. And I know she didn't get in when I picked up Calvin. I don't get it." That's when I hear this very slow and quiet "Ohhhhhhhhhhh. I think I know..." from JJ. "What?? You do?? When? How?" He said he was playing outside with his little buddies before dinner and sometimes they open the garage door and open up the tailgate and climb in the burb as base or "safe from lava" or whatever. JJ thinks Flower must have gotten in sometime while they weren't around and then when it was time to go in for dinner, they closed the door not knowing she was in there. Yeah, I can see that. But dinner was around 6pm and it was 7am now which means the cat was in my car for 13 hours!!!!!! Honestly, if the only damage was a couple handfuls of poop nuggets, then I'm going to declare this a miraculous mishap. Unfortunately, I still smelled cat pee. And while I didn't think there was any urine "dispensed" she must have peed a little bit when she pooped. I know I do. Haha! So I've got to get the car detailed. And I'm praying the pee smell is neutralized. It's not a ton, but it's enough. *sigh*

--After school, Karcyn came home with her progress report. She was smiling when she shared she had all As, a B and a 25 in orchestra. Excuse me????? Apparently one of her scales test didn't submit on the iPad at school even though the display showed it as "submitted." Fortunately, her teacher was letting her make it up to try and bring her grade up. Before dinner, I caught bits and pieces of a conversation Jared was having with Cooper about his progress report. Apparently Coop's grade in one of his classes was low enough it was even bothering him. I got the details from Jared later. Cooper turned in an English paper super late (which we knew because we tried helping him) and it missed making the grade book for the progress report and that's basically all that was in there to reflect a grade in that class. When the kids got back from mutual, Cooper was talking to Jared and Karcyn came in to say "Oh, I forgot, if we get below a 75 in a class on the progress report, we have to have it signed by a parent." So I signed it and silently reflected  on how a 25 is the lowest grade any of my kids have ever had. It was almost comical and not a biggie because we know it wasn't indicative of Karcyn's ability or effort. I said, "Well, Karcyn, your 25 in orchestra has to be a recor..." Then I stopped. I never did hear what Cooper got in English. "Hey Coop--what was your English grade?" "A 24." Then I busted up laughing. "Nevermind, Karcyn, you beat Cooper by 1 point!" She and I were cracking up. Cooper wasn't as amused, but you have to admit, it was pretty ironic.

31st--I got a personal call the day before from the Middle School secretary to see if I could sub on the 31st. I have a little more compassion on administrators who take the time to call you directly to help out. I was "free" so I said I would. Turns out I was covering for a dyslexia teacher and then I was to travel to the intermediate school for 3rd, 4th and 5th period. Turns out the teacher I was subbing for actually left to go to another district, to be a principal. When I got into the classroom, this was the sub plans that were left. Is that even English?? I have no idea what those words mean! Oh boy...I always worried something like this would happen.

Fortunately, I didn't have more than six students during each period. Which really helped. Usually just two or three and once I only had one. I decided to ask the kids where they stopped off last in their books/workbooks and we just rolled with it. They were good about participating too which helped. If they worked hard for 25 minutes, I told them I'd give them whatever time was left. And they all seemed to like that! Going to the intermediate school was even worse as far as plans went, because it was a scripted program you have to follow. Fortunately, there was another teacher nearby who gave me a quick run down, for which I was very grateful and I thought those three classes were super successful. It definitely wasn't a wasted day. 

--That night, during Come Follow Me, Jared asked, "Who baptized Jesus?" and JJ said, "John the Baptimist...bapti...bap...Baptized!" :)