Shout Hooray!

Beautiful Day of Rest

When our kids were little, our Sunday activities were a little different than they are now. We used to go to church, come home and eat a nice dinner, take a nap, play games, maybe take a walk, talk to our parents on the phone, etc. As our kids got a little older, we would occasionally leave them home while we did a little home teaching or visiting teaching. We would sometimes invite friends over for dinner.

Over the past few years, it has gotten to be that Sunday is almost our busiest day. Some of the things we've done lately on the Sabbath include going to some Hmong members home to help them practice the hymns in Hmong, travelling to other wards and branch in our stake, going to firesides--CES, missionary, etc., and having friends over for dinner. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to the Presbyterian church in downtown Wausau and help serve dinner to community members who had nowhere else to go. Rene and I both enjoyed it alot. We had to hurry home, though, because we hosted the monthly Bishop's Youth Discussion and we had to set up for it.

Over the past couple of years, I have written weekly emails to our missionary daughters on Sunday evening. Their p-day has been Monday, so I can send them the latest news if I write on Sunday night. And it makes a nice recap of the week and a look for me at the week ahead.

Several years ago, there was a great article in the BYU Alumni magazine with ideas for making the Sabbath a special day. I heartily recommend it!

(Janet, sorry about this picture, but it's a typical Sunday in Mount Vernon.)

My brief review of the inauguration:
Seeing all the ex-presidents and their wives and other famous people--interesting and kind of fun
George W. and Laura Bush: Gracious, relaxed, friendly
Michelle Obama's outfit: Liked the dress and coat, not too sure about the green gloves and shoes
Malia and Sasha's outfits: Very cute
Invocation: Ugh
Obama's speech: Kind of boring; full of nice but improbable ideas
Aretha Franklin: Awesome hat; way too over the top job on what could have been a great song
"Air and Simple Gifts": Very, very nice--I want to hear it again, but can't find it online yet anywhere; I'm a John Williams fan anyway.
Praise Song for Today: forgetable
Benediction: Actually, I was liking it alot until he had to throw in a dig at capitalism and a racial slur against whites.
Michelle Obama's gift to Laura Bush: Very appropriate and thoughtful--a pen and journal to begin her memoirs
Washington DC itself: Love, love, love it! I want to visit again!

It's been about 9 years or so since Rene had a company vehicle. One of the perks of his new job with Valent is a company vehicle. There were several options to choose from and Rene and Preston spent one enjoyable afternoon looking at trucks and checking out what was available. The truck they liked best was a Toyota. When Rene told the company that he liked that vehicle, it turned out that the one they had seen and liked was a little nicer than the actual one he could get. The Toyota dealership in town didn't have any of that kind of vehicle. So we were kind of wondering what would happen. Then, out of the blue, the dealership called and said, "Come get your truck." Since they didn't have the lesser option, he got the nice one instead.

For all of those who wanted to see pictures of all the snow we have, I refer you to Janet's blog.