He Made My Day

I was walking down the hall after church today and saw one of my former seminary students.

I casually touched his arm and asked, "How is seminary?"

He responded, "Good, but I miss you."

He made my day.

Kristen YW President

Kristen was just set apart today as the Young Women President for the oldest group of girls in YW. 

Aha Moment from Come, Follow Me

Aha moment today. 

I always thought Jacob served for seven years, married Leah, and then served another seven years before marrying Rachel but it was only one week later that he married Rachel and then he served another seven years after he married her.

Genesis 29:24-28

24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. 

25 And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? 

26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 

27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. 

28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.

Kristen's Hair

Chris has pretty much nixed the idea of Kristen dying her hair in the house anymore. 

She had friends over and they all went outside to help her apply the dye. It was passably warm outside.

I was kind of surprised that she offered to let me take a picture like this.

Kristen still showered after which may count for "dying her hair" inside since the dye seems to stain her shower.

And just in case you think her dad is heartless, we have a hot water spigot in the back yard that she could have used.

A Quick Trip to Utah

Kristen flew out to Utah to spend Presidents' Day Weekend with Amy.

She was confident in just having me drop her off at Departures and then making her way through security to the train and then boarding. 

We figured Chris would be arriving at the airport a couple of hours later, so if Kristen had any problems, she could just wait for him.

She left out of gate B41 and that's exactly where Chris deplaned later in the morning.

Amy picked Kristen up from the Salt Lake City airport a couple of hours later and they set out to have a fun weekend together.

From the pictures I received, they went to the gym together, had a sisters' date at the nickel arcade, went bowling together, and shopped.

Kristen was not at all anxious to come back home and get back into the routine of school. She's pretty much over school altogether at this point.

Chris and I picked up Kristen from the airport Monday evening after meeting up with Misha for dinner in Denver. Always good to see Misha.

Ski Day for Chris

It was a ski day for Chris and a quiet weekend for me. Chris bought a ski pass for discounted tickets and was happy to find a friend who was available to go with him.

They left early Saturday morning to get to Loveland Ski area before the parking lot was filled. Chris said the lot filled up shortly after they arrived and no more skiers were allowed into the parking area.

It was a beautiful day full of sunshine and pretty nice temperatures with minimal mishaps.

Roses From Chris

Chris arrived home from being away in Austin, TX for a few days with arms his laden with a suit jacket, his suitcase, a backpack, and a dozen roses for me!

Scary Day at Work

Just before Amy was finished work, some guy ran into the front entrance of VASA (fitness facility) and yelled that they needed a defibrillator at the Red Lobster across the street. 

Amy grabbed the defibrillator and she and another coworker ran over to the Red Lobster. Fortunately, the police were already there working on the guy and quickly grabbed the defibrillator from Amy. 

She left once the ambulance arrived but didn't think that the gentleman ever regained consciousness. Kind of a scary "get your own heart pumping" way to end a day of work!

Kristen Gets Her Braces Off!

It has been a loooooong three years with braces for Kristen.

When she first met with the orthodontist, she told her she won the lottery in our family for needing the most orthodontia. 

And thus began three years of pain. Kristen had the braces applied to her teeth, and not long after that, she went to the oral surgeon for jaw surgery and to have her wisdom teeth removed.

From there, she had appliances and gizmos in her mouth that made me want to cry. It made her cry for sure and she endured lots of pain and discomfort.

Not to mention that her original orthodontist had to quickly retire due to health problems and the new orthodontist said she would need these piston-like gizmos to move her jaw. Not fun! And he added about 9 extra months of torture.

Hallelujah! The angels sang today as Kristen finally is brace-free (though she does have retainers to wear 24/7 for the next eight weeks and then probably at night forever more).

Before Before

Before

After!

Doesn't she look amazing? And happy? 

Kristen's New Phone

Using her money earned from work, Kristen purchased her first phone yesterday.

She has been using an iPhone 8 for a number of years and was more than ready to have a phone that would stay charged throughout the day.

She was looking at driving to Boulder to pick up the phone, but then Apple required that the person on the T-Mobile account also go with her. That was a huge chunk of time out of my day.

The other option was to pay a small delivery fee; she chose that option and a lady dropped the phone off at the house a couple of hours later. Easy peasy.

Valentine's Day Dinner for Kristen

Kristen and her boyfriend, Kyle, are having a lot of fun together. I like that they are creative in their dates.

For Valentine's Day, Kyle surprised Kristen with a homemade dinner complete with all of the decorations too. Kyle made spaghetti and meatballs with cheesecake for dessert. 

Shannoy

In the Pathways religion course that I teach, I have at least two women who are non-members.

I asked both of them if they had a hard copy of the Book of Mormon. 

The older sister, Regine, said that a friend of hers had gotten her a copy of the Book of Mormon in French.

Another young girl, Shannoy, mentioned that she did not have one.

Shannoy had been introduced to the Pathways program by a cousin, however, the cousin lives in the United States.

I asked my Zone Leader if there was a way to request a Book of Mormon online.

In case you didn't know, yes, you can. Use this link:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/uk/forms/order-book-of-mormon 

This is the online conversation I had with Shannoy.

January 31, 2022

I would love to try and get a copy of the Book of Mormon to you. I can make a request online for the missionaries to bring it to you, but I would need your address.

Would you be willing to share your address with me?

I didn't have the right address the first time, so it took me a few days to gather her information.

Shannoy lives in Jamaica in a place called Saint Elizabeth. The closest big city to her is Santa Cruz. Shannoy mentioned that it would be a two-hour taxi ride to reach Santa Cruz and would be much too far for her to go. 

Looking at the church Tools App, that is also where the nearest ward/branch of the church meets.

If you enlarge the photo, Saint Elizabeth is in the middle left of the picture and Santa Cruz on the middle right of the picture.

February 4, 2022

Good morning. I am submitting a form to request a Book of Mormon be sent to you. It asks for your cell phone number. Would you be willing to share that with me?

A couple of days later, Shannoy emailed me about a response from the missionaries. 

February 9, 2022

Hello good morning.  i got details about the book of mormon. i can access one online 

I thought, "Well, I am pretty sure I mentioned that at the beginning of the semester!" I was hoping and praying that the missionaries would seek her out.

My response:

Did they mention that they would try to get a hard copy to you at a later time or just recommend accessing the Book of Mormon online?

Shannoy's response:
In the email that i got it said that someone would contact me but i haven't gotten any call from any body. I just received another mail about the book of Mormon. 

One day later, I received this email from Shannoy:

February 10, 2022

And miss kline, I got a call last night from one of the missionaries from Santa Cruz, I am going to meet them sometime next week to get a hard copy of the book of Mormon.

I got goosebumps all over my body when I ready her email. God is aware of Shannoy.

A Minor in Photography

Misha has decided to take a few extra classes and get a minor in Photography.

This semester she is taking a dark room class where she gets to develop her own photos.

While the process is often long, she is really enjoying it. She thinks it is amazing to see the photo suddenly appear before her eyes.

Honor Choir

Kristen auditioned and was accepted into honor choir this year for our school district. 

The workshops for the day were hosted at her high school, so it was nice that we didn't have to go too far for her performance in the evening. MHS does not have the biggest auditorium in the area, but I think they were able to squeeze parents, families, grandparents, and the students in for the performance.

If you were looking at this picture straight on, Kristen is in the 1:00 position (just below the blond girl not wearing a mask).

Honor Roll for Misha

Misha sent a screenshot of her name on the honor roll at CU Denver. We are proud of the hard work she is doing. Glad, too, that she is enjoying school at CU Denver.

Kristen's New Glasses

Kristen picked up her new glasses and happily sent a photo to her family.

Something exciting is coming for Kristen on the 15th. I'll post more later.

Valentine's Day for Misha

Misha and Sam celebrated Valentine's Day early since Sam was out of town the next weekend for her grandfather's funeral.

They had reservations at Maggioni's in Denver and then attended the ballet Romeo and Juliet.