No Rest For The Weary

This was supposed to be a nice big break, but as you know me it didn't quite turn out that way.  I spent nearly the whole week doing the fireplace and connected projects.  What started out as a simple replace the mantle has blossomed.  But it's looking good and almost done.

​​​This is a before and during.  Maybe I will remember to show the final when I get it all done with touch ups.

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We cut out one of the bricks and then drilled the block behind it so we could run power and other AV cords behind the TV.  So now they are hidden and the AV cables run from there to where the old grill was.  So everything looks cleaner.  Mom likes it.  That was a challenge in and of itself.  It took nearly a day to get all that done.  The funniest part was when we were drilling through the old grill hood and Ty actually crawled inside the grill area, sat down, and worked.  It looked so weird to see him folded up like that.

Then I have been cutting, patching, sanding etc. everything so it looks like one piece of giant wood when it really is lots of pieces and trims.  Of course i ran out of crown for the last 59" and had to go to Lowe's to get more.  And surprise, they don't carry that same style any longer.  I ended up getting some MDF instead of pine and the overall dimension was very close, so it will work for now.  It was just frustrating.  That is why I always buy the job, plus anticipated jobs, plus some spare for projects.  So you have what you need and it matches.

Last night I was thinking about new year's resolutions.  Never been a big fan as I set goals all year long.  But as I thought about it I realized I had spent the last 3-4 weeks really updating our financial plan both for our budget for 2015, and all the way through to retirement.  We had to revise our health care situation and plan differently due to new health care laws.  I also have tried to set up new goals for the stake missionary work as well.  And my dentist says my gums are in danger zone so I better start flossing so I have done that better also.  I call it a good set of goals even if it is not all tied to new years.

I am speaking in Springboro later this month and sent an email to all the missionaries serving from there.  I am trying to gather thoughts from them to make it personal on Elder Ballard's talk and a specific quote.  If you have any stories I would love to have them!

Brothers and sisters, fear will be replaced with faith and confidence when members and the full-time missionaries kneel in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them with missionary opportunities. Then, we must demonstrate our faith and watch for opportunities to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father’s children, and surely those opportunities will come. These opportunities will never require a forced or a contrived response. They will flow as a natural result of our love for our brothers and sisters. Just be positive, and those whom you speak with will feel your love. They will never forget that feeling, though the timing may not be right for them to embrace the gospel. That too may change in the future when their circumstances change.

Kieren, did you firm up the date?

Gavin, around here the missionaries can go to the temple more frequently if they take a new convert to do baptisms for their own family names.  That is a goal on the new member record as well.  Is that the same for you?  I don't know how widespread that is yet.

Love you all forever.

Dad

3 John 1:4