Happy Birthday Amy!

 46 Years Old

Gratitude!

Master of Divinity

                          Associate Pastor                                Faith Lutheran Church--Naples, Florida

Happy Anniversary!

 Ellis and Lexy

2 Years

Gratitude!

 

Happy Birthday Peter!

 15 Years Old

Happy Birthday Rachel!

 27 Years Old

Happy Birthday Duncan!

 15 Years Old

Happy Birthday Jane!

 17 Years Old

Gratitude!

 

Eclipse!

Jeremy, along with many others got a chance to see an eclipse up close (so to speak).  Aunt Becky sent this picture of Jeremy and wrote--      "We were close to the path of the eclipse (it was just a little crescent and it definitely was a shade darker outside).   Jeremy and Peter were given free glasses at school and were allowed to go outside and witness it.  Ben and Miriam said their schools both were passing out glasses and Miriam got out of one of her classes early so the kids could go and look.  Even Owen and Evangeline were able to snage some free glasses t hte local eye glass place and look at  it too.  I happened to have a dentistg appointment right at the perfect moment and one of the other people in the waiting room said "does anyone want to borrow my glasses and look at it?"  She also said Uncle Ben said there were tons of students in the middle of campus when he went out to look.  Even the mascot made a showing.

When I picked up Duncan from school the first thing he did is make me put on his eclipse glasses.  He was excited that he got to look up at the sun.

Conference Weekend!

In October and then again in April my two favorite weekends occur.  I love General Conference and enjoyed so much the wonderful teachings and music that enriches my life.  It was a little strange to see snow on the ground because typically there are tulips growing but not this year since winter has decided to hang around a little longer.  While they listen to conference the Whitney's have several traditions that happen each time.  She sent me pictures of Graham and Eden hard at work listening to the talks and working on various projects.

Field Trip

Aunt Amy was a chaperone for Graham's field trip to the Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum.in North Phoenix.  They both had a great time but Graham did have to spend some time behind bars!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

 

This cool dude would have celebrated his 77th birthday today!

Gratitude!

Lincoln

Recently Lincoln went to have his regularly scheduled colonoscopy and was told everything looked good.  A few days later the doctor's office called and said that they needed to have him come in and talk to the doctor.  When he went in the doctor said that after getting his bloodwork results he thought Lincoln's Wegener's disease may have been misdiagnosed and his bloodwork indicated that there was issues that showed up in the bloodwork which indicated problems with his liver.  He was then scheduled and went in for an MRI on his liver.  Again the doctor had him come in and this time he indicated that he actually has PSC (Primary sclerosing cholangitis)  According to the article it results from an immune attack on the small bile ducts in the liver, resulting in leakage of bile acids from bile ducts into the adjacent liver tissue.  These bile acids can be toxie to liver cells and cause injury to the cells, which may then trigger an additional immune response aimed at the damaged cells, resulting in further damage to the liver.  

Right now Lincoln is getting more blood work and has been referred to a hepatologist which is a liver specialist.  He is also applying to the Mayo Clinic here in Arizona as part of a clinical trial for people with the disease.  The doctor told him that eventually he will need to have a liver transplant but hopefully that won't be necessary for about 20 years.  Lincoln seems to be handling everything really well and I suspect he is glad to have some explanations for some of the issues he has continued to be dealing with.   The good news is that he has a very good doctor who recognized the problem right away. 

California Duncans

The California Duncan's met up with two of their old California Duncans and Lexy for a visit for the Easter weekend.  Andy sent me pictures and shared some of their activities.  He wrote; "On Friday we went to the BYU art museum and later went to the nickel arcade. Saturday I went birdwatching with Bill and Brigham but didn't get any photos of that. Later we took our kids to the church history museum then saw the tabernacle and the temple construction. After that we drove up to the SL cemetery and saw Homer Duncans grave and the cemetery deer. After that we drove around a little before going to a diner for dinner up in one of the canyons. Sunday Ava and I went and saw the Music and the Spoken word broadcast live from the tabernacle. Later we went to Bill's church with his family. That evening we had Easter dinner at our AirBnB with Lexy and her sister.  We drove back Monday where we saw a lot of pretty countryside and dramatic weather. We stopped at the Alien Jerky store for photos and when we were driving across the desert saw the launch of the SpaceX  rocket from Vandenberg Air Base."   

The Easter Pageant

 The Mesa Easter Pageant is a musical production presented in nine shows during the two weeks preceding Easter on the north lawn of the Mesa Arizona Temple. This year’s cast numbers 470, with hundreds more volunteers working behind the scenes. It is one of the three pageants sponsored by the Church after it was authorized to continue in 2018. Accompanying that announcement was a statement that said “the goal of every activity in the Church should be to increase faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and to share His gospel message throughout the world.”

Jane and some of her friends were able to attend the Easter Pageant this year.  She said it was great and they were able to meet many of the cast afterwards.  

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Dream Come True

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but at a recent mutual activity Duncan was able to make a knife.  I asked Aunt Amy if they included a class on knife safety.  I haven't seen the finished product but I'm sure I am going to hear all about it when I pick him up from school today.  

Gratitude!