"Privilege to work is a gift,...Power to work is a blessing,...Love of work is success".......Almost

Valentines Weekend is coming up quickly and Jordan still doesn't have a job.  The deal was that if he could get a steady job (among other things), we'd allow him to use the car to go up to BYU-I to see his girl.  So far, we're just all frustrated.  For the past two weeks he has put in approx. 4 hours a day looking.  One of the days last week he talked to 26 different managers and all he has found is some possible, sporadic delivery jobs for a mattress company.  He is discouraged.  I know there is something out there if he persistently  works at it, but he may not find it by this weekend and then he is going to be hard to live with, but we have to be consistent.  It has caused me to look on the many people we see begging in the city with more compassion as we are realizing, more profoundly, that work is such a blessing and often hard to come by.  Jordan was looking through the help wanted ads on Craigslist the other day while I was in the kitchen.  He was calling out possible job options, all of which weren't applicable because they were in Boise (not during Fred's office hours)  He called out, "what do you think about a mental therapist?"  I said, "I don't think you are qualified" and he replied, "No, what do you think about me getting one?"  That's about his level of optimism right now :)  Maybe this is one of those preparatory lessons that will help him learn the vitality of leaning on the Lord, when you feel you've done everything you can.  The insurance company tells us that everything will probably be finalized by tomorrow, so hopefully Jordan can get the missionary process moving again and feel like he is making headway somewhere.

We were able to go over for a fun family party night at the Kirkmans on Friday.  They are such dear friends and we love being in their home and feeling the spirit that is there.  It is easy to lose track of time there and we didn't end up leaving until past 12:30 AM (which isn't a very kind thing to do to good friends, but we were enjoying ourselves so much, we didn't realize the time). The past few years have been such struggles for each of us and it is good to be able to talk through the life lessons that we are all learning.  They are in the process of selling there house and of course we are trying to talk them into moving to Middleton.  It seems like half of Middleton is being inhabited by Walkers, so they would feel like family:)

We went to a reception this weekend of some close acquaintances and I left very disappointed.  My children know that I am trying to work through seeing others points of views and not being so judgmental, and they reminded me that other people just have different personalities, but I really struggle with where you draw the line between different opinions and just wrong.  It is really such a foreign concept to my little brain, and sometimes I think that I don't really want to see it, as it seems so much more complicated to have to try and decipher hundreds of different shades of gray instead of just choosing between black and white.  I know I have to just keep plodding on, even though it makes no sense to me because I am not going anywhere by being prideful , which is another things that is hard for me to distinguish in myself.  I guess that is why we have family, to keep encouraging us out of our limp and get us striding again.  I'm just not catching on.  I know the why--those guidelines come continually--I just can't seem to figure out the how.

We have discovered that an Occupational Therapist sometimes visits our Elementary school and have asked that he look at Abe's writing technique and see if they can help him learn to hold his pencil differently without it being an emotional nightmare (like it is at home, when I try to get him to practice differently).  We are being very low key about it so that he doesn't become self conscious, but I'm hoping that it ends up being a positive adjustment and helps him not to dread at least one aspect of writing.  One step at a time.  I'm still reading "A Mind at a Time" and learning so many helpful and insightful tips about guiding our attention controls.  I've been telling Fred about it and he says it sounds like things he struggles with and could help him.  I think the insight can help so many of us, but especially as children, when we are all expected to fit into this one kind of mind mold during our formal education.

Mikayla has been asked to be her class Seminary president, which is proving to be a challenge for her.  She isn't one to stand up and make her voice heard in a crowd, and the seminary teacher turns much of the leadership over to the youth.  They get the class started (he doesn't even come in to the room until he is announced for the lesson) and he leaves behaviors and attitudes and minor discipline up to the youth leaders.  Mikayla's class is experiencing some reverence problems which are concerning her and because the teacher won't even tell the class to be quiet, she is going to have to figure out how to deal with the problem.  That assignment comes easy to some of the "natural" leaders, but it doesn't to her.  I feel for her, but I also think this is so good for her to be stretched out of her comfort zone and be responsible for vocally guiding others to do what is right.  She is so valiant about making sure that she is striving to do what is right, but this is a whole new level for her.  I'm  interested to see how she chooses to handle these issues, and how they help her grow.  She has deep wells of strength and understanding and such difficulty expressing those thoughts and desires.  It can create a communication barrier that is very frustrating to her and often to me as she comes to me with concerns and questions and I cannot grasp what they really are.