1/23/22 Family Letter

 Hi Eve!

Quarantine was fun. School is good. Nothing new really 

I hanged out with some of my friends over the weekend. I forgot how little of an attention span we have.

We got a new Carpet! Our house feels so modern now. We also Painted the banister. IT LOOKS SO GOOD!

I went to my friend's Birthday party. It was really weird their house gave off Grandma shea vibes

 ( It was at least 10 years older then grandma Shea's house)

That's Basically it! If You could pray for me about my patriarchal Blessing.

 I have been thinking about it alot lately.

Anyway LOVE YOU SISTER!!!!

 XOXOXOXOXO MARIIIIIII

Hello

I'm exhausted, but I have a good reason this time. I just got back from the UTA trip. 

I had major bus travel anxiety due to my science olympiad experience, so I was having a really bad experience in the beginning, but it ended up being a really cool experience.

After the dramacon (i took a total of six really cool master classes), we went down to las vegas and watched KA, a cirque du soliel show. It was honestly the best show I've ever seen.There were a total of three sentences spoken in the entire two hours and the stage cost almost $200,000 and was flipping all over the place. There was also really good food down in Vegas. Anyway, I'm going to bed.

Love ya

Hyrum

Sweet Eve,

I am so excited to hear about your new area and people.  It's been fun to see the new pictures coming through google photo share. You look beautiful as always.  I want to hear more about that note that the Elders wrote.  That was very thoughtful of them.  Do you feel welcome there?

Our week was good.  We finished up the banister, got carpet and a new fridge.  We were worried a lot about Hyrum because of his rough start to his trip.  He was on the bus throwing up and in physical pain.He called us pleading with us to come and get him because he was in so much pain.  The bus was too far away for us to meet up with them (until Cedar City) so I called Clin Eaton and he knew just what to do.  He suggested that Hyrum may need to be "drugged" in order to relax enough to travel.  At one of the stops, Clin bought him some Advil PM.  It worked!  He took some and it helped him to relax enough to think clearly and logically.  We didn't have to come and pick him up and he was able to stay on the trip.  He came home a more confident, well adjusted guy.  As we were trying to help him through this, Dad talked to President Steed (who is a therapist).  When we described Hyrum's experience, President Steed knew right what it was.  He said it wasn't caused by anxiety, but rather a condition called "Pure O".  Pure O is for Obsession.  People who suffer from this get their mind fixated on one thing and they roll it over and over in their mind until it spirals out of control.  It is a condition similar to OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) but without the Compulsive.  People who suffer from "Pure O" won't show outward behaviors like excessive hand-washing or sorting things, but rather they do those things in their mind.  We read up on this condition and think that he is exactly correct. Hyrum also had experience with knowing that Heavenly Father heard him and answered his prayer.  I think we can help Hyrum now!  Such a blessing!

Dad led a great discussion on Charity in the R17th ward.  His partner teacher was Andrea Sligting.  She talked about Faith and Hope.  One of the funny things Dad said was how Faith Hope and Charity are progressive...in that order.  In other words, you would not likely say Hope Charity Faith....just like if you said "Jelly and Peanut Butter"...nope, it's "Peanut butter and Jelly". He asked everyone what Charity looks like and got some great responses.  He will likely tell you more about it.

I substituted (for about 10 minutes) as Primary pianist (until Melissa Chandler got back form one of her boy's ordinations) and then went to YW in Kathy Wilfert's older class.  It's an interesting dynamic with the new girls (barely 16 or still 15 mixed with the oldest ready to graduate.  The oldest ones (Taylor, Hailey etc) are so much more mature and polite than the younger ones.  Kathy was feeling insecure about her teaching because of how the younger in the class were on their phones and talking instead of paying attention to her lesson.  I understand her pain, but I told her to focus on the girls who are paying attention and little by little draw in the others.  .....It seems like good advice for life.... "focus on the 80% positive, not the 20% negative".

I hope you have a wonderful week.  I can't wait for you to walk on this new carpet.  It's so soft and it really lightens up the house!

I love you so much!

 Mom

Millie,

I hope your new area is working out well for you.  We saw the welcome note the District gave you.  We have been watching the weather app and noticed how cold it is there.  I laugh when I think about how badly you wanted to go somewhere warm.

This week has been very challenging.  We were excited for Hyrum's drama trip to Cedar City/Las Vegas.  I drove him to the school on Thursday morning to get on the bus and he started to have a panic attack in the car.  He said it went away and dropped him off.  He called back in a few minutes saying he was throwing up.  I told him to try and calm down.  He was really excited to go and did not want to come home.  Tiffany called the teachers and told them he is nervous and that he is not sick.  They forced him onto the bus and started their trip.  He called me about 10 min into the trip crying asking me to get him off the bus.  I had to come get him.  Everything hurt and he had to come home.  I made him call Tiffany.  She told him to stick it out.  He called me again and I told him I would come get him.  We spoke to the teachers and they said they could not stop until Fillmore.  2 hours away.  We were getting new carpet installed so I took Mari and the dog with me.  When they got to Fillmore Hyrum pinged his location.  they were making a 15 min stop and I was an hour away.  Hyrum did not want to make the whole group be delayed for him so he went the full way to Cedar City.  The teachers gave him some meds to try to calm him down.  Once he got to Cedar City he was fine. We almost got to Fillmore before we turned around and drove back.  When he got home he said he thinks he is over the concern with the bus.  I spoke to President Steed about Hyrum and he thinks he has what is called Pure O.  Pure Obsession.  He fixates on a concern and rolls it around in his head until it becomes a major problem.  He has to experience the problem until it is completed.  We read up on Pure O a bit and it makes sense.  It is hereditary.  We think that both of Tiffany's parents have it.  Now that we know what it is we think we can work with it.

I was asked at the last minute to teach a Ward's 2nd hour for Ward Conference.  The High Councilor assigned has COVID so I was asked to help.  I think it went well.  The focus was on Faith, Hope and Charity.  I was asked to lead a discussion on Charity.  I started by trying to define what it is and what it isn't.  We reviewed how Faith increases our Spiritual Power, Hope brings us optimism and Charity is the outlet.  Mom mentioned it above but didn't quite get it right.  I told them that it is Faith, Hope, Charity.  in that order.  It wouldn't be Hope, Charity, Faith.  It would be like calling a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich a Jelly and Peanut Butter sandwich.  You could call it that but then we would wonder what else you are doing wrong.  I was surprised that was the take away your Mom remembers.  I asked them to consider what Charity looks like.  How do we express love to others?  I then challenged them to consider how they can express that love to others before the end of the day.  

That was my week kid.  I hope everything goes well as you develop your teaching pool.  Good luck in your new area.  Stay warm.

Love, 

Dad

Moroni 7:45-47