May 3, 2009

Kimberly loves Israel and is threatening to never come home. It is so fun to see Jerusalem vicariously through her eyes. I don’t think anyone could be better prepared or more appreciative of this experience than she is, and she’s making the most of it.

She says she can’t believe that with every step she takes, she’s actually walking across the Kidron Valley! Her last e-mail reported that she had kissed the wall of Jerusalem, found the stones that were placed in it by Herod, walked on top of the wall around ¼ of the Old City, seen the Garden of Gethsemane and a Coptic Orthodox Vespers (don’t worry, I had to Google that, too), and yesterday alone took 500 pictures! It’s safe to say she’s having a fabulous time!

Bryce is fighting spring allergies this week and is pretty uncomfortable. In between sneezes and sniffles, he got his tux ordered for the Junior Prom next weekend. Won’t he look dashing in a tux! I can hardly wait to see him.

And because no post is complete without a picture, I have to include this one.

I asked Bryce to please vacuum the living room, a task that would have taken at the very most 5 whole minutes. He moaned and groaned and whined and finally struck a deal: could he please repair the backyard fence instead of vacuuming the living room? Uh . . . didn't have to think long about that one . . . yes! He found the drill, hauled out the extension cord, and spent 30 minutes mending the fence, but he did not have to vacuum.

Brett had a big week. First of all, he auditioned for a part in Patrick Carman’s new video book. A video book, for those of you who are like me and had never heard of such a thing, is a book with part of the story in text and part of the story in video. You buy the book, and every so often throughout the chapters, you’re given a website to go watch the next part of the story as a video.

They held open auditions at the mall for actors to be in the video clips. (The author lives in a small town about an hour from here, and the videos are filmed in Seattle.) Brett went to check it out. He was handed a script and given 20 minutes to memorize it. He only got the first paragraph down before his name was called. He auditioned anyway, and the director told him he did very well with the part he had memorized. So well, in fact, that if he could memorize the rest of it, they would want to see him back.

We left with an e-mail address, a submission deadline, and instructions to memorize the script and send them a video. I’m proud of him for having the courage to go in the first place. I’m way too chicken to ever do anything like that!

The second – and even more exciting—part of his week was landing a summer job! One of his former Primary teachers recently bought a restaurant and offered him work during the summer. He is so excited to finally have a source of income. He says washing dishes, wiping tables, and mopping suddenly become bearable when you’re getting paid.

The highlight of my week was doing temple work for family names. A friend showed me how to use the census records to work on genealogy. She was suspicious about a couple in Jim’s line who were listed without any children. Going back through the census records, we discovered they actually had twelve children, all of whom needed their work done. We did the baptisms and confirmations as a family, and now Jim and I are working on getting the rest of it done. Temple work is a completely different experience when you’re doing family names. I’m loving it!

Jeff is anxiously awaiting the end of school and piano lessons. Twenty-eight more days to freedom!