2009 February: North

There’s not a lot of news to talk about this month. I am chugging my way through my last semester here at ISU. This next week is midterms. I can’t believe how fast it is going. Becky keeps a countdown timer on our blog and it says I only have 68 days until graduation; amazing. I had 3 tests this last week. Two of them were fairly long and tedious. I felt like I was doing the mental equivalent of a marathon, or at least a 5K. I paced myself and took my time. I feel good about how I did, but won’t get my scores back for a few more days. There’s a lot less stress when I know that I’m already accepted to medical school. I still try to do well because I want to learn the material, but it’s nice not to have the added pressure of having to look good for an admissions committee.


Becky is still working in the Academic Advising Office. She has had 3 co-workers quite (one was asked to quite) and they haven’t re-hired anyone full-time. So she is covering for 3 other people, but still only making what she did when she was doing only one person’s job. Everyone’s budgets are tightening at ISU, so it’s doubtful that she’ll get a raise soon. Oh well, at least its job security. I am grateful for her willingness to go to work everyday. Right now she is the bread winner for our family, and I appreciate her sacrifice.


Becky and I went to her parents’ house for the Valentines/President’s Day weekend. We got to spend some time with her family. I helped her dad sort out steers for a cattle auction he went to. I’ve never had the opportunity to do something like that before. It was kind of fun to get in the pens and work with the cows. Being up close and personal with those cows made me grateful that I’m a person. I just don’t know if I’d be content to eat and poop all day…what am I saying, I could get used to that again. J


A few weeks ago in Elder's Quorum I made a comment. In my comment I talked about a school teacher with whom I had been friends. I talked about spending time with him and learning that although he'd had lots of life experiences I believe he had learned the wrong lessons from his experiences. I talked about how we need the Spirit to guide us so that we learn the right lessons from our experiences. After the lesson another brother in the quorum came up to me and asked: "where did you go to school?" "Madison," I told him. He then asked "Is that Mr. Brookes that you were talking about in the lesson?" I was suprised but laughed and said "yes I was talking about Mr. Brookes." It turns out that he was also a trumpet player, a few years younger than us, and he had had similar experiences with Mr. Brookes. I just thought you'd enjoy that.
And speaking of experiences with Mr. Brookes, do you all remember the night the crazy, posessed girl came into our room? Hehehe, we had some strange experiences in band.
Have a good month everyone. Best of wishes.


We wish the best to all of you in what you are doing. Drop us a line and let us know how things are going for you.

Stewart and Becky