Smith Station: October 2022

October started out beautifully with our trip to Utah and General Conference as I have shared in the previous post.

This month I have been embracing the Autumn season and getting creative.

Also this month I have continued to serve in the community. In September and October I have been able to help with the High Plains Food Bank, The Guyon Sanders homeless shelter, the Refugee Services of Texas (preparing an apartment for a family), and the Salvation Army Angel Tree registration. I am lucky to have Mindy Smith who has let me know about some of these opportunities and I found RST on the Just Serve web site. Speaking of Just Serve, I was recently called as a Communications Specialist over Just Serve for my Stake. I have been learning more about this calling and will enjoy being mentored by my director and the Stake Leadership. This will definitely be a growing calling for me!

I have also stayed busy with appointments (insurance, doctors, and vet visits), a new book club, a self reliance class, errands, computer work, yard projects, and shuttling to kids' activities.

School marches on for the kids. Christian is getting used to the teachers here and making more friends. This is a paper he wrote about his time on the houseboat this summer.

Sheri's football games and marching band competitions continue. She has had such a fun time with her friend Kate!

At this competition Bushland qualified to go to regionals, which were held the next weekend.

They got home from regionals quite late, at 10:30 pm. The last competition held this month was held in Abilene (they left at 6:00 am and they got home at 2:30 am the next morning)! It was a very long day!

Soccer also continued this month, but sorry, no pictures.

We LOVE having church at noon, especially after those late Saturday nights! It also gives us a little more time to try out new hairstyles.

Also, in the month of October Christian had his Primary Program. We enjoyed hearing his testimony about how his prayers have been answered and also his small group that sang. His class also sang Gethsemane on the Sunday I spoke in church. It was so beautiful!

October was the Fall Festival at Christian's Elementary School. He had a fun time with friends!

Sheri and Sterling were tasked with creating the high school's haunted house as part of their Theatre class. They enjoyed learning to do masks, makeup, sets for the hallways, and practicing screams. They were exhausted after the long day at the haunted house! (Sheri also had an early morning temple trip and soccer game this day.) Our ward had their Trunk or Treat which Matt helped set up for and Christian and I attended.

Halloween was a lot of fun! We went to Blue Sky hamburgers with the Vests for dinner and then trick or treated with Christian's friends, Kale and Andy in our neighborhood. I had a great time driving the kids around with Kale's parents, Lisa and Syrus. The Vests came over for games after trick or treating.

Eve dressed up with her cousins/roommates as Tinkerbell. Sabey was Wendy and Camille was Captain Hook. They have a ball together.

Other fun things Eve has done this month include painting pumpkins with her FHE group, going to BYU football games, cooking together, listening to fun music, and laughing/being silly late at night. She is loving her college experience.

Unfortunately Eve has continued to have some health struggles. This month she had another gastritis attack (which took her to the ER last month), an urticaria/rash all over, and she got an awful cold a week after that.

On the bright side, her other autoimmune symptoms seem to be improving overall. She works hard to be a diligent student, keep her outlook positive, and continues to serve and love her roommates.