Of Good Report and Praiseworthy

I get accustomed to my children being pretty awesome. I think I often miss things that are of good report and praiseworthy. Here are some recent ones.


Most recently, I got to hear Lucy sing as part of a quartet at the concert on 10/15/2019. 

She had a major solo in it that sounded absolutely amazing. I heard a lady a couple of rows behind us say something like "oh, wow, she is really, really good". And she was. I admire all the junior high students who have the courage to do a specialty number, even when they don't sound particularly good. But very few ever "wow" you. Lucy sounded like a guest artist had arrived to inspire the other students. I hope it does inspire them!

What might be even more impressive, though, is that Lucy is really terrified of doing a solo. Overcoming such fear is no small thing. She sang out with confidence and emotion, and everyone was blessed because she overcame her fear.

I was at the junior high a while ago and noticed that last year's citizenship and GPA honor rolls were still up. I had never looked at them before. Look who is on both:
 

Lucy was also a member of the Hope Squad, where she assisted students who had where having difficult times.

Lucy is just finishing up a comic about Hank Ombach's life that I think is amazing. She is also taking an AP class that is taking up a lot of time. I'm proud of her. She wasn't invited to sing in JH Honor Choir, which was a disappointment. Auditions for this year's musical, Frozen, are coming up, and she and Rachel will try out. (By the way, I added some photos of Lucy in Beauty and the Beast in a previous post.)

Here is a panel of of the cartoon she made:

Rachel is still the hyper-friendly go-getter we love. She did a Book of Mormon Jeopardy game for us in FHE tonight that was fun. She is in advanced Orchestra, and here she is at the concert at the Layton Amphitheater this year:


She also made us all this fabulous treat last week:

Miriam is working a lot and weighing some options for moving out. I think that would be good for her. She works many hours at Chick-fil-a and is learning every position they have, which is a very wise thing to do even though she doesn't plan on working there forever.

She sang the national anthem at her high school graduation, and it was, of course, spectacular. I will miss listening to her sing in the high school concerts.

And, she is always giving us some kind of art to look at. Sometimes she and a sister are the medium:


Sometimes it is a pumpkin:

Jack Skellington

The Oogie Boogie Man. (Added 10/28/2019, as I didn't have this picture available. Miriam sent it to me yesterday: I didn't even know she made another one!)

Miriam spoke in sacrament meeting in her YSA ward today, and talked a little about about her misophonia. She has been called to be a ward missionary. Wonderful!


The fine young man on the left in the photo above is very dapper, a great date, and very busy working at Chick-fil-a and preparing for the upcoming West Side Story musical. His a member of the Chevaliers men's choir. In fact, he is busy enough so that it is hard to get him the hours he needs to get his drivers license. He helps out around the house whenever asked and never complains. Last night he spent time helping Enoch get his pinewood derby car ready while I was at Lucy's concert. (He really wanted to go to the concert, but babysat instead without a whine.)

I thought I had a picture or movie of him performing in class last year as a monkey, but I can't find it. I would love to put it here: it was goofy and zany ... and good!

Susie recently visited with the elementary school teachers that teach our three children there, and learned some more of their nobility.

Ms. Shepherd raved about how smart and fun this sweet gal is, and how much she is enjoying her in her 1st grade class:


Esther did this "creative doodle" that I really liked:


I should also point out that Esther sang the song Gethsemane in Primary and helped the children feel the spirit. She then joined another young man and sang it in sacrament meeting.

Mrs. Hsu notes that Enoch has a difficult time with things that are silly. Indeed. Enoch told me that he doesn't like it when my humor is "obviously dumb" (which is what I do best). But, Mrs. Hsu loves Enoch, and he loves her, too, as you can tell from this assignment:

Enoch also took some excellent notes for General Conference:

Mrs Braegger raved about Joshua. He is always looking for things he can do to help, and has taken it upon him to be a class leader that is a good example. What a fine young man! He just turned eleven so I expect will be passing the sacrament next year.


He received his arrow of light, and is somewhat disappointed that he won't be following in his brothers' footsteps to receive an Eagle award.

His flag football team wasn't great this year, but he learned a lot and had a lot of fun with his teammates.

And, I love my sweet Susie and she still seems to really like me, which is wonderful and amazing! She recently had a Sunday teaching the primary children some tender songs about our savior, and had a couple of the children mention that they were feeling the spirit -- little experiences like that make all the effort worth it.

But, she has now been released from the primary and was called as a Miamaid advisor. Then, quite soon thereafter, she became, I believe, what we would call simply an advisor in the Young Women's organization. It will be interesting to see how all this things work!

There have been many, many things occur just recently that have filled my heart with joy and gratitude for my terrific family. Let me end with a little video I recorded of Joshua, Enoch and Esther doing a musical number. Our family was asked at the last minute to provide a musical program for the local Rotary Club, and everybody pitched in and performed. Of course, I neglected to record it, or even mention it anywhere. Anyway, this is one of the numbers we did (and I think version at the Rotary Club dinner went better):