We are reaching the end of the basketball season. This time of year is always busy because we would rather the little kids stay home for a couple of reasons - 1.) They don't watch the game. The play the whole time and they eat stuff from the bleachers. They also cause havoc to us and the people that are sitting around us. (This seems like embedded reasons) and 2.) Financially, it would be tough to bring them to every game.
A couple of weeks ago Justin Dowdle broke his pinky finger on his right hand so this enabled Ethan to start the next couple of games. I am not sure what happened but he began to be not as aggressive as he should have been - blocking out, rebounding and blocking shots. He kind of sloped off a little and wasn't producing like he should. This resulted in him not getting as much playing time and not starting.
We decided to go to the park with the kids on Saturday and even invited Luke and Brian and brought their bikes. We played basketball with Ethan and hopefully, we gave him some coaching that he needed to get better. I realized that he is a big guy and is very hard to guard. I will have to make sure that he gets to be in more situations or practices to get better.
I think that sometimes he is a gentle giant, but I hope that he can find some time to improve down on the low post and improve his shots. A year ago we played with a church group at Bethel Baptist Church. One of my co-workers attends there and plays basketball on Thursday nights, I believe. I'd like for him to go to the Civic Center but, money is the issue there. We'll see how this plays out. Maybe that is something that we can help him with that will encourage him to go more often.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Auburn
Hello Sister Hopper,
I hope you are doing well. I hope your teaching pool is growing
greatly and I hope that you are having wonderful spiritual and testimony building
experiences. It is good to hear from you and learn from what you guys are doing
to help Heavenly Father’s children come unto Christ.
We are doing well. Monday night we watched the National Championship
game with LSU vs. Clemson. LSU won 42-25. It was a good game. The next day I
had a trip to go to Auburn to visit a substation site and talk about a plan to
replace transmission poles. It was a good trip but very rainy. The weather has
been very wet in the last few weeks and temperatures are in the mid 60’s.
I’ve been a little sick the last 5 or so days (I am not sure if
it has been that long but it sure seems like it – may be more). I took a sick
day on Wednesday. The rest was nice but I am not sure it helped that much. So I
went back to work today. Hopefully, I’ll get better in the coming days. Mom has
been taking care of me and making sure I get the medicine that I need.
Ethan has a picture in the St. Clair Times newspaper. It’s
pretty cool! We will send it to you so that you can see it. He has started on
the Varsity the last few games. One of the starters (Justin Dowdle) broke his
pinky finger and ended his season. It was tragic but Ethan and Tobias Perry
have benefited from his absence.
Jeffery has been doing well. His attitude has been up and down.
He still messes up every once in a while. We’re hoping he can learn to be
better or get tired of losing. He is still growing. He got a haircut a couple
of weeks ago and he loved it and so did everyone else. They hated his long
hair.
Julie went to primary activities for the first time last night.
It was so weird to see her there. There are about 4 girls and 1 boy that
attend.
Nathan is fickle. One day he is so helpful, the next day he is
reaping destruction everywhere he turns. Mommy is making him stand in the
corner and taking away things that are of value to him when he gets in those
moods.
Family Record – I don’t know what you can do about it regarding
mission rules, but I have made our family blog site, our new family record site.
There are still some updates to be made, but I have modified some settings to
hopefully allow you to view and receive emails. This will be a way that we can
keep up with what is going on around us and with us as a family. Hopefully, you can see it. If you can't then, I may copy and paste from this blog and send you what I have written. My goal is for all of us to write on this site so that we can always have this information.
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| Julie on her bike |
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| Nathan on his bike |
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| Nathan with my hard hat on |
Hopefully, you can see these pictures. Maybe Now.
We love you, Sister Hopper, Have a good week!
Saturday, January 11, 2020
New Family Record post
This is our new way of keeping a family record and to record those things that are happening in our family. I was reading an article or reading a book a couple of months ago and President Nelson mentioned that he was doing a family newsletter. That made me think of my family and including my wife's family and my parents and family. It was a great idea to do family history, to keep up with the goings-on of our family. It motivated me to do something but I wasn't for sure how much work it would entail, so I got distracted by doing other things and the holidays came. Then we started the new year of "Come Follow Me" in the Book of Mormon. Well lo and behold as we were reading our lessons on the second week, we came across the 4th lesson for the family. In this lesson, it outlines the following chapters - 1 Nephi 2:19-20; 5:10-22; 6.
As we read these chapters, it helped us understand what we can do as a family to be like Nephi and Lehi in those days. We jotted down some thoughts that we could include as we make a record of our family.
Reasons to keep a family record:
1. Remember the things (quotes) people say. This has to do with family history. What are the things that we say often? What do our parents and grandparents say that is unusual or funny?
2. Spiritual Experiences that help us or that may help others. These are experiences that we can share with the family.
3. We keep a record for family genealogy.
4. We want to remember the words of the prophets and for sure to remember the things that have changed through new revelation. We want to remember our feelings and contrast them through what was good, successful and maybe not successful.
5. A family newsletter to keep up with what is going on in our family, the current events and activities that are going on.
6. This record is to document our struggles and trials and the outcome of those trials. What did we learn? Did we improve, regress or stayed the same? We really can't stay the same, we can either be hot or cold.
7. We want to keep a record of our blessings.
8. We want to record the revelations that we have and share them with the family.
This will be a great opportunity for us to share with the family on how we are doing and be able to share the funny, the sad, the interesting and the educational things of our lives. By using this Blogspot, we will be able to insert pictures, too.
With (Sister Hopper) Jamie on her mission, she will probably not be able to use this Blogspot, but she will be able to receive all of our updates and posts as we compose them. We love you, Sister Hopper.
I also had a thought to include the grandparents on both sides but Wendy and I decided to just have the immediate family only (for the time being).
Sincerely,
Jason
As we read these chapters, it helped us understand what we can do as a family to be like Nephi and Lehi in those days. We jotted down some thoughts that we could include as we make a record of our family.
Reasons to keep a family record:
1. Remember the things (quotes) people say. This has to do with family history. What are the things that we say often? What do our parents and grandparents say that is unusual or funny?
2. Spiritual Experiences that help us or that may help others. These are experiences that we can share with the family.
3. We keep a record for family genealogy.
4. We want to remember the words of the prophets and for sure to remember the things that have changed through new revelation. We want to remember our feelings and contrast them through what was good, successful and maybe not successful.
5. A family newsletter to keep up with what is going on in our family, the current events and activities that are going on.
6. This record is to document our struggles and trials and the outcome of those trials. What did we learn? Did we improve, regress or stayed the same? We really can't stay the same, we can either be hot or cold.
7. We want to keep a record of our blessings.
8. We want to record the revelations that we have and share them with the family.
This will be a great opportunity for us to share with the family on how we are doing and be able to share the funny, the sad, the interesting and the educational things of our lives. By using this Blogspot, we will be able to insert pictures, too.
With (Sister Hopper) Jamie on her mission, she will probably not be able to use this Blogspot, but she will be able to receive all of our updates and posts as we compose them. We love you, Sister Hopper.
I also had a thought to include the grandparents on both sides but Wendy and I decided to just have the immediate family only (for the time being).
Sincerely,
Jason
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Impressions
It's been about 9 months since serving in my new calling as 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency in the Birmingham Alabama Stake. I have seen so many things transpire in the church in general in that time period and in the time period that President Russell M. Nelson has been called as Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. New challenges are apparent almost on a weekly basis for us as a Stake Presidency.
As I contemplate my time and my eyes begin to open to adjusting to my calling, I feel impressed about many things that I have and am experiencing. It is really interesting to understand how the spirit is working with you and how you decipher between the spirit and your own thoughts. For example, lately, I have been giving much thought about how to share the gospel more with those that I work with and that I correspond with. As I have been thinking about such things, I have been receiving people and media in my life that helps me understand what I can do to accomplish that work.
Last night, we had our high council meeting and there was a missionary that returned from serving on her mission in the Idaho Idaho Falls Mission. Cassie Holland reported on her mission and what she gained from serving the Lord. She testified of her love for her mission and was very grateful for what she had learned from a knowledge standpoint and what she gained from her testimony. There was not a dry eye when she was done with her report. She told of a couple of experiences that blessed her and those she taught. She also told of her testimony of how sharing the gospel works through social media. This has been something that I have wrestled with for a long time. I wanted to get back to sharing the gospel through social media, but I would either talk myself out of it or Satan persuaded me to not share my testimony.
Sometimes it takes me talking through my thoughts to finally realize some things. Now that I am doing that, I do realize something. In my patriarchal blessing, it talks about always bearing my testimony and strengthening it. Another way to do that is to communicate my testimony on social media and to help people understand what I have come to know is true. I will commit to sharing the gospel more on social media. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that our Father in Heaven truly loves us and wants us to be happy and have joy in this life and return to live with him when we have finished our work on this earth.
As I contemplate my time and my eyes begin to open to adjusting to my calling, I feel impressed about many things that I have and am experiencing. It is really interesting to understand how the spirit is working with you and how you decipher between the spirit and your own thoughts. For example, lately, I have been giving much thought about how to share the gospel more with those that I work with and that I correspond with. As I have been thinking about such things, I have been receiving people and media in my life that helps me understand what I can do to accomplish that work.
Last night, we had our high council meeting and there was a missionary that returned from serving on her mission in the Idaho Idaho Falls Mission. Cassie Holland reported on her mission and what she gained from serving the Lord. She testified of her love for her mission and was very grateful for what she had learned from a knowledge standpoint and what she gained from her testimony. There was not a dry eye when she was done with her report. She told of a couple of experiences that blessed her and those she taught. She also told of her testimony of how sharing the gospel works through social media. This has been something that I have wrestled with for a long time. I wanted to get back to sharing the gospel through social media, but I would either talk myself out of it or Satan persuaded me to not share my testimony.
Sometimes it takes me talking through my thoughts to finally realize some things. Now that I am doing that, I do realize something. In my patriarchal blessing, it talks about always bearing my testimony and strengthening it. Another way to do that is to communicate my testimony on social media and to help people understand what I have come to know is true. I will commit to sharing the gospel more on social media. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that our Father in Heaven truly loves us and wants us to be happy and have joy in this life and return to live with him when we have finished our work on this earth.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Stake Presidency
In mid-July, I had returned from visiting a ward in Vestavia Hills. I came into the Leeds Ward building looking for my family and had talked or greeted a few people on the way. I may have gone back to the primary to look for Wendy and then came back toward the chapel. I remember the Bishop's door opening and someone came out and President Slezak was in there. He saw me and motioned me to come in for a small discussion (I thought). Well, it turned out to be a discussion about me. He mentioned that he was thinking about changing out the counselors in the Stake Presidency since President Church had served in that capacity for 8 years and President Norris had served for 6 years. He was talking to the Area President about this and they said, "No" and that you usually finish with the same counselors that you begin with. President Slezak was thinking in the future about how it would be nice to finish with counselors that would be fairly new but experienced in the Stake Presidency and that the new Presidency might be one of the new counselors as the President and the other counselor still functioning as one of the counselors and then he would have to call just another counselor to replace himself. This way you wouldn't be starting from scratch. He also mentioned that he had asked Elder Alba about this but went back to ask Elder Johnson. Elder Johnson was the Stake President of the Bessemer Stake. He said that he was thinking about doing the same thing with his counselors but was released and called into the Area Presidency. Elder Johnson told him to back to the Presiding Bishopric and seek approval and that he would support it. The Presiding Bishopric did approve the request and her we stand.
Anyway, from this conversation, he told me that he had been thinking of me as a counselor among about 15 other brethren made up of high councilors and bishops. So that thought was in my mind for several weeks. I had thought about telling Wendy but what if I wasn't called? So I didn't mention it to her. After some weeks had passed Stake Conference was getting near. I thought that if I was going to be called then it would need to be in the next two week time frame. We had a High Council meeting on August 8th and that is the day that I received a phone call from President Slezak. He mentioned that he needed to speak with me after the High Council meeting that night so stick around and to make sure my wife was going to be free. At this point, I didn't know what to do about contacting Wendy. I could have called her near that time but I had access to the family calendar so I knew that she was going to be at home. So I decided to not call her because I knew that she would start asking me why. Throughout the meeting I was looking at where Wendy was on Life360, a stalking app. After the meeting was over, I hung around talking to some of the high councilors, clerks and secretaries and waited for the president to be done. Once he was done, he invited me in. We sat down and talked about how he did receive permission from the Area Presidency to make the changes and he wanted to extend me the call to be the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency. At this point, I felt overwhelmed but willing to do what the Lord needs me to do. He then asked me to call my wife on video call. I then called her on Duo (a google video call app). She answered the call but was on her way with Katherine to go walking at the park, which I didn't think she would be doing at the time. She asked Katherine to exit the van and President Slezak talked to her and asked her if she would support me in this calling and she said that she would.
We had to wait a week and a half for Stake Conference. During that time I wanted to tell my family since they were not going to be at conference. Wendy didn't think that I should tell them until after it happened. I knew Dad would be in the hospital during that time so I wanted to tell him before he had to go under the knife. I told him Tuesday or Wednesday of that week leading up to Stake Conference. He was ecstatic about the call and so happy for me. When I told my brothers later on, they were happy for me, too.
Of Course, we kept this a secret from the kids. We thought of Jamie and her being in another stake. Wendy told me to just invite her to Stake Conference and see if she comes. If she doesn't, then we did extend the invitation. One day, I did invite her to come to Stake Conference and she said that she probably had to play the piano in sacrament. Fast Forward to that Sunday, she accidentally turned her alarm off an slept in. By the time, she woke up, it was too late to go to her branch and too late to go to the Stake Center, but she did receive a text from Katherine of what happened.
As time got closer, I wondered if the other counselors knew if they were getting released and when did they know. I did find out that the Stake Clerk, Stake Exec Secretary and Assistant Stake Exec. Secretary found out on Saturday night after all sessions were over. That night I realized that this was going to happen very quickly and the Stake Business was the first things to happen. I got really nervous then. I couldn't remember if I would have to be on the stand at that time or later on. I guess I was just so nervous.
Sunday morning came. I was very nervous. We got luck and were able to sit in the pews and Brother Jeff Mann was sitting next to us. When the business started I had to make sure the kids were not sitting in my lap so that I could stand and be sustained. I figured all eyes were on me and surprised that I got this call - because I still was. Robbie Norris was called as the first counselor and I was called as the second counselor. We were invited to come and sit on the stand. Once we got up there, the speakers were set for the bearing of our testimonies. President Church, President David Norris, President Robbie Norris, myself and President Slezak.
After the meeting, I attended a Family History Consultants meeting with Elder Foster then we went to the High Council Room to do the settings apart. In attendance for my family was Becky and Paul, Leroy and Glenda and my family except for Jamie. President Robbie Norris was set apart first by Elder Foster and President Slezak. I was set apart by Elder Foster, President Slezak and Robbie Norris. Some of the words mentioned in the blessing part was that I was kind and gentle, that Angels would protect my family and that I would need to seek balance in my life. It was an awesome occasion to experience. I was anxious to go to work and to help wherever I was needed.
This is my second time being a counselor. I was a counselor in the Elders Quorum with Chris Hansen a long time ago. Steve Parillo was also a counselor. I was a ward clerk a few times so that is kind of like a counselor to the Bishop, but not really.
I have a lot of studying ahead of me to understand the Handbook #1 and #2 again, but it will be well worth it and hopefully I can do a good job and have the spirit with me at all times.
Anyway, from this conversation, he told me that he had been thinking of me as a counselor among about 15 other brethren made up of high councilors and bishops. So that thought was in my mind for several weeks. I had thought about telling Wendy but what if I wasn't called? So I didn't mention it to her. After some weeks had passed Stake Conference was getting near. I thought that if I was going to be called then it would need to be in the next two week time frame. We had a High Council meeting on August 8th and that is the day that I received a phone call from President Slezak. He mentioned that he needed to speak with me after the High Council meeting that night so stick around and to make sure my wife was going to be free. At this point, I didn't know what to do about contacting Wendy. I could have called her near that time but I had access to the family calendar so I knew that she was going to be at home. So I decided to not call her because I knew that she would start asking me why. Throughout the meeting I was looking at where Wendy was on Life360, a stalking app. After the meeting was over, I hung around talking to some of the high councilors, clerks and secretaries and waited for the president to be done. Once he was done, he invited me in. We sat down and talked about how he did receive permission from the Area Presidency to make the changes and he wanted to extend me the call to be the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency. At this point, I felt overwhelmed but willing to do what the Lord needs me to do. He then asked me to call my wife on video call. I then called her on Duo (a google video call app). She answered the call but was on her way with Katherine to go walking at the park, which I didn't think she would be doing at the time. She asked Katherine to exit the van and President Slezak talked to her and asked her if she would support me in this calling and she said that she would.
We had to wait a week and a half for Stake Conference. During that time I wanted to tell my family since they were not going to be at conference. Wendy didn't think that I should tell them until after it happened. I knew Dad would be in the hospital during that time so I wanted to tell him before he had to go under the knife. I told him Tuesday or Wednesday of that week leading up to Stake Conference. He was ecstatic about the call and so happy for me. When I told my brothers later on, they were happy for me, too.
Of Course, we kept this a secret from the kids. We thought of Jamie and her being in another stake. Wendy told me to just invite her to Stake Conference and see if she comes. If she doesn't, then we did extend the invitation. One day, I did invite her to come to Stake Conference and she said that she probably had to play the piano in sacrament. Fast Forward to that Sunday, she accidentally turned her alarm off an slept in. By the time, she woke up, it was too late to go to her branch and too late to go to the Stake Center, but she did receive a text from Katherine of what happened.
As time got closer, I wondered if the other counselors knew if they were getting released and when did they know. I did find out that the Stake Clerk, Stake Exec Secretary and Assistant Stake Exec. Secretary found out on Saturday night after all sessions were over. That night I realized that this was going to happen very quickly and the Stake Business was the first things to happen. I got really nervous then. I couldn't remember if I would have to be on the stand at that time or later on. I guess I was just so nervous.
Sunday morning came. I was very nervous. We got luck and were able to sit in the pews and Brother Jeff Mann was sitting next to us. When the business started I had to make sure the kids were not sitting in my lap so that I could stand and be sustained. I figured all eyes were on me and surprised that I got this call - because I still was. Robbie Norris was called as the first counselor and I was called as the second counselor. We were invited to come and sit on the stand. Once we got up there, the speakers were set for the bearing of our testimonies. President Church, President David Norris, President Robbie Norris, myself and President Slezak.
After the meeting, I attended a Family History Consultants meeting with Elder Foster then we went to the High Council Room to do the settings apart. In attendance for my family was Becky and Paul, Leroy and Glenda and my family except for Jamie. President Robbie Norris was set apart first by Elder Foster and President Slezak. I was set apart by Elder Foster, President Slezak and Robbie Norris. Some of the words mentioned in the blessing part was that I was kind and gentle, that Angels would protect my family and that I would need to seek balance in my life. It was an awesome occasion to experience. I was anxious to go to work and to help wherever I was needed.
This is my second time being a counselor. I was a counselor in the Elders Quorum with Chris Hansen a long time ago. Steve Parillo was also a counselor. I was a ward clerk a few times so that is kind of like a counselor to the Bishop, but not really.
I have a lot of studying ahead of me to understand the Handbook #1 and #2 again, but it will be well worth it and hopefully I can do a good job and have the spirit with me at all times.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Family
This is the first post that I have done in a while. I was looking at my blog and noticed my family's picture and we have grown so much. There are so many things to say but can't say them all in one little post. It would take so many posts to catch up.
There are so many events that have happened since last year -
Jamie moved out of the house in to the apartment above the storage units where we used to live when we were first married. She is feeling free as a bird. So free that she has decided to serve a mission. She is working on her papers and other preparations. We are excited for her.
Katherine is doing even better in school since she has stopped going to public school and is doing home school. She loves having her free time, running errands for Mom and watching her younger siblings and babysitting for other young couples. She was given the opportunity to go on a 2 week vacation with her Aunt Becky and will then go to Girl's Camp shortly following time.
Ethan also, is enjoying his time away from public school and home schooling. He goes to public school part time because he is playing basketball for the school. We have recently started playing basketball at a local baptist church and he is doing great. We did this to help him learn to play with other bruisers. So far it is working out great. He will also be leaving to Boy Scout Camp (sorry but I am sticking with BOY in this name) in the second week of June and will return the next week for YLT. He and his cousin will be attending this so he won't be alone.
Jeffery just finished baseball. He is our most distracted child. He loves playing just about anything - Legos, cars, riding bikes, shooting BB gun, playing baseball, ... what's next. He did a good job during baseball season. He showed a lot of improvement as he went along. He is still trying to get used to his growing body. I am training him on the riding lawn mower now and he is getting better at it every time.
Julie is our drama queen. At her age she is crying a lot and playing mom. She loves to play life with her younger brother. Sometimes she act as the daughter and he will be Dad. They love playing together and miss each other when they are apart. They love playing in the basement, even when it is at the expense of my tools. They have a tricycle, a scooter and large plastic Tikes truck. I am not really sure what you call it. I'll attach a picture of it so that you can see what it looks like.
Nathan is our rough-houser. He loves to wrestle and fight, even if he has a broken thumb (another story). He also gets easily distracted by playing cars, Legos or eating foods that he is not supposed to be eating. He is a sweet little boy. I hate to see these years go by so quick.
Wendy is very busy too. Running errands to the doctor for every kid, getting groceries, taking children to Home school events or taking Ethan to and from school and many other miscellaneous things that she does for the family. She is often found posting inspirational stories or quotes to Facebook. Anyway, now we are caught up, but I still want to post some pictures and other posts here to show what we have done or where we have gone. So I will try to keep in touch.
There are so many events that have happened since last year -
Jamie moved out of the house in to the apartment above the storage units where we used to live when we were first married. She is feeling free as a bird. So free that she has decided to serve a mission. She is working on her papers and other preparations. We are excited for her.
Katherine is doing even better in school since she has stopped going to public school and is doing home school. She loves having her free time, running errands for Mom and watching her younger siblings and babysitting for other young couples. She was given the opportunity to go on a 2 week vacation with her Aunt Becky and will then go to Girl's Camp shortly following time.
Ethan also, is enjoying his time away from public school and home schooling. He goes to public school part time because he is playing basketball for the school. We have recently started playing basketball at a local baptist church and he is doing great. We did this to help him learn to play with other bruisers. So far it is working out great. He will also be leaving to Boy Scout Camp (sorry but I am sticking with BOY in this name) in the second week of June and will return the next week for YLT. He and his cousin will be attending this so he won't be alone.
Jeffery just finished baseball. He is our most distracted child. He loves playing just about anything - Legos, cars, riding bikes, shooting BB gun, playing baseball, ... what's next. He did a good job during baseball season. He showed a lot of improvement as he went along. He is still trying to get used to his growing body. I am training him on the riding lawn mower now and he is getting better at it every time.
Julie is our drama queen. At her age she is crying a lot and playing mom. She loves to play life with her younger brother. Sometimes she act as the daughter and he will be Dad. They love playing together and miss each other when they are apart. They love playing in the basement, even when it is at the expense of my tools. They have a tricycle, a scooter and large plastic Tikes truck. I am not really sure what you call it. I'll attach a picture of it so that you can see what it looks like.
Nathan is our rough-houser. He loves to wrestle and fight, even if he has a broken thumb (another story). He also gets easily distracted by playing cars, Legos or eating foods that he is not supposed to be eating. He is a sweet little boy. I hate to see these years go by so quick.
Wendy is very busy too. Running errands to the doctor for every kid, getting groceries, taking children to Home school events or taking Ethan to and from school and many other miscellaneous things that she does for the family. She is often found posting inspirational stories or quotes to Facebook. Anyway, now we are caught up, but I still want to post some pictures and other posts here to show what we have done or where we have gone. So I will try to keep in touch.
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