Happy New Year! Hope it's not the last :)

OK, I do not believe that the world will end in 2012, but you can't ignore the irony of how many get caught up in the speculation.  My Christian upbringing teaches that we must be prepared at all times, but it also states very clearly in the scriptures that "no man knoweth..." the time, not even Christ Himself.  To me, this simply means it WON'T happen on 12/21/12.  Maybe earlier?  Maybe later!  Life goes on until the time comes, right?
   I figured I may not get into much better practice to post even short ones, if I don't start early in the year.  I will be taking 6 credit hours again this term, as well as continuing my efforts to keep Conway HS German program growing.  The farm will continue to be the farm, but my Church calling has changed, somewhat.  I was released as the Branch President back in November, but called the same morning to be the Elder's Quorum president. 
   For any of my readers who are not familiar with our Church organization, Branch President is essentially the same as "minister" in a baptist congregation.  He is the spiritual leader for that congregation  ("branch" is smaller than a "ward", whose leader is called a "bishop").  Elder's Qurorum refers to a group of men who hold the office of "elder" in the Priesthood organization.  The president is largely responsible to assist the Branch president or Bishop take care of the material needs of the congregation, by organizing home visits, teaching and training the men in priesthood responsibilities, and organizing service and welfare projects as needed.  So I am still very involved in the "inner workings" of the Branch, just no longer responsible for the specific spiritual needs and struggles of the members.

A few updates:

   Justin is now home from his mission.  His original call to Guadalajara, Mexico was great for him, but not for his diabetes.  The 15-20 miles a day, and a different diet led to health problems.  He came home for a week, and then was able to serve temporarily in our own mission.  He was then re-assigned to Tempe AZ.  He served faithfully over 26 months, in 3 missions, with 4 mission presidents, 2 countries, 6 states, had 23 missionary companions, and was blessed to be involved in baptisms for 20 converts.
     It is wonderful to have him back home.
Liz is doing well at BYU.  She came home for Christmas, and we were so glad to have all of the family home, that we completely forgot to get a picture together.  Liz went back yesterday, sad face/happy for her.  She is enjoying her time at the university.
    School starts in earnest tomorrow, (sad face?) and I will feel ready sometime in March.  New semester, projects, AP audit, AP practice tests, and the AP German test, to see what changes I need to make to my program.  Never a dull moment.
   Gotta go.  Time to "put chickens to bed", and then get in bed myself, so that my 5 am start won't seem too terribly harsh.
   Again, Happy New Year!  Hope it is a blessed year for all of you!