Mom and I hope everybody is doing really well! Old Man Winter really paid us a visit this past week, with freezing temperatures for 4-6 hours non-stop! We had freezes 2 nights in a row and it hit all the fruit trees, the ferns, and the staghorn fern out front(see the pics). Oh yeah, don't feel too bad for us, it was 75(and clear) today...Also included is our new sign at the front gate!

Budinger Road, which used to dead-end at the turn-off to the city dump, is now paved and goes all the way down to New Nolte Road, near St. Cloud Elementary. It gives everyone another way to get into town besides Canoe Creek and Old Canoe Creek Roads.

The ward is doing fine. Cooper Cox was ordained a Teacher today, Sister Danley is recovering well from back surgery(she had a titanium rod placed along her spine), Emily Munns is really getting big(she's having a boy), Sister Melik is expecting a boy(after 3 girls), Kami (Pratt)Bova is expecting(?), and Monica(Fertic) Wright is expecting a boy. Good crop of future missionaries. Brook Pratt got married at the Manhattan Temple this past week and all the Pratt clan was up there. Lauren Solomon has started her missionary paperwork and will be home late this week to start the interview process.

Mom and I started working at the Temple this week. She goes every Tuesday(starts at 715am) and we both go every other Friday evening. Its a wonderful thing to be doing and the folks who work at the Temple are absolutely great! Just to prove I am doing my part, I've included a picture of the new me, minus the swatch of hair just above my lips! A small sacrifice for the experience!

Our hope for everyone is that we all remain steadfast and immovable and always abounding in good works. The Lord needs his people to be steady, consistent, and dedicated. Be prayerful about your decisions and take all of your problems, concerns, and fears and lay them at the Lord's feet. He has the power to help you overcome and conquer everything. Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote: "Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it...but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor." We love you all and are awfully proud of each one of you!

Keep us posted!

Happy New Year! Its hard to believe it is 2009 already! One of our New Years resolutions is to try to live life more simply than we have. In an age when technology keeps you literally connected to the world, it is more important than ever to keep our priorities in focus and remember to not go after 'things' that really have no value or worth in this life. We must try not to compare ourselves or situations to others because we can always find those who 'seem' to have it better, but who in reality have their own set of troubles which are equally as challenging to them.

A great example of simplicity was your great grandmother, Bernie Sharp Pearce, Nan's mother. She was born May 6, 1897, in Kissimmee Park and died May 6, 1978 in Kissimmee. She lived in Florida her whole life and never moved farther away from Kissimmee than the next county. She raised her family, 3 daughters and 1 son, through the depression of the late 1920's and 1930's when food was scarce and work was almost non-existent. Her husband, your great grandfather, had to gig frogs and sell them for part of the depression and for several years they lived with his parents near their orange grove in Okeechobee. Their son died as a young child and her oldest daughter died in middle age. She was know for her ability to sew and create a whole wardrobe of school clothes for her children when there was a need, otherwise everyone used hand-me-downs. Life was never 'easy' in the sense we understand today, but she sewed and repaired, cooked the best cornbread dressing in the world, and was a very kind and gentle lady. The highlight of our days, when we were young, was spending the night at their apartment on Bryan Street in Kissimmee. She always kept our (my) favorite cookies(oatmeal-raisin) and let us stay up late on Friday nights to watch all of the TV shows! She died just a few months after I returned home from my mission and even now I still miss her. Her most famous words of wisdom to me were, "Don't go looking for trouble, because it will surely find you!" and "Don't just be busy for the sake of being busy!". Enough said...

'Granny Pearce' with our aunt Carol and Nan, on Nan's 1st birthday