Dear Family,
It must be time for the semi-annual Felsted family letter. To catch you upon the goings and comings of everyone I offer a brief synopsis:
(1) Caroline is attending 6th grade in public middle school. She is doin’ us proud in every academic subject and is making great progress learning self-control and patience. Dealing with fellow human beings in close proximity provides ample opportunity to try again and again to conquer one’s impulse to respond less than ideally. Much to her mother’s astonishment, Caroline excels in Spanish, due to a personal weakness in learning languages. Several fellow classmates are also bus-mates who try to intimidate her about being proficient in Spanish. They bother her not; Caroline reports these incidents with evident, glowing pride. Self confidence is a great thing. Bully, Caroline!
(2) Rose is a 10th grader at Fayette County High School. She was home schooled for 5 years before I sent her back into that den of iniquity. She is a year ahead in math, history, and science and is keeping her stellar grade point average up. I am in awe of that girl. There is one boy in her history class that is an outspoken Christian whom Rose has become friends with. He is the counterbalance to the several other young men who verbally wallow daily in that which they ought not. She gave this young man a Book of Mormon and he took it. He read the first three books (1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, Jacob) in the first night. This young man and Rose have class time discussions every single day which spill into email discussions at night. He loves to question our doctrine and makes Rose defend the church and the Book of Mormon. He feels he already has what he needs, so is not really looking for further truth. This fiery furnace has been good for Rose. It has caused her to think deeply and to formulate responses to his questions. She is confident and calm in expressing herself. Go, Rose! Yesterday, from her lips to my ears came, “I love school. I love being with people.” My open-mouth gape was most unattractive. ‘Tis a puzzlement and beyond my wildest hopes for this year.
(3) Stacy has run into a rough patch. Or rather, the Lord is refining her gold. She had a traffic ticket last December and then in April she rear-ended another vehicle. Stacy was still 17 years old, so those two incidents were enough to earn her a 6-month suspension of her driver’s license. Her plan of attending dental assistant school had to be put off, and it was too late to apply to attend BYU-I in the fall, so she focused on earning money and going to BYU-I this winter. She had a great full time job that she enjoyed and was ‘raking’ in the money. The owners seemed to love Stacy, so it came as a shock when she received a call after work one day, dismissing her from her position. Soon after this, late in September, we learned that Stacy was ineligible to attend BYU-I because her expensive diploma from the private school she attended was not a regionally accredited school. She would have to get a GED or go to a Georgia college for at least 15 hours before she could apply to BYU-I. Oh, my! So, after some painful writhing, Stacy is enrolled to attend Georgia Military College in Fairburn, GA. It is about 25 minutes from our house. It is a small campus of the college that Whitney Ward taught at in Milledgeville, GA. The blessing is that Stacy is eligible for the Hope Scholarship in Georgia which paid for all but $274 (tuition, fees and books) for 15 hours of college credit. Classes are tiny (6-15 students), she will be able to attend two quarters so she will not be ‘behind’ in college, and BYU-I accepts all of GMC’s credits. So, Stacy’s plan “Z” is to attend BYU-I next spring/summer. Whew! I know the Lord has a perfect plan and is working in Stacy’s life. It just looks differently than we thought it would. She is amazingly cheerful and resilient.
(4) Ruth is living with a wonderful young woman in Riverton, Utah and working at Walmart. She is buying her own car and somehow keeps herself alive. She now has a bed, thanks to two selfless aunts, and is learning a great deal. She is active in her ward and loves to serve there. We are delighted that Ruth is coming home for Christmas! Yeah, Ruth!
(5) Stewart is still at BYU in Provo. He is taking a light load of academics while working two jobs. He likes having Clark in his American Heritage class. He is working at The Wall (apparently an on-campus restaurant) and at Heritage School as a counselor. He really loves his job at Heritage and is working just about full-time between both jobs. His big news is that he auditioned for, and is in something called Divine Comedy at BYU. This is a big deal. I have no personal knowledge of that fact, but many people say it is so. It is also one of his classes. The professor is Carole’s friend, George Nelson. Stewart enjoys writing the skits and is performing his first show this weekend. Stewart is making wonderful progress and is also coming home for Christmas! Yeah, Stew! Thank you, Julie, for bailing Stewart out on his car problems. My lips were ineffective in helping him replace the car battery. Your generous driving him over to the store worked magic. Bless you!
(6) Elizabeth returned home from her mission to Temple Square on September 4, 2013. Her growth and development are a miracle to me. In eighteen months the Lord was able to cause Liz to develop years’ worth of growth. She is calm, kind, patient, confident, and has an absolute knowledge that the whole gospel works. Time was short, but she jumped through flaming hoops to be able to attend BYU-I online. By the time she was accepted the classes had begun and she didn’t have her books, and on and on and on. Liz wasn’t sure about taking Biology, Chemistry, and Anatomy and Physiology online anyway, so she looked for somewhere else to go. Blessed day when we discovered small Georgia Military College just up the road. It seems like a good place to take those hands-on classes. So, she and Stacy will be going there M-Th from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. This school is on the quarter system, which is a blessing for Liz. It is only 8 weeks long, but you go to school every day and have assignments due every day. It is intense, but over quickly.
(7) Erika moved out of Brittany’s apartment the first of September in order to be closer to BYU and to attend a single’s ward. Living with Brittany was such a blessing for Erika. It was a calm, quiet, wonderful place. Now, Erika seems to be thriving with new (older) roommates and has more social outlets. She is in her last semester of BYU and will be graduating in December. She is working at Heritage School as a courier. Heritage School is a boarding school for kids with significant problems. She has had this job for about 7, 8 or 9 months (I’m not sure) and has really enjoyed it. She drives kids to the dentist, airport, to get haircuts, shopping, etc. She likes it because she is always the ‘good guy.’ She is doing so very well and she is coming for Christmas, too!
(8) Sterling and Jennifer (we call them SterJen) are still living in Atlanta. Sterling is working as an actuary and loves it. He just passed some important test and is now an Associate Fellow. We are so happy for them! Sterling matches his wonderful wife, Jennifer, who will give birth to a bouncing baby boy around December 28th of this year. They will have two sons (Ethan-4 yrs, new baby) and one daughter (Elise-2yrs). We went ‘appling’ with SterJen a couple of weeks ago. The mountain air was sweet in northern Georgia as we ate and picked Ambrosia, Beni-shogun, Granny smith, and other varieties. SterJen are so good to regularly spend time with us. It does help that Stacy, Rose, and Caroline beg to babysit!
(9) Emily and Steve are still in Philadelphia. Steve is attending medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and by all accounts is giddy when he returns home each day. Steve attended a fun camp this summer, at the request of the Army! He reported that his Basic Training was somewhat lax compared to the enlistees experience. The Army is paying for his education so Steve is now officially an Armed Forces member. Emily is running at a slightly slower pace this fall with working some nights as a tutor and developing curriculum for a non-profit organization. She is enjoying their two wonderful sons (Cole-6 yrs, Miles -2 yrs) and having more time than in a long time, to take care of kith and kin. They are coming for Christmas as well!
Scott was gone for 6 weeks out of 7 to Belgium, but is now home. It is good to have him home. I have come to appreciate how he helps carry the load when he is home. He was so good to even call Erika and Ruth while he was in Belgium. He loves when people call and ask him car questions. Keep ‘em coming! We are doing very well. I am grateful for circumstances that cause me to grow and develop more faith. Seriously, these things are blessings. Scary sometimes, but blessings in the end.
That should get you up to date with what’s happening here. We are looking forward to reading your epistles with much less guilt, now that we have made a contribution. Remember, families are forever if we are willing to put in the effort to become forever families. I honestly cannot express how utterly grateful I am to my sisters and brothers who have conjured up reasons and ways to get together and who have sometimes, brought me along kicking and screaming about it being ‘too hard’! There is no end to the happiness that I feel when I think of my sisters and brothers, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces, etc. My parents and siblings have been an anchor to my life. When I have felt to give up on living the gospel because it was ‘too hard,’ the thought of being locked out of those eternal relationships brought me back time and time again to try again and again. Bless you, every one of you! Thank you, thank you, thank you for seeing the bigger picture! Thank you for insisting that I participate in the available feast of family! I love, admire, and respect each one of you. You are all doing so very well. The process of becoming a forever family is looooooooong and it can seem like we are never going to make it. I think we are doing better than we can imagine. As long as we do not give up, we cannot lose! Keep pushing that handcart a little longer!
Love you forever and beyond,
Aunt Chris, Uncle Scott, Liz, Stacy, Rose, and Caroline
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