• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Carey Family

Sue

Elder Brian’s May updates

June 10, 2011 by Sue 2 Comments

May 3, 2011
Martes:  We woke up early and we drove down to Del Mar to see Elder Perry.  I played an hour of prelude before our mission meeting that we had at 11 and then another 1 1/2 hours of prelude while we were waiting for Elder and Sister Perry and President and Sister Clayton of the Presidency of the 70 to arrive.  The first bit was on the organ, but then I was sick of playing the organ so I switched to the piano.  I played really good all of the songs, and something really, really special happened.  It was pretty dang sweet.  Elder Perry was hilarious and it was a really good talk and the spirit was strong.  I was on the front row because I was playing the organ so that was sweet.  I was exhausted so I slept on the way back. Prayers work!!!  Great spiritual day!! Super tired.

Miercoles:  I was way tired and so I slept and then went to District Meeting and then we taught [a family] and then I came back and slept some more.  I felt really, really sick and decided that I shouldn’t go out and teach in the evening, so we made arrangements and I slept.

Sabado:  First, we went down to San Onofre State Beach to help with the state-wide Mormon Helping Hands service project.  We all donned the yellow vests and helped out.  I didn’t do anything crazy hard, so don’t worry, but it was nice to get out and to be doing something else.  It was really fun and then we went down to this beach house of someone in our ward to have shakes.

May 10, 2011
So, my infection hasn’t gone away yet, but I have only been on the meds for like 5 days, so hopefully here soon it will start to clear up.  I am super, super, stuffed up but doing well. I have been getting lots of rest.

Jueves:  In the morning we hosted this meeting for all of the leadership in San Clemente.  We made plans and set goals for the transfer as a zone and it was a very effective and productive meeting.  Then I came home and slept.

Viernes:  Weekly planning.  That went really well and then after that I slept some more.  At this point I was really sick, so that is when [the mission doctor] came over to the house and he wrote me a prescription for some medicine.  After him, I felt pretty sick and so I decided that I shouldn’t go out in the evening.

Sabado:  I went to correlation in the morning and then I stayed in all day.  Elder Thomas came and sat with me all day while Elder Gibbons and Ochoa went out and worked.  However, I did have some needed projects set up so we were able to do those.  We made this huge map of the stake with all of the ward boundaries in it to hang up on the wall, so that took a while.  I slept and then by 9, the other Elders had come back.

May 17, 2011

Miercoles:  I was still pretty sick, this cold just wasn’t going away. In the evening we went and we taught English classes which are SO fun!  I love teaching English classes. We also did this activity with all of the young women to kind of build unity and everything.  It went really well.

Jueves:  In the morning, we went to the San Clemente district meeting and then I had to take a siesta because I am still recovering.

Lunes:  Awesome day!  We were running all over the place.  At lunch, the wall hit me, and I just fell asleep and slept for like 3 hours.  Which was good, because then after that it was nonstop for the rest of the night.  It is raining today which is no fun, but it is a nice change.  San Juan Capistrano is such a cool city, I really like it a lot.  It has tons of history.

May 24, 2011

Some not so good news, yesterday I got pink eye :(.  No fun.  I am pretty sure that the next thing is going to be boils haha.  Today it hurts pretty bad, but it should blow over here in a few days.  Besides that, life is good.

Viernes:  I slept in, because my mono was killing me and I had NO energy.  Then we had to take our car up to Aliso Viejo because our check engine light came on, and so we weekly planned at some library up there in Aliso Viejo.  That night was sweet because Elder Gibbons got invited to a baptism in the Oceanside 5th ward, the ward I used to serve in.  So, because our stakes touch, we could go to it.  The cool thing was that I got to see a lot of my recent converts.

Sabado:  The end of the world!!!  So many people came up and talked to us about it.

May 31, 2011

Wow, we had such a great week!!  Our area is exploding.  Really, it is awesome.  I don’t think that I have ever seen an area like this before.  Even Escondido which was the gold mine of Spanish work, I think that this definitely rivals/maybe succeeds it.  The Lord truly is blessing us and his children here in San Juan Capistrano.  Our teaching pool right now is so strong!!  It is the strongest that I have had my whole mission.  We are getting legit member referrals every day it seems like and all of these crazy miracles are happening!!  It is so sweet!

So just so you know, my pink eye has now subsided thank goodness and I am doing much better. Apart from one tiny inflamed lymph node, I think that it would be safe to say that I am all of the way back to normal.  It has been 11 weeks now, and I feel much much better.  So yes, take heart in that I am fine and doing well.

Basically we are doing so good and for some reason the Lord is blessing us.  Just this morning, we got a call from the Mission office saying that someone called in from Irvine because the family that cleans their house had a Book of Mormon and they read it every night and they knew all of the stories and they want to be baptized, they just need to go to a church that meets in Spanish and in the afternoon.  WE MEET AT 1!!!  So we called him a bit ago and he was all up for it and we are meeting with him and his family tonight.  Wow.

I am doing so good here and I can’t believe that tomorrow is June.  Wow, it is going way way way too fast.

Filed Under: Brian

Utah Women and Education Project

June 7, 2011 by Sue 4 Comments

I was asked to be involved with this project in a small way and one of the outcomes of the research and summit were three videos that are hot off the press and now available for distribution.  They detail the drop in college attendance and graduation rates by Utah women and explain some of the benefits of college.  You can read more about the project here.  I was interviewed for the videos last February and my wisdom was edited down to a couple of brief snippets, but you can see me in the following videos.

Making College a Priority at 2:10, 7:18, and 8:00.

Pieces of the Puzzle at 1:06.

I don’t appear in In Their Own Words, but it’s great and you should watch it, too!

 

Please make an effort to encourage the young women in your sphere of influence to attend and graduate from college, because research shows that your example and encouragement are one of the main elements that help women to stay the course.  And a big shout-out to two of favorite women who are going to college this fall:  Leslie, who will be doing a post-baccalaureate program for teacher licensure, and Holly, who will be starting a baccalaureate program from scratch.  Both of these women have grown children and it takes a lot of courage to do what they’re doing, but I know they’ll reap big rewards of personal fulfillment!

Filed Under: Pay It Forward, Sue

Thanks to great teachers!

May 31, 2011 by Sue 1 Comment

I read this awesome post by Ali Edwards about her experience at a school conference for her autistic son.  She looked around the table at all the great people who work together to make her son feel successful and was so very grateful for their dedication and hard work.  My sons have left public education and are wending their way through higher ed now but I think back to all the great K-12 teachers they had in Florida and Utah who helped them on their way.  Teachers who work hard, go the extra mile and really care about students.

Thanks!

Filed Under: Pay It Forward, Sue

Sitting on Santa’s lap…over time

May 30, 2011 by Sue Leave a Comment

I have taken pictures of people sitting on Santa’s lap at the Carey Christmas party for the last several years and thought it would be fun to see how we’ve changed through the years.  So here are some photos, organized by family.

See us sit on Santa’s lap.  See us have fun.  See us get older.

Disclaimer: I thought I snapped feverishly at every party and got every child every year.  But when I gathered up all the pictures I found some people are missing.  I can’t explain this, so nobody should infer anything or take this personally.  There’s one year I don’t even have pictures of both my own children.  I can’t explain this, either.  If you have other shots you’d like me to include for posterity, send them along and I’ll update this post!

Click on a photo to see them all in a gallery by family.

Scott & Sue’s family

2003-mark
2003-brian
2004-mark
2004-brian
2005-mark
2006-mark
2006-brian
2007-brian
2008-scott
2008-brian
2009-brian

Phil & Janice’s family

2003-jill
2003-emily
2004-paulg
2004-jill
2004-emily
2004-matt
2005-janice
2005-janice-kissing
2006-jill
2008-phil
2008-janice
2009-phil
2009-tania
2010-tania
2010-addy

Paul & Michelle’s family

2003-patrice
2003-shawn
2003-chris
2003-tia
2003-kyra
2003-ethan
2004-patrice
2004-shawn
2004-chris
2004-tia
2004-kyra
2004-ethan
2006-shawn
2008-paulrapp
2008-michelle
2009-patrice
2009-shawn
2009-chris
2009-tia
2009-ethan
2010-chris
2010-tia
2010-kyra
2010-ethan

Brent & Teresa’s family

2003-austin
2003-samantha
2003-jasmine
2003-olivia

Mark & Sonja’s family

2003-paul
2003-stephen
2004-roy
2004-thomas
2004-paul
2005-thomas
2008-markandrew
2008-sonja
2008-thomas

Ildar & Christine’s family

2003-sasha
2004-sasha
2004-nika
2005-nika
2006-anya
2008-christine
2009-sasha
2009-nika
2009-anya
2010-ildar
2010-nika
2010-anya

Filed Under: General

April updates from Elder Brian

May 1, 2011 by Sue 1 Comment

April 5, 2011
To get right to the chase…I am ill.  Very ill.  I have been sick for two weeks and the doctor came over a week and a half ago and said that it was a bacterial infection so I was on Augmentin but then I was getting worse.  It got to the point that I had absolutely no energy to do anything.  My throat is SO sore, and I have incredible headaches, I am really weak, and I have these big lumps on my neck.  So the doctor in our mission came over to the house yesterday and he is 99% sure that I have mono.  But the only way to for sure know is to get bloodwork done, so this morning we went up to Laguna Beach to the hospital to get the work done.  We hung around to get the results back for one of the tests and that is what it is looking to be, but the definitive one, we haven’t got results back from yet.  If it is mono, it is going to knock me out for 6 weeks – 3 months. Disclaimer:  None of this is definite. But a little more info about mono, it is unknown how it is contracted, and there is not a cure.  Basically, you just have to wait it out.  I have been taking like 2-3 hour naps every day because I am so exhausted, and I don’t have the energy to do anything.  If this all plays out the way it is looking like it is, I am not exactly sure what they are going to do with me, if they are going to leave me still as zone leader, or what, but it will be interesting to see.  So that is my life right now, I just sleep all the time and can’t swallow.  The lumps on my neck are all severely swollen lymph nodes that are trying to fight off the infection.

(A call home from the Mission President the next day confirmed that he has a severe case of mono with an enlarged spleen).

April 12, 2011
Well, this week has been…fun.  Haha, not really, it has sucked, but I am doing better.  So my week was pretty much just me sleeping in bed, and doing stuff and being in members houses. My throat is fine now, I can swallow and everything and I am doing good.  Kind of how I am is that I sleep and then I wake up and I have a ton of energy and then that energy wears off quick and then in 3-4 hours I am tired again.  But, each day I feel that I am improving, and so now I am trying to time my naps so that I can minimize the time that I am sleeping and maximize the time when I am awake.
Wednesday:  I get a call from President saying that he had left a message with you and that if I were to do ANY work, that he would send me home just because he did not want to play around with my health.  So that was kind of discouraging, especially the mandate to stay at home for an entire week!  BAH!  So that brings us to today. Today is the last day of my confinement, (I think).

April 19, 2011
OK, so I am continuing to do better.  I kind of plateaued, but I am doing well.  I still get tired, but now I can wake up and make it through most of the day.  I only have to take one nap at about 3-5.  That is when my energy really crashes.
Miercoles:  I went over to [a member home] and spent the afternoon  sleeping there, and then we went over to our President’s interviews.  We talked about things, and he feels VERY strong that I need to stay.  And so do I.  Apparently Mission Medical recommended that I go home a week or so ago, but he wanted to do everything so that I could stay, and so, here I am still here and doing better.  So the terms were that I could only go to appointments and then besides that I needed to be sleeping.  Thanks for everything, I am so grateful for all of your prayers/fasting/support.  I am happy that I am staying for now, and I hope I continue to do better.

April 25, 2011
For me, I am doing better each week.  This marks 5 weeks of being sick, and I am for sure getting tired of it.  Some days are better than others, and I am still just getting headaches and feeling really tired.  But I feel like I am making improvements and doing better. It has just been a REALLY slow process and I feel like I have been sick for sooo long.  But yeah, I am still taking it easy for the most part and trying to get better. I am trying to gain some weight back, because I lost some, so I have been drinking a lot of protein shakes to try and get some weight, and it seems to be working.

Filed Under: Brian

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 116
  • Page 117
  • Page 118
  • Page 119
  • Page 120
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 144
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Books Sue is Reading

Archives

Recent Comments

  • Diann@LittlePenguinQuilts on RSC2026-March begins
  • Chantal L. on RSC2026-March begins
  • Jenny Benton on RSC2026-last green Feb week
  • Kathleen Scribner on RSC2026-green Feb week 3
  • Diann@LittlePenguinQuilts on RSC2026-last green Feb week

Copyright © 2026 · eleven40 Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in