"Come, Come Ye Saints..."

What a crazy week and 1/2! I didn't make my goal to update last week, but I am making sure I get it accomplished tonight! We had a busy week! I started work at Southeastern Behavioral Healthcare and my schedule keeps us up and going. I work 7am - 3pm and I found out this week, I have no Holidays off! I wasn't too happy about that, but after a few days of trying to wrap my mind around it, I have come to realize that maybe it's my turn to serve others on holidays, besides myself. And I did tell them I had to go home for sure at Christmas, so I am taking unpaid days during Christmas, which to me is fully worth it! Then we had Home evening on Monday, Missionaries and a family over for dinner on Tuesday, Young Women's on Wednesday, Enrichment on Thursday, and Date night on Friday! Then on Saturday we got to go to the temple! Wahoo!

We never want to take for granted the wonderful blessing of having a temple close to us. We are in the Winter Quarters Temple district and it is a small temple that was dedicated in 2001. It is 2 1/2 hours away from Sioux Falls. But before, they had to go to Chicago which was 10 hours, and before that it was SLC which was 17 hours. How blest we are!! We actually had a Youth Temple trip that we went with. We thought we would be able to do the adult session as well, but it worked out that in the smaller temples you have to be scheduled and have your name on the list. We had the youth baptisms at 11-1pm, and the Adult session our names were on was at 12pm. The brethren are all needed to do the work in the baptistry, so we wouldn't be able to do the session. We went and removed our names from the session list, and there were people in a standby line, so grateful to take our spot. It is fun to see how operations of these small temples is different and hope that we can share the gospel and help the schedules to be even more varied.

It is a beautiful temple located on the same hillside as the Winter Quarters Mormon Pioneer Cemetery. There is a beautiful memorial to all of those saints who lost their lives on the Exodus to Utah. We also visited the visitor's center across the street and took a tour to learn about what exactly took place at Winter Quarters. I hadn't realized that this was the place Brigham Young had the saints build up to stay for winter. It was getting to be late fall when they came through Nebraska, and he worried that snow would come shortly. So they built log homes and a city to keep them through winter. But due to the disease of Cholera which they received from the infected mosquitos, many lost their lives in the terrible conditions of winter. This is also where Brigham Young was sustained as prophet. The song "Come, Come, Ye Saints" was written here and became the anthem for Saints as they strived to make it through the difficult road ahead.

As we were there I just thought about how all of us will pass through "Winter Quarters." The saints were such fabulous models for how we should continue to stay steadfast in Christ. They had sacrificed all that they had to move West. They didn't even know they were going to the Salt Lake Valley. They only knew they had left their beautiful homes, some family, and lives in Nauvoo and in graves along the way. Yet many testified that they would never take a different course in their lives, because it had made them stronger. And it gave them eyes to see the Hand of God in every step. I want to remember and be like them in my journey here as well. We can do hard things with the help of our God. He is mindful of each of us and the journey ahead. We must just keep our eyes fixed on the goal of going and becoming all that God wants and needs us to be!

Hope all is well in your lives. Know that we are praying for you and love you!
Have a great week!
Malinda and Thad :)

Ok, Here we go with the Blogging!

Hello Everyone!
I know that I haven't been the greatest at blogging, ok, I stink at it! I am not good at checking them, or at doing them...so I need your help! I think it is because it takes me 5 hours just to get this started, and figure out why I have 3 blogs, and how to post the pictures, and why they don't work, etc. And I want a cute background, but no one here to show me how! Sad I know. But I would love any input you have into how to "cute-ify" my blog and how to keep you all up to date on the miraculous things happening in our lives. Every day is a miracle I must say, and as we have all been reminded with my Dad's heart attack, we can't waste a moment of cherishing and sharing our love! Hence, I am sending it through this blog, and I hope you know that I really am wanting to do this to show you that I want to stay connected and I love you. Thad loves you too!

Well, how can I possibly catch my blog up since our last posts? It was in October '07! Thad was just applying to Grad schools and I was just getting ready for basketball season. How the time goes and here we are...in Grad school! A long story short, Thad was working as a nurse in the ICU, tired of cleaning up poop and throw up and wanted to pursue his anesthesia degree (Master's in Nursing). I had been an assistant coach with UV for 6 years, and absolutely love who I work with. Amazing people I miss dearly. We found out in February that Thad was accepted to Mount Marty College, located in Yankton, South Dakota. But due to the amazing hospital system in Sioux Falls, just an hour away, they had the anesthesia program based in Sioux Falls. Of course we accepted and felt God's hand in our lives. I finished the basketball season, and cried for weeks to have to leave the amazing work and women (and Coach B) at Utah Valley University. But nothing can compare to my love for Thad Peter Larson! So here we are! After a great summer going to Hawaii; Okaboji, Iowa for the Larson Reunion; miraculously selling our home; flying to California and spending a week in Glendale with Becca, Lauren, Zach, Aunt Jean, Cindy and Jim, Shawn, Amber, and Mom; on Ceder Mountain for the Anderson Reunion; in Heber for our Osmynch reunion and the fabulous boating on Jordanelle; and then driving for 2 days while stopping at the Martin Handcart Visitor's Center at Martin's Cove (WY), we then made it to Sioux Falls on August 8th!

Since then we have been so blessed to be close to Thad's family in Northrup, Minnesota. They are just 1 hour 45 minutes away. We have been over there 3 times for the Lura Family Reunion, and to help Dennis, (Dad Larson), put shingles on his roof. We don't know why our dads' are having health issues, but we had a scare with Dad Larson having blood clots in his lungs. He was ready to faint on the roof when he decided he needed to rest. Thad checked his vitals, and then gave him a blessing. 2 days later he was admitted to the hospital with blod clots showing up in his lungs. He is now home and we pray that He and my dad will both just follow doctor's orders and pray that Heaven doesn't need them for a LONG time! They are both amazing men whom we admire and love and try to pattern our lives after. We love you!

Thad is in his 2nd week of school. And I am in my nth month of looking for employment! It has been quite depressing to have a master's degree, and only get offered level entry jobs. I need insurance and food on the table! So I have decided to take one of those jobs and try to stop the rejections that keep coming in that say I have not been selected! I tell you I have applied to over 100 jobs since March! I will be working at Southeastern Behavioral Healthcare. I am going to be a teacher's aide. The children are high school age, but they are handicap. I have been inspired by my dad who reminded me that "...everyday you will work with children that are Celestial bound. They are here to teach us. Go to work trying to understand what Heavenly Father wants us to know." Isn't that wise advise. Thanks dad. I feel that if I do approach everyday as such, I will be blessed far beyond my expectations. I love people and just want to make a difference in people's lives. I wanted to get better paid for it too! But that is part of the humbling process I am willing to go through.

Thad just had his first exam and did fabulous! He had 2 tests today and I know he will do great! He studies very diligently everyday. We get up at 5 am, study the scriptures and then he studies his class work until about 8am. He goes to school from 8:30am-3:30pm. Then he goes to the Library and studies alone or in his study group until 6pm. He comes home for dinner and then studies until 9pm. On Tue/Thur he only has a lab every other week, and no class, so he still gets up early, and goes to the Library by 8am. Plus we work out sometime in that day!

The routine is important, but already we have found that prioritizing is what blesses us with the most efficient routine. Keeping our spiritual growth is a key. We are grateful for the scriptures and prayer. We also must build each other up. We have family home evening on Mondays and date night on Friday. We have done some really fun things. I put pictures of the falls. We went for a really corney, but free, light show. We are college students now. Try to find all of the free entertainment we can!

We also very grateful for the church. Our ward is the Sioux Falls 1st ward. We spoke in church our 3rd Sunday. It was great to learn and get to know others. Thad has been called to be the gospel doctrine teacher (He is the only one) and I have been called as the 2nd councelor in the Young Womens. We are excited to get to know these wonderful saints and to learn and grow from them. We have much great work to do. All of us!

See this is also the problem, I go on for another hour! So, I guess I will sign off today and just send a big WE LOVE YOU! from our new home (check out the photos) to yours...wherever you may be, you are in our thoughts and prayers. Love you.