Luke Carter was killed in a car accident on his mission in Texas this week. He was the younger brother of Mariah's high school boyfriend, Kolby, and the older brother of the twins' good friend, Paul. It has, of course, saddened our whole community, and affected us all. The twins and their friends fasted for the Carters on Thursday and then came to our house to make pizza and break their fast. So sad to see the teenagers crying, but heartening to see them comfort one another.

Otherwise, the twins had a much easier week. They finished up some final big tests and projects. They didn't have sports or piano. Cali did work a couple of days at Funfinity and they both went to umpire training for city rec softball, although they won't be available for the majority of the season. Last night they went on dates with their favorite guys.

Savannah felt better this week! She made grilled tuna and salad for us on Tuesday night and went hiking with a girlfriend on Saturday morning. On Thursday, she and Bro. Berger opened the hive and tested for mites. No mites! Yay! The hive is doing great.

Bethany had a band concert this week! This is my very first band concert for one of my own children! She played baritone and I am so impressed with what kids can learn in one year. They sounded great! She also went back to karate this week and had an end-of-season party for track. On Saturday, she and Ben played together and gathered the kids in the neighborhood for hanging out and games.

Benjamin passed his belt test on Saturday! Go Ben! He's now a purple belt, just three belts from black! He still enjoys getting online with his friends to play Minecraft and try to capture the Ender Dragon. He also has a goal to play a game with a member of his family everyday, so lately we've all had a chance to be beaten by him in Connect4.

Kevin has been working on the sprinklers this week. He's gotten water specifically to my garden spot and the spot over the trampoline where we want to grow blackberries and raspberries. So, it's a little late this year, but I did get some vegetables in the ground and we will watch them grow! Maybe I will remember to post "after" pictures sometime in August or September!

I've been submitting my manuscript to agents and publishers this week. This is usually a very long process, but I did hear back from a small Christian publisher in the South. We have had a very interesting discussion on whether a writer "from the LDS" could conceivably publish with a Christian publisher from the evangelical tradition. If nothing else, I'm giving one man somewhere in the world, a chance to think of my tradition a little differently. That has been heartening.