Christmas in the Northwest!

As soon as my "real" computer is fixed, I will attach pictures of the "amazing" "astounding" "enormous" snow that has fallen upon us in the past week. We have well over 40 inches of white stuff on the ground, it goes up past my knees. It snowed 2 1/2 feet last Thursday, 12 inches on Saturday, 9 inches by Monday morning and probably near another foot by 4 pm today, Christmas. We are not dreaming of a white Christmas anymore!

The most amazing experience of our Christmas this year was performing at the Union Gospel Mission. Troy called to see if we could serve dinners to the homeless and then mentioned that we had a little family band. They immediately put him in contact with the Services coordinator, who asked if we could just do their worship hour. Troy said yes, and we began to practice. We were a little aprhensive about playing there, unsure what we would find. But the day finally came (Dec. 9th)and we took our little rag tag bluegrass, country, jingle bell band to the chapel of the homeless shelter. After we were all set up and ready to go, they opened the doors and the chairs filled with well over 50 men and about 20 women. We thought somehow we were there to serve them. The chaplain said it would be good for them to see a family working and performing together. Little did we know how much they would serve us. Amazing is the word that best describes it for me. Just Amazing. To watch their faces as the clapped, laughed and joined us in singing was absolutely priceless. But the coolest thing was afterward, as I watched my children, my family being served by homeless, raggedly dressed men and women. One by one, so many came up and thanked my family, complemented my kids individually. "You sing so beautifully," "You are really good on the drums, I play the drums, so I know you are really good." "Thank you for coming tonight." I came away realizing that these men and women served me more than I could have ever served them.

Merry Christmas!

24 More Days Til Christmas

So here it is December already! We have the tree up, we have the lights up, we still have a few Halloween decorations up, but we are working on it. Cami is potty trained (pretty much).

A friend told her children before they could write a letter to Santa they had to write 24 things they were thankful for. In memory of Thanksgiving, here is my list:
1. My husband
2. My children
3. The Savior (yes, He should be first)
4. The gospel
5. My Mom and Dad
6. My Brothers and Sisters & spouses(could this count as 5 additional thanks'?)
7. Newman Lake
8. The Homey G Property (20 acres)
9. The horses
10. The December Ensign, and the article on consecration (its really deep)
11. My calling as a ward missionary
12. The testimonies of new converts
13. The bald eagles that visit occasionally
14. Hoover for keeping the racoons away
15. Summer
16. Fall
17. Winter
18. Spring
19. Memories
20. Friends
21. Sisters in law and mother in law
22. Music (esp. when my kids play together)
23. Cozy Fires
24. The scriptures and the Preach My Gospel Book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3uS5VGk9R8

Cami and Halloween

Better late than never, I thought I should post these cute pictures of Cami at school!

Archie and Lance

About four weeks ago, we bought 2 horses, Archie the bay and Lance the palomino. Last week, it finally stopped raining enough that we could ride. Troy and I went riding for about an hour on Thursday. Just as we finished, the hail and rain exploded! I had forgotten how much I loved to ride. We have numerous trails carved through the hills behind our property and it is so beautiful (and so much easier than hiking!) Robbie and I went riding on Friday. We climbed and climbed, until the horses were balking at doing another hill. Saturday, Troy and Jordon went riding for an hour, the Rob and his friend Jaren went. And on Sunday, Charli was having a bad day, so Troy took her for a long ride. The poor horses you would think would be exausted. But every time we drive up the long driveway to the barn, we holler at them "Come on horses, lets go" and they come right up to us to be brushed and saddled!

I Want To Be A Missionary

Currently, my ward calling is as a Ward Missionary. Troy is serving as the Ward Mission Leader, so this calling is fun, in that we get to work together. Somebody said, though, "Oh, so he's your boss?" No he is not my boss! I really enjoy the calling and enjoy working with him.

Here are some things that I have learned. You are successful as a member missionary when you invite people to learn about and accept the gospel. Some people feel they are successful only when their "friend" gets baptized, and since that doesn't happen very often, and people don't want to feel like failures, not much ward missionary work gets done. Your job as a member missionary is to invite all people you come in contact with to learn more about the gospel. If you are inviting, then you are successful.

You are not responsible for deciding who is prepared to hear to gospel. Quite often we say "I am working with so and so, but they are not ready yet". How did this become our judgment? Only the Lord knows who is ready and if he told us directly, He'd be taking away someones free agency. Our job is to share. Bring the church into all our conversations... "This weekend, I'm teaching Sunday School in my Church", "Our youth group is doing...", "I spent the afternoon preparing for my Primary class". This opens the door. Many, if not most people choose to walk in and will ask for a little more information. You do not need to teach a discussion. But you can always ask if they would like to learn more.

Finally, and this is from Clay Christensen, an area authority for the church: What we should say about the church if someone asks. Often we want to explain eternal families, the Book of Mormon, modern revelation, the Word of Wisdom, our belief in Christ. Extensive surveys of new converts show that it was not these doctrines that interested them, but rather wanting to feel closer to God, wanting happiness and a sense of peace and wanting a sense of purpose and direction in their lives, all things that they could see in LDS friends and acquaintances. And a very effective way to help others see these attributes exhibited in the lives of members is by inviting them to serve with us. Invite them to service projects, moving ward members, helping in scouting, YW and YM activities, teaching RS enrichment classes, giving fireside talks, baking meals for people who are in need. etc.

"Stand as a witness of God at all times and in all places..." (Mosiah 18:9) We have an obligation to do more than be a friend. This is too important to wait until the time is right. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

UnSteady or Going Steady...

Sister Tomblin passed away on October 16. Her smile and her love will be greatly missed.

As a teenager, I constantly had steady boyfriends. Kevin, Tony, another Tony, Steve. I guess it wasn't constantly, because that is all the boyfriends I remember. (There were many more I really liked!) However, I was emotionally involved with all of them. I thought I might marry each one and each relationship brought lots of drama to my life. (Ask my mother, she'll remember!) I bring this up because now at the age of 41 and with a teenage son of my own, I am changing my tune. Parents with younger children... Read closely and be better prepared than me.

I've always assumed teen love was just par for the course. Of course there are boyfriends, of course their are steadies. But what if we've been wrong all along. What if teenagers are not suppose to have steady boy or girl friends... President Hinckley said, "When you are young, do not get involved in steady dating. When you reach an age where you think of marriage, then is the time to become so involved. But you boys who are in high school don't need this, and neither do the girls." So how do we teach our children this concept, when having a boyfriend or girlfriend in school is so exciting, so cool, etc.?

There is a book called "Unsteady: What every parent absolutely must know about teenage romance" by JeaNette G. Smith, published by Covenant Books. This book gives detailed information on why our LDS kids don't need serious relationships yet and how to convince them (building their testimonies of this concept) It is an easy to read book and I would recommend it to YM and YW leaders, bishops and most importantly parents.

Some of the reasons JeaNette Smith gives for sticking with casual dating include: It's more fun, it expands your horizons, steady romances compromise same-sex friendships and your personal goals, steady romance diminishes parental influence, compromises family relationships and the future. It also produces restless adults. Then she tells us how to help young people truly understand the emotional harm in steady dating. Anyway, something to think about.

There is an hour of peace and rest...

Today, I went to Hospice House to see Edie Kaye. She was eating breakfast by a large window with a view of a fountain and some beautiful trees. She couldn't stay awake. I sat down and began to feed her and rub her shoulders when she fell asleep. She would wake up and say "I so appreciate all the sisters", then she would ask, "Do you think I get to go home today?" Several times, she would wake up and ask me, "Do you know why I am here? I just don't understand why I am here." As I watched her, I marveled at the way Heavenly Father created us. I marveled at the miracle of life and the miracle of temporal death. How grateful I am that our earthly life isn't all there is. I wondered how someone so vibrant, so full of testimony and life, someone like Edie Kaye, could now be so weak, so tired, so out of sorts, and so unable to understand where she was, why she was there, who I really was... When I left, I cried. I cried for her daughters, I cried because I was grateful it wasn't my mother, I cried because this woman has done so much for the testimonies of those around her. I cried because I will miss her faith. And then the song Secret Prayer began to play through my mind over and over. There is an hour of peace and rest unmarred by earthly care. Tis when before the Lord I go and kneel in secret prayer. May my heart be turned to pray. Pray in secret, day by day. That this boon to mortals given may unite in secret prayer. This is where we turn these thoughts to... Our Heavenly Father who loves us more than we can ever know and understands all that we endure...

When I Leave This Frail Existence...

A dear sister in my ward is in the final weeks or days of her battle with cancer. Today I went to visit her and to see if I could help her daughter who is visiting from Utah and has a 2 year old and a one year old. I will take the girls tomorrow.

Today was a good day for Edie Kaye. She woke up happy, smiling, laughing, wondering where she's been. Since I saw her last week, she had rapidly declined and yesterday did not move at all and only cried from pain. So today was a good day. Edie Kaye reported today that she had nearly gone "home" yesterday. She looked so beautiful today. An interesting word for someone who has no hair and is bloated from the morphine; but she was truly radiant.

I've decided cancer is the one door to death and heaven that we actually get to watch and watch and watch open and close. It creates such emotional turmoil. She only has 2 months. Wow, she beat the two months. She might be OK. Oh, now she only has two months... and on and on for the past 3 years. It was truly a blessing and a priveledge to see her today. I hope that somehow I can help her daughters and husband through the rest of this.

Tie I.D. to your ankle and good luck!

OK, so I decided I should have a blog. I'm not really sure why, but here it is, my first entry. So I'll tell a quick story and see how it looks and go from there:



In Sunday School (Gospel Essentials), a new member, Elaine Johnson was explaining to some new investigators her feelings about the gospel and why she believes membership in the church is so very important. She had invited some friends to church (again) and they had declined. She said, "I can't understand why they don't get it. It reminds me of a news show I saw on TV last week. They were interviewing victims of Hurricane Ike and a man came on, very upset that the government hadn't rescued him in time. It became apparent that he lived in the evacuation zone and had been warned to evacuate, but chose instead to "ride it out". When the storm became worse than he had imagined, he called for help. The authorities told him, "Tie I.D. to your ankle and good luck. We'll come find you when the storm is over." Elaine concluded her story by saying, "That's how I feel about people who hear this gospel and don't get it! They don't understand the urgency or the importance of this message. I just want to tell them when the end comes, "Tie I.D. to your ankle and good luck."