Spiritual thought...

This is the talk that I gave in Sacrament Meeting this last Sunday:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", timeless words written by Charles Dickens. Theses words note the significance of "opposition in all things."

Elder Neal A Maxwell said, "The sharp, side-by-side contrast of the sweet and the bitter is essential until the very end of this brief, mortal experience."

I am reminded of a prank played on me as a child by one of my uncles. At a restaurant, waiting for our food, I suppose trying to pass the time, my uncle would have me first try the white sugar packet, then the blue "sugar" packet. The clear contrast of the bitter and the sweet was apparent by the pucker on my face!

Today, I'm going to talk about the "bitter" part of life. There are four types of trials: 1-Trials of our faith given by a loving Heavenly Father to teach us. 2-Trials that are a natural part of life and come even when one is righteous. 3-Trials that come as a result of ones own sin. 4-Trials
put upon the innocent as a result of another's sin.

There is not a single person who has ever walked the Earth that has not had trials. It is how we react to, and learn from our trials that set us apart.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh taught, "I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable"

Our trials teach us; they shape us.

The Prophet Joseph Smith said, "I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, ... knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty."

One of the most important things that we can learn from our trials is empathy.

A year after my Mom died of cancer, one of the younger girls in my Young Women's class lost her mother to cancer. Because of what I had gone through, I was able to help her through her pain. Similarly, a few weeks ago when I visited family in Utah, my aunt sat my sister and me down for a serious conversation. She is in charge of Activity Days in her ward and one of her girl's mother had just died of cancer. My aunt wanted to know the best way to handle the situation. My sister and I were able to give her some advice. While my pain is not the same as these other girls', I have immense empathy for them because of the trial I had gone through at that age.

We often hear people ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I'd like to put this question into perspective by asking this, "Why did the worst things happen to the best person?"

The Savior suffered everything for us. "Though sinless Himself, He bore the sins of billions." (unknown quote) He bore the pains, heartache and grief of all of us. If we ever find ourselves thinking we are alone, remember there is one whose empathy is infinite because He went through it, too.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

My cute girl...

I am sitting at the computer watching Josie. She is watching the "Hanna Montana Movie". She is on stage (the coffee table) singing into her microphone (a marker) that rests in the microphone stand (my music stand) when she isn't singing. Her dance moves match those she sees Hanna dance. Oh, and she has her costume on (Jeff's underwear on her head!). It is so cute.

On another note, Josie came home from school very excited about the "missing" gingerbread men that they made. Apparently, the gingerbread men ran away, leaving notes in their wake! The kids had to "catch" them by following the clues. She keeps saying that she wants to make some at home so that she can show us that they can run away. I love this age!

A Spirit filled vacation...

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I jetted to Utah. Our purpose, to attend two blessed events; the baptism of Stockton Nelson and the wedding of Richelle Nelson.

We arrived to a bustle of activity and no ride from the airport. But, being the seasoned travelers that we are, we managed just fine. My brother Josh took it upon himself to chauffeur us to our first destination, my sister's house. This required some shuffling on my brothers part because of his two angels that he was watching that day. We greatly appreciate him.

The next day was the first BIG event on our to do list. We were pleased to attend the baptism of Stockton Nelson, Jeff's nephew. I was asked to lead the music and the kids shared their beautiful innocent sounding voices by singing "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus". The baptism of Stockton was wonderfully accented by the baptism of the Nelsons previous foreign exchange-student, Victoria. Victoria had lived with the Nelsons while she attended BYU. (She wanted to be baptized but her mother, Cecilia, a devote Catholic, would not give her blessing. With much persuasion and the help of the Spirit, Victoria was able to convince her mother of the true desire that she had to become a member of the Church.) It turned out that Victoria and Cecilia were planning a visit from their home in Venezuela at the exact time that Stockton was to be baptized. It worked out so wonderfully that they were able to have both baptisms at the same service.

The day after the baptisms was Fast and Testimony Meeting at the Nelsons ward. It so happened that an Area Authority was visiting the meeting that day and the Stake had just announced a redoing of boundaries that would be detailed that evening. Jim Nelson, as bishop, began the meeting with a wonderful testimony of not only the changed in the ward, but in the changes in his family; Stockton's baptism and his daughter, Richelle, future nuptials. Jim was followed by Lauri, Richelle and Stockton, each giving spirit filled testimonies.

My little Jakob got up next; his first time bearing his testimony. It was a shock to me because he never showed an interest before. Jakob's testimony almost did me in! He did a marvelous job and was very eloquent.

Finally, as the time was diminishing, Cecilia got up to bear her testimony. It was wonderful to hear her version of her and Victoria's story. Cecilia expressed her gratitude in the choice her daughter had made in being baptized. This was followed by the Area Authority getting up to speak. The first thing he said was that he didn't believe in coincidences. He went on to say that he had served as Mission President in Venezuela. Wow! He was able to talk with Cecilia and Victoria after the service in Spanish, with Norma and Jim listening in. Cecilia later commented that where she is from they don't call it Coincidences, but God-incidences. (It sounds better in Spanish!)

As our week progressed the kids and I were able to help with wedding errands, play with cousins and relax. And, despite both kids getting sick, we had a good time.

Thursday night I attended the wedding dinner in Highland. It was a beautiful evening and we were able to eat outdoors under the color-changing trees. After the dinner (and a considerable amount of time wasting) I picked Jeff up from the airport.

On Friday we were to be at the Salt Lake Temple at 9:30. While the kids waited in the lobby, Jeff and I attended the Sealing of Richelle to Brian. (Brian, by the way, is Josie's new love interest. I told Richelle to watch out or she would steal him right out from under her!) The best part was when L. Tom Perry, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, walked in to perform the sealing. It was truly the most spiritual sealing I have ever attended.

The rest of the day and evening went on without a hitch. It was a beautiful fun-filled reception (with lots of blister making things to do, but it was well worth the double socks and band aids!) Our family had a wonderful week, but we were happy to return home to get back to normal, at least until our next trip!

Clean house...

My house is the cleanest it has been in a year. Jeff helped me organize all of the kids stuff. We boxed a lot of it up so that there wouldn't be so much clutter. It was great!! We did this on Saturday.

On Friday night we slept in Jakob's tree house. Josie was so excited. We got our sleeping bags and flashlights. We played shadow puppets. On Sunday after church, we checked into a hotel/water resort. We swam and went down water slides for two days! We had so much fun. Josie's favorite thing was floating down the "river" on tubes; she was so excited that she could do it by herself. Jakob went down all of the water slides over and over again; sometimes he went by himself!

We had a great, productive, Labor Day weekend. Now it's back to normal. Cub scouts is tonight, Pack Meeting, and Jakob will be getting his Wolf; I'm so proud of him! Josie started Karate on Friday and Jakob started his new Karate class. Life is great!

Sizes 7 and 3...

Those are the sizes my kids are in right now, even though they are almost 9 and 5! We just bought all of their school clothes, and I couldn't help but think of how grown-up they are getting.

Jakob accomplished so much this summer. He learned to ride a bike, in 20 min! (I think he already knew and was just tricking us ;0) He also learned to swim; now he is a little frog gliding through the water. He went to Cub Scout camp and has earned his Wolf. He starts 3rd grade (4th grade math, he likes to remind me) this week.

Josie, too, has grown-up. She is constantly surprising me with her vocabulary, which has grown considerably this summer. She also took swimming lessons and is very proud that she can do a front float! We tricked her into finally staying in her bed at night; we bribed her with M&M's. She has developed so much confidence; she is always singing and dancing for everyone.

The kids and I traveled a bit this summer. We were in Utah for most of June, following I-15 up and down. We saw a lot of family, including two new baby cousins! Then we went to Las Vegas to visit Joe and John. The kids loved seeing all of the hotels on the strip. Jakob says he felt like he was going around the world.

As eventful as this summer has been, it has sadly come to an end. I will be sending my babies off to school this week. Maybe we can have a little more fun!

It's been awhile...

Okay, it has been a few months since I updated my blog. Some friends from my ward loaned me their computer so I don't have to wait until Jeff gets home now.

The cruise was awesome. It was so relaxing and we worried about nothing. It was nice to know where we were going to eat and that we could eat whenever we wanted for free!
We walked around downtown San Juan at night. We took a very fast boat (500 horsepower!) to a secluded reef on St. Thomas to go snorkeling with a group; we saw a sunken ship, sea turtles, sting rays, lots of fish and coral, and Jeff chased down a barracuda named Bob to get a good picture! We went shopping on St. Martin and found a store that was all about Star Wars and met the "Yoda Guy" (the guy who built Yoda), and we got to play on the beach and find sea shells.
I did a lot of Karaoke and got chosen to perform on stage for the whole ship as Brittney Spears; I had a costume and everything, it was so much fun!!!

We got home to kids that missed us and were ready to get back to normal life.

I depend on it...

Technology.
I never realized how much I depend on my computer until it was no more.
The mother board on our laptop is fried and it will be too much to fix it; better to buy a new one. Granted, this laptop was bought in December of 2004; an eon in computer years.

So, until we get a new form of technology, I will be frequenting my daily websites less often. And what will get the brunt of my neglect; my blog.

Getting ready...

I can't believe Jeff and I have been married for 9 1/2 years. It feels like a lifetime, but like it was just yesterday, all at the same time. Next week we are going on a 7 day Caribbean Cruise to celebrate 10 years. I am so excited.

Joe is coming into town to watch the kids while we are gone. It will be the first time that we have left the kids for a significant amount of time. I'm a little worried about Josie. She is so sensitive. She never went to Nursery without a fight. We finally got her to go to Sunbeams about 9 months ago because she loved her teacher, and then they changed teachers on her. She came running out of the classroom screaming with tears running down her face! (And when she cries it breaks my heart; her face gets all red and splotchy!) She will probably cling to Jakob the entire time we are gone.

I feel so busy with everything I need to do before we leave. Clean house, add Joe to the Emergency Contact lists at the schools, make a list of routines and important info for Joe, pack; the list goes on. Oh, and I'm getting my very first wax, (I'm not going to mention where!) ow!

When did furniture become play ground equipment?

The couch cushion has been turned into a slide. The pillows, a trampoline. Back of the couch, climbing wall. Blankets form elaborate forts. And don't forget the trail of "stepping stones" going from one end of the house to the other in order to avoid the lava that has leaked into our house by some unknown source.

The more I put it away, the more it comes out. So, it stays out. One day I'll be wondering why my house is so clean (except for Jeff's stuff, of course ;O). I think that I will be sad on that day.

How did I get there...

Have you ever been busy with something and all of a sudden your thinking of something completely off the wall.
Yesterday I was doing some "spring cleaning" (I'm in denial of the cold); I was cleaning the walls. I realized that I was thinking of Indiana Jones. I had no idea how I got there. I retraced my thought "steps". Here is how it went:

-while cleaning I saw a cob web
-thought of spiders
-then, that icky scene in "The Temple of Doom" when the girl is walking through the tunnel with her feet making crunching sounds
-I wonder if they'll make another Indiana Jones movie...

If you ever wonder what is going on in my brain when I get that "far off look", now you know it isn't that interesting.

Where were you when...

A few weeks after September 11Th, I had lunch with my in laws. My Father-in-law, Jim, asked me if I remembered where I was, what I was doing, and what I was wearing the day the Twin Towers came down. I did remember, and I always will, that I was wearing my pajamas, watching it live on the TV in the home I was house sitting, with my 1 year-old son on my lap.

My father-in-law went on to tell me that he will never forget where he was and what he was wearing the day that JFK was assassinated.

As I was remembering this conversation today, I was thinking about another day in History that I will never forget. As much as I worry about the state of our country and what impact today will have on our lives, I will, none the less, always remember where I was the day Obama became President of the United States. Let's hope he doesn't make things worse than they are...

The Start...

I have had the overwhelming urge to start a Blog this week. It could have something to do with a talk that was given on Sunday. She spoke on genealogy and the importance of Journal writing. Being as wonderful as I am at keeping a Journal; oh, wait, I'm not!

I think the last time I wrote in a Journal it was called a Diary and I was scrawling out my words so fast that nobody could read them anyway. The subject; Al Burbano, my current "puppy love" interest. (Chrissy, if you are reading this, I must confess that I had a thing for your hubby back in 8Th grade! But, you probably already new that.)

So, in the interest of future posterity learning about the meager activities of my life, here I go, starting the "Journal" that can never be erased or weathered with time. Until the world blows up, taking all the computers and Internet with it.