Hugging!!

       Hugging is healthy: It helps the body’s immune system, it keeps you healthier, it cures depression, it reduces stress, it induces sleep, it’s invigorating, it’s rejuvenating, it has no unpleasant side effects, and hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug.
       Hugging is all natural; It is organic, naturally sweet, no pesticides, no preservatives, no artificial ingredients and 100 percent wholesome.
       Hugging is practically perfect: There are no movable parts, no batteries to wear out, no periodic checkups, low energy consumption, high energy yield, inflation-proof, non fattening, no monthly payments, no insurance requirements, theftproof, non-taxable, non-polluting, of course, fully returnable.

-Author unknown

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When my children were little they would play a game called “Slug Bug”. I’m not sure if it is an official game or not. When the kids would see a VW Bug, they would say “Slug Bug” and then they could hit the person next to them. I of course wasn’t going for this! “We don’t hit each other!” I would say. So we made our own game. It’s called “Hug Bug”. Whenever we saw a VW Bug, the kids could say “Hug Bug” and then they could hug the person next to them. Awh, now that’s better!! 
Give a hug to someone you love!! 
I am going to get mine right now!
“Hug Bug”!!! 😉

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

Elder Flexy 9:4

Make,

Life is awesome! this week has been awesome! we had a zone conference so we were back in SA for two days it was kinda weird to be back in the real world. but life here in Swaziland is the bomb. we had the funnest zone activity today it was too fun. we went to see tribal dances and then they came into the audience and had us come dance too, so i went down it was pretty fun. i won’t lie i had a little “Jungle Fever” those swazi girls were pretty and don’t worry it wasn’t the one where they are immodest, they were fully clothed. but it was fun then we toured a real swazi residence where people actually live. it was too fun anyway then we had an awesome hike to a water fall and it was sweet.  but ya life is good. i’m glad all is well in zion. anyway love you.

    Love Elder Flexy

Baba,
sweet sounds like you’ve had a good week. man i miss hiking and all that it was way nice. thanks for being my scout leader! anyway the missionary work is awesome i will leave this area with some baptisms under my belt should be nice. ya i understand what you said about the soccer when we play i always do stuff like that these Africans kick my butt. anyway life is good. love you.

   Love Elder Flexy


One thing I Wish I Could Change!

I have been cleaning my office today. One thing I do while working and cleaning in my office is watch movies. Usually movies I don’t have to “watch” because I have seen them so many times. I can work, whether it be scrapbooking, or whatever, and listen while I am doing it. Today, while I was working in my office, I decided to watch some of our family videos
What a fun thing to do!!! 
We have some great family videos. We have been on some wonderful trips and video taped activities that the kids have done. As I watched and listened today, I noticed something that I wish I could change. I don’t usually have regrets, mostly because even when a situation isn’t the best, I still learn and grow from it. What I wish I could change is my focus. 
In all of our family videos, mostly on trips, I focused on the place we were visiting. Lots of video taping of places and things. Places and things, that I thought would be important to our family while watching them later. Now, my little darlings are grown up. I wish I taped “them” looking the things, or just taping “them” having fun at the places we visited. I do have video of them. I just wish I had more video of them. I think I was thinking at the time, “We’re here and we’ll probably never be back, so I better have lots of pictures of these things, so we won’t forget!” 
So this is just a little FYI. 
When video taping, tape your kids! 
Tape them so much that you think, “No one will ever want to watch this much video of my kids!!” 
Someone will…you will

Family History Friday: When Grandma Was Ready For Winter!

I found a great poem about what grandma would have to accomplish before winter came, back in the day. 
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When Grandma Was Ready For Winter
by Eunice B. Trumbo
When the last green tomato was pickled,
And the last blushing peach had been peeled;
When the last luscious pear had been quartered,
And the last can of plums had sealed;
When the last yellow quince had been honeyed,
And the last drop of chili sauce jugged;
When the last stalk of cane had been sorghumed,
And the last barrel of vinegar plugged;
When the grape juice was all corked and bottled,
Corn make into salad, or dried;
When the beets and the apples were buried,
And the side-meat and sausages fried;
When the catsup was made, and the sauerkraut,
and potatoes were stored in the bin;
When peppers were stuffed full of cabbage,
And the pumpkins were all carried in;
When the flower-seeds were gathered and packaged,
 And the house-plants were potted and in;
When the fruit cakes were baked for Thanksgiving,
And the mincemeat was canned up in tin,
The celery blanched and nuts gathered, 
And the beans had been shelled out and hulled;
Sweet potatoes dry-kilned in the oven,
And the onions were pulled up and culled;
When the honey had all been extracted,
Comb melted, and beeswax in molds;
When the jellies were all glassed and labeled,
And the horehound juice syruped for colds;
When the tallow was make into candles,
And the ashes were leached into lye;
When the rushes were bundled for scouring,
And the walnut-hulls gathered for dye;
When the cheeses were unhooped and ripened,
Beef corned in the brine to be dried;
Hams and shoulders well browned in the smoke-house,
Lard rendered from cracklings, and tried;
When the popcorn was tied to the rafters,
And the wood was piled high in the shed;
When the feathers from goose and from gander
Were picked for the warm feather bed;
Women folk were mostly ready for winter, 
To rest as they knitted and sewed,
Spun flax, carded wool, and pieced quilt blocks;
Is it strange grandma’s shoulders were bowed?
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It’s amazing the things that our ancestor’s had to do. 
We take so much for granted. 
The season’s come and go and life is pretty much the same day in and day out. They were amazing people and I love them. 
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Totally "Fort Worth" it!

Hermana Rasmussen, Kelsey, and Hermana Barlow
Pointing to where they are going on their missions

Hermana Kelsey 2:1 -email-

Madre,

Yes, the money here works like a credit card. We get $8 every week. The Elders get $6 a week. We can use it for treats from the vending machines, and supplies from the bookstore. It’s pretty nice. I was so unprepared for what I would need here so I’ve pretty much spent all the money you gave me. Sorry 🙁 But it’s all good. I’ll get by.
Anyway, I am doing so great. I’ve had some really tough times, but for the most part it has been good. Spanish is okay. They taught us like 8 grammar principles in like 3 days, so it was really overwhelming, but I’m starting to understand little bits at a time.
I think I am turning into you. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I’ve realized the last few days how similar you and I are. I do a lot of the same things you have done at one point or another. It’s kind of crazy. I also laugh really easy. I don’t know what that’s all about, but it’s like when you have a sleepover with your friends, and it’s three in the morning and everyone is delirious and laughs about anything and everything. That is what the entire MTC is like. You start to go crazy after a little while.
Anyway, two of the Elders in our district left yesterday (Elder Peterson and Elder Hunt), so we are sad. Elder Peterson is one of my favorite Elders. I don’t know if you’ve gotten any of the pictures I sent, but he is the really really tall one. He is like 6 foot 6. It’s crazy. Anyway, they left for the Spain MTC, because they got their visas finally.
The other day we were contacted by some Elders going to Italy, and I was so jealous. But..we could understand what they were saying, because Spanish is so close to Italian. It was pretty cool. I am definitely going to learn that language when I get home. Along with French, and German. That may be a little much, but I’m sure I can do it.
So the last couple days we’ve been trying to speak solo espanol. It is really tough. I don’t talk very much because I don’t know how to say what I am thinking. It’s been hard, but I also know that I’ve learned a lot. Everyday feels like three, so if I try to remember when something happened I usually can’t. I’ll think it was the other day, when it was actually the day before. It’s really weird. 
I’m so excited for Andrew to come. Seriously it is so great. You can ask my companions how many times I’ve talked about him, and they’ll tell you it’s been at least 30 times I’ve brought him up. I knew that he would do fantastic on his talk.
Oh another kind of random thing: my teacher Hermana Billin is from New Hampshire and she lives right by Lake Winnepesakee (I don’t think that is how you spell it), but she knows all about “What About Bob?” so we were quoting it to each other. It was awesome.
Anyway, please tell everyone to DearElder me. It’s so much easier than writing an actual letter but it is still mail, and still super exciting. So tell everyone please. I need letters to keep my sanity!! Tell me news of the outside world!
Okay, well I better go now. Love you lots. Love, Hermana Kelsey

What if you have been judged wrongly?

I had a situation come up recently. I was judged wrongly. I sincerely try to do my best in every thing I do. Someone thought I wasn’t doing my best. This is a problem, or it can be a problem, only if I let it. I can let it fester and really let it get to me, or I can not even let it bug me. I can feel like people just don’t like me, or understand me. Or I can take this opportunity to become better. Maybe I can improve? Of course I can. Maybe this situation is a gift? One that reminds me to do better and helps me grow! Even if I feel the judgement was wrong, I can do better. I will do better and I will grow. I will choose to be grateful for the opportunity to become a better me. I will feel grateful to those who brought to my attention something to work on. I will receive all things with thankfulness, and love those who might have meant to hurt me. 
I will do it and I will continue to love them. 

Howzit-Elder Flexy!


Elders at orphanage in Swaziland 
(*see description below Alex’s email)
Elder Flexy 9:3 -email-
Make,


sorry for the lack of email last week its was a fine week and all is going well.
1 Did you get your B-day package?
1.nope i should get it this week.
2 How is your new member doing?
2.he is doing great we continue to meet with him once a week.
3 What has the weather been like?
3.its been either really hot or really rainy.
4 Are you comfortable? Have you adjusted to the temperature?
4.yep all is well in swaziland.
5 Have you done anything fun on p-days?
5.well we have played soccer the last two pdays but all is good.
6 Will you get to go to one of the reserves where all the big animals are?
6.ya we will soon but not yet.
7 Spiritual experience this week?
7.well we watch the restoration movie it was so nice.
8 Favorite scripture?
8.ish i can’t remember we read so many all the time.
9 How often do you have Zone and District meetings?
9.once a week for district and once every three months for zone.
10 Is Swaziland mostly land and not very many people?
10.well it has people in most areas but not too many.

11 Have you seen any of the people in their native costumes? or doing a native dance?

I ask that because me and Kelsey saw a Swazi Wedding dance on You Tube, believe it or not!
11.ya they are pretty cool i might buy some.
12 Do you and your companion both teach at a scheduled appointment, or do you teach at one and he teaches at the next appointment?
12.ya we change back and forth in lessons mostly.
Special question of the week:
13 Why do we have to have lesson’s about things we’ve heard a million times? Like Service?
13.to remind us. one of the most reapeated words said in the b.o.m. is “remember”
anyway life is good love you.


*I received another email and picture from Sister B- she’s the best!!!
“This picture was taken at an orphanage on Friday. As you can see he is a busy missionary, he is happy and healthy and loves being in Swaziland. We went to see the Senior Princess of Swaziland, that was her orphanage; she loved the visit from the missionaries and gave permission for them to travel throughout her Chieftain area without any harrassment.  The missionaries sang a song for her and then gave her a blessing.  She is 81 years old.”

My Mom!

My Mom had a birthday yesterday. She turned 79 years old. When I called to tell her happy birthday she told me she is 79 going on 40. I believe that! This woman is amazing and she has more energy than I do. I feel so blessed to have a mother in my life. She is perfect for me. 
My Mom is; 
kind– always thinking of others,
smart– she went back to school when she was 50 and got a degree,
loving– she loves everyone,
a super teacher– she teaches almost everyday,
firm– she is not afraid to let you know, if you need a reminder,
a good listener– she has listened to me all my life,
she is mine– the one that I call Mom!!
I love you, my wonderful Mom!
*************************
Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds.  Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, comrades and friends – but only one mother in the whole world.  ~Kate Douglas Wiggin