Food or Toiler Paper?

Which is more important? It’s a tough call.

The other day we almost ran out of TP. In the whole house.

I’ve decided that TP is VERY important to me. Almost more important than food. I know that sounds pretty dramatic, but seriously, you can live for a while without food. But you’re pretty much stranded without TP.

We’ve recently had a lean time in our finances. I needed to buy food, and TP, and it got me thinking…..”If I only had enough money for food or TP which one would I get?”

Hands down, TP!

One of my favorite things is a stock pile of TP in the house. I wonder how that would sound with Julie Andrews singing it.

I am so thankful for TP!!

Totally “Fort Worth” It!

Hermana Kelsey 16:1 -email-
Dearest familia,
Hello! How is everyone?! I’m doing good. It is so hot and humid today. I am really not looking forward to this summer. The humidity is killer here. But anyway, we’ll survive. We are almost out of miles for the month, so we are walking to our dinner after this. I’m not sure what the temperature is now, but it will for sure be getting hotter soon.
Monday: We had an awesome noche de hogar with Bishop M. and his family. We had our investigator, M., and his sister, N., who is a recent convert there, and it was pretty good. They are an awesome family. They are from Peru, and the Hermana had a stroke a little while back so she has trouble talking and one side of her face doesn’t move. But their three sons are the sweetest things ever to her. They are always loving on her, and helping her out. It is so cute. 🙂 I want to have boys like that someday. 😉
Wednesday: I turned 15 months in the mission! WOOOOWWW! Sister M. and I went to QT (it’s a gas station here in Texas), and we got a doughnut for 49 cents and 69 cent drinks! Woooohoo! It was fun. Then later in the day an hermana brought us dinner at the church (sometimes they do that if it is more convenient for them), and she also brought us drinks from QT. It was great.
Thursday: We had zone conference! It was super good. Sister M. and I received a lot of revelation for our investigators and how we can help them. We also watched part of a movie where a guy ran less than a 4 minute mile. It was unbelievable!!! He was literally sprinting almost full speed the whole 4 laps. It was super cool. I wish I could do that…maybe with training. 🙂
Saturday: We were going to go to another set of english elders’ baptism, but it ended up getting cancelled. The lady who was getting baptized sons and husband got the chicken pox! :$ So we didn’t get to go to that.
Sunday: We ate dinner with a family that is from Argentina, and I tried something they call mate (it’s not pronounced like mate). It’s a type of tea, which I guess it has been approved so it’s not against the Word of Wisdom. Anyway, it was really weird. It tasted really herb-y, and I didn’t really love it that much. But it was a good experience I guess. Now I can say that I’ve tried mate.
Monday: The elders bikes got stolen…so they were kind of upset about that. We ended up going to the mall yesterday, because we didn’t have anything else going on. Well basically we went to the mall and spent all our time in Barnes and Noble. I love that place. I truly forgot how much I love just spending time in that store and looking at the books and stuff. It was fun. We also went to the Goodwill, because someone told us that it was supposed to be 50% off everything, but it really wasn’t so Sister M. didn’t buy anything. But it was still fun to look. 🙂
Oh, also some other random chismes (gossip)…Sister W., who just went home 3 weeks ago is engaged and she is getting married the 1st of September. Like 2 weeks before I come home!!! She is crazy! I’m not going to get married that fast. Just so you don’t fret and worry, Mom! 🙂 🙂
Mom: That sounds like a great talk. I’ve been wanting more and more to learn about the Bible and to have time te read it, but our schedule for how President S. wants us to study in the morning only allows us to study Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon. So I’ll just have to read and study the Bible after I come home. But it is fascinating to me now. I also think I will take some institute classes to learn some more stuff about it. 🙂
Dad: I love that it is a family tradition to go eat at Costa Vida after graduations now. 🙂 We did that after Alex’s graduation too (without him :)). Okay wait who is Al Foxx? Ha ha. I’m not gonna lie, that story of Riley telling Mom she is a kind and loving mother is so funny to me. I can just imagine that little stink of a brother I have saying it, and it just makes me laugh. Even though it is kind of sad.
Emily: Things are good. I’m glad you got your card. I forgot to send it on p-day, but I sent it the day after. That doesn’t sound like a fun job to me. I really like my sleep. 🙂 But anway that is cool. Did you win any prizes at the graduation party? When I went, I won a $25 Walmart gift card, which was pretty cool. But other people won like iPods and Xbox 360s and other cool stuff, so it wasn’t really that great of a prize. But still. It also stormed here last night. It kept me awake for a while because the lightning and thunder were so bad, but I love the Texas rain here. When it rains, it RAINS!!
Well, I better go now. I love you all lots. Be good, and stay safe. 🙂
Love, Kelsey
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

Elder Flexy 23:4 -email-
Mama,
wow  i will be speaking with matt thats gonna be so cool. i better prepare well. its going to be nice to be in the ward again… i miss that WARD!!!! anyway this week has been crazy Elder T. he’s been Emergency trasfered because his knee is giving him problems so this last week from friday till now  i’ve been with Elder R. the one i was with in Enseleni anyway my new companion is  Elder S. he is from Uganda. but ya its been cool to be with Elder R. again. anyway i’ll let you know of anything new. Love you
Love Elder Flexy
Baba,
Andrew S. sounds like he is growing ever more how close is he to mission? dad are you becoming a softie? haha jk i’m a boob too so no big deal. ayway this is the beginning of my last transfer so the time is coming soon but i’m going to finish strong. love you
Love Elder Flexy
M,
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on graduating. thats so good that day for me was so good felt such weight off my shoulders. well keep choosing the right love you
Love Elder Flexy

Sunday Best!

This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:

Stop it!

It’s that simple.

We simply have to stop judging others and replace judgmental thoughts and feelings with a heart full of love for God and His children.

God is our Father.

We are His children. We are all brothers and sisters. I don’t know exactly how to articulate this point of not judging others with sufficient eloquence, passion, and persuasion to make it stick. I can quote scripture, I can try to expound doctrine, and I will even quote a bumper sticker I recently saw. It was attached to the back of a car whose driver appeared to be a little rough around the edges, but the words on the sticker taught an insightful lesson. It read,

“Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.”

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Baby Bird!

Don’t you just love spring?

One of my favorite things in spring is all of the babies. We recently had a baby Robin in our back yard. We don’t know if it fell out of, or tried to fly out of the nest.

Every time hubby would go out to check on it, the parents would start chirping and flying past him like they were trying to take his attention away from where the baby was. What they did do, was tell him he was close. Kinda like that game where you hide something while someone is out of the room, and when they come back in everyone sings or hums louder the closer you get to object.

We felt like we needed to keep an eye on it, because it was too small to be seen very easily, and we didn’t want the daycare kids to step on it. So my darlin watched and checked for a few days, making sure the baby was o.k. Finally, the birds stopped chirping and swooping past him. We both decided that the baby was safe and either flew away or had hopped to a spot in the yard that was safe. 

Here’s mama watching close from above. I love spring, and babies!

Family History Friday: Louis Seymour Martin

I never knew my Great-Grandpa Martin. He died when my dad was a little boy. He was the first dead person my dad ever saw. He was in a coffin in the parlor at home. My dad remembers him having a large white handlebar mustache, that had yellowed from using tobacco. He was a blacksmith, and owned his own shop. This picture is of him in his shop. Not the best quality, but I love it. My dad also told me that Great Grandpa was a bootlegger. I don’t know any more about that, but I bet he was one of many. He also drove a stage coach from Ponsford to Calloway, Minnesota. He hauled trees to the lumber mill during the winter months, putting the logs on a big old sled, and crossing a frozen lake. He lost a toe from frost bite, doing that job.

It sounds to me like he was a colorful character. I admire him for taking different jobs. I’ve had to do the same myself. I’m sure he must have had a lot of stamina to do some of the jobs he did, pounding iron sounds like it would be exhausting. I have loved hearing about him. I bet he was a great guy.

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Raccoons!

I’ve always thought raccoons were cute little fur balls. From time to time in my life I’ve seen them close to the house. Once while my Mom was canning apricots she put the apricots that hadn’t been done yet on the patio. As my brother’s and I watched T.V. that night, we were amazed that the raccoons came right up to the sliding glass door and where eating the apricots. Brazen! They weren’t the slightest bit shy about being so visible to us. I was amazed by that.

One year when my darlin was the scout master in our ward, he and all the scouts and other leaders were at scout camp. They were gone for a week. Sometime in that week we started hearing noise in the vicinity of the fireplace. I knew something was in there, but what I didn’t know. When my hubby got home I told him. He checked in the chimney, and sure enough there were baby raccoons, and a mama! Not a good thing. We tried for days to encourage them out, and nothing would work. Finally after a week or so, we started smelling something strange. My darlin checked in the chimney, and found the mama and one of the babies had died. Ouch! We needed to get them out of there, but how. If we didn’t get them out soon, the house, and all around it was going to stink. We might have to move out. After many attempts at pulling them out the top of the chimney, hubby finally had to pulled them out the bottom, which meant they came through the house. You can imagine the mess. We almost had to call one of the disaster clean up services. Not quite, but I wanted to. There was quite a mess around the fireplace, and I cleaned and cleaned. After the cleaning, we covered the chimney with a special cover. I don’t ever want to have that experience again.

Raccoons are super cute, only if they don’t die in your chimney!

Totally “Fort Worth” It!

Hermana Kelsey 15:5 -email-
Dearest familia!
How are you?! Things are good here. I am loving D.! It is a really great place. We have some really cool people we are teaching. Two of them are G. and J. I talked to you a little about them on the phone on Mother’s Day. They are a young married couple, and they have a little girl who almost a year and a half. She is a stinkin’ cute little girl, but also a little bit of stinker. 🙂 We are also teaching an 18 year-old kid who is getting baptized on the 2nd of June!! He is so cool. His name is M., and he is basically a member, he just hasn’t gotten baptized yet. 🙂 His sister, N., is a recent convert that got baptized when Sister V. was serving here. She has been baptized for almost a year, and she is going to the temple sometime in June! So so so cool! We might get to go with her, but we’ll have to see what happens. 🙂 But they are our most progressing investigators right now. They keep commitments better than almost any other person I have ever taught. They are really great people. 🙂
Mom: I’m glad things are still just plugging along for you. I just want to tell you that I love you so so so much! I don’t know why, but I am just feeling like that is something you need to hear, so I just wanted to write to you and let you know. You are such a great mom, and it’s really true that you don’t appreciate things until they are gone. I miss my mommy! But it’s okay. I am just thankful for all sacrifices you have made for me (and are still making for me). 🙂 You and Dad and the best!!!! 😀
Dad: That is awesome y’all saw the solar eclipse. I just heard about it today, but I guess some of the missionaries saw it. How often does that happen?
Emily: I’m glad things are still going good for you! I’m sad I’m missing all of these really cool things that are happening, but whatever. Also….WHAT?! You are dating someone? and that someone is K.?! When did this happen? And why was I not informed? Okay, well, that was a bit dramatic, but anyway, my time is up. Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now! 🙂
Bye! I love you all so much! Tell everyone hi for me!
Love, Kelsey
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

Elder Flexy 23:3 -email-
Mama,
this week has been a good week but we didn’t get to work two days this week. one day my comp was sick and the other the car wouldn’t start so it was pretty rough but i got to mark my scripts for four and a half hours strait that was pretty fun. but life is good. anyway not much has changed we found a nice family this week they have twelve kids so its a full house. love you
Love Elder Flexy

Baba,
wow i miss navajo tacos so so so nice. hey its nice to hear that H. is growing up does he still love sponge bob square pants?! ya the thing about the robin is pretty funny the chickens that walk around here are so protective of theyre babies too. (I found a baby robin in the back yard. It is pretty good sized but still can’t fly. I tried to find it this evening and I know I was pretty close cause the parents go nuts when I get close. making all kinds of noise to distract me from the baby. They are so cute and protective.) that sounds good. Love you
Love Elder Flexy
M,
wow its still crazy thought thinking my little sisters dating guys thats so weird. well you better enjoy it while it lasts because when i get home i’m gonna sort those boys out!!!!! hahahahahahaha jk thats good that you graduating from just about everything. congtrats  on the CNA. so cool. well love you sis.
Love Elder Flexy