Sunday Best!

This weekend was LDS General Conference. I enjoy it so much. Here is a quote from Jeffrey R. Holland:

“What was once a tiny seed of belief for me has grown into the tree of life, so if your faith is a little tested in this or any season, I invite you to lean on mine, I know this work is God’s very truth and I know that only at our peril would we allow doubt or devils to sway us from its path. Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your concerns but first fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe.”

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Preparing Our Missionary! Part 1

As many of you know, we will be having a new missionary in our family. Our daughter Emily will soon be entering missionary service. She will be leaving the country, and serving in another part of the world. I thought it would be neat to share how, and what we are doing to prepare our missionary.

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Probably the number one thing we have done to prepare our missionary started at Emily’s birth. She has been loved and taught that she is an amazing girl with many gifts.  We have raised her with a love of service and a testimony of the gospel. Both my husband and I have served as missionaries. We love doing missionary work, and hope to be able to serve missions in the future. We have taught our children it is a blessing to work, and to look for opportunities to bless others. Emily is a great example of this, she loves to help and love other people. So the first thing is to prepare them while their young and then pray that the desire to serve a mission enters their heart.

Below is Emily at 3 months old. Squishy.

Sunday Best!

Happy Easter!!

I am so grateful for the Savior in my life.

I know He lives. I know my Savior atoned for my sins. I know He died on the cross, and was resurrected on the third day.

This I believe with all my heart.

I am happy to celebrate His life and resurrection. Happy Easter!

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Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

 

Sunday Best!

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire”

-Orson F. Whitney

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love Joy

When You’re Feeling Sad…

Or overwhelmed, or picked on, the best remedy is to get your mind off of yourself and on to someone else. In fact, this has happened to me a few times recently, and I am so glad. Honestly, I wear myself out.

I went to visit a friend who is going through a challenging time. I wanted to be a support to her, and not bring with me my own frustrations.

I said a prayer before I left, asking Heavenly Father to help me to love her and be understanding to her the way He would have me do. I left and drove to her house, still not knowing what I would say to her.

When I got there, I played with the dog, I played with her baby (I can’t help it; I love dogs and kids), then we sat down. I had a great visit with her. I felt so much love for her. I felt like I expressed the things I wanted to express in a way that told her I care. And best of all, I felt so great, happy, and not overwhelmed, at all when I left.

I’m going to think of others more often. I’m going to visit someone who is struggling and love them. And do you know what that means? I am not going to wear myself out with my sad, overwhelmed and picked on attitude. 🙂

The Rubber Chicken!

One year for Halloween, Flexy wanted to dress up as a Chef.

He used to say he wanted to be one when he grew up (too bad that didn’t happen). Anyway, his costume was darling, complete with a rubber chicken tucked under the tie of his apron. He looked so cute.

The rubber chicken ended up in the toy box. One day Flexy was so excited to show me a neat trick he could do with the chicken. I don’t know how he came up with this, but we laughed and laughed. It made for hours of entertainment! 

First: You push the rubber chickens bum in.

Second: You put a rolled up piece of paper or tissue in the divot/concave bum.

Third: Then you squeeze the chicken ’til the bum pops out, and the rolled up paper goes flying through the air. Amazing!

Like I said…hours of entertainment and fun!!

What a cute kid he was and is. Always good for a laugh!

The Monstrosity!

In the movie “Two Weeks Notice,” Lucy’s mom is complaining about the new “high rise monstrosity” that is going to be built near their home. She says it will, “Block out the sun.” I love that movie!

Recently when I was in the market for a larger hutch for my kitchen, I found one on the internet. I watched for many days to see if the price would come down. I was a little concerned about the size, because the measurements were bigger than others I had seen. I called and asked the person selling it if he was sure about the measurements. He said they measured it twice. I kept going back and forth in my mind. Should I do it? The deal was sealed when he came down $25 more on the price. I knew I wanted to paint it, so I knew there would be more money spent on it after I got it. I told my darlin, “Let’s do this!”

As we got it his truck I said, “Are you sure we don’t need a trailer?” He was confident we could fit it in the back of his truck, (keep in mind the truck has a shell). We arrived at the location where it was,

stepped into the garage where it was being stored, and the first words out of our mouths were,

“Wow, it really is kinda big.”

I still wanted it though. “It has so much character,” I said. We started to load it. Oops, too tall. Oops, too wide. Finally we were able to make it fit by unhooking the shell, shoving the hutch in and then rigging the shell so it wouldn’t come off while we drove home. We drove around 50 miles one way to pick it up.

We made it home, brought it into the kitchen, and just stood there, looking. “It is huge!” I said. “It’s a monstrosity.” my darlin said. “Do you think it will block out the sun?” I said. Remember, “Two Weeks Notice”? We laughed and decided to move it back out while we decide what to do with it. Should we resale it? Give it away? Use it in the garage for tool storage? Cry?

I called my friend Sydney, who is a home decorator extraordinair, to come see it. The boys hauled it back in, put it in place, and Sydney said, “I think it will work. It is a little big for the spot, but part of it is you’re not used to it.” I totally trust Sydney.

I made a goal date for having it painted. I knew that my sweetheart would be helping me, actually doing most of the work, and we got started.

 

You can see here how big it is!

And here is the finished product!!

I love it!

I am so glad to have it. It has so much storage.

So now, it is lovingly referred to as, “The Monstrosity.” 

I paid $175 for it, and $50 for paint.

Can It Get Busier? Don’t Answer That.

Well, I have been quite the slacker on the blog lately. I can honestly say that life is giving me a boat load of wonderful busyness and blessings.

  1. Our sweet “Bonus Baby” Emily is busily getting ready for her LDS Mission.
  2. I was given a wonderful and busy calling of Primary President in our new LDS Ward. (We didn’t move, our LDS Stake was reorganized.)
  3. And our “First Born” son Riley, just got engaged to his sweetheart, Janet.

They say things come in 3’s. I don’t know who they are, but they nailed it here. I am not at all complaining. I feel so blessed to have exciting things to look forward to. I have always done my best, and been my best self, when a lot is expected of me. I do have a bit of a scatter brain sometimes though. I’ll give you an example of what happened last Friday.

Our darling Emily needs a background check to go on her mission. It’s not for the church, it’s for the countries she is going to be serving in. In order to accomplish this we: Had to get her fingerprinted at the jail in the county where we live. Take the finger prints, an application for a background check, a cover letter explaining what we want, and when we want it, to the FBI, and a cashiers check for $18.00. I went to the post office and paid for two express mail envelopes; one to send everything in, and one for them to send the back ground check back to us. So, I get everything together and head to the bank for a cashiers check, then off to the post office. I got to the post office, and waited in line for about 15 minutes. I got the envelopes and stepped aside to write the addresses on them and then filled them and the postal worker took them. I headed for home. As I parked in the garage, I suddenly realized I forgot to put the check in the envelope. I was sooo frustrated. The thought came to me, “Go back right now and see if you can get the check put in the envelope.” So I backed out and went straight to the post office…again. I waited in line for the same worker. I came up and said, “Do you remember me?” The postal worker said, “Express mail? Right?” I said, “Yes, I forgot to put the check in the envelope 🙁” The worker said, “I can open it up for you.” I said, “YES! Thank you so much!” I went out into the car and just cried. Then I said a prayer of thanks. I had spent a lot of money to send the things in the envelope, if they didn’t get the check, I’d have to start all over. I am so thankful that worked out!!

Sunday Best!

“Near the end of his life, one father looked back on how he had spent his time on earth. An acclaimed, respected author of numerous scholarly works, he said, ‘I wish I had written one less book and taken my children fishing more often.’ Time passes quickly. Many parents say that it seems like yesterday that their children were born. Now those children are grown, perhaps with children of their own. ‘Where did the years go?’ they ask. We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present.”

-Thomas S. Monson

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy