Something Coming

When I was in San Antonio with my mom and sisters, I told them that I had this feeling that there was something coming for our family but I was not sure what it was- church, work, family... who knows what. 

Well, this picture was taken the day some of that feeling came to pass. 

Actually, the Sunday before about 9:45 pm I got a message asking if my husband and I could meet with the stake president on Wednesday night.  Peter was traveling the whole week so after a few more tests and a phone call at 10 from a high councilman it was set to meet on Saturday morning.  This allowed me the whole week to wonder what was in store. By the end of the week, I was convinced I was likely in trouble for saying or doing something or really I had no idea.  No, that was not the case but I was called to be the 2nd counselor in the Stake RS Presidency.  I met the new president that night at the adult meeting for Stake Conference - she was sitting in front of us- and she was so nice! When I told he who I was, she said, "Oh you are the name on the paper."  Apparently, she had a list of some sort and she said my name stuck out to her and she knew that is who she needed to have. This was a tender mercy to me- I knew the Lord knew who I was and that he had a work for me to do. 

I am so sad to not be a ward missionary anymore but I am so grateful that I can still be a missionary no matter what my calling is. 

Isn't my family so cute! Thank you camera timer. 

Mother's Day

My kids were so excited about Mother's Day and making me breakfast in bed. 

There plans were a bit altered when I awoke at 6:50 to Tornado sirens. 

The picture below was the list of warnings waiting for me.

The weather has been absolutely crazy lately. We have received as much rain in the last 4-6 weeks as we did all of last year! Our yard is a swamp! I am pretty sure we might get carried away by mosquitoes soon. That is probably why we have so many happy frogs too. 

 

 I did get breakfast in bed and it was great but since my family was all eating downstairs I took my food down and enjoyed my family.

These are the cards from Arabella. I loved feeling special all day long. 

I love being a mother! It is the hardest thing I have ever done. Few things can be so rewarding that regularly makes me feel so inadequate. I learn from my children all of the time and they help me to strive each day to be a better person in hopes that I can help them become all Heavenly Father wants them to become. It is a sacred responsibility and I am so blessed to have Peter by my side helping and encouraging me as I strive to fulfill it. 

Technical Difficulties

So, when you have downloaded pictures to your laptop and then your dying battery dies and your one year old destroys the charger you are left with only the kids laptop for use and it is a bit rough. But, you use it to order a new battery and charger. Amazon is like the biggest supplier of all things. And so, though you may have entered the information about your computer exactly when the charger arrives before the battery and you are so excited that you rip the package open and try to plug it in right away! Then ... you discover that the hexagon shaped plug will not fit into your round plug receptor- ugh! You then order a new charger and arrange to return the wrong one.  Your new battery finally comes but it only has one hour of charge to it.  Alas, that is a brief explanation of some of the hurdles I have had to blogging lately. 

This last Sunday, I was asked to substitute Jon's primary class last minute and when I looked at the lesson I new I needed to take my printed blog from 2009 to share a story from it with the pictures.  I have only printed 3 years of my blog but we spent some quality time on Sunday looking through them and laughing and sharing memories. It was what I needed to recommit myself and give up my half-hearted efforts.  

This has nothing to do with technical difficulties but It is a picture of the incredibly tiny and cute frogs that have been around our backyard lately due to all of the rain. 

Sometimes

Sometimes it is just better to wear goggles on your head even if you are not swimming. (She tried for 2 pairs at the same time but one pair would always get knocked off.)

 Sometimes a snuggle with mom is what a 3 year old needs to get a nap.

 Sometimes there are super amazing rainbows.  And your kids beg you to try to drive to the end of it so they can find the pot of gold. This then leads to interesting views on how a pot of gold should spent. 

 Sometimes you see a bag and think I should check there for the missing lock and recreation center passes that have been missing for 9  months and you are right! Crazy!! 

Most times life is good in the small and simple parts of life that can so easily go unnoticed in the rush of the days and the many things that need to be done. 

I fear that too often in my rushing around I am not always grateful for these small and simple pleasures or for the promptings that the spirit sends to me. Or even I follow the promptings but do not recognize them as the hand of a kind and loving Heavenly Father playing a very active role in my life. Well, today I am thankful for that. 

Dinosaurs at the Dallas Zoo

Peter and Joseph were at a Camporee this last weekend and the sun was finally shining after a lot of rain and cloudy weather. So, we packed a lunch and headed to the Dallas Zoo. 

 They have a Dinosaur thing going on right now and so there were several new shows and animatronic dinosaurs throughout the zoo. 

 Jon was a lucky volunteer that got to pet this baby t-rex. 

 The gorilla was right by the window- they are big animals!

 It is impossible to go to the Dallas Zoo and not take at least one picture on the elephant statues. 

 Arabella had to write a small paper about her favorite animal for school and she chose an elephant. When this happened on Friday that is when I decided we would for sure head to the zoo. she wrote a great paper and drew a wonderful picture. 

Here we are in the BIG sign. 

It was 91 degrees that day and today (Tuesday) as I am typing this the high was maybe 60- crazy weather! I loved being with my kids and they were really well behaved.