Her Latest.

Let's see...here is an elf update. We could not find her yesterday and finally had to call Rich at work and ask him if he had seen her. Turns out, she had buckled herself in his car, and went to work with him. He didn't notice until he was getting out of the car.

She made s'mores the other night using a candle and a toothpick. There were several tinsy tiny s'mores waiting for the girls, and lots of evidence that she had consumed her weight in s'more makin's, before the night was done. We figured out she does not like burnt marshmallows, there were lots of rejects all over the table.

The other night she turned our player piano on in the middle of the night and was ringing the jingle bells that hang on our door knob. A different night she was playing UNO with another elf we have. When we inspected her hand, she had all the good cards like draw four, draw two, skip, and reverse...all of them, and the other poor little guy had nothin' but a huge hand of cards. Lucky for him he had the card holder made for kids who can't quite hold cards yet. The kids all decided not to ever play a game with her because she cheats.

She climbed the light fixture above our kitchen table, she got into, and got stuck in, a box of Rice Krispies. Apparently she gets hungry in the night.


This morning I woke to find her in my bed with a candy cane and a bowl of popcorn.
I left her there for the girls to find. She better not be throwing it all over the room. That is not my kind of funny.

Fitting In.

We are hanging in here.

Lately, Hollyberry, has been caught in the act once, eating sugar from the sugar canister, but has been elusive each other night.

We found her the next morning tangled up in Christmas lights that were sitting in the living room, waiting for a semi-permanent home on the eves of our home. Then, yesterday, we woke to find Rich's entire sock drawer emptied all over the front room. And then, today, we found her underneath our advent house(the kind you open a door each night to reveal some delicious goodie...ours is made out of wood...)calendar house thing and she had helped herself to a few.

She is a character. She fits in here, quite well, I must add.

So Far So Good....

So far Hollyberry has been able to keep a little refrain. I did say a little refrain. Yesterday we woke up to find all our nativity sets were mixed up. The pieces were all intermingled and upside down and everywhere.

This morning we woke to find all the cereal boxes stacked up the stairs (picture dominoes lined up to be knocked over...) and a few of them were open and knocked over like she might have gotten a little hungry.

Not too bad. I think we can handle it.

The kids are loving having her and look forward to tomorrow.

We do have pictures. I will post soon. That is code for: they are still on my camera and I don't know how to get them off and put them on here anymore (remember the part about my computer broke and so I am all rigged up through Richie's laptop...?).

So, so far so good. Day three with an elf and all is well.

Elves and Shenanigans

I heard something about an "elf on the shelf" and thought we would give it a try. It is easy, I hear. You have to write a letter asking Santa to send you an elf. We have heard that these elves sometimes are mischievous and get into things at night. We are supposed to write a journal about what happens and also the elf watches the kiddos and then reports back when Santa comes to pick them up on Christmas Eve.

Sounded interesting.

We wrote our letter and put it in the mailbox.

You will never guess what arrived this evening.

When Rich came in the door there was a beautifully wrapped package sitting on the couch with the following letter :

Dear Gilmore Family,

I am so thrilled you have decided to adopt one of our Elves in Training. You have been given a delightful girl named Hollyberry Yuletide. She is a little young, only 57 years old, but she shows a lot of promise at becoming one of the best child watchers we have. With a little guidance she will succeed. That is why I have chosen to send her to you. She needs a family that has a lot of interesting things going on so she can practice her watching skills.

The purpose of this training program is for her to get experience by watching you throughout the day, then making notes in her ( very confidential) notebook, and then reporting what she has learned to me when I come for her on Christmas Eve. You are such a fun family I am sure there will be plenty to keep her busy.

In return, I ask that you do the same. Elves in Training (as we call them) have a reputation for being, how shall I say this, mischievous. Please make any reports in a regular notebook and leave it with her on Christmas Eve. I hope there is not too much trouble. I would not like to think that all the years of training she has had here would have been wasted. She is excited to be placed with just the right family, and I have told her a lot about you.

I mentioned about your dads new job, and your moms love of that cute puppy (more on him later…), Tori’s kind and generous nature (she hopes to add a lot about that to her notebook), Whitney’s cute and tidy ways (and that adorable laugh…which she hopes to hear), Paige’s love of art and drawing (which I hope to get a few sketches in the notebook) and Rylie’s wonderful imagination and love of dolls (Hollyberry hopes you’ll play with her, too).

Now, about your puppy, Hollyberry is afraid of dogs. She will learn not to be I know, but please keep her away from him until you are sure that she will be okay. He is so cute and I know he would not hurt her intentionally, but I don’t want her to lose an ear or anything. I know there have been a few close calls with your dad’s ears. Besides, elves hate to get wet. That is something most people do not know.

Now, let me see, she does not need any special food, you might notice a few bites out of goodies and things like that. She does have a propensity for goodies. Do not be alarmed. That is the nature of elves, I am afraid.

So that is about it. Put her high on a shelf at night, that tends to be when any shenanigans happen. If she can’t get down that might keep those instances fewer and less irresistible for her.

She is a special elf, one of a kind, really, just like you girls. That is why I chose to place her with you. If this goes well (and I have very high hopes that it will) she will be able to return year after year, until her training is complete ( and maybe bring a friend sometime…if you’re willing, that is).

I wish you well, and look forward to being reunited with Hollyberry soon. Enjoy this time with her, I know she will enjoy her time with you, too.

Merry Christmas,
Santa Claus



So, now we have an elf.

She is sitting on our shelf.

I just hope that if she does do something “mischievous” tonight, it doesn’t make the dog bark. We just can’t stand that.

Overflowing

I some how managed to break my computer. I am not sure how. I turned it off, not on purpose mind you, while trying to put a game in for my nephew. It will not turn back on. It is dead.

I have not had access to e-mail since. I had no idea how many times a day I checked that thing, until I couldn't. Kind of like when the electricity goes out and everything you think of to do to pass the time (like catch up on laundry, can peaches, clean the basement etc.) require electricity. You never realize how much you use it 'till it is gone, or in this case, dead.

Rich set me up so I could check my e-mail from his computer and imagine my surprise when I had over 400 messages just in a few days time. Sadly, it has absolutely nothing to do with me, it was simply a glitch in one persons e-mail that inadvertently re-sent the same e-mail about 350 times. Ya,it was a hard harsh reality.

Life here has been full of changes. I won't go into too many details here, for privacy reasons, but we have some house guests for a few months and that has been more than a little entertaining. The girls are enjoying having someone to play with as soon as they wake up and someone to play with until the moms say "time for bed."

Life is good.

We are moving right a long with school. The kids are learning a lot and I am re-learning some rather interesting things about the English language that I am not sure they taught back in the dinosaur age that I attended school ( or maybe I was talking and missed it...nah, couldn't have been that). One of the MANY perks of homeschooling.

Everyone is so thrilled Christmas is on the horizon. We are looking forward to a modest holiday this year filled with traditions and the real, pure joy of the holiday season. I hope it pans out the way I have it planned in my head. It will be the best and most enjoyable Christmas ever if it does (and I just know it will).

Well, that is a brief update. It seems like there is a lot going on, but when I try to write it, not so much. Our days are full, our hearts are full, and our home is full to overflowing. It doesn't get much better than that.

Moms Just Know

Today was the last day of soccer. Our coach didn’t make it, this time due to an injury in the family. I actually had to be the coach for the entire day. There was also no super-uber-coach/mom in the audience that would swoop down and save me. I did it all alone. But, that is not even what I wanted to post about. Maybe another time though because it was amazing.

What I wanted to write about happened right after soccer. Today was Rylie’s turn to bring treats to her team. She was so excited. We planned all week and finally ended up with Rice Krispie treats and apples, a nice balance of nutrition and complete lack thereof.

The sad thing is that her team, in the excitement of the moment, last day of soccer and all, ran off without partaking of her goodies.

She was heartbroken.

We gathered up her uneaten bag of deliciousness and proceeded to the car. I tossed her empty water bottle, that for some reason I was carrying, in the bag to free up one of my hands so I could tuck her under my wing, pat her sweaty little head, and explain about life and the way things work. All the while reassuring her that there would surely come another day that she could share her generosity with someone.

The kiddos piled in the car and I pulled the handle on the van door to make it snap into action and close itself. Then I stuck my arm in to drop the bag of goodies into her lap so she could help herself and serve her eager sisters a Krispie treat.

As I did that the empty water bottle jumped itself right out of the bag onto my foot and tried to roll under the van. I bent to grab it and tried to throw it back in the van before the door closed, severing a much needed appendage.

It was pretty close, but I made it.

Apparently my super hero antics scared the wits out of the children.

I jumped in the driver’s seat ready to move along (completely oblivious to the trauma I had just caused the kidlets)and Paige says from behind me, “ Mom, we thought you were going to die just now.”

Just then a lovely lady with several hundred children walked past and I nonchalantly (trying to be funny and lighthearted at an inappropriate time) said, “Well, this lady looks lovely, I bet she would have taken you home with her.”

Paigie immediately replied, “But she wouldn’t know what we like!”

Light bulb moment.

Isn’t that what it boils down to, really? Moms just know what we like.

She knows the kind of blanket we need to sleep. She knows our favorite color, food, book and toy. She knows that when we wake up in the night it is that certain special song, hummed so quietly in our ear, that will lull us back to slumber.

She knows what size shoes we wear and that we like to wear them with our socks wrong side out so the seams don’t rub on our baby toes.

She knows that we like to name all our babies Apple , except for the ones named Mary and Joseph.

She knows that we don’t like sour cream on our potato, but that our sister does (and that our other sister also likes cheese on hers). She knows that we like the crusts cut off our PB&J sandwiches and that we love “wrapper cheese” on our grilled cheese even though everyone else likes “real“ cheese. She knows that we like our hot dogs plain and that our little sister likes hers without a bun. She knows that Laffy Taffy is our favorite goody, closely followed by purple Sweetarts.

She knows our favorite thing to do with our spare time and can think of alternate plans when that favorite thing seems a little less favorite, at least for right now.

She knows that we don’t like it that we can’t see the moon from our bed since we moved it to the other side of the room.

She knows that sometimes we get in a bad mood and she knows the things we like and need to hear to make us feel better. She also knows that sometimes there is nothing she can say, we just need to figure it out on our own. Luckily, she also knows that we like hugs best, while our sister prefers a little kiss on the head, when words can’t do the trick.

She knows our best friend, and also knows that friend sometimes drives us crazy. She also knows we like to talk about it but don’t always like advice.

She knows that when we are sick we like the medicine that tastes like bubble gum much better than the grape kind , and she knows that we like (okay, LOVE) being tickled on the back and arms, and that to us , that is the best thing in the world and that it will always make us feel better (no matter what).

Apparently, it was a close call today, but I am really glad the van didn’t beat me because Paige was right. That lady, as lovely as she seemed, would not have known what my kids like at all.

I do though.

I do because that is my job, and as far as I am concerned, I have the best job in the universe.

Being the COACH

So, as it turns out, when you are an assistant coach you sometimes have to BE THE COACH when the REAL coach doesn't show.

Yep. That’s what happened. Coach emailed me minutes before I walked out the door to the last game. She had family issues that prevented her from coming.

Uhhhh, ya. Now what?

In full panic mode I somehow made it to the ball field to handle the 11 little monkeys, er, Dragons ALONE. One by one they began arriving. Each arrival brought only more worry but I was determined to not let the Blue Dragons down. Wasn't gonna happen, not on my watch.

So I did what any good person would do when they don’t actually have a clue what to do but don’t want anyone else to know that, I picked up the ball bag and a bag with some cones and set to work.

I made some stuff up and, by sheer miracle, remembered some stuff from last week. I have to say our coach must be really good at teaching even the most un-sportsinclined (meaning me) or I am a soccer savant, because I was spewing things like "What must our hands never do?" then all the Blue Dragons shouted in unison, "Touch the ball”.

Yes, it was working.

I set up the cones and had them run the ball through them. It was spectacular. Then I had to tend to one of my very own personal children for a second and asked the sole mother I could identify if she could hold down the fort (which translates to - make sure no one escapes or gets trampled while they chase the ball through the cones) for two minutes while I inquired about something.

Turns out this lady is a super-uber-coach and was nice enough to not notice/care I had returned and took over the entire rest of the day for me! Wasn’t that wonderful???

So I was back at my post of manning the side lines and listening to all the Dragon news and information ,while the new self-appointed substitute coach ran up and down the field with the little bitty’s shouting things like “Keep your eye on the ball” and "Good Defense" and other useful prompts that would have never known to make there way from my lips.

When the game was long over one little blue dragon came up to me and said “ What I want to know is, who won?”

And the other lady quickly responded “ We did, because you were such a good sport and had such a fun time. When you do hard things and have fun doing them, you are a winner!”

I think that means I am a winner, too.

Back in business ....and The most HYSTERICAL thing in the world

Well, I have tried (many times, too) to think of a way to write what an incredible summer we had. I kept thinking I had to do that in order to start blogging again. You know, since there is an undeniable (huge) empty spot between getting a puppy and now. Rest assured, that hole is only on my blog, not in my life, there is no empty spot here.

Since I cannot possibly find the words to say how much I loved this amazing summer of camping and playing and,well, just life, I guess I will save it for another day. I am sure the words will come to me once I get more practice at using them again.


We are back in school after taking the summer off and are loving it. The summer off has worked the opposite of usual. It seems to have refreshed everyone enough that the subjects have embedded themselves further into their minds and they actually REMEMBER EVERYTHING from the end of the year! It is wonderful. We were able to dive right in and have not spent much time re-hashing old info at all.

The three younger kiddos are in soccer. There is a homeschool soccer league here where we live that is fabulous... which leads me to the most hysterical thing of all...I am an assistant coach.

I will now take a moment for you to laugh....

Better now? Okay.

The lady that started the league said she was short a few coaches and the words " I will help" popped out before I could even help myself. They were luckily followed quickly by " I don’t know a thing about soccer, except you kick a ball around , but I could set up cones or something..."
She nicely replied, “you could be an ASSISTANT coach then" and smiled politely.

She was very smart and put me with the four and five year olds.

They don’t need much help from me other than a good job cheer every once in awhile. I catch the ball ( usually...)when the coach tosses it back from the goal and then place it in front of the next kid to kick into the goal when we are practicing. I run after the ball when they kick it clear into the nether regions of our practice area. I listen while they all tell me how fast they can run, what their favorite color is, how their little brother can't play soccer because he isn't fast enough yet since he is still a baby, and pretty much everything else they might want to say at any moment.

I tried to help pick a name for our team, they were suggesting things like blue snakes, blue dragons, blue transformers, and yellow snakes (which is funny cause we are a blue team...that would have been a little confusing). I suggested blue butterflies which didn't even warrant a response other then hysterical laughter from everyone.

I also help them listen for when the coach calls them into the game. If it weren’t for me they would get so caught up in tossing the dried clumps of freshly mowed grass that they would miss the entire game.


So there you have it, you have had your chuckle for the day,at my expense, yes, but with my permission. That makes all the difference.

Me, a soccer coach, assistant or otherwise…. Now THAT’S a good one.

Oh, by the way, we are the Blue Dragons.

Our New Arrival

We finally decided we needed to take the plunge and add to our family. The only additions possible in these parts are found at the pet store. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that we are now a dog family and could not be more tickled with our new little one.

We are all in love with him ( yes, I said him, Rich is no longer the sole male in this estrogen packed household.) He is brilliant and funny and soft and fluffy and well, I will stop there. I am dangerously close to becoming one of those puppy owners that carry their pet around in a cute purse and dresses them up each day...someone help me....

Here are the vitals-

Name: Dudley Darin
Weight: 1.3 pounds
Height: Approximately 4 inches
Breed: Maltzu












Click on photos for full cuteness effect...

Skills

She struck again, by she I mean Paige. She is always good at giving complements.

Today she said, “Mom, remember when we first moved in here and you said it would take you forever to learn how to work this microwave and oven?”

“Yes” I replied, leery of what was coming next. I am sure the concern was obvious in my voice.

“That’s funny huh, because now it is what you are best at!”

I have skills folks. Crazy good skills.

Uh, Babe....

I am glad to read that everyone has not given up on blogging. When Rich read my post about Facebook he said "Uh, Babe, facebook is not new..."

I am sure to the rest of the computer literate world it is not new, but to me it is. Bear with me folks.

Move Over Blog...There's a New Distraction in Town

And this town is not big enough for the two of ya. Is it me or has everyone (including me) not been blogging lately? It feels like a blog ghost town out here lately. I check almost every day to see if anyone has updated and days and days go by with nothing. The minute I realize that there is one I love to read it. I wonder if everyone is just too busy??

Or maybe it is because there is a new thing in town.

(Cue old western music and crickets chirping in the background)

It is called FACEBOOK. I have had several people tell me how incredibly fun it is and that I have to get on. I did for a minute and a half and then deactivated my account because honestly, it stressed me out. I know. I'm weird.

Then after a few weeks curiosity got the better of me and I re-activated it again. I sort of like it, I am trying to anyway. It has its intrigue for sure, but I still love blogging so much better.

What do you guys think? Are you making the switch? Are you going to still do both? Has blogging lost its appeal? Or are we all just so busy we haven’t posted in forever because there is simply not enough time?

Curious minds want to know.

A Series of Un-Unfortunate Events...

Which in this case means fortunate, very fortunate. We have been busy, busy, busy with wonderful things. This time of year always makes for a series interesting events. We are flooded with birthdays and holidays and fun get-togethers, and honestly, it is my favorite time of year!

We start the year off with New Years and then two weeks later is my birthday. I am getting old that is a sad,harsh reality. I was okay with it last year, this year… not so much. I decided that to lighten the mood I would celebrate for the entire rest of the month. It was wonderful. On my actual b-day I received an interesting gift that I will have to write about later, it was not a gift I could unwrap but more a sweet gesture of friendship and an answer to my prayers.

A couple days before the actual day I came out of my bedroom and said in true Gilmore girl style, “It’s almost my birthday, are you soooo excited?” We love a birthday in this family!

Paige answered (of course) “Yes! What do you want for your birthday?”

I replied “I want to be spoiled rotten and not do dishes for the entire day!”

Paigie quickly quipped “Okay, we’ll try not to use any then….oh wait, did you mean you want us to do the dishes?” Then she giggled herself silly. Yes, folks, this is my life(and I adore every single moment of it)!

The night before my birthday Rich and I had a date night and went out to eat and then to see Twilight, what’s more is he took me again for our anniversary! Twice! This guy’s amazing I tell ya.

Tori made me a bunch of darling coupon sort of things that entitled me to a manicure, pedicure, massage , hair style, kisses and hugs and disallowed me to lift a single finger the entire day. Good stuff, folks. I soaked it all up like a trooper. All the day was full of birthday wishes and friends stopping by with goodies and birthday hugs. Phone calls, family visits, and e-mails sprinkled like confetti during the rest of the week helped in making my two week celebration special.

I went to breakfast with the “January Girls”, a group of ladies from our ward that I am proud to be a part of. There is something about celebrating with a bunch of friends, most of them over eighty, that helps put things in perspective. I have never had a more wonderful birthday. Thanks to everyone for making it so fantastic. The gift of family and friends is the best gift of all!

I do have photos, but you know where they are. I will post when I get them off the ever-loving camera.

The next, and most wonderful, was our anniversary. I am married to the most incredible person in the entire world. He is my very best friend, confidant, and soul mate. We are two peas in a pod he and I. I don’t think I can say anything more that will do it justice. I have never loved anything more and every day it just gets better and better. Thanks babe for making my life what it is. I love you… like crazy.

Next was Rich’s b-day. This guy is adored by all of us girls in this house. He was spoiled and loved and cuddled and kissed the entire day. We had a great couple days with fun outings and his favorite yummy foods,presents, and lots of laughing and teasing. He is starting to feel old and has to ask me how old he is, I am not sure he really is forgetting as much as denying. Funny guy. Someday I am sure we will look back and say "remember when we were only 38?" Bring it on.

Last, but not least, was Valentine’s Day. We had a fabulous day! For my b-day I was gifted a long wished for item… a Fondue Pot. A person cannot have just one fondue pot,you see, so Rich received one for his b-day as well. So, we had one for oil, one for cheese. What about chocolate you ask, well Valentine's Day provided the last fondue pot. Thank heavens, because you cannot have a Valentine’s party without chocolate.

With all the supplies we needed present and accounted for we were able to have a wonderful “FOND-A-YOU” party! We fondued ‘till our hearts content and had a blast. Yes, pictures are on the camera.

So there it is, a series of un-unfortunate events. We loved a lot, laughed even more and made memories to last a lifetime. I can't wait for next year.

Excuse me ma'am, I'd like to return this, please.

When you have children you sometimes pass things on to them. Sometimes they are good things. Sometimes they are not.

I have one child that did inherit a slightly disproportionate amount of my traits. She thinks it is great. I love that about her.

When I tell her she is cute she says ‘that’s because I look like you’.

When I tell her she is cheerful she says ‘that’s because I am like you’.

When I tell her she has beautiful eyes she says ‘that’s because they are like yours’.

When I tell her she is funny she used to say ‘that’s because I get it from you’. Now we have decided it is actually from Grandpa. That’s okay.

When she does certain things she asks me if I was the same when I was little. She grins when I say yes.

There is one thing she gets from me that if it were a gift, the kind all wrapped in pretty paper and lovely curly ribbons and not just an unfortunate genetic mix-up, she would be willing to stand in a line for three days to return it. It is something that she will probably dislike more than anything in her life.

It has a name, one that brings a shudder to those familiar with its menacing ways, the name is MIGRAINE HEADACHES.

Yes, I did it. I have passed on the thing that I most detest -the very thing that makes me most frustrated about my life. The thing that makes me feel the most out of control of myself.

There is nothing more agonizing as a mother than seeing your child in pain. Watching them cry and look at you with those eyes that plead for relief is its own kind of torture. There is nothing that makes my heart hurt more. Except, that is, for when she manages to squeak out the words ‘why do I get these headaches?’.

I don’t know. I really don’t know.

The thing about this kid is that she is amazing. She is the kind of person that will get through it. I know that. She is resilient and brave and even witty about this trial. When her head stops hurting she jumps up and goes about her day, none the worse for the wear.

She even forgives me I think. Amazing I tell you.

I do wish that there really was a line we could stand in, together. I would not care how long it was. I would gladly take the migraines back from her. It is one thing I am okay with being greedy about and keeping only for myself.

Ya, that sounds like a reasonable plan. After all, I am quite certain there is something else she would rather have.

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Life is What Happens

I am still here, and all is well. Thanks to those who inquired.

We have been working hard to get our lives back to normal since moving. I am not exactly sure what normal means to me, really. I remember a health teacher I had my second or so year in college, she used to always say “life is what happens when you are busy planning something else.” I thought she was brilliant.

Turns out it was actually John Lennon that said it. I guess that means John Lennon is brilliant, because it is true.

I have been planning something else for myself for a long time now. I have been planning what I thought was the perfect life. A life free from worry and concern, a life full of written schedules, job charts and perfect organization. A life with a fully stocked pantry, laundry completely done, floors vacuumed, mopped, and polished all at the same time, and best of all, my quivers full to overflowing with happy children with clean faces and hair that never needs combing.

My quivers are not as full as I had planned for myself, but my HEART is full to bursting with the four brilliant, beautiful, and (mostly) happy children I do have. Granted, one in particulars face is never clean and as it turns out, we do have to comb their hair at least once a day, and quite often, it is several times a day.

At least I have this part down. The rest of the list is still only a plan, a plan that is continually being changed while life is happening all around me.

My pantry is never fully stocked. As soon as I buy stuff those same children eat it.

My laundry is never completely caught up, because what are we wearing? More laundry. It is amazing to me how much laundry a family of six can generate in one day.

Written schedules and charts? What’s that? I have 'make a chore chart and school schedule' written down on my list of things to do somewhere between finish unpacking the basement and teach the children Spanish.

Perfect organization is a dream I have had for over three decades and I refuse to let go of it no matter how many times I have to re-do a certain child’s bedroom because she has the exact opposite vision of perfection than I do.

The floors are never all vacuumed and mopped at the same time,and polished? Forget about it, because as soon as I mop there are Goldfish (you guessed it, from the pantry…)crumbs, or some other delicious morsel sprinkled about, almost like fairy dust, in the most curious of places.

My life will never be free from worry and concern. I have children. When you are a parent there is always worry and concern, but, my life will never be void of joy and love either and really, that is all that matters.

Ahhh, yes. My teacher, ahem, John Lennon, was right. Life IS what happens when you are busy planning something else.

But what they didn’t say is that sometimes, just sometimes, plan B is even better.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! We had a wonderful night welcoming in the new year and have about 14 thousand photos to post. Grandpa and Grandma, they will be here super soon, I promise.

I have wanted to really make some meaningful resolutions this year and have been very prayerful in my quest to know where I needed to focus my attention. Some are way to personal to share here, and the others might just be to boring, but while I was having my breakfast (that was actually lunch) this afternoon I had to grab a pen and paper because the list just started pouring out. When you ask you receive I guess. More on that later.

Every year I choose a theme for myself to work on for the year. This year I had decided that I was going to have BE PREPARED as my theme. I prayed about that and suddenly felt inspired to change my mind and a scripture came to my mind. So this years theme is now this scripture...

Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;


Happy New Year everyone, and may you have success in all your endeavors this year.