I don't know about your neck of the woods, but it has been so windy here this week! Yesterday, Dad and I went to Denver for a meeting, and coming home, we realized the car was low on gas. By that time, our only option was to take the Briargate Parkway exit, and we prayed ourselves to the Maverick on Research, where we literally drove in on fumes. 😳 Driving all the way home into a super strong headwind on the freeway really made a difference in our gas usage. Lesson learned. 😁 AND that wasn't the only exciting thing that happened yesterday . . . I decided to take Sendai for a walk before we left for Denver, so I got her leash, she was waiting by the door so excited to go, we walked outside together, down the steps, when we both realized at the same time that I still had her harness and leash in my hand, so of course, she took one look back at me and then trotted off down the street.
Just as I was yelling for her, our mailman drove up and saw her down on the corner, so he continued to drive down to where she was (he usually does a U turn in front of our house to put the mail in the boxes), and got out of his van and enticed her over until she was close enough he could hold onto her collar. Sendai LOVES our mailman, and every time we are out walking, and she sees a white van, she always has to pull me over just in case it might be him. Yay, for the mailman! He saved the day!
DO YOU KNOW WHAT A COO IS?
Well, I didn't until this past Wednesday, when Emma picked up Ben and brought him over after school. Angella had to go to Longmont for work, and Hollie had to go to work after school, so we got to have Ben for a couple of hours. He played with the trains downstairs for a while, and then came upstairs and wanted some paper and a pencil so he could draw a coo. He tried to explain it to me, but I wasn't getting it, so we finally looked it up on my phone and found that a coo is a Scottish cow
He spent over an hour focused on copying this picture of a coo, and his finished product was amazing. I think we have a budding artist in the family. Oh, and also, he brought me some flowers ❤
IT WAS A FASHION SHOW!
Monday afternoon, Paul and Samantha stopped by. They had been shopping, actually, I think Sammi had been shoping and Paul was the Fashion Advisor. He is such a good sport and an amazing brother. Sammi found some really cute things to take on their cruise over Spring Break -
She found this outfit at Target, and some really nice shorts (not too short), and a couple of dresses from Altered States.
SPEAKING OF PAUL . . .
He defied all of MY logic and took himself on a camping trip to Zion's National Park, leaving last Thursday. It was a long drive, and I worried that he was going alone, but he sent some photos back and reported to his Mom and Dad that he was having a great time.
I am so happy he had fun, climbed, and hiked some trails that were new to him, and visited a national park he had never been to before. (I'm not too sure about the camping part, because I did hear rumors that there was Panda Express for dinner one night😁)
We really hit the jackpot this week because we got to see so many of the grandchildren. Thursday and Friday, we got to have Jake with us because he had a case of the flu with a pretty persistent cough. He was miserable on Thursday, but on Friday, he had perked up a little and thought that maybe some ice cream would feel good on his throat.
ABSOLUTELY! Because Ice Cream Cures Everything!!!
OFF TO PROVO TO MEET THE PARENTS . . .
Kim and Chris traveled to Provo this weekend to meet Amelia's parents. Ameila works at Great Harvest Bread Company and Chris sent me this photo of their lunch one day -
If you look closely, you can see that their sandwiches are made with green bread - a little nod to St Patrick's Day.😃🍀
It was a short trip for them, I think they were getting home today-
IT WAS A SPA WEEKEND . . . for Kate
For the last couple of years, Kate and her friend, Amanda, have spent a long weekend in a spa on Lake Genevea (Wisconsin) to celebrate Amanda's birthday.
Kate looks so stress-free - I'm wondering how that might feel???
She is home for just a couple of days and then off to Atlanta for a conference. I'll be anxious to hear her tales of TSA and the government shutdown, and how that affected her travel. Sure hope it won't be too bad!❤
AND, thank you for the Sunday Selfie!
FOLLOW HIM -
During the week or over the weekends, Dad and I really enjoy the Follow Him podcast, because they always have the best guests. This week it was our friend, Brad Wilcox, and I love how he gets so passionate (sometimes dramatic) when trying to make a point.
We listened to this yesterday on the way to Denver and I wanted to share a few thoughts from his talk about Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers, and cast into prison, but regardless of his circumstances, he always tried to what he knew would be right in the sight of the Lord.
"One of the trials of this life is that we do not usually receive immediately the full blessing for righteousness or the full cursing for wickedness. That it will come, it is certain. But ofttimes, there is a waiting period that occurs, as was the case with Job and with Joseph. He said, He’s doing the right thing knowing that eventually he’ll be blessed, but it wasn’t right away. I think that too, he had to rely on, I know who I am. I know what I’m supposed to be. I’m in prison unjustly, but maybe knowing his identity helped him through that.
Notice that when Joseph is in prison, he interprets dreams for those who are there. I mean, nobody comes to him and says, “Hey, the Pharaoh wants to see you. ” He’s just serving the people around him, trying to do what he can to help them. Sometimes all of us are waiting for some, like we said at the beginning of this program, some calling, some assignment so that we can stand up and do something. Remember, I said since I’ve been released, I found out that callings end, but covenants don’t end. And he’s there in the prison keeping his covenants. Of course, God is guiding him. Of course, God is inspiring him. Not just when he’s talking to Pharaoh, but when he’s talking to a butler, when he’s talking to a baker, when he’s talking to men who are there with hope or without hope. He is serving where he is, keeping his covenants, even when it’s not in a very visual and important way."
"I love that both Moses and Enoch had this objection to being called, but I’m slow of speech, whatever that means. And the Lord doesn’t say, “You’re the best, you’re awesome.” He just says, “I’ll be with you.” Here we are again, the same promise. I will be right there. Then there we are at the sacrament table getting that same promise. We can always have him to be with us."
"When Debbie and I had the chance to be mission leaders 20 years ago, it was when Elder Holland was overseeing the work in Chile. We got to spend part of our mission working directly with him, and it was amazing to watch how he dealt with some really serious problems, some real serious issues and a lot of real serious pain. He was able to do that so well and with so much love and with so much compassion. One time he came and he spoke to our mission, he did a little Q&A. I’ll never forget when one of the missionaries who was going through some hard times, I knew about the hard times because I was his mission president. I knew about the hurt that he was feeling because family members were making choices that were breaking his heart. I knew about some of the personal challenges that he was facing."
" I knew about some of the rejection he’d faced and some of the things that people had said about him behind his back that weren’t true. I knew all of the pain that he was expressing in his question to Elder Holland, and he said, Why does it have to be so hard? I can’t even get one foot in front of the other. I can’t even deal with one issue before another one knocks me down. I can’t even share the gospel with one person before he rejects it. Why does it have to be so hard? Elder Holland said to him something that he said later when he spoke to missionaries in the MTC, but I heard him say it to my missionary. He said, How can we expect it to be easy for us when it was never easy for Christ?"
"Talk about undeserved suffering. How can we expect to be his disciples? How can we expect to claim to represent him if we haven’t taken a few steps toward Gethsemane. If we haven’t taken a few steps toward Calvary, if we haven’t wept at a tomb, how can we expect it to be easy for us when it was never easy for him? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Yeah, sometimes he’s not gonna lead us through the green pastures. Sometimes he’s not gonna take us to still waters because green pastures and still waters are not always going to be the thing that can teach us and help us the most, but he will be with us. And if he can do what was so hard and so unfair, then he can help us do it too. Where he leads us, we can safely go."
