Slice of Life:Summer Storms

I have been through a couple of hurricanes and some major floods. I have stories about all of them. One of the most faith building ones was when I was single and owned my home. My brother was staying with me at the time and attending college. We awoke at 1 or 2 am in the morning to the wind howling and rain coming down in sheets. I immediately ran to the window and peered out. I kid you not that I could sense a tornado forming over head. I felt prompted to knock on my brothers door to ask him to pray with me. I was to scared to be able say a prayer and asked him if he would say it. Although, he had just said one privately, he agreed to kneel down with me. We knelt and asked the Lord to protect us and my two boys and our home. We also said other things in the prayer, but as that was the main order of business, I honestly can't remember the rest of what was said. We were really scared! After we said the prayer, I really felt that we would be okay and I went back to bed with my two boys cuddled up with me and went to sleep. The next day I heard that a tornado had touched down not that far from us. I am really thankful that we had that experience. It taught me that whenever I feel afraid, that if I have the faith in my Father's love for me that I can call on him for protection and to ease those fears. I have had similar experiences with Big Red and I know that I never doubt that the Lord's spirit can bring me peace in the most turbulent of experiences.

Slice of Life #5 The Road to Drivers License

Well here is a Daddy's day story leading up to my procurement of the much coveted document - the drivers license!
We were driving my older sister up to college when my Dad decided to let me drive the car for the very first time. I'm talking I had never been in the drivers seat even to drive around the drive way. I'm thinking, "what!?, Did you ask me if I wanted to drive?". The answer would have been a "NO!". Of course, at that age I was too timid to say anything, which people would laugh at now, but really I was. So I hopped into the drivers seat. Now, we were taking two cars, so that Texasblu would have a car to drive while up at college. We didn't have cell phones back then, but we did have CB's. I should have been fine driving on the long stretch of New Mexico rode, is what my Dad was thinking. Unfortunately, it was fated to be a short drive, which he should have realized when I asked as we pulled out..."What side of the rode should I be on?". To say I was terrified is putting it lightly. I am also a stickler for rules. Well we were falling behind my Mom and so my Dad wanted me to step on it. They had made a turn and in trying to catch up with them he had me turn too soon. So he's getting really antsy now. We are pulling up to this stop sign and he's yelling at me, "go go!". Because no cars were coming and he was trying to get us caught up. However, I knew enough about stop signs that I knew you had to look both ways to see if a car was coming before you stopped. So I am trying to look both ways and follow his directions at the same time which since the street dead ended there, I was putting us in a ditch. Of course, NOW...he is saying, "STOP, STOP!" I mean really, you'd think my Dad could make up his mind. And then he had the gall to lay the whole thing at MY feet, and I'm thinking, "I never wanted drive in the first place anyways :P ". There were more bumps on the way to my getting a drivers license but I'll save those stories for another day. I have to say this first one was probably the funniest. So I hope I haven't made you fall out of your chair or wet your pants :)
And parents, don't take forgranted that your kids know anything about driving when beginning to teach them, lol.

Family Reunions

The 'Slice of Life Prompt' is family reunions. I haven't attended alot of family reunions in my lifetime, and I'll probably have more stories on that after I attend Big Red's next weekend, but there are two family reunions that have made an impression on me.

The first was when my brother came back from his mission. He's the one on the right. My younger sister who was living with me at the time went with me to pick him up at the airport. I was excited to get to be the one to pick him up, but while he was gone I didn't really feel his absence. He was doing the Lord's work and I missed him, but I didn't get all emotional about him being gone like my Mom ;) because I knew he'd be back. So it surprised me when he came into the baggage area that tears were in my eyes and in hers and his and the love that we had for each other was so strong in the air and how proud we were of him and glad to have him back. I knew then that that was what it would be like after we return to Heavenly Father if we've lived to be true and faithful.

The other reunion is fairly recent and occurs constantly as of late. My sweet Lil Red has realized the phrase, "I miss you". So if I have just been gone to the store for 10 minutes and come back in the door, you would have thought I had been gone for a year. The arms open wide and he runs as quick as his little toddler feet can carry him to wrap them around my neck and says, "I miss yous". I have to admit that I have felt tears smart my eyes more than once at such innocent and sincere expression of love. I also have to admit that there have been times that I have left the house just so that I can hear that sweetness, lol. Which goes to say that you don't need to wait for long moments of time to go by to appreciate being together with someone again and that has impressed me that I need to be good about showing that I miss family members and the contributions they make and just their being there when they have been off to work or school or visiting others overnight. It emphasizes that they are an important person in my life and that I love them . Thanks Lil Red!

Temple Goal Reached!

On the day before Mothers Day, I recieved the best Mother's Day gift ever! I was sealed to my husband and my FOUR boys and any children to come for all eternity. This is a very big deal. Why am I just now blogging about it? Well I wrote about it in my journal, and just realized tonight (as I'm suffuring from an upper respitory virus, yuck!) that I never blogged about it, lol.

The day dawned bright and beautiful with fantastic weather especially for Texas :) Two of my siblings were staying in my home so they could be a part of such a sacred and wonderful occasion. My sister that came with her family jumped through some hoops to come, and I am so glad that she did, seeing as how she lived with me during some of my harder years in life and saw me through many heartbreaks. She deserved to be there to see the fruits of the Lord's labor in my life. But I digress...

We started out the day at the park. The boys, uncles included, played some friendly football. Big Red kept the little ones happy with their own balls. Although, they kept trying to hone in on the older guys fun once in a while. My sister enjoyed the atmosphere and loving on her 5 month old. My sister in law and I went for a nice walk on the trail winding through the park, so we could chat for awhile. I LOVE our chats! When the guys got tired of football playing I came over to mess with them for awhile, but eventually we made our way back to the house to play a game of Loaded Questions while the little ones went down for a nap. This is a great getting to know you game, and I think the older boys had fun getting to know a little bit more about their aunts and uncles. We had so much fun that we almost let to much time get away with us and had to start rushing around so that the household that had swelled from 6 to 12 could be ready on time. We made it to our appointed time with time to spare ;)

I have to say that the temple workers are so awesome about making you feel like your royalty. The whole process was awesome. There is just no other word! It was very meaningful to me to be able to have my Mom come help me dress in the bridal changing room. It was humorous to me to have this huge room to myself and this big closet to hang a huge wedding dress in and my needs were so simple. Even though it was not my Mom's wedding dress that I wore. It was my Mom's temple dress that I wore, as my dress wouldn't fit due to the joys of nursing, lol. Those moments as Mom and daughter preparing for the realization of a major choice in life was very meaningful and sweet. It contrasts sharply to the harried picture popping moments before my wedding, where some unrelated person dictated my time with my parents. It was quiet and a time of reflection. I had time to say a prayer of gratitude as I waited for my Mom to come up. I have to say it was one of the most real and fulfilling experiences of my life from start to finish. The time I spent with my husband in the celestial room as we awaited the actual sealing was the same calm moments spent in reflection and reveling in the sweetness of our love. Again it contrasts sharply to the actual wedding where one is usually a bundle of nerves and doubts can assail. After 3 years being married to my husband, I can say that I was more sure of my desire to be sealed to him than I was the day that I married him. What a blessing it is when we listen to the promptings of the Lord. And I know of a surety that that is the reason that we ended up together to begin with ,as we were both allowing are doubts to keep us just friends in the beginning.

I won't say much about the sealing. My thoughts are recorded in my journal and it was just to sacred and special to share here, but I will say that seeing my sweet boys come in all dressed in white was an amazing experience. My two older ones told me later that they had to keep their laughter in check at seeing Big Red and I in our temple finery. It was the opposite for me. I think as a mother my heart was about to burst from pride at the handsomeness of my family. Watch out girls, my two older boys are getting close to dating age! :)

We were again made to feel like royalty as friends started snapping pictures left and right as we exited the temple. One of my adopted sisters that I've written about on here before was able to make it with her husband and quickly became our appointed photographers. I will embarass her a bit here to note that her being there was as important to me as the rest of my family's being there. We met through visiting teaching, and she became more than a friend to me as she continued her service to me and my boys long after she was reassigned. The two toddlers, Little T and Lil Red were barely restrained from jumping in the fountain and held up under the onslaught of pictures. I'll try to post a bunch later. My Father in law made me feel very special by telling me that he loved me as we sat outside by the fountains and how he is so glad that I'm part of their family. It meant alot to me to have such sweet words from the patriarch of my husband's family as I couldn't hear such words from my own Father. I wish I could say that I felt his presence during the proceedings, but I cannot. There were things that happened that reminded me of him and his love for me, and I know he is happy for me. I did feel however the presence of my Heavenly Father and his pleasure at the choices we have made to bring us to this juncture. I think that is the most important feeling that we can have, especially since our spirits know that we are here to work on becoming like him. It is no wonder then that we experience such great joy upon feeling his approval. I want my siblings that weren't able to be there to know that they were missed and maybe that is why I couldn't feel my Dad's presence. Maybe he was helping to comfort them somehow. I do know that the important thing is for us all to make it back to Heavenly Father for the really BIG day when we realize our blessings of exaltation.

(After those comments the rest of this sounds so lame, lol, but afterwards, we all went to eat a barbecue place, and were excited that one of my three musketeer friends from my single days was able to make it with his wife. It was a long evening and I thought it appropriate that my siblings had left to go stay with my Mom for mother's day and going home it was just us. Our newly sealed family.

My Hero: From "Slice of Life" Prompt

I really don't know how to condense down to one hero. I have had so many. My two biggest heroes have been my parents. I was just telling my husband how I remember my Dad wanting to be relatable to others and struggling with it. So he decided to work on his joke telling skills which means that us kids were the guinea pigs. While we heard some of the same jokes over and over, I learned that you can overcome social fears if you just have the courage to try something new and work at it. I really credit him with my being the outgoing person that everyone sees me as. My Mom has been my hero in alot of areas, but #1 as the wonderful wife she has been to my Dad. She always edified him. She found ways to learn and grow with him and she was always by his side. Another one of my heroes is my oldest sister who has started this blog prompt. When we were growing up there was noone prettier than my sister. All the boys liked her ;) She was smart. She got this big trophy for reading the most books throught out the school year. She seemed to me to be good at everything. She did cheerleading, then she picked up my thing twirling. She played the flute and didn't seem to be terrified like I was about performing on it infront of others and was much better than I at it. She had good ideas like creating the Libby's Stand where we sold peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches and servings of open cans of green beans to my parents and grandparents for a quarter. And no we didn't pay them back for the ingredients that we pilfered from the kitchen. It didn't matter how much we quarreled, if someone was picking on me, she would stand up for me. Once she even tried to take on a teacher, it was probably a good thing that she couldn't find her. When I turned 18, she through me a surprise party. I had always complained about not having any great parties growing up b/c my birthday was right up against halloween and back then halloween parties were big. So she threw me the most memorable and creative birthday party ever. It's even on tape somewhere. When I went through my divorce, she did what she could to help me handle being a single Mom. I still use my homemade cookbook that she put much work into. I have to say it's looking a little worse for wear. When I got married, she knew how much I wanted her there, but there was no way should could make it due to distance and weather so she spent the whole evening before chatting with me about the upcoming wedding and all my bridal issues. So she has shown me that we protect those we love, that we give encouragement and cheerlead for those that we care about, that we get creative when can't do what we'd like to do and we do what we can for others to make this world a little brighter. She's a pretty amazing sister and a wonderful Mom and wife full of rich ideas and talents. I'm pretty lucky that I have her to look up to. What's really cool is that I get to thank my hero and know that she'll read this and be able to see that she's made a difference. So not trying to suck up to the prompter ;) I didn't edit so if you read from the beginning you can see that I just started writing and realized that she IS my big hero :)
Thank you!

Firsts: From "Slice of Life" Prompt

I think my first BIG first....you know the first thing that gave me a real sense of freedom and accomplishment was getting my own apartment. I was in the middle of a yucky divorce and I had a job that paid a little more than minimum wage at Foleys. I was living with my two toddlers, at the women's shelter in Conroe, TX. It was not a fun time for me. You had to share a room with one or more other mothers and their children. And of course not everyone has your same beliefs or way doing things and that could be stressful. Add into that that the kids all had a hard time as their own lives were being turned topsy turvy and you can imagine the stress and tension felt by the adults. We also had to have our kids in bed by 8pm if I remember right, so that we could meet back down stairs for our resident meeting every evening. After that we would split up and do our chores before going to bed ourselves. Well with being in a strange place and Mom being gone all day, you can imagine that my two boys didn't really want to go to sleep. It was then that I developed our bedtime routine that would become a blessing and a memory for my two oldest for a longtime there after. I would read a story out of the picture Book of Mormon. Then one other story of their choice. Then we would say prayers and I afterwards I would sing song after song till they fell asleep. It is so funny, I remember feeling so good about my singing after a fellow roommates daughter put in a song request. I was always so afraid that I would miss the deadline to be at the meeting and get kicked out, but I was always blessed. The kids would fall asleep just in time. But you can imagine my relief when my application for an apartment through HUD housing,( government assisted housing), came through. The apartments were in the worst part of town. Later I was told that it was the area where cops refused to go. My Dad was so worried about us going to live there, and the only way he reconciled himself to it, I was told later, was that their was a lady there that he knew that said she would keep an eye out for me. The apartment wasn't mutch. there was no carpet. It was all linoleum tile. And not the pretty kind if there is a pretty kind, lol. It was the stuff you see in hospitals. The walls were all white. It was kind of dingy but it had two bedrooms. There was no little porch but it was on the first floor and that was a blessing in some ways. Eventually the behaviors of the other people there would drive me to seek shelter till another application went through, but in those first days I was so excited! I was thrilled to be out on my own. Atlast! I was going to be taking care of myself and I was proving that I was capable of it. I was so excited about my little space that I asked everyone over to celebrate Christmas Eve at my house.

I wrote my Dad a poem that year to go with a picture of he and I in my first snow together. This is me reading it to him. The poem was a thank you for believing in me. He had just helped me to buy my first car, so that I could continue forward. I remember my parents brought down my Aunt Lynn that year from Oklahoma. She came to visit too. It was the last time that I would see her before she died. We bought her pink pig slippers because that was her favorite thing to collect, pigs. She loved them as you can tell by the picture. I thought that my Christmas tree was the most beautiful thing ever. It was the one thing that I asked my husband, at the time, for. The boys and I had decorated pine tree cones and I bought ice garland strands. I loved that natural theme and built on it year after year till I remarried and had to merge our Christmas's. In the I even commemorated that first Christmas on our own in my own apartment by buying an our first Christmas ornament.

I have it to this day. I know most people would think that is weird since those are usually for a couple's first Christmas, but for me it's still important to remember that first. The knowledge that I could stand on my own two feet and make it. I think everyone should know that. To have that innate belief in themselves that they can make it, no matter what life throws at them. Lot's of firsts for me that year and definitely a year to feel grateful and blessed.

New Calling and Tidbits

Next week I will be released as a Relief Society teacher and called to be the new compassionate service leader. After talking to my mom about the calling, I'm actually excited. When it was extended to me earlier, I felt they were phasing me out of teaching b/c they didn't think I could handle it with the two little ones and they were giving me a less demanding calling. Now I realize that it will probably be more demanding and very fun for me as I love getting to know people and finding ways to serve others. It's funny that I can look back over the last year and see how Heavenly Father has prepared me to serve in this capacity. From being on the recieving end to giving and helping to coordinate service. There have also been lessons that I've taught that have prepared me spiritually as well. So I am excited and ready to magnify!

As for tidbits, I'd like to know if anyone would like to start experimenting with me in the transferal of energy from toddler to parent. I figure that if this can be accomplished, just to a median point, I might stand a chance against little Red. My poor baby has had his face smashed in by Lil Red and been tripped over and pounced upon by him more times than I can count, due to the never ending supply of toddler energy. Sometimes I can see them as Tigger and Pooh. Although Lil Red has also had the need of many a kiss to the knee and bandaid's over scratches as well. Sometimes he's his own worst enemy. Imagine Tigger's tail falling behind the actual bounce and you'll envision what I mean, LOL! I am grateful though that Lil Red has so much independent spirit built up in him. It is great that I can give him his clothes and tell him to put them on while I keep going with my own readiness. That I can get him to wash his hands and brush his teeth. While I get baby dressed. He truly is a BIG boy! and growing every day ;)

Don't you love the energy in this picture ;)

I know you've noticed that I keep calling our new one baby. I'll have a nick name for him in a little while. He's only two months and in many ways over shadowed by Lil Red, so I'd like to give him a while before I saddle him with a nickname on here. So please bear with the constant referrals to my sweet baby :)

Hope your Sunday was fabulous!