June Overview

June has been an incredible month! Seriously I could have lived several years this past month.

I was in Great Brittan to start the month off. I loved England. My father was born in Liverpool during World War II. My grandfather had been stationed there and met my grandmother.  My grandfather brought my grandmother and father to the states when my father was 3. England felt almost home like to me. While there, my favorite stops were Canterbury and Dover. In Canterbury, Elly Cathedral was beautiful! Down their main road they had a lot of fun shops to explore for books, gifts, candy, paper goods, clothes, purses, jewelery, and when we found ourselves hungry there were pubs and carts with delicious food. I LOVED Dover! Dover felt like the home to my soul. A nostalgic home, it was familiar to me. We explored the castle, then hiked down to the beach which I found to be breathtakingly peaceful. Instead of sand the beach was pebbly and the white cliffs were majestic and safe. The pebbles along the beach were made of worn flint, chalk, and golden pebbles. the chalk and flint were veining through each other. It was amazing!

London was our final stop. It was more crowded, and crazy. To be honest though I could have spent several weeks there and still would not have had enough time to explore. We were able to see the guard practice for the Queen's birthday which was a sight to see. We had the time in our schedule to choose a play of choice. I had been told Matilda was a hit, but they were sold out while we were there. Instead I was able to go see Wicked. What an incredible experience! I loved the story line, the actors and actresses, The stage,props, costumes and everything just made for an awesome experience!

I had gone to England with The Platte Valley Singers. The invite had been extended because I have been participating this past year with the UNK Women's Choir under David Bauer. An experience I cherish and has been fun for me. I love meeting students, making new friends, and performing. My plan is to be in the choir again this coming year as a volunteer. What an adventure.

Shortly after returning from England (Literally 1 day to rest and get over jet lag) I was off to camp with the young women from church. To start out I really felt useless. My feet were killing me from all of the walking we had done in England. The first night of camp I had pulled something in my knee trying to cater to my sore feet. Bishop Chaffin and another brother who were there gave me a blessing which helped drastically. Shortly after the blessing I was placed in charge of designing pins for each of the girls. I loved it! The older girls were very thoughtful in coming up with awards for the younger girls. Since girls camp I have received several Thank Yous from girls in the stake that have totally warmed my heart!

Following Girls Camp I was hoping to take a bit of a breath. However my dear husband had signed the kids up for everything under the sun, and it turned out the activities were all the same week. Our schedule went like this: 9 am orchestra for S man, 11 pick him up. 1 pm take Miss M. to Biz Kidz. 2 pm Take Clubster to acting class. 4 pm pick up C. 5 pick up M. 5:05 drop both boys at swimming, and return for pick-up by 6. Meh. My Main squeeze did help with orchestra drop off and sometimes pick-up, and we alternated on the evenings with the boys and M,making it easier for one of us to prepare dinner. This week I did feel a bit overwhelmed...Thanks for keeping me on my toes Love, I sill love you with all my heart.

We missed a birthday with me being in England, so we threw the party the weekend following all of the classes. Sigh. That was held at Paint Paradise and was a hit with little to no planning on my part so that was a bonus. Though in planning for lunch and ordering pizza we forgot to pick up drinks, so before taking girls home we stopped by Sonic and picked up slushes for each of the girls.

The following week I finally had a chance to rest, it felt great! A dear friend of mine was married that Saturday and I was able to catch up with another friend I have not seen in too long of a time. We actually had the time to sit and talk with for even longer.

For Young Womens last week, we watched the Devotional that Pres. Nelson and his wife had put on at the beginning of the month. President Nelson is moving forward boldly with his call and teaching the youth how they can also do so, it is exhilarating to watch! In the devotional he invited the youth to become actively engaged in the Lord's work here upon the earth. He  not only explained what that looked like but made is sound doable, not overwhelming.

I find myself forgetting that we only need to worry about the one...not the whole. The one can betaken care of individually, and in a moments notice, or over time. He isn't expecting us to be something we aren't do things we can't, or the impossible. It was rather comforting to listen to the devotional and be given tools, and being told that our gifts are just what the Dr. ordered. Seriously I loved the devotional.

The of June last week was Youth Conference. Our leaders who had originally planned on attending had to change plans at last minute. Steve and I apparently looked like the best alternative. Heavenly Father had our backs though. I was able to work out between two other sisters in the ward to take my spot all but one night. Steve ended up going the full time. I am glad I had the time with the kids myself. During that time I was able to help M with her room some, play some one-on-one games with S-man, and take Clubster to the doctor when we had a scare. I love being a mom! I am learning to enjoy it more and more.

During this month I witnessed many miracles. In England I witnessed chances where we could have been robbed and we weren't. In Dover I experienced the castle with out feeling claustrophobic, and the beach with out feeling anxiety about being so near the ocean . On the way to Girls Camp the bishops van gave out just as we entered Broken Bow. Bishop was able to get it fixed in less than an hour, and the shop that fixed it was very generous charging only $10 for his labor. The blessing I received for my knee and feet went into effect quickly. The week of running children all over I felt Heavenly Fathers hand in helping my stay calm and not feel anxiety or overwhelmed. There was one point this past week where I thought I might be having a heart attack. I found it was only a strained muscle for which I received another blessing (this time from My father and husband) and was back to normal in less than 24 hours.

Our last incredible blessing came last Friday in the form of a beautiful health grand baby! She is such a little miracle. It is so fun watching another son step up to the plate of fatherhood with the confidence his father instilled in him through example. i have been so impressed with our boys! They love their wives with their whole hearts as they should, and their children are embraced the moment they arrive. Fatherhood looks good on them. What a privilege to observe. I also found out this month that our third grand baby is in the oven. I know our daughter and son-in-law are going to be great parents alongside the others!

There you go in incredible month coming to a close! My hear feels full of gratitude, love, hope, and the spirit! I feel truly blessed to be living in a day where we have the fullness of the gospel, Priesthood power, medical knowledge, the Internet where we can listen to living prophets at our leisure, and all of the available blessings that go over looked.

Tender Mercies

Guess what! Our missionary is home and no longer a missionary! I have to share his home coming, because he was blessed all the way home. In turn we were too.

Originally he was scheduled to have a 5 hour layover in Denver. We had tried to have that changed, but in so doing we would have had to drive 5 hours to pick him up instead of 5 minutes. I know. When he arrived in Denver another traveler saw him and asked him where he was headed. He told the gentleman and mentioned his layover. The gentleman suggested that he see if he could catch the earlier flight. When Flights aren't full they will allow it at times. So just for fun our young man headed over and asked. They opened the door and let him on.

When he arrived to our small po-dunk of an airport he asked for directions to a public phone. They didn't have one and apparently nobody had one on them for him to borrow. As he was asking around another mother who had just dropped off her son noticed his name tag and asked if by chance he was related to my hubby.

Mean while at the house we were trying to clean things up some and get ready for his return. Things were a little hectic at the moment, we had had some friends stop by, and suddenly I was getting one phone call after another. When things looked like they were slowing down the door bell rang. It kept ringing. My husband was in the living room and I couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting it, so I ran in to find my husband helping our youngest with something. I went to the door and saw a glimpse of black, looked out to see the car and didn't recognize it, but the driver was one of my husbands colleagues, she was grinning from ear to ear. I looked back to see who was at the door and it was OUR MISSIONARY!!!! home 4 1/2 hours early!!!!(and I got to be the lucky one to see him first!)

The plan had been to go with him the following day to get him released. We were able to make arrangements to do it that very night, instead of driving 2 hours to do it, we were able to go 45 min. After his release we went to dinner and then headed home. when we were about 18 miles form home I thought I saw a plane land half an hour before scheduled. When we got in town we decided to stop by the air port and see if his luggage had arrived. It had not only arrived but had been unloaded and was ready for him.

So the tender mercies were that he arrived home early, was released, had dinner, received his luggage, and was home to shower all before his plane had been scheduled to land. We were able to put in a lot of love'n in that four and a half hours we couldn't have done otherwise. Just saying, it was sweet to have him come home!

A Week of Adventure

Well, it seems this week has been full of adventure after adventure! My Children are keeping me on my toes!

We have had "The Adventure of Tooth Paste". My little lady was in the tub and I thought I would run down stairs for a moment. After a few short moments I hear laughter and know I am in trouble. After hitting the stairs as fast as a fat pregnant mama can, I find my little man squeezing two new tubes of tooth paste into the tub, as my little lady smears it all over the walls of the tub. She had already used it as lotion on her face and arms. I wonder if there are benefits for the skin when using tooth paste?

Our second adventure, "The Indoor Pool Adventure" was brought to us again by none other than my little man and little lady. I thought they were playing well together and thought it might be safe to take a cat nap. I awoke hearing my middle of the older boys exclaim :" You think this is funny!? I am going to be late to school." I walked in to find at least 2 gal. of water poured out onto the floor, and some jello stirred into the mess. I have to tell you how blessed I feel that my older boy was willing to help clean up a lot of the mess. I can't say enough what a lucky girl I am.

We had the "Kitty Adventure". My little lady decided she and my little man were going to be kitties. She had poured two bowls of cereal and two heaping bowls of milk for the kitties to eat and lap from. My little man wasn't impressed with where he had been stationed and thought it to be good to relocate. In so doing he spilt most of his milk on the floor. *sigh*. I know it could have been worse.

The final adventure was last night. A group of friends and I try to get together for a girls night once a month at someones home. The designated home this month was mine. My husband helped me ready the house. Just after mopping, my daughter poured some milk on the floor. My little man was playing a game of throwing a bag of pasta down the stairs. I had asked him to stop. Suddenly there was an explosion of pasta at the bottom of the stairs. Instead of snow this year I am seeing in the forecast milk and a variety of other items.

My only regret is not pulling out the camera. Then when these two little ones grow and  have adventures of their own with their little one's I would be able to remind them of the adventures we had. Black mail would even be a possibility...lol! May I add I can't wait until I can keep up with them again? Seriously!

Feel free to share some of your adventures with me. I hope you all have a great day!