Families Are Forever

If today had a theme, it was family. None of the talks or classes at church were on family, but that was still the theme.
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This morning I woke up to a call from the Bishop. (Any time the Bishop calls when you're still in bed, it's not a good thing.) He was calling to tell me that one of the sisters in our ward passed away this morning. It was not completely unexpected; this dear (And I do mean that sincerely, she was so dear to us!) sister had been in the hospital most of the week and we knew that her time was limited. We had been hoping that she could hold on for a few more days so some of her friends could come and say good-bye to her but it was time for her to go home. Her family had been able to talk with her and say their good-byes. She was calm and at peace with what was to happen and that is comforting to her family, but it is still sad to let someone go that you love and enjoy so much.

Our ward family loved this sister! And as we met today in church and the Bishop announced to the ward of her passing, you could feel the love that was felt for her. She is definitely going to be missed. I don't know if people who are not LDS experience quite the same relationships in their congregations, I hope some do. We really do become a family; we call each other "brother" and "sister", we visit one another, share experiences, help one another, etc. For some of us who don't have much immediate family around, members of our ward become our extended family during holidays and special events, etc. So many of the ward members want to help and do something for the family as a way to express their love for the sister we lost. I'm grateful to be a part of such a great ward family, I really do love them.

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I misspoke (mistyped?) earlier, there was a talk about families... in primary (children's sunday school). I'm pretty proud of Acadia, she is always happy to volunteer to speak in primary. In the past, I've helped her write her talks by asking her questions about the topic, then writing down her answers, rearranging them to flow well, and viola, a talk! Now that she is older, I tell her to write the talk herself, first. Then I proofread it, prompt her with questions to see if she can add more detail, etc. Here is the talk she ended up with today:

Family members have responsibilities like working together, doing chores, and caring for one another. There are also spiritual responsibilities like going to the temple, going to church as often as possible, reading the scriptures, saying prayers, keeping the Sabbath day holy, paying your tithing, and keeping the commandments.


I think it’s good to have responsibilities because if we don’t, our parents will have to do everything, and the more you work to together, the quicker it gets done then you can play and have fun. As long as we take care of our responsibilities, our house will be clean and invite the holy ghost to be there, our family will be happy, and we’ll have better relationships with each other.


(D&C 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.


I’d like to bear my testimony that when we help with our responsibilities in our family, we are helping to make our home a house of God.


In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I looked up the scripture to go with her message and I prompted her to share her testimony about it at the end, but for the most part, that was pretty much written by her. :)

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I talked to my brother on the phone today. It was his birthday a couple of days ago, so we called to wish him a Happy Birthday (weekend). :) We don't see any of our siblings very often and it was nice to chat and catch up with him. He and his wife are pretty awesome. (In fact, just the fact that he married such an awesome girl is reason alone to keep him as a brother. ;) lol) They are getting close to finishing up their schooling and it's neat to see them near the end of this part of their life. I am sure they will look back on it with fond memories, but I'm excited to see them enjoy the blessings of being in a home where they want to live, working in careers that they have chosen for themselves. (Not to mention, hopefully adding to the cousin collection.) lol

We're really looking forward to our short visit next month for another one of my brother's mission farewell. We will all be together again and that's always a fun time. :)

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Today I'm grateful for my families, in all their varieties. It's nice to be a part of something that is bigger than yourself and to know that you have the love and support of people around you. And it's also nice to know that no matter how far apart you are from the ones you love, you're still thought of and cared for. Families are Forever. I believe it and I love it. :)

When was the last time you felt inspire?

Up until 5 minutes ago, my answer would have been "about 2 hours ago".  Whether your answer is "earlier today" or "last week" or "it's been years", you WILL feel inspired when you see this.  It takes less than 2 minutes to watch but you will be SO GLAD that you did. :)



I loved the talk that the clips of this video were taken from and the images and music just enhanced the message that President Uchtdorf shared. 

If you would like to see more of these "Mormon Messages" in short video clips, check out their YouTube account.

Good things to know... But if it turns out you don't know them, that's okay too!

* JoAnn's opens at 9am. Not 8:30am. So, don't pull up at 8:25 expecting to see doors about to open.

But it turns out, that's okay because my 9am Jazzercise class was cancelled, so I was able to go back to JoAnn's at 9am after all. :)

* Last week I got a reminder call that the girls appointment at the dentist was for today. But I couldn't remember what time they said.

It doesn't really matter what time it was though, because I decided to call and reschedule since Acadia's been sick all week, even though she's fine now. Problem is, I forgot to call until just now.

However, that's okay, too because turns out they called me too early last week - their appointment is for NEXT Friday. (At 10:30am) :)

* Dishwashers won't actually wash dishes unless you remember to turn them on.

But since I just found some more dishes to add to the load, it's a good thing I hadn't started it yet!

Picture a Washington Sunset

Here, let me help...



Rain showers in brilliant sunlight is awesome.  A rain shower in a brilliant sunset is even better! 

And yes, we do get a lot of rain, but we also get a lot of these beautiful double rainbows.  A couple of weeks ago, I saw a full double rainbow, from one end to the other, just as brilliant as this one where you can see every single color in it.  I never tire of scenes like this... and I love that it happens all the time, right in my backyard.  :)

My Grateful Post

I feel extra grateful today.

I'm grateful for so many things right now, including:

•My family
•My health
•My family members' health
•My testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored Gospel
•My home
•My husband's job
•Good friends
•Our good credit
•That I'm not any of the people involved in this show. (Especially poor Mel. I feel so bad for her.)
•Auto Bill-Pay. Seriously. lol
•Books (especially reading books with/to my family)
•Food. Especially yummy food. :)
•Baby safety gates. Big time.
•Pianos
•LOTR Commentary. Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it. ;)
•Sunshine
•Rain
•Neighbors who are also our friends.
•My wicked cool sports bottle Ryan gave me for Christmas.
•Socks
•Blogs
•and many, many more things that I don't have time to mention.

Just makes me want to smile. :D

Just another Monday morning...

Today I realized that Aurora has a lock on her bedroom door. I realized this just moments after she did. More accurately, I realized this just moments after she locked me out of her room.

Yeah, I don't think this is a good thing. Especially since I do not have a key to this lock.

I think Ryan will be changing out someone's doorknob tonight. Turns out, our bathroom does not have a lock on it. Maybe it's time that it does. Though, we should still probably find a key for it. :S

March???

Really??? Time is going by so fast! I'm not sad to see March arrive; after all, it comes in like a lion and out like a lamb right? (I wouldn't mind being a little closer to the "lamb" weather... not that we've had much "lion" like weather around here lately.) It just seems too soon to be March. Didn't we just celebrate the New Year?

And speaking of lions and lambs... Saw Twilight for the 5th time last night. lol

Edward: And so the lion fell in love with the lamb...
Bella: What a stupid lamb.
Edward: What a sick, masochistic lion.

Hee, hee. Twilight makes me smile. :)