Graduation

Finally, a crafty item again.
It's been fun to sit down and make something again.
Hard to believe this is the week - another milestone moment and I get closer to having an empty nest.

I love Memorial Day. We have so much to be grateful for. For the sacrifices of so many, Thanks to them and to the Lord for this country that I love! Tomorrow we are playing softball with some other families in the morning and having the traditional cookout later. It's going to be a hot day, but should be a good one too.

Tuesday is high school graduation. Next Sunday is seminary graduation. As I put up pictures of Steven's life yesterday on a poster for the seminary graduation I purposely made it completely non-scrapbooky. I didn't want this poster to be anything about my creativity. I wanted it to be ALL about my boy. Starting at 3 months and including 35 pictures up to April of this year, the pictures show how much he has grown up. Sorting through the ones I have taken through the years was a bittersweet opportunity. How grateful I am for all the pictures I took. Deep down, I don't think its possible for there to be too many photos. It made me so grateful for all the scrapbooking I have done because it was easy for me to put things in order and to have choices of photos to draw from. It also made me cry more than once.

Why does it have to be almost over already? It seems like just yesterday he was so excited to go to his grandma's house as a toe-headed three year old. How excited we were when he picked up a book and started reading his first words. How fun has it been to just sit and talk with him or watch a great game and share in the enthusiasm for the team we're rooting for? Now, here he is, driving and dating and graduating from high school. I will miss so many of the new excitements in his life. As excited as I am for those opportunities that await him, and wouldn't want him to miss any of them, I will miss him.

He wasn't always an easy child. His personality has changed twice, dramatically. When he was seventeen months and again when he was thirteen. In both times he physically changed almost overnight. The first time, it was like his body and his brain became disjointed, and fortunately, they hooked up again when he became a teenager. In the middle, it wasn't always fun. He was like a rebel without a cause yet with a smile and an easiness to his spirit that gave me hope. What he never lost was a love and commitment for family that has contintued to grow and that blesses our family in a hundred ways today. I will miss his good influence. He is an example to us all.

So, tonight, I had him put on his robes, and pose for some pictures on this beautiful late spring day. He received the Duty To God award today also. It is also my Dad's birthday, so it just seems fitting that it be a tribute to the legacy he will carry on as a righteous priesthood holder, doing his duty to God for the rest of his life. It's a day to remember. He set a lot of goals and has reached many of them this year. Spiritually, scholastically, Scouting, its been a big year and now he's on his way to the next phase of life. I guess one is never ready, but here we go. I thank the Lord for the opportunity to be his mother!

 

Pain and Joy

Just a month ago my mom was visiting us. Today she is visiting my brother's family for a graduation, baptism, and Eagle Court of Honor and unfortunately, had to go to the ER this morning with pneumonia. After five hours she was sent home. I pray she can rest and recover soon.

Talked to Cowgirl today. She's been sick for a week, been to the doctor's once. Now her chest is starting to hurt.


My cousin Suzy has been sick for a long time, MaryAnn too.
My dear friend, now with four strokes is still sick. I saw her again yesterday. We pray for her daily. Let her be better.
Our Relief Society lesson was on Elder Holland's talk, and taught the difference between true love and lust. Those who had true love and that love betrayed them were so hurt and the pain so real. I cried with them, and my heart still hurts just thinking about them.
Life is not fair. It is not easy. It is not pretty. Yet, it can be. I saw pictures on Pioneer Women's website last night, titled Happiness, of children laughing and babies holding their soldier daddies and I just wept, that their happiness was real. It was good.

There is opposition in all things. I ache for those who are hurting. I rejoice with those who are happy. I talked to my dear friend, Cynthia, today. I realized that it is the scriptures that keep me from giving up or holding onto doubt. They are filled with hope. They promise us of another place where it is paradise and better. They ground me in He, who descended below them all. So, I give my sadness for all those who are sad to Him. It doesn't take the pain away, but it makes it bearable, because I know He cares for their pain. He wept too. So, when I weep, He understands.

Simplifying

Notice a new layout? Simpler. Cleaner. Less Distractions.

As a teenager my definition of a good life was to be busy. Today, my definition is less about filling time, but making sure what I'm doing is serving my primary objective.

Time on the computer has become more a distraction for me than I need. I have been inspired by other women who have found that the closer they get to the Lord, He tells them the same things He's told me; pull back, spend less time there and more time here, with my family and serving others. Its become a necessity in my life to spend some time every day, but I can't let it take prime hours. They're just too precious.

I saw a sign at the ball park today with a cute little girl with short hair holding a doll. It read, "Casey's Foundation because Life Is Precious," and had a website.

Life is precious. I need to use my time more wisely.

I passed a book on to Amy titled, Simplify. She laughed at first, saying, Here I am in the hospital, you don't think it's simple enough? But after her mom started reading it to her, they told me, they got it. We root out what gets in the way of our coming fully to the Lord in heart, might, mind and strength.

While I am not sitting in a hospital bed I need to stay focused on what I can do that will positively impact others. Consider this my major weeding day.

Blessings and Surprises

MyGirl turned 16 a week ago Saturday. Stating repeatedly that she did NOT want a surprise party I told her she would be getting a day of surprises instead. The first one started in January and when Cowgirl and I planned for her next visit - a surprise on MyGirl's birthday then staying through Mother's Day. For all of Jan., Feb., and March I kept the secret, then I slowly started letting it leak out to close friends and family, as my anticipation grew, but still being careful to keep it secret from MyGirl.
So the day started off at 7:50, when she woke up. She came downstairs where I was making homemade rolls (her request) and after I gave her a birthday hug, she said she had a headache. I reminded her she wasn't planning on getting up for another hour, so why didn't she go back to bed, which she did. (Good thing, as the surprises weren't scheduled until 9!)
Here in order were her surprises:
9 - breakfast in bed,(cinnamon rolls) with presents of a new watch and fabulous smelling soaps and her homemade card.

10- new turquoise table and lime green rug for her room, which she loved. The chair - not so much, so returned that later in the day.
11- a massage at the Baltimore Wellness Center with our friend, Claire. She loved this! Afterwards she kept saying, "I feel as light as a feather."

12 noon - out to lunch at her favorite restaurant, Cosi
1 - home to pick up the chair to return, open some small gifts from her family, and get her grandparents' card with cash for a shopping trip to the mall
2 - While shopping (and finding a darling new dress and long white shirt that both look fabulous on her,) she received an I-tunes gift card and then got her ears pierced.

3:20ish ( we were late with all the fun we were having at the mall!) she had a cute
balloon tied to her dinner chair and received more clothes, which she loved!

4- We blindfolded her and our whole family jumped in the Suburban for her next surprise. We thought we had pulled it off, when she said, upon entering the airport, "I know those bumps on the road," referring to the 15mph speed bumps - and I could only think to myself why did I not think of this?! Anyhow, she kept her blindfold on, and I hopped out, and sent out the next surprise:

Cowgirl in the flesh!
MyGirl was surprised! She was speechless for a few seconds - "You came all the way from Utah??? I thought you were with Grandma??" (Yes, on the way to the airport!) It made her feel loved for sure! (Although, we know deep down, she had been hoping perhaps for a trip to Disneyworld, it was still Good!)
5 - A Vera Bradley journal from Cowgirl and the homemade rolls were ready!
6- Dinner and a homemade icecream/brownie cake, as she requested.
7- A new movie to watch together
8 - A picture of the Eiffel tower to go with her bright room
9 - A CD from her Daddy featuring songs fathers sing to daughters - really sweet, with Butterfly Kisses being the first one.
Where was the camera during all the evening activities? Forgotten, in the joy of being a family of six all together again. Truly I was just savoring the moments.

She loved her day. She was surprised and she will remember this day always.

The next week we all had lots of fun with Cowgirl, and us girls, especially did lots together.

We went back to the Azalea garden. This time there were fewer blooms, but the evening was perfect and we enjoyed walking around together.

We gardened, watched Little Buddy's baseball game, went to BigBuddy's high school concert, shopped, cooked, went out to eat, stayed up late talking, played a lot of games together, just everything a good week with the girls should be. All the kids all went out on Fri. by themselves to play ball and have a picnic while Mike and I went out for our own date night. The girls then had their own sleepover, with late night karaoke, nail painting, hair, and make-up sessions, and lots of laughter. Finally, after all these years, they are great friends, and when it was time for Cowgirl to go, she was mourned and missed, and still is! Especially by MyGirl.
It proved the adage that its never too late to work on a relationship. After 16 years, this one that had been growing slowly for so long finally blossomed brightly.
It was a great blessing for me to watch them love each other and enjoy the strength of sisterhood.
In all the good, there have been several challenges too. One, though, requires the collective prayers of others, so I share it here, and that is for the recovery of my dear friend, Amy, who suffered from not one but two strokes, of unknown causes. She is finally in rehabilitation this week, but its been an emotional roller coaster. I have to thank the Lord for letting us keep her longer in our lives. My children call her Aunt Amy, she has been so good to them. We all went to visit her on Fast Sunday and it was sweet. As a friend my life has been richly blessed by her love and wisdom. She still has many struggles. I pray for her daily. Life is good, but it is fragile. We are blessed but we endure hard trials. In ALL these things, we can only put our hand in the larger clasp of God and hold on tightly, hanging on when the road is bumpy as He somehow gets us to keep going when its easier to collapse in a puddle and quit. How can we thank Him enough for never giving up on us? For always being there in the darkest nights? I want to use my blog to praise Him more. He IS my rock and my salvation!