Catching Up

Well, hello!
Things have been...ridiculous-ly awesome!

Wanna know what I've been up to?


First of all, my little munchkin sister turned the big 1-0. And she had an ice cream cake with a SPARKLER for a candle!! She absolutely LOVED it!! It was so cute!
And even though it was her birthday, our family spent the better part of the day working on our yard. But she was a great sport about it, and helped out. Because then there was a-partying to do!!

Okay, and then--PROM.

You know it!!

Abbie and Kimmi came over to my house to get ready. We watched BBC's Robin Hood--gaaah! So good! I'm pretty sure Abbie is hooked on it now! :)
Then we went uptown to meet with a group of friends to eat dinner--yum!

We went to prom, ate the food, danced a little jig, then Lexie, Kimmi, and I headed over to Walmart. Epic, right?!! YES!! We ran around the store, taking pictures, and then an employee came and told us that taking pictures there was a no-no, so we stopped...


One day at school, I was called to the office. (I knew what was going on because my friend had told me) When the note came to my class telling me to go to the office, my class was shocked, and my teacher was joking about how I was in big trouble. I pranced over to the office, and with a big smile on my face, said, "Good morning!!" The dean of students was just calling seniors to the office to remind them that pictures for the yearbook were due.
It was a great experience. So, two days before my pictures were due, I told my mom that we needed to get on that. We then took some pictures, I edited them, chose my favorite, and sent it in.
Boo-ya! Talk about getting things done!!
And then I sorted out some pictures to use as senior pictures, to send to family. And then, I proceeded to make a mind-blowing collage.
Here it is for your enjoyment.

And then, well you know, the school year just sort of trickled to an end, and that was pretty much it...
Oh, wait. There was a minor incident, nothing too big or important--what do they call it? Oh, yeah. GRADUATION!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

               BEHOLD!

                    I did it!!

And what is graduation day without a yard sale? :) 

Get this--my buddy Kimmi, and I were called to be sunbeam teachers!! 

Why they trust us with five-year-olds, I have no idea. 

But we get to teach them the gospel!! And I love it!! 

 

Now to the sad part of this post. :(

Some of the greatest families have/will move(d) away. 

See this cute fella. His family has left!

No more stopping by their house to rant about my problems to Emily, no more seeing Grant, Henry, or Sam. :( 

You know who else left?? The Plickas! 

Emily was my go-to for all my almost-adult problems; Joe was is the best creative writing teacher!! And Joey and Ruby are some of the most brilliant kids I have ever met, and showed me that siblings can be best friends!  

And soon the Petersons are leaving! I've only had Dallin in my sunbeam class for 2 weeks! :'(

Lauren was one of my first young women's leaders, and I've had the chance to babysit their awesome boys, and little Claire too! 

I'm going to miss these families SOO much!! But I wish you well, and I hope to see you soon! <3 

Guest: Mary Lynne Jarvis

Goals:

As I near the age of 69 I am able to use a lot of years as examples of who I am and what I am. I guess asking, "who am I?" is a universal question. I wonder if we determine the answer according to what makes us happy.

 

I know that I feel happy when I accomplish a goal.

 I set a goal at about age 12 to go to BYU when I got out of high school. I did go to BYU and stayed for 2 years, but my goal to graduate didn't happen as I planned. 25 years after graduating from high school I got my Bachelor's degree at Missouri State University in Springfield. and then six years later I achieved my BYU dream by getting my Master of Library Science at BYU in 1992, having spent four summers away from my family in Missouri.

My marriage in the Los Angeles temple was the result of goal setting, too. I had determined as a young girl to live worthily of temple marriage. It was my beacon light that led all my decisions such as what friends to run with, what boys to date, and how to keep my promises I made at baptism to my Heavenly Father. But that meant I had a new goal: be an eternal companion to someone who didn't always see things my way. My goal: be a careful steward of anything my husband earned, and appreciate all of our blessings. Soon I learned that I had an even harder goal: get out of debt. Floyd failed to reveal how much money he owed when we got married.

When Debby was born my love was overwhelming. I now had a new goal: to teach this child all about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the true church, just as my mother and dad had done for me. I wanted to be worthy of being a mother, so everything now hinged on my being a righteous and conscientious mother. When I was expecting Scott, we moved to St. Johns, Arizona. Having two children brought me so much joy that I was beginning to wonder how I could possibly deserve so much happiness. Seeing the two of them interact with each other taught me a little about how our Father in Heaven must feel in his love for us. I hadn't been able to go to work to get that debt goal accomplished, but I did sell dresses from a company that catered to home workers, and I tried various other selling ventures including a door to door spice and household products line like the Fuller Brush Company. I even did some substitute teaching. But mostly my goal was to be a good mother.

Floyd had told me his goal was to go to law school. I believed him, so I engineered a move to Mesa, Arizona where he could work part time and go to law school full time. It wasn't a good plan since he couldn't find a job. We had an automobile accident on our move (my fault) and I was laid up for about a month before I could go to work. When I did, it was in a retail store selling fabric. Floyd still couldn't find work. Finally, just before school started he was able to land a job in Nogales, Arizona. We moved there and he began working on a Master's Degree (instead of law school) in Tucson, about 60 miles away. I was able to substitute teach. I, too, wanted to complete my goal of graduating from college, so I took a couple of classes. In one of those classes I met a sweet Jewish mother who was concerned about her child going to kindergarten in the only one available in Nogales--a Catholic school. She asked me to teach a private kindergarten of mostly Jewish children and she organized the location and the student body. I was able to enroll Debby in my class even though she was only 4 and Scott was able to go to the preschool, also organized by the Jewish mothers, across the street in another community building. I loved teaching and decided I needed to get my degree. But I quit teaching after only a year when Rebecca was born. 

My goal list was getting longer: be a successful mother, get out of debt, graduate from college, stay married. Mostly my 1st and last goal were achieving themselves as I was blessed with amazing children who soaked up everything they were taught and WANTED to do everything right. And Floyd was doing well being a daddy and husband. He even became Branch President. Sweet little Rebecca was born and I couldn't teach, but I could babysit.

Floyd was pursuing his goals which didn't coincide with mine. He wanted to move to Missouri. Living on a farm was appealing, so I came willingly. I was able to work on debt by substituting. When we moved to Ozark we had five children and our debt was oppressive, so I went to work at Christian County Library. I loved working there. Librarians learn how to find anything. Libraries operate on being organized. I learned so much in those five years that I wanted to keep on learning. I quit my job, went to school full time for two years, then got a job being a school librarian, which I did for the next 22 years. My goal of being a great mother was in conflict with my goal of getting out of debt. Meanwhile, blaming my husband for the debt was in conflict with my goal of being an eternal companion. Life's like that, full of conflicts. 

Here I am nearly 69 and my children have become wonders, each of them, in spite of my neglect while pursuing the goal of debt riddance. My greatest joy is watching my children and grandchildren succeed in their worthy goals. I love it that my grandchildren love each other. Heavenly Father must feel that way when we treat our fellowman with love and respect. Floyd has continued to be a devoted father. My career is over and I am thankful to be home, pursuing more immediate goals of caring for a home, a garden, doing genealogy, and teaching Primary. I am very happy, because while Floyd didn't share my goal of being debt free, my goal has given me a good lifetime personal income. And I am able to pay for everything I need. 

I'm still making goals and I'm still happy upon seeing the results of accomplishment.  

Kitchen before

Kitchen after remodeling

My garden

The house from this...

To this.

Guest: Emily Patterson

"Yes" is a such a good word.

"Mom, can I crack the eggs?"
''Mom, can I build a giant fort in the living room?"   
"Mom, can I go out in the rain?"

When I answer "yes" to questions like these, I get a little whispered "yes" back (and sometimes a fist pump). Then he runs away immediately, before I can change my mind.

 

 

I remember how it felt when my parents said 'yes' to me:
Yes, I could take the car. (Sweet freedom!)
Yes, I could go to the beach with that friend. (It's Christmas!)
Yes, I could have $5. (I was easy to please)

It makes my kids so happy when I say yes -- like I think they actually grow taller -- I wonder why I don't do it more often. Wait. Yes I do. It's because I am boring. I worry about the mess they will make or the work it makes for me afterwards when they disappear at clean-up time. My list of excuses is long. So I say, "No, not today." But I say that too often!

Recently, I spent a few weeks worrying about my oldest son. We were arguing daily and he didn't seem very happy. I prayed that I would do whatever it was that God wanted me to do to be a better parent. Then, once while I was vacuuming, I got an answer! A simple prompting:
"Say yes more." Made perfect sense.

I have been doing this. It has made all the difference in the world!  Of course, I still say no to a bunch of stuff like: "Can I have another brownie?" (3rd one @ 9pm) or "Can I lay on the floor while we are driving?"

But, this change has made my house more playful.

We recently invented this game...

I've been thinking about why saying yes to children is so great.
I remembered stories about the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was always getting caught playing games with the kids in Nauvoo. He probably said yes to them as much as possible.

Also, when I pray for what I desire to my Heavenly Father (I am still a child in this way), he usually says "yes". He knows I might get hurt or make a mess, but it is good for me to try new things and express my independence (agency) so I can learn and grow.

Yes! (fist pump)

Guest Posts Coming

Happy Monday!
This week I have a few of the coolest people ever contributing to my blog.
I asked them to describe how they, through their own perspectives, see life. And I made sure to make it broad enough that they wouldn't feel limited.

This will be starting tomorrow!! And I am SO excited!!

Here's a little somethin' for giggles.
Kimmi was telling Merinda and me about her 5-year plan, when Merinda interrupted...

Merinda: "What's a five-year plan?"
Kimmi: "A plan for the next five years."
Merinda: "Who does that??"
Me: "Joseph Stalin had a five-year plan."
Merinda: "Who's he?"
Me: "An evil Russian dictator."
Merinda: "Oh, what. So he would take over the world, get married, and have kids?"


*note: We've been studying Stalin in European history...it wasn't that random. :)

Squeals

EEEeooohhhh!!! *that was a squeal.*
Blogger has changed its page, so I was a little confused when I first logged in and things were...different. But good different. It'll just take a little getting used to. :)

Anyways, another shocker--it's FREEZING!! And it's almost May!!!
Last week, I had to scrape frost off the car before I went to seminary. (um..it may have been two weeks ago...) 
I broke out my winter garb on Monday, and have been fully decked-out in my warmest clothes this week.

Spring should not be like this...

(*photo from Finland, April 29, 2010...again almost May!!! AND IT WAS SNOWING! It is WRONG!)

 It should be like this...

"Could you please restrain your...mother?"

My mom and I are different.
Very different.
The time I notice our differences the most is when we're at the store...

She will mosey along down the aisles,
and wander off in different directions.
Shiny!
Something catches her eye,
She looks at it, then at what is next to it.
She takes quite a while at the store.

I think that's one of the reasons she was so excited when I started doing the grocery shopping.

I stay on task,
(most of the time...)
I get all of the groceries.
I follow a list.
Oh, shiny!
Something catches my eye.
But I'm not hooked on it--I go back to the list.
I race to finish.

When we shop together,
I keep us on track.
Then we get to the checkout line.
Mom wanders off...she must have forgotten something...
So I stand in line, praying that she'll get back before I have to pay for the food.
I feel terrible making the people behind me wait.
Then Mom skips back to the cash register, and pulls out the handy dandy card.
I move the grocery bags back on to the cart,
and wonder how we managed to get through a whole shopping trip
without someone telling me that I need to have a leash for her.

There's always next time. :)

(Exhibit A. Why Mom should be on a leash.)

(an example of one of my lists...
oh yeah, sorry, Hannah. I meant to send that letter... um..your birthday's coming up... :) )

Do You Remember Me?

Today was stake conference, and we had the opportunity to hear from Elder and Sister Choi. They are such wonderful people, and even held a special meeting for the 12-18 year old kids before the regular meeting.
Both of their talks were moving, but I was especially touched by Sister Choi's where she began by asking us, "Do you remember meeting me? We've met before."
I could see where she was going with this...
"We met before we were born, in heaven. There was a great battle with the 1/3 against the other 2/3. Can you guess which side you fought on? Yes, you youth were on the front line of the 2/3. You fought on the Lord's side. And what did you fight with? A rifle? Dynamite? No, you fought with your testimony. You were so special that Heavenly Father took you aside and saved you for 6,000 years so that you could come to the earth to prepare the world for the Second Coming."

Of course, I'm paraphrasing most of what she said, but her words were so powerful because of the confirmation that the Holy Ghost gave me. She said that someone (and I feel bad, but I forget who said it) declared that the leaders should not teach the youth, for the youth already know everything, but instead teachers need to remind them.

How great is our divine worth! That our Father in Heaven would save us until these last days to continue the battle against wickedness with the same weapon we used in heaven--our testimony.