Catching Up 3.3

Okay, so as we were saying (I know it's been a while. I've been a bit busy!), the 15th of October was the funeral, and then we really had some fun.

On the 16th we all met at a local restaurant for breakfast and a final goodbye to all our east coast family and friends. It was so nice and the kids even ate relatively well. I was really happy. They also weren't the most rowdy at the table which was a nice change. I do, however, see that being the course we follow in a few years. Four (or more?) kids will make anything rowdy. So we enjoyed a very yummy breakfast, took more pictures, gave lots of hugs, and then all met up at the Fosburgs house to go from there.

We all then headed up to Green Bluff's apple festival! We used to go all the time and to be honest, I had missed it. We had so much fun as you'll see from all the pictures. So this one is a picture blog, with a bit of commentary as well.

Who knew my little brother would hang with my little girl? Buddies!

A giant pirate ship is never to be ignored! Especially when it has a slide and all these other fun things to do on it!

Her tongue is never inside her mouth!

She loved corn husk - yes, that's what she's chewing on!

the princess had to climb to the top of the oversized castle and look over her kingdom. JC was allowed to go too.

A rare sharing moment on a very large tractor.

Guess who was doing the sharing? Not EVIE!!!

JC was too scared to try this the last time he had a chance.

So glad to see he enjoyed it this time!

See...buddies! She was cold and worn out and Uncle Jim stood in the sun until she fell asleep. What a great help he was that day - he didn't even seem to mind it! He'll make a good daddy one day!

Who knew my little boy would love carmel apples as much as me! Couldn't leave the "Apple Festival" without at least one! (I had two, I think)

Seems we all had our favorite festival food! Mom loved and was very patient for her funnel cake! Awesome by the way! Isn't her little boy so cute!?

Awwww....aren't we cute?

Nope, just very cold!

Not used to the weather in Spokane anymore!

We sure enjoyed every minute of this trip, but it was certainly nice to come home since this is what we did the next day.

Notice the clothing change and the sunshine? mmmmmm......sunshine! 78 degrees to be exact!

Week #5 - Dep/Mar Project

Okay, so here we are again. We begin week #5 this week with a great set of articles and another beautiful principle. So exciting!

I hope this last week was one of miracles for all of you. I was able to pick a specific miracle and begin making it happen. I did realize, as I hope you did, that making a miracle happen usually takes more than a week's worth of prayer and work. I believe that because of our project, I am so much more prepared to seek the Lord's will in helping to cause a miracle in the person's life I have chosen. I realized that though the miracle may be big, it starts out small. I chose to help bring someone to church. This person is wonderful and someone I really admire and enjoy, but for some reason can't quite make it to church. As we all know, going to church is how we are able to grow and learn in the gospel. We need that extra something that can only be gained by worshipping together. So that's my chosen miracle and this week. I began not only by praying for this person, but by also thinking about the person and planning some specific things I could do to encourage the choice to attend our meetings together. I was able to keep my word, finally, on something related I had promised and I noticed other things that were happening in my life to feel closer to the Lord.

An example of those "things" is the little miracles one of our articles discussed. My life is so full of those right now. Every time I can find a babysitter at the last minute, I have experienced a miracle. It's not big to anyone else, but that is one of the hardest things for me to do while Chris has been away. Every time an activity goes really well, even when the kids are tired, like this last Friday, I feel a miracle has taken place. Things don't HAVE TO go well, but they do because I need the help and the Lord loves me and wants me to know that. Take a minute, those of you who will read this, and think of the "little miracles" or maybe a big one that occurred in your life this week. I'll bet there are more of them than you might think!

So that was our last week's study. Good luck with this week and remember: write down your experiences; it is important to be able to remember so that you can learn and be grateful.

Letter:

Good evening my cutie!

I know it’s probably not night or who knows, maybe it is! Anyway, I got tired of just saying hello.

So how’s it going? I know by now you’ve had some remarkable experiences and if not, why not? You’re the one person I know who can make the ordinary extraordinary. So if you haven’t had something great happen, make it happen! Every topic we’ve had requires effort on our part to make it the amazing principal that it is. Follow through and bring those principals to bear in secular life.

Endurance

“My son, peace be unto they soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.” – D&C 121:7-8

Okay, let’s get to it right? This week is week 5 – we will be studying “enduring to the end.” I know, how cliché right? No, it’s not for a matter of fact. Enduring is something we do well sometimes, but not all the time. If we understand the need for endurance it’s often easier to do it, but it’s the most important to apply when we are in the darkness, when we don’t know where to go or why we need to endure our circumstances. It is especially difficult to do when we are far from God or unsure of the outcome of the situation.

This week our study will focus on the actual enduring part, but more the need for endurance and obviously, according to our scripture, the blessings of enduring in the right way. Don’t forget, enduring is done with grace, while doing something without that effort is merely surviving the situation.

Well that’s it. I know, short. They can’t all be long discourses can they? Before I say goodbye for another week, I just wanted you to know how this one came about. I realized that after all we’ve done the previous weeks we most likely have been on a relative spiritual high culminating in the miracle topic last week. After that though, comes the hard part: enduring after the miracle. Once the blind man had received his sight the Lord then said he was to continue in faith. He had work to do, though his life had been changed. We’ve been working up to so much and now here we are in the end time of your deployment, but not at the end. I think this is going to be the hardest week. You’re almost done, but not quite. I’ll have too many projects still undone and be stressed as to which should wait for another time and you’ll have work to prepare to hand over and some to finish yourself. Knowing which work is whose might prove tricky. You like to finish what you start, but six weeks is a short time to do a lot of things. With all this in mind, I found myself thinking that this is where this principal might really be needed.

I noticed that this week is rather like the month before you went home in the mission. You recognized your time was limited, but you still had so much to accomplish. You also began thinking of home more and the thoughts of future plans began to creep in. This is a difficult time to remain focused and applying the effort you have been making. It is highly possible though, knowing you as I do, that you’re not feeling any of this and this topic will just be a nice reminder for you. You do that sometimes you know. I think you’re doing one thing and really you’re doing another and my thoughts don’t apply. Either way, this week’s study will be beneficial somehow or other as long as you study with the Spirit. He will help you learn and gain what you need.

And that concludes this week. Well, off with you now. Get going on your duties and especially remember to pray and do your studying. Also, don’t forget to write everything down. I’ll want to talk about all that you’ve learned when you get home.

I hope you are doing well and learning so much. I love you bunches and miss you as always. Kids are doing great, belly is big, Lizzy is too, and they can’t wait to see you again. I don’t know if it will happen before you come home, but maybe Lizzy will be able to walk to you when you get off the plane! I’m so excited to see you, but I will try to endure with grace as I’m sure you will.

Love you!

Week #4 - Dep/Mar Project

Okay, so how is everyone doing? I hope there are some of you doing this with us or at least reading the articles. They are so good and I have to be honest, they are helping change my life, little by little each week. I think I'm going to really miss this when it's over. Having a goal every week of self-improvement has been amazing.

Well, this last week was all about love. Not just love in general, or trying to be charitable, but having a plan or a goal to put this specific type of love described in our article into practice. To love in general is as the article said more like, "lip service".

I really loved how Elder Goaslind, Jr. described that real love requires action on our part. His example of Peter saying to the lame man to rise up and walk was not effective in the man's life until Peter reached out his hand and lifted him up. That was when the man's limbs received their strength.

My personal experiences have been a bit surprising, but I learned much about how saying, "I love you" is as important as showing that you do. I've always been about the action, but the words are just as important. Don't forget that! We need both the words and the actions inspired by those words. Too much one way or the other and it doesn't do what we are hoping it will do.

So I hope you've had similar uplifting experiences with love this last week. It's been a blessing for both Chris and me.

Here's this week's letter and articles located in our "pages" section to the right in case you've gotten lost! Good luck!

Letter:

Hello honey, my best friend and husband,

Today is a hard letter to write. I have been thinking so much about you. I’m nervous and worried because I am not there to take care of you and yet the Lord keeps reminding me you were his before you were mine. It’s hard sometimes to trust the Lord even though I know he’s the one in charge. I know he can do it better, but it’s hard being out of the loop. I like to see or hear or touch to confirm that everything’s okay. I can’t do that right now, but I want to. So I kneel down and pray or I stop in the kitchen and pray or I sit on the couch and I pray. I pray that the Lord keeps you in the “hollow of his hand,” that he is mindful of us at home, and that you can feel how much we are proud of your service and sacrifice and of course, that you know how much you are missed and loved.

Wow, I feel better. It’s always good to write things down. I hope you are doing that every chance you get. These experiences are once in a lifetime and these blessings are easily forgotten. It’s sad, but true. Our memories are so short no matter how hard we work to make them longer. Thankfully, we have the Holy Ghost to “bring to our remembrance” the important things and the final judgment when “all things will be remembered.” I look forward to remembering every detail of how much the Lord has done for me, big and small. I think that’s why we started with gratitude; to get into the habit of “seeing.” Now, we are being grateful and magnifying our faith and hopefully loving as the Lord loves. Today we begin an exciting week.

Miracles

“For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.” – 2 Nephi 27:23

This week we are studying miracles. The miracles of Jesus are obvious beginning points, but I want us to go a bit further. This week as we study we will pray. We will pray to make a miracle happen in our lives. I want you to think hard about what kind of miracle and who will be involved. Then I want you to, like faith, do all in your power to help bring the miracle to pass. It might be an open opportunity to share the gospel with someone or to get past some feelings that are holding you up. I’m queen of that one and you’ve seen how miraculous the change in my life has been. Do your pondering thing that you’re so good at and with a faithful heart, pray to Heavenly Father to have a miracle occur during your time there. That doesn’t mean that the entire miracle will unfold in your presence or even during your deployment, but if it’s the Lord’s will, you will get to experience the miracle begin.

Now the accompanying article this week was extremely difficult to pick. Every time I began scanning, I ended up reading! Then I was crying as the spirit bore witness of the miracles of God, great and small. It was so hard! So, I have not read these, but I sure wanted to when I was picking them. The first one is a general beginning that I thought fit. The second is a closer look at one aspect of the topic. And the third is a powerful and very specific example of the principal that I had to include. Good luck!

Loves for always and be careful. I know you like adventure and you’re excited about all the amazing things you’re doing, but remember to listen for the “still, small voice.” We both know the military is not the church. Be brave in standing for your principals and be patient with others who do not have your foundation in goodness. Love the men and women with whom you associate and be the shining example for them that you are for me at home.

Now, close your eyes and picture Evie with her silly grin and her sparkly blue eyes that light up when you’re around. Do it now. Okay, now feel her bony, adorable little arms wrap around your neck and squeeze as hard as she can. Okay, you can let her go, she’s turning blue!

Now, close your eyes and picture Joseph with his chubby cheeks and grin from large ear to large ear. Okay, now feel him tackle you at full Joseph speed for a giant 2yr old hug that has him growling and giggling his little bowl-full-of-jelly laugh. Okay, now get up off the floor.

Now, close your eyes and picture Lizzy with her tousled brunette hair still in her pretty blue eyes and her tongue sticking out as she sucks on her pacifier. It’s okay to laugh, she’s too little still to know it’s at her. Okay, now put your arms out low and see her crawl quickly right into them as she peeks up every couple of seconds to make sure she’s going the right way. Now, pick her chubbiness up into those big daddy arms and squeeze the baby, squeeze the baby, squeeze the baby. Oh, goodness, let me grab a towel. That’s what you get from squeezing after she’s just eaten. You know I tell you that every time and still you just have to squish her! Oh well, she likes it.

Now, close your eyes and picture your wife. I know that’s going to be tricky, but please don’t give me too much of a belly in your imagination. I like the idea that you think of me as my thinner, less irritated, non-pregnant self. Okay, now picture the blonde hair in the ponytail as always, the cheeks a little rosy from laughing and playing with the kids, and blue eyes glittering with happiness at seeing my family love each other so much. Okay, now carefully, being soft around the middle, put your arms around my small body (you always forget how tiny I am compared to you!) and give me that hug that you’ve been wanting me to have since you left.

Doesn’t that feel good?! I know it felt good to me and you’re lying on the couch asleep right next to me as I write this. I hope you are happy and tired every night that you fall right to sleep with good dreams. We miss you as always and are counting the days as I know you are.