A Beloved Leader and Precious Friend

Today my heart is heavy as we have to say good-bye to a faithful servant of our Heavenly Father. Our beloved former stake president, President Wilford, passed away early this morning. He was our bishop when Jeff and I got married and has seen us thru every challenge we have faced thru the years. He has given me love and encouragement when I needed it and pushed me to greater heights with his counsel. His courage and faith thru the years has lifted not only me but my entire family. I know today that he is hearing the words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant. Welcome home." It is with tears of love and tenderness that I bid him farewell. He will be greatly missed by many and my family will forever be grateful for his acts of love and compassion. If I could talk to him once more I would say, "Thank you President Wilford for your years of faithful service to our ward, our stake and to our family. You are a giant among men and you will be greatly missed. We love you with all of our hearts." With grateful hearts we bid you a fond farewell until we meet again!

My thoughts

I listened to a talk today by Elder Holland entitled, "Remember Lot's Wife"! It was such an inspiring talk for me and one that I needed to hear. He gave it on January 13th at a BYU Devotional. He spoke of the importance of looking to the future with faith. He said that faith is always pointed towards the future and that sometimes we doubt the Lord's ability to give us better than what we have had in the past. We have to put our total trust and faith in the Lord and He will guide us. With all that has happened in my family the last 2 years I have had to take giant steps into the darkness and trust in my Heavenly Father and His plan. It has not been easy for me to let go of my hurt and walk steadily into the unknown future giving up the plans that I had made for my family. It has been hard for me to accept and find peace in the knowledge that I will never as a mother have all of my children together on this earth again. I know one day I will have a great reunion with my baby and my family will finally be together again but until that day the pain is seering at times. I look at my children and see them growing up so fast. Sometimes I feel like the days when they were very small slipped by too quickly because I was so involved in making sure their medical needs were cared for that I missed the fun part of them being little. I see Emily so grown and look back at the years that have flown by and the moments that I can never have back. I guess me not feeling well physically is bringing out my emotions as well. I pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to forgive me for letting precious moments in their lives slip by because I was preoccupied and worried about much. I sometimes wish I could have some moments back and redo them but I can't. Elder Holland's talk reminded me that Heavenly Father looks at where we are now and not where we have been...for that I am grateful. I guess I am just pondering things tonight. Jeff and the girls went to the temple and so I have had some reflective time with just Mikey. I am grateful for my blessings because I have many. I know one day that all the hurt and pain that I feel on this earth will be made right. I know that the day will come if Iam worthy that I will be able to take Noah and gather with the rest of my family and it will be sweet. Until then I just have to look forward with faith and trust in the Lord's timing for it is always right. I do know that.

Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired!

Michael and I have now caught the bronchitis bug that seems to be going around up here. Emily spent 2 weeks trying to get over it! We started getting it last week and now it has hit us full time. Michael gets some energy in the mornings and then by the afternoon he runs out. I don't have any energy anytime...I get up and try to do some things and then end up sitting down in my comfy chair with my blanket for the rest of the day. Emily and Lauren have really pitched in and helped as well as Jeff. We are just trying to rest as much as possible to get over this horrible bug. I took a picture of Mikey sleeping under a quilt on the couch...Pugslie snuggled up with him because sleeping is her favorite thing to do. We are all hoping to me better soon!

Our Snow Day!!!!!!

Here are some pictures of our wonderful snow day! We are forecast to get between 4 and 8 inches of snow by the time this is all said and done but we wanted to share with you our beautiful snow ...... what a fun day!!!

Emily's Picture says it all!

The Snow is coming down!

Lauren getting used to the cold air!

Pugslie's bathroom break!

Michael got as far as the hat and decided to stay in the bed!

Lauren enjoying the snow!

Emily loves the snow!

Emily and Mom having a good time!

Are you ever too old to enjoy snow???

I love Sundays!

Just a short post to say how much I love Sundays. We had the best Sunday today! The talks were so wonderful and uplifting, Sunday school was inspiring and RS was very spiritual! Then we had a "linger longer" after church today and we all ate together. It was fun and I visited with everyone...I love to visit and talk then I had my recommend interview with the bishop and I left there thinking about how wonderful our bishop is and how blessed I am to be in Zebulon! It has been a great day....I even got to take a nap this afternoon and now I feel good! I love Sundays!

Jeff's idea of being "green" friendly!

This is Jeff's idea of being green friendly! He says that after you have used it for a hat then you can take it off your head and put trash in it! I know, I know...he is somewhat of a smart-alec! This is the kind of humor we put up with around here and it makes the kids laugh so we all enjoy Jeff's ideas! Hope you enjoy your look into what goes on around here....hahaha! Jeff makes us all laugh and we enjoy that...so here it is, the eco-friendly hat...it's recyclable and a real eye catcher!

Our Christmas Vacation Retreat

Our beach trip after Christmas was a nice break! We left the day after Christmas and brought our camper to the beach. We always stay at our favorite spot..Lakewood! There was hardly anyone there so we felt like we had the place all to ourselves. We also got to spend time with family while we were down there so it was a fun place to be. The kids loved going on the beach and we just relaxed and enjoyed our time together. I was not ready to come back....but life has to get back to normal so we left on New Years Eve to come home so the girls could go to the New Years Eve Dance! We had a great time and are now looking forward to our summer vacation where we will once again descend upon Lakewood!

Emily's picture of the beach Aunt Laurel and Pugslie
Daddy Tom relaxing outside the camper
Emily sitting outside the camper
Lauren walking on the beach
Emily, Lauren, and Michael at Logans Roadhouse
Kim's family and us at Sticky Fingers
Jean and Kim's new hair clips from "Southern Pearls"
David playing tailgate golf
Kim and Jerry relaxing on Sunday afternoon