Missionary work!

So...this morning I woke up with a million things on my mind....totally forgetting that Callie and I (we are the ward missionaries) had scheduled an appointment with a young girl who has just gotten baptized in our ward to start the new member discussions. I jumped in the shower to get ready to go for Momma to come get me to get Lauren's blood drawn and in walks Callie at the same time as Momma....that is when I remembered!!!! So, long story short, Callie ends up running Lauren and I to the lab to get her blood drawn and then Callie and I went to our appointment. I felt so close to tears because I had not remembered the appointment with everything else going on this week and had not had a chance to even look at the "Preach My Gospel" book so I just grabbed my scriptures and prayed for the Lord's spirit to be with me. Before we went in, Callie and I had a prayer and asked the Lord to be with us since it had been a long time since we were missionaries! It felt so good to talk about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration! Even though it had been a long time since I had done any type of "missionary work", the spirit that I felt today was the same as it always was. It was sweet and strong and brought me to tears. I forget how much I love to share the gospel with others! The Lord will always help us (even when we are totally unprepared like I was today) if we are willing. It also reminded me of how important it is to read my scriptures everyday so that I am always ready to share the gospel message! I love being a ward missionary...not only do I get to help other people in the ward get excited about missionary work, I also get to go into new members homes and share the beauty of the gospel plan in greater depth! I love seeing their face light up and feeling the spirit as it testifies of gospel principles. I also love seeing the joy new members have as they embrace the beauty of the gospel in their lives and love to hear them share their growing testimonies! So even with all the confusion this morning, I am thankful that the Lord's spirit touched our hearts and helped us bring the spirit with us....it has made for a great day!

Temperate!

I have been so down the last few days....I have been focusing more on the challenges that we have and less on the great blessings that have (and are) being poured out on my family. I pondered that today and then went to my Heavenly Father in prayer....I asked for His forgiveness and prayed for the ability to focus once again on what I have and not on what I don't. I have been reading in the Book of Alma lately in the BOM and I have consistently had one word stand out at me over and over...it is "temperate". I looked it up and have read all the scriptures associated with that word...it's something I want to be, something I am not...I want to be steady and serene...calm, unwavering, conistently obedient, even keel. I like that word, in fact I love that word....I am trying hard to be more temperate in my life, with my children, in the gospel, in my marriage.

I have the opporutnity to go to the temple each Friday with a friend of mine and I love it. I listen carefully when I sit inside those walls and I come away pondering my ability to be temperate in all things....because I have been pondering so much on that word lately, I decided to do a FHE on this subject so tonight in FHE we talked about the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins and how we can continually fill our lamps with oil. I asked the kids to each draw a picture of an oil lamp and write at the top "Drop by Drop" and that would remind them of President Kimball's counsel to us that each thing we do such as saying our daily prayers, reading our scriptures, attending sacrament, being kind, serving others, etc. added daily to our oil lamps and increased our desire to be like Christ. If we keep in the front of our minds the little things that increase our faith and we do them consistently then we will be like the wise virgins. I have thought about people in my life that are consistently obedient and I am grateful for their examples...I have learned so much.

I know it may seem like that lesson didn't go with my word, temperate...but it did because the five wise virgins were temperate in all things...they were faithful, diligent, consistently obedient, and prepared. I am trying so hard to learn this one principle in my life...if I can become "temperate in all things" as it says in Alma 7:23: "And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive."
I know that the Lord wants us to be temperate and that is what I am trying so very hard to do now...the more I read and study, the more I realize I need to be better. Going weekly to the temple, reading daily in my scriptures, praying in private, in my family and always in my heart keep in the forefront of my mind how dependent I am on the Lord and His mercy and grace. I am thankful for my blessings and I will strive harder and harder to be temperate, to be grateful, and to always realize that I can be better each day. I will fill my lamp drop by drop each day with the Lord's help. I pray we all will!

Mothers Day 2010

This has been a wonderful mothers day week-end! On Saturday, we spent most of the day running around getting everything for the mothers at church and I enjoyed spending all that quality time with Jeff! Jeff is grilling out steaks for dinner today and we are having baked potatoes and salad along with a yummy strawberry trifle dessert. Below are some pictures of our day...I love all the mothers in my life and am grateful for their influence...I am especially grateful for my own wonderful mother!!! I am also grateful for my wonderful children who have brought me more joy than I can put into words! Happy Mothers Day!

Jeff getting the steaks ready for the grill!

Jean with my yellow corsage Jeff brought me to remind me of Noah and my picture of my baby!

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Michael's Hospital Visit!

Last week turned out to be a very eventful week at our house! Last Monday, I went to flush Michael's port a cath (like I do every month) and it would not flush! I pushed a little harder...nothing...so I took out the needle and called Dr. Muenzer. He quickly got us in touch with the surgical nurse and we made a trip over to their clinic that same day. They tried to flush it, no luck so they put some medicine in it to try and help...nothing! The next day we made arrangements to have Michael come over to UNC Children's on Thursday evening and they would do the surgery to take the old one out and put the new one in on Friday. The surgery lasted a little over an hour and when Michael got back up to the room, they checked his blood sugar and it was 44....uh oh..that was a little scary but I quickly got them to get him some coke and he ate pretzels, it came up, the IV came out and we got him quickly under control...I will have to go the recovery room the next time (Jeff lost his recovery room duty..haha)! Anyway, Michael's bloodsugars stayed up and we were able to bring him home that afternoon! He is still recovering...taking it easy as they had to root around and fix some scarring before they could put it a new port so the site is bruised and tender still but other than that, he is great as you can see from the picture! We are grateful for the prayers in his behalf and are very glad that all is now well! We never know what is going to happen from one week to the next around here so we are always on our toes! We are hoping for a very uneventful summer unless the event is Jeff getting a permanent job with great benefits...that would be perfect! Other than that, we are happy and moving forward with faith!!