Oh my heavens!!!!

There is so much to write about - but it seems like that's always on the bottom of my to do's!  Why is it that the funnest things are always last?!?!?!  ARGH!!!  Ok - actually that's not very true!  I always manage to get sidetracked on the fun things - when I'm pretending like I'm doing the urgent things!  heh heh heh!  Not much has changed - as my sisters will attest to!  (As kids I recall frequent bathroom breaks while weeding in the garden - which would often find me reading in the house rather then returning outside!)  What can I say?!?!?  My children have learned this trick too - however I'm no help to them.  I understand that thirst for reading and often sit reading by my reading children while we should ALL being doing something different.  (How many times could I use reading in that sentence?!?!?!)

Ok.  Focus Mary!  (That wasn't even what I was going to talk about.)

I got a new calling today!  1st counselor in Primary!  Woohoo!  I'm so excited about the sisters I get to work with.  It seems like a good place to be at now that I've got a little more under my belt at school.  Not too much - but still contributing some.  I'm good with that.  I've done it before - so I have a good idea of what's involved.  I just love those kids!

Bob returned very early this morning (about 1am) from Bogota!  Yipee!  I love having him home again.  It was a relatively quiet week thank goodness.  (Unlike last time! hahaha!)  We did have one minor incident which I'll have to blog about later - but it's all good.  Bogota sounds beautiful!  I think I made need to get my passport so I can go with him on some of these trips.  Ireland, Greece, Mauritius (click on that link!!!), Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and many others are on the list.  A total of 54 countries!!!!  His passport is going to be so cool with all those stamps!  It's just kind of fun!  Seriously . . . Mauritius?!?!?  It's 500 miles east of Madagascar - off the coast of Africa!!!!  And it looks like heaven!  Who knew?!?!?!

The kids are doing great!  Kbugs big play is coming up in a week!  They have worked so long and hard on it!  She's had practices every night after school until 6pm since November - and every Saturday for the past month.  We love hearing her sing all the songs from Annie around the house.  In fact - we're all singing them now!  We've heard them so much!!!!  My Buddy is playing the cello and guitar like a pro.  He's amazing!  He's found all kinds of tutoring videos online that he watches until he gets the hang of it.  I love hearing him play!  He is also the master of the player piano!  He cracks me up when he plays it.  He starts moving his fingers like he's really playing and I really start to believe it!  :o)  I don't know how many times at the end of a song I barely catch myself from saying - Hey!  Good job!  That sounded great!  hahaha!  Cowboy T rocks!  He's always busy creating things and you can just see his wheels turning.  Next week his class is going to the Ballpark on a field trip.  He can't wait!!!!  He decorated his room with a cool cowboy theme and tonight at dinner he pinned us down on the specifics on how he should go about being a cowboy!  I think I may have to send him up to my cousin to work a summer on his cattle ranch someday!  ;o)

One last thing - this week I got a message from the parents of one of my closest friends in high school.  She passed away way too soon - just a week after we graduated together from high school.  She was on the way to a church camp when a cement truck broadsided their van.  Things like that just aren't supposed to happen.  She was so gifted and talented and bright.  The world would have surely been a better place with her here.  I kept in close touch with her family for a long time and then they moved and we did too - and we lost track of each other.  A few weeks ago I found her brother and I also got a sweet email from her mother.  It was so wonderful to find them again.  I still think of her often and miss the times we might have had together - but I know there is also a plan far bigger than what I see.  Remembering that keeps that layer of comfort close enough to bear the reality of what happened.  

Ok - didn't mean to end on such a serious note.  I guess it just ended up being a rambling kind of night.  I really do have actual things to post about.  I keep adding them to the list on the right so I won't forget.  In fact - one of the posts is about forgetting!  I hope I remember to write it!  hahahaha!  (I crack myself up!)  :o)

Cowboy T's Baptism Day

Cowboy T's Baptism

Cowboy T has chosen to be baptized on January 10, 2009 at 10am at the church.  Come and join us.  We are so excited for him and proud of his choice.

A Favorite Quote

• "In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil, and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike--and they will--you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham's seed."

--Jeffery R. Holland  "For Times of Trouble," BYU Speeches, 1980

The other reason . . .

(you should really go down two posts and read up from there . . . )

This one is just plain ugly.  It's taken me a month to calm myself about it.

If we hadn't already made the decision to pull the boys out - this would have instigated swift and immediate action.  

The last day they attended the charter school my Buddy was talking with his friends.  One of them asked him what church he went to - and when he replied - a teacher overheard and felt the need to comment.  Ok - comment is not the right word.  She decided to ATTACK!!!  A teacher - in a position of authority - in a publicly funded school.  Interesting isn't it?  She didn't just say she disagreed or thought we were wrong in our beliefs - she covered point by point every doctrine - every principle - every facet of our religion in a lengthy ugly tirade.  To a ten year old - at school - in front of his friends.  A meek quiet humble ten year old.

What she didn't count on is that he's a ten year old who lives by the Spirit.  Who reads his scriptures and says his prayers.  Who believes in a living prophet and the power of the Holy Ghost.  Who was silently praying for divine assistance.  Whose testimony was only strengthened by the things he heard.  A ten year old whose prayers for help were answered.  

The first I heard of what happened was the day I was stranded in north FW with a broken down car and Bob had flown in that day and then drove with the kids to rescue me.  While he was fixing my car - my Buddy was telling me what had happened.  As I listened the Mamma Bear in me began to well up and rage inside.  Given my red hair - it was not an unfamiliar look to my sweet son - and he mentioned that it was ok - I could calm down.  :o)  (There's nothing like a raging Mom stranded in the middle of who-knows-where raging and foaming at the mouth about "how dare they" "not my baby" and other assorted phrases and also something about marching in the school at 6pm on a Friday - long after they closed.)  (Ok - most of that was just what was going on in my head - not actually what was coming out of my mouth)  Anyway - as he continued his story I realized he was right.  He was ok.  He told me the things he said and what he was thinking and I was so impressed by my son.  I don't know if I would have had the same courage and presence of mind.  At first - I worried that how could he have possible been prepared for such a vigorous attack.  But I realized that every family night - every primary lesson - every testimony, sacrament talk, and scripture study contributed to that moment.  

Bless his heart.  He begged me not to go up to the school and say anything - and I haven't.  But perhaps someday I'll run into the director or principal and maybe they'll ask why we left.  I'd love to remind them of separation of church and state which prohibits publicly funded schools from promoting one religion over another.  Not to mention a person in a position of authority that a child respects should never abuse that trust.  Hmmmmm . . . it's taken wild horses and a promise to my son to keep me from marching through their door.  

In any case - he's none the worse for the wear.  It's just that protective side a Mom discovers she has when she hold a sweet baby in her arms and realizes she has a whole new purpose in life -- to care for and protect her children.  I'm just really proud of him and the quiet choices he's made in his life.  

Organ vs Piano

This is the organ at the BYU Jerusalem center. It's amazing. I got to play it while I was there. The sound is amazing and it's truly a magnificent instrument.

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To clarify . . . I am NOT an organ player per se. Truth be told - I started piano when I was 5 and stopped when I was in college - but the organ is a whole different beast! I feel at home and comfortable on the piano. I'm actually taking piano lessons this summer with the kids. I LOVE playing. It's the kind of connection where I can pour my heart into the keys of the piano. It heals my soul to play.

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My grandma however did play the organ and showed me a couple things about the difference between the piano and the oragn when I was a teenager. That's about all the organ lessons I've had. If I had more time I'd take the free organ class through BYU. (someday!) When we moved to San Angelo they hadn't had a pianist or organist in a long time. I readily agreed to play the piano for sacrament meeting - but then they insisted I try the organ. Luckily they were so excited to sing to the organ - they didn't mind my rough spots. Although I did have that one Sunday when my foot hit the pedals during the Sacrament prayer . . . BRWAAAAAAAHHHH. I was so mortified.

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Anyway . . . I'm the back up to the back up substitute every once in a while when our wonderfully talented for-real organist is out and heaven help our poor ward . . . I just never know what's going to come out - let alone HOW. Terrifying might cover it at times. It's a trick to keep up with the crowd, keep a steady beat, watch the conductor and remember to breathe. I'm not kidding. I recently realized I forget to breathe while I'm playing. Probably not a good thing considering brains need oxygen! hahaha!

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There's this weird lag thing that happens when accompanying a large group. Even though you're playing the song they're singing - it's like you're a little bit off due to the sound. If you play with them it just gets slower and slower till you're past the point of a funeral dirge. And the volume pedal sticks - which is utterly hysterical when you just want to turn it up a little and it catches and goes to SUPER sound barrier breaking level loud!!! Oh what a mess I am! My greatest fear is that one of these days I'll pass out from fear and not breathing and I'll slide down onto the foot pedals in a crashing bass crescendo of loud tones of a dying goose. Truly a sacrament meeting that would not be forgotten. Anyhow - it's good for me. Keeps me humble! :o) hahaha! And honestly I don't mind playing if everyone can just forgive the possible jumbled mess that might happen to pop out.

A Prophet of God

March 17, 2008

With President Hinckley's passing I reflected on a personal experience years ago with him. If I remember correctly Bob and I had driven Debbie (my sister) to the airport for a flight back to BYU. This was before we were married - and back in the day when you could sit at the gate and wait - even if you weren't flying. So as we approached the gate Bob said rather loudly, "HEY! That guy over there looks just like President Hinckley!" Well - as we all looked we realized it was. So we huddled for a moment wondering if we should approach him or leave him alone. As I recall he was reading his scriptures and there were a couple of bodyguards sitting nearby. Clearly we decided that we couldn't pass up a once in a lifetime opportunity and we decided to say hello. We were still some distance away but immediately as we began to walk towards him he stood up and extended his hand - and he said with a twinkle in his eye "I wondered when you were going to come over!" We had forgotten that we all had BYU shirts on! It was a dead give-a-way! The things I remember about that experience were how so many people were hurrying by - unaware that the living prophet of God was sitting a few feet away from them. I was also struck at how kind he was - how he stood to meet us before we even got close and extended his hand to us and made us feel welcome - even though we were intruding on his peaceful moment of sitting there. I always enjoyed his humor and grandfatherly ways when he spoke and more than that - I know he was truly a prophet of God.

Beautiful

So Proud!

Ok . . . I'm reposting a few things from my other blog to abridge the smaller and larger plates . . . heh heh heh - ok anyway . . .

March 1, 2008

I'm so proud of B ! The Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet was last night and they had a cake auction to earn money for Twilight Camp. He made a lemon cake with white frosting that he turned blue. Then he used frosting to draw the wolf emblem on it. It was a really cool looking cake. Well most of the cakes went for $20 or so. The highest was at $40 . . . B's cake went for $60!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wowie zowie buddy! It was one yummy looking cake! I took a pictures - so I'll see if I can get it on here. He did a great job making the whole thing and he worked really hard! It was a really fun night! Way to go buddy!