some thoughts on sunday...

1- is there really only one week left in july? summer is flying by! we have been blessed with some great visits with megan and tod so far this month, and next weekend from tod and ian. we are excited!

2- megan arrived on july 12 and then spent the 13th, 14th and 15th with us at zone conference (9-4). she was pretty amazing! the last day, after lunch, she was feeling pretty weary. i think having the opportunity to bear her testimony perked her up for a little while. toward the end of training, she accepted a pass-along card from elder abbott to pass along. (story for another day...confessions of a mission president's wife) it was great to have her spend time with our missionary sons and daughters. if you get a chance, ask her how many times she was asked if she was going to serve a mission. i think the more people push her, the more she decides "no way"! she is committed to having companionship study and companionship prayers with her sisters this week in newport though. :)



3- tod arrived the night of the 15th and for the next couple of days we spent a little time eating, talking, golfing, sight seeing, laughing and loving being together. it is pretty sweet to love being with your family!







4- this past week megan and i have explored the area a little more. i introduced her to the giant redwoods (she loved captain lance armstrong), we visited Castello di Amorosa Winery in callistoga, we shopped a couple of thrift stores, we got a little lost, and jon joined us in a visit to san francisco to see the japanese tea garden and the aquarium at the bay. it has been fun spending time together and making a "plan" for her life! :)









5- i decided to read all of the conference talks and general young women meeting talks again last week. reading the words of our living prophets is always inspiring! i wanted to read a session a day. some days i read a little less and some days a little more, but i just finished.



what did i get from it?

teach your children, be an in-tune mother, teach your children, mothers teach your daughters (they will follow your example), teach your children, be diligent (remember Him), teach your children to have faith in Jesus Christ, be patient, teach your children about Jesus Christ to prepare them for the challenges they will most surely face. be a great grandmother!

i could be pretty discouraged and feel like i have failed my children as their mother in teaching them the things they need to know and be "firmly rooted in" so that they will be prepared with faith strong enough to endure the challenges that they will surely face. i think back and see that i was caught up in the thick of thin things some times as they were growing up. i could give up. but i know that is not the Lord's plan. i can repent. i can be a better mother today and every day forward, praying that the Lord can make up the difference. i want to be a great mother. it is the desire of my heart. AND, i think i can be a great grandmother. i still have time to be that. :) my heart has been touched and i can change for sure! to choose Jesus Christ is to choose to change!

6- i couldn't help but notice this headline on the front page of the paper friday. santa rosa (sonoma county) is the #2 metropolitan area in the country with the highest percentage of people living in same-sex relationships. #1 being san francisco. it was an interesting article.



i asked jon if he felt like there were a higher percentage of "gay" couples than "normal" here. we both agreed...not really. an interesting fact though, about our mission boundaries. :)

7- next week is going to be intense. we have training meetings tuesday, wednesday and thursday from 8-5. i am in charge of all the food. (snacks, lunch) costco and i are having a love affair. here's to keeping my missionaries awake and energized during the next three days! pray for us :).

one year.

i sat down to write this post on july 1st, wrote one sentence, and haven't been back. it has been a long week!

well, we have been out for one year! we celebrated an anniversary. :) even though we are one-third of the way done, it still feels like we have a long way to go. the thought keeps going through my head, "not next summer, but the next." i'm thinking next year will feel different, closer, over the hump. having said all of that, it is sweet to have one year behind us! i am so grateful for the things i have learned over the last year. i am very happy i am not starting at day one again!

a few things i have learned this year.

*it is a great feeling to share the gospel! it is a great feeling to bear your testimony about a principle of the gospel. (while you're doing it, the spirit testifies to you again that what you are saying is true and you are strengthened in the process of trying to help another.) i hope the more i do it the easier it will become for me. maybe that is something i can report on next year. (my missionaries are really trying to make a missionary out of me.)

*it is easy to love people. all kinds of people. (even crazy, odd, sad, adhd investigators and missionaries to name a few.) if you just take the time to talk to them and listen to them, you naturally want to help them. you naturally want others to feel the peace you feel. you want them to understand there is a plan for them. i am grateful Heavenly Father has given me a loving heart. He has told me "He will bless me with a special compassion for people who are not now members of His kingdom as i have opportunities to teach them." i have felt this during the past year.

*i really love my companion. this is not new, but being able to be with him to a much greater degree...i love it! i love hearing him teach and bear testimony! i love watching him love, protect and care for his missionaries! i love watching him boldly lead out, like he knows everything he is promising is actually going to happen! i love watching him exercise his faith in Jesus Christ! i love being here for him when he needs someone to be his cheerleader! i am grateful that he is my cheerleader and that he wants to help me!

*i love my family! my children and my extended family. i miss being able to be with them, but i feel great strength from them. i know they are praying for us and our missionaries and i know we are being blessed because of it. i want to be the best i can be to be a good example to them. i want to make them proud of me because i am a good person.

*i have learned that happiness comes from within. it is not determined by outside influences (sunshine, your home, the people around you, even what you are doing), it comes from inside you. from doing what's right. i choose to be happy!

*i still am not a very great cook. surprise! i make a mean sack lunch and pizza dinner for our incoming missionaries. i have figured out how to feed twenty zone leaders lunch. i can even make a pretty tasty dinner for some missionaries serving in santa rosa from time to time. but being a real hostess; making a table look festive and food beautiful and enjoyable, hot and tasty, clearing plates and serving dessert...i have not mastered it yet. dianne gamblin is doing all she can to help me, and she is amazing, but i am not very good at it. not yet.

*my photography skills are not really improving either. i guess i have to do more than just take a lot of pictures. :(

i said i would write a few of the things i have learned this year. my list could go on and on. suffice it to say, i am grateful to be growng and learning. it is a slow process but it is happening.

i will leave you with a picture i found as i down/uploaded my pictures today. he is one of my favorites! elder bevan!