Missionary "erk"...

Tuesday April 20, 2010

This Sunday is a "Come and See" Sunday, which means to invite your friends to an investigator friendly meeting. I've had some names in mind, which I almost hate... you know if you thought about who you could invite and NO ONE came in mind, then you'd be off the hook! Right?

Well I finally got up the courage to deliver two invites to my neighbors tonight. Olive came with me and it was kind of neat. A week ago for Family Home Evening we talked about being a "good friend" and learned about one way to do that is to bring your friends to church. So I reminded her about how we are good friends by inviting our friends to church and asked if she wanted to come with me to invite our friends. She said yes (probably because I said we were going somewhere) and we said a little prayer for the spirit to be with us and went off. That was probably the coolest part really. Olive held the invitations and it was pretty uneventful, yet great. They were both gracious and gave a sure-fast "we'll have to see"... But I hope they come. And if not this time, maybe something in the future.

I grew today. I don't have many missionary opportunities anymore because I have so many member friends. But our neighbors are really great... and after all.. they did come into my mind!

I'm grateful Heavenly Father cares about all of His children enough to ask us to stretch ourselves, not even that much, and make an invitation so that He might open the doors to the happiness we feel and enjoy everyday!

You are wonderfully normal...

Saturday April 17th, 2010

Before my Grandpa Jack passed away I would send him links to my blog to that he and my grandma could stay in touch with us and see our little Olive because we weren't able to see them much. He was a wise man, but of little words, especially in emails. After getting an email link to our blog he would respond with something like:

Thank you for sharing. You are a wonderfully normal family.

to some that may seem an odd thing to say (well it is odd) but coming from my grandpa it is a compliment. It is a blessing to be able to be "normal" and functioning in social ways. To be able to go to ward activities or travel AND have fun at the same time... something that I think was a struggle for some of my extended family.

Tonight we went to our ward's SPRING FLING. It was an open mic night and dance! (I know! A dance for a married ward with children!?... so fun!) At the open mic night every time someone was done, Olive said, "My turn!!" I kept asking, "you want to go sing a song too??"... trying to clarify what she really meant. And she would say yes. So Olive and I got us to the microphone and sang (ok.. she got shy and I sang it) 'On Top of Spaghetti.' It was her first debut at a microphone in front of a large crowd. She didn't sing a word. But she thought she did!

Then the dance started and she was a MANIAC. In the middle of EVERYONE twirling and dancing, kicking her feet... she loved it. She danced all night long. She reminds me of me a lot sometimes. I was a proud parent as I saw a fun trait get passed to my little one. She is going to LOVE church dances! Any dance for that matter.

I'm grateful tonight to have a normal and functioning family! I'm grateful that we can be dorks, go to a church dance with our babe and pregnant belly, and dance the night away, and never wish we were somewhere else!

I guess we are wonderfully normal.

Olive's Prayers

Saturday April 10th, 2010

mostly by herself... I filled in the important words, she filled in what she is grateful for!


Thank you ...a church
thank you...a Ana (adam)
thank you...a church
thank you... a shamu
thank you...a milk
thank you... a daddy
thank you a mommy
thank you a puppy
thank you a house
bless me.... sleep

amen

We're so grateful she is learning to pray so early! It touches our heart to hear what she comes up with. And, Adam, you are always in our prayers!!

iphones

Friday April 9th, 2010

I was able to catch a few talks that I missed from General Conference on my iphone! I listened to 2 talks while I went running and 2 more while I did dishes. I Elder Todd Christofferson's talk he talked about how in todays world we have so many ways to get words of the Lord through the prophets and apostles! And YES we do! I want to take more advantage of that. I know technology can be used for evil, so I want to use mine for good. I felt the spirit yesterday and learned so much. It motivated me all day and I got so much accomplished. That's right... I'm grateful for my iphone.

check out the mormon radio app on our iphones

It's been awhile...

I haven't been up to date because we were on vacation in Florida.

I saw the Lord's hand in my life every day we were there. It was our very first exclusive family trip, just me, the Mr. and lil' Olive. We were blessed every step of the way. We traveled safely, got our underage fee waved on the rental car, returned it without harm, got to spend every waking moment together and loved every second of it. I'm so grateful for the family unit and that it is ordained of God. I KNOW it is. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of the days (or the mundane tasks of the days) I forget how wonderful and secure it is to be in a family. I'm so grateful for our little growing family!

And NOW we add another little GIRL in the mix!

Ok...I know I should be grateful for whatever the Lord sends me (and I'm sure I would be) BUT I'm so excited it's another little girl. What a blessing!!