spinning

Do you live a life that reflects your priorities?  I try to...and I sometimes do, and sometimes I struggle.  My #1 is my relationship with God.  I feel like my outward religious practices reflect that really well.  I go to church every week.  I worship in the temple.  We pay our tithes and offerings.  I serve in my calling and try to treat others the way that Jesus would.  I think that people who know me know that I am a Christian and that being one is important to me.  My private religious practices often match up..that's where it's a little easier to get lazy, or busy.  Either way Satan doesn't care if it's lazy or busy as long as I forget.  Personal prayer, personal scripture study, kind thoughts, humility, etc.  Sometimes those things need my attention.

A close second is my relationship with my family.  My husband, children, grands, parents, siblings, in-laws, etc. Family is super important to me and those relationships bring me so much joy and purpose.  

I enjoyed being with Rob last week.  We did normal things but it's nice to have a partner.  It's been a challenging year because he lives in MD and every time I go to see him it means I am leaving Grace, who still is living at home and is my child.  I am not looking forward to an empty nest. I do look forward to living with my husband and paying one mortgage!  I do look forward to the times we can all be together and I prioritize phone calls, trips, and prayers with and for the kids. Next month I get to take a trip to see the kids, to go to Marshall's baptism, and to celebrate Poppy arriving soon!

While I was in MD Grace had her all county concert.  She was a soloist and thankfully Sandy recorded it and I was able to hear it.  I would have loved to go in person.  It's been a tough year for Grace and she's had to grow through a lot of adversity and trials. 

Blake got the priesthood while I was gone too, I would have loved to be there for that.  I even miss Lincoln a little. 

 day date with my man

School has been a lot.  I am in VA this week.  The campus is beautiful and I love going to class in person.  I feel like I am learning so much and enjoying getting to know the other students and instructors.  It's called an intensive and it is intense.  We go to class from 8am to 4:30 ish every day and attend lectures and work in triads and practice core skills.  It is exhausting and a little scary and also really meaningful.  It's been really fun to see where everyone comes from (all over the US and one from South Africa), it's been interesting to hear everyone's why for becoming a counselor, and it's humbling to hear their stories and vulnerable to share mine.  I love that it's an evangelical school.  Evangelicals are so unabashedly exuberant about their love for Jesus (as a group) and I love that.  I love that we pray together and that the Bible is a textbook for life. Here's what I mean, I might say that I felt prompted to do something, or that I was inspired to ____________. They would say "Jesus put it in my heart to ______________". I love that. 

I love that there is so much good in the world and that we can find it in all people and faiths and cultures. I long for the day when Jesus comes back and Redeems us all, for when He rules and reigns and we can all be one people.  I think we will be surprised by how much we have in common, and how much He loves each of us.   ...and some people will be surprised to see that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is His restored church and that by joining it they will not lose anything but will only be added upon.

Anyway, then after class I have hours and hours of work for my other classes so I go to bed at 10ish and sleep hard...except for the weird dreams.  

Friday

 I miss those days!

Today was a good day though. We went out to the house and did our electrical walk. It’s going to be nice, the house that is. I’m a little worried about the location but maybe it’ll be great. 

That took all morning. 

Next we went home to Donna’s house. R and Kai are her ministering brothers. They took her trash to the dump. Then we went to the church because it was our turn to clean it. Rob got a haircut and I did homework. 

Darcy is One!!

 This little peanut has a birthday today!!! I can’t believe she is already a year old! 

Love you Darcy Ella💕💕

Drove and drove and drove

Yesterday I drove. And drove. And drove. I listened to podcasts, and talked on the phone, and looked out the window, and accidentally ran over an opossum:(, and listened to the book of John.

Today was homework, house walk, dinner with Pete and Katherine. 

 

Outdoor escape room

 

As a birthday surprise I booked an outdoor escape room for a team (6 people). It was really fun!

I was excited but didn’t know what it would be like. We got there and there were tons of people playing, like 200. A lot of them were dressed up and some of the costumes were amazing!

It was a little like Pokémon Go(ish). We had maps and clues and puzzles and tasks on our phones. You had to go to certain locations and interact with characters and solve riddles and puzzles.

It took us about 2 and a half hours and we all agreed that it was super fun.

We did get rained on a little and we definitely had to work together!

After we went to OG for dinner. 

18

Disney’s Magic Kingdom!!

We met Mickey!

Today is Graces birthday!We had such a fun day celebrating her. She is 18 years old! Whoo hoo!

Tom and Diana were able to come and spend the day with us! We rode a bunch of rides and had lunch at Pecos Bill’s.

At around 4 they went home and a little while later Lettie and Ellie and Kristina came and we spent the evening with them!

 The whole day was super fun. I hope Grace enjoyed it and felt really celebrated!

Fun fact on Monday splash mountain closes for a year. They are reimagining it in a Princess and the Frog theme. We had to ride it one last time. 😢

Hmmm

Did lots of studying today. 

Ran out of the house for just one quick showing, in my pajamas. I found myself very amusing so I took a photo.

 Blake brought Grace flowers. He asked me to help him put them in a vase. As I was arranging them I thought about Victoria in “Red“ telling Frank Moses how she loves retirement- the baking and the arranging. Which made me smile.

finding purpose

 Diana and I went to see "A Man Called Otto". I think we both really liked it.  I had read the book several years ago and liked it, it's been long enough that I forgot some of the details and consequently enjoyed the movies just as well. 

After we met Blake, Grace and Sandy at Tijuana Flats for dinner.  

When I got home our amazing ministering brother, Jared Elliot, came over and fixed our sliding door latch! Shout out to people who take such good care of us.

We had four showings today (limping to the finish line) and school is back in full swing for me.  I am finding it challenging to work in a focused manner.  There is a lot going on but I have grit (positive affirmation) and I'm sticking to it.

lots of days

 11pm.  I woke up in bed, the tv was on. I hate when that happens.  It means I missed the end of whatever I was watching and will have to watch it again.  It also means I have to get up and make sure that everything is ready for the night.  In the winter this is even worse because the bed is warm and I don't want to leave it.  
We are in our few days of winter.  Orlando does get cold. We have a couple of days here and there when the weather is cold and the wind blows.  Tonight is one.  I went to Grace's room to tell her to take the dog out.  She was also asleep so I took him out, thankfully he did his business quickly.  I guess he didn't want to stay out any longer than I did.  Then I locked up downstairs, closed up Grace's room, and grabbed a sweater on my way back to bed. 

Saturday, we have 5 offers on the house.  Strangely.  We've been showing it for 14 days and then all of a sudden all these offers come in on the same day.  I am grateful.  I knelt to pray last night and asked Heavenly Father for His help in selling the house.  Coincidence? I don't really believe in coincidences, rule #39. I do believe that God's hand is in our lives each day, we need to recognize His presence. So I am very grateful.  It's not a done deal but it looks like we are headed that way.  In the meantime we keep showing it and wait patiently for all the pieces to come together.

Sunday, Grace spoke in the WG ward.  She didn't want me to go listen, so I didn't. It's a weird time when your child is almost an adult.  They begin to venture out on their own long before they actually move out. With my adult children I like to let them set the pace. I want to give them space to grow and stretch and become all they are meant to be.  This means stepping back and taking yourself out of the picture sometimes.  It means not getting hurt if they want to do something on their own.  It means finding your own life again after losing for them.

It was my turn to teach our little primary class.  We taught Luke 2 and it was super fun.  

Monday, Blake has been gone to MI with his dad for the weekend.  Grace went to the airport to pick him up.  After they got back Sandy and I met them at Azteca for dinner.  I got the tacos al pastor and they were delicious. We came back to our house after and Blake and Grace built legos while Sandy and I visited in the living room for 2 hours.  We were surprised when we looked at the time to see that we had been hanging out for that long. 

Also today Grace got her nails done for a birthday present and we took our cars to get oil changes and for blue to get fitted for the move.  It was $$$. 

Red tailed hawk

I was driving home from being gone for a showing. Listen, we have had 71 showings so far. This is crazy and not very fun. Do you know what it is like to mop your floor twice a day? Every.day??? Not fun. 

I digress.

So I was driving home and the people were still in the house so I passed right on by and stopped around the corner. I had my sunroof glass closed but the slider open because last night on the way home from YW I was watching the fireworks. As soon as I pulled over I heard a scrape on the roof and looked up and saw this guy! I couldn’t believe it. 

 I sat there for 12-15 min watching him. Dani had FaceTimed on her way to the temple where she was going to do initiatories for a bunch of the Maries in the family so we were chatting and watching the bird.

Eventually I thought to open the glass not knowing if he’d fly way or not. He did not. Then I got a really great view. 

(If he had hopped in the car I would have hoped out of the door..I actually had thought it thru) He sat there awhile longer and eventually I thought I should try to touch him.

That was when he bid me adieu. A great word to start your wordle game if you want a lot of vowels.

It was so cool. Magical really. 

Also today we went back to the preserve. During a showing. 

 

Back at it

 After a few weeks off from school for Christmas break I am back to school. I have a lot of classes this semester, hopefully not too many. 🤞

Today was a busy day. This morning Nicole, Alicia, and I went to Hollywood Studios. So fun. We had a great chat and our time flew by. 

I’ve been putting Grace and Blake off as they have invited me to go to the gym many times. Today I went and it was fun. And hard. They love to work out together and go many times each week. 

This evening Nicole asked me to help with YW. I was happy to. It’s always so fun to spend time with the girls. 

During the break I was able to do some leisure reading.

 This was my reading stack for the break. I finished four in their entirety and the other two I am still working on. I read “The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly” which I loved. Margareta Magnisson wrote it when she was in her 80s. She is charming and articulate and practical. She also wrote “The Swedish Art of Death Cleaning” which is now on my list. I read “Good Morning, Monster” which was very interesting. It was written by Catherine Gildiner and it was about 5 clients she had over her many decades long career as a psychologist who she considered heros. 

“The Identicals” by Elin Hilferbrand is set in Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard and is the story of identical twin sisters who are split apart by their parents divorce and live separate lives and later are forced back together by their fathers death and their mothers accident. It’s a fluffy sad but then happy romance but I liked it. 

“My Friend, the Octopus” follows the octopus theme of books that I read from time to time. It was not my favorite one but the cover art was beautiful and I liked it. 

“Th Awakened Brain” is super interesting. It’s about the effects of religion on the brain. I am still working on it. And “Atlas of the Heart” I only thumbed thru but as soon as I’m done with the brain I am moving on to the heart. 

Last night I went to the temple with some RS sisters. It was so very sweet. We are spoiled to live 15 minutes away. 

Baptism

Blake got baptized last night.  It was a wonderful evening.  He's been talking with the missionaries for a couple of months and he decided this was something that he really wanted to do.  His parents were super supportive and we were all so excited for him!

We had cookies and milk after and did some congratulatory visiting.  The spirit was sweet and strong and it was a privilege to be there.

I took this picture before the baptism started, they were just getting in the cold water.  Elder Hancock, who taught him most of the time, but who got transferred just a few weeks ago, was able to come back and baptize him.

After we went to Longhorn for dinner.  

Elder Hancock, Blake, and Elder Robinson.  They were all so happy and excited!

A lot of people came to celebrate.  It was great to see him be supported and loved that way.

 Sandy and Brian and Blake.  They are the sweetest family.  

It's such a neat experience to sit through the missionary lessons with someone and to see the peace and light that comes into their lives as they accept Jesus Christ and commit to following Him.  I am so happy for Blake and for what this will mean in his life.  He's really an exception young man.  He's kind and good.  I'm glad that Grace has such a nice first boyfriend.  No matter what happens in the future he has set a very high bar.