December Happenings

 Today we had our dear friends Greg & Rachelle and their children over for dinner.  We celebrated the one week birthday of their new little baby boy - Max! What joy a little one brings.

Peter started fiddle lessons this week from David, a friend of his who is an awesome fiddler.  He's really excited about it!  Last week Peter told me that he wanted to be a professional violinist/fiddler.  Wow, I didn't expect that!  But I know he has been having fun with it - picking up the violin and playing all the time.  When you do that, you start to get good really fast.  When it's fun, and not a chore - what a difference that makes!  Peter had about a month of it being a chore (practicing for school), and since then, it's started to be fun.

Mary had a miracle happen this week.  Because of some service that she has given, she found out about a performance team doing couples dances, and she was invited to participate.  We went last night, and afterwards, she told the instructor that she had a dream to be on the BYU Ballroom Dance Team.  He was very excited and talked to Mary for about 20 minutes about what she needed to do to prepare.  He said if you dance for 10,000 hours, you are a pro.  To put that in perspective, 40 hours a week for a year is 2000 hours!  So you can imagine how many hours of dancing that is.  He challenged her to start out with 10 hours a week.  Thankfully we have this mini-dance studio upstairs that will work perfectly for that.  What a blessing!  He also was very positive about training her and bringing in the right people to teach her dances and getting her ready.  After that conversation, we both got in the car and said, "Wow!!".  She feels like it was not a life-changing conversation, because she was already headed that direction, but it really focused.  And now we feel like she can get the direction and help that she needs.  Yeah!

Joshua is staying in the same area for this transfer with Elder Z.  He was happy about that, because he wanted to complete the training with him.  Their investigator Manuel didn't get baptized this week because he wanted to provide a "refrigerio", or refreshment for everyone at his baptism, and he couldn't afford it yet, so he wanted to wait.  Joshua tried to explain to him that it wasn't necessary, but, Josh said, "He is old.".  :)  This means he likes things done traditionally.  I'm sure his time will come soon enough! Joshua also said something profound in his letter, and that is that "the only way to take advantage of that atonement is through the gospel, the obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel."  And he referenced Doctrine y Covenants 84:19-21, which says,

19 And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.

 20 Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.

 21 And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;

In our Stake Conference last Spring, the visiting General Authority, Elder W. said that the power of godliness means the power to become like God.

Joseph got to go through a session in the Temple with my brother this week.  That makes me so happy.  The other days of the week he has gone and done baptisms for the dead - only now he is the one doing the baptizing.  He is heading into finals this week, so we will pray that he does well.

Jesse had a miracle happen too!  She was very stressed out because the local community college had not sent in her transcript for the college credit that she had.  She called them and got the run-around for 2-3 days and many, many people.  She was so frustrated!  But in the end, she had done the best she could and the transcript was still going to be postmarked two days late.  She just prayed and left it up to the Lord.  The due date was on Sat, December 1st.  Well, on Monday morning she learned that the priority deadline for BYU applications had been extended to the 3rd, since the 1st was on a Saturday, so that left the transcript enough time to be postmarked that day!  What a relief!  It wouldn't have been the end of the world to not get the application in for the priority deadline, but it was important to her, and her prayer was answered.

Libby - in between reading books

Libby is in to the Warrior series, by author Erin Hunt.  She and her friends at school act out the roles in the book every day at Recess, and they've set up an elaborate game that has been going on for months with intricate rules, roles and competitions.  It's pretty amazing!  She read a whole book in one day this week.  Hmmm... this reminds me of some other little girl at ten years old reading Nancy Drew books in a day.  That was me.

Bruce has had crazy days with work this week.  He is the "problem-solver" at work, and gets a long list of problems to fix every day.  He also has a release coming up, which makes for long days on the computer.  He is amazing at his work.

I have had a great week working with people and learning a lot.  A lot!  I had some great experiences with understanding the power of working with the feet.  I am so grateful to be involved in work that keeps me learning, allows me to meet new people, and gives me the chance to deeply connect.  I shake my head every day in wonder that this is what I am blessed to do.

Our family is so thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We love our Heavenly Father, and our grateful for his constant care in our life.  We are thankful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost.  What a miracle to have on our side the three most powerful beings in existence.  How can it get any better than that?

Mission Call!

Joseph received his mission call this week!

Last Monday, he got a call from his Branch President, who told him that the call had been issued and was in the mail.  Wahoo!  On Thursday morning, I ran out to the mailbox, and this is what I found. 

To see the name of the Church on that large white envelope is quite a thrill!  I yelled for Jesse and Mary to come out (they were out of school that day), and they ran and celebrated with me.  Bruce was hollering from his office window to bring it in.  The postage on it was $1.90.  We couldn't remember for the life of us what the postage on Josh's envelope had been, so we searched the house up and down looking for his envelope and never found it.  The postage is important because it's more if it's a foreign call because there's more paperwork.  We texted Joseph a picture of his name on the envelope, and he called back and said, "Mom, right when you sent me that, I was blasting Called to Serve by the Mormon Tab!"  He later said that nobody was in his college apartment, so he ran around the apartment yelling at the top of his lungs.

So there we sat, staring at the call for a day and a half.

In the meantime...

We went out to the Orchard to pick apples.  I love it out there.  I heard someone say that they have never seen such a plentiful harvest.  I love the pictures that I take at the Orchard, especially of the children, because they inevitably look so happy.

On Friday, we went out to the farm to do pull pipe.  Peter's friend Hunter came along, so we had a 3 teams going, with Libby driving the four-wheeler.  We moved right along - it was awesome!  We had some trouble with horses getting loose and running hay-wire, but eventually we rounded them back up and put in their respective pastures.

After that we went to meet up with Joseph and Dane, who had just arrived into town with their ride.  When we got home, we had about 40+ people waiting in the house to open Joseph's call.  Luckily Mom & Dad got there first and welcomed people in.

Joseph opened his call to a crowd of expectant, happy faces all gathered around the kitchen table.  His call is to the Argentina Mendoza Mission, speaking Spanish!!  

He will report to the MTC in Provo, Utah on Jan. 23rd, 2013.  What a coincidence - that is the same week that Josh reported to the MTC in Jan of this year, 2012!   It's a perfect time to go in.  It gives us about a month to get ready after Joseph finishes up at BYU-I.  I really thought that my share of luck and blessing had run out with Josh going Spanish speaking, but the Lord saw fit to send Joseph to a Spanish speaking mission.  Oh, I'm so grateful!  Now the three of us - Josh, Joseph and I, can keep up our Spanish with each other.  Bruce understands and speaks quite a bit too.  WOW!!

To have that call happen on Friday night, and then to enjoy Conference Weekend with Joseph here has been heavenly.  

The announcement on Saturday morning by Pres. Monson that the age requirement for missionaries has changed was stunning!  I turned around and grabbed Jesse's hand, and we both started to cry together!  Girls can go on a mission when they're nineteen and boys when they're 18!  I told Jesse that when I was nineteen I prayed all the time that the Lord would make that change.  It wasn't the right time then, but it is now.  The cultural and spiritual ramifications of this change are widespread.

I told my family (tongue in cheek - somewhat) that this is a sure sign that Mitt Romney's going to win the election!  And here's why:  1) Mitt has to win so that the economy will improve and parents will have jobs to pay for all these new unexpected missions, and 2) The Church is going to have so much more exposure because of his presidency, that more missionaries will be needed all over the world to take advantage of all the media exposure.

But seriously, what this means to me is, as Elder Holland said in the Press Conference afterward, that the work is hastening, and the time is short, which means the Lord needs more missionaries than ever.  And the fact that so many more sisters will be able to go, well, this FB post by Porter Hoskins says it all:

 

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who guides us through living prophets in our day.  I love how this is going to energize the Young Men and Young Women's programs, and Seminary also!

Speaking of Sisters, check out this future missionary!  She may have to tone it down a little, or the 18/19 year old missionary thing may not work out so well...

 

This is Jesse on the night of Homecoming.  She went to the dance with Victor, the starting quarterback at the High School, who got named the Idaho football player of the week for his tremendous play at the Homecoming game the night before! Way to go Victor!

Victor and Jesse

 They had a great time that night - thank you Victor for being a gentleman and friend!

And I just have to tell you about these shoes.  These are exactly the shoes Jesse had pictured in her head when she bought the dress (yes - she paid for everything for Homecoming with money she earned teaching piano lessons).  When we went shopping to find the shoes, these were the first shoes we saw in the first store that we went to.  No joke!  Talk about manifesting what you want...

 

I found this yoga pose on Pinterest, and asked Libby if she could do it.  Pretty close!!  Libby is SUPER flexible.  

Some more pictures - this is the last time Joseph will be out at the farm working with us for the next 2 1/2 years!  

I love this picture!

 We finished pulling pipe on Saturday after the afternoon session of Conference.  I couldn't believe the difference in our family's work.  Everybody worked quickly, happily and efficiently.  If you had told me it would be this way as little as 2 years ago, I wouldn't have believed it! 

On Sunday, we got a surprise visit from cousin Matthew!

 He just returned from his French speaking mission in Switzerland and France, and came by with Grandma and Grandpa H.  My parents happened to be here at the same time.  What a treat!

 Wow, writing this post has made me so grateful for the Lord's blessings to our family.  I feel like paraphrasing Mormon and saying, "Surely there could not be a happier family..."  We are not without our troubles (the house is 60 degrees right now because we have no heat - the furnace is broken), but they seem minor compared to the Lord's bounteous blessings. 

Coming up next week:  Cider Festival!

Pullin' Pipe

(Suggested music - International Harvester)

Bruce's parents have a grass hay farm about half an hour away from here, and since it was Labor Day, Bruce decided we needed to labor on the farm. Isn't there something twisted with that logic? No, but really, this is the only time we had to do it without having to miss all sorts of stuff.

Bruce put Libby to work picking apples, since she is too little still to help with the pipe.

The rest of us got to bring in the irrigation pipe - which we call "pullin' pipe" for short.

Peter drives Grandpa's four-wheeler with the pipe trailer behind it. He'll drive a little, then stop and wait while we bring the pipe and load it on the trailer.

Today we had three teams: Dad and Jesse, Mary and I, and Josh and Joseph.

We can pick up three rows of pipe at a time this way because Dad and Jesse do one side, Josh and Joseph the other, and Mary and I do the one right down the middle.

Jesse was a Shera today doing the pipe. Man, she is one tough chick. It's challenging to carry two pipes at the same time, but putting them on the trailer two at a time is even harder. She did it all morning with Bruce without any complaint whatsoever. She just informed me that it is not challenging, and that she and Dad did three at a time. Sheesh!

Mary has grown enough this year that she is finally tall enough to lift the pipe over the guard rails on the trailer and get the pipe on. That means she is a full time worker, and she does a great job.

Libby in pink in the hay. :)

It's a great experience to work together as a family and get this job done. I would like to say that it was all kindness and cheerfulness and hard work, but it was not. It gets a little tense sometimes, but in the end, in the overall picture, it's good.

We take a lot of breaks. After every load, we go in to Grandma and Grandpa's shed (it's more like a warehouse) and raid Grandma's freezer. She leaves all kinds of frozen food there that we can microwave and munch on. I was musing today about how she provides food for us, even when she is in another state. They don't actually live on the farm - they own 20 acres, and plan to build a house on it someday, but for now, they just live in their trailer when they come.

The farm is beautiful, and working out in the open on the farm is a different feeling than any other kind of work that I've done. I frankly quite enjoy it, and I love living in Idaho and having the chance to have these kinds of experiences with our family!