14 April 2013

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is good thing for most of us that it is not. -Oscar Wilde

The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one. -Oscar Wilde

The real mighty faith is not the faith that produces the miracle, but the faith that endures in spite of not receiving the miracle that you are searching for. -Gail Pratt  (this is probably one of my all time favorite quotes.  Spoken by my sister-in-law, who has been fighting cancer for many years, and hasn't been cured, dispute mighty faith and prayers. )

I didn't write last week, so we have two weeks of events...
11 Mom and Dad moved into the Lake Sutherland Lodge. 1994
12 Candy's birthday
13 Stuart's birthday (how sad that his birthday every year is spent with taxes up to his eyeballs.)
15 Addie Barlow (Natalie's) 2011 She is 2 on tax day! My nearly perfect granddaughter.
- This part of April 2010, Monta ran the Boston Marathon!  One of my fondest memories (OK, one of my only memories, since I have such memory issues) was the trip Molly and I took to Boston that year, to see the historical sites, John and Abigail Adam's homes, and to see Monta RUN!

BIG NEWS-- Ole is receiving the "2013 Life Sciences Distinguished Service Award" from Brigham Young University's College of Life Sciences!

Mom and Dad would have been so proud this month.  First, Catie's award as teacher of the year, and now this award for Ole.  I'm a little sad that Mom and Dad wont be able to attend the luncheon in Ole's honor and the presentation of the award (at the College of Life Science's College Convocation.)  I wish I could attend, but am happy that some of my kids can go.  I hope plenty of other family members can attend too,  CONGRATULATIONS Ole!

I see that there are not a lot of views recently on the letter.  It this method of getting the letter to you doesn't work, let me know please.

Updates from missionaries..  If there are other missionaries from the extended family that you would like to share updates from, just forward the info to me.

Easton- wrote quick highlights from the week.  One of interest..."Tuesday was an adventure. The Zone leaders stayed the night for an exchange and then drove us to district meeting tuesday morning. On our way a brick flew off a truck and smashed the windshield. It was terrifying but we all survived. " 

 He also wrote something that showed the depth of his testimony.  "You cannot appreciate the highs until you have endured the low. Last week we were riding a wave of success and things were better than they have ever been. This week was really hard. But true to form, God takes care of His missionaries. For every disappointment there is a miracle right around the corner. When we are obedient, God will do the rest. Never doubt, never fear, our Lord and Savior is ever near. "

Robbie- "So we're also going to be in a trio with a guy named Elder XXX. I've known Elder XXX about six months now.. Don't know him real well, but I guess our Mission President says that he's in 'first gear' .. and he wants him to get more excited about missionary work! " Nice to know that Robbie is a missionary that the president can trust to light the fire under Elder XXX!

Liam- also writes something that shares his testimony, "So many good things are happening here. So many miracles. So many tender mercies. So much change. I have truly come to know true conversion, or at least the start of it. I can't really express my feelings to you. I don't have the vocabulary to do so. My heart is full. I love this country. I love this people. I love this work. And I love the Savior."  He is working with some less active members, some of whom are priesthood holders.  The elders are having success in teaching these mean and their families and encouraging them to return to activity.

Cameron-reported in a whirlwind couple of sentences, a lot of fun...."I got to judge a pinewood derby, sort of, and take apart a huge satellite dish. We bought an older lady, who is a recent convert, flowers cause she was sick, and that was fun (she is 86). I attended a Spanish baptism, and a birthday party for a 70 year old. We got 2 Easter dinners from members, a bag with a turkey dinner in it from a non member, and a free taxi ride on Easter -so that was really cool."  He sent a picture of his mission district.

Blogs-
Cara writes, "Amalie is so excited and so ready for Kindergarten.  She went to "Kindergarten Round-up" and left ready to drop out of preschool and enroll in Kindergarten the next day.  It's hard to be patient when you are only 5!"  She added, "We wanted to do some service as a family.  We kept it simple and picked up trash around the neighborhood."

The funniest thing from Cara was April Fools day. She made a Giant cookie with seedless raspberry jam sauce, white chocolate for cheese, and fruit roll ups cut in circles for pepperoni. She also did baby carrots- orange Tootsie Rolls melted and rolled out long. Her story about her kids and the food is funny.  Check out her blog for more details!

Lissa write some very funny things that Hamilton has been saying lately. (Carol editorial here.  Writing down cute things your kids do and say is so important!  Even if it is on a calendar or post it note...You WONT remember later.  Be sure to write things down.)  Here are some of Hamilton's cute sayings...
*Severin called something crazy and Hamilton told him, "No daddy, not crazy.  Just weird."
*Hamilton thought our apartment was New York City.  Any time we were coming back from some place he liked (church, the park, a friend's house, etc.) and we got to our building, he would start crying "I don't want to go to New York City!"
*Whenever we would ask Hamilton what we should name baby brother, he responded either with "chocolate milk" or "strawberry milk."
*Said randomly about Powell: "He's the best baby ever."


Katie wrote about the two "snow storms" we had here.  She also wrote of funny things Emmeline said.  Here are a couple. 
Emmeline was asking me to pick her up and swing her.  I was just feeling tired and so told her it was too hard for me right then.  She then started singing to me and said, "Grown-ups can help" (to the tune of the Daniel Tiger song "Grown-ups come back"). She realized that that didn't seem to be influencing me, so she started singing the first line to a different Daniel Tiger song: "Everyone is big enough, big enough to do something." Then she sang it again but changed the words to, "Everyone is big enough to lift me."  It's just funny to me how she uses these songs to try to convince me of things.

Emmeline and I were reading a Clifford book the other day. At this page, Emmeline pointed to the toddler in the picture and said, "That me!" Then she pointed to the girl in the pink winter hat and said it was me. So I asked, "Where's Daddy?" She answered immediately, "There!" and pointed to the hunched over old lady. Hilarious.

This entry is only about our family.  I would love to get some updates from my cousins or aunts/uncles or the extended family that this is sent to.  Your news will make it more interesting to you!  Send me updates!

General Conference was this past weekend.  As usual, it was amazing.  So many good, inspiring and spiritual talks.  The stat of the conference was 

 Holy cow! More than 10,000 new missionaries out in the field, with 20,000 waiting to enter MTC's?  It is just inspiring.  

Have a good week.  Work Hard, Study Hard, Pray Hard.  Make your mother proud of you this week. :)

Carol