Texas

One of the best memories I had as a child was when we would go to the mall and mom or dad would buy us a Texas Donut.  Ila was so excited about the donut, she wouldn't even give me a bite.

This was our last full week of summer break.  I have been wanting to take my kids to the church history museum for a long time so I decided we better go before school got in.  

It was really touching going through the museum.  I have been reading and studying the pioneers and Joseph Smith a lot this year.  

 The family history discovery museum is right by the history museum so we stopped by there also.  The kids loved the family history museum.  She made me promise that I would bring her back again.

Today the AMT (Advance musical theater) class leaders came and kiddinaped all the other students for breakfast and get to know you games.  Briggs was surprised when a couple of kids walked in and said, "Get your shoes on we are kiddinaping you."  Briggs said, "ok."
I went to make sure Briggs was finding his shoes and he said, "Mom who is the AMT?"  I laughed that he was just willing to walk out of the house with just anyone (they were 9th graders, that is why Briggs didn't know them).  I said, "Its your advance musical theater class."  He said, "Oh, ok. That makes me feel better."

Tonight Ila asked, "mom, why do grandpa and grandma always want to go on missions?"  I said, "What do you think the very most important thing to Grandpa and Grandma is?"  She said, "I don't know?"  I said, "It is Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  So what do Grandpa and Grandma do?"
(I thought I had led into the answer well)  She said, "Clean and Work a lot."

This life is a test

I don't know how much I shared about my (2nd father, Randy, passing away.  This is my best friends father.  Her parents were like 2nd parents for me)  Randy passed away almost 3 years ago from a brain infection.  He was a completely health man serving as a bishop in his ward.  He got sick, in two weeks he was in a coma, and within two months he had passed away.
After going to the MTC open house we decided to drive the kids by the home I grew up in.   While we were in Cherry Village we decided to drive by Randy and Marie Loveless' home.  When I saw Marie was there I decided to run up and say hello.  Marie was so surprised to see me and she called Lisa, who had left her house just 2 mins before I got there.
Lisa came back to the house and we all visited for a couple of hours.  While we were visiting Lisa said, "I need to tell you the story about the deer head that is displayed in the front room."  She began telling me the story about how her dad had shot this deer.  "Before Dad died he went Elk hunting.  While he was looking for an Elk a beautiful deer came walking by his camp.  He didn't have a deer tag but David (Lisas Brother) did have a deer tag.  Dad knew David wasn't going to use his deer tag that year because he was working on his masters degree and he didn't have time.  So Dad justified shooting the deer from Davids deer tag.  When Dad got home and had the head hung in his home he couldn't look at the head without feeling guilty about shooting the deer.  He didn't feel good about justifying the kill off of his sons tag so he decided to call and turn himself in.  The authorities ended up fining my dad over two thousand dollars, they took the deer head and he was given a criminal record.  My dad said when they auctioned off that head Im going to the auction and Im going to buy that head back."  Lisa said we use to tease him and ask him how much he was willing to pay for that dear head at the auction.  He would say, "What ever it takes."  Unfortunately Randy died before the auction happened.
One night Lisa and her husband Doug happened to turn on the news and heard that they would be having the auction for illegally poched skins the following morning.  Lisa and Doug headed up to the auction but had a hard time getting there.  The sun came out and the pelts were getting ruined so the auction had to save the heads and have the pelts auctioned off first.  This was a huge blessing because Lisa would not have made it to the auction in time had they stayed with the original schedule.
The deer head ended up selling for twice the price of any other head there.  She ended up winning the head at the price of $1200.  After winning she became so emotional that she began to cry.  Others around her saw that there was a story behind this deer head.  A man came up to her and asked if she would share the story.  She told him how this head represented the honesty of her father.
It wasn't long before many people in the room knew about the story and even the lady that had been bidding against her apologized and said, "Had I known this story, I never would have bid against you."
The auction house actually liked her story and asked if the news could interview her.  She was interviewed but she still had to pay the $1200 for that deer head.
Lovelesses have several impressive animal heads in their home but that deer head is the most expensive and most valuable to all of them because of the story behind it.

I thought this was a perfect story to show a man that was doing all he could to live an honest life, a man who passed this tests here on earth and a man who was prepared to return to his Father in Heaven.

Where will your decisions take you?

Back in December when we went to Puerto Rico our family spent several hours photographing headstones in some cemeteries.  We (me) decided that we needed to take advantage of the opportunity to be in puerto rico to take the pictures so that we could use them for the boys eagle scout projects.  We had some great experiences while photographing the cemeteries and we were able to talk with many people that were curious about what we were doing.
After returning home from our vacation I was thinking about all the work that needed to be done in order to get all the cemeteries photographed in Puerto Rico.  While I was thinking about this I was reminded of the head stones that I saw while tracking in my mission that were just on little plots on peoples personal property.  I thought about the information that will be lost if those graves are not documented in some way and also how those places will every be found.
It hit me that missionaries that are out walking the streets may be the only people that may ever take advantage of the opportunity to document those hidden headstones.
I decided to write a letter to the church missionary department and family history department explaining my idea/concern about those plots.
I really didn't think much of the letters I sent off after they were gone because the pressure was off of me and I had done my part (which I had bee prompted to do).  A couple of months passed and I was contacted by a man from the family history department who told me that he was meeting with a few people that were part of a group that worked together to think of ideas to help further the work of family history and missionary work combining.  He asked me if I would mind coming to their meeting to share with them more about my ideas and experiences.
I was floor with the invitation but I was happy to share whatever I could to help.
I personally have had a very remarkable experiences in working with missionary work and family history.  When I was a full time missionary in Puerto Rico I met a 70 year old man named John who was willing to listen to the missionary discussions.  John was divorced and living with his 90 year old mother.  (Not the ideal candidate for missionary discussions for sister missionaries)
Well John accepted the gospel and was baptized.  About 6 weeks after his baptism the Dominican Republic Temple was dedicated and they had it broadcast in Puerto Rico so we were able to take John to the dedication.  10 days after the dedication John went to Florida to visit his daughter.  This was perfect opportunity for John to go to the temple so I made sure he got a temple recommend before leaving PR.  In Florida John was able to be baptized for his father who had passed away.  The experience he had there was so significant that he came back to PR and shared it with his mother who at the age of 91 was baptized.  I lost track of John after my mission but a few months ago I was curious to see if I could find him.  I went into family search to see what info I could find on him or his mother (Angela).  Both of them have passed away but I looked at their ordinances.  When Angela was 95, she and John went to the Dominican Republic Temple and received their inititories and endowments.  They were also sealed together as a family and Angela and her husband were sealed together.
I can't begin to express my joy and feelings about seeing that they remained faithful and had made covenants in the temple.
Anyway, I went to the meeting today and shared my personal experiences with missionary work and family history.  I also presented some ideas and my opinion.  The group asked me many questions including specifics about what I felt needed to be done to help train the missionaries.  I spent an hour with this group and I can't wait to see how they are able to implement these ideas.
It has been so humbling to be involved in this part of the processes as they implement so new ideas to further the Lords work.

I laugh to think about how much the boys eagle project influenced all of this.

Growing up

This past week Avram went to EFY for the first time.  I found out that kids can go to EFY when their 13 if their birthday is before Sept 30 so he was barely able to squeeze in.  

Everyone told Avram how much fun he was going to have so he went with a really good attitude.  I was stressing out.  I had found a slot available two weeks ago for EFY so we signed him up.  He went without any friends.  

When it was the final drop off I saw panic go through Avram when he realized that this was the end and I wasn't going with him but he was brave and didn't look back.

I almost started crying as I watched him walking away into the unknown.  Just 10 years ago this boy couldn't handle any change in his routine and he really couldn't handle dealing with the unknown.

 Avram called us almost every evening during his free time to tell us all about the things he had learned.  Adam and I couldn't believe the excitement in his voice.
He said one of his favorite teachers was Brother Dunn.

Avram called one night and told us about a dance they had.  He said, "Our councilors told us the boys job is to ask girls to dance and the girls job is to say 'yes' when we ask.  When the first slow song started I was so thirst!  I went and drank four big cups of water.  Then when the next slow song came on I started feeling like I was going black out.  I was trying so hard not to pass out and then I went and asked a girl to dance."
Adam and I laughed until tears started coming out of our eyes as we listened to Avrams description of the dance.
Avram was so excited to tell us all the things he learned.  He said, "I learned how to read the scriptures so that they make sense."

I was able to get tickets to the MTC open house so yesterday we all went together to the MTC.  It was such an amazing experience being in the MTC and telling the kids all about our experiences there.  The new buildings are amazing!  My boys enjoyed the tour.
Once the tour ended we were shuttled back to the parking lot by the foot ball stadium.  Avram saw a dinosaur museum in the parking lot so we really didn't have a choice, we had to go check out the museum.  Avram loved the museum and the other kids endured it.