Our home teachers came over last Sunday and we had a good visit.  We colored Easter eggs for Family Home Evening, albeit a couple of days later than FHE.  On Wednesday, I finally had a “ME” day during Emma’s playgroup and it was nice and relaxing.    Emma thinks anytime she gets dressed she’s going to playgroup and gets super upset when it’s only the store or another place.  It’s tough being three.  I’ve been reading, “The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing” by Jason Kelly and it’s been really informative.

Wednesday afternoon, I went to hear Cameron’s orchestra perform at their UIL concert.  They did a great job and received straight Ones.  On Thursday, the missionaries came over for dinner and then Mike went to Stake PEC.  He’s been having to go to a lot more Stake meetings lately.  On Friday, the kids didn’t have school.  We cleaned for a little bit and then Cameron’s friend came over so they could do some Scout stuff.  We all watched Big Miracle… which had some language I didn’t care for.  On Saturday, we mostly did yardwork, cleaning, and organizing.  We had some friends come over for dinner and the kids all enjoyed playing together.  Today was Fast Sunday for us, which I originally thought was weird, but it turned out to be a wonderful meeting with many really good testimonies about the Savior and the atonement.  Afterwards, we went over to Grandma’s and talked with her, Jim, Carol, Kathy, and George for a little bit.  We’ll be having our own Easter dinner as soon as the mashed potatoes are ready. 

Someone in church today shared something I thought was neat.  She said she feels like it’s easier to teach her kids about the true meaning of Christmas because it’s easier to tie in Santa Claus (who gives) and Christ.  Also, people traditionally act out the nativity and sing hymns, etc.  But she has always struggled to tie in the Easter Bunny to Christ… of course.  So, when they have their family Easter egg hunt each year, there is one egg that when found only has a single, small, white cloth in it and nothing else.  She said this egg represents the tomb and the white linen that was found when Christ had been resurrected.  Whoever finds the egg gets a $25 budget to buy whatever they think will help the family draw closer to Christ, whether a book, making cookies for neighbors, etc.  She says her kids get more excited about finding this one egg than all of the candy eggs because then they get to plan out what the family gets to do.  Anyway, I thought it was a neat idea.

“Ideals are stars to steer by; they are not sticks to beat ourselves with.”
–Barbara B. Smith, Ensign, March 1976

What I say now is not meant to cause contention or debate, but to merely be a testament of the things which I believe.

I believe that all human beings, male and female, are created in the image of God.  I believe that each person is a spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.  I believe that gender is an essential characteristic of our mortal and eternal identity and purpose and was determined before we came to earth.  I believe that I have a loving Heavenly Father who sent me to earth to gain experience, to be tested, and to learn how to return to him.  I believe that God has a plan for each of us to enable us to return to him.  I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman which union culminates in the creation of family which is central to God’s plan for us.  I believe that the sacred act of procreation should only be used between a lawfully wedded husband and wife.

I believe that God lives.  I believe that he loves us and wants us to return to him.  And as such, I will do everything, to the best of my ability, to return to him.  I am married, I have four beautiful children, and I try every day to be a little bit better with the hope that I can return to my Father in Heaven with my family by my side.  And as a mother, who also wants her children to return to live with God, I will do everything in my power to teach them how that they can return to him and how to keep God’s commandments.  I will teach them that marriage and the creation of children is sacred and part of God’s plan and as such can only be fulfilled between a man and a woman.  I know these things to be true and as I ponder them today, they bring me peace.  Peace to know that my Heavenly Father loves me.  Peace to know that my Heavenly Father has a plan for me.  Peace to know that if I follow God’s plan that I can return home to him.  Peace to know that my family can be there with me.

(Some references courtesy of: http://www.lds.org/Static%20Files/PDF/Manuals/TheFamily_AProclamationToTheWorld_35538_eng.pdf)

So excited for my next concert!  We will be playing:

Ravel Bolero
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue
Sibelius Finlandia
Tschaikowsky 1812 Overture
Encore will be Phantom of the Opera.

They had the audience vote on various pieces that we’ve played over the last 10 years for a “fan favorite” concert and this is what they chose.  The only pieces I like better (off the top of my head) are Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and Holst’s The Planets… but these other pieces are wonderful too!

So, Carol and George came over on Sunday for dinner and George gave me a stock tutorial.  I’ve been watching Mad Money all week, opened up my stock account, started looking over at MorningStar, subscribed to Seeking Alpha, and have two library books I’m reading on the topic.  I’ve been doing some mock trades this week and will continue to do so until May when I’m done with school and can commit a little more time to research on companies before I actually start trading.  We’ll see how it goes…

We had a really good Family Home Evening on Monday and Cameron gave the lesson on the atonement.  He gave the same lesson in church today, so we were his “trial” run.  He did a great job and we all felt the Spirit at the end of Touch of the Master’s Hand that he showed for part of his lesson.  Cameron did a good job tying the analogy back into our own lives.  Tuesday was crazy.  I picked up Cameron early from tennis so he could go to his orchestra concert.  I came early to help tune the strings and to be a “mock” judge since it was a pre-UIL concert.  While the beginners were playing Cameron’s A string broke so I had to fix that, but it kept going out of tune so he didn’t even play.  He was really bummed.  His new A string was $40!  It’s so expensive for new strings… blah.  Mike dropped off Errolyn at Activity Days and then took Logan and Emma with him to help with Temple Recommends.  I picked up Errolyn after Cameron’s concert and we all got home about the same time.

On Wednesday, I ran errands and then taught a violin sectional at Cameron’s school (although Cameron wasn’t even there because he was on a GT Field Trip).  Later, I took Cameron and Errolyn to the dentist and dropped Cameron back off for tennis practice.  In the evening I went to the cannery and stocked up on a few things again.  On Friday, Errolyn found out she didn’t have any solos in the choir and was sad.  I picked her up early from choir so I could pick Cameron up in time to take him to his tennis tournament.  He lost both games, but he wasn’t too shaken up about it.  Cameron played really well the first game, but his partner did not.  During he second game Cameron’s partner did much better, but they still lost.  It was a whirlwind month and a half of tennis, but I’m really glad it’s over… too much!

So, Saturday morning was Emma’s preschool sign-up.  All three of our kids have gone to this preschool and we really like it so I really wanted Emma to get in.  But, because we had to sign-up during open enrollment and there weren’t very many spots left (after people from their church had signed up and current students and siblings had signed up) I was told to come early.  I was going to wake up at 2:30am and get in line.  I was heading to bed about 8pm on Friday and I asked Mike to drive by on his way home to see if there was a sign-up list on the door.  Instead, there were tents set up and people were already in line!!  There were numbered chairs, so Mike sat down on chair #6 and called me.  I got all of my stuff together and headed down to take the first shift to camp-out in line for the night.  The pastor came and said we could move the numbered chairs anywhere on the property and our place in line would still be secure, so most people took their chairs to their cars and went to sleep.  I did the same thing but hardly got any sleep.  I brought ear plugs, which was the only reason I got any at all.  I was supposed to call Mike at 1 or 2pm so he could take the next shift, but I figured I was going to have to sleep half the day anyway when I came home, so one of us probably should be well rested enough to watch the other kids.  So, I stayed and camped out all night.  And Emma, barely made it into her preschool program, but she got in.    The first person in line was standing outside afterwards (she had started the line at 5:30pm the night before) and I joked with her that she liked it so much she couldn’t leave.  Apparently, her family was supposed to pick her up but had obviously slept in and weren’t answering any of their phones.  So, I gave her a ride home. 

As soon as I got home I crashed hard for a few hours.  Mike took Logan to his first baseball practice and Mike said Logan did a really, really good job for never having played before.  Logan seems to be good at any sport he tries, so when he’s old enough to “choose” a sport it’ll have to be the one he loves the most.  Carol and Grandma came about lunchtime and we took Cameron and Errolyn shopping at Kohls and Bealls.  Carol had some really good coupons and she got the kids a ton of clothes and shoes for a really good price.  I bought the kids some summer clothes too since they are growing like weeds and all of their clothes are too small. 

In the afternoon, we had our family Easter Egg hunt.  The kids all had fun, but we still can’t find two of the eggs… I guess we hid them a little too hard.  The kids made an indoor Easter Egg hunt for Mike and I which was nice of them.  They had coupons in their eggs for “10 minutes of brush your hair,” “We’ll make dinner,” “We’ll do an extra chore,” and things like that.  It was cute.

Saturday evening, I went to set up a Swing Dance video in the refreshment room for the Daddy Daughter Sock Hop and make sure the men’s quartet showed up, but I ended up staying to help with refreshments and throw-up duty since a couple of people didn’t show up to help.  (Apparently sugary refreshments plus little girls jumping up and down dancing equals a night full of throw up… fun stuff.)  The girls had a blast with their Daddy.  Emma absolutely loving running around and dancing with all of her little friends.  She especially liked dancing up on the stage.  Errolyn tried to do karaoke but had trouble finding the starting pitch because the music was so soft.  I didn’t come in until half way through the song and I saw Mike jump up to sing with her when she started getting embarrassed.  He’s a good Dad.  I wish all of the moms could have seen what I saw last night though.  All of the girls had so much fun dancing with their Dads and all of the Dads were dancing silly and crazy with their little girls.  It made my heart smile to see so many good Dads there and so many girls having the time of their life with their Dad.

What a fun week!  The kids were off for Spring Break so we decided to actually do something this year.    On Monday, Carol went with us to the Alamo, Riverwalk, and Tower of Americas.  Coincidentally, all of my school aged children are learning about the Alamo in school right now.  Logan has been so excited about it all and comes home frequently talking about Davy Crockett and other heroes of the Alamo.  So, needless to say, the Alamo was a neat place to visit for them.  Cameron took the audio tour, Errolyn got bored, and Logan was thrilled to find names and faces of people he had learned about.  The Riverwalk was fun and the kids had fun playing on the stairs at the Arneson River Theatre.  On the way to the Tower, we found the coolest playground I’ve ever seen.  The kids absolutely loved playing there as it was huge and had mazes and climbing/ hiding things all over it.  Errolyn loved being on top of the Tower of Americas but the boys were a little scared.  There was a 4-D movie that was shown that we all enjoyed.  Carol bought all of the kids souvenirs at the Alamo and they had a great time.

Tuesday through Thursday, the kids and I went to visit my parents and brothers and sister.  We stopped at Janet’s house for a few hours and the kids had fun playing.  Then we drove to Mom and Dad’s house and stayed the rest of the time with them.  It was good to see my parents again and I enjoyed talking with them both.  On Wednesday, Dad came with us to the Arboretum and we met Janet and her kids there.  The kids had fun on the playground and later on the trails at the Arboretum.  I always enjoyed going there as a kid and it was neat to go back again.  I did have moment there though where I thought a large cockroach had dropped in my shirt.  It ended up being a large beattle, but I still was freaked out that it was in my shirt and I had killed it in there.  David came over for a little bit and we got to talk to him and then Kevin talked with me later that night.  On Thursday, we went to the neighborhood park, but I didn’t come prepared (with wipes for bird poop, water, etc.) so we didn’t stay long.  At the house, I began packing up and the kids began raking the front yard to help “Grandpa.”  I joined them, and although we barely made a dent after raking up 2 bags and a trash can full of leaves, the kids all felt good for trying to help.  We ate lunch with Mom and Dad and then began the drive back home.  I was VERY tired on the drive home and had to pull over at a rest stop and take a 20 minute nap before I was able to keep driving, but I was completely fine after that.

On Friday,  I ran some errands and then took the kids to a “Green Lunch” that my friend Aubrey had organized at a park.  We saw lots of old friends and the kids had fun playing and eating all of the green foods that everyone brought.  Today we cleaned for a while and then Mike took the older three kids on a 10 mile bike ride.  I took a walk with Emma around the block but she was sad that we didn’t find the other kids.  Mike called and had us meet him at a park and then Emma was so excited that we “found” the other kids.  The kids have been bike riding many times with no sunburns, but I guess it’s sunny enough to start using sunblock since Logan and Errolyn both got bad sunburns on the bikeride.  Cameron just tans.  Mike said Logan was so tough.  He said he could tell Logan was really tired and the last mile was almost all uphill and Logan didn’t complain or stop at all.  Logan came home, took a shower, and then crashed on the couch for a good three hours… he sure was tired, but he was SO excited to go on his first 10 mile bike ride with the older kids.  Mike and I went to the temple tonight and did Sealings which I love doing with him.  It always reminds me about how much I really love him.  Afterwards, we decided we are too boring and always eat at the same restaurants so we tried a new place, Stonewerks, which was very, very good.  Afterwards, we stopped by Grandmas so we could say hi to Jim and Grandma for a little bit.  And now, we are home and tired.   

Carol and George are coming over for dinner tomorrow and I’ve asked George if he could share his vast wealth of knowledge about stocks with me.  I’m about ready to getting more involved with stocks, but I’m still in the research and learning phase of it all.  I’ve also been doing a lot of research on the best ways to store water since I just finished draining my water barrels and am ready to fill them again.  I also have been researching food, specifically whole foods and recipes.  I honestly think that if we all exercised and ate more whole foods and cut out the pre-made, chemical filled, preservative filled foods, that we’d all be a lot healthier, sleep better, and have less illnesses, fatigue, stress/ medical problems, etc.  But, there is so much to learn so I will be making baby steps.  I will first try to find some local honey, make my own bread, and am adapting one recipe a day to be completely made from scratch or whole foods.  I’d love for my next 3 months of freezer meals to be completely “whole foods”… but we’ll see… baby steps.

We we got our new dining room table this week… I love it!  And we got our deep freezer and gave away our old one to a friend who needed one.  I think I’ve finally picked out the colors I’m going to paint the bathrooms, but that will have to wait until after Spring Break.  I had my Symphony dress rehearsal and concerts last week.  On Thursday, we had our children’s concerts in the morning and adult concert in the evening so I just stayed in that city all day.  It was fun to shop without kids, but I only found a couple of shirts, not the jeans I really needed.  It was fun to hang out with my friend Danielle now that we carpool together.  The concerts went well and the music was great.  The only scary part was the two bats that made their entrance in our concert hall… it must be the season for bats because they always seem to come out this time of year.  Oh, and I conducted the National Anthem to open our adult concert which was really neat.  Even though it was only one piece, I received a lot of compliments about my conducting and everyone was asking where I studied… um, how do you say church… lol.  I did have one conducting class in college, but I would like to have more to get even better.

On Friday, Logan and Errolyn had their Field Days and Emma and I went for a little bit to cheer them on in their events.  Cameron had another Tennis Match in the evening and won one, and tied the other since they called it because of time.  After going undefeated all season, Errolyn’s volleyball team lost their last volleyball game of the season.  But, she still played well.  Mike and I worked on cleaning and organizing the garage on Saturday and then we all went to a friend’s house for dinner.  The kids had a fun time playing and it was nice to take a break from the renovations and organizing we’ve been doing.  I’ve been struggling with a cold all week, but it didn’t slow me down much until today… I think I was finally able to relax and so I noticed my symptoms a bit more.  I’m on the tail end of it, so hopefully I should be good to go for our Spring Break plans.

In church today, the Relief Society teacher asked how do you come to a point that you have such a strong testimony of the gospel that you are willing to lay down your life for what you believe. She was referring to a lot of prophets of old, but I thought the question was interesting. One newer lady shared her take on the question that I thought was really neat.  She is in the military and not just the military but some special operations teams that have some pretty hefty missions and responsibilities.  She said that after you go into battle with another person you form a close bond with everyone you’re with, so much so that you would take a bullet for any one of them because you care about them so much.  She said life is a battle and that she’s been through a lot of tribulation and struggles and only the Lord was there for her at times.  She says that because she feels like she’s constantly going through battles with the Lord on her side that she has developed a special bond with him and would gladly lay down her life for Him.  Anyway, it was a different way to look at it, but I thought it played really into the quote from the lesson that the Holy Ghost should be our friend.

I read this on FB today and really enjoyed the message…

<SON: “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”
DAD: “Yeah sure, what is it?”
SON: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”
DAD: “That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?”
SON: “I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”
DAD: “If you must know, I make $100 an hour.”
SON: “Oh! (With his head down).
SON: “Daddy, may I please borrow $50?”
The father was furious.
DAD: “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work too hard everyday for such childish behavior.”

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:
Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $50 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

DAD: “Are you asleep, son?”

SON: “No daddy, I’m awake”.
DAD: “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier. It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $50 you asked for.”

The little boy sat straight up, smiling.
SON: “Oh, thank you daddy!”
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

DAD: “Why do you want more money if you already have some?”

SON: “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do.

“Daddy, I have $100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness. It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $100 worth of your time with someone you love? If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.
 
Some things are more important.>

Anyway, I enjoyed the story.

So, Youtube had a “no-cry” challenge a while back where they had 19 videos and bet you couldn’t make it through them without crying.  Ha!  I watched #19 and bawled… lol.  Yeah, I didn’t make it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S14kvB-HMc0&list=PL9BD5E9DCFC492580&index=19

Thursday, I went to my Symphony rehearsal.  I’ve started carpooling with my friend Danielle which is fun.  Friday, I ordered more “things” now that our carpet is down.  I got a larger freezer so I can make more freezer meals (the small freezer wouldn’t hold all I needed it to last time I made freezer meals) and a couch for the front rooms since we gave away our others.  I negotiated price on the couch, found coupons, and got some really great deals.  I also looked for a recliner, but need to show Mike before I pick out anything.  Friday night Mike and I went to Yogurt Zone with some friends and then bought a 3/4 size violin from them for Errolyn.  Then we drove around to three different stores trying to find the Avengers movie… which we finally bought and then watched half of it that night.  On Saturday, Cameron had another tennis match and played well, but still ended up losing his three matches.  I finally understand where the phrase “Game, set, match” comes from… not the movie Hercules.    Yes, I know very little about tennis.    Errolyn won her volleyball game.  She had excellent overhand serves.  I went and bought Errolyn a violin bow, shoulder rest, rosin, and some violin books so I can begin teaching her.  Then Mike and I dropped Errolyn off at the skating rink for a birthday party and we went to pick up the new sofa (so we could save $75 in delivery fees).  It fit perfectly in the van.  After dinner, we all cleaned and then Mike and I finished the Avengers with Cameron. Mike and Cameron are out doing Fast Offering routes and Home Teaching right now. 

I bore my testimony today about being truly converted to the Lord, a topic I’ve been pondering a lot lately.  President Hickley said everyone in the church needs three things: a friend, a responsabilitiy, and nurturing with the “good word of God.”  Yes, you still go to church if you only have one of these areas, but you have much more dedication and desire if you have all three of these things.  But, Dad’s quote about converting someone really struck me… and of course, that’s the most important thing, being truly converted to the Lord, not the friend, or the church calling, but to Him.  I’m grateful to be a member of a church that encourages us to receive our own revelation and teaches us how to feel the Holy Ghost, since that’s the only way we can be truly converted.

We had a wonderful Relief Society lesson today.  The teacher started out asking about what qualities we admired in people.  Then she asked us to think about who inspired us in Relief Society and why.  She gave each of us a marble and asked us to pick someone and come up and share what inspired us about that person, and then put the marble in a jar she had.  It was a little slow at first, but by the end every sister shared (whether by name or anonymously) someone she was grateful for and many tears were shed when reasons were shared.  It was an excellent unity building activity.  In addition, many sisters who had felt left out, didn’t realize that they had been an inspiration to someone else, and it seemed to lift them up.