Divine signatures

This past week my boys were at scout camp fishing

and hiking

and earning their man cards and canoeing and rock climbing.

And meantime a young mom I visit teach was husbandless during those 4 days. Home alone with 4 young kids and I figured she would need a little reprieve. I offered to take her to lunch one day and she immediately latched on to that idea. My cute girls stayed home to babysit and we set out for a few hours. She and her husband had talked before he left about how she would get through the next couple of days and she told him how nice it would be if someone in the ward called and took her to lunch and gave her a couple of hours. She eyed me with suspicion as she asked whether I had talked to her husband before he left.

So many times we never know when we are about the Lord's work, but we just heed those promptings and feelings and go and do. Well, this week I got to actually hear the other side. That is such a confidence builder for me to know I was who someone needed at the moment.

Girls camp has come and gone.

It is such a indescribable experience. How can I explain the feelings and emotions that overcame me at our first flag raising ceremony when we got to the part of "one nation under God" in the pledge recitation. Or the incredible increase in love I get for all those girls. It's an experience I treasure every year as I get to step away from the worldly concerns and really focus on God's great eternal plan for all of us. Nature has a way of bringing me closer to my Maker than most things. Well, music too can do that.

My most treasured experience from this camp occurred a few hours after our testimony meeting. One of our Laurels was new to our group, having moved here recently. She has had some questions and quietly disappeared after our testimony campfire concluded. I gathered a few of my Laurels and we went in search of her much like the shepherd going after that one sheep. We found her sitting at a picnic table in the pavilion with her scriptures open and an open dialogue pursued. There were questions and answers and just all around great conversation full of love and the spirit. Several hours later we finally retired for the night. I hope that this girl knows she is loved immensely and that her Father in Heaven is very aware of her and her concerns.

A few weeks later I was reading the latest Ensign and came across an answer that was meant for her.

A prophet of God once offered me counsel that gives me peace. I was worried that the choices of others might make it impossible for our family to be together forever. He said, “You are worrying about the wrong problem. You just live worthy of the celestial kingdom, and the family arrangements will be more wonderful than you can imagine.”

I immediately texted it to her which made her entire day so much better. Again, like with my lunch friend, I love when those little divine signatures pop up in my life letting me know that God is real, that he is very aware of me and those within my circle of influence.

What's happening in my yard

Same thing happened to my tomatoes last year. It's from a lack of calcium and it seems to only occur with my romas. My cherry tomatoes don't seem to have this problem called Blossom End Rot. I bought some stuff to spray on the leaves which I think is just a temporary fix. I wonder if they just need a little extra water. When vegetables are fruiting they need about 1 1/2 inches of water a week. My fruit trees also need a little extra when they are fruiting. I also read about adding egg shells to your soil. Definitely some things to figure out here.

Good things
rich soil
zucchini :)
grandmas

Gould family visit

Our guests who were family, and who became a part of our immediate family, have gone home. There was a touch of melancholy as we all woke up yesterday to a quieter than normal house.

There is talk already of a vacation to visit them sometime in the next year or two.

When Megan first approached Tyler about staying with us for two weeks this summer while they were in town for reunions, he immediately said yes. And then I had to remind him that the very week they were coming into town, I would be at girls camp and he would be in Wisconsin for work leaving them here alone with our kids.

Now I'm going to bare my soul here but just know I've done a complete reversal in the last couple of weeks. 

The first time we saw our Gould family was 2 years ago after many, many years. I wasn't sure how my kids would accept having people here whom they barely knew, and I thought they should stay with someone else, at least for those few days. Goodness, they were coming from half way across the country so why not spend some time with other family. None of my talking seemed to work and my kids assured me that they loved the idea of having them here. Talk about becoming as a little child with no reservations and so accepting. I prayed for peace in the situation and a week before they were to arrive, an email from Emily Freeman, a Time Out for Women presenter, showed up.

"There is one season in our family I will never forget. It was a season that began with a prompting. My girls and I were traveling in the car and we began talking about one of my favorite scriptures verses found in D&C 124:23, 'And it shall be…a house that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein; therefore let it be a good house, worthy of all acceptation, that the weary traveler may find health and safety while he shall contemplate the word of the Lord.' I asked my girls if we could try to make our home like that for one whole season. The type of home where people would feel something good when they walked in. I wanted them to come to our doorstep and find a welcoming home. A home where people could come to talk about Jesus."

Hello. Wake up call. Our home was to be a home where they felt comfortable and welcomed and might feel of God's love.

We put them up in Nate's room. Nate was kind enough to vacate himself and all his belongings for two weeks.

At girls camp I included in my testimony my strong feelings of the camaraderie and relationships that are strengthened when you live with people and break bread with them. There is a certain bonding that forges deep friendships. I've seen it with girls camp, with Kiersten and EFY, and when me and my siblings end up at home for the weekend. A couple of hours here and there just aren't comparable.

Well, after two weeks of living with the Goulds, I've done some serious repenting regarding the earlier feelings I had (I even told Megan of these feelings I had had and how grateful I was for the opportunity we had to get to know them better). I loved listening to Ash and Alex giggle and giggle with Hailey and Jaden one night . . . late one night . . . as they made up stories. Yep. I finally climbed out of bed to go snap a picture of their late night antics.

I loved watching Alex develop a bond with "his buddy" Megan as they worked out in the mornings and she helped him gather seashells at the beach.

I loved watching Erik take his younger brother and cousin and help them with a lemonade stand.

I loved getting to know Megan a little more through our casual conversations we had in the kitchen. I loved that my nieces Lexi and Maddie stayed for a few days and that Maddie got to come to church with us. I loved our movie nights and ice cream and slush parties.

This is an experience my family will not forget. It was a little strange at first, getting used to having extra people around, but the day they left was just as strange.

We have missed them and my soul is better for having them here.

*I had to pilfer a few photos because the ones I took of everyone on our front porch were so blurry when I opened them on my computer. I might be looking for a new camera.

What's happening in my yard

Loving the daylilies (red=Red Razzmatazz; white=Blueberry Candy) and blanket flower (Gaillardia X grandiflora) that are blooming this time of year when nothing else is. The blanket flowers are self-seeders and are easy to transplant all over the yard. They do not like a lot of water.

Good things
giggling cousins
horseback rides
pioneer faith

7-11

*Our treat for FHE was a trip to the 7-11 to cache in on their free Slurpee for July 11. Oops. Got there a little late and had to actually fork over some cash for our Slurpees.

*I'm off to girls camp tomorrow. This will be my third year and to celebrate I indulged a little and bought me a blow up mattress to sleep on. Last year my envious eyes lusted over Aimee's mattress as my cold, sore body wished I had something similar. I set it up and the kids broke it in for me. Ash thinks she's going to give up her bed for this thing when I get home.

*Josh and Megan and kids have arrived for our Leary Family Reunion and are staying with us for the two weeks they are here. Nate was good enough to give up his room and his space.

*We are six weeks into summer with six weeks left. I feel like I'm going to need a vacation from summer. This one has been a busy one with EFY, tennis camp, TREK, 2 family reunions, girls camp, scout camp, swim lessons.

*I've been reading a little book, almost short enough to be called a booklet, titled, Letters to a Young Mormon. So much of this author's ideas has me wanting to dog-ear so many pages.

"Wanting love and wanting to excel is good. The trouble comes from trying to tie them together. Pursue love and purse excellence -- pursue them with abandon. But you will spoil the joy native to each if you spend your life wanting to be loved because you are great.

Love . . . works only as a gift, never as a reward. It can't be earned or bartered or insured. It is a grace and it is freely given or not given at all. . . . Pursue love by striving to give it rather than posses it."

Good night and see you in a few.

Good things
sunsets
unseasonably cool July days
super glue

Family Reunion in Island Park

So I just took a look at my drafts folder and look what I found. That was such a fun trip. I absolutely love getting together with my family.

JULY 2016
Well, I'd call our Seamons family reunion a success with all of us minus Reed, Brittney, and Jace.

The cabin was a delight. There was no major drama. And the food was good as it always is when we get together. My personal opinion is that when you break bread with someone, you strengthen that bond and that relationship. It's no wonder family meals together are stressed so much today. 

Now I'm sure anything could pass as a meal, but in my family, food seems to rule. I don't know how or why that is, but we all love some good food and we all pitch in to make it come together. Rarely does my mom do the bulk of the cooking, even when we get together at her home in Ferron.

Reed and Britt brought their kids up early to leave them with Grandma for a few weeks and thus commenced our pre-reunion party. My sisters and I all made a point to be at home when they came, even though we were going to see each other again three days later. But for me, my brother Reed is that important to me. If he was going to make the trip up from Phoenix, then I could certainly make a 3 hour trek southward (don't even ask why they just didn't come to the reunion -- too far they said).

My kids picked up right where they left off with their cousins and that is huge. In a few years it might be different as they get older and less involved with each other. Ash and Cohen enjoyed swapping hats.


I'm not so sure his dad would have approved. And I'm not sure Ash should have been making faces at a buffalo.

There was hot tubbing

and acting like we were at a spa.

There was a trip to Yellowstone

Lunchtime tailgating

and reeling in the big "fish."

Fun nights of card games


and all the grandkids minus one.