Miracle of the glasses

Testimony meetings tend to have a theme and today's was about remembering. Remembering the Lord. Remembering the tender mercies that happen. Remembering the blessings that come to us. For me, if I don't write it down, I tend to forget which is one of the reasons for this blog. Hence I'm documenting the following story lest I forget.

Youth conference has come and gone again.

Two years ago we were camped in the exact location and watched as the bishop went off the zipline . . . . with his glasses on. My counselor and I both yelled glasses as he plunged into the water, never to find them again. On that particular trip he ended up traveling 45 minutes to get another pair in order to drive home.

This trip we chided and kidded and reminded him to take his glasses off. Our group split in half with some going on a hike to Indian writings and the other half staying to play in the pond. My group arrived back from the hike to hear that the bishop couldn't find his glasses and thought someone had taken them as a joke. My counselor who stayed behind was pretty sure he had dove into the water . . . with his glasses on. He wasn't around when we heard this so a couple of kids dove in the general vicinity of where he was thought to have gone in, searching for a lost pair of glasses.

No luck.

When he returned, Bishop Steinagel ventured further down the pond than anyone had been searching. He relates that he was diving down trying to spot them with his eyes and not having any success. He stopped a moment, said a quick prayer for help, and immediately had a thought to step to one side. As he did, his foot felt the glasses and he was able to pull them up with his toes.

He told this story to my dad who was in awe that he was able to locate them. It's a fairly good size pond and can get deep quickly.

Dave Davies, one of his counselors and a covert jokester, fashioned  some eyeglass protection should he ever attempt to go in the water again.

Isn't it wonderful that the Lord knows our needs and is able to help should we only ask. He wants to help and bless us, but he also knows it helps us to grow when we humble ourselves enough to ask when we are in need. This story is so characteristic of Bishop Steinagel. He is a man who listens intently to the promptings he gets and follows them. It is a gift I greatly desire and am working on.

New school beginnings

Back to high school for two. One starts junior high. The youngest is in a new elementary with the same teacher he had in kindergarten.

And the one in green is a college freshman at UVU.

Can you imagine fitting everything you own in a car? I guess I did once. Her dad and I dropped her off a week ago after first hitting the dentist to fix a cavity or two.

While en route to Orem she got an email reminding her of orientation at 3pm, something she should have known about but didn't. We got there with enough time to drop her stuff, rush her to Walmart to pick up some perishables, and dash back to her meeting. That gave Tyler and I just enough time to speed back to Salt Lake City to catch Nate's cross country race. There was literally no time for extended goodbyes or tears.

The morose feelings came several days later as our family moped around the house in search of one less person in our home.

Not really. We love that she is enjoying one of the most memorable times of life. At least it was for me. That said the first week away from home is probably one of the hardest . . . thinking about what your family is doing, eating, all why you are not there.

And Tyler and I? Well, it's official. I started a new job as a para educator with the severe special needs students at the CLC building. It's been an interesting week but quite rewarding. I should also be starting school the middle of October to obtain my teaching license.

Tyler is still surviving the circus he calls a job. Every day he arrives home with new stories to tell.

These are the days of . . . 
* Lake Point Days race. Alex ran the 1 mile while the others completed the 5k.

*Mulch Man . . . whatever in the heck that is. The kids will play for hours out on the playground.

*New drivers. AHHHHHHHH!!!! That's all I have to say about that :)

Youth Conference

Ferron was calling us again for Youth Conference 2017 so we headed back per the kids' request. How grateful I am for parents who willingly lend out their yard. Not just for us, but for groups all the time.

President Davis, first counselor in our stake presidency, is over the safety for the the power plant outside of Ferron and others around the state. He graciously offered to meet us down there and give us a tour of the power plant. I don't know how many countless times I've driven past that plant and have never been inside. I also learned on that tour that our bishop is not a fan of heights.

Some of us hiked to the Indian writings again.

The priests helped haul some hay one morning.

Everyone played in the pond. 

And we offered our services to a lady in need. Here is her story.

This year our youth conference didn't quite get planned until last minute. We had been before so it wasn't too stressful other than figuring out who was in charge of what meal and did we have enough seats for everyone. I called the nursing home to see if we could come and perform a little talent show for them again but nobody got back with me. The Sunday before we were to leave I started to worry a little about finding a project for our group to do when I had a thought to ask Cindy Astill about her sister that lives in Ferron. I knew this sister was a widow and might need some help. Cindy almost immediately responded to my text with a huge YES and gave me her sister Darline's phone number.

Later that night I called Darline to arrange a time for us to come. She was more than ecstatic and wasn't one bit worried about having 40 or so people in her yard. When we showed up in our matching blue shirts, it was an awesome sight to see.

She pulled me aside to tell me that she had just started a new job as a counselor at the high school and somehow their files had been lost and she was spending 12 to 14 hour days trying to get everything up and running before registration the following week.

Sunday night she had pulled into her garage with her daughter in the seat next to her, wondering to herself how she was going to tackle the yard projects that needed to be worked on, when I called. After our little exchange she turned to her daughter and said, "You are not going to believe this. We have 40 people coming on Friday to help us."

I knew then that the reason the nursing home had not gotten back with me was that we were to be helping hands to someone with a greater need. There is no greater feeling of joy than knowing you have been an instrument in God's hands.

Girls camp with Ashlyn

“The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on Jesus Christ and his gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening – or not happening – in our lives. He is the source of all joy." 

–President Russell M. Nelson

Ahhh summer is winding down and I'm not sure how I feel about it this year. Usually by this time I am SOOOOO ready for the kids to be back in school and back to some routines and schedules. But this year, I'm still craving those lazy kind of summer days.

Ashlyn got to go to girls camp with me. Or maybe  I should say I got to go with Ash to girls camp.

This is my 4th year and not sure what next summer will hold for us, for me. I am so grateful and so blessed to be able to spend these occasions with my kids.

Our theme was JOY which I immediately loved the moment it was announced. We are designed to be happy and this Ashes girl encapsulates joy to the fullest extent. Happiness just exudes from her and people can't help being drawn to her personality and good-naturedness.

She has a myriad of friends and continues to make new ones, the latest being a 14-year-old Chinese girl adopted by the McConnells. Ash, or Pikachu as this new friend calls her, became fast friends even though the language barrier is still quite prevalent. Love and the spirit know no boundaries.

Is it possible to have joy amid trials, setbacks, and disappointments? Of course it is.

Are there going to be days when joy seems elusive and tears just flow? Of course there are.

But “what messes us up the most in life is the picture in our head of how it is supposed to be” (Matt Townsend). I know of no one whose life has turned out exactly how they envisioned. And when we get stuck wishing for a different life, that can be a joy sucker. Social media contributes to this in a big way. We start to compare everyone's best to our worst and begin to wonder why our life is so hard. Start looking at what is going right instead of what isn't. Have gratitude for the blessings seen and unseen.

Right now, these girls are some of my greatest blessings. I love them. I love serving them. I love being a part of their lives. Nicole brought me joy at girls camp as she did not become upset when she was placed in the tent not of her choosing. Jenny brought me joy in the thoughtful notes she wrote to each girl at camp. This ginormous feat only took her four days. Nevaeh brought me joy as I watched her move seats to comfort a girl in another ward who was having a hard time.


What else brings me joy? Service. Every day I try to think of one person I might serve that day. This gets my mind and thoughts off myself and the struggles I have as I try to alleviate the burdens of someone else.

May the son always radiate the joy within us as we go about serving in his kingdom and in our small sphere of influence.

King Al

Alex was the lucky kid who got to spend three weeks at Grandma's this summer. (He also got to tag along to Youth Conference when we went back to Grandma's.)

I got to spend that same amount of time with my grandparents while my parents were on a trip to Israel and Grandma Seamons decided to have her hairdresser, Portia, give me a perm. I came away looking less like me and more like little Orphan Annie. Thankfully no such drastic changes were made to Alex.

I'm not sure exactly how Alex came to be dubbed King Al, but Grandpa seems to have a nickname for everyone. While Alex was there he was not doing what he was supposed to . . . telling little white lies . . . not acting as a king should act.

A family home evening lesson ensued where the lesson was about how a good king should behave. Scriptures were read about King Benjamin and King Mosiah. I was impressed when I came to pick Ash up several weeks later and he was able to tell me what he had learned from that lesson.

1. A good king keeps the commandments.
2. A good king is kind.

Good, honest leaders are hard to find. I hope Alex remembers the little lessons that he's taught. It surely does take a village, a family, a community to raise these little people into adult leaders with the power to make a difference in their small section of this world. I'm forever grateful to those around me who help in my parenting endeavors.

Brighton Beehive Camp

Not sure where I've been but it hasn't been in the present. As I become more aware of people around me and their struggles, I find myself with less time at home as I reach out to help.

The Saturday before my Praxis test (I tested on a Monday) I wanted to really push and review hard all day so as to not study on the Sabbath. However, I had a baptism to attend and then I got a text from a friend asking a routine question about borrowing some magazines. I felt I needed to hand deliver them and ended up spending several valuable hours visiting. Valuable study time is how I saw it. The Lord saw it as valuable relationship time, ministering as He would minister.

"If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30) I had no reason to stress about how my time got spent on that Saturday. I had put in a lot of study hours. I had prepared myself so that when the Lord called me on an errand I was prepared to do his bidding.

Kiersten has been working as a counselor as Brighton Beehive Camp this summer. She leaves Sunday night and gets home Friday afternoon. I haven't seen a lot of her and miss having her around. We take her to college in 3 1/2 weeks and that's going to be hard.

Up there she is known as Queen Bee, a name that was coined by her grandpa. When Ash went up and the other counselors learned she was Queen Bee's baby sister, she was dubbed Baby Bee. And because my name Melissa means honeybee, I guess it's fitting that we are from the same hive.

I got to drop her off one Sunday evening on our way home and she gave me the tour of her "office." I didn't envy the mosquitoes but I sure loved the woodsy smell.

And then this last Thursday we were invited to their mutual night and got to go up again. Ash could not contain herself at the thought of seeing her counselor "Boots" again. Doesn't she just ooze excitement!

These older young women have such an influence on the younger girls that can be such a powerful force for good. Every woman, old and young, needs a mentor, someone they can look to for a guide, for an example, for advice and these young beehives have such mentors in their counselors.

The week Ash went up, I got to go pick up our ward Beehives and bring them home. And because it was Kiersten's off week (no girls for her) she would be riding the bus down the canyon with them and I'd get to see her briefly. Watching for those buses brought back remembrances and feelings of waiting for the Trek buses. Oh, how I love these girls of mine of their goodness to the bone. They are going to leave their mark of joy upon this world.

Praxis

This little book and me have been friends for quite a while. It has consistently been by my side. But freedom came yesterday and we have parted ways. I'm not too heartbroken.

My liberation came yesterday at 2pm when I walked out of the Tooele USU campus having just taken my 4-hour plus Praxis test. Anybody and everybody who goes into the teaching profession has to take some form of it. Even school counselors are required.

I've only been studying since last October off and on and really hit it 2 months ago. I had no idea what to expect so I studied way more stuff than I needed to. I relearned stuff I had learned eons ago, and I learned stuff that was all new. My kids were fabulous tutors as I asked questions about math and science. They know things! 

The test was 4 parts: Language arts which was 90 minutes and 65 questions; Math was 50 questions in 60 minutes; Social studies was 50 questions in 50 minutes; and Science was the same. There was no break as I went from one to the other. Overall it was easier than I imagined. I had no-brainer questions, questions that made me think, and then stuff I absolutely had no idea about.

The best part was no waiting for scores. The scoring is based on a scale of 100 to 200. Utah requires that I get a 157 in both language arts and math to pass; social studies I needed a 155 and science a 159. My unofficial scores were 183 in language arts, 182 in math, 181 in social studies, and a high score of 187 in science. That one surprised me since science is my least favorite.

Not only did I pass, but I rocked it! I think those scores are resume worthy.

This was probably one of the biggest tests I've taken since the ACT and I feel like my time is my own again.

I wasn't the only one with good scores. The AP scores came out a few days ago and Kiersten and Erik both received 4s on their exams. That will give them both some college credit.