Best Friends

There's just something about Tim that attracts all the little boys who come to visit. We noticed it first with Gordon. Our house, according to Gordon, was "Timses house" and he loved coming to see Tim. We look forward to seeing how their friendship develops as they both enter adulthood.




We've also seen this with Nephi. He came one day to be tended while mom went somewhere with me. When we came back we found Nephi as happy as a clam, chasing Tim through the house. Nephi always wants to "go play with the big boy at Jenson's."

This weekend Tim's friend was Kimball, our nephew's baby. Kimball followed Tim around all over, and even tried to help Tim do dishes.








We think Tim is pretty special, and apparently so do all the little boys we know!

Something amazing

I never thought that going gluten-free would give me a deeper appreciation for the sacrament, but it has. The only gluten I have allowed myself to eat since January 4th (on the advice of my naturopath) has been the sacrament bread. After a couple weeks I realized how sweet the bread tasted as I partook of it. Every week since, I have contemplated not only the sweetness of the bread itself, but the sweetness of Heavenly Father's blessings in my life. I've thought about how His hand has shaped my life and how He has always been there for me. I also think about the sweetness of Christ's love for me; how that love is so great that He was willing to sacrifice His life for me to make it possible for me to return to Heavenly Father's side. I think about how my life has changed since I realized that love our Heavenly Father and Jesus have for me, an imperfect soul. That is truly the sweetest thing ever!

Secrets

The way I see it there are two kinds of secrets. The first kind of secret can be fun, exciting and adventurous. It's trying to surprise someone with something special.

Like when we bought our house. Tom kept the house a secret for a week until one day he came home from work and our home teacher was giving a lesson on keeping Christmas simple and humble. After the home teacher left Tom took me out to show me the Christmas present he had in the works. It was our house. We kept the house a secret for the next week. On Christmas morning we woke the kids up at 6 am because we couldn't wait any longer. They finally unwrapped a paper that said, "Get in the car. We are going for a drive." You've never seen kids get in the car so quickly! We drove to our house and told them that we were buying it. That was a good secret and lots of fun. It makes a great story, too.

The other kind of secret isn't so fun. It's keeping things inside because you're afraid of what might happen if they come out. It's trying to make people think things are better than what they are. It's trying to deceive someone. I was raised with too many of these kinds of secrets, and as a result I have rebelled. I have freed myself from all of this kind of secret and I don't keep them anymore. They cause too much stress.

The reason why I'm sharing this is because I had a run in with a secret this weekend. Laney's mom wanted to keep John and Laney's engagement a secret until she could have a big, formal dinner to announce the engagement to all the extended family. I thought, "Great! Have a good time, but I'll be telling our family and all my friends right now!"

Little did I know I was going to blow Karla's plans out of the water.

I told my friend Lynda about the engagement. Lynda went to work and told her kitchen manager about the engagement. I had worked with this kitchen manager while I was subbing and Lynda thought the manager would like to know. No problem so far...

Except...

The kitchen manager calls me and asks, "What is Laney's last name?" I tell her and then craziness breaks out. That kitchen manager just happens to be Laney's aunt!

Remi tells me about how John had come to her house with Laney once and she didn't know he was my son. Apparently, John had gone there around Thanksgiving time and didn't tell me who this aunt was because he didn't know I had worked with her before. No one gave me a list of who the extended family was so I'd be careful. And I'm sure Remi is not the type to keep quiet. The whole family will probably know by tonight.

All I can say is...OOOPS!

I hope Karla won't hate me. John just laughed, and I'm pretty sure Laney will, too. But it has to be a great way to make an impression on someone you just met...ha ha.

Don't you wish...

you could forecast the future like they forecast the weather...except with greater precision and accuracy?

At the beginning of the year all we knew was that we'd be sending out a missionary. But in 48 hours our entire year has taken an amazing twist. No longer are we sending Tim on his mission (April), planning a camping trip (June), and a trip to California (August). Now we are also planning a wedding.

That's right...a wedding.

Johnathan proposed to Laney last night! They are planning to get married in July or August.

We're so excited! I'm surprised that the neighbors can't feel the energy all up and down the street without us saying anything. It's going to be quite the year!

Aren't they cute?!

Drum Roll, Please!!!

Tim got his mission call today!

We pulled James and Hannah out of school and called John on the speaker phone so we could open it as a family.

Tim is going to the Canada Halifax Mission on April 28 and is learning English...lol!!!

Ever since we got "God's Army" on video, Tim has been saying he wanted to go to Canada on his mission (so he could learn French)! He got close and I'm sure the French he studied all through high school will come in handy, too.

Irony

Yesterday it was my turn to teach in Relief Society. After lots of consideration and prayer I decided to teach a lesson on self-reliance. It went well and I think the sisters were receptive to the message.

After church I stayed at the church for choir practice, went home for a quick lunch and then out the door to do a food order on the way to the stake women's choir practice. After doing the food order I went down the street, stopped at a stop sign, and the van started running very rough. I debated if I could make it to bishop's house to get the food order signed (immediately giving up the choir practice...lol.)

However, I decided I wasn't going to make it to Bishop's house and should head home. Then I realized I wasn't going to make it there either, so I turned into Fred Meyer parking lot where the van died and I coasted into a parking stall.

The irony is that I taught a lesson on self-reliance in Relief Society in the morning and in the afternoon our van broke down!

Today as the mechanic called to say that the fuel injector had gotten stuck open and there was fuel in the oil so they would have to replace the fuel injector and the oil. As he was telling me what was wrong I was adding costs in my head, "Ok, so not $400...maybe 500...600...700...800" When he told me how much it would be I was thinking, "wow, that's quite a bit better than $800." It was nice knowing all I had to do was transfer money from one account to another. That's why it's there after all...for emergencies.

Escapades in the kitchen

James decided he wanted to decorate a cake this weekend. I think he did pretty good for his first cake.

Mom, the beaters hit the butter and the powder sugar went all over!

Decorating the cake

The final product.

The camera on my cell phone isn't the greatest, but it was the easiest thing to grab tonight. One thing I did finally learn this week was how to email photos from my phone. lol...takes me a while sometimes. At least I know how to text so I can pester John whenever I feel like it.