New look!

I finally committed myself to sit down and design a new look! With the help of my SIL, Shelby and my cousin-in-law Erin (is there such a term as that?), I was able to create this new header. I'm working on getting the background changed but that requires a little more time.

More new changes are under way so stay tuned!...

General Conference Issue

I attended the YW General Broadcast back in March for the first time since I was in Young Womens. I loved sitting with the young women of my ward and being able to hear the leaders address the young women of the church! One talk that I loved in particular was Sis. Mary N. Cook's talk, "Anchors of Testimony". She spoke of the many ponds in Asia covered with water lilies and how they "added a serene beauty and sweet fragrance to an otherwise muddy and stagnant ponds. The leaves of the water lily floated on the water's surface, and a long, firm stalk anchored its position in the pond. The continued growth of the stalk ensured the flowers stability, even when torrential rains raised the level of the water in the pond." She likened the young women to this beautiful flower- "[their] freshness, purity and beauty and much goodness to our lives and to the lives of [their] families." They rise above the filthiness and temptations of the world and their testimony of Jesus Christ is their anchor. Their faith will strengthen and help their testimony grow so they can "rise above the evils of the world and maintain their position of righteousness."

I love this simple and beautiful analogy of faith and our testimonies! It helped me to remember that our testimony is something that needs constant care. It isn't something that you work to receive once and never have to take care of again; that it would always be there. We constantly have trials that test our faith but that's when you have to dig in your heels and stand "steadfast and immovable" and ride out the storm.

I'm working my way through the Conference issue and enjoying every minute of it! I wasn't able to watch conference this year and I had really hoped to. I was really disappointed when I got to Scrapaway and saw that the TV's were old enough that it didn't have closed captioning device built into it. (Note to self: to bring my own caption machine next time!) I waited patiently for the conference issue to come in the mail so I can read what I missed.

Now I just need to get a tub deep enough for me to sit in and soak while I read the conference issue. :o)

Eric is 40!!

I just had to give a big shout out and let everyone know that Eric turned 40 today! We kept it low key in our celebration (the party store was moving to a new store so I couldn't go buy black balloons and the works). We will have friends over for cake tomorrow but today was spent running errands and watching Kaitlyn perform in a play.

We spent a all morning and a little bit of the afternoon yard sale hopping for bunk beds and a dresser to prepare for doing foster care. Everyone who was selling bunk beds had already sold them by the time we got there. Ditto for dressers. If they were still there, you could clearly see why they were still there (only one place though.) So we came back home empty handed (well, we added a few more books and CD's to our collection) and disappointed. Everyone in Pocatello must be looking for a dresser and bunk beds.

In the afternoon, we went to see Kaitlyn perform in a play. Earlier this week, Kaitlyn decided to audition for a play called "Wiz of the West," a spoof of "The Wizard of Oz," put on by the Missoula Children's Theatre. They are a company from Montana that travels to perform at schools (the schools raise money to bring this company to their school). They arrive to the school and have open auditions for the students to be in the play. The company brings all the costumes, makeup, props, etc. All the kids have to do is learn the play! Eric and I were amazed and extremely impressed that the kids were able to learn the play (script), songs, and choreography in just one week! This wasn't just a 10 minute play, it lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes! There was only one adult in the whole play, all the other cast members were students from the school. Kaitlyn was a 'buzzard'. I'm not sure what the equivalent would be in the actual movie. I'll have to ask Kaitlyn that one. But it was an impressive accomplishment for the students to put on this play! I'll have to ask the performing company how in the world they got the kids to learn that quickly. It would definitely be helpful information to pass along to the new primary leaders when they are getting ready for their sacrament program!