When life as you know it ends

As these last couple of weeks have unfolded, I pondered on the events that happened and the line from P.S. I Love You comes to mind..."when life as you know it ends." In the movie, it's talking about falling in love. For me, these last few weeks, it has come to mean something different.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a scrapbook conference as a "table helper". I was one of those 'Vanna White's', going around the row with the finished project, helping the attendees as needed, etc. The owner puts a lot of work into planning this event- getting a celebrity speaker, planning projects, door prizes, detail planning, working with vendors, etc. Friday night as we were setting up for the conference the next morning, we learned of our first setback: the celebrity speaker, Melody Ross, had to cancel at the last minute because her daughter injured her foot pretty badly. She needed to be a mother and stay home with her. Totally understandable. We all left around midnight to get some sleep and be back bright and early in the morning. The next morning, we table helpers found out that the owner had a very rough night. Shortly after she went to bed, her best friend called her and hysterically informed them that she had found her own 14 year old son, dead, in his room. He had killed himself. The owner had been friends with the mother since their boys were two. The owners own sons (twin boys) didn't know about the news yet since her and her husband left before the boys woke up. She carried out the responsibilities as the host of the conference, already having to deal with the loss of a main speaker. So she filled up that time with sharing feelings of importance of families, taking the time to scrapbook/journal the memories as they happen because LIFE IS SO PRECIOUS! We all experience things in life and for some of us, we experience something so life changing (such as losing a friend to suicide) that "life as you know it ends."

On my way home from the conference, I was reflecting on the things that happened and how it would affect the lives of those involved. I realized that they will not look at life the same way again- they had lost a certain innocence. Eric had also informed me that while we were both out of town (Eric went camping with the kids- out of cell phone range, I went to Idaho Falls), we received a call from the Department of Health and Welfare to place a child in our home. Since neither of us were home to receive the call, the child was placed in another home. All I could think about was for that child, "life as he knows it, ended." He was removed from his home and sent to live (temporarily) with a family he doesn't even know. My heart broke for that child- just thinking about the changes and adjustments he has to go through now because of his life experiences.

Sometimes we face challenges that are so profound and life-altering. We put all our focus, energy and strength into getting through that trial. We rely on our Heavenly Father to get us through the storm. Hopefully, through all the "molding and changing," we come out better for having endured that trial.

I saw a quote today I wanted to share: "Life isn't about getting through the storm but how to dance in the rain." This was a bit of an eye opener for me. I realized that instead of getting stressed and being narrow-focused on the trials that are going on in our lives, I should step back and see all the things that I have to be grateful for: my husband, 3 children, a job to provide for my family and shelter over my head. How grateful I am for those things!

Aack!

I was playing around with my blog background and lost all the information that was in the sidebar (except for the blog history and the "about me" but who really cares about that?!)

Does anyone by chance remember the quote that was in the sidebar before? I thought I had it written down in my quote book but I can't find it anywhere! Help!!

Foster Care update

We found out at the beginning of last week that we are licensed as a foster care family! The family specialist said that she is waiting for a document but that we would be put on the "list." Nothing has happened yet! Many keep asking "When will you get kids?" Truth be told- we don't know! I guess it's just a matter of time. It sure is taking a long time though!

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!

Track Season!

Caleb surprised us this year by asking to join Track! He wanted to do it mainly because so many of his friends encouraged him to do it (sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing!). I had no idea he would be interested in something like running. He had his first meet last Wednesday. We got some pictures and thought they were pretty decent until our friend we were with let us look through his camera. Man, zoom lens sure make a world of difference! When looking across the field, we can actually tell which kid is Caleb! (From a distance, they all look the same, especially in uniform!) Our friend also took some pictures of Caleb so I'm anxious to see them! I was hoping to have them by now but no luck. I guess lawyers are pretty busy people. ;) I'll post the pictures from my camera tomorrow when I download them. Right now the "tech support" guy is sleeping so calling won't help. I don't want to put the photos in the wrong place (and then never be able to find it later) so I'll wait.

M.I.A.no more!

Hi everyone! I know many of you have been faithfully checking out blog, only to be disappointed because there hasn't been a post in a while. For that I apologize!

At the beginning of March, Eric and I started taking a class to become a foster family. We have thought about it for a while (a year actually) and we decided that it was something we need to do. As part of the process, we were required to take a P.R.I.D.E. class (Parents Resource for Information Development Education) on Tuesday and Thursdays from 6-9 pm for a total of 27 hours. Since Eric and I work during the day- 5 days a week- it was a pretty busy month for us. Not to mention that I was just called into YW so I've been going to mutual on Wednesday nights. Did I mention that I was also trying to gather camp information for the stake during all of this? All of the classes (except the very last one) has homework to be completed before the next class so we've also had to dedicate time to that. All in all, there hasn't really been much time to check blogs or even post on mine! This Tuesday (tomorrow) is our last class so I'm looking forward to that. I'm sure our kids are too because that means we'll be home more often now!

As part of the foster care certification/licensing process, we have to be approved by the state Health and Welfare department. They still haven't been to our house for a visit due to recent staff changes so we're not even close to knowing if we're the ideal family for them. This class has the highest attendance they've had in a long time (at least 16 pepople) plus a new staff member was added so they've been training that person. Those two factors slowed the certification process. (I imagine the classes and visits normally happen simultaneously.) We were hoping to wait until after we've had a visit or two so we know better how things are going before saying anything but this is taking longer than anticipated! We just wanted you to know that we are still here! More details will come later!