New Beginnings 2011 "I Believe"

I don't have any pics of my beautiful YW....but I snapped a few pictures before everyone arrived. This years church wide mutual theme is Article of Faith 13. I really love this theme, as these are all Christlike attributes that we can all strive to have.

I had the opportunity to speak and I opened up with an object lesson. I had picked oranges from the orchard...practiced and home twice, and ended up with a new object lesson on the spot. It sort of went like this:

I handed each young woman an orange and asked them to look at it very carefully. Then to pretend that if they gave back the oranges to me, would they be able to find the exact orange with its distinguishing markings. Well the moral to this story is that our Heavenly Father knows us better than anyone else. He knows are flaws, imperfections and our desires. It was a neat analogy. Then I proceeded with taking a whole orange and writing the different attributes of the Article of Faith on it. Then showing how the orange floats in water. Then I started peeling portions of the orange away and showed how the armour or protection is shed as we make the wrong choices. It worked nicely, except the bare orange was supposed to sink and it did not till the end of the talk. It really is how sin is though....it is a little bit by bit process. It all worked great. My YW leaders are awesome and did a great job with their responsibilities and talks as well.

We used black and white polka dots, because our Stakes theme is DOTS....which stands for Disciples of the Savior. It is a really neat theme that ties nicely with the church wide theme. Disciple means learner...and to be a disciple of Christ is that we are learning to become more like Christ. I love it. Every time I see a polka dot I think of the Savior! (and other times too:))

We look forward to many more opportunities to be with our young women and see them grow. How blessed I feel to be involved again with the amazing youth.

p.s. Little prego Brittany designed the adorable logo for our evening. We gave all the girls a bottle cap necklace to take home. She was able to scale it down to a once inch circle!!!!! So neat with the San Diego Temple behind it.

Officially I have an Eagle in the House!!!

Well...mission complete! Now all we have to do is plan the Court of Honor. Blake attended his Eagle board of review last night, along with his parents and Scout Master John Pryor. He was a bit nervous.....but Brother Pryor put him at ease. I think Kevin was definitely the most nervous in the bunch. We had the chance to meet the board and they were very impressed with his project and his answers. A Escondido City Council woman asked him a difficult question. She said if there were a value you would take out of the scout motto, what would it be and why? Blake responded with....."Bravery"....because if you possess all of the other standards in the motto, you will naturally have courage and become brave. Something like that!!!!

So we are told by the board to take him to Dairy queen....he laughs at that thought and we head home. Once we get home Blake proceeds to tell Brinley that he is an Eagle Scout!!!! She reacts, just like she always does with a swift shoulder shrug like she is in a street gang, and says...."well, I am a Girl Scout"! Brinley just became a Daisy scout, and is loving every minute of it. She gets to wear a darling tunic and earn daisy pedals along the way. I think it is cute how she feels very proud of the fact that she belongs to a great organization.

All and all....we are happy that he was able to complete this process. It may have been delayed...as the paper work sat for a long time, but he did a great job and learned a lot about leadership and delegation. He might not see the profound benefits of it yet, but once and Eagle, always and Eagle!!!!

President's Day Service Project

I am lucky to now be more exposed to more service projects in my calling as young women's president and encourage the youth to help our fellow man. I was really impressed by our youth. I thought for sure no hands would go up....when I asked for assistance. Instead, about 90% of the Young Women raised their hands high and said they would be available. I brought almost an instant tear to my eye. I thought for sure it was their day off of school, which means they could sleep in, be lazy, etc.

I drove up and was more impressed to find families and their little toddlers pulling weeds. Brinely joined the group and started raking one handed since she has a cast on the other hand. The Kunze's in our ward....were so overwhelmed by the response of help. Phaedra's yard work was getting to be overwhelming for her, so it was great for us to show up and take care of it.

So glad to be part of this great church, where we have the opportunity to serve one another, and feel the blessings of service!!!!!

Sunday Morning (Cover/Remix)

Blake really had fun with his Showtime buddies, Evan, Jacob Clingo, and Miles!!!! They practiced and practiced. SPHS had their 3rd annual ASB talent show and performed to their peers yesterday. Before the performance, Blake came over and gave me a hug and said he was going to give it his all. They did great. They got a standing ovation and and encore was requested. They threw together the song, "Sweet Pea". I am so pleased with their efforts!!!!

In the evening they performed to parents and family for the actual talent show. They took first place and had the chance again to perform a second song. Way to go boys!!!

I return to a find a broken arm!!!!

I had the opportunity to go to Arizona and be with my mom and dad in the hospital. My father suffered a mild stroke and scared me to death....so off I went to be with my family. It was good to have my brother and his wife so close and able to respond. It is hard being away from your folks when you are miles away. As a side note....grandpa is now back home and doing fantastic. He had almost a 2 week stay in the hospital. Not fun, so he his so glad to be back home.

When I left Arizona on Sunday and the plane was just pushing back from the gate, Kevin texts me and tells me he thinks Brinley arm is broken. I quickly text back and tell him he better bring he to the airport and we will go to urgent care after that.

To make a long, long story short. After three hours in the ER and an eye opening experience int the ER for Brinley. She had x-rays, was splinted and slinged and two days later was casted at Childrens. She will be in a cast for 1 month. It was fun to have the attention and bright new shinning cast...and a day and a half later, she was complaining as to when she would get it off.

It will be fun to see how we will keep it from getting wet. All they do is paint and glue in Kindergarten, so we will see. A box of wet wipes on her desk should do the trick.