A Missionary Christmas

I skipped the sales after Thanksgiving.  The thrill just wasn't there.

No pictures taken with Santa Claus, My decorating has no flair.

His presents are shoes, shirts, and ties, two suits and socks...no fun.

I've bought him all white clothes because...

This year I'm giving Christ my son.

I've spent more time in the temple, my testimony stirred.

I've reread November's Ensign, Felt strength come from His words.

Our family prays more frequently.  My tears are quick to run.

Abraham seems closer because...

This year I'm giving Christ my son

I wonder how those Lamanite mothers, gave their sons to war?

Or how the pioneers chose Zion, their sacrifice was so much more.

My loss will be his presence,  I'll miss his smile a ton.

For two years we will pray for him...

I'm giving Christ my son.

I stare at his face when he's not looking.  I memorize his eyes, their shine.

He's always hungered for the part of him, that makes his soul divine.

The stories and the lessons he always heard, His choice and mine are one.

I'll put my faith in God's hand, This year...

I'm giving Him my son.

Past gifts have lost their glitter;  I think I finally understand.

Christ's birth should be celebrated by giving Him a hand.

It's because I know Christ lives and reigns that all his packing's done.

My gift has taken years to make, This year...

I'm giving Christ my son.

I know there's One who understands, the sacrifice I'm making.

Who knows the gift I willingly give,  The toll it will be taking.

For He has done it all before, Greater love - there could be none.

For years ago God gave to me...

His only begotten son.

The hands I washed, the hands I held, The hands I taught to pray;

Now knock on doors to find the ones who will listen to what he'll say.

Because I know Christ needs him, until all the gathering's done,

My gift has taken years to make...

This year... I'm giving Christ my son.

Author unknown

Phone call from Elder Stoor

I got to talk to my missionary!! 

Elder Stoor called from the Salt Lake airport last night.  I was hoping, but not sure if they called home or not - we got a call from an 801 # last night & I raced to the phone.  He sounds wonderful!  He is just to excited to get out there and get going.  He was looking for a calling card in the airport when some man asked what he was doing - he said  - why don't you just use my cell phone.  How awesome is that - I will never know who you are, but thank you for helping this momma feel better.    I even spoke to his companion for a minute.  I told him that his mom is my hero - I can't imagine sending two kids into the mission home on the same day.  

Megan came running out of her room 20 minutes later & Seth had called again - he bought the calling card after going through security.  I can't tell you how good he sounded - just excited and ready to go.  He is traveling with a group of 11 or 12 Elders and 2 Sisters.  They flew out of Salt Lake at 12:55 am - landed in Atlanta around 6:30 am - then on to DC around 9:00 am.  

Before I could even finish this blog - I got another phone call at work!  No, not from Elder Stoor this time, but from President Matsumori.  It was wonderful  - he seems like an awesome man.  Called just to tell me that my son had made it.  They have spent some time at the temple grounds in DC - said the missionaries spend a little time alone in the wooded area of the grounds (he called it their own sacred grove) to make their personal commitment to the Lord for the next 2 years.  He said that they then feed them at IHOP - comment that my son made me proud.  Seth must have been good and hungry :)  They were back at the mission home & getting ready to take a nap.    President Matsumori asked if we knew about the mission blog & promised pictures up by the end of the week.  He thanks us as parents for preparing our son for this mission and said that he could tell Elder Stoor is a remarkable young man and ready for the work.  He said they don't take it easy on them and would put them right to good use.  I told him Seth is happiest when he is busy & he said that would not be a problem.    I thanked him for calling and asked him to take good care of my son.  Wow, the tears are already flowing - I thought this would get easier!

I'm so grateful for the calls & I know that we are being blessed already!

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Fall Cheering

With Seth on his way, I need to spend a little time catching up the old blog.  Any extra time during the fall was spent at the football field and in the gym for volleyball.  This whole cheer team thing is all consuming when it comes to scheduling.  Megan is captain of  the J.V. cheer team at SSHS this year and having a great time with it.  It is fairly hard to get good pix of cheerleaders - they are either posing or moving too fast for me, so this is what you get:

Football game - the helicopter brought the game ball & the girls spent hours making signs!

Halftime dance

Homecoming Parade

Hi Megi!

volleyball!!

Football again - Megan loves the stunting! (she is the base on the left)

Our own little pep band member - go Shelby!

Cancer awareness night at the volleyball game!

It was pretty busy following the volleyball team & Friday night football games during my harvest at the elevator, but we survived.  Now it's time for wrestling & girls and boys basketball.  All that while the cheer team gets ready for their own competition - Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it!  Oh, ya, Megan just tried out for the musical too :)

Emmaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!

I just love this little girl - she just makes me smile even with all the stress we have had lately.  Isn't she the cutest!

Emma

Mara - see what I learned?

This is my little neighbor Emma.  As you can tell, I think she is pretty awesome - we kind of like her mom & dad & brother too, but she stole the show Sunday night when we got together for the Christmas Devotional.  She just makes me smile!

mission post

New post on Seth's mission blog:

www.elderstoor.blogspot.com

Every goodbye makes the next hello closer!

I think I need this for Christmas!!

I about tipped my chair over laughing - it would be perfect on my desk to listen to the music on my Ipad!  I got all excited until I saw the price................$49.99 - WHAT?  for a cute little ceramic pig with a speaker jack for a tail?  Oh well - not gonna waste the money on that, but maybe it will show up at Tuesday Morning sometime soon.  Isn't that piggy butt cute though?

Sunday

I can't believe we are already  here.  This weekend is Seth's non-farwell - they say we don't have farwells for missionaries, but I'm thinking not much has changed.  Except for Moms don't have to talk - Dads on the other hand.....  I have been calling it a funeral all week - you know, talks in the chapel and dinner in the gym, mom crying.....sounds like a funeral.  Just kidding - It is all good!  Come and join us on Sunday if you can.

Grays Lake Ward

10 a.m.

Soup - rolls & desserts at 1 p.m. in the gym

See ya there - hopefully!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween - is that an oxymoron?  This is my least favorite holiday of the year.  The only good part of it is all the cute little kiddos in their costumes.  We did decide to play along and dress up for the ward party Saturday night.  Shelby was Miss Scarlet - can you see the wrench?  Megan was a cute little train conductor.

I went all out - spent hours on my costume....not.

I was an egg.

It was a fun night - typical Grays Lake Halloween - soup & donuts.  Cake walk, fish pond, donut eating contest, ring toss, & costume contest.  A good old fashioned Halloween Carnival!

Logan & Mikaela

My nephew Logan was sealed to his bride Friday afternoon (10-21-11).  It was an awesome day here:

The Rexburg Temple

Aawww - aren't they cute:

Logan & Mikaela Rindlisbacher

The girls had a ball waiting outside the temple - they must have there are 500 pictures like these:

 Seth was the lucky cousin that got to go inside the temple:

I think that is frustrating to the 3 older cousins pictured above, LOL!

We spent the day with family in Rexburg and went to the reception that night.  It was a good day!

iPad app test

Woot woot - new blogger app on the iPad - maybe I can get some blogging in if this works!!!!! Attaching a pix of a cute cheerleader that happens to live at my house.

Sunday Evening

A couple of weeks ago we met my brother Blake & his family over in Alpine on a Sunday afternoon.  Jim was working, but the kids & I had a nice little visit.  It was so beautiful!  I love the fall colors - they are just not lasting long enough this year.



We headed up the Snake River Canyon and climbed down to the river by the Lunch Counter Rapids.  It is one of my favorite spots in the world.  So pretty!



We took a few photos, watched the water....



laughed a little....



threw a few rocks.... (what form Sethy :))



admired the river....



 enjoyed being with family...



and admired the fall colors!

Cousins!!

There haven't been many relaxing days this fall.  I must be getting old because I want things to slow down long enough to enjoy them.  It was nice to take a Sunday afternoon and relax - now back to reality of work, getting wood,  teenagers, and college kids, and missionary preparation!!

Eagle volleyball

Shelby has been busy since school started playing VOLLEYBALL!!  I figured I'd better hurry and post the pictures since she starts playing basketball this week:

Serving 

.......

waiting at the net for the serve

Cool - so hard to catch with the camera - Go Shelby!!

passing

Shelby's team

It was a quick season - all the games were played in the month of September.  Hopefully the girls learned a little & are excited to play next year.  Next year -at the high school - how Crazy is that!!

Life

This is how I have been feeling lately:

Life is just nuts & I'm not exactly keeping up.  Things are slowing a little - at least I hope - I will be working on some catch up blogging.  Life is just crazy!!

stress

2011 1st Day of School

It's back to school again - well almost a month ago.  It was so nice this year - school started Sept. 6th instead of mid-August like we have always done.  I think the school board might have just made a whole bunch of points with all the moms in town.  It was nice to have a little time after the fair.  So here goes - the annual first day of school pictures:

Only 2 kids - something wrong with this picture - don't  they look excited?

I said put your thumbs down - not quite what I meant Shelby!!LOL

My beautiful girls - when did they grow up?

Notice anything missing in this picture? besides Mara & Seth - Oh, wait Mara took a first day of school picture:

Thanks sis - you always take care of your silly Momma's  stuff.

Something else missing too?
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Check out Shelby's beautiful blue eyes - not hiding behind glasses.  Yup, contacts - she was pretty excited to try them out!!  Good luck at school girls!!!

The Call

Mara got the video to load using youtube - good thing I have smart kids!
Here it is:



We are all so excited for Seth - He is going to be an awesome missionary!!!!

Today - It's here!!!

www.elderstoor.blogspot.com

Life is like an old-time rail journey

“Marriage requires a high degree of tolerance, and some of us need to cultivate that attribute. I have enjoyed these words of Jenkins Lloyd Jones, which I clipped from the newspaper some years ago. Said he:
“There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young men and women who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and beautiful wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear the divorce courts are jammed. …
“Anyone who imagines that bliss in marriage is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed.
“The fact is most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. …
“Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.
“The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “A Conversation with Single Adults,” Liahona, Nov 1997

New Missionary Blog

I've started another new blog - you will love this one:
www.elderstoor.blogspot.com


Check it out for an announcement in the very near future!

Caribou County Fair 2011

The Caribou County Fair was last week - I'm still trying to recover!  Things were crazy busy all week.  So here goes with the pictures:

Megan was asked to sing the national anthem for the Lil' Buckaroo Rodeo on Tuesday night - she did an awesome job - like she always does.  Wednesday's singer didn't show, so they asked Megan to fill in - cool huh? - singing for a PRCA Rodeo.  Then Delvin decided that they should have the anthem sung at the pig wrestling on Friday night - so guess who?  Megan has been a busy little girl.  

My little Shelby is not so little anymore - check out the pig earrings - I wish you could see them better in the picture - the right ear has the head, the left hear has the other end - cute!!

Shelby, Mom & I -  listening to Megi sing

In the ring with the pigs - they all did a great job.  I think I have lost faith in the 4-H program - NOT about the kids like it should be, but I won't rant and rave on the blog.  Let's just say that if I had to decide today - I wouldn't be back at the fair with animals.  I will say that I was very proud of my kids and the way they handled the situation.  We did see some awesome people step up and do what they could to help.  

Wednesday evening we got to go to the rodeo - that was fun!

This is our beautiful next door neighbor Naomi carrying the american flag.

Thursday the kids showed their pigs - we caught the hypnotist act & a few others under the big top. 

Friday morning was the sale.  Megan was the only one who was able to sell her pig & Simplot bought it for a great price - only $50 less than the grand champion - way to go Mark!  We had a family from Chesterfield offer to buy Seth's pig & when they heard about Seth's mission plans, they added another $200 - made me cry!  I thought it was so cool of them - Williams, you are awesome!  We were able to sell Shelby's too - It all worked out in the end, but it will take me a while to get over it!  Momma doesn't like seeing her kids get shafted!  Oh ya, I said I would drop it - sorry.

Friday night was the pig wrestling contest - yes we are self-proclaimed HICKS!  Seth's team won in 2009 - we even put that on his job application - 2009 Caribou County Pig Wrestling Champion - LOL.

It was a work night for Seth also - he sprayed the muck off the pigs when they came out of the ring - check out the muscle shirt :)

Megan got a team together for the contest - McKaylee, Sierra W., Sierra S.(cousin), & Megi

Check out the video that Sierra W. posted on facebook - I can't seem to steal it, but here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=202662969788305

Yes you did hear Chris right - 12.2 seconds - not as fast as Seth's team did, but good enough to will the Junior division - they each earned a $71 dollar check, but more important - bragging rights!

2011 Caribou County Pig Wrestling Champions

Seth's team somehow ended up throwing their pig out of the ring - disqualified!  It happen so quick that all you could do was laugh - they did get him rounded up, but no prize money this year.  The camera had died so I didn't get any pictures, but I'm hoping my friend Becca did - I'll let you know later if she did.

The week started putting up the big tent on Saturday & ended the next Sunday taking it down.  Jim & Mara only got to spend Tuesday afternoon thru Thursday night with us, but it was fun having them there for a while.  We did enjoy the Bar J Wranglers on Saturday morning - for those of you that know what I'm talking about - Babe was there too - soo cooool!  I spent most of my time in my booth at the fair this year - my next post will tell you all about it.  Overall, we had a great time at the fair again this year - Whew, glad we survived another year at the fair!