Happiness

A painting at the Mesa Temple's Visitor's Center. Don't you just love it? We've had a rough pink eye week: first Jonah, then Ethan and now Elizabeth. They trade off and overlap days of missing school. I have been home most of this week. Elizabeth wrote her first blog post about it on her new blog. You can check it out at: beanieboosrock2.blogspot.com . We had our foster caseworker E. over to see our new house and let us know what changes we need to make to pass our home inspection. He left us with a long list of things to do (move the rocks under the pool fence, lower the water temp, lock up anything that says 'keep away from children') and I started to feel a bit overwhelmed. I am excited to be moving forward though! Our home is Maryland is back on the market. Our buyer walked away. Hopefully it will go better this time, since we know exactly what the bank wants to get for the home. Josh and I went to see the Mesa Temple Pagent in Spanish for date n...

 Larissa and her two kiddos Christine (sis-in-law), Larissa and Amy (sis)- pics stolen from Larissa's blog . I am so lucky to have 4 beautiful, talented and wonderful sisters! One of these is my next younger sister, Larissa. She is 18 months younger than Molly and I and it always seemed like we were a threesome. My Grandma Betty would buy us matching identical dresses, so we were no longer a set of twins, but triplets being so close in age. Once, the school asked if Larissa wanted to skip a grade (she is super smart!) and be in the same grade as Molly and I. I was quite against this, since I already had to share my grade with someone, but it amazed me how ready she was to skip that grade. Larissa lives in Central California with her hubby and two sweet kids. She not only stays home with them, but also writes grants, is involved in the Republican Party, serves in the Relief Society and helps with Emergency Preparedness in the Church. She is very active in her Mom...

  A couple of weeks ago, Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Seventy and an Apostle of the Lord, gave a talk to the Youth of our Church. It was posted online and Josh and I watched a copy of it. Elder Bednar quoted Elder Maxwell when he said "It was better not to shrink than to survive..." speaking of his bout with Cancer. Tuesday, while driving home from the dentist, with a pain in two teeth, and a possible estimate for 2 root canals and 2 crowns (the price of which would deplete our savings), I began to think of this talk. I was very disheartened. And just like when a few bad things happen to you in a row and you start to think you are having a bad day, I began to crumble, just slightly. And the words "I will not shrink" pressed into my mind. I will not shrink from getting two root canals if I need them (I got one yesterday). And I went on from there: I will not shrink from not getting pregnant (a bitter, sour cup) and will meet with our Foster/Adopti...

Our Spring Break was last week (Arizona does it super early!). We stayed home for half the week and then headed to California to stay with my Grandma and then my brother for a couple of days each. The trip went well and we enjoyed seeing everyone! We kicked off our great vacation with a visit from my cousin Heather and her cute family from Washington. So good to see her! The rest of this post is filled with pics of family, so feel free to skip this post if you want to! (btw, Josh had to stay home for a Conference he was in charge of so I drove the 6 hours there all by myself. Even though our DVD player broke after the first 2 hours into it, the kids did amazingly well (thanks to a good downloaded book) and the drive went smoothly both ways- blessings! There may be many more trips to California in our future! (My cousin Heather and her cute little baby girl) Grandma Betty playing checkers with nephew Cash Larissa, Gma Betty (she turned 89 on last Monday!)...

My Mission President- President Pelton- and his wife and daughter were in the area the other day. A few of us old missionaries got together with their family to watch a Spring Training Baseball game (pitched by one of our own) and have some good barbeque for dinner (thanks, Elder West!). We weren't able to go to the Baseball game, but we made it to the dinner. Hermana Pelton wasn't feeling well and wasn't there, but President and his daughter were (she's going on a mission soon herself) and it was so great to catch up with them and tell old Missions stories. I learned new things about Presidente that I hadn't known before. What a great experience! I loved, loved my mission and will always have fond memories of the land (Spain), the people (native and missionaries) and the chance I had to serve.

Light coming thru the Darkness Last Thursday I made a call to our foster care/adoption case worker. It was the call I had been thinking about and dreaming about the past 5 1/2 months. And boy, was I nervous! As I expected, I got his voice mail. Half relieved, half disappointed, I left him a message- giving him both of my contact numbers. I didn't expect him to return my call quickly as the next day was Friday and they weren't in the office (huh?). But, call he did. And I missed it. He said that he would call again on Tuesday. I waited until 2:30 pm on Tuesday (they close at 4 pm) and gave him a call. He said that he would need to talk to the Director and see if there was anything extra she needed with the papers for the Dr. and then call me back. On Thursday. Because he was working on some recertifications and such. I said that I would call too to follow up. Maybe I was being a bit intense? Who knows? 1 pm comes around on Thursday. I am subbing, the kids are out of...

 Jonah and Ethan showing off their Pinewood Derby cars after the races. Jonah's is a pie slice (called Slice) and Ethan's is the yellow angry bird (Speedy).   Jonah: excited to see how his car does. Here's Ethan's car getting ready to race- a blurry pic from my phone. Our very first Pinewood Derby has come and gone! The boys decided on what they wanted their cars to be- Jonah wanted to have a slice of pie and Ethan wanted to be a slice of pizza. We couldn't figure out how to do the slice of pizza so we switched it to an angry bird. Josh helped the boys draw their design, trace it on the wooden block, cut it with a saw, sand it, smooth it, paint it and do a few fancy things to make it go faster (not to be disclosed at this time). They spent a lot of time on it together and were very proud of the final product. Asher often wanted to help and get involved. The boys did really well and had fun. Ethan won a few first places and Jonah won a first place an...