February

Since I'm behind on keeping up... haha, that sounds funny... I thought I'd do a quick catch-up on a few major events in our world.   Sundays have been pretty crazy.  Maybe I should shoot for Wednesdays!  So here's February in a glance.

Miki's Baptism!  It's unbelievable to think that this sweet little angel was just a baby and we were going through such a life-changing event, as we watched her birth and then saw Stott and Wendy take her home from the hospital to become her eternal family.  What a blessing, what a miracle and what a gift!  Mikelle is so happy, so loved and so blessed to be in this wonderful family.  My favorite thing is watching her with her older sister, who's just younger than Zeej.  Wow!  It brings tears to my eyes.  Two weeks ago, Mikelle was baptized by her dad and the baptism was officially witnessed by her two older brothers.  Doug and Quayd were able to join in the circle while she was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It was a lovely event and Mikelle could not have smiled any bigger!  We adore this precious child and could never express our gratitude to Stott and Wendy for their goodness!  We are blessed with so many extra members of our family, as a result of adoption!  Love it!

The next day was Super Bowl Sunday. It was just Quayd and Zee, Doug and I.  We kept our meal pretty simple compared to years before, but we did have a nice feast.  With Grace gone, we have lots less eating restrictions, so we had beans (her least favorite thing on earth to eat) and all the gluten we wanted without guilt.  Sadly for Zeej, she had just come down with strep, so she was pretty tame all day.  Sadly for me, this also meant that I would be doing most of the kitchen duty myself.  The game was a fun one to watch, our only game of the entire year, every year.  But, the time together was just the best.  Some traditions can't be broken... We had marvelous church meetings before, then a marvelous family time together.

The next night, we hosted thirty people for dinner.  The funny thing was the Doug texted me in church the day before, "We get to feed Group A for FHE tomorrow night."  I love this!  LOVE it!  HOWEVER.  This is something that I have depended on Zeej for her assistance.  With Zeej having strep, and Quayd starting to be sick right behind her, I did all of the preparation and cooking on my own!  This was a first since my shoulder replacement.  I decorated the tables, then, made ten loaves of bread, five batches (20 quarts) of homemade chicken noodle soup and dessert.  I was so excited to feel like "me" again!  It was painful at times, but slowly, I'm getting better.  YAY!  HAPPINESS!!

We had such a fun night with the students!  After dinner, I asked them to each share 1. Something they love to do.  2.  Something they love about their life right now.  and 3.  Someone they love.  I was amazed at how many said they love their moms.  Also, several said, "Right now, I'm loving this homemade bread... this soup..."  Good answers!  What a gift to serve these young adults!

Zeej was on the tireswing in the backyard... standing on it, trying to take a photo of the textures of the tree for her photography class, and slipped off it.  We thought that she'd broken her arm at the elbow.  Thankfully, it was just a bad sprain and bruise.  She was mortified when I told her that the PA wheeled in the cart, he was there to put on her diaper.  It was worth the cost of the ER bill to see the look on her face!  CRAZY!  FUNNY!

Winter finally arrived at the end of February.  I woke up to snow beginning to fall.  I went to Ward Council Meeting at 9:00 and there was about an inch.  When we came out of church at 2 in the afternoon, we had eleven inches.  It has snowed off and on every since.  But, the beauty of snow falling this late in the year is that it melts off the roads and sidewalks pretty quickly.  It's sure been beautiful though.  I laughed at all the people whining about this snow.  Seriously, people.  It's STILL winter!  Whine in April or May when we get snow, not March.  Just sayin.

There's been so much going on in Relief Society. My every day is filled with busyness.  My every other waking moment is filled with concern, love, thoughts of how to serve these amazing ladies in our ward.  I am surrounded by women who are remarkable and with hearts full of love for each other.  I've never been around such amazing ladies.  Hours and hours upon hours of time spent together and I've yet to hear gossip or negativity.  People speak highly of each other.  They have a tremendous desire to serve one another.  And they do!  It makes my job so awesome!  I am blessed!  Busy but blessed!  Life is good!