WHY DO WE DO IT?

I was reading Tina's blog about a very frustrating FHE and it reminded me of a story from our "Family History", so I thought I would put it in my blog.

I remember a Sunday when I was in the lady's restroom, changing my 3rd dirty diaper of the day, when a friend of mine came in with a screaming toddler. She plopped in the chair by the changing table and said, "Why do we bother, I have not had a single spiritual experience in 3 years." I nodded with great understanding and went back to the chapel to help Jerry with the front line battle, wondering myself, "Why we bother?"

Well we continued to bother for many more years and I was setting on the stand at Bryan's missionary farewell (the fourth of four sons to serve). My attention wandered to a young mother in the audience, who was wrestling with 3 small children and I had a moment of clarity, when I remembered the "Why do we bother?" day and then I looked at Bryan, in his missionary finery and I knew--that is why we bother, so that we can claim the Lord's blessings for Sacrament, Sunday School, Relief Society meetings and Family Home Evenings where not a single spiritual experience happens. I don't know how, but somehow out of these times the seeds of faith are planted and the harvest is another generation who attend these meetings and have these FHE, so that another generation can reap these same blessings. It is true!!

It has occurred to me that non of you have seen my new office. So I am posting a couple of pictures of it so you will see how really nice it is.

I really do love it here. It is so much nicer and roomier than it was.

The Packers are going to the Super Bowl

YEAH!! After a 13 year drought, the Packers are going to the Super Bowl. Since I was a very little girl and Vince Lombardi was their coach I have been a Packer's fan. I went online to see if there was anyway that I could get tickets (the Super Bowl is in Dallas this year so I thought maybe Vicki would let me stay at her house), but after one short glance I realized that this was not going to happen (tickets in the nose bleed section are over $2,000 and you have to buy at least two) and I will be content to watch it at home.

January is here

Hi,

The title must seem odd to most of you, but those of you who know me will know that I am not a fan of winter, so once we get past solstice, I begin to count down the days left in winter. By the end of January, most of the winter is over here in the Northwest, so I am always glad to welcome January in and out. This year I am particularly excited to have January rolling on, because Forrest's basketball schedule makes life here unusually crazy and basketball is finished in early February.

Poor Jerry bears the brunt of the basketball schedule and I will help you understand by describing how his day will go today. He will leave home at 1:00 so that he can drive to Hood River to pick up Christian and Ethan and bring them back to The Dalles for Vision Exam appointments, then he will dash back to Hood River to pick up Forrest, get everyone some food, and take Forrest to basketball practice, then he has to hang out in Hood River with the other two boys until practice is over and then bring them all home, arriving there about 8:30 or 9:00 pm. I wish I could say that today is unusual, but it is just an average day in the life of a really good man who is trying to make a difference in the lives of some troubled young men. You have just got to love a man that is that unselfish.

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope that 2011 is the best year ever for you.

Winter Wonderland

I have been stalling on posting because I wanted to post some pictures, but it seems like evenings are full and the only time I have time to post is when I take a short break at work, so maybe I will post some pictures during the Thanksgiving break. Anyway, it snowed here last night (3-4 inches in town, 5-6 at our place). Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow!!! I get that it can be pretty, but basically to me it is cold, wet and a pain to drive in. I should probably move to Arizona, California or Texas so I didn't have to deal with it.

Last night I stayed the night in the Sleep Lab (no it was not to avoid driving in the snow, although that was a benefit), because one of the boys in this program needed a sleep study and his foster parents refused to stay here, so the only way to get him a study was for me to volunteer to stay here as well. It wasn't too bad, except at 5:15 am the technician knocked on the door to ask me what time I wanted to be awakened. Apparently I wanted to be up at 5:15, because I couldn't get back to sleep and finally gave up. My suggestion at our next staff meeting will be to ask the patients and/or their family members about wake up calls before they go to bed. Anyway between snow and sleep deprivation I am a little cranky today. The up side is that I started work at 6:00 pm so I got lots of catching up done.

Forrest has started playing basketball at the high school and he is very excited. He made the Freshman team and he is having a great time. The only challenge for us is transporting to and from practice and games, but he is very appreciative of the sacrifice and it is helping him with the changes that he needs to make.

Family History

As you probably already know, I am very much into family history. I especially love to find stories about our ancestors. It turns out that two of our ancestors on the Kent side are quite famous. One of them (Thomas Rogers) came to America on the Mayflower as one of the original pilgrims and another one (Robert Bailey) fought with the minute men in the Revolutionary War. I am looking for more information on Robert Bailey, but this means that our daughter and granddaughters are eligible for membership in "The Daughters of the American Revolution."

What An Odd World

I was just pausing to think of what an odd world I live in now. The world of foster care for sex offending boys is more than a little surreal at times and it has occurred to me this morning as I drove them to meet the school bus that 5 years ago, my daily experience was quite innocent. My daily vocabulary now includes words that would never have come out of my mouth when my own children were growing up. I spend a lot of time talking about victims and empathy for victims. I write out long criminal histories with them so that they can get to a better place in the level system. I read horror stories about how these young men were molested and abused as children. I help them write clarification letters to their victims and help them learn how to say I am sorry, even when no one has said it to them. And, in the process of all of this, I learn to care about these lost sheep only to have them whisked back to the world where they were lost the first time. My prayers now include a long list of young men that I hope He is looking after because I can't and their families won't. We have a young man staying with us for three days who is very, very gay, and I really looked forward to having him come. He is a really nice young man and I like to be around him. Truly the world is upside down and some days I am not sure how to get it right side up again.