blog

week 12

Dec 22, 2015 in blythe's mission | Comments Off on week 12

Our missionary is doing well. She had transfers last week and was assigned to stay in her same area, but received a new companion. She loved her last companion so very much and now she gets to learn how to love a new one just as much. Missionaries are allowed to call home twice a year on their missions – Christmas and Mother’s Day – so we will get to hear her voice on Friday! Wahoo! We are hoping to be able to Skype with her and actually get to see her face. It is really, really strange to have her gone at Christmas, but even with the emptiness, my heart is still so happy she is on a mission serving the God she loves.

So you remember Sister Hollenbeck from the MTC? Like the one who came out with me? She’s my new companion and we’re totally new and green together. It’s been a very tough adjustment. It’s hard leaving a powerhouse team. Sister Shumway and I worked extremely well together and our strengths made up for each others weaknesses and that was such a blessing. But I’ve had some very clear reminders that God doesn’t give us impossible tasks. I think we’ll learn to work together well, but it will take some getting used to.

We’ve had some success in the last few days. We tracted into this wonderful lady named Francesca. Apparently she is some sort of humanitarian mission pastor. We talked to her for a good 20 minutes and Sister Hollenbeck shared Alma 7:11, and Francesca loved it. She took the Book of Mormon and invited us back for dinner. She is super friendly and very thoughtful and kind. The funny thing was she was at the top of this one very long, steep driveway, a 10th of a mile back from the road, and we couldn’t even see if there was a house up there. We were just like “We’ve got to get up there and see” and it turned out to be great!

Our Christmas messages are going very well. There’s a lot of great opportunities to share meaningful messages about why we celebrate and what we can give to Jesus. It’s been wonderful, even if it puts several people on hold who will be out of town and traveling, including Inci. She’s going back to Turkey for a month, but will be back before the end of the transfer.

My ponderizing scripture this week is Ether 12:27 “If men come unto me I will show them their weakness. I show unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

Love you all, and hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
Sister W.

back into the knee brace

Dec 20, 2015 in the hip | Comments Off on back into the knee brace

Soooo, I am back in my knee brace. I don’t know what I did to reinjure my knee, but it is pretty darn sore. It got hurt a little bit and became more unstable back on October 30 when I faceplanted on my front cement and tore the cartilage in my wrist, but it didn’t really hurt tons just a little bit. So we have been taping it to give it some suppport, but it wasn’t bothering me a whole lot and I wasn’t worried about it.

Then on December 10th I held our Closing Social for my Liberty Girls group and something, though I have no idea what, happened. As I was straightening up the house that morning, a sharp, take my breath away pain began to shoot through my knee. It felt like a serrated edge of a glass crowbar was prying my patella off. Oh my goodness, the pain. It took everything I had to get through the Liberty Girls tea party and then I laid down for the rest of the day trying to rest it.

The next day, I was told it looked like the meniscus was torn. A few days later when I saw Jeremy he said the meniscus had a new tear and the LCL was retorn as well and I needed to go back into my knee brace that I wore from December to the end of June. We talked about surgery and he said (once again!) that I am not a good candidate for surgical repair because it will just happen again and again due to my hypermobility. He explained how the menisci work and that in a normal person, they sit in between the tibia and femur helping them fit together and providing cushioning between the two bones. They generally move 6-12 mm during various movements. Instead of moving this small amount, Jeremy says my menisci are bobsledding within my knee joint, sliding all over the place and often getting trapped in places they shouldn’t be and subsequently being torn. So, unless we can fix the hypermobility, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to surgically repair it.

His explanation makes sense and I am super duper grateful for his honest and thorough assessments. But, boy howdy, it is hard to hear that the last resort of surgery isn’t a last resort at all. It is no resort at all as it isn’t an option. The options are to live with it or to figure out a way to have Prolozone injections to try to tighten up the ligaments and heal the cartilage like I did with my hip. Unfortunately, my nervous system is so hypersensitive now, there is a pretty big question as to whether my body can handle the injections.

My body didn’t like any of the nine series of Prolozone injections I received back in 2012. It became more and more sensitive to the ingredients until my nervous system was so damaged that at the final injection in January 2013, I collapsed in the office and began walking the road of passing out/seizures/autonomic dysfunction which is probably my biggest challenge now as eating and breathing challenges, temperature control, vomiting, shaking and passing out are such a pain to deal with. So even though the injections worked by helping the labrum heal and bring more stability to my hip, I am left damaged in other ways. Part of me thinks the risk is worth it and part of me is terrified at the very thought of trying the injections again.

Back in April, I received a stem cell injection in my knee and it made an immediate, dramatic improvement. We did it without any of the local anesthetics my body has so many problems with (hurt like CRAZY!) and only injected my own cells, spun and separated, back into me. That was at a specialty clinic in Mexico and if I could do that again, I absolutely would, but at this time it isn’t really an option. If I could find someone in my area that would do stem cell injections that would be lovely, but as far as I know, there isn’t. Plus the cost of stem cell stuff is exorbitant in the U.S. and fairly cheap in Mexico, so I don’t even know if I did find someone in the Rocky Mountain area if we could afford it. I’m not really sure of exact prices, but I was told the same injections I had in Mexico that cost about $100 would be $2000 here in the States, ARGH.

On top of the knee issues, my wrist is in a brace, my arm aches due to both the wrist injury and some entrapped nerves which are causing all sorts of pain and electrical activity. It is called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and I am hoping all the nerve gliding work Jeremy is doing will fix it quickly. Also, I am having lots of episodes…this week, Tuesday and Wednesday had full episodes and Saturday night and Sunday during church I had some shaking, so we really need to be focused on figuring out how to calm down my nervous system so I can stop having episodes. That most likely means meeting with Dr. Fraser Henderson in Maryland so we can figure out if my brain stem is being compressed and causing all the crazy nervous system dysfunction or not, but in order to schedule an appointment I have to submit a geneticist’s report and the current wait on a genetics appointment at the University of Utah is 14 months…soooo, it is all up in the air and I don’t really know what is the right path to pursue.

In spite of all this, I am doing well. I am spiritually and emotionally in good places. We are having a lovely Christmas season with lots of reading of Christmas books and snuggles in our Christmas quilts from last year. We are trying to spread joy in little ways and not spending lots of time out and about as my knee and the rest of me just can’t take it. Each night we share a story from Jesus’s life, read one of our Christmas books aloud and then listen to about fifteen minutes of The Christmas Carol (if you want it on audio, this version is fantastic!). So, I am not posting this because anything is really wrong or because I am ready to throw in the towel, just as an update and a record so I can remember how I was doing in December 2015, haha!

week 11

Dec 14, 2015 in blythe's mission, pics | 1 comment

Week 11 in California is a wrap. This Wednesday, the 16th, marks exactly 3 months since we dropped her off at the MTC, which also means she has completed 1/6 of her mission. That is feeling like a big deal this morning. This past week they had a Mission Christmas Party and posted lots of photos and videos. It is so fun to see her! If you want to mail her anything for Christmas, do it this week! I am hoping to get my package of Jamba gift cards for her and her companion in the mail today.

Her zone all together at the Christmas Party.

Blythe and her companion, Sister Shumway, are together on the left. I see Sister Smith with the plaid shirt, she roomed with her at the MTC, but I don’t know the other Sisters.

Some sort of Rudolph Nose competition?

Found this in her Dropbox account – What the cow is that? Some sort of ear shaped cookie? Candy?

Another Dropbox find…is she asleep from exhaustion or hugging the computer with great love and gratitude because she gets to email us?

So, we got transfer calls on Saturday, and Sister Shumway is being transferred. :( Very sad, but I’m sure it’s for the best. I will miss her. We’ve become such good friends. I’m not with my new comp yet and won’t be till tomorrow afternoon or night and Sister Shumway doesn’t know where she’s going. We go to the transfer meeting and they announce everybody’s changes, new comp, area, designated driver, and everyone switches around, and crazy stuff happens, and we leave. Pretty awesome! :)

This week has been great. Inci gave us Turkish Delight. Yes, the real thing! I wasn’t even sure if it was real, but it is. She also came to Follow the Star, which is a live nativity, with real animals and actors, and it’s really great. They’ve had some wonderful stories over the years.

She also brought her son Cevik (chevik). She speaks Turkish, German and English and here’s why that’s important now: Emily, a Laurel who did a study abroad for language and speaks Turkish, has become great friends with Inci. We introduced them earlier this week. When they came to Follow the Star she met the rest of Emily’s family and they were talking and amazingly her mom speaks German! We were just blown away! We’re like “Hmm, who should be her friends, I wonder…” Inci is here for only a year from halfway around the world, Emily speaks Turkish, her mom speaks German, the way we found her is pretty crazy anyway, etc. There is no way that is a coincidence.

We also finally saw an investigator we’ve been trying to teach since even before I got here. He went to Follow The Star and supposedly he went to seminary with his friend this morning (he’s 18).

There’s another teenager who is friends with a girl in the ward, who basically has no religion. She came (her name is Ana) with her friend and is willing to hear more. She’s super cool and her friend is planning on giving her a book of Mormon to read on her flight she’ll be taking for Christmas.

At Follow The Star last night we met Elder Clayton, the one who spoke in the Christmas broadcast. He’s one of the seventy, so that was pretty awesome.

There was a lady there with her friend (who is a member) who we’ve been doing community service with and she brought her daughter. They are both really great and we hope to teach them.

Basically, this week has been full of work and the Lord’s help. There is so much good going on.

Love to all!
Sister W.

read to me

Dec 9, 2015 in blessings, children, family, homeschooling | Comments Off on read to me

Me: I need to work on the computer for awhile, why don’t you listen to this audio-book from the library.

F: Mom, it’s SO MUCH better when you read the book.

Me: Really, better than a professional narrator?

F: YES. I want you to read all the books.

I can’t even tell you how much this warms my heart! My eleven-year-old boy still loves to snuggle up on the couch under a blanket and have me read to him for hours and hours – I hope it never ends.

Oh, how good it is to be so adored by your children. If only my face and voice could keep up with their insatiable desire to be read to!

2 peter 1:2-9

Dec 8, 2015 in ponderizing | Comments Off on 2 peter 1:2-9

This has long been one of my favorite scriptures…at least the verse about adding virtue to faith and knowledge to virtue. It is on the painting that hangs at the bottom of my stairs on the way into our school room. It is a daily reminder to me that faith must come first, then virtue, THEN knowledge. I grew up valuing knowledge above all else and my mind still craves information like an addict, so daily pondering the correct position of faith and virtue helps keep me grounded.

Last week I found this scripture when I was searching for verses about the promises of God and was pleasantly surprised when it was my same faith, virtue, knowledge scripture. I know God keeps His promises and I want to fill my heart and mind up with a whole pile of promise keeping scriptures that I can turn to at any moment I or a friend needs them.

Grace and peace multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virute; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindenss; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Becoming a partaker of the divine nature is such a beautiful thought to me…and He has promised that we can…that we will! My heart leaps with joy at the thought of being transformed by His grace into someone with faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance (yes, even someone with temperance!), patience (can it be, that I could be patient?), godliness, brother kindness, and charity. I have no doubt that God is good enough and powerful enough to change me. I know He will do what He says He will do.

I love, love, LOVE Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. That book transformed my life. In the chapter “Counting the Cost” this idea is laid out powerfully.

I find a good many people have been bothered by what I said in the last chapter about Our Lord’s words, “Be ye perfect.” Some people seem to think this means “Unless you are perfect, I will not help you”; and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant “The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.”

Let me explain. When I was a child I often had toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother—at least, not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this. I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else.

I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie; if you gave them an inch they took an ell.

Now, if I may put it that way, Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of (like masturbation or physical cowardice) or which is obviously spoiling daily life (like bad temper or drunkenness). Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment.

That is why He warned people to “count the cost” before becoming Christians. “Make no mistake,” He says, “if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away.

But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect—until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.”

And yet—this is the other and equally important side of it— this Helper who will, in the long run, be satisfied with nothing less than absolute perfection, will also be delighted with the first feeble, stumbling effort you make tomorrow to do the simplest duty. As a great Christian writer (George MacDonald) pointed out, every father is pleased at the baby’s first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. In the same way, he said, “God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.”

The practical upshot is this. On the one hand, God’s demand for perfection need not discourage you in the least in your present attempts to be good, or even in your present failures. Each time you fall He will pick you up again. And He knows perfectly well that your own efforts are never going to bring you anywhere near perfection. On the other hand, you must realise from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, ca prevent Him from taking you to that goal.

That is what you are in for. And it is very important to realise that. If we do not, then we are very likely to start pulling back and resisting Him after a certain point. I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not out it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted Him to do, and we should be obliged if He would now leave us alone. As we say “I never expected to be a saint, I only wanted to be a decent ordinary chap.” And we imagine when we say this that we are being humble.

But this is the fatal mistake. Of course we never wanted, and never asked, to be made into the sort of creatures He is going to make us into. But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us. He is the inventor, we are only the machine. He is the painter, we are only the picture. How should we know what He means us to be like? You see, He has already made us something very different from what we were. Long ago, before we were born, when we were inside our mothers’ bodies, we passed through various stages.

Oh, how I love this! God’s whole purpose is to bring us back to Him as beings like Him. He will not do anything else. He will not work for any other goal or be deterred from this goal. His promises are sure and I can trust that as He is working in my life, it if for my happiness, my development, my overall good.

Oh, how I love the Lord Jesus!

week 10

Dec 7, 2015 in blythe's mission | Comments Off on week 10

It felt so empty without her here for Annesley’s baptism on Saturday, a good empty, but boy, howdy, it sure felt like one of us is missing! This Saturday she will find out if she will get transferred to a new area and/or to a new companionship. Our most recent package arrived and she now has fingernail polish, some love notes from Annesley, and some beautiful music to listen to…hurrah for fast shipping times in the U.S.A.! She asked again for her violin. Does anyone know anyone driving to Southern California?

Well, this week has gone by in a rush. We’ve had a ton of service opportunities, more than ever before. Friday was the ward Christmas party and it was Who-ville style. Lots of the little girls had Who hairdos and it was super cute. That night Sister Shumway was asked to play the piano for Elder Forthman, “Where Are You Christmas?” for the program, then at about 8:30 play at a convert baptism going on in the same building. She got the music that morning and we spent a great part of that day, and several others during the week rushing from meeting to meeting, to music study for missionaries, to service opportunities. It has been very full.

In the midst of that we taught Inci again,and next time we go over we’re hoping to bring one of the young women, Emily, who miraculously speaks Turkish. We’re really excited about that.

Yesterday was also very full. Joanie came to church with her daughter Kristen, Elder Everette’s mom, who he baptized since he’s been out on his mission. She bore a very sweet testimony and the whole testimony meeting was wonderful for which we were very grateful. Joanie liked it a lot and I think she did feel the spirit. They stayed all three hours and Kristen bore a sweet testimony to us about how it has been Elder Everette’s calling to bring them to the church. (If you’ve forgotten, he was adopted and grew up in an LDS family. He was baptized a year before he left on his mission and is a fabulous missionary.) Another thing with him – last night we got to call him to tell him that Joanie came to church with his mom and he was so excited. He also told us that he has found his dad. He was transferred in to Dana Pointe, where his dad lives, and they found him, and taught him, and showed him the new Christmas video. It is so wonderful to be able to be part of this, having his family be brought to the gospel.

If you haven’t already seen it, which you probably have, the #ASaviorIsBorn video is amazing. We use it a lot.

Love you all!
Sister W

thankful for

Dec 2, 2015 in blessings, thankful thursdays | 1 comment

The past few weeks have been full of a lot of introspection. I have spent a lot of time thinking about gratitude and even though Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, I still need to take some time to ponder and write down my list of gratitude.

My Heavenly Father and Mother
Jesus the Christ
Richard
Our children
The scriptures
My mom
My dad
My siblings
My grandma & grandpa
Oodles of cousins, aunts, and uncles
My dear, dear friends, oh, my goodness, I am blessed with amazing friends
A safe home
Trees
Sunshine
Clean water to drink
Water to play in
Water to relax by
Days at the lake
Food to eat
Ovens
Stoves
Fire
Sleeping bags
Snuggly quilts
Fleece
Wool socks
Comfortable shoes that protect feet from elements and owies
Mittens and gloves
Warm hats
Blue skies
Gentle breezes
Hammocks
Read-alouds with our children
Audio books
Amazing mentors that bless the lives of our family by sharing their passions and loving our children
Our homeschooling community
Gymnastics
Libraries
Books, glorious books
Book discussions
Communication in all its many forms – the spoken word, the written word, email, letters, phone calls, the look in someone’s eye, social media, hugs, tears, the sharing of the soul – I am so grateful I can connect with so many people and share not only information, but also our hearts
Music
Braces and tape to hold me together
Bone, Flesh, and Cartilage ointment
Essential oils
Herbs
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Onions, carrots, celery, garlic – use them all the time in my cooking and cannot imagine food without them
Ice cream
Chocolove Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt bars – totally delish
My bed
Ice packs and rice packs
Swim camp
Family reunions
Swings
Swimming pools
Working vehicles
Mountains
Kayaking
Angels
Priesthood blessings
Pumpkin pie
Toilets
Running water
Snow shovels
A flat driveway
Contacts
Glasses
Covenants
Washing machine & dryer
Refrigerators & freezers
Vacuums
Mechanical pencils
Staedtler pens
Photographs
My grandma’s aprons
Erasers
Water bottles
Magic erasers
Doors to keep the cold out
My church
My community
Goodness
Kindness
Generosity
Big dreams
Passion
Courage
Sacrifice
Freedom
Determination
Love, most of all, love

3 nephi 29:6

Dec 1, 2015 in ponderizing | Comments Off on 3 nephi 29:6

In my topical guide search for scriptures on healing, I came across this gem in 3 Nephi 29:6.

Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost!

The God I believe in loves His children and is working among them as He always has, speaking to our hearts with the Holy Ghost, revealing truth, blessing us with healing, and so much more. Some may not believe those things are happening, but I see them on a regular basis in my life.

Last week I was given a (one of many I have received) priesthood blessing after an episode at church and the words spoken were so precious to my heart. I know Richard would never have said the words he uttered. They were straight from my Heavenly Father. I may or may not be healed from this connective tissue disorder in this life, but I know, without any doubt, that God is with me.

week 9 – pics galore!

Nov 30, 2015 in blythe's mission, pics | 2 comments

First major holiday away from us…and it is good, really, really good to think about our girly going out into the world and spreading joy and love on Thanksgiving day. She sounds so happy and fulfilled and THAT makes my heart explode with joy. Seriously, this missionary mama thing is the best! Super exciting this week is that she set up a Dropbox account and sent us a ton of pictures!

She is in a beautiful area!

Giant oranges…yummy!

Glad to see her desk is a bit cleaner than her one here at home.

How sweet are these notes? A member must have left them some treats with a note of thanks for their hard work.

She got to go to the temple with a girl in her mission who is about to leave on her own mission.

Blythe and her companion, Sister Shumway, at the temple.

Love this ~~Star of David~~ Seal of Melchizedek on the Newport Beach Temple!

And here is her letter:

The time is going way too fast. I can’t believe I’m almost 3 months in. I feel like I just got here, at the same time feeling like I’ve always been here.

This week has been amazing! In 5 days we picked up 6 new investigators, which, especially for this mission, is nothing short of miraculous. Several of them are families and we’re always shooting for that. We have a huge list of people to work with and we’re kept busy. We have been very blessed lately with people to work with.

Thanksgiving was really good. Bishop Owens’ family (his daughter lives in the ward) always go down to the Marine Base and have two Marines come spend Thanksgiving with them, which I may have already mentioned. So he really likes the missionaries to come over for a while and talk with them. It was an interesting experience for me, being our same age but with the military haircuts and talking about drills and stuff. They were pretty cool though and we stayed over there for a while. Their names were Josh and Chris. It was a new experience getting to know them.

We also went to Raquel’s. She’s Filipino and her whole family was there. She has 9 siblings, I think, though maybe a few more, and her parents were there, and all her siblings’ children and all her children. And they were all similar ages, since her younger siblings overlap with some of the older siblings’ kids. They span from 33ish to 10, but it’s really hard to tell how old they really are. Her mom still looks pretty young. They introduced all the kids at the same time, and whose child they were and it was just fun and a little crazy. They have a really fun family. I really enjoyed it! Kenny, (Raquel’s brother) has a really good voice, and his whole family just loves hearing him sing, so after some friendly pressuring he sang for us. He sang “I Stand All Amazed” and an upbeat song that I didn’t recognize (big surprise). He was super good and that visit was just really fun. They also had this Filipino dish called cevici or something – shrimp and fish in something like salsa. It was yummy.

Since we couldn’t go visit many people since they were having family time, we also went through our whole list and left little notes for them and a couple people have replied to us about those. A bunch of people in the ward just got mission calls. One of the Mauss girls is going to South America, there’s another girl who’s up at school, and a guy is going to Japan. They’re all just dying with excitement, so that was fun for us. I got to go to Hollie Mauss’ endowment since they invited us and we’ve been working with her. She helps us a lot with missionary work, so we got permission to go.

This week should be really great. We have a lot to invite people to as they start all this Christmas stuff.

Love you!!!!!
Sister W.

annes is 8!

Nov 28, 2015 in birthdays, children, family, pics | 1 comment

Miss Annesley is 8! This spunky, courageous, full-of-life girl turned eight on Thanksgiving Day. It doesn’t seem possible that it has been eight years since I gave birth to her in our birth pool in our bathroom. What a glorious birth it was!

Now she is a grown-up little girl – she is quite the pancake and waffle maker and she has recently learned how to make omelets all by herself. Her face is changing and looking older, the baby cheeks are gone, and her body is getting long and lanky (at least lanky for our house of short people!). Thank goodness she still likes snuggling with her papa and she still comes in to my bed every morning for a back rub and quiet morning conversation between just the two of us.

Right now her favorite books are Little House on the Prairie, Understood Betsy, and The Wingfeather Saga. She loves to listen to Adventures in Odyssey as she goes to sleep at night. Her favorite hymns are “Come, Come Ye Saints” and “Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing” and her favorite Primary songs are “Book of Mormon Stories, “Holding Hands Around The World”, and “I Like To Look For Rainbows.” Her favorite foods are pizza, pasta, peaches, avocados, carrots, celery, and smoothies. She says her favorite things to do are cooking, playing with Charlie, ice skating, sledding, playing the violin, piano, and recorder, math, and having fun.

Her birthday book this year is In My Heart: A Book of Feelings which is a delightful book about different feelings we have…joy, fear, anger, sadness, bravery, happiness, thankfulness…and how they impact our lives. It normalizes the experience of having feelings and I am hoping will help Annesley as she navigates her way through some pretty big feelings.

She got her very own CD player! We are pretty big audio book fans and she has been dreaming of having her own for a long time so she doesn’t have to beg, borrow (and not steal!) from her siblings for some CD time. This is the same Sony CD/Cassette with Aux-In we gave Fisher last year for his birthday. It has held up flawlessly for the past year so we decided having another one in the home was a great idea for family peace. During the afternoons, they both like to do art projects or build Legos while they are listening to a story…but they often want different stories or want to be in different parts of the house…so having one for each of them is a fantastic idea.

When our children turn eight, they are given a knife…IF they have proven themselves to be trustworthy and we believe they will not cause harm or threaten harm with it. It is a pretty big deal around here. As the youngest, Annesley has known getting a knife was a possibility, but not a guarantee, because she remembers when Fisher got his knife and she has heard all the stories of how Keziah did NOT get hers at the age of eight. She also knows she can have it taken away if she is mean, threatening, or does not take care of it.

Grandma Dorothy gave her her two favorite movies, Dolphin Tale 1 and 2. Such delight! She spun and shrieked with joy. Definitely the winner of the present adoration.

After all the Thanksgiving meal preps, eating, cleaning up, and obligatory napping, she decided sledding with her Papa was exactly what she wanted to celebrate her birthday. Fisher ended up joining them for some jaunts down the little hill at the end of our driveway.

Later that night after all the food had digested and we had room in our bellies for more deliciousness we had her birthday cake designed by her with Moosetracks and Chocolate ice cream, Chocolate Oreos smashed on the bottom and making a big 8 on top.

Grandma Dorothy, my brother Scott, Kez, Fisher, Papa, and Miss Annes.

I am so grateful for this girly. She has given me so many gifts and helped me see the world in new ways. Her pregnancy and birth were powerful demonstrations of the miracles of God and how He can heal our bodies even when it is deemed impossible. Her birth helped heal my heart and showed me I was stronger than I knew. Annesley lives life with zest…she is so much like me and loving her has helped me fall in love with my little girl self. Here are some of her adventures from the past year.

Tea party with her friend, Olivia.

Vacuum packing 120 pounds of chicken. She insisted on being the one to pick up the chicken and put it in each bag. That is the most disgusting part of the job so we happily let her take that job.

Making butter at Liberty Girls. These girls are so much fun!

Picking Honeycrisp Apples…yummy!

Saying goodbye to Blythe.

Driving away from the MTC with some big tears.

Heap of cuteness before our “real” family photo shoot.

And our “real” family photos.

Hiking with her siblings and Grandpa Barry and Cherie.

Heading out on her 8-year-old hike. Back when Blythe and Andie were turning 8, we started a tradition of Richard taking the almost 8 year old on an overnight backpacking adventure. Since our children turn 8 in August, September, and beginning of October, it seemed like a good plan. Annesley’s birthday at the end of October means she was our youngest hiker when she went on her hike back in August, but she was a trooper and hiked the whole way.