Sunday Best!

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Photo by Larry Hanson

“Our spirits existed in the premortal realm and will continue to live after the body dies. The spirit provides the body with animation and personality. In this life and in the next, spirit and body, when joined together, become a living soul of supernal worth. Because one’s spirit is so important, its development is of eternal consequence. It is strengthened as we communicate in humble prayer with our loving Heavenly Father.” -Russell M Nelson

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Where Did that Pole Come From!

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When I was a kid, I was amazing at dodge ball. I mean I was usually the last girl left that hadn’t been hit. I could throw the ball too.

It was quite a popular game at my elementary school, and sometimes we would have to find a place to play, because all of the dodgeball courts were being used.

One day we ended up playing on sort of a make shift basket ball court. The boundaries were painted on the asphalt with two standards on poles at either end of the court. All of us 6th graders were in the middle of a heated game. I was one of the only people left on our side. Someone on the other team threw the ball and I caught it, which meant the person was out and I was safe.

Then I ran to the middle line and threw it!

I turned to head back to the back line and the next thing I know I’m flat on the ground, my head is killing me. All the kids gathered around and started making comments.

“Wow, look at that!”

“It’s huge!”

Then I realized I had hit the basketball standard pole.

I had a huge goose egg on the middle of my forehead. I sat on the bed in the nurses office till the end of school. One of my friends came in to see me. He said, “It looks like a colored TV!!” I never played dodge ball on the basketball court ever again. Lesson learned!

Family History Friday: A Good Place to Start!

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If you are just a beginner at doing Family History it can be very overwhelming.

A great place to start is at the National Archives website.

You can find it here! It has a tab for how to:

Start Your Family Research,

also how to Explore your Resources, also it gives you help with Tools. 

And I can’t forget the tabs for Researching the Records.

It’s a great place to get help and do research!

Go check it out!

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Food or Toiler Paper?

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Which is more important? It’s a tough call.

The other day we almost ran out of TP. In the whole house.

I’ve decided that TP is VERY important to me. Almost more important than food. I know that sounds pretty dramatic, but seriously, you can live for a while without food. But you’re pretty much stranded without TP.

We’ve recently had a lean time in our finances. I needed to buy food, and TP, and it got me thinking…..”If I only had enough money for food or TP which one would I get?”

Hands down, TP!

One of my favorite things is a stock pile of TP in the house. I wonder how that would sound with Julie Andrews singing it.

I am so thankful for TP!!

Totally “Fort Worth” It!

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Hermana Kelsey 16:1 -email-
Dearest familia,
Hello! How is everyone?! I’m doing good. It is so hot and humid today. I am really not looking forward to this summer. The humidity is killer here. But anyway, we’ll survive. We are almost out of miles for the month, so we are walking to our dinner after this. I’m not sure what the temperature is now, but it will for sure be getting hotter soon.
Monday: We had an awesome noche de hogar with Bishop M. and his family. We had our investigator, M., and his sister, N., who is a recent convert there, and it was pretty good. They are an awesome family. They are from Peru, and the Hermana had a stroke a little while back so she has trouble talking and one side of her face doesn’t move. But their three sons are the sweetest things ever to her. They are always loving on her, and helping her out. It is so cute. 🙂 I want to have boys like that someday. 😉
Wednesday: I turned 15 months in the mission! WOOOOWWW! Sister M. and I went to QT (it’s a gas station here in Texas), and we got a doughnut for 49 cents and 69 cent drinks! Woooohoo! It was fun. Then later in the day an hermana brought us dinner at the church (sometimes they do that if it is more convenient for them), and she also brought us drinks from QT. It was great.
Thursday: We had zone conference! It was super good. Sister M. and I received a lot of revelation for our investigators and how we can help them. We also watched part of a movie where a guy ran less than a 4 minute mile. It was unbelievable!!! He was literally sprinting almost full speed the whole 4 laps. It was super cool. I wish I could do that…maybe with training. 🙂
Saturday: We were going to go to another set of english elders’ baptism, but it ended up getting cancelled. The lady who was getting baptized sons and husband got the chicken pox! :$ So we didn’t get to go to that.
Sunday: We ate dinner with a family that is from Argentina, and I tried something they call mate (it’s not pronounced like mate). It’s a type of tea, which I guess it has been approved so it’s not against the Word of Wisdom. Anyway, it was really weird. It tasted really herb-y, and I didn’t really love it that much. But it was a good experience I guess. Now I can say that I’ve tried mate.
Monday: The elders bikes got stolen…so they were kind of upset about that. We ended up going to the mall yesterday, because we didn’t have anything else going on. Well basically we went to the mall and spent all our time in Barnes and Noble. I love that place. I truly forgot how much I love just spending time in that store and looking at the books and stuff. It was fun. We also went to the Goodwill, because someone told us that it was supposed to be 50% off everything, but it really wasn’t so Sister M. didn’t buy anything. But it was still fun to look. 🙂
Oh, also some other random chismes (gossip)…Sister W., who just went home 3 weeks ago is engaged and she is getting married the 1st of September. Like 2 weeks before I come home!!! She is crazy! I’m not going to get married that fast. Just so you don’t fret and worry, Mom! 🙂 🙂
Mom: That sounds like a great talk. I’ve been wanting more and more to learn about the Bible and to have time te read it, but our schedule for how President S. wants us to study in the morning only allows us to study Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon. So I’ll just have to read and study the Bible after I come home. But it is fascinating to me now. I also think I will take some institute classes to learn some more stuff about it. 🙂
Dad: I love that it is a family tradition to go eat at Costa Vida after graduations now. 🙂 We did that after Alex’s graduation too (without him :)). Okay wait who is Al Foxx? Ha ha. I’m not gonna lie, that story of Riley telling Mom she is a kind and loving mother is so funny to me. I can just imagine that little stink of a brother I have saying it, and it just makes me laugh. Even though it is kind of sad.
Emily: Things are good. I’m glad you got your card. I forgot to send it on p-day, but I sent it the day after. That doesn’t sound like a fun job to me. I really like my sleep. 🙂 But anway that is cool. Did you win any prizes at the graduation party? When I went, I won a $25 Walmart gift card, which was pretty cool. But other people won like iPods and Xbox 360s and other cool stuff, so it wasn’t really that great of a prize. But still. It also stormed here last night. It kept me awake for a while because the lightning and thunder were so bad, but I love the Texas rain here. When it rains, it RAINS!!
Well, I better go now. I love you all lots. Be good, and stay safe. 🙂
Love, Kelsey
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

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Elder Flexy 23:4 -email-
Mama,
wow  i will be speaking with matt thats gonna be so cool. i better prepare well. its going to be nice to be in the ward again… i miss that WARD!!!! anyway this week has been crazy Elder T. he’s been Emergency trasfered because his knee is giving him problems so this last week from friday till now  i’ve been with Elder R. the one i was with in Enseleni anyway my new companion is  Elder S. he is from Uganda. but ya its been cool to be with Elder R. again. anyway i’ll let you know of anything new. Love you
Love Elder Flexy
Baba,
Andrew S. sounds like he is growing ever more how close is he to mission? dad are you becoming a softie? haha jk i’m a boob too so no big deal. ayway this is the beginning of my last transfer so the time is coming soon but i’m going to finish strong. love you
Love Elder Flexy
M,
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on graduating. thats so good that day for me was so good felt such weight off my shoulders. well keep choosing the right love you
Love Elder Flexy

Sunday Best!

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This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:

Stop it!

It’s that simple.

We simply have to stop judging others and replace judgmental thoughts and feelings with a heart full of love for God and His children.

God is our Father.

We are His children. We are all brothers and sisters. I don’t know exactly how to articulate this point of not judging others with sufficient eloquence, passion, and persuasion to make it stick. I can quote scripture, I can try to expound doctrine, and I will even quote a bumper sticker I recently saw. It was attached to the back of a car whose driver appeared to be a little rough around the edges, but the words on the sticker taught an insightful lesson. It read,

“Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.”

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Baby Bird!

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Don’t you just love spring?

One of my favorite things in spring is all of the babies. We recently had a baby Robin in our back yard. We don’t know if it fell out of, or tried to fly out of the nest.

Every time hubby would go out to check on it, the parents would start chirping and flying past him like they were trying to take his attention away from where the baby was. What they did do, was tell him he was close. Kinda like that game where you hide something while someone is out of the room, and when they come back in everyone sings or hums louder the closer you get to object.

We felt like we needed to keep an eye on it, because it was too small to be seen very easily, and we didn’t want the daycare kids to step on it. So my darlin watched and checked for a few days, making sure the baby was o.k. Finally, the birds stopped chirping and swooping past him. We both decided that the baby was safe and either flew away or had hopped to a spot in the yard that was safe. 

Here’s mama watching close from above. I love spring, and babies!

Family History Friday: Louis Seymour Martin

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I never knew my Great-Grandpa Martin. He died when my dad was a little boy. He was the first dead person my dad ever saw. He was in a coffin in the parlor at home. My dad remembers him having a large white handlebar mustache, that had yellowed from using tobacco. He was a blacksmith, and owned his own shop. This picture is of him in his shop. Not the best quality, but I love it. My dad also told me that Great Grandpa was a bootlegger. I don’t know any more about that, but I bet he was one of many. He also drove a stage coach from Ponsford to Calloway, Minnesota. He hauled trees to the lumber mill during the winter months, putting the logs on a big old sled, and crossing a frozen lake. He lost a toe from frost bite, doing that job.

It sounds to me like he was a colorful character. I admire him for taking different jobs. I’ve had to do the same myself. I’m sure he must have had a lot of stamina to do some of the jobs he did, pounding iron sounds like it would be exhausting. I have loved hearing about him. I bet he was a great guy.

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Raccoons!

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I’ve always thought raccoons were cute little fur balls. From time to time in my life I’ve seen them close to the house. Once while my Mom was canning apricots she put the apricots that hadn’t been done yet on the patio. As my brother’s and I watched T.V. that night, we were amazed that the raccoons came right up to the sliding glass door and where eating the apricots. Brazen! They weren’t the slightest bit shy about being so visible to us. I was amazed by that.

One year when my darlin was the scout master in our ward, he and all the scouts and other leaders were at scout camp. They were gone for a week. Sometime in that week we started hearing noise in the vicinity of the fireplace. I knew something was in there, but what I didn’t know. When my hubby got home I told him. He checked in the chimney, and sure enough there were baby raccoons, and a mama! Not a good thing. We tried for days to encourage them out, and nothing would work. Finally after a week or so, we started smelling something strange. My darlin checked in the chimney, and found the mama and one of the babies had died. Ouch! We needed to get them out of there, but how. If we didn’t get them out soon, the house, and all around it was going to stink. We might have to move out. After many attempts at pulling them out the top of the chimney, hubby finally had to pulled them out the bottom, which meant they came through the house. You can imagine the mess. We almost had to call one of the disaster clean up services. Not quite, but I wanted to. There was quite a mess around the fireplace, and I cleaned and cleaned. After the cleaning, we covered the chimney with a special cover. I don’t ever want to have that experience again.

Raccoons are super cute, only if they don’t die in your chimney!