They Did not Doubt

The Bountiful Handcart Days is big in this town.  Most everyone goes.  This year was a "Once in a Lifetime" event.  President Cory Hanks, a stake president in Centerville had a vision that he wanted to have a representation of the 2000+ Stripling Warriors from the Book of Mormon, lead by Helaman march in the parade.

This was a great undertaking and one that I think some thought couldn't happen.  Oh how wrong they were.  As I anxiously awaited for them to march down the street, you could hear them coming, like soft thunder that got louder as they marched 2000+ strong.  It took over 10 minutes to pass you.  I couldn't help but think my boys, all three of them would have been off to battle.  It was so touching.  

Thank you so much President Hanks for your vision and giving these boys an experience they will always remember.  I found myself opening the Book of Mormon and rereading the account of the army.  I love the line, that reads that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.  And they had been taught by their mothers.  I'm sure as they marched away, their mothers were as proud as I felt tonight as I watched my boy go down the street.  Truly A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

I often feel as if I have already sent one warrior off to battle in Honduras.  Armed with with faith and testimony and having being taught by his mother.  Oh how I hope I taught him correctly.  Sometimes that is a scripture that helps strenghten my faith, that if he will doubt not, God will deliver him.

Alma 47:  Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. 

A Wonderful Email Full of Pictures

I was so excited to receive his email today and was even more excited to see that pictures accompanied the letter.  He looks so happy and the pictures show it.  Love him so much and have been missing him even more the last few days, so this truly was a tender mercy again to show me that a loving Father in Heaven is in charge and he is in His hands.  It is worth going to his blog and reading the email, too.  But, I'm including the pictures for my our journaling history.  elderclaytoninhonduras.blogspot.com

This was a valuable lesson I learned this year at girl's camp.  I can do hard things.  This may or may not look hard, but for me it was.  I'm quite scared of heights, and to climb up that cargo net, to cross the bridge and slid down the zip line was hard, and very scary.  There was a man that could hold the line and if I wanted to at any time, he would bring me down, but he kept telling me, "I've got you" and "trust me"  It was such a lesson on sometimes you have to try your hardest and then put your trust in Him and keep on trying and climbing.  It was such an accomplishment to say, "I did it!"  That is not me on the ladder.  I took this picture off someone's facebook, but you can see the picture and hopefully understand.  I learned a great lesson that day about me and doing Hard Things.  I'm going to keep continuing on my journey and I will reach the final destination.  I'm just sure of it.

Braces No Longer!

Today was a great day.  Caleb no longer has braces!  Thank you Dr. Feller.  He looks so great and it's hard to believe that we can cross this off our list.  All three have awesome smiles.  It is amazing how much different he looks and how much older even.  I truly have such a great job and am able to see how much a great smile does for a person.  This time it was my own son.

 Caleb and Brianne waiting to see if today is the day...

 Dr. Feller looking to see if everything is perfect.

 Just walked the red carpet and out through the curtain, new smile!!!

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Now next to get theirs off is me...however, I really haven't minded having them.  These braces are so awesome, they have come a long way since the day I had them before.  But, they look great and it's close.  Just as long as they are gone before Bridger returns.  I'm not in a big hurry.

Happy Birthday Caleb

Hardly seems possible that my baby boy turns 14 today.  And what a joy he has been everyday since he arrived.  Caleb came into the world just two months after my sister passed away and showed us that there is still good to be found in the world.  He smiled the day he arrived and has not stopped since.  He was always so mischievous and yet those big brown eyes could win you over and you just couldn't be mad at him.  I love this boy.  He is such a tender hearted and kind young man.  He tells me more than once he loves me every day.  He is so polite and we are so blessed to have him in our family.  He definitely completed our family.

 Waiting for him to come home from Bear Lake

He has become quite the fisherman and spent the last week with his grandparents up at Bear Lake.  The best gift of all was Bridger sent a package from Honduras for his b-day.  It arrived a few days ago and we have all waited patiently to open it.  Bridger wrote such a nice letter to him and I was quite impressed with how thoughtful it was.  Sometimes you wonder if what you do goes unnoticed and with each passing year I have watched my boys become such kind, caring and wonderful young men.  Thank heavens they only got the good things we were trying to teach them.

Happy Birthday Pal.  We love you and are so glad you are part of our forever family!

Class of 2012...Graduation

It is with a lump in my throat that I am posting the adventures of this last week.  When did I say they could grow up and not need us anymore.  Stetson graduated with High Honors from Woods Cross High on June 1, 2012.  He is such a great young man and I am reminded almost daily of just how awesome he is.  Many times people stop me to tell me just how kind, personable and great he is. We have been so blessed to have such great boys and for this we are truly grateful.  It is also true that it takes a village/ward to raise a child.  Thank heavens we do not have to do it all alone.  Thank you so much for helping to get him to this point in his life.  He is looking forward to working at Salt City Burger and saving, saving, saving.  Salt Lake Community College is where he has chosen to go until he sends his papers in for his mission.  He really wants to wait until Bridger returns and so thinking May/June 2013 he will be available.  Which is fine with me.  I can hardly stand that we will only have one in school come September.  Don't wish it away and that the grow up to quickly...because it does, and it's faster than you think. I promise.

 Decorated and waiting for him to come home to celebrate all his hard work.

 Stetson and Abby

Congratulations Stetson.  The sky is the limit...go get it pal!

Mother's Day & a 5K

I love Mother's Day.  Some do not.  I am not one of them.  I have always felt like I was a pretty good mom.  Not to pat myself on the back or anything.  But I thought I had always done the best I could.  Would I change a few things if I was to be able to, absolutely.  But for the most part, not bad.  I miss the days of the school made treasures my boys secretly snuck home in their backpacks to give me on Mother's Day.  I still get notes from them, but the ones I would hang on my fridge and admire for days are defiantly missed.  Mother's Day I woke up to watch Music and the Spoken Word and this week's program was about Mothers.  I loved it.  I had tears in my eyes the entire time and I loved the message.  I am including it because it states exactly what I was feeling only in a much better way.  Enjoy...
At the end of a long day, a busy mother sat down for what seemed like the first time since she got out of bed that morning. She was so exhausted she wanted to cry, but she didn’t even have the energy for that. She looked around the room and saw a day’s worth of clutter and too many chores half-done or not even started. "I can’t keep up,” she thought to herself. "There is no end to it, and I’m a failure at all of this.” She felt worn out, used up, and quite unappreciated.

Then her eyes caught hold of a work of crayon art stuck by a magnet to the refrigerator. At the bottom of the drawing was written in a child’s hand, "I love you, Mom.” She saw little handprints on the patio door and realized that someday soon those would disappear and the sweet child who left them would be grown and gone. She felt the lingering warmth of the goodnight hug she received as the last child went off to bed. As tears filled her eyes, the sight of the clutter dimmed, and she saw two things clearly: it was worth it, and she was good enough.

What mother hasn’t felt just as tired and hopeless as this one did? But when we see beyond the demands of daily living, keep a long-range view of things, and recognize the things that matter most, there can come into our hearts the assurance that our efforts are truly worth it, that they are making a difference. What we are doing, though probably not perfect, is surely good enough.

Dear mothers, close your eyes to the clutter, forget for a moment the things you haven’t been able to do, and know that you are loved, that your sacrifice is of great worth, and that you are more than good enough. God bless mothers everywhere.

The best part of my Mother's Day was the call from Bridger.  We were able to Skype with him and words cannot express all the emotions I felt as I could actually see him.  I have never seen him so happy.  He did tell of a few "scary" adventures in his journey.  But he assures me he is safe and protected.  The best surprise of all was when the phone rang again at 10:50 p.m. and he was on the other line with seven minutes left on his calling card and wanting to tell me he loved me and Happy Mother's Day.  Love that boy, who is not that any more.  He is blessing the lives of so many people and in doing so we are being watched over and protected as well.  Today it is only 300 more days until he returns.  I can see that for him it is coming all too quickly...that is what I was afraid of.

Flowers I received from Kylie's mom thanking me for being nice to her family and Happy Mother's Day.  I love Kylie and her cute family, so it isn't hard to be nice to them.  I consider her the daughter I never was able to have.  So we welcome them as one of our own.

I participated in the lamest 5K Walk/Run ever.  With me there were 10 participants total.  All were late and so I thought it wasn't going to happen.  It did and I started after everyone, caught up and passed them and then went farther due to not sure if I was on the final lap.  As I came to the end, this one lady said to me, "aren't you so glad you finished?"  Really, I was actually ahead of all of you.  Oh well, at least I can say I did it and am going to try and continue and do another one.  Maybe next time it will be a for real

I did get a charm for my efforts, I am sure it is Sterling Silver.

Miracles do Happen & Families are Forever

Well, it finally happened.  Those who know our family know that 14 years, April 26, 1998, my sister Jody passed away.  Jody has two kids, Alex who was six and Josh only four at that time.  They each had different dads and so it was expected that their dads would raise them and we hoped we would still be a part of their lives.  Alex was able to continue to come to events and things through the years and we followed her and her lives adventures.  Josh was a completely different story, his dad for reasons unknown did not let our family, or even his sister see him for almost 14 years.  This has been so hard, especially for my parents and Alex.  However, after several years of praying and waiting, Josh called my sister Cindy out of the blue.  What a miracle.  We were able to reconnect with Josh after too many years of wondering how he had fared through all this.  Sad thing is he does not remember any of us???  Weird and oh so sad.  However, we are pressing forward and grateful that we have so many more years ahead than we have lost.  I am hoping over time that he will remember who we all are and how much we have always loved him.  The best part of all is that we all have wonderful, stable happy families that he can see are so normal and accepting and most of all excited that he is back in our lives.  Families are Forever of this we have no doubt.  Welcome back Josh!  We have missed you!

One of the last family pictures Jody had with her kids before she got sick.

Sister & Brother, together at last.  Families are Forever!

I can only imagine how excited Jody is and how long she has waited for this day to happen.  I'm certain she is smiling down from above.