Elder Holland

We had the privilege of having Elder Holland at a special Stake conference today. Madsen and Sully were at the church at 8:00 this morning to save seats for a meeting that started at 10:00 and we were in the first row of the cultural hall! It was a really neat experience to be able to hear one of the apostles speak to us. He is funny and wise and kind. He speaks with such power and authority. When he started to bear testimony it was very quiet for a room full of people. The spirit was so strong. He talked about the challenges of growth that the church has, but that it is a good challenge. He talked about the early apostles and the challenges they faced after Christ was gone. He talked about the man who was crippled and for years went to the temple to beg and how he was healed by Peter. He spoke of the man who was blind and Christ healed him and he said, I don't know much, but this I know. I was blind and now I see. His point was that we cannot deny the evidence of the gospel. I loved it when he spoke of the crippled man and read all the verbs in the story. How this man went leaping and running and praising and singing. He said, "he hasn't had a verb in forty years. He can have all verbs he wants for a few days." Made me giggle. And I tell you, after being there today I feel full of verbs. I want to leap and run and dance and sing praises. It was truly a spiritual feast. At the end he pronounced blessings upon all of us. It was very moving. He spoke of those who need physical healings and said "this is as if I had my hands upon your head. This is your blessing." He blessed those with spiritual struggles and temporal struggles and those going through hard times. He said, "our children grow up mostly in enemy territory these days. I promise that if they stay with the gospel they will be safe." What a promise form a servant of God. We were able to shake his hand as he left. I told him that my parents were missionaries in Chile when he was there. He smiled and asked their names so I told him and he got a big smile on his face and said, "oh of course! Tell them I say hi." It is a rare experience to be taught at the feet of an apostle. I am so grateful that we were able to be there. That my children could shake his hand and hear his testimony in person. Elder Holland has long been one of my favorites. Now he is even more.

He is in!

I got a letter from the Student Assignment office today, here is what it says, "The staff in the office of student assignment has considered your transfer request for Declan to attend Apex Middle. We are happy to inform you that your request has been approved. This is Declan's school assignment for the entire 2012-2013 school year." I am so relieved! I guess the letter I got yesterday saying it was declined is the standard letter everyone gets. It was dated the 28, todays is dated 5/30. Now I need to contact AMS and schedule a time for registration and course selection. And I will take his name off the wait list so another parent can get good news too.

School News, maybe

Last night the father of a boy in Declan's class who has the same screwed up school situation as us, called and asked if I had checked the assignment web site lately. I told him no and he said I just might want to because theirs now says Apex Middle. So I checked and sure enough, Declan's assignment now says Apex Middle. But there is a sentence that says, "all of the schools that you ranked were above capacity. You were placed at a school within your proximity and are on the wait list for your first choice. Please call the assignment office for more information." Apex Middle is my first choice and he was #10 on the wait list. I called and left a message for my assignment office lady asking if he is indeed now assigned to Apex. I have not heard back yet. This would be such good news! I am believing he now gets to go to Apex Middle. I also received my letter from the student assignment office telling me that my request for transfer has been denied and I can appeal if I would like. I am not very surprised by this. I am hoping it is a moot point. This news will make this one good week! Now if I can just find a place to live for the next few months...

Hurray!

Our house is under contract! After a week of frustrating counter offers, the buyer came up to a price we are mostly comfortable with. I am so excited. Glad to have this huge weight off my shoulders. Glad to not have to show my house any more. Glad to be able to move forward. Glad to have the new house even more of a reality than before! They have until June 18 to do inspection, appraisal, finalize funding etc. Then the settlement date is June 29. One month. That is what I have to pack up my house and find somewhere for my family to live until the new house is completed. I better get to work! I hope this all goes through without any problems. I do not need any surprises at the inspection. I do not need to find out they can not get financing. I am remaining faithful. I went to the builder this morning and for the first time that drive felt more real than all the months of dreaming. We need to do all the design center choosing and then sit with the builder man and go over the plans in detail before they start building. They have the permit in hand. Hopefully, we can get over there this week. The sooner the better! We are very excited. I hope the new people will be good neighbors to my friends. I hope they will be happy in my house.

House Dreams

Anyone who knows me knows that we have had our house for sale for a couple of months. We had a 60 day contingency plan with the builder of the new house that was to expire on June 1. Last week I was mentally preparing myself for the disappointment of loosing my lot in the neighborhood and having to make up a plan B. Then we got an email from the builder telling us to come pick out exterior paint, window and shingle colors. They are starting to build. The builder wants to finish the neighborhood so they are building all the houses that were waiting. We now have until the new house is completed to sell our current house and they plan to break ground on the new house next week! We are so excited. Now we know we will get our house and it may mean fewer months in a rental. There are about a billion, give or take, color options. But, we can't be too similar to the houses right next to us or directly across the street. That means no blue for us which is ok with me. We both really like a nice deep, dark red but worry about fading. I have marked no less than 20 colors so far. The new house should be completed in November, maybe in time for Thanksgiving, anyone want to come to our house for the holidays? This is the link to the new house video tour if you want to look! I love the master bedroom colors and decor. I plan to copy it. http://www.vrguild.net/c/star.pl?U=1108161620023979

Each Peach Pear Plum

I have been reading a book from my childhood to Waverly lately. I actually have had it memorized for years!  It is an I spy book so you look for a person on each page... It goes like this: Each peach pear plum, I spy Tom Thumb. Tom Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard. Mother Hubbard down the cellar, I spy Cinderella. Cinderlla on the stairs, I spy the three bears. Three bears out hunting, I spy Baby Bunting. Baby  Bunting fast asleep, I spy Bo Peep. Bo Peep up the hill, I spy Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill in the ditch, I spy the Wicked Witch. Wicked Witch over the wood, I spy Robin Hood. Robin Hood in his den, I spy the Bears again. Three Bears still hunting, they spy Baby Bunting. Baby Bunting safe and dry, I  spy plum pie. Plum pie in the sun, I spy EVERYONE! It is one of her new favorites. Now she calls me Mother Hubbard. 

Twirling in her Easter dress.
 

Total Failure and Heart Break

Cannon very excitedly lost a tooth yesterday afternoon. He ran from the bus to the car to show me his dangling tooth. He was worried about having to eat fried chicken for dinner with that yucky thing. I told him I was sure it would be out before dinner. Not a second later did he proudly announce that it was out! So exciting! For the record- I HATE loose and lost teeth. It totally grosses me out.

He went right to his room and found his tooth saver box and put it under his pillow. He told everyone about that tooth, even brought it back out to show dad.

You can see where this is going...

I had a friend from Colorado visiting for dinner, we had soccer and wrestling and adventures. We finally got everyone to bed. I remembered the tooth when we were heading to bed, however, Cannon was still awake when I went to bed. I thought I would have to get up with Waverly a couple of times during the night and the Tooth Fairy would make the exchange at that point. I thought wrong.

Matt went to wake the boys up this morning and found Cannon sitting up in his bed staring with sad big brown eyes at the tooth saver box complete with tooth and no money. OOPS!

He slowly came down for breakfast, slowly ate his food, slowly got ready for school. His heart was broken.

I felt so bad. I do hate to disappoint the boy like that. The Tooth Fairy arrived while he was at school and I was at the dance recital. She even left double the money to make up for being late. I hope he will forgive her.

On a side note, I do not think I will be sad when all the kids discover the true identity of the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and even Santa Claus. I have been doing this for a lot of years. The novelty has kind of warn off. Poor Waverly.