A Graduate and Four Eyes

Congratulations to Anna - Class of 2006 Old Blues Preschool. Today was her graduation ceremony and performance. She is quite a good tap dancer!
Here is Anna inspecting her diploma.
The other big news of the week is that Adam has glasses! We've known for quite a while that he was needing them. I think it's from all those nights sneaking books into his room and reading in the dark! We think he looks rather handsome! Since Tammy and I have neither one ever had glasses, this is a whole new experience for our family.
Here's a shot of Ben just a few hours ago. He's really growing up - starting to talk quite a bit and getting into everything! He's developed a healthy temper and must have things his way.
Finally, here's beautiful Lizzy. This was taken today at Anna's graduation. She's not feeling well today with a fever but otherwise is as sweet as ever!

Released??

We have some good news and some good news to report today. After five (sometimes long) years serving as a counselor in our ward bishopric, I was released today.

The other good news is that I've been called to serve as the new bishop in our ward. It's been an interesting, sometimes difficult and sometimes wonderful week. I can't honestly say this wasn't expected; we've been thinking it was a possibility for quite a long time. We've known for several weeks that we would be released today and as the time drew nearer, we were beginning to feel more and more relieved thinking it wouldn't be us. A week ago last Thursday evening Tammy and I were talking before bed. Tammy said, "Well, at this point I'm pretty sure you won't be called as bishop."

Friday I arrived home from work at the normal time. As I was walking up to the door a thought entered my mind, "Tammy is going to say we need to meet with the stake president." I opened the door and she looked at me somewhat pale and said, "Let me know when you're ready to talk." She didn't have to tell me what it was about. I can honestly say that I was not a happy camper that night. Angry and depressed would more accurately describe how I felt. Tammy was good and encouraging and all, but I was lost. I couldn't believe "they" would do that to me.

So Saturday came and we went to our scheduled appointment with the stake president. I think I may have scared him - I was still pretty concerned. Toward the end of the time with him, I asked him to give me a blessing which he did. From that point on, something inside me changed - I no longer felt the bitter and angry feelings. The next morning I woke up and went to church. I stood in the foyer greeting members of the ward as they arrived and as I did that I was filled with a feeling unlike any I have ever experienced. I felt so much peace and so much reassurance and so much love toward these people. I knew then that this calling isn't something "they" were doing to me; that truly I was called to this service by the Lord. The rest of the week was wonderful - I felt completely at peace and completely sure that this was the right thing.

Today the ward showed so much support and sustaining and love that I was reminded that I'm not in this alone. There are a whole lot of people ready and willing and able to help. I know that there will be many very difficult and very trying times ahead, but I know that the blessings associated with the sacrifice we are making will be well worth the challenges. I'm very grateful for the experiences of this week.

Through it all Tammy has been wonderful. Especially during those first couple of days when I was not feeling good, she was so supportive and encouraging. I know I wouldn't be able to do it without her by my side. Last night, we sat down with the kids to let them know what was happening. Immediately, Adam burst out in sobs saying, "Papa, I don't want you to be in the bishopric anymore." Adam's crying triggered Ben and Lizzy to start bawling (I'm not sure they really understood why). Anna sat quietly off to the side with a peaceful look on her face. I asked her what she was thinking and she simply said, "I think this is a good thing." I do too (and I think Adam will as well).

DaVinci Cryptex

If any of you use Google much, you may have seen that they have been sponsoring the "DaVinci Code Quest" in anticipation of the upcoming movie. It is just a game with a series of puzzles to solve. So, since Tammy and I like puzzles, we decided to tackle these - they were fun to do in the evenings before going to bed. There were 24 daily puzzles (one released each day) that became increasingly more difficult as you went along (although they never got all that difficult). Anyway, the first 10,000 people to finish the 24 puzzles won their very own replica of the DaVinci Code cryptex. Those 10,000 people are also finalists and can compete for the grand prize (several trips to different places around the world and a bunch of other stuff). Tammy and I are proud to announce we did it! Now you can say you know one of the DaVinci Code Quest finalists! Our cryptex arrived in the mail today - we had to figure out how to unlock it to find out how to compete in the final (it wasn't too tough). The final challenge is this weekend - fastest to finish five puzzles wins. Wish us luck - 1 in 10,000 is better odds than most games you see! 

Mother's day

I just wanted to write and let everyone know what a great family I have. I have had a super Mother's Day. Really it has been over the last couple of days. The kids got pretty anxious and couldn't wait to give me the things they had made for me, so this past week I received several gifts. Adam made some bath bead stuff and a worry rock for me to rub. He also made some nice cards. I was surprised about how much he seems to like me!! It is just nice to have those feelings written down. Maybe I can recall them the next time he is giving me a hard time (which really isn't that often, anyway). Anna painted a beautiful watercolor painting for me and it is all matted and ready to frame. She also gave me a card with her picture. Lizzy and Ben both made cards in nursery today for me that were very sweet. They all worked together to clean the basement (which is no easy feat!) and they put on a little play for me of their own creation. Greg said they had been practicing for weeks. He also said that cleaning the basement was their own idea, too. They also let me have a nice nap this afternoon and brought me lunch in bed. I am so thankful for my good little children. We have such a great family!

Greg was also great today. The bishop cancelled meetings before church so he was here in the morning to help me get the kids ready for church. We even made it to church by 8:30 so he could unlock the building and things (Adam had the thrill of his life as he handed out the programs for sacrament meeting today). He was so helpful to the kids, but let them do the things that they wanted to do for me today, not what he thought they should do for me. He offered to cook me a gourmet meal for dinner. I declined, and asked him to make me rice krispie treats instead:). He did. They were yummy! He also game me a new board game, the Marklin edition of Ticket to Ride. I hope we will be able to try it out tonight. He also recorded the play the kids presented to me and then set things up so we could watch some old family videos starting when Adam was little. It was a great day. A peaceful, restful, loving day. I love being a mother and I love my wonderful family who take such good care of me.

Life is fragile

I traveled up to the University of Iowa hospital this afternoon because a friend of mine is hospitalized there. She is just 2 or 3 years older than me. She is a single mom, who also does a lot in caring for her mother. Her son is 8 years old. She works the 3rd shift and often struggles to make ends meet. She was out mowing her lawn and felt really funny. She went in the house and fell down. Her mom called an ambulance and she was rushed to the hospital and then life flighted to the University hospital. She had a stroke. She is alive, but it remains to be seen what her condition is. I wasn't even allowed to see her, but I visited with her family that were waiting there at the hospital, along with another friend of mine.

This has really shaken me up a bit. She is not that much older than me. She is overweight like I am. She has a lot of responsibilities; so do I. I just can't believe it is all happening. Her son and her mother will really struggle if she doesn't make it. They may really struggle if she does, if she needs a lot of care, and isn't able to work anymore. It seems so unreal. And of course there are thoughts of, "that could be me".

I don't want that to be me. I am still too young. I need to be healthy. I need to do what I can to prevent this from happening. I need to be there for my family.

I feel grateful to know that this life is not the end; this is just a small part of our existance. I am glad that my family knows that too.

My life is so good. I walked into that waiting room and there were so many families there. Waiting, hoping, praying for someone they loved. My family is home, safe and healthy. There are so many people that are facing big problems. My family only has little ones.

I am glad to be alive. I am glad for my health. Even though life is fragile, it still goes on.

Butterflies

On Friday, the kids and I (minus Adam) went to the Family Museum for their annual spring event. Every spring they have a screened in cage thing were they first grow caterpillars, then then the caterpillars make cocoons and finally break out as butterflies. In this case they are Painted Lady butterflies. Since Anna has preschool at the museum we watched the whole process, checking up on them every couple of days. After all the butterflies have broken out of their cocoons, they have a big release event where they release the butterflies into the wild. I thought it would be a great thing to see, so we made sure we were there.

Things did not turn out how I imagined them, however. I thought they would open the cage and all the butterflies would just come flying out going out into the sky, but that was not so. They were not so sure they wanted to come out. They were each coaxed onto a stick and then handed out to a waiting child. There was one class of older grade school children that were there that made it quite difficult for any of the rest of us to see, or get close enough to get a stick with a butterfly on it, not to mention the annoying media people who thought they needed to me up front. After picking up both Liz and Ben for several minutes (no easy task these days), we made it up to the front where we acquired a stick with a butterfly on it. Anna was with her preschool class, but I took Liz and Ben away from the crowd so we could get a better look. Lizzy held the butterfly for a little bit, but didn't like it when it started crawling on her, so held it most of the time. Ben mostly just ran around. He just wanted to play. I brought the butterfly over to Anna and her class as they too were having a hard time getting to the front. Anna would not hold it though. I got too close to the flowers and it finally flew away.

It was a fun and interesting thing to watch the changes over the weeks, and then be able to hold one of the butterflies. Hope you enjoy the few pictures I was able to take.