The Voice

After break-up and the roads aren't so icy, wet or backed up with puddles the boys like to ride their bikes to school. So, we long for the day we can dust off the bike helmets, grab the lock and hit the road with the wind in our face! This year break-up was quick so the boys had several days to ride their bikes to school before the year was over. Jayden is the one who consistently gets up early to leave with pleanty of time to get to school before the first bell.

One morning, Jayden was the only one up and ready to go before Riley and Britt saw the light coming through their eye lids. He got his bike from the back deck, had his jacket on and was pulling his backpack over both shoulders when I opened the door and wished him a good day! For some reason I had an uncomfortable feeling and specifically told him to "be careful" as I did everyday before he wheeled away down the road. However, this day was different and a voice quietly screamed to me "tell him again to be careful"! Now, Jayden has got to be the most careful biker I have known! He treats cars on the road as if they do not see him. Even if he has the "walk" signal, he still slows down and watches all directions to make sure someone isn't turning his direction. I've had people complement me on training him to be "bike smart" as they have watched him on the road around town. No, Jayden wasn't the one I needed to worry about when it comes to being careful! But, this day was different and I couldn't quiet the voice in my mind. So, I opened the door again and said, "Jayden, for some reason I have a feeling that I need to tell you that it is very important for you to be careful today." His response was quiet and assuring, "Yes, Mom, I will!" As he left, and for the rest of the day, I had a quiet assurance that he would be ok.

The day went normal, I did my chores and "Mom" things. I didn't give another thought to the morning until Jayden came in the front door after school. As he flung the backpack off of his back he said, "Now I know why you wanted me to be careful this morning." Then the screaming voice of the morning entered back into my mind. With my boy standing in front of me, I knew he was safe and thankful that, whatever it was, it is now a memory in the past. I was curious to know and said, "oh, what happened?" For most of my life, those little voices come and go without evidence of their purposes. I've learned that you listen and do, don't ignore! But today I learned the reason for the strength of the voice I heard earlier in the day. "Well," he said, "On my way to school I was going down Lake Otis and you know the woody part near the bottom of the hill?" Not fully realizing the effect of what I was going to hear I quietly acknowledged the area he was talking about. Then he kept on with his story, "I came upon a black bear on the side of the road." WHAT?! Did I hear that right? A BEAR? Where rushour traffic backs up at the light just yards away from that woody area? Most mom's fear "bad guys" or drivers who aren't paying attention, but a BEAR? I could hardly believe what he was telling me! Then I was thankful, so very thankful for the gift I received over 34 years ago! A gift that never leaves as long as you don't shut it out! I was thankful I didn't shut it out that morning! Thankful that I was listening to it's promptings to tell my son again that he needed to be careful and thankful that I was at peace when he left down the road on his way to school. The gift of the spirit embeded even more in my heart that day as I personally witnessed it's saving and miraculous effect in my life! This one experience has fine tuned my ability to hear it's still small voice. But, I was not the only one who's testimony was made stronger! Jayden's willingness to obey his Mother was blind, only because he was asked to follow the promptings only I received. To him it was just another day. Some of the hardest "commandments" to follow are the ones that don't really make a lot of sense or are "good for someone else". But, Jayden was willing to follow the advice of his Mother and "watched" for the purposes that he might find for my "feelings" that morning. Because of his obedience he was the first one to discover why I felt it important to impress upon him the need to be extra careful. As he rode past that bear nothing happened, but had he not been alert and attentive to his surroundings the events of the morning could have had a different outcome. One Mom and her Boy were forever changed by recognizing and heeding the promptings of a still small voice. What a blessing, what a gift!

Life's Instructions

We had yet, another talk in Primary! Britt wasn't given a topic, so we were free to write a talk on anything.

Life's Instructions

Our family loves to play games. These are some of our favorites. (display a couple games) My favorite is Phase 10. When you first learn how to play a game you have to learn the rules and how to play. Games come with instructions. Instructions make it easier to learn how to play the game. We can learn how to play the game by reading the instructions or learning from someone who already knows how to play the game. This one (hold up Cities of Catan) is a hard game to learn but once you understand the instructions it is a really fun game to play! We are happy when we play games together as a family.

When we are born on the earth our life is like a game. We even have instructions that help us learn how to live our lives. Living life isn't always easy but if we follow the instructions it can be really fun and we are happy. Our instructions come from several sources. The scriptures (set the scriptures in front of the games) are instructions we can read and if we follow them we will be happy and will have fun in life. We can also learn from modern day prophets who help us learn the rules by teaching us at conference time and in church magazines (hold up the New Era, Ensign and Friend). They receive instructions from Heavenly Father and then pass them on to us. Heavenly Father knew that we would need instructions to help us learn all about life and how we can make decisions to win the game and return to live with Him and Jesus again.

I am thankful for the scriptures and for prophets! They are the best instructions we have for living a happy life. If we follow their instructions we will have a fun and happy life!

That's why they call it "Family" Feud!

Due to the lack of sunshine.....I've had to get my seratonin and Vit. D a different way. A good laugh does just as good to raise your spirits when the winter drags on and on and on....and on....and on....(well, you get it!)

Last but not Least

We did a little shopping at the world famous Ala Moana Mall. As always, we love going into Old Navy. Can you tell the difference between the dummies and the "real" people?

If you squint really hard you can see our condo just behind Riley's left ear! Wana-be surfer dudes and dudette!
The Arizona Memorial is a sacred place. It was difficult for the kids to fathom that we were standing over a ship that sat at the bottom of the ocean.
Swimming with the fish...not quite as good as dolphins, but none-the-less still pretty cool!
Wouldn't want to run into these guys in a dark street alley! Jayden's the best interpretation of their solemn demeanor!
It's still hard to believe, when we look out our windows and see the streets covered in white, that we were 2800 miles away and 50 degree's warmer just a short two weeks ago! We had a great time and got a good dose of vitamin D to get us through the winter!

A couple more !

Here are a couple more pics from our "mini" vacation:

Any of you unmarried guys out there just a little jealous of Britt?!

Guess where Bailey was......hiding behind the photographer!
(can you blame her, just look at that guy!)

We're official, we've got the tattoo! (we passed on the nose ring)

At the Laie Temple Open House

It's a really tiny bug! We had to convince Bailey that she couldn't take him home!
(The flowers are nice, too, huh?!)

Pics of Paradise!

We had a great time in Hawaii! Here are some pics to share our experience with you!

We were lucky enough to go to the Laie temple Openhouse! It was beautiful!

We learned a lot at the Dole Pineapple plantation. The pineapple ice cream was the best!

Loading up on Vitamin D (to help get us through the Alaskan winter)

These are Kukui nuts. They are used for their oil. Each one burns for about 5-8 minutes.

The boys favorite past-time.....boogie boarding!

Fostering Love

The older I get the more I seem to have those "what am I doing" moments! Our home had a complete turn around from a 5 minute phone call on Friday afternoon. Just 4 hours later we were the appointed guardians of two beautiful babies (a boy and a girl) born on October 5th. WOW! I always dreamed of having twins but now it was becoming a reality! Not to mention, as I held them in the NICU, that was the easiest pregnancy I have ever had! For now we are their foster family and we hope to keep them for a long time. If they ever come up for adoption (only time will tell and the willingness of the mother to get her life in order) we will have the option to add them permanently to our family! We try to keep ourselves reserved to the fact that we may have to give them up someday, but for now these two babies will get a measure-full of love that will give them a good foundation for their new little lives! There is never too much love to go around in this family!