Family prayer blessings

At church today we had a lesson about prayer during our women's meeting.  The teacher was very sweet and mentioned our family as she taught about family prayer, saying that she could tell we made that a priority, that our teenagers were really good kids.  I "kept it real" and laughed about kicking both Rhiannon and Wade out of the house one afternoon this week because they were being annoying and crabby to each other, but I appreciated the teacher's comment so much.

We're not perfect, but I'm grateful for those habits that we've attached importance to, such as family prayer morning and night.  Just this morning Wade offered the prayer and asked Heavenly Father to "please bless Rhiannon not to freak out about playing the organ today."  It was a short, sweet prayer that meant a LOT to Rhiannon (who ended up doing a FANTASTIC job playing all four hymns during sacrament meeting.)

#prayersanswered

Jason was on the East Coast this week for work.  On Thursday night we were Face-timing on the phone, and Jason talked about his near-death experience that day, traveling between Maryland and D.C. and having to swerve into the shoulder to miss a head-on collision by about five feet, going 60 miles per hour.

The first thought that came into my head was the fact that we'd mentioned Jason in every. single. one. of. our. prayers. that day, asking God to watch over him while he was away and help him to know that we loved him and were thinking of him.  Morning prayer, lunch prayer, dinner prayer, etc.

Rhiannon smiled and said, "Hashtag prayers answered!"

We were very thankful that Jason was okay and safe, and grateful to know that Heavenly Father was mindful of our family!

A request

I felt like crying after leaving Wade's class this morning.  Crying in a good way.

Most Fridays I come into his class for 30 minutes and help with reading groups.  Today I helped with Accelerated Math and had a good time.  One of the boys in my group said, "I want to be in your group next time!" Haha, I think he was just excited because I got to check their answers to make sure they were right BEFORE they submitted them on their Chromebooks.  Easy grade of 100. :)

Just as I was leaving, Wade's teacher, Mrs. Kyte, pulled me aside for a minute outside and asked me if I would do something for her.  There's a student in her class who is in foster care and has had a really good experience with the foster family he's been living with.  He will be going back to family members in a couple weeks, and Mrs. Kyte was very worried about him.  She asked me if I'd please add him to our church's prayer roll (in the temple).  I gave her a big hug and told her I'd be happy to do that!

I've put family and friends' names on the prayer rolls of our LDS temples in the past, especially for serious challenges and struggles, etc.  But that request from Mrs. Kyte just opened my heart wide and reminded me of the very real power found in prayer, faith, and temple service.

I went home and did what she asked as soon as I could find a number to the temple.  I'm grateful for this sweet teacher's faith and the reminder that God knows us and does hear our prayers!

A rickety ladder sure puts things in perspective

This morning Jason climbed a really tall ladder to tear down some unused, unsightly wires that have been hanging from the eaves of our second story forever.  I am so glad the wires are down--it was a small thing, but it had been bugging me for a while!  Our neighbor John across the street loaned the ladder and Jason made quick work of the project today.

I was terrified, watching him climb up and down while I spotted him at the ground.  I wonder what was going through his head!  On the last climb, I kept my mouth shut and said a silent prayer to God that He would help me keep the ladder steady and help Jason stay on the ladder.  I was trying not to think about him falling, and instead tried to imagine God holding the ladder with me.  At the very least, it helped me to focus on what I was doing and try not to bother Jason as he finished up the project.  I'm grateful for that answered prayer and for my super-hero hubby!!!!

On to the week's update:

Rhiannon enjoyed Rally Week at her high school--each day had a different dress-up theme and then on Friday there was a huge pep rally, recognizing all the different fall sports teams.  She said it was loud and fun!  Friday night she went to the football game with friends and had a good time with them.  Yesterday she and Wade ran a marathon of errands with me.  As we were leaving the Stater Bros. grocery store, this store employee--a really cute, sharp-looking boy--was putting away carts and gave Rhiannon the biggest smile.  She smiled right back.  It was sort of an out-of-body experience for me as a mom, watching that happen, knowing that she would be walking on Cloud 9 after that.  We laughed and laughed and laughed!  Still makes me smile thinking about that, and brings back some funny teenage memories of my own!  It was a long, tiring week for Rhiannon that ended on some high notes.

Last night she joined me at our neighbor Kristin's home to watch the Church's General Women's broadcast and eat yummy food.  Kristin had invited several moms and their daughters over--it was a lot of fun and the food was delicious!  Everything from pumpkin bisque to homemade bread to salted caramel dessert bars.  TASTY!

Wade finished up his Athlete badge at Webelos on Thursday night which was a big deal because we hadn't done too well preparing him for that. Somehow he pulled it off--hurray!  On Friday he started in on his vice-president job and helped out at his school's Super Stars assemblies.  His teacher chose him as one of her two Students of the Month, AND he got the top Accelerated Math spot for the grading period with 75 objectives covered (this was pretty amazing--the next highest in his grade was half that amount!).  Yesterday he went to two birthday parties, to his teacher's son's bounce-house birthday party, and then to a movie with his buddy Nick in the evening.  What a life this boy leads--it's fun to see him in his element.  The big thing for him this coming week is his Arrow of Light ceremony on Thursday!

I subbed two days this week, for first graders on Thursday and Wade's fifth-grade class on Friday.  The days went by quickly and the kids were good.  The first graders were very loveable, asking for hugs and telling me they loved me, haha!  Most of the fifth graders knew me already and looked forward to the game we play at the end of a good day--they also enjoyed comparing their height to mine, knowing that many will be taller than me by the end of the year. :)

We had more construction workers here yesterday working on some concrete and brick work in the backyard, and we'll be getting the three outside gates replaced.  I am so happy about this!  The next project will be figuring out what in the world to do with our front yard landscaping now that we've turned the water system off.

The other very important thing to report is that we've had some cooler weather this weekend and it is GORGEOUS outside!  We haven't seen the end of temps in the 90's, but this break from the heat has been very, very welcome!

September has gone by so quickly!

A special video...and we're in it! :)

Our friend and neighbor Kristin, and her sister Heather, put together this video for the Primary kids in our ward, using pictures of families in the ward.  The first day Kristin put it online, I probably watched it 10 times in a row.  Such a powerful message about prayer!

A mystery post

So, I was cleaning up my blog posts and found this "draft" that I hadn't published.  I thought it was interesting because I don't remember what day this was, I don't remember which family I was praying for, or any of that!  Just another reminder that journaling/blogging/record keeping, with details, is important for me to do because my memory is BAD!!!!!!! :)

Enjoy!

"...This morning I woke up to Oscar making noise at 5:45am.  He was being quiet about it--it was more an "I love you, please come down and let me out" instead of a spoiled puppy noise.

I tried going back to sleep after he was fed and watered, but it wasn't happening, so I came downstairs again around 6:30 and messed around on the computer.

At 8:00am I put on my new kicks that look something like this



and took Oscar for a walk--I told the kids, who were still trying to wake up, that we'd have some breakfast when I got back.  Jason was up already, trying to take it easy and deal with his cold.

(The kids HAVE been doing more walks with Oscar--I just wanted to today!)

The walk was nice.  About halfway into it I had this interesting experience--everything was crisp, the weather was perfect, my shoes felt good, and I just felt SO grateful.  At that moment, I passed by a ward members' home--they're a good family dealing with some major health problems right now.  My heart went out to them and I started praying for them, and for so many others who needed help.  I know it sounds weird, doing that while I'm out walking the dog, and my eyes weren't closed or anything--it just seemed like the thing to do.





After the walk, the whole family sat down to a really awesome breakfast of cold cereal and apple juice--we're big cereal eaters here!  Jason reminded me to look into obedience training for Oscar--he would definitely benefit from it.

Around 10:00am Rhiannon, Wade, Oscar, and I crowded into the upstairs bathroom to give Oscar a bath.  The kids are pretty good helpers, and it's funny trying to get the job done as quickly as we can.   I won't lie--it is a good WoRkOuT!  I'm going to check into getting him groomed this week, too, hopefully before his little "surgery" on Thursday."