Temple Work in the Light of a Tragedy

So J and I have accepted a calling to be Temple Workers.  We are very excited and are happy that we will be able to do service for others.

In our ward, the Bishop and his wife had a baby that lived only 7 days.  But those were 7 glorious days because she was supposed live only minutes.  Though we can do nothing for them, other than pray and just love them.

We hope that putting their name in for prayers, in the Temple, as well as the service we are doing for others will let them know that we are doing it for them.

We are one eternal family.  And we are so blessed.  I just wish, as I'm sure we all do, that there was more we could do.

J will go to the temple 4-5 times a month and I will go 2-3 times.  Since he works only a few minutes from the Temple he gets more opportunity.  I find that after only one day being away from the Temple, I think of little else except going back.  Life, of course, distracts for a time, but my thoughts are always drawn back to the beauty and comfort of the Temple.

I want to share these feelings with my non-LDS friends, the Ducharme's and the Fisk's especially, because I know that they would benefit more than the average Joe from the comfort given in the Temple.  So here is your fair warning, we are going to continue being your friends and we will share the gospel, our love and testimonies with you at every opportunity.  But we do it only because we love you.

Our Pets are our LIVES!

I never really wanted to be one of "those" people who lets their pets rule their lives.  But I have noticed lately that my pets seem to control a large part of my life.  The dog needs to be taken outdoors 3x a day to use the facilities, as well as feeding and basic training.  You can never repeat training too much.  But, the kids have over-fed her with treats for tricks.  Then we have vet appointments and baths that needs to be done regularly, every 10-14 days.  And on top of that grooming appointments.  Here is a picture of Lady after her lastest grooming.  She seems to have enjoyed it a lot more than the first time!  Plus, it's a new shop so we got a first time discount!

OK, so you think dogs are high maintenance, add a cat to that mix!  Jynx, our cat, can be pretty demanding as well.  We have to pet her when she wants, we must watch out toes when climbing in and out of bed because she loves to attack them while they are moving around under the covers.  Then she is a voracious eater.  I give her 1/4 in the morning and 1/4 cup at night.  And the devours every bite, then promptly pukes it up anywhere she happens to be.  Some days she can keep it down other days, she can't.  She won't go outside because of the cold, and is usually found on my bed or on the kids dresser hiding from the dog.  Occasionally, she will hide out on Taylor's bed.  The pictures are of her in a paper bag that we gave her to play with, though she just fell asleep in it.

  So between cleaning up cat mess, litter, shedding hair and puke, and the dogs walks, training and accidents, we are a busy family.  Change that, I'm busy!  I take care of 90% of the cats needs (excepting petting, she prefers J to me) and 95% of all dog care.  Now I know why my mom didn't want us kids to have pets!

It's about time...

It's about time I posted something here!  I don't know if I have pictures, or anything to say really.  We have been go go go lately.  I'm homeschooling two kids and that keeps my very busy.  Taylor does her work without the need of assistance, but Bailey isn't old enough to be self taught.  I'm also looking at the fact that next year I will probably need to buy some more books for math mostly.  Math books aren't really something you can pick up at the library.  And they are the most expensive of text books.  And then I need to also find out how to get tests for standardized testing.  Our town requires the test scores.  I was given info on a company, but I couldn't find the testing info on the website!  I don't know what to do!

Ben has decided to go on a mission!  Yeah!  He also is going to try to do something called Sports Quest.  He will go to Belgium, play soccer and share the gospel.  He is hoping to do that this summer, but he needs to raise about $2500 to cover all the expenses.  I hope he can go, I think this will be a once in a life time experience for him that he could really use.

I'd also like to increase my production of artwork.  Whether is it personal photography, pictures of my kids, or photography good enough to sell or enter into contests.  And finally, I want to start going to school.  I want to get a degree in Child Psychology.  I want to help kids who, by no choice of their own, have been put into situations that they can't deal with, so their parents will bring them to me.  And I can study them, learn about them and help them.  Too many kids are in households where there has been a divorce and the rotating boyfriend thing that too many mothers do it just so damaging.  I hope to be able to give these kids a safe harbor, where they can learn how to deal with their parents issues.

The snowman the kids made after a recent snow storm.  It is getting late so the image is a little dark and I didn't have my flash. And I had gloves on so I couldn't adjust my settings.   The parrot I took a few years back.  It was a pet that someone brought out to show off at Halloween.  It was such a beautiful bird and the sun was setting so the lighting was gorgeous.  The flower was me just messing around for the fun of it.  I was trying to be creative.  It usually turns out like this.  A mess and no one knows quite sure what the statement is supposed to be, and neither do I!

Dogs getting to know each other

Griffy is the Chocolate Lab and Lady a Cocker Spaniel.  It's hard to see the size difference, but Lady is so short that she can walk underneath Griffy.

Melany was trying to teach Lady to lay down, using griffy as an example.  Lady didn't get it.

Here is a good picture that shows the size difference.

Lady protecting the money!

It wasn't very sunny, so the picture is darker than you'd expect, but Lady being black stands out nicely.

Here Lady is racing through the house with the girls.  I tried to get Griffy adn Lady together chasing the girls, but the view from behind wasn't pleasant.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas!  It started on Christmas Eve morning.  We opened gifts from Patty who is wonderful woman that Jason works with.  She was so generous and sweet!    We really appreciated the gifts! 

Then we went to Jason's cousin's house for Christmas Eve dinner and family get together.  Ben came along and it was nice to be with the family.  There was also the annual visit from Santa, and I got a picture of each of the kids on Santa's lap.

It's a tradition to sing a song while on santa's lap, you can't get a gift without you song.  All the kids chose songs that were typical, Frosty the snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Jingle Bell Rock.  Excpet Madison, who wanted to sing, (to the tune of Jingle Bells) Dashing thru the snow with a pair of broken ski's,

o'er the hills we go smahing into trees,

the snow is turning red, I think I'm almost dead,

I woke up in the hospital with stitches in my head!

No one appreciated it, but J and I thought it was fun!

The Christmas Tree all lit up! It's so beautiful!  TJ and Coe go all out making the Holiday special for everyone!  They decorated the entire house and tree, just to have to take it down in two days!  They are leaving for Florida three days after Christmas, so they have 2 days to get it all cleared up and put away!

There were many smaller gifts this year.  So this picture is a little deceiving.  And some gifts were too large to be put on the floor infront of the tree. 

Here is some of the after math!  Paper packaging and toys everywhere!  And that's after throwing away one entire garbage bag of paper!  And not a small 14 gallon kitchen bag, an outdoor 50 gallon bag!

Taylor and Melany were playing with Bailey's Barbie dolls.  Taylor is 13 1/2 and Melany is 15!  As soon as they saw me Taylor covered her head and Melany threw the doll aside!  I promised them I'd post this image for them. 

Trimming the Tree, and the Dog?

 We went to Meme and Pepe's for Christmas tree trimming and while doing that we ended up trimming the dog as well!  Taylor hates her picture taken, but if I get the dog and a tiny bit of her she doens't mind so much!    Meme and Pepe have two trees, the small one which is fiberoptic, and in the image below.  And the real tree which I didn't get a picture of, because we kinda forgot the tinsel!  So we had to take everything down and start all over again!  That's okay, we had a great time anyway!

Lady with her Bling!











And this last image is a picture of what Ben is always doing to the kids!  He plays with them and usually not too rough.  Today Jordan ended up in a laundry basket.  You can tell by the smile on her face that she isn't bothered by her situation.

We Got A New Puppy

So this is a bit of a story, I'll try to make it short.

My friend was pressured into buying a dog she wan't so sure that she could afford.  But she did it anyway.  And now it's been 10 months and she just can't afford it anymore.  She asked me if I knew someone who'd be willing to watch her for a while until she gets a new apartment.  The apartment she is moving into doesn't allow pets.  So after a long time, a few months, of considering and trying to find someone else to take the dog, we finally decided to take her.  Neither J nor I really wanted her at first.  But I prayed about it and I got the answer that it would be best if we did.  I wasn't as objectionable to getting her as compared to J who didn't want her.  And when he prayed about it his said to Heavenly Father, "I don't want the dog, but if we should taker her let me know."  Well, we know his answer. 

So the dogs name was Lovey.  Because she has a wonky heart shape on her chin.  But according to everything I've read you should change the name when you get a new dog.  So we did, but we kept it close for my friends kids sake.  Her new name is Lady.  Like Lady and the Tramp.  As you can see from the picture she is a cocker spaniel.  She is a sweet little thing and she is very smart.  She sits and stays, fetches and comes on command.  The only issue we have is potty training, but that is because she didn't form good habits with her previous owners.  She was sometimes allowed to potty in the house.  Puppy pads should be out lawed!  LOL 

This is lady the day she got back from the groomer.  She was matted pretty bad, it took the groomer 3 hours to get all the mats off her.  Mostly it was her ears.  They went from these HUGE, HEAVY ears to the typical floppy ears of a cocker.A few days later you can see her face better in this image.

So Cute!