So Incredibly Far behind... where do I start?

I've had so many moments that I've thought "I need to blog about that."  But I've been so busy...  'course I had time to write my complainy post :-)  I'll start with my "missionary moments" post.  I have had the pleasure of speaking with others about my church lately, and this makes me SO happy.  A few years ago I got very involved in "fly lady" a home cleaning/organization program.  It brought so much peace and organization to my life that I wanted to share it with everyone I knew.  I found myself telling everyone and their dog about fly lady.  One day it donned on me that I share fly lady with others because of the peace that it brings, and I wanted others to share in that, so why was I so afraid to share with others the main thing that brings peace into my life which is my beliefs.  I decided then and there to open my mouth and share what I have, some people listen out of consideration, and others are genuinely interested.  This past couple of weeks I've had the pleasure of sharing a few words with a few people.  Tori was invited to a birthday party that was scheduled to take place on a Sunday, I emailed the mom and explained that we were sad to miss the party, but we don't allow our children to go to birthday parties on Sundays as this is our day of worship and family time.  She emailed me back a note of understanding, and told me that she too was a religious person.   Come to find out that she is a member of "Church of Christ", this organization also believes in the Book Of Mormon, they are a branch off of the original church that was established by Joseph Smith.  We have had some interesting discussions which I am sure will lead to more, but what in interesting discovery, just for opening my mouth and saying why Tori couldn't make it to the party.  

After a water aerobics class a few weeks ago, a woman who has always been so friendly to me came up and started asking about out assignment and what we planned to do in our future.  I had prayed the night before for a missionary opportunity.   The spirt whispered to me that this was my chance... (we were no where near that topic) but somehow it worked into the conversation that we are Latter Day Saints.  This woman has had so many brushes with the church that I was astounded.  She had an LDS contractor years ago, who she thought was a wonderfully honest man, she thinks that Mitt Romney is wonderful and should have been president.  She has been to a temple open house, and seen a movie at the visitor center.  She wondered if there was something she could do at the temple with her grandchildren.  She has had the missionaries in her home!  WHAT?  So we chatted, we talked about the Book Of Mormon, I brought her a DVD of "The Testaments."  and a copy of the Book Of Mormon.   I know that the Lord has been preparing her all a long, small and simple things.  I don't know if my placement of the DVD and Book are the final steps in her conversion, or not, but I am so grateful to have been a stepping stone on this woman's journey.  What a blessing!

  2 Saturdays ago I felt very inspired to attend the baptism of a woman and her 3 children (2 of which are in Young Women's)  So inspired that I dressed up all 4 kids and took them even tho Brent was working.  I am so glad that we got to go.  The young women sang after the baptisms and then there were welcomes etc... and then the best part, those who had been baptized bore their testimonies.  Oh how sweet and fresh their hearts were.  The mother, so grateful for a church family who showed so much love to her children, and so grateful for the knowledge that what she was doing was the right thing.  The young girls testimonies were strong and full of faith.  It was so wonderful, there were tears in my eyes the whole time, and my heart was so full!  Then the youngest boy got up there... he is probably 9 yrs old.  He stood in front of a room full of people, like a little man.  He thanked everyone for being there for his family.  He testified that he knew he had done the right thing and then he said with tears in his eyes, (as he hit his chest)  "God is in my heart!" and then he pointed over to where the young women had stood to sing their song and he said, "And them girls,  (swallowed his tears)  they's tellin' it!  In the name of Jesus, AMEN!"  It was one of the sweetest testimonies I have ever heard.  Oh, my friends the gospel is so true.  I truly believe that we have the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  There is so much more then just the bible teaches, oh the bible is wonderful, and I believe in it with all my heart too, but there is more..... so so much more.  I am so incredibly grateful for this knowledge that I have!

My testimony has grown so much in the past few years.  I have learned about the atonement in ways that I never imagined.  I always kind of knew, and accepted it, but WOW!  What an amazing gift God has given us!  The Savior really can bare our burdens, and He wants to.  We can turn to the Lord in all things and he will bless and watch over us.  Our prayers are heard and God knows us and the desires of our hearts.  I am grateful to know that my family is sealed together, that if tragedy strikes that we are going to be together in heaven, and all is well.  Today marks 4 years since we lost Brents mom, we miss her terribly but we know that she is busy going about God's work and that she watches over us.  We feel her around sometimes, not as much now as we did years ago, but she is here and she keeps tabs on those grand babies.  We speak of her often and try to keep her memory alive for our kids.  She is missed often, and we are thankful for the knowledge of eternal life.  I wish that we could order dreams, cuz I would order one up for Brent tonight, one where he gets to talk to her and hug her.  He had a hard time in church today....it is so hard to watch tears fall down his strong face, and know that there is a place in him that will be empty until they meet again.  I pray for a tender mercy for him tonight, the dreams help sometimes. 

update on the house.... well it didn't go on the market today... but I told our realtor that I want people in here looking on Saturday.. we'll see.   That's all for now.  I have more stuff, but I am sure that I lost 1/2 the readers about 40 lines ago.  :-)