* Our skies have been so super smokey (from fires in nearby states) and our air quality has been horrible! Seriously, like we haven't even been able to see the mountains or blue sky for quite some time! Thankfully, just the other day, we had some rain and wind come through and helped move that yucky smoke along and brought back the beautiful landscape features back into view!
* Ben has had his first 2 Football games - both have been "away" games and sadly, they have lost both
* Mom has been super busy with her new calling - lots (and lots!) of meetings so far! Still having fun with it and trying to wrap my head around everything that needs to be accomplished
* Opening Game for BSU!!! It was an Away game (and since we don't have cable) we went over to Bill's and watched it with his family, Brent's family and another family from Bill's ward. We all brought some food to contribute and had a "Grilled Cheese Bar". Going into the game, everyone thought it'd be a tough fight to win but... we ended the game with a crushing 56-20 score! All of the kids had a fun time playing outside together and that will be our "go to" place to watch the Away games this season. The only (and it's a big "only") bummer from the evening is that we didn't get a single picture - our whole family was sporting the blue and orange and looking cute and would have looked great in a photo! Plus, mom really wanted to get dad, Brent and Bill all in a pic together again as well! Booooo!
* Lots of illness the past 2 weeks... like probably 80% of the days had at least 1 person down with a fever and sore throat. All 4 kids have gotten it but thankfully (so far!) mom and dad have stayed healthy!
* Mom celebrated her 43rd Birthday! Dad was pretty sneaky this year and planned a surprise party at the Cheesecake Factory for friends to come to! 6 couples and solo friend showed up to help celebrate - and it was so much fun chatting the night away! We decided to use all birthday money to rent a boat and go boating on Labor Day (tomorrow!) with Stephanie and her family... can't wait!
In Our Homeschool...
It's been a bit tough with so many of the kids cycling through the sickness and being in bed for multiple days! But here are some things we've been able to accomplish! (I realized that Ben is not in a single picture... he does several of his classes online but I need to be better and taking a picture of him working as well!)
Seth Spotlight...
* Had Divisions with Morrison again (which he really enjoys!)
* There was a Baptism (by Morrison)
* Attended a Wedding (along with all of the other Missionaries serving in the Spanish Ward)
I asked Seth for some random statistics from throughout his Mission and here's what he sent:
* 22 Companions from 8 different Countries (6 Hondurans, 5 Guatemalans, 4 Americans, 2 El Salvadorians, 2 Dominican Republicans, 1 Brazilian, 1 Bolivian and 1 from Peru)
* 18 Transfers, 11 Areas, 8 Zones and 13 different apartments
* 34 Baptisms and 4 Weddings
* Bedridden sick 4 times
* 4 dog nips and 1 dog bite (still has the scar from over a year ago!)
* 4 Apostles heard in person
* 1000+ Bean and Rice Meals eaten
* 40 Loads of Laundry washed by hand
* Sewn up his pants 15 times
* Could understand Spanish at 4 months, Comfortable with the language at 9 months and Fluent in it around 14 months
I designed up a little collage (well, it's actually a 16x20 so maybe not "too little") with some of our favorite pics he's sent home over the past 2 years and included some of these fun stats as well as his Mission Scripture and where he's served in both Nicaragua and California. We all love walking by it each day as it is hung in a very prominent place :)
Spiritually Speaking...
From Ben:
We had the Missionaries over for dinner the other week and they gave me a challenge to pray to know who I could share/give a Book of Mormon to. I immediately knew who to give it to - a guy on my football team named Isaie (E-sigh). I was really scared to give it to him though but I went through with it and asked if he'd like one. He simply replied that "Yes, I'd like to read it." So I wrote my testimony (from the heart) and gave him a Book of Mormon. The next time I saw him, he said that he'd been reading it a lot (and that it reminded him of Fablehaven and he's diggin it!). Then just a few days ago at our football game, I saw that he was wearing a CTR ring and I asked where he got it and he said he went to church and got one! I know that if you follow the promptings of the Spirit things will always work out!
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I (mom) was asked to give the Spiritual Thought at one of the (many) meetings I've attended in the last 2 weeks and thought I'd share it here as it's one that is great to be reminded from time to time. I took it Proverbs 3:5-6 which read:
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
In those verses we are given 2 Admonitions (To Trust in the Lord and to Acknowledge him), 1 Warning (Not to lean unto our own understanding) and 1 Promise (If we do these things, he shall direct our Paths <-- all of them, not just one).
I then went on to share the visual that Sister Bonnie Cardon gave in General Conference a couple of years ago from her Talk titled "Trust in the Lord" - based on these same scripture verses. She says that when we physically lean (one way or the other) we become off centered and out of balance and that the same is true when we spiritually lean (unto our own understanding), we become not centered on Christ. She finishes up her talk by stating HOW we can stay centered on Christ, and those are: (1) Feast upon the words of Christ (2) Pray (3) Serve others. As we do these things and really come to know our Savior, we will be better able to Trust in Him.
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I've also joined a 30 day challenge of "Heaven Journaling" - which is when you take a specific question to the Lord each day in prayer and then flip open your scriptures randomly and read until you receive an answer OR if you felt inspired to read in a particular book/section to go there and read until you get an answer. Then you write down all of the thoughts and impressions and then close your session with another prayer. I have done this off and on over the past couple of years but I hadn't done it in a while and so when this 30 day challenge popped up, I decided I'd like to do it! I have LOVED getting such direct personal revelation daily! My questions have ranged from broad (like: What do you want me to learn today?) to more specific (like: Should we join the Saints and Scholars Homeschool Co-op? or How can I be the kind of mother August needs? and "What can I do to always be prepared for my new calling as the 2nd Counselor in the Stake YW Presidency?"). One morning I asked "What should I teach in Enrichment today?" and before I even finished my prayer, THE PRIESTHOOD came very directly into my mind. With Nathan receiving the Priesthood in a couple of weeks, I felt that we should be focusing on that even moreso until then. So I spent that morning studying all about the Priesthood and shared my thoughts with the kids during Enrichment. I LOVE that the Heavens are still opened to us today! I have a very strong testimony of personal revelation and that Heavenly Father is there to guide us and direct us in our paths and he wants us to inquire of him with our questions - large or small, broad or specific and HE WILL answer us! The saying goes "If you want to talk to God, then Pray. If you want God to talk to you, then read the scriptures!"
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