The Joy of Service

This past Saturday I packed a laundry basket full of the items I would need for the Stake Youth event in Prince George. It brought back memories of my mother doing the same thing with laundry baskets. I am in the Stake Young Women's Presidency and in that basket are all the things I needed to perform my duties that particular day. There are 280 meatballs, a bag of pencils, a 45 minute workshop on virtue, several dozen chocolate chip cookies, a picture of the Salt Lake City Temple, My church bag, several surveys and some mutual activity ideas for the Young Women Presidencies. I am so thankful to serve in our Stake, it takes a lot of work and requires sacrifice on the part of my husband and children but I hope that someday my boys will pack up a similar basket and head out the door to fulfill their responsibilities and remember a picture like this. We are blessed when we serve. I am thankful to parents who taught me well and who continue to be a good example of church service.

Spring is Coming

I had to find and post a picture I took last year from my flower garden to remind me that Spring is indeed coming. Today we set a new record low in Vanderhoof -38 degrees at my house this morning. Yet we keep praying for cold weather and thankfully Heavenly Father is answering our prayers. at -38 he must really love us this week.

The Thing about a 10 Year Old

Our ten year old is Caleb. Caleb is a marvelous boy with so many gifts. Caleb's gifts are not the sort that are as easily recognizable as some other peoples gifts but they are very important and very genuine.

Caleb has the most fun sense of humour, which he gets from his Dad. Caleb can make anyone laugh and sometimes at his own expense. He doesn't mind looking "uncool" if it gets a laugh it was worth it. We all laugh daily at Caleb. He is especially good at knowing just when to throw out a movie quote that fits the topic of discussion and can make us all laugh. He can always make a tense moment into a fun experience. Just a couple of days ago the boys and I were driving home from town and I was giving a stirring lecture on something like why we don't hang on the trees outside of the church or why we look people in the eyes when we order food or maybe it was about why we treat a brother better than we would treat anyone else, it could have been any number of things really. The boys listened for at least 10 minutes without saying a word so I asked, " Are you listening to me?" " Yes Mom." reported Caleb, "We are smellin' what you're stinkin'" Now normally I don't find those things funny but it reminded me to chill out a bit and find the humour in the response. Caleb is always a comic relief.

Our ten year old tries very hard. He has a twelve year old brother who picks up on anything with ease so Caleb tries hard to keep up. But Caleb works hard, tries hard and does very well at anything he puts his mind to. This year in basketball he was on the same team as Mckay and started off not knowing exactly what to do. By the end of the year Caleb was named the team's "Best Hustler" and had improved so dramatically that he was one of the top players, even fans from the other teams cheered on Caleb because of his impressive hustle.

Caleb's best gift is his soft heart and tender feelings for the underdog. Caleb befriends the friendless and even though he is the smallest in his entire class he is know for sticking up for the children that are bulllied. You can always find Caleb cheering someone sad. The other day at school the most popular girl in the class was heard telling another girl that she dresses horribly and it looks like she has a poor family. Caleb walked up to the very sheepish young lady and told her that he thought she dressed well and asked her to play with him that afternoon. Caleb has also taken it upon himself to help an older grandpa in the ward. Every Sunday Caleb finds Mr.Lunzer and helps him across the slippery parking lot to and from the church building to his car. His example has encouraged his older brother and several other young men to do the same thing for other seniors in the ward. We love Caleb's compassion.

Yes, Caleb can be a little rowdy in primary class and his humour a little disruptive in his school class but Caleb has the qualities that really count and we love him for all these good things. We would have a big hole in our family without this ten year old.

Scout Camps

I don't always understand the inner workings of a young man's brain. Winter scout camps leave me only more befuddled. This weekend Mckay and his scout troop are going on a winter campout. Let me give you the numbers. 12 young men, 7 leaders, -17 C weather, 2 days and 1 freaked out Mom.

I am happy at times like these that I am a girl. I can still sleep in my warm bed, eat a warm dinner and watch a good movie.

I have to say the clincher was when they were handing out the freeze dried dinners. The scout leader held up the first meal and commented, " This is a chicken and rice dinner." Two hands went up to claim the chicken and rice delight. Next he held up a spagetti dinner. " This is spagetti and meatsauce, he said, they are really good, but they do give you really bad gas." up flew the other 10 hands. That has to be the number 1 reason I would not like to attend a scout camp. You don't get stuff like that at girls camp but you do trade stench for crying, complaining and screaming over bugs and dirty nails.

Coleson's 8th birthday

Happy Birthday Coleson. Cole or Coley bear as we like to call him, turned 8 on February 26th. The birthday celebration dragged out for several days, I think Ryan McCoy calls it a birthday week. Wednesday evening Coleson's Dad came home a day early so we gave out gifts and sang happy birthday over the candlelight of an angel food cake. Thursday we had Coleson's official birthday by singing again and him answering many phone calls from aunts and uncles, cousins and friends from around the world, literally. Friday, we had the Elders over for a discussion and dinner and again sang happy birthday and ate Coleson's birthday meal, tacos. We love Coleson and wish him a very happy 8th birthday.

This year Coleson received a very cool yellow bike complete with rear shocks and hand brakes, can we get a Awhhhhh!!!! He also recieved several matchbox cars and some collector cards. From his Grandma and Grandpa J $25.00 American, which we explained is close to $107.25 Canadian. From Grandma and Grandpa G a brand spankin' new set of scriptures.

Coleson is very excited to be baptized in April when Grandma and Grandpa J come for a visit.