Funny Visiting Teaching Video

At the beginning of the year, I got an idea for our March RS Birthday Celebration.  I wanted our focus to be on the new training we had received from Julie Beck on what our emphasis should be as visiting teachers.  Visiting Teaching means that we minister to one another as the Savior would, which means being attentive to the needs of one another.  However, I didn't want the night to be a boring lecture about visiting teaching.  Some very brave and talented women caught the vision of what I wanted to accomplish and helped me make this great video.  A special thanks to my hubby for acting as DP and assistant editor.

Relief Society President - Yikes!

Again, it has been some time since a post - and that means, of course, that something big is going on.  A short six months after our foster daughter went home (it was the month of May 2011), Bishop Woolf asked Adam and I to come visit with him.  And I already knew what it was about.  

Back in March 2011, the day before my birthday, I attended a Women's Conference for all of the American Fork Stakes in which Sister Julie Beck, then the General Relief Society President, was the speaker.  I had been asked by our Relief Society President, Nancy Stern, to sing in the choir.  So there I sat in the choir seats at the Alpine Tabernacle innocently listening and taking notes.  Sister Beck told the story of Mary and Martha and becoming disciples of Christ, and clear as day I heard the words, "The sisters in the ward need to know this."  I thought it strange that I would have a thought like that.  I ignored it and continued to listen.  Not more then ten minutes later, Sister Beck talked about knowing and understanding what it means to be a Daughter of God.  And for the second time the clear voice said, "The sisters in the ward need to know this."  Knowing what this prompting could mean for me, I rebelliously told the voice, "That's nice.  Go tell Nancy!"

By the time I found myself sitting across the desk from my Bishop holding hands with my husband, I already knew who my entire presidency was to be.  On May 22, 2011 I was called as the Relief Society President of the Sunset Hills 2nd Ward of the American Fork West Stake with Erin Decker as my 1st counselor, Kim McBride as 2nd counselor and Debbie O'Dell as secretary.  As of now, we have been serving for over 2 years with one change.  Kim McBride had a baby and needed to focus her efforts there, so Tara Callaway is now serving as my 2nd counselor.

I have tried to follow the promptings as they have come.  I have sought for guidance, but I have also had the motto of "Don't wait to move forward" - I just have to go and trust that the Lord will bless my efforts.  And he has!  I know any successes have only come because of Him.

I spoke in Sacrament Meeting the week after I was called.  I talked on coming to know the Savior - the first prompting I had received.  For my own record, here is a copy of that talk.

Sit at the Feet of the Savior

Given by assignment as the new RS President

May 29, 2011

• As a youth I had my life all figured out
• Go to college and become a teacher, marry Adam, have 3-5 kids, live happily
• Reality: Quit school to serve a mission, which meant that Adam and I did not see each other for over 3 years, and at the age of 25 was floundering with what to do with my life when my battle with infertility began
• Found myself asking: What had happened to cause my life to go so wrong?  Why does life have to be so hard?
• Go back to the beginning – not my beginning, THE beginning
• The beginning was that God had a plan for his children
• It was not for Adam and Eve to spend their days in the perfect Garden of Eden
• The Plan
• For them to leave perfection for imperfection
• To be sent to a place they knew nothing about
• To live in a harsh world where Satan would continually try to exert influence over them
• How is it this is God’s Plan?  Seems cruel and he is supposed to be a God of love
• 2 Ne 2:11 – opposition in all things
• God knows we need imperfection to find perfection
• 3 examples of opposition leading to better things
• 1) Sandi Bates
• Is not a great cook by accident
• Has a passion for good food – if eats something she likes at a restaurant, will search for a recipe to make it
• Tries and fails several times

o      Combines recipes, experiments with them

o      Learns about new ingredients along the way, maybe even watches cooking shows or buys a new kitchen gadget to help her get a delicious end result

• She is a great cook not because of her successes, but because of what her failures have taught her
• 2) Liz Jeffrey
• An amazing pianist, can sight read a song I couldn’t play if I practiced for months
• Again, is not a great pianist on accident
• Years of lessons, practice and learning theory has given her knowledge and increased her ability

o      Very importantly, she knows from experience that when there is a section of the music that is difficult for her to play

o      If she will practice it over and over, she can make that weak area become a strength

o      The opposition she faced has now made her a better pianist

o      Then she can confidently give a beautiful performance, which blesses those who listen or sing with her

• 3) Jaime Theler
• Is training for a marathon
• Obviously had a desire to reach a goal to be willing to push her body to do something so amazing

o      Sometimes makes FB comments about her runs

o      Good runs and not so good

o      Runs in all weather and temperatures

o      Has learned to persevere through physical challenge

o      Opposition has made her physically and mentally stronger

• Will be more likely to succeed at another goal or when faced with a challenge
• In essence, each of these examples exemplifies what Alma teaches us in chapter 32
• Have a passion or a desire to know or do something
• Plant that in your heart
• Then begin to move forward in the direction of that goal
• There will be trial and error as we mix the wrong ingredients
• We will discover weaknesses we will need to work on, but through that our knowledge and ability will increase
• We will learn how to endure all kinds of “weather” as we become stronger and more capable
• In other words, if we desire and act we make progress – spiritual progression towards returning back to our Heavenly Father
• And that’s our Father’s plan for us
• It is the eternal plan of progression
• So we have imperfection and progression working as a team in the plan
• Means as we make progress, God knew we would also make mistakes
• Will falter as we “experiment” on the word
• Mistakes, bad choices, neglectful
• Sometimes we flat out rebel against it and embrace or desire the imperfect things in the world
• Because Satan is allowed to try to exert his will over us in opposition to God’s plan
• Satan’s opposition to God’s plan
• His goal is to get us to do things that

o      Make us feel chained to things

o      Feel guilty, lack of self worth

o      Make us feel hopeless that we will ever succeed in God’s plan

o      He wants us to give up on our experimenting on the word, our testimonies

• Sis. Beck – American Fork RS Conference March 19, 2011
• Taught the story in Luke 10 of Christ coming to visit Martha in her home
• Little is known of Martha
• I believe sometimes characters in the scriptures are meant to be vague
• Gives us the ability to insert ourselves into the story with the details of our own personal lives so we can apply the scriptures to ourselves
• The story begins with Mary, her sister, sitting at the feet of Jesus while Martha working to get dinner ready
• V40 was cumbered about much serving
• Comes to Jesus expecting him to support her need to have some help in taking care of these guests in her home
• V41 READ
• Careful = worried (footnote)
• She was worried and troubled about many things
• We don’t know what Martha was worried about, but it wasn’t just that the table wasn’t getting set or dinner was burning – something heavier
• This is where we insert ourselves
• What are the worries and troubles that we carry with us as we work?
• Loss of a loved one through death, divorce, or going wayward
• Infertility, raising children, sickness, aging, marital struggles, finances, addiction, depression, monotony of work, lack of self-esteem, ETC.
• V42 (READ) – one thing is needful
• To truly understand what that one needful thing is, we need to go back to the beginning again because we need to understand what happens next in the story of God laying out his plan through Adam and Eve
• We know that because of eating the fruit, they have to leave the Garden
• We know that this began the process of learning and becoming through opposition
• Become experimenters of the word
• We also know that now Satan can work to have influence over mankind
• These things all mean that life is now going to be really hard for them
• Like our lives are really hard
•  Knowing that their lives, and ours, would be hard in this fallen world, God put the final piece of his plan into action before driving them out of the Garden
• God sent Jesus to make coats of skin to cover Adam and Even
• (“The Continuous Atonement” by Brad Wilcox)
• I learned this week that in Heb. the word kaphar means ‘to cover’
• It is the ancient root of the English word ‘Atonement’
• The Savior is not in the clothing business
• His is the work of covering
• Adam and Eve left the garden covered in a tangible and continuous reminder that through Christ all of their physical, emotional and spiritual weaknesses are covered through the Atonement
• Pres. Boyd K. Packer (Oct 95 Conf): If we will turn to the Lord, there is “no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no offense exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness.”
• WE are covered through the Atonement of Jesus Christ
• He doesn’t cover up our sins like Adam and Eve tried to with fig leaves
• He gave us the gift of covering, meaning if we repent, he will have our backs and cover us when we stand before God, taking all the responsibility and the punishment for our mistakes
• In (Luke 10:42 READ) our story of the Savior with Martha, he wasn’t dismissing her concerns
• What we sometimes hear as His answer is ‘Mary is better than you’ - NO
• His answer to her was that one thing was needful – Him
• She needed him in her life as we all so desperately do
• Martha, with all of her worries and troubles, needed not to be Mary, but just to follow her example in this thing
• To stop running, stop trying to solve her worries and troubles on her own and in her own way
• She needed to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear his word
• We need to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear his word
• To take the challenge of Alma and experiment in becoming doers of the word that our testimony of Christ can grow
• Sister Beck taught us that day that Christ was inviting Martha to become a disciple
• And that invitation extends to all women, and men, everywhere
• Now I’ll go back to my story where I was asking why life is so hard
• I was Martha
• Carried troubles and worries of infertility around with me everywhere I went and in everything I did – it weighed me down, made me miserable
• Satan jumped right in with messages that I wasn’t good enough, that God didn’t love me
• I turned many directions in search of relief from this burden
• Six years ago I received a calling that literally saved me (Gospel Doctrine teacher)
• Studied the scriptures to learn so I could teach the class
• What it was really doing was turning me into an experimenter of the word
• For the first time in my life I literally feasted, for sometimes hours a day, on the scriptures
• I found myself at the feet of the Savior and I wanted to be there because it was such a place of peace
• There my burdens didn’t feel as heavy
• Gained perspective and understanding
• Felt value and the love of the Savior
• This is what the Savior and His Atonement do for us
• Not only provide repentance, but the promise to help us carry our burdens
• Asked to share a message with the sisters  - The message I have felt to share is also a challenge:
• Come and sit at the feet of the Savior and become a disciple of Christ
• This means we need to
• Feast from the scriptures – become comfortable with and knowledgeable of them
• Pray with gratitude and earnestness
• Serve one another – at home, in callings, visiting/home teaching
• Make covenants in the temple and work hard to keep them
• Nurture children – most important role for women
• Teach in word and example
• Prepare them to go to the temple and serve missions
• Help them know where to turn for true happiness – teach them how to be disciples of Christ
• Remember how we were to put ourselves into Martha’s position with our worries and troubles?
• If your worry is sickness, sit at the feet of the Savior
• If your marriage is in trouble, sit at the feet of the Savior
• If you deal with depression, anxiety, addiction, or are worried about a child or loneliness or loss, sit at the feet of the Savior
• Lastly, give yourself a break!
• This is an imperfect world and you are an imperfect person
• Plan on not being perfect in this lifetime, because that is God’s plan
• And that is precisely why repentance and the Atonement sit at the center of God’s plan
• It makes it ok to fail at things and then be able learn from those mistakes
• It fills in where our weaknesses let us down
• It strengthens us so we can weather the challenges of life
• Beck: We are ordinary people who have been given monstrous and monumental tasks.
• We will be successful in those tasks as we take time each day to be with the Savior

Testimony that these principles are TRUE!

I followed the second prompting six months later when we had a retreat up at a cabin in Heber City, UT.  I pushed for a retreat because I wanted the sisters to get away, be treated to yummy food and good laughs, and have a chance to bond with one another.   Forty-five sisters attended!  For the spiritual thought I used that prompting as the theme and I gave a devotional on being a Daughter of God.  I made a video where I had sisters respond to questions on camera.  Adam taught me how to edit on my Mac.  I made the video into several clips and spoke in between the clips.  Here is the video part of that presentation (but the quality is terrible because blogger made me make the file really small before it would download):

Blessings After Adversity

You will notice that there have been no postings in over a year. Ironically, I had more to say than ever before in my life, but was not allowed to say it. And for the protection of the children we had in our home, whom we loved in spite of the hardship their situation brought, we agreed that writing about it publicly was not a good thing. However, as I look back on the past few months since our foster children returned home, I can see some tremendous blessings that have come to fairly quickly restore a feeling of peace in my heart that has been missing for many months.

When our foster children arrived, we soon understood that we could no longer keep up what had become our accustomed pace. We dropped almost all extra activities and our boys immediately became helpers - their number one responsibility being to entertain so I could make dinner, fold laundry, etc. Our only real activities were just our family time together to read the scriptures, pray and have Family Night. We thought for sure life would go back to the old ways, but it just hasn't. Although we are getting back into some things, we have become more selective on what we allow to take up our time. We have more time to spend together and be home as a family. Being compelled to simplify our lives has been a tremendous blessing.

Who knew building a Lego bridge could be so much fun!

The event that sort of "forced" the issue, making DCFS commit to finally sending the kids home instead of continuing to drag out the situation, was Adam working on a project that took him to New York for 2 1/2 weeks. We decided that if he was going to have a "free" hotel room for that long that we needed to take advantage of the situation. Our foster daughter, the last child still in our care, went home just before we left. It was hard to say goodbye. We loved her and knew we would miss her terribly, but this was the right time for all of us to make the break from each other. Tyson is at a really great age right now - pretty independent, but not too old yet to think his parents are a complete embarrassment to him. So we wanted to take him on an adventure in New York. (Jacob stayed with my parents and then with Adam's sister, Emily - thanks guys!). It was really only a vacation for Tyson and I since Adam worked hard while we were there. Tyson was the perfect age for traveling. He quickly learned the subway system and was so helpful in getting us on the right trains, and that gave us the freedom to go anywhere we wanted. We would walk around for 10-12 hours a day trying to see as much as we could. Tyson also loves theater, so we saw Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins and Wicked. He was afraid they would be boring, but about 10 minutes into our first show, he was hooked. Although we really didn't see much of Adam in our time there, it was the best bonding time I've ever had with Tyson - like 2 friends out traveling together. It is something we will both look back on and remember and treasure. A true blessing.

Top of the Empire State Building

Tyson's first Broadway experience

Thankfully Tyson loved my favorite bakery as much as I did, and with all of the
walking we were doing, the calories just burned away - so it was guilt-free eating

And finally, while we had our foster children, our boys were squished together on bunkbeds into the smaller of our two upstairs kids bedrooms. We have a larger bedroom down in our basement that we tried to get them to move into, but neither wanted to be down there - at first. Around December, when the boys were each moved back in their own rooms, we learned Jacob was still considering our suggestion from earlier and informed us he was ready to move down there. We were leery at first, thinking we'd get the bunkbeds dragged down there just in time for him to change his mind and want to move back up. But that never happened. When he realized he was literally sleeping right under us, he was at peace and has never been scared to be down there at night. With Jacob out of his bedroom, we now had an empty room...

For Christmas, our anniversary and my upcoming birthday, Adam has helped me shop for and purchase a desk, chair, bookcases and accessories for MY NEW OFFICE! It's beautiful. It's heavenly. It's the first time in our married life that I've had a room that's all my own. And I love it! I have to make myself leave it to get other things around the house done. It's probably why I'm actually sitting and blogging today - an excuse to be in here. I chose a light blue color for the walls, my desk is an espresso color, and the bookshelves and trim are white. I have lacy curtains and flowery lamps. I've bought bins and baskets in which to store all of my things, and it's almost completely organized now. It's girly and peaceful and my favorite room in the whole world. What a blessing for me in my testosterone-filled home.

My Haven

It was never ever a goal of ours to do foster care. We did it because the promptings came and we wanted to be obedient. In the midst of the adversity, it was hard to see the blessings. Thankfully, the Lord eventually does show us some of the blessings of our adversities. So, while life has not ever gone the way I had planned, I am feeling so loved by my Heavenly Father who is leading me on an incredible journey. I am so blessed!

Christmas 2009

You know, my blog is one of those places I go to when I want to share the happenings of our family. Ironically, the biggest adventure our family has ever had is completely off limits for me to blog about. I guess if you want to know anything about what's going on with our foster kids, you will have to revert to the old fashioned ways of either giving us a call or shooting us an email.

What I can share is a snapshot of our great Christmas holiday. We were foster childless for 3 days, so we were able to really enjoy each other - and some true peace on earth.

One of our favorite Christmas traditions has become leaving surprises for others on their doorstep. ( I won't say specifically what it is in case you become "victim" to our particular gift.) This year the boys came up with their own incognito, ring-the-doorbell-and-run outfits.

Yes, we have another tradition of opening and wearing new Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve. Thanks grandma and grandpa!


Christmas morning traditions: Wake mom and dad up at 7 am; make a mess of the family room as quickly as possible; around 8 am grandma and grandpa Harmon arrive, bringing more gifts of course; for breakfast we enjoy eggs, bacon (the only day of the year we have real bacon instead of turkey bacon, much to Tyson's relief), oranges and a 4th ward famous Shirley Millar cinnamon tea ring; after breakfast, crash in front of the TV with a new movie playing - this year it was Star Trek.

We broke with tradition a little this year by going to Adam's sister's house (Julie) for lunch and games. It was so fun it may have to become part of a new tradition. But in the middle of the afternoon, I got a frantic call from my mom saying she just really needed us to bring by her camera that she had left at our house that morning. I agreed, feeling that I should honor my father and my mother. As we drove into their condo complex, Adam pointed out a car that looked suspiciously like my baby sister's van with its Idaho plates. There was further suspicion when we walked up to the door and it was quite noisy inside of what is generally a very quiet house. Yay - my sister and her family surprised us by showing up in the middle of Christmas day for a 5 day visit!!!

Timmi, Tyson and Tanner - best friends


Bella and Jacob - both wonder why cousins can't get married

It was the best Christmas present EVER. Tyson swore nothing could beat the year Santa brought us our kitty. It showed our boys that what Santa brought them this year was just "stuff." What really matters is our relationships with others - one of the only things we get to take with us into the next life. That is what we really treasured this year at Christmas. And that is also what our foster children have given to us - a truer understanding of why we need to really take care of and be grateful for the rare gift of a loving family and friends as we now understand more clearly that not everyone gets that in this world.

So to all of our family and friends out there - we love you! We are grateful for all of the ways you have blessed our lives this past year and wish you a happy 2010!

Our Two Turkeys

Tyson has been wanting to give the Family Night lesson for weeks, but keeps forgetting to plan it. This week he was determined to have his turn. After school he sat down at the computer and wrote out the play that has been in his mind. (That sure says something about what goes on in that little head of his!) It turned out to be one of our most memorable Monday nights ever!

Tyson's Play:

"Two Turkeys, A Farmer and A Narrator"

Narrator: there were two turkeys one was selfish and the other loved to give!

Turkey one: I’m selfish!

Turkey two : I love to give!

Narrator: so the turkeys lived happily in the barn yard together,

Then on thanksgiving a man came (the farmer no doubt ) so the farmer came and said…

Farmer: look we already have a turkey to eat but there are more turkeys coming so one of you has got to go , so we’ll have a little contest so here we go who wants to give up on of there fine old feathers?

Narrator: well turkey one held firm but the second said…

Turkey two: I will!

Farmer: okay please give me the feather, okay thank you very much, now who will give up and leave?

Turkey one : I won’t

Narrator: but turkey two said…

Turkey two: I will

Narrator: well the farmer was touched by this and he said…

Farmer: you can stay as for you turkey one you will have to go !

Narrator: well turkey two lived happily ever after but turkey one well let’s just say that he was dinner the next thanksgiving!

THE END

Together, Tyson and Jacob designed their costumes. Tyson came up with wearing red and putting on headbands, but was perplexed as to what to do for feathers. Jacob brilliantly suggested using Q-tips.
Gobble! Gobble!

A Happy Halloween

Halloween is one of the busiest holidays at our house. Thankfully, Jacob was thrilled with the purchase of an "Obi Wan" Target special, but for Tyson I actually had to dust off my sewing machine and pattern reading skills. In the end, I managed to make a Gandalf wizard hat and I was quite proud of my accomplishment! But before we could jump into Halloween, we threw Jacob a Monster Mash birthday party. What Halloween would be complete without a house full of 6 year old boys!

Jacob's Monster birthday cake. Happy birthday 6 year old!

Trick or Treating with the Corbridges has become a favorite Halloween tradition. It began the year I broke my foot and I needed someone to take the boys around for me because Adam was out of town. The Corbridges came to my rescue and the boys had so much fun, we have done it the 2 years since then.

Hot chocolate at the Andrioli's was hands down the highlight of the evening. The boys begged to go back again about an hour later to "warm up" with another hot treat.

After 3 streets, Jacob and Jenna were happy to rest, enjoy their hot chocolate and head home.

The big boys, however, went on for a total of 3 1/2 hours of knocking on doors. Elaine and I decided it was ok to let them keep going because they were getting practice for their missions. Tyson made quite the haul - sugar headache here we come! (And of course, he had the flu by the next day, so that sugar just sat there not being eaten and tempting me for a whole week - help!)

High-Tech Help

When I asked Adam what he was going to be doing at work this week, he told me all about the brand new high-tech equipment he was going to be working on to edit the film they just shot on brand new high-tech digital cameras.

I spent the morning trying to melt crystallized honey.

Why can't they come up with some brand new high-tech gadget to solve that problem! Oh, yeah. I forgot. That's not glamorous or exciting. Why would someone be concerned about what a housewife spends her life doing? Then they'd have to invent gadgets that would stop whining, door slamming, juice spilling, arguing, urine in toilet lid hinges... Oh, so not glamorous!