May Day

It has been a marathon weekend. Mikayla and Eden left for San Francisco early Thursday morning and that evening I decided to tidy their room, which turned into a 3 day overhaul. By the time the kids got home from school on Friday I had succeeded in pulling out so much from shelves and nooks and crannies that they thought the tornadoes from the south had hit our home as well. I did stop for party night however, which we celebrated at the community music concert down at the high school for 3 hours. It was fun to see all of the different talent in our area. The majority of participants were LDS, so was the majority of the audience and they had a free concessions stand with cookies, cotton candy and popcorn so the kids thought they were in heaven. I would have tried to talk Mikayla into performing if she had been in town and if they continue the tradition I'd love to see you sing with the twins. It really was an enjoyable night with only one number in three hours that I just could not appreciate because it felt dark. Pretty good stats for an open variety concert.

Saturday I spent the entire day in the girls room and Dad spent the entire day back and forth between yard work and re-doing the girls computer (and doing handyman fixes for me in the girls room). By that evening we had cleaned and organized every square foot in that room and even managed to cover most of the Maunzy holes (which are becoming SIGNIFICANT with decorations. By the time we finally went to bed the girls room and most of our back yard both looked like pictures in a magazine. The front yard and the rest of our house looked acceptable as well. I'm not delusional enough to think that it will stay like that long, but the girl LOVED it when they got home, which was fun and I think it will motivate them  for a little while. In any case it was fulfilling for us

Yesterday was May Day (a perfect one, I might add because it was beautiful weather and the girls are back) so we went and picked out favourite flowers on Saturday so we could celebrate the beauty on Sunday. Our house is infused right now with color and the smell of hyacinths, just waiting for the frosts to stop so we can put them in the ground. Ah, spring...dirt...sun! I can't wait. It seems like we only inch forward in our landscaping every year as at least half of the flowers we purchase end up being annuals, (only 3 people chose perennials this year) but we'll have some pretty spots of colour this summer.

Yesterday the YSA branch in our area was organized. Dad and I went to the meeting in Nampa to see the change take place. We are continually counselled  not to speculate about these kinds of things, but sometimes you just can't help having premonitions, which I certainly did this past week, but I was a good girl and didn't talk about them, even to Dad so I hope that's not speculation. I certainly wasn't trying to "figure it out" -- thoughts just came. and when we walked into the tiny branch and I saw two of the men that I had felt were going to be put in the branch presidency in attendance with their wives, I won't lie--I became giddy........ and then I shared my thoughts with Dad. =) And when Pres. Evans called for a sustaining vote of LeeRen Walker as Branch President of the new Black Canyon YSA branch I couldn't help it--I started to cry and the tears just kept coming when they asked for a sustaining vote for Bishop Lamar Lewis as second counsellor. I admire both of these men so deeply and have seen first hand their influence with the youth. I absolutely know they were called of God. They also sustained Bro. Doug Teichert as first counsellor. I don't know him as well and I hadn't had any previous inklings about him but  I know enough about him to know that he will be a great fit for that presidency. It's funny (well actually kind of sad) but when Pres. Evan first announced the reorganization and said the Middleton branch would be called the Black Canyon branch I leaned over to Dad and made a comment about why they would call it that and not the Middleton branch (because you know how much I love Middleton) and immediately Pres. Evans asked for a sustaining vote for the name of the branch. I've never heard that done before, but of course I immediately pulled my tail between my legs and swallowed my tongue and raised my hand. He then explained that the name had historical significance as that was the name of the very first branch in organized Middleton in the 1950's. He said there was much sacrifice and unity exemplified in the story of the lives of those saints and he said that he wanted that example emulated in this new branch. He said he would be speaking much about the significance as time went on.  So, we now have a branch in Middleton that starts meeting at the Lansing building at 11:00 this next Sunday. I went up to talk to Pres (what do you call a branch president?) Walker and Bishop Lewis after the meeting and told them if we hadn't been in the chapel when their names were announced, I would have screamed and jumped up and down. I could tell they were excited too.

I feel passionate about this exciting opportunity for the young people of our area. I know this opportunity and this presidency is going to bless their lives. I think it would be a good fit for Jet right now, but I don't think he has the courage to venture into something new without the stability of Mikayla and she doesn't turn 18 until after he is deployed. I won't push him. He called and asked if he could come over yesterday after church. He talks big, but I know he craves the light I'm glad he feels here. We have some pretty good verbal "battles" here and I know he is listening even as he spars. He's a good kid.

I don't know if you have heard about the tornadoes that rampaged the south last week, but our Elder Ware, who was just transferred, had part of the roof ripped off his family's home. His family is all okay, but you just never know when tragedy is going to strike. I am so grateful we have the security and peace of knowing that our Heavenly Father is in charge and is mindful of us and has our lives in his hands. I am a worrier, but that brings me great comfort and stability.

Another bit of big news here is that Bin Laden and Colonel Quaddafi's son and grandchildren were all killed in raids yesterday over the weekend. It is all over the papers and the Internet and there are many reports of people cheering in the streets and celebration, but I just feel this sad, heavy weight that we have all become so filled with hate for each other that we can celebrate death. This is a mixed up world that is in desperate need of the gospel and the pure love of Christ. I need it as much as anyone, but I just can't find pleasure in that.

Maybe I'm overly sensitive. A baby dove flew awkwardly through our yard yesterday, with Olive sensing it's weakness, hot on it's heels and I just about gave Olive a heart attack with my rebuke. I guess that flight wore the poor thing out because it sat on our fence for the next few hours with it's mother cooing to it from Tentingers roof. Every one in a while she would fly down and feed it and then fly back up to watch from afar.  Eventually a hawk started circling so I had to coax the terrified baby under the branches of  a nearby tree. It made for a stressfully, protective day for us. Olive's hunter instinct was all fired up and we had to call her away continually, luckily she is obedient enough to listen begrudgingly (especially when Dad is around). Jet, being the war monger that he is, couldn't see the reasoning behind "interfering", but we verbally pummelled him enough to keep him semi-quiet during our vigil. The fledgling did try to fly again once and wasn't very successful and ended up flying into the side of the house. That got Olive all fired up again, so we had to resort to a Sunday walk to cool her off. We put the baby under the tree branches again and watched Olive until she went to bed. The bird was still there this morning and I kept an Eagle's eye on Olive when she got up, but a few minutes ago I checked and the bird is gone. Now I am nervous about where it is. I have checked our yard and see no sign. I just hope it flew somewhere safe because if we find feathers on our lawn today, it is not going to be happy around here!

We are all looking forward to more sunny skies and the end of school. Mikayla only has 18 days left. We are all also looking forward to being "plugged back in" on Tuesday. Mikayla and Eden didn't end up being very diligent but Abe, Lily and Sophie were AWESOME and we will celebrate their success for sure. I do always miss family movie night for the month, but it has been good to explore other family time for a month. Doing wholesome, hard things is always good for us.

Protective Dove Parents

Baby Dove

Pretty Garden Spot on May Day

Lily among our flower treasures on May Day