Silver Lake

We have arrived in the beautiful beehive state!  

Last night we went for a walk around Silver Lake with Brad & Elisse. 

Bradshaw loves his Uncle Brad and often calls him "my friend."  

Brad pulled logs out of the lake and pointed out the beaver teeth marks; and then found the beaver.

You can't tell from the picture, but this Elisse is pregnant and due today. 

(Yeah, no fair right?  She is so tiny.) 

See!  Told ya. 

Be Strong

Today we read a conference talk entitled Be of a Good Courage.

One story stood out to me.  An older teen was advising a 12-year-old on how to "remain faithful and virtuous."  The older teen said “When you walk down the halls of your school, you might, out of the corner of your eye, see something that catches your attention, something that doesn’t seem quite right. You may be curious and want to look. My advice to you is this: Don’t look. I promise you’ll regret it if you do. Believe me; just look straight ahead.”

Dustinn and I had the same response.  What is this girl seeing?  Pornography taped up in lockers?  People making out?  Drugs?  What? 
And then my second thought was just how much the high school experience has degraded since I was there.  Maybe I was naive or just plain blind but I really enjoyed high school and felt like most of my peers, religious or not, were a great examples to me. 
My younger siblings, age 16 and 14, sometimes slip hints that high school has changed a lot--that there is a lot more experimentation, confusion, sadness.  ...What do you think? 

Have you heard the  youth theme song?  It's really uplifting/empowering.  (Check it out!)

Fort Worth Stock Yards

Our little cowboy's paradise.

Reading Buddies

Presenting.....

the newest full-time missionary: Lindy!who: my little sister Lindy
when: September 2010-March 2012
where: Montreal Canada
how: French-speaking

A few months ago Lindy "turned in her papers," which is colloquial for submitting an application to become a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   Applicants must be members of the church of at least one year and passApplying includes multiple interviews with ecclesiastical leaders, medical exams, essays, as meeting strict moral standards in our church saying that she met all the requirements and would like the opportunity to spend 18 months devoting herself to teaching others about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lindy has no say in where her mission location will be. There is a missionary committee that prayerfully seeks answers to where each missionary should go. Lindy is going where God can best use her. (Incidentally, this is the first of a million times as a missionary that Lindy will say, "I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord, I'll do what you want me to do.")

Lindy is an excellent French speaker and is very excited about her assignment.

Serving a mission is a BIG DEAL. It is not easy. Not only are you apart from your family, with minimal contact (2 phone calls a year), but you put your heart and soul into sharing and the gospel of Jesus Christ and most reject it (which feels like they are rejecting you.)

There is no obNo one pressured her to go. Lindy decided she wants to serve a mission. She is looking forward to this (relatively short) period of time when she can consecrate all her time to seeking God's will and serving others.

I was lucky enough to serve a mission (long ago haha) and in the words of Robert Frost, "I took the [road] less traveled by and (for me) that has made all the difference."
It is priceless to me. While it included some of the worst days of my life, it also included many of the best days of my life. My mission taught me, among other things, that Priesthood is the power of God on earth, and it is every bit as real as electricity, and much more powerful. It made it clear that Jesus Christ is aware of every little child, in every little village, in the far corners of the world. It made it clear that Jesus Christ is living and actively leading His work on earth.

I'm excited for Lindy and our family as we follow her adventures in Canada.

What Dustinn and Bradshaw have been doing for the last hour...