April Service Brings May Snow...

I promise I have still been serving! Life has just gotten totally crazy and I have been doing little services here and there. I folded laundry, Cleaned a Kitchen, Helped a friend pack, had a friend over for dinner while her husband is out of town,  gave a friend a pedicure after she had a baby, provided dinner for the same friend, got my friend out of the house, Made phone calls, visited, and even texted to check up on those friends in need. I bet you do more service in a day than you realize! Sometimes it's just getting a phone call that makes all the difference in someone's day!
  I also had a special experience last week. It was a particularly crazy week and Kyle found out he had to go to a hearing on the same day that he usually takes the girls to Activity Days and then takes Audrey to dance. I teach a class all during this same time. I was feeling stressed because I didn't know how I was going to teach and take the kids every where they needed to go. Because of Audrey's dance schedule, she only goes to Activity Days for 15 minutes. I know it sounds weird, but we decided to make the effort to get her there even for 15 minutes and we believe that it teaches her that even with other things going on, we still have to put the Lord First and make the effort. My amazing neighbor Angela, agreed to take the kids to Activity Days. I just needed to get Audrey from the church to dance. I was standing there trying to figure out what to do, when my phone rang. It was my Visiting Teaching Partner, Charity. " Hey! I just thought I should call you to see if I can do anything for you." - "YES!"
She instantly agreed to pick up Audrey from the church and take her to dance for me! It was a true answer to my prayers! As soon as I got off the phone, I had my kids kneel down and we thanked Heavenly Father for Charity and for her willingness to live worthy of listening to the Spirit and her willingness to help us!
   I have a testimony that Heavenly Father knows each of us! He loves all of us and is waiting for us to turn to Him for help in our times of need. I know that Heavenly Father knew how stressed I was over something as simple as getting Audrey to dance and He cared about it! He cares about all of the little things that are important to us! I promise that if you will pray, He will answer. It might not be right away, but He WILL answer!

* One of my favorite scriptures is in 2 Nephi 19:12,17, and 21 - at the end of all of these verses it says:
"For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still"

It is never too late to return back to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Prayers are Answered!

From Emily and I....Thank You!

A big smile before surgery

I have been so blessed with Service! This past week, many people stepped up and came to our rescue. Last Friday, my Emily came home from school with a sore tummy. After a few hours, the pain worsened, so we took her in to the Emergency Room. 2 days later, she had her appendix taken out. It had curled up behind her colon and was in the early stage of appendicitis. Poor girl! She just had her tonsils out on the 5th of March, then we rushed her back to the ER on the 16th because her throat was bleeding, and then on the 29th, we are back in the hospital! She definitely is our Hospital baby! She has already survived pneumonia, a broken collar bone, and her heart condition! Even through all of that, anyone who knows Emily can tell you how much life and energy she brings into the world. She is such a darling girl and we are so thankful that she has been given to us!

Thanks to so many people who rushed in to help us! I am so thankful to have so many people who were willing to provide service for us!

Thank you to:

My husband, Kyle!  I'm so grateful for your willingness to live your life to be worthy to hold the priesthood! Thanks for putting up with me when I drive you crazy! Thank you for stepping in and taking over at our command center and keeping the kids organized. Thank you for driving 8 hours to take our kids to Utah, come home, and up to MT for school. Thank you for working so hard to provide for our family! Thank you for dropping everything and rushing to the hospital to give Emily a blessing before her operation. Thank you for your love for me and our children! I love you!

My Mom and Dad, who were on the phone with us through the whole weekend giving us words of encouragement and love! Thanks Mom for singing to Emily over the phone! She loved it and hummed those songs for the rest of the day!

Christine Hildreth (my mother-in-law), who came to the hospital to visit. You came at just the right time! Thanks for always having a life saver in your pocket! It was the only way we could get Emily to take her medicine! Thank you for helping me pack up and get Emily out to the van.

Darren and Carolyn Hildreth - for taking our other kids for the whole week! I could not have given Emily the care and attention she needed with my other girls here. Thank you for being willing to have our crazy girls! Tell Cameron sorry for adding to the girl madness!

Amy and Rodney Ashby, who just happened to be at our house for an overnight stay and took care of our kids for the night and next day. We love you both and miss you guys so much! Thank you for taking care of our kids are truly loving them!(and thanks for the groceries!)

Amy and Lily Ashby - for visiting at the hospital! I am so glad I got to see you before you left town!

Susannah Harris and Mary Ellen Gard- Thanks for coming and taking care of our dog...sorry she barked at you the whole time!!

Susannah Harris - for bringing Emily a gift! She has played with it for hours!

Tom Maddock- for coming on Sunday morning to help administer a blessing before Emily's operation.

Missy Scoresby and Karie Caldwell- for feeding my family!

Sharla Turville and Staci Starnes- for visiting me and bringing me lunch at the hospital! You truly came at my lowest low. I needed that visit so much!

Morgan Krantz - for bring Emily some Treats! She had those eaten within an hour!

Janna Bluth - for bringing Emily a balloon that she has not stopped playing with!

Deanna Hargis - for bringing me some cookies....Yum!

A visit from her sisters 

Jerry Smedley - who answered my phone call while he was at a funeral and came twice after his shift in the ER was over to visit, and he talked with the surgeon to make sure Emily was getting the best care!

Brad Smith - who just happened to be the surgeon on call that night. I was amazed at your loving care for Emily and I was so thankful for your guidance and patience. Thank you for being an amazing doctor and person! I instantly felt that you were the right person for the job!

The local firefighters- who brought Emily an Easter basket! She was so excited!

The Easter bunny - for finding Emily in the hospital! She had a blast searching for eggs in her hospital room.

The girl working at Red Robin on Sunday night - Thank you for being so concerned for a strangers daughter that you not only offered to send some fries to her for free, you also gave me a drink when I was thirsty and a place to rest my head. ( the waiting area benches!) You were truly an example of Christ-like love! I was in so much distress that night and you were my angel!

My biggest Thank you goes to my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. You watched over my little girl in her time of need. You put people in our path who could help us! You guided the surgeon during Emily's tests and operation. I truly felt your love and support for me and my family!


Thanks to everyone who called, texted, and prayed for us! I'm sorry if I forgot anyone! It was a super stressful weekend, but I am so grateful for all of you who helped us through it! This is what service is all about! I couldn't have survived without the help of others!

So! Please don't EVER hesitate to call, text, email, or FB me for help! We all need to help each other! My service will resume next week. I expect lots of phone calls!


P.S. One interesting coincidence through this whole ordeal: Emily's tonsil Dr. was Dr. Hinckley; her anesthesiologist was Dr. Monson, and her surgeon was Dr. Smith.
I like to think that she was watched over by the prophets as well!

Love letters, MnM's, and Pregnant Women!

Sorry for the blurry picture today. I was in a hurry. SO, the big question of the day is....Did you do a Servish yesterday??? I hope you all did and I would love to hear about them!! I did take another nap today. Once 3:30 hits, I am beat!!
  Have you ever been sitting at home or driving in the car and suddenly think of someone you haven't seen in a while? It may be a friend, family member, neighbor, or even someone you only met once. I have been having that happen to me a lot lately!! And since I started this blog, I decided that I was going to make an effort to either call or visit the person I was thinking about. This week I kept thinking about my neighbor Morgan Krantz. We are pretty good friends, though we don't see each other very often. She is in my ward and her husband teaches my daughter Natali's primary class. For the past two days, her name kept popping into my head. So, after I took my kids to school, I stopped off at the gas station and bought her two bags of peanut MnM's. (Her favorite!) I drove home and stopped by her house and dropped them off. I didn't get to see her, but I spoke with her hubby for a minute and then left.  I went off to go about my day and run my errands. When I got home, I had a message from Morgan thanking me for the treat. When I called her back, I found out that earlier this week she had been in the hospital and she told me that I must have been inspired to take her the treat. I have to admit that I don't feel inspired....like, EVER, but I think I was this time! It just reminds me that Heavenly Father is aware of all of us and knows our needs......even if they are MnM's!!!

The second service of the day was super easy! My friend Emily Rideout requested that I write her a love letter. It was fun and I sent it off this morning! Emily is my black soul sister! One day I confessed to her that I have always wanted to be black. SO DOES SHE!!!! I love it! I just think that we were born with soul! Sadly, Bonquiqu (that's Emily's black name) moved to Utah a few years ago. We still keep in touch and I hope she enjoys the love letter from Shanaynai!

The project part of my day is happening tonight! I am taking my other black soul sister out on the town!! Missy Scoresby is from North Carolina and every time I am with her, I come home talking with that thick accent of hers!! Missy is having a baby girl next month and she needs to get out of her house! Missy is always doing so much for other people, but she has a nasty habit of not letting others help her. I have been working hard and totally imposing myself on her by just showing up at her house ready to clean or whatever! The fact that I got her out of the house tonight is a miracle!! I don't know where we are going or what we are doing, but you can bet that we are going to have a blast!

Servish

Audrey's birthday was this week! This is her when she was 4!

Is it still considered service if you are doing something for yourself?? I think it is! How many times do we actually do something nice for ourselves? I know I don't do it Ever! Some may think it's selfish, but I'm going to call Servish. As I think about my days, I do so much for my children, my hubby, my dog, and even my house. I think that it's time to do something for me!
  My servish for the week: I took a nap yesterday! It was absolutely sublime!!! My kids were outside playing with our dog and I laid my head down on my comfy pillow, wrapped up in my down blanket and snoozed for about 30 minutes. I totally woke up refreshed and ready to help kids with homework and do everything else that needed to be done! AND I didn't even feel guilty about it!
My Challenge to you : Give your self a servish today! Do something nice for yourself!

P.S. No one has called me to come do service for you this week! I'm getting very disappointed in my friends and family! Even if you live far away, I would love to write you a love letter or even just call and chat with you! I only have 5 more days to get in my 3 days of service for the week! You better call me!

Oh yeah! I joined the 21st Century and actually got a cell phone! Our new number is : 208-346-1410
I can even text!!

Project Day!

Today was 'Project Day' at my friend Staci's house! I met Staci through my friend Sharla and I am so thankful! Staci is always laughing! She is so much fun and the three of us have a lot of fun together! Today we cleaned out Staci's fridge that has been sitting in her garage. She is building a new house and she has been waiting to use her fridge. It was a simple project, but it was still a lot of fun!

My Project Day Buddies - Staci and Sharla

I 'heart' Karie - Day 2

This is a picture of the back of my van after 2 days of cleaning at Karie's house. Karie's house physically feels lighter! I started over there at 10 and left at 2! Hopefully I got enough done for her to help her out.
  Karie kept saying, "I just don't know where to start!". How many of us have felt that way?? I know I have....MANY times! SO, instead of calling a friend to come and help, we just close the door and try to ignore the problem. BUT, the problem Never Goes Away!! Why are we all so stubborn that we won't admit that we need help and just call someone? Let's get real people!! Let's not be ashamed! We all have our problems and I would bet that most of us share the same problems! As I hung with Karie today, I realized that we are so  much alike! It was good for me to be there to help her just find a place to start with and see it through. Thankfully, I had my mom here last summer who sat and did the exact same thing with me! Sometimes you need someone to say, "Seriously? Why do you have so many toy cars?!" (Right Karie?)
Let's be honest with ourselves and with others and we might just have fun and find a friend who is going through the exact same trials!

I 'heart' Karie!

Karie always looks beautiful!

 This is a fabulous picture of my friend Karie Caldwell. Karie is amazing! I have known Karie for 5 years and I don't think I have ever seen her without a big smile on her face! She has 3 darling boys and a really great husband, Doug. She is the girl you wish you could be like! She plays tennis like a pro, has the greatest fashion and decorating  style and her hair is always darling!
  Karie recently found out that she has a heart condition. She will be meeting with a Cardiologist on Thursday and will probably need surgery. Her kitchen has been under construction for a while and, like many of us, her house has become slightly neglected. I had the privilege to go over today and help her clean out her hubby's office and her new living room that just got a free makeover, thanks to Ace Hardware! Isn't it beautiful?! Kathryn was my helper today and she made sure all of the toys that we de-junked were fun for someone else to play with! I left with a big load of stuff in my van and I'll be going back tomorrow to tackle the bedrooms!