church callings

Now if you are new to our faith, there is one thing that seems to be continuous. That you serve in a church calling. Usually in the same one until you die. Well, Almost. Take me for example. I have been in some form of Church Activities planning for ever. I almost always expect to get this calling at some point. And I love it. I like doing it and it comes easy (unlike Primary Chorister which was a stretch for me). Now Andy has always worked with the youth. In particular, the Young Men. In some form or another for 10 years. Except when we moved to Missouri. It's like the Lord just can't figure out what to do with him. He was in the Bishopric for a few months and then wasn't. He was a Seminary teacher for awhile and then wasn't. He was in the Ward Young Men's Presidency for like 4 months and then wasn't and just recently (say 2 months) he was called to the Stake Young Men's Presidency and as of last night is no longer. They just reorganized the Stake Presidency which meant that Scott Pulley got pulled up to be a councilor. He had been the Young Men's President but with him moving upward, the YMP is dissolved leaving Andy once again with no calling...Would anyone like to hazard a guess what Missouri has in store for him next???

A Bit of Brillance

This story begins on Saturday morning. As always, Heather and I are trying to convince our children that cleaning the house is a fun and exciting activity that every child wishes they could have. And as always, our kids weren't buying it. Instead my little stow away sat downstairs and invented a game that she could share with her mother and father. It was hard for me to be angry with her when she was being so creative. For those of you that are interested, please play along. If we get enough interest I will be contacting Milton Bradley and informing them that we may have a prodigy on our hands.

Just in case you cannot see the image clearly, the two boxes at the bottom that are labeled "M" and "D" are for scorekeeping purposes. Katie understands how much Heather and I enjoy a good competition. The directions are written along the left side. While some of her spelling is off I am constantly amazed at how much Katie can create and figure out in her own mind, without needing assistance. You'll notice the game even comes complete with a beautiful, maturing tree. So the basic premise of the game is this: you take the little red drawing at the top, which represents the top of an acorn, and you try to figure out which drawing on the right accurately completes the picture. This is probably the third or fourth game that Katie has created from scratch, without any prompting. I'd love to see the inner workings of her mind because some of the things that she does fascinate me. Needless to say, at times I have a hard time keeping up with her intellectually. Luckily, I think she will take after her mother in that regard!

(Thank you Andy for that fun post and as her mother may I just add a little bit of news regarding Katie? She was asked to take an IQ test at school. Based on her score, we now know she takes after...drum roll please....both of us of course. She is brilliant and has been placed in the talented and gifted program. She is indeed a smarty. My miracle baby that we weren't supposed to be able to have, one who was born early, had many doctors working with her to walk and talk and I remember being so proud that she could say moo when she turned two. Way to go and show us all!!!)

and it will all be coming...

I have been so busy at the end of 2008 that nothing has been documented. (lament, lament). But never fear, the big update will be coming shortly. So stayed tune for...fishing with the Deppongs, Halloween with the Kneses, The Ward Fall Festival (my calling as Ward Activities Director) the Ward Christmas Party, Katie's Class parties (Halloween and Christmas...though you can't call them that), Cats the musical, Thanksgiving with the inlaws and friends, visiting with Shelby and Jim, fun pics around the house, our annual Christmas devotional with the Goodmans and Keetches, and then our fabulous trip to Florida for Christmas...Thanks for allowing me this major backlog of pics, Love to all, Heather

At Katie's class party this year I came dressed as a witch. We hunted up all the ingredients to make a witches brew that the children then ate. It was so much fun and the kids really liked it. here were all the ingredients that went into the brew...

For Halloween this year, Andy went to AAMFT conf in Tennessee. So we were on our own. Left we despair, the Knese's stepped in to be our official Grandparents of the evening. They came, carved our pumpkins, walked the stroller with Griff inside and allowed me to trick or treat with my children. Thank goodness for extra grandmas and grandpas when the real ones are so far away and miss out on so much... Griff was a tiger this year because it was the warmest thing we owned. Although Halloween was such a hot day he really didn't need the extra warmth.
Here Linda carves our pumpkins and hands out candy.... She even came prepared with her own knife in her purse. Is that dedication or what. She then took the seeds home and cooked them for us. Could I get any luckier???
Katie making witches brew from her class party.
Bro. Knese walking Griff in the stroller during trick or treat time. and below are all the neighborhood children who joined in the fun... note that this year Baker wanted to be a moth. He pronounced it mop all evening much to the amusement of anyone who asked what he was.

Katie caught the biggest fish, the smallest fish and a crayfish (or crawfish?). This is her largest catch for the day. It is sad that her poppy lives so far away since I always imagined this to be his job. But luckily there are several grandpas in our church family who are willing to step in. Here Ollie Deppong steps in to teach Katie how to fish. He was very patient with both her and Baker. Especially since Baker really only wanted to throw rocks in the pond.
Not only was her our worm baiter, he was the official fish remover. Ollie and his lovely wife Debbie took us out when Andy was out of town. What a great way to spend a weekend alone with the kids. Inviting others to help entertain them.
Here we are trying to get a fish. I was determined and actually caught quite a few little ones.
And speaking of little, here is the smallest fish we caught. Looks like it could be in a fish bowl.

Griffith after scavenging on the floor for any food at all... Katie's unique way of traveling with Griffith when no one is watching....
Griffith eating the food he dropped previously from his high chair...
Fishing with Debbie...what a treat this was for us

Ollie showing us how to put worms on the hook (and even after all his showing, he was the only one who did it. I couldn't bring myself to inflict pain on the worm and Katie only liked to get them...so he continued to be our official worm hooker.