Auxiliary Training with Elder Oaks

At the last minute, the Relief Society counselors were invited to an auxiliary training with Elder Oaks in Council Bluffs. Originally only the presidents of each organization were invited. I had secretly hoped our president wouldn't be able to make it so I could fill in. But she booked a plane ticket around the meeting. My disappointment turned into pure excitement at the late invitation.

Not having attended BYU or serving a mission, it isn't often that I get the opportunity to see a prophet in person. So these rare occasions are very special to me.

Elder Oaks was so fun. His talks are usually very serious in nature and he has a very serious demeanor when delivering them in General Conference. I love his talks because he tells it exactly as it is even if it may offend someone. He explains that he is only trying to please God, not man and it's a message we all need to hear.

Although still serious in nature, I saw a different side of Elder Oaks. He was extremely funny and lighthearted at times. He was quoting scriptures but had no idea where the reference was found. Elder Clayton, who accompanied him would whisper the references to him. He told us that he was the only one of the 12 apostles that doesn't have those all memorized. I loved that because I am not a person that remembers references. Mario is so much better than I am and now I see that that is ok. Another thing that I loved about Elder Oaks is that he laughs at his own jokes. He obviously cracks himself up. Another similarity I feel I have in common with him. My kids get so annoyed that I laugh at myself all the time.

Elder Oaks talked about feeling the spirit and receiving revelation. He said he receives many letters from people stating that their prayers are going unanswered. He said that he doubts that is true, people just aren't recognizing the answers. But he also reminded us that God answers in His own time and His own way. We should never try to tell the Lord when to answer our prayers. He reminded us to remember the teachings of Christ. Christ expressed love and concern, not judgment when he lived on the Earth. He left time for people to repent. He gave us the Savior's formula-firmness in truth and love.

After he spoke, he opened the meeting up to questions and answers. It was so much fun to see his personality and to see he really truly is just a man like us but has a call to be an Apostle. He has dedicated his life to helping us return to our Heavenly Father. I didn't ask a question, but the general feeling I got from the questions being asked was concern for the youth. They seem very lonely. Leaders wanted advice on how to help them. I think that we haven't done a good job of teaching our youth that life can be lonely as we strive to do what is right, but we always have the Lord. We are never truly alone if we keep that in mind.

Elder Oaks has always been one of my favorites, but I love him even more now.

Big Events the Past Month

I guess we were crazy when we decided to move out of our house at the end of April.  It has been nothing but craziness and busyness this past month.  I thought when we moved into our TLF (temporary living facility) that things would calm down.  But it seems to only be worse because we spend most of our day in the car driving the kids back and forth to Papillion.  School is out Thursday and Mario flies to Spain on Monday while the kids and I drive to visit my sister, Melissa in Missouri. Hopefully the next few weeks will be more relaxing but somehow I doubt it.  I have been very busy with my callings in the Relief Society Presidency and Temple Prep teacher.  I haven't been asked to be released because the president and other counselor will be out of town a lot in the next month and I didn't want to overwhelm a new person.

Here's a recap of some of the highlights, completely out of order because I don't have time to fix it right now:

Erin's last piano recital.  Oh how she loved her teacher, Mrs. Black.
She will really miss her.  I think the feeling is mutual since
Erin was her best student.

Having fun with Eric in our empty house

Zach had a yard sale and made a few bucks.

We had to paint over the growth charts.

Poor Eric hasn't grown a lot

Mother's Day purse Eric picked out for me.  I'll treasure it always.

Elder Wirthlin and I have the same birthday so we
took him and his companions to Texas Roadhouse
for dinner.

Celebrating Eric's graduation with a store bought
cake since I didn't have any supplies to make him one.

Family pictures.  Hopefully the professional photographer
pictures are better than my iPhone ones. I'll post those
when I get them back.

Finished up Temple Prep classes and here's
Lori Conklin going for the first time.  What a blessing to be
asked to teach that class with Mario.

Eric and Caitlin went to prom

They took pics in our home since it was raining outside
and the movers had already taken everything.

Graduation on Mother's Day

Erin didn't want to leave church early so she missed out on pictures.

Walking across stage

Moving On

I'm sitting in Eric's room crying my eyes out as he packs up his belongings to go into storage while he's in college. How did 18 years fly by so fast?

Our movers come this week. This move to Spain is becoming more real each day.


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Melissa and the Kids Visit

Melissa's family moved up to Missouri last month. So for a few months, we will only live about 6 hours apart. She and the boys came up on their spring break to spend a few days with us. We love getting together. The boys play and we never see or hear from them for hours. Unfortunately the weather was a bit chilly so they couldn't play outside as much as they would like. But they had a lot of fun in the house. We will sure miss them when we move to Madrid.

Happy Easter

It's been a bittersweet day. I loved conference and spending time with my family. But, I am sad to think that this is our last Easter to spend with Eric for probably several years.

The day began with a note from the Easter Bunny letting the kids know he was resigning after this year because they are all too old and need to concentrate more on the true meaning of Easter for now on. Needless to say, that didn't go over well. Eric ended up making eggs to dye with the kids since I didn't do that this year. He put me in such a guilt trip, that I finally made the bunny cake.

My goal for next year is to have the kids find a family with young children to dye eggs with and maybe coordinate Easter egg hunts. They ended up doing one tonight for a friend's little boy. That was good.

Eric told the kids he would send them Easter baskets next year to Spain. He felt sorry for his "deprived" siblings. I just want us to focus more on our Savior and his atonement. We need a better balance.

Caitlin's Quilt

I set out to make a super simple quilt for Cailtin with the leftover fabric from Eric's quilt. I guess I tried to rush too much (because I needed to get my machine in to be serviced before the movers come) and I kept making tons of mistakes. Her last name was going to be appliquéd on the bottom but the pattern on the fabric was slanted and made the lettering look crooked. So I took that off. Then I bought Minky fabric for the back and I have used it in the past with no problem. This time, I guess I didn't pin well because the fabric all bunched up and I had to remove all the quilting (28 rows) and start completely over. It is finally done but has many flaws. Hopefully she won't care or notice too much. It's a mini version of Eric's quilt.

Sunday Ride

I finally finished my year long project. I LOVE it!