He Is Risen! And we will be too.

Tomorrow I'll post the pictures of the Easter egg hunts, moving news, etc.

Today, however, as it is Easter I wanted to share something special.

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Because of His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane we can be forgiven for our sins.  Because of His resurrection after His crucifixion we can also be resurrected.  We will once again be united, spirit and body.  We will be reunited in the flesh with loved ones who have died.

Today we remembered two special children.  One of my nephews died the day after he was born severely premature and with a severe infection.  One of my nieces died three days after she was born with severe heart and lung malformation.  Each of their short lives was a miracle.  We remember them often.  We look forward with faith to the day we will get to meet these children and get to know them.  We have felt the influence of their spirits in our lives.

We released two white balloons this morning.  One for each of these special children.  I attached a note to each balloon to spread the faith and love with whomever may find these balloons at the end of their journey.

Benjamin and Emma, we love you.  We know we will see you again!

Love,
Aunt Janelle, Uncle Mike, and your cousins Kate, Lizzie, and Sabrina

This week in review

 It has been such an exciting and busy week -- and it's only Thursday night!  So here is a quick update:

Sunday was the last time Michael and I were helping in our nursery class at church.  We're going to miss these kids like crazy.  See those huge round eyes?  Those are real "Lucy Eyes", as we call them.  And will probably forever call them. 

Kate went to her last Activity Day's activity.  The girls wore dresses to the activity and they washed their faces, cleaned their nails and applied nail polish.  Kate had a blast, of course.

 Kate got to take part in the Hershey Track Meet.  She has been looking forward to this for months!  She did the softball throw (32 feet, 7 inches), the standing long jump (47 inches), and the 100 meter dash (third out of six girls in her heat).  She did an excellent job!  Especially when you consider that her long jump is almost equal to her height!  She looks like a dancer in the top-left picture (softball throw).

Sabrina came with me to the track meet.  She spent her time eating crackers and rolling down a slight incline.  The ground was quite moist and she was soaked and freezing cold by the time we left.

I was a few minutes early picking Sabrina up from preschool yesterday.  They were doing a little Easter egg hunt in a patch of grass.  So of course I had to grab my camera.

Michael and I ran a few errands while Sabrina was at school, and got a text message from our real estate agent that the keys were available for our new house.  We of course ran right over :)  I took Sabrina over as a surprise after I picked her up from school, then we took the other two over later.  Sabrina tried SO hard to keep a secret from her sisters (I hadn't told them where we were going).  They were all riding with grandma.  About 3/4 of the way there she finally burst, telling Grandma where we were headed (not realizing soon enough that of course then her sisters would hear too).  Kate and Lizzie were very excited.

So naturally I've taken a bunch of things over to the new house in the last couple of days.  I can do all sorts of work when I really put my mind to it!  I just have to remember that I have to pay for it eventually.  I've been fighting off some severe pain, but I really want to be part of this.  It's a hard balance.  Last night we went over and ate TV dinners on a blanket in the great room.  Today the girls used large cups to fill up the fountain so it would work.  Yes, we have a hose on a list of things to buy now.

We have had an issue with the house number of our new place.  On the house, and according to USPS it is 713, but according to all tax and government information and Google Maps it's 715.  So the title company made us change it officially.  I have to figure out how to fix two stripped screw heads so I can remove the other two old numbers so we have a nice matched set.  The non-matching numbers look pretty hokey :")

Tonight we had our first non-grandma visitors!  Okay, so it was my brother and his wife and their son... but sitll!  Sabrina always HAS to hold Brek.  That's going to be a problem once he outgrows her.  Lizzie even took a picture of me snuggling with him.  I included it so there is proof I was there and have not been taken over by some cyborg.  He decided he was tired so he was whining a bit.  I was humming back to him and he was 99% asleep when they left.  Then Sabrina needed a turn to take a picture. She ended up with this self-portrait which she calls "Polar Bear".

Tomorrow and the next day are the Big Move days.  Boxes and furniture are on their way!!!

Going Once, Going Twice... SOLD!*

This morning I got a phone call that Suzette's family had been planning to go camping today, but since the weather was yucky they decided to come help me pack and clean up the garage.  What a miracle!  With the 5 of them, my mom, and my girls, we got the garage looking incredible in just a couple very busy hours.  Then Grandma celebrated by getting us lunch which we brought back and ate picnic-style in the garage.  Who can EAT on their garage floor?!  I felt almost guilty parking the car in there later today.

Then this afternoon we attended the closing on our new home.  With all the usual hubbub just prior to closing it felt like another miracle that it went so smoothly.  They served us fresh cookies, cold water / soda, and we sat in a very fancy room to sign our names roughly 1,083,294 times.  Everything was exactly as we expected with no nasty surprises.

 

And ta-da!!!  We came home with a big packet of paperwork.  We don't get the keys to our new home until 48 hours after funding.  There is a possibility that funding will occur tomorrow, but it may not be until Monday.  So at least by Wednesday we should get the keys and get to make our first official Trip Home.

*This title reflects artistic license as no auctions took place in the purchase of the home.  ;)

Sisterly Love

I'd like to point two things out that we can learn from this picture:

1: Lift up those around you.  Help others reach their goals / needs / potential by lifting them above yourself.  By putting ourselves lower we can lift others above us.  And how much does that truly exalt us in the end run?  Worth a moment on the grocery store floor?  Definitely.

2: As others lift you up, make it easy on them.  Notice how Lizzie took off her boots before stepping on Kate's back?  She didn't want to make it any harder on Kate than necessary.  While you can be grateful for the help of others, do what is in your power to ease their burden as well.  Recognize the efforts of someone on your behalf.

(I took this picture this evening using my camera phone at the grocery store.  Lizzie was thirsty and I simply couldn't pick her up to reach the drinking fountain.)

Goals, update 6

 Any new notes I've added this month are bold.  

Completed goals are red.

1- Sew at least one new item of clothing for me.

2- Make living room curtains (hopefully for our own home) -- Moving in 2 weeks!!!  Then we can start thinking about things like curtains.
 
3- Go one mile (run/walk) in 12 minutes or less --  All my energy is going to packing right now.  We'll see how alive I am after I'm done with this.

4- Clean out and sort jewelry boxes

5- Catch up one year of scrapbooks -- I'll get back to this after the move.
 
6- Read the entire Book of Mormon -- In the process
 
7- Get a new family picture taken
 
8- Clean out my bedroom closet -- This is what I'm working on starting tomorrow!  I'll also be packing up whatever I can't/won't be wearing immediately.
 
9- Sort my craft type items (including sewing) -- This is pretty well done!  I guess it's halfway there and the other half will be as I move it into its new place.

10- Make a new temple dress (does not fulfill goal #1) --  I found a mostly made temple dress in my sewing things. And guess what?  I still like it!  It might even still fit okay!  I'll have to just finish it up.
 
11- Be involved in at least one PTA project at the elementary school -- I am getting signed up to help with something, but I've also helped chaperone a field trip for each girl this last month.  They loved it.  And so did I.
 
12- Get last year's blog book printed and bound --  On hold.
 
13- Make some nice hair pretties for MY daughters --  On hold.
 
14- Read some classic literature
   
15- Plant something and keep it alive -- My miniature roses are so pretty!  They're still doing really well and have grown TONS.
 
16- Improve dysphonia to be able to sing again with less pain -- Still in progress.
 
17- Learn two new hymns on the piano --
 
18- Plan and enjoy a family vacation (even if it has to be in Utah County)
 
19- Back up all digital photos on new DVDs (or other storage device) and store safely -- ongoing
 
20- Participate in fruit and vegetable co-op when possible and learn new ways to enjoy produce -- We're working on this.  Done it a few times and hopefully will do better once life gets settled again.
 
21- Create a 7 generation pedigree chart

22- Finish quilts for the girls' beds

23- Take a class through the community programs
 
24- Follow FlyLady principles to get/keep the house in a happy state.  -- FlyLady doesn't have a specific plan for packing up a whole house, but I think I've been doing pretty well actually.
 
25- Read a book by a church leader -- Only about 50 pages left.  Yeah, I've been slow on the finishing part, but I didn't want to forget to pay attention.
 
26- Spend $1,000 to improve financial outlook (pay off debt faster, put in savings, etc.) -- We did it!  Finally buying a home is absolutely wonderful.
 
27- Look at the stars more -- I can't wait for warm summer nights!
 
28- Clean the Sharpie "artwork" off the playroom walls  Ha ha!!!!  DONE!!!

29- Update our family's emergency preparedness -- Oops.  Still need to finish this up.

30- Learn to use the lenses and settings on my camera -- Baby steps here too.
 
31- Return and report progress on my goals

Picture Day

 Some new pictures I took of my girls at or near the Mt. Timpanogos Temple last weekend.  I spent the whole day cutting, trimming, and curling their hair.  (Mt. Timpanogos Temple is where Michael and I were married over a decade ago!)

In packing news: This last week the toys got all packed up!  The play room has been boxed up.  Well, about 1/3 of it.  The rest has found new homes (mostly worn out ones in the garbage).  I am too tired to take a picture of it, but it mostly looks like a room with a bunch of paint patches on the walls and boxes stacked around.  A little more progress.  Phew!