A Peace that Passes Understanding

At the beginning of the summer, I was running on fumes.  The move had been difficult.  My body was in a state of atrophy.  I missed my friends.    I was hanging by a thread.



As I was giving the Lord my woes one night, He invited me to wean the caboose and join Him on a spiritual retreat.  (See posted poem about weaning from earlier this summer.)


I was finally able to go, and it was amazing.  I went from years of flying around from task to task, to just peace.

Yesterday I left home about 4:00 and went to the Mt. Timpanogos temple.

I prayed, pondered and studied for FOUR uninterrupted hours.  Felt such love and gratitude for our Savior.


After that, I enjoyed a quiet, hot meal that I didn't have to share. 

 I read the new Reader's Digest as I ate.  Did I mention I was alone?


My parents graciously allowed me to use their guest room as a hotel. 



 For the next hour I studied the scriptures, pondered and prayed.  Quiet.



I then SLEPT for TWELVE STRAIGHT HOURS!  Hallelujah!!! 

The next morning (almost noon!) as I showered, alone with my thoughts (oh, the bliss!), I realized that what I was feeling in that specific moment in time was PEACE.

I felt clean inside and out.

Because Jesus Christ was willing to pay the price for me, I am able to feel this peace that He promised; the peace that passeth all understanding.  The peace of knowing that my life is aligned with God's will, that I will be with Him again someday, that my Savior loves me, that His Spirit will always be with me.

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philip. 4:7).





I then ate another meal flying solo--I could get used to this!  And I returned to the temple,                     

for two more hours of service and love.  I returned home refreshed, refueled and so very grateful for all that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with!

Here are some before/after picts:

BEFORE

AFTER

 

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

       

The Whole Fandamily

'Tis the season, I guess, for family reunions, so here are some picts. (Thanks, Brenda--I love having my own personal photographer!)
Rowan Reunion at Lagoon:

 Cousin A drove Little K around--not remarkable unless you know that when Cousin A was born, doctors pretty much proclaimed her a vegetable and declared that she would never...

 The Caboose drank her weight in slushies.

 Little K and Cousin A again.

Later that week, we went to the Zoo with the Cuthbert family.

Then Seven Peaks, and another reunion, followed by Sarah's baptism.  BIG week.

Eagle Court of Honor

Well, Mr. Cool finally had his big Eagle Court of Honor.  Here are some pictures.  I sure am proud of that young man!  It's awe-inspiring to see him grow and put off some of the silly to exchange it for reverence and dignity.  He is hard-working, capable, and dependable.

A lot of great men poured manhood into this boy!

It was fun to see him exercising some character traits that he mostly keeps safely packed away so as to not damage his image. 

Here he is being humble--WOW:

Brotherly, friendly and helpful:

What fine, upstanding youth! 

They clean up real good!

(Who knows what's going on behind the Dudley Do-Right smiles, though.)

(I had a most-convenient migraine that day, but mercifully my dad had some narcotics that held it at bay. Not my best day for pictures--and where is Brenda with her Photoshop editing skills when I need her!?! 'Cause even when it's all about Mr. C, it's really all about me. ;)       )

They turned the time over to him at the end. He spoke clearly, in FULL SENTENCES, and with dignity! He thanked people! Again, WOW!   Who'd uv thunk it?

(Uh, turn your head sideways.  I'm apparently unable to fix this glitch.  No worries.)

Little P, all dressed in white--what were we thinking!?!--you gotta love the socks!

We miss our great friends!

Thanks for taking the pictures and for the steak dinner afterwards, Grandpa!

A few memorable mishaps:

--Left his shirt, sash thingy and merit badges at home.  Had to borrow from a friend.

--Missed the original Court of Honor with his friend.  Rescheduled for the next day.  Oye! 

--Previously mentioned migraine along with general hormonal instability (mine, not his).

--Arrived home in time to kick him out the door for his High Adventure 50 mile hike.

New Pictures

My personal photographer and one of my favorite sisters did a photo shoot for us.  Awesome!  Some of the new picts are already on, more to come. 
Thanks, Brenda!

Also, Eagle Court of Honor was awesome!  Pictures to come later, also.

Bad Mama

On a recent Sunday, the Nellie Family sat dressed, clean and EARLY for the 9:00 am Church meeting.  Afterwards, I taught a spiritual, prepared, well received Sunday School lesson to Mr. Cool's class.

Then a beautiful family lunch, which a friend and I also delivered to another friend and her family who live in a temporary Crazy-Land.  (If you ever make it out of there, you ought to remember those who remain!)

I spent the afternoon giving each Nellie individual "Sabbath Conference" time; coordinating calendars, setting goals, making to-do lists, etc...Planned for an Eagle Court of Honor, Girls' Camp 4th year hike, Scout physical appointment, famly campout, Weblos day camp, Boy Scout High Adventure 50-miler, Cub Scout Pack Meeting, Drama Class and final performance, birthday party, two upcoming famly reunions and a baptism.  (Whew!)

I worked on the Personal Progress Program with two YW Nellies (And signed off my last one!  I earned it again!  Go, me!) Signed off several Weblos achievements, delivered several various scout forms to two different locations.  We waded through 6 pages of the cute Preparing for Baptism workbook, started a new Faith in God workbook, and colored in the Littles' Sunday books. 

Waffles and Ice Cream for our traditional Breakfast For Dinner Sunday meal--yeah, Mom!  Had Family Scriptures, Prayer and typical bedtime routine for almost everyone. 

Then I fell into bed completely exhausted and DISCOURAGED.

Discouraged?  Completely and totally.  Beat myself up good.

Well, after dinner and then during the next hour and a half, Little P had thrown a "Grand-Mal Tantrum." Her bedtime routine that night had been anything BUT. 

The entire tantrum was a power-struggle over the word, "Please."

And although for the most part we were remarkably patient, calm and gentle; and in spite of the eventual surrender and loving finale; I couldn't stop second-guessing myself about the root cause of the disturbance; maybe her diet, or my parenting skills, or behavioral tecniques, propensity towards ingrown toenails; everything remotely guilt-inducing was brought to the table.  How had I failed?  Any suggestions were welcomed and accepted--irrational or otherwise. 

Handsome Prince's thoughts on the matter?  "She sure is strong-willed, isn't she?"  Then he rolled over and fell asleep.

Why, when I should have felt like a million bucks, did I feel more like $1.50? 

How could I have spent the entire day immersed in God's work, serving His children and then forget that I am also His Daughter?

Mercifully, He reminded me. 

Jesus Christ paid the price for me, because I will always fall short.  Oh, how I love Him!

Sure glad tomorrow is a new day.

Unstable

Six of my Nellies are girls.  This has made me develop some creative coping mechanisms.  Most of them seem hilarious to me at the time. 

Yesterday I told a screaming little girl at the library not to cry, we would find her mommy. 

Ha!  I was her mommy (Little Nellie K). 

Today I opened the bathroom door to a screaming Nellie P, quickly grabbed her and pulled her into my interrupted shower with me, she was fully clothed. 

Whatever works, I guess.

COMING SOON:  New family picts.

NO SLEEP TONIGHT

My sister once wrote a letter to the ever-elusive sleep, and in that spirit:

Last night, as we battled the night-games and fireworks just outside our front door; desperate for a bedtime, knowing on some level that nocturnal rest aspirations at our house are mostly desperate fantasy anyway; another glitch surfaced to kill any hope.

Sweet P had already made it clear that she could not go downstairs to the laudry room alone to get her pajamas, as we had found a spider there the day before.  Handsome Prince appeared to rescue her from the horrors of nakedness and aracnids, bless his heart, and he bravely accompanied her. 

(I know, I KNOW!  I'll put the clothes away some day.  At least it was clean and folded, OK?)

After an abbreviated scripture study and family prayer, and a firm, "NO!  We are DONE playing outside!  It's 10:30!" I finally herded the three littles into their room.  This is when the unthinkable happened. 

Now, normally I encourage the old adage, "Look before you leap," but last night I wish she'd never seen  (Gasp!) The Spider On Her Bed. 

Even though we caught it, squished it, and flushed it, the damage was done.

( I have to be thankful that we didn't have a renegade spider somewhere in the bed, spotted briefly but running loose.   We would have had to rent a hotel.)

 I've discovered on more than one occasion that it doesn't take much to send a 5 year-old girl into hysterics. Last night was no exception. 


Oye, I'm so tired!

 

It's worth noting that in the midst of all the chaos, Mr. Cool thought it would be a good idea to bring up the dead spider he had just found in the basement.  I guess his reasoning was that it could have been worse--"Look how big this one was!" Helpful.