"No more excuses"...

So, Diana said that the one thought that kept re-occurring with Lyndzee's death was "no more excuses". She calmly told me that this was for me. She said that Lyndzee wanted me to say the prayer at her funeral. The PRAYER!!! I freaked out for about 3 days!! I haven't said more that 6 prayers publicly since I got teased in church when I was 9!! I had a huge phobia that I was going to mess up and get teased all over again!
I said a little prayer that Lyndzee would be there for me, because after all, it was her idea. I cried up to the prayer, and throughout the prayer, and the second that I was finished, I was fine! I felt a calming that I have rarely felt in the past. I knew I was progressing and now had "no more excuses!"
About a month later, Diana came to me again and requested that I do Lyndzee's Temple work for her. What an honor!! I felt so blessed that she would pick me to do this!!
I have waited patiently now for two whole years. Waiting for her to give me the things that I need to accomplish this blessing. She has only asked me once how it was going, whereas I responded, "How IS it going?"
I finally connected A to B and realized that she was waiting on ME! The whole time I've been waiting on HER! (Disclaimer...I have never done anything like this before, so I didn't really know the steps to getting this done).
I went to the church history center, where a really old gentleman was sitting behind a desk, waiting for someone to talk to. I mentioned why I was there and that I only had about 20 minutes before my kids would be home, so we kind of had to hurry.
He started by giving me this huge presentation on how things work while on the internet. You know, how to search, how to google information, how to GET ON the internet, and so forth. As politely as I could, I said that we now only had 12 minutes left. He then fumbled with the land line for 5 minutes, when he finally gave up and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed 3 wrong numbers before he looked up the right number and finally got on the phone to call over to the temple to ask if I could seal her to her parents while her parents were still alive...I don't want to seal her parents to the kids at this time, I just want to help her to get her own endowments taken care of!!!
After hanging up the phone, he said that he didn't know that that was what I wanted to do, and then continued by picking up the phone again to call and ask what paperwork I needed to make this happen.
I finally said that I had 1 minute left before my kids would be home from school, so he said to get on a certain website and it would tell me what to do from there.
That was easy...It only took 20 minutes for him to figure it out. Not bad!!
So I got home, got on the website, found her name, got on the wrong link, called the help line, got the sister on the line very flustered, suggested I do what she had done so we would be on the same page, (deep sigh), found what we needed, and finally realized that, after 2 years, it was my responsibility all along!! I let Lyndzee down, I let Diana down, I let myself down.
All things necessary are now complete to go through the temple on behalf of Lyndzee Lurene Robbins, age 11. I think I will go on April 15th...what would have been her 13th birthday.
Oh man, I'm gonna need a lot of tissues!!

Mckay, Mckay, Mckay...

So, I stayed home from work yesterday, because Kaden has strep. I wondered if Mckay would be able to handle not having us there. I worried about him all day long, awaiting the call that I knew would come, letting us know that he was having a horrible day.
Well, the call never came, so when he got home I let him know that I was really proud of him for being able to go to school alone without incident.
Then about three hours later, our sweet little Mckay came up to Jason and I and proudly announced that he made a new friend at school. We offered our congratulations and asked him who he was and how they became friends...BIG mistake...big...HUGE!!!
He started to tell us of the day, starting with a big smile! "Well, we got in a huge fight during lunch recess, and then when I was in Mr. Willardson's office, talking about what happened, he came in and we talked about it with him, and then the last recess, we found each other and we became friends!!" "Great huh!"
So after Jason and I composed ourselves, we calmly asked him if it was a good idea to get in a fight, and what he should have done instead, and he calmly replied, "But if we wouldn't have got in a fight, we would never be friends right now!" "So, it was good that we got in a fight, see!!"

I will never understand boys!!

Something to laugh about...

So I'm sitting here at the computer, watching Mckay play wii bowling, and I begin to really listen to what is being said...

....Mckay: " Stop doing that!!"

Jason: "But you NEED me to play!"

Mckay: "You can play when I get a pro ball!"

Jason: "You need me to play so you can see what you have to do to win!"

Mckay: "DAD!! Stop pausing it!!.....

Me: "Boys!!!...Jason,Quit bullying him!!"

Jason: "BUT HE WON'T LET ME PLAY!!!!!"

Love it!!

Excuses, Excuses....!!

O.K., So I don't have much time to post right now, so I'll make it quick.
Here are the five reasons why I haven't posted in a while;
Reason #1-#3- New Wii, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Larsen-Rockin' gift by the way!!! Thanks so much!!! Included in this category, Super Mario Brothers, Wii sports, and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic winter games, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa chocolate milk-thanks so much as well!! We have had hours and hours of fun!! The memories that we are making right now are priceless!!
Reason #4- I have a really competitive husband that has to win at least twice IN A ROW in order to stop playing...he also has a couple of apples that didn't fall very far from the tree playing right beside him!! Which explains reason #5...
We have had so much fun with this Wii that we haven't wanted to go to sleep until about two in the morning...the whole Christmas break!! We have had so much awesome family time that we haven't wanted to stop playing!!
We had to start back to reality this week and it has been really difficult to get back into the "swing of things". It's mostly been me that has had this trouble, because I am usually the "other one" that stays up to play. I guess Jason isn't the only one that's competitive in this family...
(I'm going to try to download Mckay and Kaden boxing at Grandma Larsen's Christmas morning. I just have to find my camera first!!! It's hilarious!!)

Christmas time....

So, I, like everyone else, have really been feeling the tension this year. I wish for just a moment we could freeze time, like the perfect photograph of the perfect Christmas and the perfect family. I love how messy life can be, but sometimes I wish I could just slow things down a bit. Just for a minute or two. That's all I'd need. I haven't even been going to sleep because I just want the days to last just a little longer. I want to get to the end of the day and feel like I didn't just waste the most precious gift, the chance to experience the fullness of life. I try to live everyday to the fullest, but sometimes I feel like I'm spinning so fast that all I can do is sit down and watch as the world becomes more and more uncertain around us!! The only thing that we can really trust is the Lord and his plan. The fact that he has physically lived and experienced every tear, every pain, everything that is possible to feel while on this earth. Do we look at it as a challenge, or as a blessing that our lives are still being lived. That we are lucky enough to be here, following the plan that was presented to us not so long ago. How blessed we truly are to be here, helping these little spirits return to him some day. What a huge undertaking. I'm so glad that nobody is perfect. That we are all here to learn patience and unconditional love. The fact the the Lord has trusted me with his most cherished children just blows my mind!! How worthy am I, really? What is the true measure of a man? Is it perfect children and the perfect family, or is it the journey we take while guarded by the Veil? I just hope for strong minds and strong bodies to withstand all that the world can bring. For we are here to learn and grow a testimony that even the most cunning and uncertain world can not touch!! We need to stop asking why me and start asking why not me? Why can't I look past what's right in front of me and see a greater need while on this earth? We're not here merely for our own salvation, but somehow to play a greater role in the surrounding souls that are around us daily. What is it going to take to see the real reason for this earthly visit? Life is short...what are we waiting for...