Goodbyes and Reflections

The past few weekends have felt a bit surreal as I prepare to say goodbye to so many friends who have touched my life deeply.  Last week Jared and I were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting.  As I looked out into the faces of our ward members I was overcome with emotion.
I reflected on the last time I was asked to speak in church a couple of years ago.  It was the Sunday following the death of our Relief Society President, and my good friend Tammy Johnson.  We had been asked as a Relief Society presidency to speak the Sunday following her heart surgery.  I remember looking into the faces of her grieving spouse and children and wondering how I could ever make it through my talk, just a few days after her funeral.  But the Spirit sustained me, I was able to remain composed and I know the Lord guided my thoughts and words on that day.
I saw the faces of faithful primary, scout and young women leaders who have touched the hearts of my children.

I saw Marcella, my neighbor who was on the brink of death last year, but was miraculously healed.  I am lifted when I visit her and am blessed to learn from her calm, positive spirit despite the many challenged thrown her way.  I became her visiting teacher while she was recovering in a care facility, learning to walk again and have learned a lot from her wisdom and experiences she's shared about being a mother and grandmother.  Her husband Dave treated us to a final dinner at Texas Roadhouse with our neighbors the Kirkhams and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation of good friends that we have been blessed to be surrounded by.

This week was the baby blessing for my dear friend and neighbor Jessica's little boy.  As he was blessed to be part of an eternal family, my mind flashed back to the moment when I felt the distinct impression to invite her to come back to church with me.  She accepted the challenge and the ensuing months hold some of the most precious memories of my life as we were blessed to have the missionaries in our home weekly to teach her daughter in preparation for her baptism.

All of these goodbye moments made me think of "living each day as if it were your last."  Why does it take a goodbye moment to help me fully appreciate the relationships I cherish with those around me?  It's given me more motivation to cherish the "nows" and enjoy the current relationships in my life.

Becca's Sixteen

Sadly, Rebecca's sixteenth birthday fell on the first day of our move when our home was in upheaval.  When she came home from school the contents of our home were all packed up.  She celebrated her birthday early by spending the weekend hanging out with friends including a movie, mafia and maple cream pie.
We delayed our move until the last week of school mainly for Rebecca's sake.  She is super scholastically motivated and it was super important for her to stay for finals to keep her perfect grades up.  She doesn't often share her inner thoughts vocally, but I love getting a glimpse of her spiritual depth and maturity as I read a few pages in her scripture journal where she notes insights, goals and impressions.
I was impressed with her work ethic as she decided to make and sell cookie dough balls as a fundraiser for her National Food Innovations Competition in the midst of finals prep.  Thanks to our generous friends and neighbors, she sold about 80 dozen cookie dough balls!

May Happenings

Between the cleaning packing and planning in preparation for the move we've kept busy with a lot of events this months.  I started off the month with our final piano group lesson here.

 Jacob successfully survived surgery.  The worst part was the description about the i.v. by the male nurse who didn't spare any details.  Fortunately the anesthesia took effect before he took take a look at the scalpel!  He finally got to get a little taste of "homeschool" during his week of recovery so he could keep up his grades.

 Alyssa was super excited for the fun run last week.  Her class went a day early since she didn't have school on the day the run was hosted for the rest of the grades, but she was eagerly begging to get to go again the next so she could get another free bottle of gatorade.

 We spent a day up at our new home wiping out cabinets, vacuuming, and cleaning the hard water off of the windows.  Then we took a break and walked to see a beautiful view of the river behind our house.

 Today was our final day in church at our ward.  Jared spoke in another ward for his high council assignment and the closing song was "Sing we now at Parting."  Then we sang it again in our ward and the organist started to play the postlude song was "God Be With You Til We Meet Again."  I conducted in Relief Society and the lyrics "Here we meet with friends and neighbors" brought the emotions to the surface.   Jared was in charge of Seminary Graduation this evening.  It was inspiring for me to hear Tanner Ferrara's talk and see the maturity and growth that happens in our children so quickly as they prepare to leave home and embark on new journeys.  I'm not ready for that yet, although its right around the corner for Rebecca.

Dan with Mrs. Haskett - his Kindergarten teacher

New Family Pics

We finally got our family pictures done.  It was a rainy, windy, chilly day so I'm feeling pretty lucky that we didn't get drenched, just drizzled as we tried to rush through before the rain picked up!  Happy to have them just in time for Mother's Day thanks to my friend Melonie. who still managed to get some great pics despite the weather.
Looking at the picture of the church in the background is going to be especially nostalgic for me once me move.  I feel like my heart is torn between two places. Each week I go to church and become overcome with emotions when I look into the faces of so many people who have brought great meaning into my life.  And yet, I'm also ready to stop living in limbo land and ready to move on to our new home and new friends.  Our family has doubled in size since we first moved here.

 We found out I was expecting Emily the week that we moved into our home.

I feel so grateful that despite the changes and challenges ahead, I get to go through them with my best friend.

 And I'm hopeful that with the change it will forge the relationships between my children to be even closer because they will have rely on each other before they have a chance to make new friends.

Hoopsters

Daniel's basketball team won the local tournament.  I really enjoyed watching his game.  I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with sports.  I love how they engage my boys in meaningful physical activity and they learn from working as a team. The travel, $ and time commitment that it requires is so hard for me to swallow.  But hearing my son give genuine compliments  and encouragement to others on his team really makes my day. 
Jared asked the kids at dinner the other night about what they had done that week to reach out and lift others up.  Daniel shared an incident where a boy at school wanted to join the group playing a sport.  Some other kids didn't want to him to interrupt the game or join their team because he was less skilled, but Dan said "You can be on my team," even though he realized this would make it a lot more challenging for his team to do well.  It touched my heart when I heard this.  I hope my kids can always see sports in proper perspective.  It certainly feels good to be #1, but it feels even better when you can put being #1 aside in order to build up someone else. 

Piano Lasts

This month is full of a lot of firsts and lasts for me and I find myself getting emotional over and over again.  Today I'm prepping for my last piano group lesson here, getting ready to end another chapter and move on to new adventures when we relocate.  I have thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to teach piano to a lot of great students and my own children. 

Rhythm Telephone

Piano Ice Cream Party

  I got an iPad for Christmas so I could use the Piano Maestro app in my studio.  I love how motivating it is to get my kids practicing more.  Alyssa's favorite feature is the "selfies" she gets to take when she masters a song.  She likes to pick emojis to add to the comments and then match their faces in her pic!  One of my favorite parts of being a parent is making music with my children.