"Everyone is going through something hard," "Sometimes we just need to learn something," "We can do hard things." These were the responses Brax gave today when I asked him what he learned while he was home.

5 months ago, we were here in the airport dropping off Brax to serve his mission. Life happened, and he ended up coming home promising he would be back. Last night after he was set apart, I told him that I am so proud of him because coming home can be HARD, but he put his heart and soul into going back out.

So often, these experiences can break us, but he allowed this experience to "Make" him. Make him into the man Heavenly Father wants him to be, the man he wants to become. I am so proud of him because he rose above himself and did the hard thing. We love you Brax, and are so proud to call you our son.

So I want to leave you with his final words of encouragement "Everyone is going through something hard, sometimes we just need to learn something, we can do hard things."

Love...

Sometimes you never know what's coming down here!!! Last night Gage was playing Varsity football in Syracuse. We had to leave at 5:30 to get there. Ella and Talen were on Grandma duty. Ella calls and says Grandma wants to go to bed. So I told her that she could either go to bed in her clothes or wait for an hour for me to get home. Well, she decided she just wanted to go to bed with her clothes on. So they put her in bed. Ella went upstairs to go to bed, and Talen stayed downstairs.

Grandma started yelling that she needed help, so Talen went in to see what she needed,

"I can't get my bra off."

So Talen yelled for Ella to come and help, and she said, "No!"
Talen called me back again and told me that Grandma needed help getting her bra off. So I told him to see if Ella would help, and he told me he already asked her, and she said no (Ella can't do any personal care for her because it freaks her out!)

Yep, I asked!!!!

"Talen, can you go and help her?"
"Do I have to?"
"Well, you can ask...

After our live conference was canceled 2 times because of COVID, we didn’t want the year to waste. I had no idea how to put on a virtual conference, but I learned! Not only did we do it the first time virtually, but it turned out AWESOME! Figuring out all the back-end stuff about gave me panic attacks. But every day somehow, it came together, and every day somehow, I learned more and more. Thank you to all of you who helped in some way, either participating or attending.

How often do we not do things because we don’t know how? God gives us visions but often doesn’t show us the exact path. But it is during this figuring out stage that miracles can happen. You meet someone, or you are shown how to do something, or a thought or idea appears. For example, God showed me I could do more and be more, and in the end, I was able to do something I never thought was possible.

I love the quote from Ezra Taft Benson.

“Men and women who turn their lives over to God will...

Sometimes God gives us a kiss of thank you! The most random experience happened today that only God could have set up.

I went to a garage sale today (yes, I love being able to get things cheap!) I walked up to a house, an elderly gentleman. Out of the blue, he said, “How is your Mother in Law doing?”. I looked at him, confused, not knowing if I knew him or not. I had never seen him before! How in the heck did he know I take full-time care of my mother-in-law? So I asked him why he would ask me that. “I just thought you looked like a nice lady who would take care of your mother-in-law!” So I told him she was doing great, I do take care of her, and she is home asleep, and I am going home right now to make her breakfast. He told me thank you for taking of her because it takes someone special to do that.

Sometimes we have to find God in our lives, and sometimes he places people right in front of us in the most random places. Thank you for the kiss of thank you!

The other day while doing my scripture study, I was in 1st Nephi chapter 5. We have all read this chapter so many times, yet I never stopped pausing and contemplating verse 4 and verse 8, but they jumped out to me that day! It was like the Lord wanted me to take a moment and pause so he could teach me one of life's great analogies to apply to my life.

1st Nephi 5:4

And it had come to pass that my father spake unto her, saying: I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren.

1st Nephi 5:8

And she spake, saying: Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them. And after this manner of...

Last night while studying CFM, we read the scripture D&C 58:3. 15 years ago, when we moved into our current home, it seemed like all of our financial stuff came to a halt! Our house payment rose, Shane bought really expensive equipment for the office, we lost a tuuuuun of money in an investment, and then on top of that we had the 2008 crash, and our office dropped 40%!!! So we went through one of the most challenging years where we gained a testimony of fast offerings.

I remember one time after we had received a check from an outstanding payment at work. Shane came home and gave me some money, and told me I could go shopping. I remember walking into the Dollar Store, and a thought came to me "I can buy anything in this store I wanted!" It had been so long that I could buy something I wanted just because!

As we were studying this verse, I brought up that we learned so much even though it was one of the most challenging times in our lives. Shane looked at me and said, "What did we...

Have you ever heard of the Lemonade Story? Ok, well, actually, it's the Ice Tea Story, but since I don't drink ice tea, I switched it to the Lemonade Story!
Get Yourself Some Girlfriends...
Young and newly married, I relaxed under a pecan tree on a hot Texas summer day, drinking lemonade and getting to know my new sister-in-law, Estelle. Not much older than I, but already the mother of three, Estelle seemed to be experienced and wise.
"Get yourself some girlfriends," she advised, clinking the ice cubes in her glass, "You are going to need girlfriends. Go places with them; do things with them." What a funny piece of advice, I thought. Hadn't I just gotten married? Hadn't I just joined the couple-world? I was a married woman, for goodness sake, not a young girl who needed girlfriends. But I listened to this new sister-in-law. So I got myself some girlfriends.
As the years tumbled by, one after another, gradually, I came to understand that Estella knew what she was talking about. I...

Wow! I can't believe this was two years ago. Then, emotionally and spiritually, I was stretched thin. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life! But, putting on this conference, I had to find the strength I didn't even know I had.

I would love to tell you that everything went perfectly, but it didn't! But how it turned out was exactly how Heavenly Father wanted it. If everything went perfectly, then I wouldn't have learned all that I did.

I remember one day I was in the parking garage of the Salt Palace. Shane and I both went there to pay a portion of the rental fee. Shane forgot something in the car, so I went down to get it by myself. I was so stressed, so overwhelmed, so defeated that I wanted to disappear, I wanted to crumble to the ground and not get up! I could not go forward anymore. The conference was only 5 weeks away, and we had only sold around 100 tickets; our goal was 1500! Why was I put in this situation? Why was I so impressed by the Spirit to take...