Playtime

A Boy and His Cape

I don't know what it is but there is something special about a little boy and his blanket cape : )
and no pants, isn't that nice. That is a regular occurrence for him.

He has been wearing this around the house for two days now. I just love him. (I should have done his hair...but this is what he looks like at home...so all well.)

How Great Will Be Your Joy

 

Angelina DaVinci

Baptism

Saturday February 23rd

performed by Glenn Gavin

Glenn, Chrissy, Angelina

Savannah, Judah, Sebastian, Leon

 

 Elder Pierre Louis, Angelina DaVinci, Elder Pyron

 

   Chrissy, Angelina, Marci

Angelina is a rare soul! She just walked into an LDS church one day and attended sacrament in California. Her in-laws had heard some crazy things about the church and told her not to go back. She listened to them for a time but she always thought in her heart that she had loved being there and that it was a good place. She moved here to Vegas and found out that she lived right next to another LDS church. She walked in and met some missionaries. They got her information and gave the referral to our ward where she lived. The assignment was given to Glenn(who is the assistant ward mission leader) He and Brother Torrey (a ward missionary) went to check it out. They met with her and asked her if the missionaries had taught her anything yet. She said that they hadn't but that she wanted to be baptized. You can imagine Glenn's excitement! Glenn then set her with a date for baptism and explained that their job along with the missionaries' is to prepare people to be baptized. They set the baptism for 3 weeks from that day. We met with her with the missionaries several times a week for lessons and for dinners and to hang out. We became close friends in a very short time. 

Angelina was so very prepared even before she met the missionaries. The day they met her Glenn mentioned that he wanted her to meet me. They set the time for the following day for me to meet. She said she would make some coffee. Glenn chuckled and explained that we actually didn't drink coffee. She asked if that was something personal or if as a church we didn't, he explained that as a church we did not drink coffee. She said that the week before she was pouring herself some coffee and started praying and asking God if it was a bad thing to drink coffee. When I met her that Monday she had thrown out all of her coffee. 

We got her a persian Book of Mormon. She had read all the way into Jacob by the 3rd week. We got her a Book of Mormon Reader for the kids and they started reading it together every night. 

At first when she was praying about what she was taught and as she read the Book of Mormon she thought it was her Dad, who had passed away and was a very righteous influence in her life, who was guiding her to this church. And maybe it was him a little. But as she read about the Holy Ghost in the Book of Mormon. She recognized that it was the Spirit that was telling her that the things she was reading and experiencing were from God. Her baptism was incredible. Her testimony was so full of humility and conviction. I wish I could just go on forever explaining her conversion but that will go in my actual journal. But I wanted to share her story and let anyone who will read it know that miracles are still happening, that God is leading his children, and that the Holy Ghost does teach us all things. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this amazing experience! And we are blessed to have Angelina in our lives!

 And of course, Judah doesn't miss an opportunity to cause trouble.

This one is for me : )

 I made this one for me : )

Made with Love

 I made this book for a friend of mine and I should have made two....one for her and one for me ; )

Made with Love

 Glenn's Grandma asked for a set of note cards that simply said "Just a note to say" These are the cards I came up with.

 I have been making these Quote Boards lately, these were the first two that I made. The top one was for Glenn's Aunt Jean. The bottom one was for Glenn's mom. I made these because without Glenn's Aunt and Mom we would not have survived this past year : ) They have helped us so much and we are so grateful!

Daddy's Shoes

I just loved this picture!

Judah and Daddy

This is called being in trouble

Yeah, Savvy's art work is on the left and Judah's is on the right. I told them how naughty this was and that this was not an okay thing to do the whole time I took a picture. I didn't crack a smile or anything because I didn't want them to think this was funny. But I couldn't resist getting a picture so I should show them some of the trouble they cause me when they get older  ; )

Playtime/Missionary Work

 We have been spending a lot of time at the church lately because our friend Angelina DaVinci is getting baptized. Our kids play together while we have lessons.

  Savvy and Judah LOVE playing with Leon and Sebastian!

You are not perfect and neither are your neighbors

 My house does get messier than this, I just took a picture of what my house looked like yesterday.  : )

President Uchtdorf gave an amazing talk in the Relief Society Conference in 2011

 “I want to tell you something that I hope you will take in the right way — God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect,” he said. “Let me add — God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not.”

President Uchtdorf cautioned sisters to not spend time and energy comparing themselves to others.

“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “It’s wonderful that you have strengths. It’s part of your mortal experience that you have weaknesses.”

President Uchtdorf said perfection is a long-term goal.

“It’s OK that you’re not quite there yet,”

What does it mean to be perfect? 

In God's perspective? 

It doesn't mean that you always have your hair and make up done perfectly. It doesn't mean that your house is always spotless. Or that your kids are perfectly behaved. Perfection in Heavenly Father's sense doesn't mean that your kids have to be potty trained at 18 months or that they are reading by age 2. That you have the best kid on the basketball team or that your daughter is the most popular in school. 

Socially we sometimes put these expectations on ourselves and others. 

But we have never had any counsel that we should be striving for these things. 

When we are asked to strive for perfection it is talking about perfecting our insides not our outsides. 

It means that we need to repent when we do things wrong. It means striving to make those weaknesses we have become strengths. It means serving others with love in our hearts. It means trying to gain more spiritual gifts and knowledge. Strive to gain and perfect our talents

It doesn't mean we need to do it all overnight. 

It means as you keep trying to do these things you will get better at doing them! 

And over time you will be able to perfect some of them and get closer than you were to begin with for others. And whatever is lacking in the end, the Atonement will make the difference. 

I hope we can all have charity towards each other and help each other lessen the load and competition of temporal things so we can focus on the spiritual things while we get the necessary temporal things done.

Quote Boards

 I made these quote boards with those dollar frames at michaels. I use the square shaped-I like the look of the square the best. This square frame happens to have a heart photo cutout. I just covered the whole thing with a cardstock and modge-podged it on. I covered the clothespin too and then glued that on top of the board and Wha-la! I really like how they turned out. They make cute gifts and I have one myself on my bedside table. And only a dollar!

"Cooking" together with Mommy

 Having fun "cooking" together. I gave them both a bowl of flour, a spoon, and a cup of water while mommy was making cupcakes. We all had a really fun time!

Twice in a week---One brave Momma haha. Realized they didn't even care about the water(made the mess significantly smaller too!) They just enjoy scooping the flour in and out of the bowl. 

It is the simple things....: )

  

As I am writing this post Savannah and Judah are supposed to be taking a nap right now, Judah is in his room and it is pretty quiet so he might be asleep. Savvy sleeps in our room for naptime because Judah and Savvy won't sleep in the same room for naptime, they just play the whole time. Savvy is in our room reading her Book of Mormon and singing Scripture Power.