Happy Birthday Adam!

Today my son, Adam is 28 years old on February 28th. I'm so proud of this dear son. He works so hard at his job, college and being a great husband and father! Keep it up, son!



Retalhuleu, Guatemala

Taylor will be in the MTC in Guatemala on June 12, 2013! He received his call last night. He'd already left with Adam to go to his apartment to watch the kids while Adam & Jessica went out for Valentine's Day. So I got back into my car and drove over there. It was so exciting to see him open the envelope and read that he's going to Retalhuleu, Guatemala! We had Cheri on face time and David on speaker phone! I was So surprised! After some hugs from the babies I went home and scoped out the Internet looking for help on how to pronounce Retalhuleu, finding photos, etc. Here are some pics I found.

There's a lot to do. We have 4 months to accomplish it. First stop is the Post Office on Tuesday for the passport!  So proud of Taylor!

Taking Stock....Again

It seems I'm always revisiting how my life is going feeling that if I don't do this exercise I'm just going to wander where the wind blows. This is how I've been feeling since early Thursday morning when the stomach cramps and the horrible headache commenced. Yes, the dreaded flu visited me and still lingers if only by a thread. I had too much down time, too much time to think...not  always a good thing.

I'd been thinking about purchasing life insurance for some time. When I was married we had some term insurance on my then husband but never on me. (I did learn today that term insurance can skyrocket when you get older so don't get it. Get whole life. Premiums stay the same forever.) So today I finally purchased some from a friend of mine who I trust and have known for several years. That's a  start, I think. I've also got some ideas of how to supplement my income without ruining my health and I'm going to begin working on that as a mission plan for my future.

I feel blessed in my family. I have difficulty reading or hearing about "perfect" marriages. I don't think standing on my head or joining his religion would have saved mine and I would have betrayed my own heart in doing so--but it does make me sad to think that I wasn't enough. I know I'm not perfect but I'm willing to compromise on most things but not on the fundamentals. In the end people remind me that I have 7 amazing children, their spouses and my dear, sweet grandchildren. They are right in reminding me but there will always be that hole in my heart where I once loved with my whole being someone who I thought loved me. (I think the wambulance is coming!) I have to laugh at myself.

I don't feel right about persuing a man...on-line dating is frightening to say the least. Since I watched a woman in my ward chase after a man much younger than herself and in a relationship, I've seen how horrible that looks. I know in the "new world" it's supposed to be acceptable for women to hit on men but for me that's so desperate! So unless a great man shows some interest, I'm where I am moving forward on my own in my life.

Don't think I don't have plans because I do. They will sound like I'm hanging on the lives of my children but they are part of me.

• Getting Taylor on his mission
• Staying healthy!! So sick of being sick this winter!
• Exercise, exercise, exercise!
• Visiting Cheri and Daniel in Cali for Thanksgiving
• Hanging out with my little peeps--the grandkids as often as I can
• painting my house
• Going to the temple more
• etc etc etc

So much to do!

Moving on

Taylor finished all of his paperwork for his mission and then last night I received a call from our stake president indicating that we needed to send a photo to The Missionary Department with Taylor actually looking like a missionary. I thought this was quite funny since Taylor had been growing his hair out since before Christmas. So now it was time to look like a missionary. He was also supposed to wear a suitcoat, which he has never owned. Adam was nice enough to lend him one. While I was at work today, Taylor got a haircut and then Andrew took a few pictures of him dressed up like an Elder. Here is one of them.

Taylor is about to embark on a new road. I know he'll do a wonderful job as a missionary for our Heavenly Father! Love you, Taylor! Mom