Kindness

We were so proud of Wynn this week! He was chosen for the kindness award in his class. He truly is a sweet boy who is willing to share and likes to help others. We love you so much Wynn. You are a great example to all of us.

As a reward, he got his first trip to the ER when he broke his chin open at recess but it just ended needing glue so that was good :)

Becoming like a child

This past week our beloved prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints passed away. I had a firm testimony of President Thomas S Monson as the living prophet on the world today and his counsel and role as the Lord's mouthpiece on the earth.  I will miss his spirit, love, and teachings.

As I talked with the kids about his passing the evening after his death, we then began to discuss the process that will begin to select a new prophet for the church. At this point in the conversation, Abby wandered away. I thought about calling her back so she could listen but decided she wouldn't get much out of it anyway. Just about the time I finished talking to the other kids Abby came back in the room and handed me the card pictured below. She said, "I made this. Thats me on the front. Inside is Peter the Apostle. Will you give this to him. I made it for him; I think he is sad." Her kindness and perception took me back for a second. She was listening and her immediate reaction to hearing about President Monson's death was to make a card for those who were mourning his loss. She didn't even wait to finish hearing the conversation, she went right away to try to serve them. I think she must have overheard me taking about Elder Dieter Utchdorf from other room and thought I said Peter. 

I was so grateful to have witnessed her sweet love and innocence. It reminded me of the scripture in  Matthew 18:2 "And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,. 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

In this month's Ensign we receive a reminder of some of the final counsels from President Monson:  “It is not enough, however, merely to believe in Him and His mission. We need to work and learn, search and pray, repent and improve. We need to know God’s laws and live them. We need to receive His saving ordinances. Only by so doing will we obtain true, eternal happiness." Its my goal this year to serve more often and work harder to be like my Savior without hesitation and second thought... just like Abby :).

Christmas in Texas

We always have so much fun we go to Texas for a visit! This time we visited a new place called SeaQuest Aquarium one day and the Dallas World aquarium another. We love animals so we all had a blast! Dad even put his hand in the hungry sting rays mouth :-/! I can remember my Dad feeding stingrays and dolphins and showing us how ever since I was little when we would go to SeaWorld every year, so that was a fun little tradition for me to see carried on. Wynn was so anxious at the aquarium to see the big sharks, that was definitely his favorite part. Also, Abby got to meet her first mermaid too :-D.

It was nice to celebrate Christmas with my parents and sister Emily and her family. We included a bit of everyone's traditions and got to spend some good quality time together. It is nice that Christmas spanned part of a weekend and then Monday because we got more time at home to just be together and interact. Other things we did while we were there was see a few movies, celebrate Dad's birthday!, and New Years Eve. The kids were completely pooped by the time we got home and had so much fun. We love you guys