Fun with the Dittbrenners

We had a great time with the Dittbrenners for about 10 days. The kids had a blast playing together at Vacation Bible School and at our house while I packed up the old house and Wayne helped Chuck at the new house. Darcy and Dixie were a huge help with all the little kids so that I was able to get a lot of work done. We celebrated Charly's birthday busting open a pinata.

Once the pinata was busted open, Charly stood in the corner still cheering instead of going after the candy.

The best was the facial expressions. Check out Amy in the bottom two pictures.

Amy and I took the kids to Maymont one afternoon. We had fun even though we were all sweaty. It was so stinking hot but the kids loved pouring water on their heads and running up and down the huge hill.

After the long day it was nice to turn around and see my sweet girls holding hands walking up the hill.

Wayne worked so hard with Chuck on the house and the one thing he said he wanted to do while in Richmond was swim in the James River. We took him and the kids to Pony Pasture to swim and play. Our visit was cut a little short when a thunderstorm quickly rolled in.

Thanks Dittbrenners for visiting and all the help with the houses.

Elder Bednar Youth Fireside

A few people requested wanting to see my notes from the youth fireside with Elder Bednar in Richmond last month. I finally got around to typing them up and it was a nice reminder of the fireside.  It was a Question and Answer session. Remember that most of these are my rough notes, not direct quotes.

July 17, 2011

Elder Bednar – Youth Fireside Richmond, VA

Sis Bednar would ask different apostles “What is one thing that I could teach my children, if there is only one thing?”  The most common answer – teach them to come to know who they really are.

·        Study your patriarchal blessing – it is your “book of possibilities”

Elder Bednar

·        We can only teach you what you are prepared to learn. You may not remember words that I say, but you will remember the feelings you have as the Holy Ghost teaches you. 

·       Faith in Jesus Christ takes ACTION first, and then the POWER will come.

Question: Why is the dating age 16?

Answer: Because the Brethren said so! We could make an argument for 14, 18, or 21. Consider the principle vs. the rule or application. We are blessed when we follow the Prophets’ counsel.

Question: ??

Answer: God can help us do things we are not prepared to do. He will send help. The Nature of Christ is to turn outward and look at the needs of others, not focus on ourselves.

Question: Can we use our talents to share the Gospel?

Answer: Do not develop talents to say “Look at Me”. You won’t have help from God.

-        Sis Bednar shared a story about being called to the ward organist and did not know how to play the organ. She practiced every day and had lessons.

Question: What is the worst sin I could commit?

Answer: The one you think you can get away with. Your question should not be how close you can get to the edge, but how can I stay as far away as possible from the edge.

-        Story about hiring a new truck driver out of 3 prospects. Which one will you hire?

o   Driver #1 says “I can go down the winding mountain road and my truck tires can go over the edge, but I’m such a great driver I can keep the truck in control.”

o   Driver #2 says “I can go down the winding mountain road and my truck tires will go on the edge, not got over, but I’m such a great driver I can keep the truck in control.”

o   Driver # 3 says “I will not get close to the edge at all and can drive safely down the winding mountain road without ever losing control.”

Question: What is one thing I can do to strengthen my testimony?

Answer: You know the things to do: pray, study scriptures, go to church…But you need to do all those things because you want to grow closer to the Lord.  You will be able to receive the strength to do things you did not think you could do.

Question: What is the most important Article of Faith?

Answer: They are all important and build on each other. You could not have one without the other. Think about each Article of Faith and think of a one word theme for each one.

               #1 God Head                      #2 Atonement                   #3 Obedience

               #4 Ordinances                   #5 Authority                       

Now go find the pattern with the remaining ones

Elder Bednar then invited the girl that asked the question up to the podium, gave her his business card and asked her to write him a letter when she completed the invitation to study the Articles of Faith and how they build on one another.

You can use the Articles of Faith to answer any Gospel question.

Question: How can I make prayer more meaningful?

Answer: Think about your day specifically. Don’t get caught up in the proper language, say what you feel. The intent of your heart matters more than the actual words that you say.

Question: ?? Something about friends.

Answer: Choose good friends that are trying to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. They may not necessarily be members of the LDS church.

Elder Bednar asked what did you experience during this Q&A?

The Holy Ghost is the only way to learn. You must invite the Holy Ghost to be the teacher.

If you are bored in a class, you should pray to ask an inspired question.

You have the responsibility to learn for yourself. After Joseph Smith experienced the First Vision, he said to his mother, “I have learned for myself.”  INVITATION: Find the scripture in Pearl of Great Price where Joseph Smith says this.

Agency enables you to ACT, not be acted upon.

Go find your answers to your questions, don’t sit and wait. Did you learn today that you don’t need an Apostle to answer your questions? You can find your answers yourself through the Holy Ghost.

The world is only going to get worse. Do not be afraid. The darkness will come. Don’t sit in the darkness waiting for the light to come, BE the light.

We moved

Moving makes life busy and crazy. Most days I try to laugh, but some days I cry. But in an attempt to document our lives, here is an abbreviated rundown of our summer so far. I will add pictures and other posts later.

- We bought a house. A tree fell on it a week later. Luckily, no major damage. That is just one of many home-ownership fiascoes we have had to deal with after owning a home for only a few weeks.

- It poured down rain one of the days we moved most of our stuff into the new house. We had 2 younger boys who had come, that helped wipe down items with a towel when they came into the house. All the men that came to help were soaked from head to toe.

- The upstairs in our house is hot and stuffy (rarely colder than 78 degrees). The downstairs is freezing cold (usually about 64 degrees). Our AC runs all day. I'm sure our power bill is going to be outrageous.


- We are still living among boxes. Two rooms are still completely unlivable based on the number of boxes stacked in them. I really wish half of our stuff would have fallen off the back of the truck. That would have made unpacking easier.

- We do have a guest room set up and ready for you to visit.

- Chuck ruptured a disk in his back in April and was in pain pretty much every day since. He was pretty much useless during all the packing and moving. He recently got cortisone shots in his back and is starting to finally function again. He says he feels three quarters better.

- We all had birthdays. Charly didn't even blow out candles or unwrap any presents on her birthday - poor third child gets the shaft. But, I did get her (and her sisters) a pinata to bust open.

 - This is my first summer with "kids home from school". It has been fun having Leland home all day, but I can't wait for school to start, so I can feel productive again. All three girls will be going to school/preschool this year. It's going to be glorious.

- Lucy started complaining of headaches every day, so her pediatrician suggested getting her vision tested. To my complete shock, she needed glasses. To quote the eye doctor "She is the most near sighted 4 year old I have ever seen." She has quickly taken to her glasses and is becoming very responsible in caring for them. My older sister has glasses and as teenagers, when we were fighting, I pushed her against our fridge, her head slamming against the door, and her glasses broke. At the time I don't think I felt bad about it, but now I do. Glasses are expensive!

- The girls have had lots of fun playing with cousins. Leland spent a week with Nana; Lucy with the Morris'; and Charly with the Benner's while Chuck and I worked on packing the old house. We had the Dittbrenner family play with us here for a week. They were a huge help with the move to the new house. Then all three girls spent a few nights with Nana and Aunt Zebra in Charlottesville.

- The whole family also spent a few days at Smith Mountain Lake with my sisters, mom, and dad.

- We got lice. Seriously disgusting. Chuck says that it's some sort of right of passage of being a mother to so many girls. This is one of those "I wish I had boys, so I could just shave their heads" moments. One day in the next life, I will be asking "What were you thinking when you created lice?!"

- The whole family spent two days at Virginia Beach. Chuck was in a conference, but me and the girls played at the beach.

- On my calendar, August is not so jam packed, so hopefully I can spend more time blogging and lounging by the pool. Although there is no real "lounging" by the pool for me. Charly has no fear of the water and would probably jump off the diving board if I looked down at my book for too long.

Promised Land Pageant

Leland was in The Promised Land Pageant in June with my mom, Larry, and her cousin Leah. She has looked forward to it all year, since she was in it last summer. She was in a few different scenes this year, but felt like a pro since this was her second year.

The Hocks came to see the pageant too (with cousin Denim). We enjoyed a walk in Washington and dinner before the show.

We took a boat ride with cousins.

We went to the NC Estuarium.

We loved our weekend with cousins.The Benner family, Morris family, and Layni were there for the weekend too.

Family fun night

We took the girls to play putt-putt and bumper boats. Those girls were awesome at maneuvering the boats and soaking Chuck.

We all ended up getting at least one hole-in-one during our round of putt-putt.

This is how I feel it is with pictures of kids. There's always someone not ready and looking.