December happenings

Emma had her first band concert playing the flute.  She did such a nice job and has worked hard.

Bryant was Student of the Month for Kindness.  Fits him to a 'T'.  He was very proud.

Calli wore an elastic in her hair for the first time!  It was more elastic than hair but we'll take it!  She looked darling and wore jeggings for the first time that day also.  CUUUUUUTE!

Look at this cute boy.  Derek made a nativity scene in primary with his awesome teachers the Shanes.  So darling.

We have been enjoying the weather outside these days and enjoying our days off from school.  I love vacations.  Poor Brett has had to work so much that he hasn't started his vacation yet, maybe next week.  We are all excited about this weekend, we are planning to have some friends over for Christmas Eve.  And of course we are excited for Christmas.  Wish you were here to celebrate but wish you joy and happiness wherever you are this weekend!  Lots of love!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We visited a home close to the Stake Center that was all lit up for the Christmas Season.  It was so fun.  You probably think I'm being negligent for not putting socks on Calli but it is still 80 degrees here most days...thank goodness for Christmas lights to make it feel like the season!

Emma was in the Nativity at the church Christmas Party Friday night.  She is the angel all the way on the left.  (Mom, she was wearing the temple dress you gave me for the first time that I went through the temple).  She complained that her hands sweat the whole time...she was really cute.

Emma Goes to the Temple!

We were so thrilled to go with Emma to the Orlando Temple on Saturday.  She was excited to perform baptisms for the dead for the first time.  It is special to go with a spouse to the temple and exquisite to go with your child.  I got to be with her every step of the process and Brett was able to baptize her.  Is there anything better? 

Calli's busy schedule this week

She's exhausted because...

Calli has had a busy week.  She was a 'living canvas' for our friend Joslyn.  I am not used to having a 2 year old around and left a Sharpie out...Joslyn entertained Calli and gave her a new look for free!  Look how upset Derek was.  I told him it wasn't her fault, it was mine for leaving the marker out.

I was able to scrub the marker off her face and ears but I didn't dare scrub her precious little hair.  It will just have to fade from there.

The next day Calli needed to finish up Derek's soup.  She really enjoyed stealing it off the table and licking it.

Yum!  Her second tooth broke through this week and she has tried it out on a lot of things.  She yells and squeals.  She says, 'dadadadada' and sucks in air when she's excited.  She really scrunches up her nose when she smiles.  She had the sacrament for the first time today.

On a side note, we got a new couch.  Here in FL they have 'bulk day' every three months.  You can put anything out by the curb to be picked up by the waste company or dumpster divers.  Somebody put a couch out by the curb.  It was getting rained on but I loved the shape.  It was green velvet but the legs and back were so pretty on it.  I couldn't stop thinking about it so I drug Emma over there and we hauled it home and ripped off all the stinky velvet.  Then we sprinkled it with baking soda and salt to deodorize it.  It worked!  But what to cover it with?  I read on line about a girl who recovered her couch by buying 22 yards of fabric, washing and ironing it and painstakingly reconstructing all of the cushion pieces etc... Now I can honestly say that getting to any ironing whatsoever for me takes major effort.  I dread ironing my sons church pants and that's ONE yard.  So I knew that option was not going to work.  AND I'm also not a masochist.  So I decided to visit my local Ikea and low and behold, there was a perfect slipcover for $39.00.  I snatched it up and viola!  A new couch for our kitchen for a cool $40.00.  Yes, I am proud of that dumpster diving treasure. PS, I don't know why the blog layout is funky...

Emma's Sacrament Talk

I forgot to mention that Emma gave her first talk in Sacrament meeting on November 13.  She did a wonderful job and it seemed like second nature to her.

"My talk about tithing:

Hello my name is Emma Stevens and my talk is about tithing.

1^st of all what is tithing?

      Tithing is 10% of what heavenly father gave us that we are giving back to him. Brother Hale says in a talk “The law of tithing is part of a celestial law which we must live if we are to attain eternal life and exaltation in the celestial kingdom.” And President Joseph F. Smith says “The law of tithing is a test by which the people as individuals shall be proved.”

2^nd What do we receive back for paying our tithing?

       We get our faith tested and it makes our faith grow stronger, paying tithing helps to qualify us to receive the higher ordinances of the priesthood, and helps us not be so greedy. Our tithing goes to build meeting houses and temples, or help get supplies for missionaries. And no matter if we pay more or less than others, if we pay faithfully and honestly we will get the same amount of blessings. Elder John Taylor had someone ask him if whether any who had not paid their tithing could be baptized for the dead. Elder Taylor then taught: “It is our duty to pay our tithing, one-tenth of the increase, and a man who has not paid his tithing is unfit to be baptized for his dead. … It is our duty to pay our tithing. If a man has not faith enough to attend to these little things, he has not faith enough to save himself and his friends.” it says in Malachi 3:10… bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith saith the lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Heavenly father is saying that if we pay our tithing that we will receive so many blessings. And some mat be temporary and some eternal.

3^rd Do you need faith to make a tithe? 

The answer is yes. George Q. Morris taught that paying an honest tithe requires faith.“I think when people say they haven’t money enough to pay tithing, they should say they haven’t faith enough to pay tithing. It is my conviction that we pay tithing with faith and not with money, because when a man has so much money that he has a large tithing, he can’t pay tithing. He has too much money and too little faith to pay tithing, and just feels he can’t afford it. No one is too rich or too poor to pay tithing. No one can afford not to pay tithing.” To make a tithe that will give you the blessings you must have faith and not be scared that you might regret it. Even if you have the choice between something you want or tithing, if you have faith you would chose tithing.

I’d like to tell a story that illustrates the unexpected blessings that can come from paying tithing.

“Should we pay our tithing or make our farm payment?”

In 1920 a serious dilemma faced a wheat farmer named Henry smith. The selling price for wheat was very low that year. Everyone was poor. Now the mortgage payment was due, several families had purchased farmland as a group. They all had to pay their portion of the mortgage on the same day or they would all lose their land. Unfortunately the farm payment came due at the same day as tithing settlement, he could pay 1 or the other but not both. Henry did have several sacks of wheat he could sell, but no interested buyers. And the bank would only take cash.

 Henry wrote in his journal “We felt we had to pay our tithing, but we could not fail with our land payment. We went to the lord and placed our problem before him. When we were through we had the impression we should pay our tithing first.”

A few days after he paid tithing Henry wrote “a man whom I had never seen before, came and purchased all of our wheat, at a good price. we now had the money for the land payment we felt the lord had a way of taking care of us, if we were faithful and put our trust in him.”

I want to bear my testimony that I know these things are true that we will receive blessings if we are faithful and pay an honest Tithe. And that even if some are temporary and some are eternal they are all special.  In the name Jesus Christ amen. "

We are excited to attend the temple with her for the first time this weekend!

Christmas Time Is Here

Guess what?!?!  It's Christmastime!

The kids decorated the Christmas Tree and did a swell job.  It looks a bit like some of our Christmas Tubs threw up in our family room but the tree looks nice. May told grandma the next day that "now there are Baby Jesus' all over the house."

We had a surprise this week.  After a week of a tired May I finally took her in to the doctor.  We had heard a nephew had similar symptoms and had pneumonia.  I second guessed myself all the way to the doctors but sure enough, she had pneumonia.  X-rays don't lie.  We are now on our second round of antibiotics and a steroid.  She seems a bit perkier.  So, we packed up and headed to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa!  May wrote her letter, "Dear Santa, How do you get to the pleple arond the wrold. I hope you give me a lot of presits.  I love you.  I hope you have a grat Christmis."

Derek wrote to Santa, "Santa, I love you.  Santa I hope you give me a lot of presits. Derek"

Bass Pro Shop did not disappoint!  We had a great time!

Santa was so nice!  He read the kids letters and talked to them about everything.  A real sweetheart.

Wait...who is this guy?

Happy Thanksgiving

Shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner...

Making turkey cookies with neighbors to get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner...

Turkey Cookie Overseer

Perfect everytime...Now for dinner.  What?  Where are the pictures?  That's right, I didn't take one picture of our Thanksgiving day.  Boo!  BUT we had some great families over and they brought some delicious food.  I cooked the turkey upside down, the bottom was a gorgeous caramel color...the top, not so much.  It was delicious anyhow.  We had such a nice time visiting with Christy and kids and Allison and kids.  The kids had a great time playing basketball, eating turkey cookies and watching some of the Dolphins football game.  Really relaxing and so fun to catch up with friends.  We are so thankful this year for our home, Brett's job, the kids health, good friends and most especially for our Savior.