Happy Birthday Brandon

We hope you have had a wonderful birthday.  We hope you have a great year.  This will be an interesting year for you but the Lord will help you through it.  We love you.  We are glad you are part of our family.

What Color You Wear

Yesterday at Church I wore gray.  I looked nice.  It was a a gray toned jacket with a gray sweater and a charcoal gray skirt.  I hadn't felt good all week because of a stomach bug.  All day long people kept coming up and asking me if I was okay.  I was still feeling a bit 'woozy' as Omi would have said but other than that I was fine.  I even had two of my good friends say I looked 'gray from head to toe'.  Not quite the look I was going for.  Just before I left Church I realized that I might have put on the gray because I was kind of feeling gray.  I am tired of winter (even though it has been a mild one) and physically I was not quite up to everything I had to do.  If I  didn't have so much to do on Sundays I would have stayed home yesterday.  So maybe what we wear or the color we wear is a reflection of how we feel and our personality.  I didn't think anymore about it until this morning when one of my seminary students said I looked like a felt better today.  I am getting better but I know it really had a lot to do with the fact I was wearing a bright colored top rather than gray.

Mary and Martha

For some reason the story of Mary and Martha from the Bible has been rolling through my head for the last few days.  We tend to villianized Martha and I think that is wrong.  She had a testimony of Christ - after all she is the one that raced out and demanded Christ to bring her brother Lazarus back to life.  She just did what so many of us do and bit off more than she could handle - expecting Mary to help her.  I think Martha wanted a special meal for Jesus and so she planned a 'turkey' dinner with all of the fixings instead of cold cuts and fruit and vegetable platters.  I am using a meal from today because I have no idea what they would have done then.  But I watched my mother be like Martha and then miss half of Stake Conference because she and the wives of my fathers counselors were busy preparing an elaborate meal for a visiting authority from Salt Lake.  Several times the visiting person never made it to the dinner because Stake business kept them at the Stake Center until plane time.  There was no way to wrap up what Mom had fixed to send on the plane.  When my sister was suddenly thrust in the same situation almost overnight.  She ended up serving a very simple meal.  Elder Wirthlin was delighted at the simplicity and felt very comfortable in the homey setting.  All of the sudden I realized - they really liked simple better and it was more appreciated.  That was what the Savior was telling Martha.  He was telling her not to fuss.  He would be happy with bread and milk but she needed to quit fussing and complaining and come and listen.  The problem was she was only 1/2 way through with her elaborate plans and couldn't.  Sometimes it isn't that we are doing a wrong thing - we have just done too much of a good thing. 

Now - why have I been pondering that story so much?  On Sundays, we feed the military.  More often than not I miss Sunday School because I am preparing a meal.  Where are my priorities?  I am being a Martha not a Mary.  Now sometimes the ox is in the mire and the person that so faithfully promised to bring the meal - didn't.  Then I end up having to really go all out and on occasion even back home to conjure something up.  But most weeks there is no reason I could not go to Sunday School - even if I do walk in a few minutes late (which I hate).

Happy Birthday Christina!

Happy Birthday Tina!  (Christina is the the second from the left).  When we lost all of our pictures last year when the computer crashed - I lost all of my pictures of Christina.  This is the only one I could find.  Tina has been a sweetheart since the minute she showed up.  She would love to come and go with our girls to the zoo or Fiesta Texas.  I am sure her sisters were jealous because Heather and Heidi were home-schooling and I would let them have some outings and we would go and grab Christina when we did.  Pam would come too when she had Dr. and dentist appointments in San Antonio.  One of my favorite memories of Christina is when she was about 3 and I had put the tape of Secret Garden in the car player.  She started singing along with it.  I asked her where she had heard it.  She said she hadn't but she knew it.  She did too!


Have a great birthday Tina.  I hope this is a wonderful year for you.

The Last of the Texas Pictures

 Carianne and Carl in the Carpenter's bag yard holding Dane while the rest of their family were getting pictures taken.

 Our beautiful Carlye

 I am showing this because just that morning we had gotten our pedicures.  Look how dirty the bottom of her feet are!  Oh to be a little girl.

Our New Years Celebration with the Pfiesters.  Hope you are have a wonderful new year too.  I at least got all of these pictures in before the end of the month.  I love how the boys chose the pink horns.  I miss the grandchildren.  I miss the warmth.  We had a great time. 

Girls Day Out

 The last day Pam was in Texas, we had a girls day to celebrate Carlye's and Pam's birthdays.  We all got pedicures.

 Carlye was first and had to wait for everyone but then she watched Dane for Aunt Pam while she finished up.

 Carianne - my camera is messing up.  Sometimes it focuses really well and then the next picture is our of focus.  It is what I get for buying cheap.

 Pam - so I will have a cute picture of her.

 At Queen Bee's for lunch

 Carianne loves to try on all of the hats in the place!

Dane in his hat - a cute tam that probably was made for a doll because it was too small for Dane.

Happy Birthday - Chris!

 Yesterday was our son-in-law - Chris Davis' Birthday.  I had blogged in advance and spaced that it was Chris' birthday until yesterday during Church. 

This is one of my favorite pictures that we took while in Texas.  Dutch gets overwhelmed and Chris and Pam are so good about how to help him.   This picture is so sweet.  I think it is funny that my favorite pictures of the trip are of parents holding their children.  Happy Birthday Chris.  We hope you have a great year!