A fun afternoon

Hello All!

Bruce and I just got back from enjoying some time alone. We went and saw Harry Potter 5. It was very enjoyable. It is always a little hard for me to get past the differences between the books and the movies. Anyway, it was nice to be out.

Tomorrow is our Pioneer Celebration at church. I will be going in the morning to set up chairs. Saturday is the fun in the sun for the Primary children. Our children are looking forward to it.

I started the banner for camp, with the generous help of my friend, Laurie Bliss. She is very crafty. In fact she helps support her family by doing craft shows, especially in the fall. If you like holiday stuff, let me know and I'll get you in touch with her.

Julie and I went out last night and got some fun stuff to give to the girls at camp. I also came home with a pair of tennis shoes that were on clearance for $6.28. Yea! They will not be going to girls camp though. Hiking boots and flip flops only for me.

Well, I better dash. Julie is bringing her children over in 20 minutes for me to baby sit. I really appreciate having her to swap with.
Jennifer

Another Calling

On Thursday we got a call from Brother Tucker. He spoke to Bruce first and asked him if he thought we could find childcare for all of the children for 5 days. Bruce told him he thought we could work something out. Then he asked to speak to me. Brother Tucker asked if I would go to girls camp as a leader this year. It is from July 31 to August 4th. I am very excited about it. I always enjoyed it when I was a young woman. For those of you who might not be familiar with our camp program, it is for girls ages 12-18. We have 10 girls going. I will actually be in a cabin with one other leader, two junior leaders, and 8 girls I've never met. In the past church units would cabin together. We have some units who only send 2 or 3 girls so now they are cabined by years. I will be with 2nd years. I am responsible for them. I will hike with them and do all activities with them. At night however, I will be in charge of doing a devotional with the girls from our ward.

The camp is located at the Lake of the Ozarks. It is a 3 hour drive. We will be carpooling up and back.

Joy and Patience are going to stay with Grandma VanHoose. Aurora is staying with our friend Julie and Logan is staying with the Bliss family. He's very excited. His best buddy, Max, is their 3 year old son. Bruce should be off at least 1 and possibly 2 days while I'm gone so he can get the little ones for a while.

I had a nice visit with my family on Friday. It was nice to see my Aunt Dorothy and her husband, Paul. Paul is 93 years old. He is getting quite frail. I was struck by a strong feeling when I hugged him goodbye, that it would be our last goodbye in this mortal life. It doesn't make me sad. He has had such a happy and meaningful life.

My mother and I had fun discussing our callings as Activities leaders. She is excited and a little anxious about where to go with the calling.

Our ward has a pioneer day celebration on Friday. Primary activity day is on Saturday. It is our annual water play day. The children look forward to it every year. I'll have to bring filled water balloons. They can also bring water guns, but we don't have any of those.

I better get to bed. Lori and I are walking at 7:00am tomorrow.

Good night all.

A busy week

Hello Family and Friends-

Well, we had a fairly uneventful Saturday. We did have the privilege of going to a baptism. It was very nice. The children forgot to bring towels so they had to dry off with hand towels from the Relief Society Closet that were actually part of supplies for hygiene kits. I was invited to sing along with the Young Women. We sang Learn of Me. It brought back good memories of singing as a youth. The children were so happy. They are really special. When the recieved the Holy Ghost on Sunday at church you good really feel his presence. They all were given special blessings. Hanna, the youngest, who is in my Primary class is such a special girl. I know the Lord has special things in store for her.

Our talks went well. At least we had some good comments to suggest as much. I was overcome emotionally several times. I hope everyone was able to understand me. I want to share a story of something that happened to me on Friday that I shared in my talk. Part of my talk was about sacrifice and remainging faithful.

About 3 weeks ago I won a gift certificate from a radio station for calling in with the correct answer. At that time he told me I was registered to participate in the Lucky 7's game at a nearby casino. I dismissed it because we don't believe in gambling. On Friday, the DJ from the station called to remind me. I told him I probably wouldn't go because I don't gamble. He said all I have to do is pull a card from a deck. I could win either $77, $777, or $7770 dollars. Wow! I spoke to Bruce about it. We talked about the good things we could do with that kind of money for our family. Food storage, school clothes and supplies, etc. The more I thought about it I just didn't feel it was right. It is getting something for nothing. The Holy Ghost couldn't go with me there. I decided not to go. I know that the Lord will fulfill our needs. He always has. I've also decided not to call the radio station for contest anymore.

Sunday after church, we went to Springfield. We had a nice visit with Bruce's family and some good grilled food.

Today I have been busy doing laundery and packing. We leave tomorrow for Branson with the children. We'll come home Thurs. and then the children and I will leave early Fri morning to go to my Mom's. I will drop Patience off at Grandma VanHoose's on Sat. night on my way back home. Busy, Busy.

This evening I had a meeting with the members of the activities commitee from church. We have everything lined out for our Pioneer day Celebration next week and have a good start on the next 3 activities. My Mom called today to say she has also recieved the Activities Leader calling in her ward. She's a bit overwhelmed. She says she wants to ask me a lot of questions while I'm there.

I'd better get some sleep. Good night all. I hope this finds you safe in well in your part of the world.
Jennifer

Avoiding The Dishes

So, I thought I would give an update for the last few days. Anything to avoid the dishes.

We had a fun 4th of July. Our friend, Matt Towns came down and spent the afternoon with us, dinner and watched the fireworks. He served in the same mission as Bruce, except he was Chinese speaking and Bruce was English. It was nice to see him. It had been over a year since we last saw him. The fireworks display was not as good as last year, but it was still fun to be out and sharing our patriotism with so many people.

Yesterday was a slow day. Shopping and working on church responsibilities. Bruce and I are both speaking on Sunday. Plus, we are teaching the second and third hours. Therefore, a talk and two lessons. It has been a busy couple of days. Oh, we had fun at Silver Dollar City. It was very hot.

Tomorrow we will be attending a baptism for 3 young people who are brothers and sisters. One boy and two girls. Hanna, the youngest at 11, is in my primary class. I'm hoping all of the class will be in attendance. I know for sure Tucker will be there because I am giving him a ride. Anyway, I am looking forward to it. I'm conducting the music and saying the opening prayer. Bruce will be leading the ceromony. Well, I better dash. Not too much of an update, but there it is.

Oh, ya, VanHoose family dinner in Springfield on Sunday.

Saluting, dining, and retiring

Friday night the children and I had the opportunity to meet up with my Sister Beth, and her son Johnathan. My children were able to watch 3 flags being taken down for the night and see close to 100 people stand at attention while it was done. Then the kids had a yummy cheeseburger dinner. The adults on the other hand had a real treat. One of the parents of a new child in the cub scout troup is a chef and owns a resturaunt in down town Springfield. He made a great Greek style dish. It was thick pasta noodles with an oliveoil, rosemary, olive, tomato, onion sauce. He also served ceaser salad and bread. The best part though, was the jumbo shrimp skewers he had cooked on the grill. Oh, it was delicious.

After that we were able to witness a flag retirement ceromony. It is where a flag that is old and tattered is destroyed by fire with dignity and respect. It was really special and brought tears to my eyes and a warmth for our country. There was a young man there that is an older sibling for a scout in my Sister's troup who is doing his Eagle Scout project. He has collected over 300 flags to retire. I got him another one today when they replaced the old one here at our complex.

I've got to dash. Lori needs help with some Geneology work.