Well..........

Well......

My blogging percentage is wwwwwaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy down, just in case you hadn't noticed!  But here is an up to date family photo!!

Crazy stuff happened in our family over the last few months.  Our missionary came home.  We dropped Sport and Speedy off at BYU Provo with Spanky and Scuff.  Slim got a job teaching sixth grade!!  We are all dying!  And we cannot wait until it has been a few weeks. He really is an amazing man and a great teacher!  But he has a lot of work to do in the patience department, but he is ready!

The biggest news since I last blogged is that they released Drew as the Bishop.  He served on the High Council for four months, specifically serving with the YSA in the area.  Two weeks ago, they called him to be our stake patriarch!!  He will do a great job, I am sure.  His first blessing is tonight.

I cannot believe we are growing up so fast!  Six of our ten children are out of the house and adults.  Five are returned missionaries----five!  Speedy will turn in his papers at the end of this next school year.  Sun is 16!  Shorty isn't 'shorty' anymore and is 14.  Even Smiley is taller than me!!  He is home schooling this year.  And Spike Spike is in the first grade, and now is so large that I cannot scoop him out of bed and carry him to the living room for family prayers in the morning.  I am not quite sure how I am going to make sure he gets there.  Maybe Shorty will have to do it.

If I could summarize the last year that I have not really been blogging, I guess I would have to tell you that I have completed A LOT of emotional work.  I have uncovered a lot of unresolved emotional issues, Drew and I have worked out a lot of communication issues (through a lot of miscommunication and then having to resolve it), and I have a more realistic picture of who others are and thus my expectations of them can be more in line with their abilities and my feelings are less hurt because I am not hoping for behavior from them that is unrealistic.  I am sorry you are not getting any detail for those things.  I am pretty sure that is why I wasn't blogging.  I didn't know how to 'not say' the details of my emotional journey.  The results, however, are wonderful!  I can cry when my feelings are hurt, usually in the moment, which is sometimes embarrassing.....but I am getting there.  I am not usually stuffing my feelings with food because I am not trying to hide from them.  As a consequence, I am eating differently and dropping weight without paying any attention to it.  I am now below 200, which is about 25 pounds that just went away.  I still have a lot of work to do.  I am no where near finished and I know I have some big emotional hurdles coming at me....like a freight train.  Those will not be fun.  But I feel more confident in myself and my emotions and less like I have 'to be' something for someone else.  I can just be me....drama and all.

I am still teaching seminary. Tomorrow is our first day!  Book of Mormon this year!  I am super excited because I feel like I know the Book of Mormon, where with the other books of scripture, I had to learn them.  I knew some of the stories, but not like I know the Book of Mormon.  The Spirit has been trying to take me out of my comfort zone to create a new comfort zone.  I have been so scared to teach outside of the manual that it has stifled my teaching.  Over the past few months, I have spoken in church twice (twenty minutes each), and at camp three nights (60 minutes each), and done so without notes.  I have a baptism coming up, where I am supposed to do that again.  It is a new experience trying to speak completely from the Spirit without prior notes or sources.  I am sure it has been practice for teaching this year as I choose to teach my students, using the material but not completely leaning on the material.  I know I can do it, I have just been afraid to do it on an every day basis.  So pray for me, this year as I teach :-)

I have also learned that big boys still need their mom.  Slim calls me almost every day.  Spanky and Speedy call sometime during the week.  Scuff and Sport call maybe monthly.  I do love talking to them, and when we do talk, I am reminded of how much I love them and really like having adult children!!

I think I am going to start slowly--blogging, I mean.  I really don't know how often I will write.  But I do know it is time to get back into the saddle, so here I am.  Have a great Sabbath Day!!
Love,