This Week at Our House #17 Company Comes to Briarhovel

 We had a huge rainstorm on Monday night through Tuesday afternoon. Our whole yard was flooded. I switched  around school so the kids could go out and play in the rain. They had a blast and I had a lot of laundry the next two days. My mother, sister, and niece came on Friday. My sister brought me a lot of homeschool stuff and old books that she is not using anymore. My kids have really loved looking through the books, building a periodic table puzzle and playing with a human anatomy 3-d model with inside parts. On Saturday, we went with our company to the beach. It was nice to have company come and join us at our little home.

1. John continues to work very hard and through the night. He is also really pushing Johnny and Adam into learning and writing their own computer games.
2. John and I ended our two week diet. I lost 10lbs and he lost 15lbs. Now we are trying to maintain the weight loss. Hopefully we will be able to do that. I spent probably 6 hours getting the lawn mowed. There is a lot to mow and it is a lot slower with a corded mower, but we were pleasantly surprised that we had enough cord to stretch through the majority of the yard. The corded mower made sense when we had a tenth of an acre, but it is terrible on 3 acres. I enjoyed having my mom and sister here. They were only here for about 24 hours, but it was nice to see them and talk to them.
3. Ruth really likes her new companion and seems to be quite happy in her current area. I realized that in two more weeks, I will get to talk to her again. I am so glad about that.
4. Kate loves and protects her 3 little ducklings and they love her. When we came home from church they were real excited to see us and chirped and jumped around excitedly and then they cuddled up on Kate.
5. Johnny's doing well with his little game. One day this week, he said, "Look, I got my bad guy to chase me." The next day, he said, "Now my bad guy can kill me so I actually have a reason to run from him," and the next day after that, he said, "now I can kill my bad guy." His graphics are pretty fun too.
6. Adam is finally reading music. He plays the piano well. He seems to have a natural knack for making music sound good. My piano playing sounds very mechanical, so I love it when my kids preform so naturally.
7. Rachel is the Dominion champion of the family. That's a very interesting card game. Try as I might, I cannot beat her.
8. Anya stayed with me while I mowed collecting all the cut grass as part of the game she was playing. She said that she was pretending there were tiny people collecting wheat that was mowed down for their food and roofs of their houses. In the end, I had a lot of dead grass to put down around my potato plants.
9. Joseph loved the periodic table puzzle my sister brought. He enjoyed putting it together and talking about and thinking about the elements. He's still talking about the elements.
10. Joshua has really liked the model of the body my sister brought. He studied the pamphlet that came with it and worked pretty hard to put all the organs in the right place. Now he is excitedly looking through books about human anatomy that my sister brought. 
11. Arwen still colors everyday and goes through coloring books quickly. 
12. Susan loved playing out in the rain and then the puddles that lasted a couple of days after the fact. She was always trying to sneak out to get wet.
13. Sam continues to get into everything and to climb on everything. He seems to get better at it everyday.

Pictures

Stories from Ruth #33

 

This week was full of miracles! I thank my Heavenly Father for blessing us so greatly! Sister Strate was too sick to do much but the Lord blessed every effort we made. We did a lot of calling all the people on the phone who were interested and setting appointments. On Thursday it was hot so Sister Strate and I went outside to have lunch and do comp study. We had made spring rolls the night before and cooked them before going out. In Chelmsford there is Central Park which is lovely and has a beautiful duck pond in the center so we sat by it. Before we left this guy came and sat nearby. He kept looking at us and I felt inspired to speak to him. We talked to him and at first when we talked to him he said he did not want to meet, but as we talked and testified he felt the spirit and asked us if we could meet him. It was great!

A few weeks ago Sister Georgieva and I met James. He was not religious, but after we talked and

testified to him he said that he was going to say no to meeting with us but was interested to see if God was there. The next day he texted us and told us that he had been thinking a lot about what he said and wanted to know how to pray. We sent him a talk by Elder Holland to listen to and he did. Then this week, three weeks later, he said he would like to meet. Apparently the plan of salvation pamphlet moved him to meet with us. He read the pamphlet and wanted to ask more. First he let us teach then he asked us questions. He asked about the book of Mormon and said he had started reading the bible after the last time that we had met him everyday. We just got a message today saying he read Alma 40-41 and 1 Corinthians 15, but did not fully understand it. Which is fine it is hard to understand the scriptures but he read! And we told him that we would go over it next time! When we met him we answered a lot of his questions about religion. He thought child baptisms were wrong and we showed him Moroni 8 which says that children are innocent and alive in Christ. It was amazing.

 

That day we both felt prompted to get Chris water, who is our homeless investigator, I thought to ask after we teach him, but Sister Strate asked then and there and then we bought him four bottles of water in a six pack we bought for a pound. That night when we saw him he told us that he had drunk three of them after we left him. We also felt inspired to make him food and give him some water which will also help him overcome his smoking since he will have something to eat. On the way home after we had two former investigators on the phone who called us and asked if we could meet them.

My favorite miracle is that Chandra came to church, not only her, but Christina and her whole family. Christina is our self-referral who is seeking for truth. She loves the Book of Mormon and has asked us why other Christians do not believe in it since it testifies of Christ. Her and her husband read the bible every night together and pray often. It truly is wonderful to see. Her daughter who is around 16 was even taking notes during the meeting, and Christina said there were many things she heard that were true and she wants to come back to church. I am grateful to have even seen this miracles.

This Week at Our House #16 It's Getting Warm

We had warm weather all week. With warm weather comes summer fever. We are all anxious to be finished with the school year, but we have until the end of May to go. It's hard when all the kids want to do is to be outside and I agree with them. We did do some schooling outside, though, and that is nice.
     

1. John continues to work day and night on building his own game software. He is having Johnny and Adam working along with him during the day. Johnny is even learning some things on his own and then he and John share what they have learned so that they can get more information in faster. He has not heard back from the job he interviewed at last week. Usually after two interviews they get back to you either way, but only time will tell.
2. I spent a lot of time in my garden and mowing our giantic lawn. After about 5 hours of mowing, I still have a huge amount to do. We only have a small corded mower and since you are constantly having to move the cord out of the way, it takes a lot longer. I look forward to the time when we can buy a gas powered mower. I am doing the mowing because I need the exercise and I would much rather stay home and push a lawn mower while doing something for our home than go off and run. Plus Sam follows me around and makes lawn mower noises and that is just adorable. 
3. Ruth got to shake hands with President Nelson, and she is loving her new companion. 
4. Kate's put her mission papers on hold until we get settled in a ward permanently. She is still reading and studying the gospel a lot as well as doing advanced math with John.
5. John has Johnny pretty busy, yet Johnny is my one child that looks at what needs to be done and does it for me. This week, he let me go outside and play basketball while he did the entire dinner cleanup himself.
6. Adam is really enjoying the stuff that John is having him do and learn. He even does it during his free time.
7. Rachel was telling me that she has three times a day that she goes off and reads. I thought she was mostly playing her lego game. Now I know how she gets 7 books read every two weeks.
8. My quiet little Anya loves the ducks and chicks and always wants to touch them and hold them, even though we tell her she can't so much. This frustrates Kate who has an easier time keeping Susan out of their breeder.
9. Joseph is reading about world war two and he hates it. He says he likes his science and other things fine enough, and he comprehends his science concepts better than anyone else, but he can spend two hours reading about world war two and come away having no idea what he read.
10. Joshua has been building bionicles and carrying them around. He keeps taking them to family scripture study and making John mad by making quiet shooting noises the whole time.
11. Arwen's reading is coming along well. But she does not get adding and subtracting. She's been the opposite of Josh who is in beginning 3rd grade math, but has struggled all through learning to read.
12. Susan still insists her name is Lila. I didn't expect it to last this long. 
13. Sam loves John. Every time John gets up, Sam runs up to him, puts his little arms around John's legs and says, "Hi, da." Recently, Sam has decided that a good way to wake up John is to take John's big shoes and throw them at him. We know it is because John puts Sam on his shoulders to take him on a walk and Sam loves that. Sam will also bring me my shoes when he wants me to take him outside.

Pictures

Kate puts the ducks for a swim in the bathroom sink

Johnny mowed a portion of the lawn for me

We discovered that this tree is a pecan tree. It does not have very many pecans, so we will fertilize it and start pruning it and hope to get some good fruit from it in the future.

She has loved playing in the dirt and just gets covered in it.

Arwen built this house for fairies.

I love Arwen's rubber boots in the picture

He's grown up so much, I feel like I can hardly recognize his face.

Stories from Ruth #32

   

I am still in Chelmsford and my new companion is Sister Strate from germany! She is amazing! I love her! She is always seeking to do good and to be good.

On Thursday I met and shook hands with the prophet of our church President Russell M Nelson. Also I met Elder Holland.

What they said really touched me.
Sister Holland spoke on prayer and making it sincere with time to listen to approach God, and time to act.

Elder Holland said that "you are also the Lord's investigators. We want you to be converted... this conversion must sink into your bones forever... Teach in such a way that you will be converted... continue the habits and discipline from your mission... I bless you to stay faithfully and firmly converted and as good as you are now... The Book of Ether, more than a thousand years on thirty page... teaches one thing, one principle of a people... Never disregard what the prophet says... There is power in Joseph Smith's first vision..."

Sister Nelson gave her speech about family history and the ancestors of others which was lovely. Also President Nelson gave his family history speech.

   

this was my answer to "Are you eating healthy?"

President Nelson said that "Every prophet is an ordinary man with an extraordinary calling... there is opposition in all things... Become trilingual. Learn your tongue, your companion's, and that of the Lord's... Many people do not have a purpose... Heavenly Father's purpose is clear "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"... faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the holy ghost and endure to the endowment and covenants made to God and become sealed forever as part of God's family... Find who our ancestors are... Ask people if they know the names of their great grandparents. Ask would you like to know who they are? Come with me for a couple of hours and I can help you with your family... it is all about family. The family proclamation is doctrine... teach them to want to be in God's family... live as the Lord did and love others and your problems will be more manageable... you will be less tired and grumpy as you are involved in the service of others, your complaints are minimized... Joseph Smith's first vision shows God and Jesus Christ as separate... What is restored? Priesthood keys, apostles and prophets, ordinances, blessings, and covenants without which we could not receive salvation, restoration of the Jews to the holy land, which is major, gathering of Israel in the latter days 1 Nephi 15:18... Why you are on a mission - to help fulfill the covenant and prepare the world for Christ's coming... minority will accept. LDS way of life is needed (values, morals, right & wrong) only way to establish this is to know God's rights and wrongs... if you are poor pay your tithing and God will bless you... be happy in your work for you have the gospel of joy... blessed us to: find joy in teaching, strength and health as you lose yourself in the work of the Lord, our families will draw closer to God and our brothers will be blessed and serve missions, safety in trials, blessing of healing... engaged in the work of almighty God... Jesus is the Christ and we are his people."

It was amazing.   

The rest of the week was pretty good as well although I do not have time to write everything.
We taught Christina this week. She is from Romania and her husband is English. They both read the bible every week and are seeking for truth. She found the mormon.org website and read some things she felt were true and requested a missionary visit. We went over and we taught her. She said it made a lot of sense and has begun to read it with her husband! We saw her again today and she told us that she believes the Book of Mormon is true and she wonders why other Christians will not read it and pray about it. Why do they not want to know if God still speaks to us? Why do some wish God to be a mystery and not know him as our heavenly father? Honestly that is something I wondered as well. If truth is offered, if there is proof that God speaks to all of his children then why not study and ask God with all of your heart if these things are true, and if you will ask with a sincere heart, with real intent or the intent to act on whatever God tells you, and having faith in Christ, God will manifest the truth of it unto you. It may take many days because as Neal A Maxwell says that realizing that God does not always answer prayers immediately is one of life's growing experiences. 

   

We visited a less active and her daughter. While there she randomly asked me where I was from, meaning my ancestry. I told her that many of my ancestors were from England and that I was trying to find several of them while I was here. She told us that her and her nonmember husband could copy what I have and search them up for and with me. We will now be going to their house next Wednesday to do my family history. The way we met them was a miracle. We left a note, but got no response. However, on the way to an appointment the next day we decided to knock on their house and her daughter answered the door and told us to come back that evening when her mom was home. We could not but told her that we could come back on Friday, and so we did.

This Week at Our House # 15 Ducklings, Chicks, and 5hr. Church

We are now required to go to the ward the church put our home in, which is an hour away, until we get permission from the first presidency. So church will take us 5 hours now. We are deciding whether or not our situation merits the attention of the first presidency. There are two other buildings about half the distance. When I made the drive to the grocery stores, I decided to make a stop at the tractor supply store to see if they had chicks and ducklings. They did. Kate bought us 3 rouen ducklings and 5 chicks. 2 chicks died in less than 24 hours. All the rest of the birds seem healthy, friendly, and adjusting well to the kids.

1. John had about an hour job interview on Tuesday. They said they may take a while getting back to him as they had several candidates. John thought the interview went well, but who knows. Certainly we are praying several times a day for John to get a job. Additionally, John has continued to work through the nights and most of the day getting his first phone game developed. I think he will be done soon. Then he will continue to develop more.
2. John and I started a 2 week vegan diet to lose some weight. I lost 10 pounds the last time I did this. I am hoping to lose another 10. John hates this, but is sticking to it even when the kids are eating big homemade hamburgers and salmon.
3. President Nelson and Elder Holland visited Ruth's mission this past week. We look forward to hearing from her about this tomorrow or Tuesday.
4. Kate is in mother bird heaven again with her ducklings. She has been asking for duckling since she was 12, but it wasn't until we moved to our little home that we could get them. Kate has been missing her baby sparrow for a year and these little ducklings have made her very happy.
5. Johnny and Adam dug up several buckets and bins of dirt, carried them across the yard and filled in all of the holes on the shed floor to help us prepare the shed to become a chicken coop. Johnny hated the work, but he did it without complaint.
6. Sam loves Adam. Adam carries him around and takes him on walks around the yard and Sam sees Adam as his buddy. Sometimes Sam wants Adam over me.
7. Rachel had her first day of young womens. There were only beehives there because all the older girls were called into the ward counsel meeting. Rachel enjoyed the beehive class. I think she particularly enjoyed having no boys.
8. We had state testing to meet the state homeschool requirements this past week and Anya scored really well in everything except spelling which surprised me since they are timed tests and she is slow with math and doesn't always pay attention to what she reads. But it is nice to know she is keeping up ahead of her grade.
9. Joseph liked testing better than regular school. I didn't have to nag him at all. At the end of it, he said he liked it better.
10. Joshua has been playing with Susan a lot. He also gets after her a lot. He is always correcting her and trying to punish her.
11. Kate drew two girls on the same page. One had short hair and plain clothes and another with long hair and a fancy dress. Arwen looked at them, pointed the the fancy one and said, "That is me." Then she pointed to the other one and said, "That's just ugly, Kate." Arwen has been drawing pictures of ducks and taking them to Kate to see what she thinks.
12. Susan pointed at her baby picture and said, "It's Lila." A couple of days later, she looked into the mirror and said, "I see Lila."
13. Sam fell on his face. He came to me crying and I held him and rocked him. When he got down, he walked a few steps faked falling down and came right back to me for comfort. Another time, Sam climbed up behind me, grabbed my hair and then fell back. I screamed "ouch". He rolled over and laughed hard.

Pictures

Since we moved away from Utah, I have had to get good at making Mexican food. This is one of John's last big meals before our diet.

We are loving these flowering bushes. Sometimes we see humming birds eating from the flowers.

This is Sam saying cheese. I love it when my babies make this face for the camera.

Stories from Ruth # 31

 

This week was wonderful! Sister Strate from germany is amazing! We talk endlessly.
The Lord is truly blessing us. Sister Georgieva stopped this guy Chris a couple weeks ago. He had incestigated the church 25 years ago, but gave up because he did not want to stop smoking and drinking. Now he told us that his worst mistake was ever leaving the teachings of the church. We met with him the first day and gave him the Book of Mormon again. Two days later he had read Ether 12 and from the beginning to 1 Nephi 11. And he remembered everything!

On Sunday he came to church and afterwards stayed to see this eight-year-old girl be baptized. After that tears welled in his eyes as he told us that this church was as the scripture in Isaiah, as the lillies of the field. It was not arrayed in worldly splendor but it was beautiful. He wants to give up alcohol and smoking and to be baptized! He truly felt regret for leaving the gospel of Jesus Christ and it truly touched me! The spirit was so strong and I felt so blessed to see this in anyone. Truly the Lord blesses us and softens our hearts. We are never to old to repent and to change and to turn unto God without restraint.     

We saw Denise and she is a blessing! She is so sweet and always focused on others! She was so excited to receive a Book of Mormon.

We have a friend Abdalla who accepted to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon, Alma 7, because he knows that it means so much to us. He then told us it was wonderful to meet people so dedicated to their religion who truly beleive in God.