Family Pictures - take 1

Riley's Halloween Costume

Riley's Halloween Costume all made out of duct tape and cardboard.  He didn't take into consideration that he might have to walk in it door to door and walk up stairs, but it was fun to see him make it for the past month.  It is the minecraft character.

Cameron's homecoming day

Today was Cameron homecoming report for Sacrament Meeting.  It was a great day, and the weather was perfect.  We planned sandwiches with salads, and sides, with desserts.  We had a luncheon with all the family and friends afterwards, and put up tables in the carport to house everyone.  For the meeting. I spoke first, then Riley, then Erika and her violin teacher, Bonnie Wilson, played a violin duet (accompanied by Sister Libutti) "Be Still My Soul".  Then Brian spoke and then Cameron.  It pretty much was a family affair.  Riley was the most impressive, because he wrote his talk all by himself, and typed it up for me to read and him to practice reading it.  I asked him if he copied it from somewhere or someone, because it was so good, but he said "No Mom, I have had this idea for a while, that I learned from Seminary."  Silly me to think otherwise.  I will post his talk next, because it needs to be shared.  We have been working on Cameron's room, with painting the walls, a new extra long twin size bed, new curtains, new closet organizer and door.  It all looked great, with the help of many friends and family.  We even did some improvements to the bathroom downstairs for him to use.  We are so grateful to have Cameron home and for all the family and friends who supported him and prayed for him often.

Rileys talk

What does trusting your heavenly father mean?  In order to understand this you need to know that he loves you first of all. You see you can’t trust someone until you know what they offer you is good and worthy to even be trusted.

            To know that he loves us I will do a little science experiment. All that it requires is one orange. As you can see the orange is a little ball and is usually orange. On the outside it has a rind. On the inside is juicy, and if you could smell them they would smell pretty good. You can take this half and peel a little slice off, no cutting necessary. Seeds are in the inside so you can plant an orange tree and grow 10 times more from just one. Most of you would ask: “how does this relate to Heavenly Father loving us?” Well from this orange we can tell a lot of reasons why Heavenly Father loves us. The rind on the outside is flammable and could be recycled in certain ways, perhaps even to start a fire if you’re lost. You can also tear it off the inside with a lot of ease. The inside is juicy and sweet and has a lot of good chemicals that can give you more energy then an average candy bar. The slices on the inside you can tear off easily and not ruin the inside. You can peel and you don’t need a knife to peel or cut anything off the orange. You can take one seed and multiply it into thousands more seasonally.

            From just one little orange we can say that he loves us. The orange is healthy, can reproduce, no other accessories are required (however its nice to have them.) In the scriptures there are many acts to show that he loves us. One of them is Moses 2:26. (Read scripture) In this verse it says that we have dominion over the fishes of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the beasts of the land, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. In the most recent general conference, President Uchtdorf gave a talk and in that talk he said, “compared to Heavenly Father we are nothing, but to Heavenly Father we are everything.” So can we trust him now? Well of coarse we can. We just proved that he loves us, all of these gifts every single one is for us.

            Trusting in Heavenly Father can give us a lot of blessings, but we love blessings and him. So why not give something that we hold dear to us to him? What is it? Well its time, we have at least 12 to 8 hours every day to do something. Well why not give some of it up and do things like giving service, or going to mutual or doing home teaching or giving charity or even church activities. Well why not give the greatest sacrifice of time, a full time mission. 2 years of our life so that others may be with their families for Eternity.  It isn’t that much time, but it’s worth so much and it gives you and your family so many blessings it’s unimaginable. I’ve experienced one side of the blessings from my brother, Cameron, but when I’m 19 I hope I’m ready to experience the other. 

Sharri's Talk

Heavenly Father asks that we pray for what we need, and He has promised to answer our prayers. But how and when our needs are met is up to Him. We must trust that He knows better than we do what we need and how best to give it to us. We are, after all, His children.

As Elder George Q. Cannon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained: “Heavenly Father is a loving and a kind and beneficent Parent. … He knows how to guide us and how to time His blessings to our wants; … He knows our condition; He knows what is good for us. If we need a gift and a blessing, He knows when to bestow it upon us”  Faith in Heavenly Father is always rewarded—although, sometimes not immediately or in quite the way we anticipate it will be.

A story is told of two horses in a field. From a distance each horse looks like any other horse. But if you stop your car or are walking past the field you will notice something quite amazing. Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him.

If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell. Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field. Attached to the horse’s halter is a small bell. It lets the blind friend know where the other horse is, so he can follow. As you stand and watch these two horses, you’ll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse and that the blind horse will listen for the bell and then slowly walk to where the other horse is, trusting that he will not be led astray. When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, it stops occasionally and looks back, making sure that the blind friend isn’t too far behind to hear the bell.

Like the owners of these two horses, Heavenly Father does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have unconventional problems or insurmountable challenges. He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need. Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the ringing bell of those whom he places in our lives. At other times we are the guide horse, helping others to find their way.

Heavenly Father has placed some very special people around me who serve as the guiding horse. My husband and children have been an inspiration to me. They have been there for me in my darkest hours and have been a sounding board, confidant, and the best listeners.

Many dear friends have been the best friends anyone could have. We laugh, cry, and share mutual frustrations daily. They have been there for me at my lowest points when others have abandoned me.

My parents have been sources of guidance for years. Their love has always been unconditional. Their prayers and support have gotten me through the worst times and the best. Their examples will guide me for many years to come.

I know that Heavenly Father has used me as the guiding horse and that my bell has rung loudly as a guide toward the truth for those around me.

Our trust and our relationship with our Heavenly Father should be similar to that of the blind horse who trusted the smaller horse. When sorrow, tragedy, and heartbreaks occur in our lives, wouldn’t it be comforting if when the whisperings of Heavenly Father say, “Do you know why this has happened to you?” we could have the peace of mind to answer, “No, but You do.”

Peace is a blessing that comes to those who trust in Heavenly Father. It is established through individual righteousness. Just as the blind horse is guided and trusts that he will not be led astray because of the small bell of the other horse, so we can find peace if we trust our Father and learn to live by His principles.

Sharri's hike to the "Y"

My co-worker, Alice, called me at 1:00 pm today and asked me is I wanted to go and hike the "Y" with her.  I was the only one home for the afternoon, so why not.  It was a perfect day for a hike.  It was so beautiful. I picked Alice up on the way and we started hiking at 2:30 pm.  It took us an hour to get to the top and then Alice wanted to hike to the top top of the "Y".  We walked for another hour, and then decided that we weren't getting anywhere fast, so we decided to turn around.  We got back to the car at around 6:00 pm and then we headed to weight watchers for our weekly meeting, and then to dinner and frozen yogurt.  The dinner and frozen yogurt has become a tradition now after our weigh in, which is sort of a treat, but still not really good after weigh in, but it is just fun to be with Alice and Jane.  So, here are some of the pictures I took while we were hiking to the "Y".  This was the 2nd time I have ever hiked to it, and it is so beautiful and there are many people on it at the same time, including families.

Family Yard Art

I found this website that does yard art for $75 and they leave it on your lawn for 3 days.  It is familyyardart.com.  They do many different yard art, like birthdays, birth announcements, holidays, etc.  This made Elder Brown really happy to see this when we pulled up to the house.

Elder Brown Released

Elder Brown was released as a full time missionary today at 1:00 pm.  We went to the stake center and meet President Ouderkirk.  He meet with Elder Brown first and then invited us in to meet with him and Elder Brown.  He gave us a lot of papers about institute, how to get back into the real world, marriage, and a Mission Certificate, and then he released him.  Just like that, no official stamp, approval, just "you are released as a full time missionary."  It was emotional, but we were all very happy that we had the opportunity to have Cameron serve a full time mission and all the blessing and sacrifice we all had during the last two years.  As it was told in the scriptures, "Well done thou good and faithful servant."

ELDER BROWN'S RETURN!!!

 First hug to mom as he walks down the stairs towards us.

 Second hug to sister Erika

Third hug, brother Riley, which has changed the most.

 Then Dad for the last hug and a job well done.

 Mom and Elder Brown together.

Dad, Elder Brown and Mom

 At the Back door when we came home

 On the front window of the house

And the Yard Art on our lawn.  Elder Brown was so happy to see this!!