Stillwater (Still Waters)

What a tender mercy I have experienced. Last Thursday got a call from my uncle ElRay who lives in Jerome. His daughter, my cousin, Leslie is on a mission in Oklahoma where I served my mission. He told me he had a letter to read to me from Leslie, if he could get through it:

"On Thursday we went tracting and met a woman who invited us right in: Madaline Hardin. She was so nice she invited us to eat apple cake with her. We sat there talking and as we talked and I enjoyed being there with her. We knew she must have had missionaries before because who invites you in for cake? We asked her about it and she said yes, years ago. She is 80 now and she had sisters who would come and she just loved them.We asked if we could come back the next day and share a message with her. She agreed and we came back on Friday after district meeting. Madaline told us that she had pulled her old Book of Mormon out and had been reading. Her church is changing doctrine and she doesn’t like that so we talked about that. She told us that she was using a card that one of the missionaries gave her to keep her spot. They had put suggested reading on it. I asked if I could see it. It was the usual scriptures on the back of the business card: 3 Nephi 11 and Moroni 10:3-5 then I flipped the card over. The next thoughts happened so quickly. I was looking at it and I saw the last name of the missionary and then looked at the mission office address I was thinking about that address when I heard Sister Fleming say she is from Idaho. Preston Idaho I read. I looked at the name again. Sister Kathryn Porter. “Katie”, I mouthed. With tears that now filled my eyes I looked up and quietly said this is my cousin. I can’t explain the way I felt. I still get chills now telling you about it. Sister Fleming looked at me with huge eyes and smiled in awe. Madaline asked how she was and I told her what I knew about her. She said tell her that you met me and that I say hello. After that I taught not just for me or for the usual reasons but for Katie too. Sister Fleming and I have never taught so powerfully. We taught with our whole hearts. We testified more powerfully than I have ever heard us do. I don’t say this to be prideful but that is the best lesson that we have ever taught. The spirit was so strong. I have never prayed so much in a lesson before. My head was swimming with the baptism I was already planning in my head and the desire I had to write Katie right then. Madaline understood. She could be ready, she does have a few things that she will have to work through. My heart was so full after we left. I want to stay in Stillwater so badly after that and since then the work has just picked up a ton. It was amazing to me to think that Katie had been in Stillwater. That she had been in that very house that I was in. That she had probably taught on that same couch that I had. I know this may sound silly but it was really neat to me. So that is my really cool story for the week."

Both Uncle ElRay and I were in tears after he got done reading it to me. And all this time I had thought that nothing good came out of Stillwater. It was my hardest area. I pulled out my mission journal and I did not write Madaline's name in it and I do not remember her. But I did learn something I had forgotten about Stillwater. I had prayed for a challenge. And did I ever get a challenge, let me tell you. I shall not go into it but it was tough. What a wonderful Blessing for me to share with my cousin. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has chosen to give me such a gift from something I thought I had failed in.

DREW!

You are looking at pictures of one terrific and adorable kid! He is my fifth-born. I love him so much! Drew just started kindergarten. When did he grow up so big?

He is so easy-going, lovable, sweet.

I love love love his smile!

He will sleep anywhere, any position if he is tired enough.

This year at swim camp he had several bike wrecks from riding down the big hill. But after a hug and a band-aid or two, he was back at it.

He is a wonderful brother to his little sister.

He is also a great helper and sticks with a project.

Sure do love ya, Bud!

Drums

Brandon has a new drum set! He has done a blog entry about it and there is a short video. It has been very fun for him!

Paint!

We got lots of help yesterday. Like always, I wish I had taken more and better pictures. Dianne Belnap spent Wednesday and Thursday getting ready to paint. On Friday she primed and painted the doors and trim with her paint gun. Saturday morning Dianne, Dian and Art Kelly and Dianne Clark came and helped us paint the colors.

The color we got for our bathroom and laundry room turned out very bright. I had also bought yellow paint for the living room. We ended up painting the bathroom and laundry room with the paint intended for the living room and then toning it way way down for the living room. This picture above is the bright that we painted over.

Jeffrey needed to paint a wall for his home repairs merit badge. Brandon painted as well. They had way too much fun.

Here are the finished photos:

Laundry

The girls' room is very purple. They like it!

Boys'. It is hard to tell but it is a very nice beige.

My Little Chickens

Thursday morning I got a call from Alexa at school. She was not feeling well. I went and picked her up. Later that day I noticed spots: chicken pox.

When I had shingles a month ago I had no idea I could give chicken pox to my children. Mary had them 2 weeks ago.

Friday night Camille had spots, Saturday night it was Brandon. Sunday morning, I noticed Drew had a few.
This is a picture I took yesterday. Alexa is happy because she is over them and back to school today. The other three will be home all week because they are plastered.

Poor little thing. I wish I could take it all away! I feel so bad for them. Camille is as bad if not worse than Drew. She did not want me to post her picture. Trust me, it would make your heart hurt too....

Here is a view of Brandon's back. I thought Mary had them bad but she did not have this many. They are all simply miserable.

Report

I usually go to chemo on Tuesdays. But I get this week off. I am happy to report that the chemo is doing its job. The one tumor has disappeared completely. The other is diminishing daily. Makes me happy. I have not seen the doctor in a month so he does not know the success. I wonder what he will say. I wonder if I will get to drop the newest chemo (Gemzar). I think I know things well enough though that I will still need to be on it for awhile longer. Dr. Dickson has talked about putting me on an oral chemo. So I don't know what will be happening. I really hope to be done with Gemzar because it makes me nauseous and gives me headaches.

It is a good week to have off because I get to take care of my little chickens. When Mary had them, they gave me a couple days off but did not want me to miss the whole week. So I had to leave her with someone else. On the up side, I left her with my neighbor, Elaine Mangum, the sweetest lady in the world. She gives endless service to all. She told me it brightened her day to have Mary stay with her. She also gave us a pan-full of delicious cinnamon rolls. And I got to spend the day with my mom who drove all the way from Preston and took me all the way to Rexburg. It makes a very long day for her but she has done it willingly so many times.