family pictures

It has been forever since I have had the time to blog!  To be honest I miss it a lot. I really miss writing. 

This year has been one that I think we will look back on and wonder how we ever survived. We've never been so busy. Between John having full-time school and a job and me with seminary and two little kids to take care of we've hardly seen each other. But it's made the moments that we do have time together even more special. 

This year has been a year of growth for all of our family. I have really loved teaching my early morning seminary class and getting to know all of the seminary youth in our ward. I love many of them like my own and I love learning about the gospel together every morning.

Evaleigh will be three next month and I can hardly believe it. She is such a sassy responsible and joyful little girl.  She walks around saying sweet things to us like "Merry Christmas!" And "I love you mommy you are beautiful!". She is such a sensitive sweet little soul.  

Avett is our little explorer.  He climbs all over the place and especially all over us. I've never seen a little boy love his mother so much and I love that about him.

 John is trucking along with school and doing a great job at it. He is a very good student and studies a lot. He also works with the men at church. We are both loving what we are doing and even though we are busy we are happy and very blessed.

breaking the radio silence for an update

It's been quite a while since I've had time to blog. Life is been very busy lately for me and for John. Over a month ago I received an assignment at my church to be an early morning seminary teacher. So each day during the week I wake up at 5 o'clock and I am at the church by 6am to teach a group of 19 teenagers about the gospel of Jesus Christ for an hour before they head off to school.  By the time I get home the children are most likely still sleeping so they never even know their mama has been gone.  It has been such an incredible experience for me. I am loving immersing myself in gospel study and learning how to better listen to the spirit and how to improve my ability to teach and express gospel truths and my testimony to them.   I love all of those students so much. I find myself praying for them and worrying about them more than I do my own children sometimes.  I really love this opportunity to learn from them and to spend our mornings feeling the spirit and talking about the gospel together.

John is staying very busy going to school full-time at the University of Georgia finishing up his degree and his masters of accounting. He also works and stays very busy with Apple.  He loves his job and every time he finishes work he comes upstairs with a huge smile on his face and tells me how much he loves his job.  I'm so grateful he is able to have a job that makes him happy and to work from home now.  Our schedules are very crazy but we get to see him in between when he come home from classes and work breaks.   Most days I feel like we get to say hello and goodbye and squeeze and a kiss here and there.  When we finally do have some time together as a family we are trying to make the most of it by playing and wrestling with our kids on the floor and making them laugh and watching them grow and learn.

At the beginning of this year we both made personal goals to try and raise the bar in our lives and do things that had more meaning and substance. I believe the Lord heard our goals and prayers and has trusted us with a lot of responsibility and new things to do in our lives. Although we are busy we are very happy and very blessed.

This week I had the chance to go into Atlanta to Atlantic Station for a sneak peek screening of the new film produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints called Meet the Mormons.  This film features the stories of six different people from all over the world who are members of the LDS faith. Each story is unique and drew me in and I fell in love with these people as they shared details of their lives.  It is a must see. It is emotional, powerful, inspiring, moving, and charming. You simply can't walk out of that theater without either tears in your eyes or a smile on your face...and I had both.  I got to take one of my seminary students with me and I loved sharing that experience with her.  Afterward we were interviewed on our thoughts about the film. 

It was such an incredible film from the music and the stories shared to the filming and aesthetics.   I honestly couldn't pick which story was the most moving to me or my most favorite. I suggest this film to everyone.  It shows a lot about the diversity of the members of the Mormon faith. It is a great film for anyone whether Mormon or not.  One of the main features in the film is a man named Jermaine Sullivan.  My husband served with him as his executive secretary in the Stake Presidency in Atlanta last year.  It was incredible to see such a humble and simple yet powerful and kind family.  The way that his wife gracefully handles their three spirited boys while her husband goes about the Lords work is such an inspiring example of the kind of simple yet rewarding sacrifices we can make.  It is not overly religious however it is very inspiring and spiritual.  I will undoubtedly be seeing it again when it officially hits theaters October 10th!  There will be two theaters in Georgia that will be showing it.