Did I mention it is hot?

It has been in the high 90s with humidity to match.

For those who might not know, I'm a cool temperatures kind of girl, I don't like dirt, I love my own bed, I hate bugs, and I get really grumpy when I am hot, dirty, and haven't slept well.

So, knowing those facts, are you wondering why I'm going camping this week?

Well, let me tell you.

This week is our Young Women's camp. The YW (ages 12-18) from the Birmingham and Montgomery stakes are getting together to learn survival skills, sing silly songs, strengthen one another, and strengthen testimonies. I get to be one of their leaders (actually I am a "shadow leader" - they are really good about truly allowing the older girls be the actual leaders). I am so looking forward to this. I am dreading it too. Really, I'm so not a camping kind of girl (especially in extreme heat). We have ten girls going from our branch. There are six 12-year olds; two 13-yearl olds; and two YCLs (youth camp leaders). They are so cute and enthusiastic. I just need to remember their enthusiasm. One of my best buds (Corrie) is coming along too. How will this not be wonderful (oh yeah, the heat)? Really, (trying to convince myself) this is going to be GREAT!

I'll take lots of picture and post a great synopsis when I get home this weekend. Pray for cooler temperatures and that I won't be a grump.

I'm grateful that Phil will be home with Eden. I am really going to miss those two (they are going to come visit me for a day though).

Eden at YW

Tonight the YW were at our house. We made some Mexican Party Dip and then had a planning meeting for this quarter (actually we ended up planning the rest of the year). At the beginning, Eden was sitting on my lap. I asked (the girls) what we should sing.

Eden: "Snowman"

All the girls proceeded to sing "Once there was a Snowman" complete with actions. Then we had a prayer. Eden was being a bit disruptive after the prayer so I said, "Eden we are having a meeting."

Eden: "Ohhh Kaaayyyy! I go get flag!"

Update

I am sitting in Phil's office.

He is molding young minds.

He's also in the middle (well, the beginning of the middle) of a treatment so he is on drugs.

He can't be trusted to drive.

But he can be trusted to mold young minds?

I'm the chauffeur.

His class is three hours long.

We live a half hour away and so I am waiting.

I'm supposed to be working on my YW lesson.

I'm blogging.

Shame, shame.

Projects Update

Bathroom: same status as last post. The OTHER bathroom is in severe need of attention. It is getting all the use and none of the attention. I should really clean it tonight.

Dress: everything is done except the zipper and hem. She looks beautiful in it. Yesterday we went shopping and she got new shoes, a necklace/earrings set, and an uplifting undergarment. Clinton Kelly would be so proud. I hate zippers though. Guess what I'll be doing at midnight while Phil can't sleep?

72 Hour Kits: I bought a new backpack with wheels. It doesn't all fit into it. I have sorted the stuff into boxes: Phil, Heidi, Eden. I need another backpack with wheels. Maybe two. Is it cruel to expect Eden to haul her own survival gear?

Laundry: Resumed its position of prominence but although washed, it hasn't been folded. Guess what I'll be doing before midnight? I can't stand to have laundry unfolded over night (Phil, on the other hand, can't stand to have unfolded laundry for more than five minutes. He's a good man to put up with me and my laundry wrinkles.)

Roof: done by 3:00 that day! Yeah, those guys are finishers! I should learn from them. It looks great.

Other upcoming events:

Saturday morning: the Laurels and a few of their prom friends are coming for a waffle party. Phil is a nice, supportive guy to let me invite (actually they invited themselves) a bunch of teens into the house on the last day of his treatment.

Saturday afternoon: unhook Phil from his poison and pull out the needle. I'm such a good nurse.

Saturday evening: drive to B'ham for YW training followed by a stake YW activity followed by the YW General Broadcast. Of course the laurels will all be at prom but those beehives better get their little skinny bods there!

Sunday: teach a lesson about patriarchal blessings. This isn't in the manual but we decided to reserve fifth Sunday lessons for topics that we feel impressed our girls need. I'm not sure what the beehives are going to be learning about but the laurels are going to be learning about planning for the future now, including the importance of patriarchal blessings.

It is such a good thing that our lives are fairly busy. If I had time, I bet I'd be throwing myself pity parties. Phil's CEA was up again. We seem to be having a steady (slow) climb here. CT scan in a couple of weeks. That should give us some more info with which to work. Yeah, too busy for pity parties. That is a blessing and truly one of the tender mercies I count.

Eternal Perspective and Overcoming Opposition

Today I combined lessons 3:22 and 3:23. I thought these went together well. To begin the lesson I had created word strips of the following words:

• unafraid
• discouraged
• testimony
• immoral

but I had folded the paper so that only the following was visible:

• afraid
• courage
• test
• moral

I asked them if they thought these words were positive, negative, or neutral. Then I showed them the rest of the word and of course they changed their minds when they saw a wider perspective. We discussed the Lord's perspective compared to our own perspectives.
I shared with them a personal experience I had in reading James 1: 2-8 and likening those verses to myself as I was dealing with a very difficult trial in my own life.

What I've learned in my own life (and am still learning) is that when I have an eternal perspective, it is much easier to see that there are opportunities for growth in our trials. I have to remember that Heavenly Father loves me and will strengthen me in my struggles.

God has a specific plan for your life.

"God has a specific plan for your life. He will reveal parts of that plan to you as you look for it with faith and consistent obedience. His Son has made you free—not from the consequences of your acts, but free to make choices. God’s eternal purpose is for you to be successful in this mortal life. No matter how wicked the world becomes, you can earn that blessing. Seek and be attentive to the personal guidance given to you through the Holy Spirit. Continue to be worthy to receive it. Reach out to others who stumble and are perplexed, not certain of what path to follow.

Your security is in God your Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. As one of His Apostles authorized to bear witness of Him, I solemnly testify that I know that the Savior lives, that He is a resurrected, glorified personage of perfect love. He is your hope, your Mediator, your Redeemer. Through obedience, let Him guide you to peace and happiness amid increased evil in the world, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

-Richard G. Scott, Ensign, May 2004.

Your destiny is in your hands...

“Life gives all the choice. You can satisfy yourself with mediocrity if you wish. You can be common, ordinary, dull, colorless; or you can channel your life so that it will be clean, vibrant, progressive, useful, colorful, rich. You can soil your record, defile your soul, trample underfoot virtue, honor, and goodness and thus forfeit an exaltation in the kingdom of god. Or you can be righteous, commanding the respect and admiration of your associates in all walks of life, and enjoying the love of the Lord. Your destiny is in your hands and your all-important decisions are your own to make.”

President Spencer W. Kimball
The Miracle of Forgiveness

The Game of Life

Tonight for our activity, the topic was "Choice and Accountability." I was in charge and decided that it would be great to play the board game, Life. I decided to adapt it to reflect some of the eternal choices we have in this life. So, in addition to the regular rules I added these:

• When you spin a 5 (before you are married) you get to choose a boyfriend*. The first time you should choose two at random and then select one to keep. Every time you roll a 5 (before you are married) you can select a new boyfriend (at random) or keep the one you have.
• If you chose to wait (or plan to) until you were 16 to date, receive a Sweet 16 card.
• Whenever you receive money you can choose whether to pay tithes and offerings. You will receive blessings cards each time you pay tithes and offerings.
• You can choose to serve a mission any time it is your turn to play prior to getting married. To serve a mission (before marriage) you must pay $4,000 and skip two turns.
• You can choose to serve a mission with your spouse after retirement. To serve a mission with your spouse, you must pay $15,000.
• You get an “obedience” card every time you spin a 3 or 7. (Obedience cards included: Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, Testimony, Scripture Reading, etc.)
• When you land on the “Get Married” space you will marry your current boyfriend. If you are both worthy to attend the temple, you will be sealed and receive a “Temple Sealing” card. If you don’t want to marry your current boyfriend you can stay on the “Get Married” space until you spin a 5 (only one spin per turn). Once you spin a 5 you will be given a temple-worthy boyfriend. If you are not worthy to attend the temple (you must have a testimony, live the Word of Wisdom, obey the Law of Chastity, and pay your tithing) you can stay on the “Get Married” space until you become “worthy.” You can become worthy by spinning 3 and 7 to receive the necessary “obedience” cards.
• When you have a child you can choose to be a stay-home mom. You must turn in your career and income card but you will still draw money from your husband’s income.
• You get an opportunity to serve in a calling when you spin a 9. You can choose to accept it or not. If you accept it, you must trade in one “Life” tile.

It worked out pretty well. If I do this again, I will cover up the board's "Get Married" space and place marriage and children further down the road of life so that they had time to go through several boyfriends and to accumulate the necessary obedience cards. We also needed smaller "bills" than the game has so that the girls could pay their 10% tithing. As it turned out we just kept a running tally of their money. That worked out ok. We definitely needed all the adults to keep the game going with all the extra cards and rules.

My husband thought that the young women would all make the "obvious right" choices (college, temple marriage, etc.) but they didn't. We had some good examples of the difficulties that occur when poor choices are made. It was especially clear when girls chose immediate rewards instead of long-term ones. At the end of the game (we ran out of time so we had to declare it the Second Coming) we took all their money, the praise of mankind (like the Pulitzer etc.) and only left them with eternal rewards. If they chose not to get married in the temple, we took their husband and children (harsh, I know). We kept the mood fun and didn't lecture. We didn't need to, the lessons were obvious.

It was just a fun way to think about and demonstrate that our choices have consequences.

*I made up about 25 boyfriend cards. Each card had a name and a short bio. There were some RMs that were lazy jerks and some non-LDS guys who were really good men. These were in addition to plenty of temple-worthy, good guys to go around. Each boyfriend card also had a job/income. Once they got married they got to draw the income of their husband as well. That way they could choose to continue their career or give up their career to be a stay-at-home mom.

Splurge Party

A month or so ago our scouts had an auction in order to raise funds for scout camp. One of the things being auctioned off was a Maurice's "Splurge Party." Well, I knew that I had to have that item for my young women. I went and met with the store staff that would be working at our party. I told them that I wanted them to discuss with the girls how to dress for various body types and how to dress modestly. I pointed out that for me "modest" meant nothing sleeveless and nothing that showed ANY cleavage. So, tonight we met and celebrated one of the girls' birthdays and then we went to Maurice's after they closed. We had an hour and a half to spend in the store. The employees spent time with each girl helping her pick out modest clothing that worked for her. The girls each had a private dressing room and then they got to model their outfits. We took pictures and as soon as I get them (it wasn't my camera), I will post pictures. It was a really fun evening. I think the girls all left feeling good about themselves and having had a good time.

Our last two Sunday lessons have been about missionary work. On Sunday the missionaries came in and challenged the girls to share the Book of Mormon with others. I brought two copies of the Book of Mormon and invited the girls to give one to each of the two employees at Maurice's. They did it. They were a little nervous but they did it. Way to go girls!

Random Stuff

We had a great week with mom and dad Kesler. Phil and dad put in all new sinks throughout our house! (believe me, we NEEDED them!) They look so nice. (I'll post pictures below). In a wonderful, surprising little twist, we learned while doing this that the disgusting wallpaper in our master bath would just peel right off. It took us, literally, fifteen minutes to remove the paper (and I have lived with that stuff for 2 years in fear of how hard it would be to take it down!). We also got to go visit dad's cousin near Montgomery. It was fun to travel to a new place in our state and Rick and Carolyn (the cousins) are really nice people. Who knows, maybe we'll run into them in the temple. A benefit of having them here is that dad was able to assist in setting Phil apart as the 1st Counselor in our Branch Presidency. He was called just before he flew to Utah and then sustained en absentia (he was on an airplane flying home from a crazy VM weekend in Cache Valley).

Sunday (May 27) was a most momentous day! Eden turned one! She was so cute. I let her open a present before church because it was a dress. She didn't really understand tissue paper, but once I removed the paper and she saw her new dress in the bag she became very excited and (of course) exclaimed, "priitee!" She was such a good girl during church (of course she was thrilled to have Grandpa K there - he is one of her favorite people). I thought she might have a problem seeing Phil (on the stand) but not being able to go to him but she was fine (probably because of grandpa - we'll see how this week goes). She went with grandpa to the High Priest group and he said she sat there with great reverence and was a "perfect baby." (Phil is over the YW - lucky him - so he joined me in there.) When we got home we had dinner and, of course, cake. She examined the cupcake and stuck her finger in the frosting. She kept looking over at me as if to say, "is this really ok with you? " Finally she was convinced that she wasn't going to get a "no-no" and she had a blast eating some of the cake and smearing the rest of it all over herself. She didn't really understand unwrapping presents but she sure enjoyed playing with them after they were unwrapped. It was a fun, low-key, first birthday.

Yesterday Eden had her one-year check up. She is 29 inches (50%) and 18 lbs (small for her height but the doctor said she looks healthy and that "fat isn't a good indicator of health!"). She is a "perfect baby" according to her doctor. He always offers to buy her from us (he probably says that to all the parents). Thinking she was over the weight limit (20 lbs) we had turned her carseat forward on her birthday. I guess we need to turn it back. Oh well.

I'm doing well. We had a really good activity last night at YWs. It was on Divine Nature. You know how you plan something, put a lot of work into it, and then wonder if anyone will show and if they do, if they will have an enriching experience? Well, I spent a fair amount of time on this and started to feel cynical yesterday afternoon that it wouldn't be well attended or appreciated. It was so nice to hear from a few of the girls that they really appreciated it. One mother has even contacted me and shared that her daughter couldn't quit talking about it. Yippee!!! We had a fairly good turn out too! I just have to remember that there will always be valleys and peaks and to appreciate these highs. I teach this Sunday so now my focus switches to that lesson. I think it will be fun to have Phil be the counselor over YW. He already helps me tons so he knows the program and appreciates the purpose.

Our irises are finally starting to bloom (about 2 weeks after the others in the neighborhood). I planted some basil seeds in a little pot and have put it in our kitchen bay window. I have two tiny sprouts. This is a major accomplishment for me - nothing like green on my thumb! I love fresh basil so I hope this works out. It may be the extent of my "garden" this year. :)

Well, this post has been longer than I expected so I'll end now.

Kinda Rough

This weekend we finally tackled our hall bathroom! Those of you who have seen it know that this was no small task. The walls were painted purple but had bleach streaks making the walls purple AND blue. There was a hideous wallpaper border. The worst thing though was that the previous owners had put in an exceeding amount of metal anchors which had to be removed and then patched. We spent most of Friday and all day Saturday tackling this project. It is now a beautiful off-white bathroom. I did the patching and I have to say that I did a pretty good job (18 patches on one wall!) but it is a little ROUGH in a few places. At this point I don't even care.

Since we spent so much time on our bathroom, I didn't spend as much time as I like (I was told by a fabulous teacher/stake president to spend 10 hours of prep for every hour of teaching). Therefore, my lesson didn't go as I'd like. In fact, it was pretty ROUGH. It was on eternal marriage (again) and there are a couple of girls already planning non-temple weddings. I was informed by a couple of the girls that I am too critical of them and that I just don't love them. This is good for me right?

During Sunday School Eden fell and bonked her head on the chair in front of us (she was sitting on the floor). She screamed quite loudly so I took her out - like all the way outside. As I was walking around outside, one of the branch members told me the following: "I was sayin' to my wife the other day that you sure have been lookin' ROUGH lately. You are a beautiful woman so I figure it must be the little one here that is making you look so ROUGH." I thought to myself, "wow, you only ever see me on Sundays when I've actually put on makeup and tried to look nice. You should have seen me yesterday covered with paint and grime and without a shower!"

Yeah, it was a ROUGH weekend...

So, now it is on to a new week which includes my sister, Merilee, arriving (tonight) for a week and Phil's surgery on Wednesday. I'm sure it will all go smoothly. In fact, Phil received a fabulous Priesthood blessing last night from our home teacher and branch president. Smooth is definitely the order for this week!

I'll have to post pictures of the bathroom when I get them.

Our Weekend

We had a busy, crazy weekend. Phil and Eden got to spend lots of time together which they both loved! Thursday night I went to RS Enrichment and Friday afternoon I went Visiting Teaching for over four hours. My partner and I visit four older women who love visitors so we like to spend some time with each of them. Saturday was our third rainy day and although we love having the rain, sometimes we don't love getting the rain. We woke up feeling a little gloomy and in need of seeing the sky. After a morning of cleaning the house (a very important necessity after we have all had the flu) and such, I headed to B'ham for a stake camp meeting and the youth dance. Therefore, Eden got to spend more time with her daddy. I'm so grateful that he is such an able and willing daddy. He is still dealing with the flu symptoms but slowly getting better.

Tonight we had a man over for dinner and FHE. He is here in 'bama working and will be moving his family down from BC (Canada) next month. I doubt he'll end up in our branch but it was really nice to have him over and get to know him. I love that the gospel gives us an instant bond and commonality with others regardless of where we live or what other aspects of our lives we may or may not have in common.