My October trip to Utah

Our October trips to Utah are all very busy. We leave with a dozen or more things we need to do and come home realizing we only scratched the surface but try to do our best. From October 2 to October 14 this is what happened. We get to Utah one day later because the flight got stranded in Austin bound to Dallas. The pilot simply said: "we can't land in Dallas because of bad weather and don't have enough fuel to take us to Houston so we are going to land in Austin" ...and there we were sitting on that plane from 1:00 pm to midnight when the plane finally landed in Dallas. But does is not all, there was not a gate available when we arrived either so we sat on the plane another hour.
Daniel was smart enough to call the airline and arrange are re-booking over the phone rather than to wait in line for another four hours. The good thing is that we at least got to see Vale in Dallas. She showed us the  Hospital where the fellow was who contracted Ebola was hospitalized a few blocks from her home.
Next day we get to Salt Lake, checked in our Hotel, got the car and met up with Cristi and the boys to go to the museum but it was closed for renovation so we just went out to eat and met with Mandy, Spencer and Hilda. The next day was General Conference. In the evening at the Priesthood meeting we saw Mari, Manu, Bianca, Mandy, Cristi and the kids, Margie, Ana and her boys, Kimmy and Hilda. It was great to see all the cousins. We headed to the Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point. That was soooo fun for the kiddos.
 Next morning it was General Conference again and we went to a nice luncheon in between sessions and later on we said good bye to Mari, Manu, Bianca, Cristi, Brooks, Nixon and Beckett. The visit as always was too short but worth it!
The next day I went to get my hair cut at sister's Mahom's salon in Hunstville and started the Meeting with the DTA wives during the day and a marathon of things I needed to do as time permitted: Doctors appointments, pick up prescriptions, buy needed things and gifts, paying bills, going to the baby shower,  looking at all four properties, visiting family and friends and the dreaded Deposition. By the time we got home last night from this trip we were exhausted! I have come to the conclusion that all our trips to Utah although necessary are tense and full of stress not your typical vacation.

Keeping a budget

 I taught an Institute class yesterday on finances and have had some heavy discussion with Daniel about investing. He hates to get into debt when buying houses for investments but I see it more as an opportunity to get an even bigger nest egg. Well, the class today helped me realized that now that I am married I should not make decisions on my own.

 

A referral

I found out the other day by looking at a picture on facebook that when I went to Utah a couple of years ago I gave a missionary referral to a temple square missionary and one of my referrals ended up in a baptism. It made me feel so good when I saw that. This young man does not know me and probably he never will but that is how the Lord works.

Wicked king Rehoboam

Today in primary gospel class, I learned that Rehoboam is the one responsible for the lost 10 tribes. In 1 Kings 12: 3-4 we learned that King Salomon had taxed the people heavily, and the people had grown weary of the tax burden. Salomon dies and his son Rehoboam becomes King who followed the unwise advice of his peers to be even place more heavy burdens and become even worst than his father. Because of this ONLY the tribes of Judah and Benjamin accepted him as their King. Another fellow by the name of Jeroboam led a revolt against Rehoboam and became King of the other ten tribes.
This is how the twelve tribes of Israel became divided into two kingdoms, the kingdom of Judah (Rehoboam) and the Kingdom of Israel ( Jeroboam) Amazing that all this took place because of one foolish king. And this leads to politics because this also applies to our leaders today.  How important it is for good men to run for office.

A Saturday to myself

The other day I was looking at young mothers showing pictures on facebook about their family life and for a moment I LONG for those times in my life. How precious they were and how I regret taking them for granted.


Today I am here by myself with a lot of time on my hands, the house is clean, there are no dead -lines or errands to run, no ballet for the girls, no soccer games to take Cristi to or basketball games to take  Mandy, or voice and guitar lessons for Bianca. No future plans to take trips to Mexico to visit  friends or family in El Salvador either.


Those days as a family are gone forever and that is why divorce is so hard because despite the fact those are  great memories to cherish those memories came with an expiration date as a family.  That is why I was feeling a little blue the other day. It is hard enough to be an empty nester but it is even harder when those wonderful memories didn't continue its natural course. I am sure it must be hard for Daniel too even though he does not express it. However we both ended up with amazing children and that on its own is a great blessing. We will forever be grateful for our dear children!


 A problem I deal with is that I wish I had married Daniel from the start when we were both single and that he would have been my only husband the way it supposed to be. I  hate to know I ended up with two husbands. As much as I want to block off and erase my happily married life for 22 years to what seemed to be a nice guy is impossible because so many things remind me of  those precious and glorious days as a Vanleeuwen. Is like I want to tell people don't judge me please, I don't know whose fault it was but I do know my Heavenly Father knows how much I loved my family and how much I wanted to make it all work for us and how I was willing to put up with verbal abuse if I had to, but my Savior knew better and gave me what I should have had in the first place.


Today I realized that perhaps my former life was like Joseph Smith and the lost pages. He learned his lesson for wanting something that wasn't mean to be in the first place. Now I have what I should have had to begin with. A wonderful husband by my side who loves me the way I am and one I can completely trust who will stay with me forever. On days like today when I have time to think about my life I only want to tell those young mothers out there. Don't complain about every trivial little thing but rather, enjoy your time together NOW while you can because one day you would wish that they had not grown up too fast! You have no idea how much I miss you girls!!

Activity day about preparing for General Conference

Today I gave the kids a packet to complete while they are watching General Conference. In it I outlined what we must do to prepare, nest, what to do during and last but not least, what to do after General Conference.


 Basically they are to pray for the leaders who will be speaking, they  need to pay close attention and take notes on the things they had prepared for us and lastly they are to continue re reading and discussing the talks with  their families for the following six months. We did some other activities and also went over the talks from April.


If we don't look at those talks ever again they will soon be forgotten. Some of the talks that stood out for me were:
 Our four minutes by Bishop Stevenson.
 Be grateful in any circumstance by elder Uchdorf, he said:" How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain."
How to protect our families from pornography sister Reeves said;  'the only thing that really need to be accomplished in the home are daily scripture study, prayer and weekly family home evening and the gospel is not weight it is wings it carries us."
 Defend your believes with courtesy but defend them by elder Holland,
 What he asks of each one of us is to be able and willing to take up to joyful burden of discipleship, by Rasband.
We best serve our father in Heaven by righteously influencing and serving others, by elder Scott, Obedience is taught by example and obedience is not weakness by elder Hales,
 I pray that we will not lose sight of the way by elder Zivic,
The willingness to see through another's eyes will transform corrupt communication into ministering grace, by elder Zwick,
 You are infinitely more precious to God than a tree and sometimes you have to stand alone by Andersen,
You hold in your hand the happiness of more people than you can imagine and righteousness must be chosen  and leave a priceless inheritance of hope by elder Eyring,
 Let your faith show by elder Nelson.
"We are not, and never need be alone" elder Bednar
 The eternally significant blessing of uniting our own families is almost beyond comprehension by elder Cook.
"Help wanted: Light and truth, serve as a mentor, listen to promptings, live the Gospel daily, so family history, become a missionary, rescuers, covenant keepers, true disciples step forward in righiousness" sister Burton
" Every child of God in mortality chose the Savior's plan. Trust that given the opportunity, they will do so again."

Whatever you are, be a good one!

Today's post is going to be inspired by a phrase I read from Abraham Lincoln who said: " Whatever you are,be a good one! and I may even add to that be not just a good one but an excellent one!! Daniel is like that.  He does his very best at whatever he is asked to do. People who come to the office have said how much for the better the Caribbean office is now from past years before he came as the DTA he is not perfect by any means but almost closed to that.


 As I follow his example I am also trying my best at anything I am asked to do too. I went to the temple today and had a good day. I was able to memorized a few things and worked hard at anything I was asked to do. One thing I know is that all it takes to enjoy something is to give it our all.