Mike and Kerwin's Adventure in NM

On Tuesday Mike and his brother Kerwin flew to Albuquerque to pick up Mike's truck. Everything was going according to plan. We had budgeted this trip and new exactly how much everything was going to cost. They had a great time, then yesterday happened. Half way between Albuquerque and Grants (a very very small town) and his clutch goes out. He is dead in the water. I was out running errands with my mom, so I had to go back to her house, look up a mechanic, call a tow truck.

Then Mike calls to tell my how much money it was going to cost, I about had a heart attack, but the work needed to be done. It meant that they would be home early this morning as they weren't going to be able to finish the truck until 10pm. Around 5 he called to tell me that it wasn't the clutch it was the transfer case, and they couldn't find. They finally found one, however it was in Albuquerque, and they weren't going to be able to get it until today. So they stayed the night and now I am waiting for the final word on the cost and that they are on their way home.

I do have to say that the people at the shop have been so good to Mike and Kerwin. They understand that they are stranded in Grants, so the owners wife lent them her car for them to use. They have back burnered all other jobs to get this one done and back on the road.

All of this and we have birthday party tomorrow for Mat.

Primary Program

This years theme was Eternal Families, a theme that is very close to home for us. The boys have been listening to the music all year in preparation for the program, so I know the songs as well as they do. However yesterday as they sang a couple of songs I cried, and was so grateful for the principle of Eternal Families and the Sealing Power.

Here are the songs that made me cry.

You can listen to God Gave us FAmilies here the words are below...

1. Our Father has a family. It’s me!
It’s you, all others too: we are His children.
He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,
To live and learn here in fam’lies.
[Chorus]
God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.


2. A father’s place is to preside, provide,
To love and teach the gospel to his children.
A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share
Their love for Father in Heaven.
[Chorus]
3. A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,
To nurture and to strengthen all her children.
She teaches children to obey, to pray,
To love and serve in the fam’ly.
[Chorus]
4. I’ll love and serve my family and be
A good example to each fam’ly member.
And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,
I’ll help my fam’ly remember:
God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

The second one was Families are Forever.

It was one of the best programs that I seen.

I remember

I remember where I was and what I was doing. It is a moment in time that will forever be etched in my mind. Like my mom telling me she knew where she was on the day that Kennedy was shot, my grandma telling me that she can still remember where she was when she heard about Pearl Harbor. These are defining moments in our lives.

We were driving to work and listening to a CD when my sister in law called us and told us to turn on the radio. We couldn't believe it and so we raced to work to see it on the tv. We then spent the entire day listening to the radio, not believing what we were hearing. Later that day we discovered that Mike's uncle Steven was in the Pentagon when that plane hit. Luckily he wasn't hurt.

As I watched all the news coverage I knew that our life had just changed, just as it had when the Wall had come down, only this time it wasn't for peace. In a conversation with my grandmother later that week she said something that will forever be etched in my memory, she said after the end of the war (WWII) and all the sacrifices that were made to ensure peace, she never thought that she would see something this horrific in her life.

Today as my kids went to school, they made sure that they were wearing red, white and blue. I realized something, or rather re-realized something, they tried to take something from us, they tried to break us, to divide our nation, however they didn't succeed. We rallied, we became stronger, and our spirit was not broken.

This song has always been a favorite of mine, and I loved the pictures that are in it.




In celebration of spirit post something that you love about this great nation.