Amist the Whirlwinds

My favorite scripture is from Helaman 5:12, "And now, my sons [I insert my name here], remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our redeem, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."  Several years ago in Relief Society we were challenged to learn some of the scripture mastery scriptures.  This was the one I was assigned.  I never have memorized it, but I know where to find it and I have often pondered its meaning in my life.

I am the type of person who takes on, and/or is given a lot of responsibility.  I often chose the harder path when presented a choice because I know I will learn more in the long run.  Because of all of these factors I often find myself in a ...

...either by choice or by timing.  Sometimes when I depend on only my own strength or my own knowledge I often find myself....

 ...hanging on for dear life.  Sometimes even shaking myself to the core of my testimony.  When my fight or flight comes up, I often want to "run away," but rationally I talk myself into fighting.  I will often rely upon myself so much that I forget to pray for help, or ask for light and truth in my situation; becoming discouraged. In that discouragement, I often find myself heading towards the "gulf of misery and wo."  When I get to that point I remember my foundation...

 ...which I have chosen to build upon the rock, my Redeemer; Christ the Lord.

After coming through a trial I often wonder why it takes me so long to remember those things.  I have been pondering this for the last few weeks.  I have been inserted into another whirlwind.  Some of the things swirling about are in my control and are by my choice (running the game clock for the kids soccer games, being building chair, being a grade level facilitator).  Others are because other people have asked me (IAT committee, RTI team to move from IAT to RTI at school.)  Some are because this is that time in life (senior in school).  Others are because I have been called in my church (Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Primary).  On some days everything is beckoning my attention, other days only a couple are demanding attention.  When I get going through a week the intention is to walk with the Lord everyday, when things start swirling sometime prayers are forgotten.  When I think about it later, I know better; but it still happens.

What I am most grateful for is the knowledge of how to restart.  The gift of knowledge that helps me continue to grow.  I am grateful for the comfort of the scriptures, even after all these years later and the many layers of understanding since; I still rely on the power and truth of this my favorite scripture.  I am glad no matter when Christ finds me, he's always willing to walk with me and most of the time carry my load.

A Fair Tradition

 I won in two categories this year.  I got a 4th place in the sunrise category....

 ...and 3rd place in Black and White  youth.  Not too bad.

 Kyle and I shared a funnel cake.  He ordered it with extra sugar.  Crazy Nut!

 I saw a few firsts this year.  Cookie Monster and Elmo...

 ... a reindeer....

 ....and a camel.  Of all the animals I've seen at the fair these are new.

It was a cool, crisp fall evening, perfect fair weather.  Boy I love these night.  What a great way to end a busy week.  Enjoying the fresh air.  I saw so many current and former students.  It is always fun to see them growing up.  Tomorrow, Kayla gets the day off for fair day.  Kota has to go to school.  The Career Center never really said why, just that they have to.  Kyle called today and no one would tell him why.  Oh well, welcome to the adult world I guess.  I get to go to all day training tomorrow at the high school.  It will be a nice change of pace.

Just Stories

It is the Ashland County Fair Week.  We have been busy all year taking pictures.  I settled and talked with my friends and came up with my bests.

Kayla didn't take pictures this year, but she entered cookies and a blanket we made together in the past through her Family Consumer Science class at high school.  (What's that you say, we called it Home Ec.)

We shall see how we do this week.

It seems like I'm living life in the fast lane right now.  It's all I can do to keep up and stay a float.  It is interesting balancing three lives: mother, teacher, wife.  It all depends on the minute who gets the attention.  It seems my laundry is always the last on the list.  It seems the laundry that gets done is what we need or we won't have anything to wear the next day.

The teens are busy too.

Kota is weighing the decision of what to do with the fox.  He has out worn his welcome in the house.  Now that he is full grown he can go just about any where he wants in the house.  Including the kitchen counters.  He helps himself to anything that smells good.  If he's not particularly hungry at the moment he pees on it so no one else will eat it either.  I drew the line when he started leaving fresh steamy piles on the counter.  The fox now abides in the out of doors.  We built him a fox box and a run for him to use.  The bummer is he slipped his harness this morning.  Then the fox ran around like the wild animal he sort of is in the neighborhood.  It took forever to catch him.  He made us late for church today.  Dakota is deciding whether to release him or not.  Tough decision only he can make.

Kayla had a date to homecoming.  It happens to be the same night as General priesthood session of General Conference.  Her date cancelled, her feelings were hurt.  Oh, what to do.  She understands, but it doesn't take the sting away.  So she might just be going with a bunch of her friends.  It is only two weeks away, not sure if she can or wants to get another date.

So we are experiencing some growing pains here.  It all makes us a little stronger.

Firsts, Lasts, and Rainy Days

 We missed the first day of school, but not the first day of seminary.  Kayla looks so thrilled with her mug of hot cocoa to head off to the Yates' home.  Kota is used to early mornings guarding the pool.  We asked for a few mornings off this year so he could attend seminary more.  I hope the blessings out weigh the loss of income.  His insurance bill is huge!!!!

 Kyle and I work the game clock for the girls and boys soccer team this year.  The advantage is we get to sit indoors despite the weather.  As we arrived Tuesday night, the heavens opened up and dumped a little bit of left over hurricane water.  Just enough to totally soak the girls, and mess up the scoreboard.  So no scoreboard for the evenings games.

 It rained long enough to make it steamy and miserable on everyone.  No matter the JV soccer team won 3-0, and Varsity Girls 1-0 against Smithville.

 Remember the scoreboard was not working tonight.  Well this was the first win of the season for the Falcon boys.  They won 9-0, very high score for a soccer game.  Too bad they didn't get to see their score on the board.

 Kyle fixed up the Taurus one last time, replacing the alternator last week.  That was the spark to finally buy something new for the Moose man.  After rolling the Trailblazer last December he was stuck with what we had available.  He endured the not so fun car which broke down about every 6-8 weeks.  We endured all the repairs and finally got tired of nickle and dimeing ourselves.  So we sold the Taurus Thursday night this week.  We put it in front of our house Monday night and received around 10 calls by Wednesday.  We have a great place to get rid of things here in town.

I ended my busy, tough emotionally week with a tall root beer float.  Sometimes creamy goodness drowns the sorrows and brings about a refreshed point of view.  Life is good in the Crawford house.