Coming Home

I was really glad to be home.  My kids were amazing.  Mykelle is incredible and the kids like her better than me.  She ran a "tight ship."  The house was immaculate when I got home and according to the kids, it was that way the whole time we were gone.  Maybe the Webster's are turning over a new leaf!  Thanks to Mykelle!!

There is no greater gift for a parent than the gift of good and righteous children.  I feel so blessed to have the wonderful kids I have!

I found out that I could do whatever I wanted and my kids would be okay, providing Mykelle was around.  But then I would miss out on so much.  I'm hoping I can still provide something in my home! ;o)

I had a busy week ahead of me when I got home!
Tuesday I was in charge of the book review in our ward.  We reviewed "Hidden Treasures" by Leslie Householder.  I had a blast with this discussion!  It was so fun!

Wednesday I had a Night of Excellence to attend.

Thursday was our Stake YW Leadership Training.  I spent Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday dumpster diving, carving rocks and painting rocks for the event.  For some reason, everything else fell on this night, too. Kameron had a football party. Britton had football practice.  Kallan had basketball practice.  Paul had roundtable and Mykelle had a volleyball game.  Jadon was singing at our meeting.  Paul received a text that Kallan had a parent meeting at 6:00 pm.  Oh yeah, and the two little boys had a piano recital.

So Britton missed football practice and we had Mykelle take him to the recital.  Paul went to Kallan's basketball meeting, then went and got Kameron and ran to piano, then he brought them home and went to roundtable.  I left at 5:00 and got home after 9:00 pm.  What a day!!

Saturday we cleaned the food storage room, started the Christmas lights and cleaned the house.

Sunday Jadon sang in the 2nd ward, then in the 1st ward, then at the Jubilee of Trees.  He did an amazing job!!  It was quite the week!

Bookpublishing Workshop

So I got up Wednesday after about 3 hours of sleep, got the kids off, cleaned out part of my suitcase and repacked.  Ran mom to the Dr., then came home and got ready to leave again.  This was a BIG stretch for me.  I've never really left my family by myself except for the Mentor's Training I attended, plus I had already been gone several days, but since I won this $2,000 workshop, and Paul and I felt like it would be a great opportunity, I went.

It turned out to be a great weekend.  I met some amazing people with some great stories to tell and others who had great things going for them.  It was a privilege to have attended.  I  learned a lot, now have to settle my brain down and implement them!

I wrote a little about it on my other blog, www.allaboutbecoming.com.  You can read about it there.  Very grateful to Leslie Householder for the gift!!

While We Were Gone

There's always a few things you miss when you are gone.  The exciting thing was that Kallan made the 9th Grade Basketball Team!

The other thing was that mom hurt her knee and was flat on the couch from Monday on, so when I got home on Wednesday, I took her over to Scott Parry's office.  It turns out that she had a torn meniscus and needed knee surgery.  I can't figure out why these things happen when I will be gone and the least helpful, but fortunately, my kids were there for her and were good help to her.  She had surgery on Friday.  In addition to the tear, she had some floating cartiledge and a fatty lump that they took care of.  She was actually doing better after the surgery than before.  She's a trooper!

Puerto Rico Day 6- Tuesday Coming Home

The nice part about this day was we were the last ones leaving.  We didn't leave until 2 pm, so we were able to go down to the pool for an hour or so.  I thought it would be stupid for me to go to Puerto Rico and not come home with any kind of sun tan/burn.  Fortunately, we were able to get some sun.  We packed our stuff and set our suitcases out, then went down to the pool for a bit.  When I got back to the room, I realized I had packed my garments in my bags, so we had to get our bag and I had to change before they loaded them in the bus to head to the airport.

Travel was good.  I felt bad for Eric with his shoulder.  He was in a lot of pain, but didn't complain at all.

In Houston, our flight was delayed so we were even later getting home!!  Didn't get home and in bed until 3 am.

Puerto Rico Day 5 Monday

Monday Paul & I cancelled our tour and decided to just stay at the resort and get some sun, relax, read, and write.  It was a great plan except for that sun part.  It was cloudy and rainy the whole day.  The nice thing about Puerto Rico is that even if it is raining, it is still warm, so we went down to the beach anyway.

Joni & Eric were down there and Sis. Dalton and her hubby were walking on the beach, too.  So we all sat down and started to chat.  I asked Sis. Dalton a bunch of questions and we got to visit and listen to stories.  It was so much fun!  We had a blast and I learned a lot.  I was really excited to hear all the fun new stuff they are coming out with-- especially for personal progress!

Sis. Dalton wanted to come to our Stake Training, but was flying straight from PR to the east coast where she stayed until the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Later that day, we went to a dinner at a really nice home in the rainforest.  By really nice, I mean a REALLY nice outdoor type home.  Pretty incredible.  We had a big buffet dinner and Eric and Joni went for a walk.  When we got back to the hotel, I got a text from Joni needing some ibuprofen.  Eric had fallen on their walk and hurt his shoulder.  (The diagnosis now that we are home is that he tore his rotator cuff and will be having surgery Dec. 11).  So I don't know if the trip was that great for them. ;o)

It was one of my favorite days-- just visiting with others and feeling the spirit is so much fun!

Puerto Rico Day 4-- Sunday

* The pictures aren't loading, so I will keep working on that, but will at least get this up here!

We had another tremendous Sunday experience while traveling! I am so glad I followed the prompting to call here and see what we could do to help the members out.  It turned out to be a great blessing.  Young Women’s was first, so we went in.  There were a bunch of us there—Darla Silcox, another gal that I didn’t get her name, Sheri Dalton, Elaine Dalton, and Joni and I.  There was only one young woman there (Rosalin).  Two more had been baptized a week or two ago, but they were headed to the states, so weren’t in attendance. Neysha Lespin had come to YW, too.  She was the sweet gal I had been making the arrangements with.  I'll tell you, this is one SHARP gal!  She has a powerful spirit!!  She came in to help us translate. The sweet gal teaching the lesson (Ana) was nervous, but did a great job.  She talked about how the scriptures are important part of our lives.  She said that she used to be Pentecostal, and she KNEW the Bible, but she felt that she was lacking answers.  When the missionaries started teaching her, she found the answers in the Book of Mormon and in the Gospel.  She asked us all to describe the scriptures in one word—that was a toughie!  Here were some of the answers:

1.       Energy of Heart/love

2.       Hope

3.       Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ

4.       Light

5.       Hope

6.       Indescribable joy

7.       Peace

8.       Answers

9.       Strength

Ana, the teacher, said that she had gotten married, then baptized the next day with her son and husband.  She hasn’t even been a member one year.  We were all so surprised!

She told of having confusion in reading the Bible—why would God give us the commandment to not kill, then tell them to kill all the other people around them.  When the missionaries explained about Nephi and Laban—better that one man should perish, than a nation dwindle in unbelief, it gave her such great understanding and she apologized to God for questioning Him. ;o)

She then told us that with the economy the way it is that her husband is working two jobs and she has had to work, too.    She told her husband that they just need to keep paying their tithing and focusing on the Lord and reading the scriptures.

This sweet little thing had such a powerful testimony and you would never believe that she was a new member.  Her teaching techniques seemed as if she were taking them straight from “Teaching, No Greater Call.”  She was delightful and really brought a great spirit.

Then Sis. Dalton stood up.  She said that it seemed that no matter where she went “the same picture pops up everywhere she goes and it was right there (pointing to the picture in the corner that I hadn’t even noticed .)  It was a picture of Esther.  She said that her message was that “You HAVE come to the kingdom for a time such as this.”

She told them that they were special spirits and they were strong.  Satan would try to tempt them, but they were strong and beautiful. She said it was not by chance that we were there and that the tender feelings we were having were because we knew each other before and this was a reminder of our meeting in Heaven.

She said that their lights just shine.  They shine so bright that everyone on the streets of Puerto Rico must think they are movie stars.  She thanked them for being pure and virtuous.

She told of a YW who lived in the states in difficult circumstances just like they were living in.  She asked this young woman what she did to remain virtuous & pure.  The YW told her that she wore her Young Womanhood Medallion around her neck and that if she were having bad thoughts, she would touch her medallion to remind her.  So she told her/them to get their medallions and to wear them.

She told them that they were not alone and that angels were with them.

The Prophet knows she is here and she will report back to him of the good here.

After we closed the meeting, I gave them their bookmarks.  Then I gave them the bracelets and told the story of David and Goliath and how these stones were like their values and shared my talk with them in the short version.  I then gave them the touch gold sign and told a little about that.  They were excited.  Sis. Dalton is really excited about it, too.  She said that she thinks the whole world should touch gold!  I’m pretty excited about it.  I knew she would love it.  It really has brought me comfort because I have been searching for a way to teach and help my sons with virtue and especially avoiding pornography.  Since they understand the power in touching gold, I knew this would help them.

It’s been a pretty fun day!  I love it when the spirit is strong!

We also brought dresses, baby clothes and the new Spanish bibles to them. A lady who was with us told me that on the way home, the gentleman with them just kept looking in his book and touching the pages and reading.  She said they were so thrilled with the new bibles.  I guess they’ve been working on the Spanish one since 1979, so they are elated to finally have a copy!

The sweetest thing was that they had refreshments for us after church.  Not only were they GOOD, they were so refreshing.  It was fun!

There was this one sweet sister who greeted us when we came, and then was helping with the food after.  When she greeted us, I was at first a little judgemental.  This sweet lady had the most crooked nasty teeth.  Some on the bottom were missing.  But there was this spirit about her.  As quick as the first thought came, another came that she was his daughter and was here doing good work.  Oddly enough, Suzanne Francom told me that in RS they told her story.  She’s only been back in PR for a few  months, but she lives in the Ghetto.  She plays her church music really loud during the day and reads her scriptures.  All the people in her neighborhood (including drug dealers and gang leaders)  asked her what the music was and why she was doing what she was doing.  She’s told them that it was because of her religion and told them about the church and these characters have great respect for her and take care of her and protect her.  However, it really isn’t safe for anyone to come and visit her, so when her visiting teachers are coming, she gets a hold of these ruffians and tells them to leave so they can visit her.  And they DO!!  Quite a cool story!

Another story I was told later was that Lilliana, the Branch President’s wife and Neysha’s mom, drove them home and told them the story of their recent marriage and sealing.  She said that they were both divorced and were attending the singles ward.  Lilliana knew the first time she met him that this was to be her eternal companion—her prince.  But he never got it.  She said they would talk and talk for hours at each activity.  He would tell her there is no such thing as eternal love.  Evidently he was still so hurt by his first marriage.  Then one day, he showed up at her door and told her they needed to get married.  She said it blew her away because there had been no discussion.  She was so happy and so was he.  They had been to SLC during the April Conference and were sealed.  The irony of this is that during sacrament meeting, Lilliana was the closing speaker.  She had taken her little girl up on the stand with her and handed her off to him, the Branch Pres.  I happened to see the cutest interchange between him and the little girl.  He was playing with her with his tie—having her blow on it and it shrinking.  She kept wanting him to play and he was just grinning.  I found out later that it wasn’t even his daughter.  But was a tender moment for me to see, then hear the rest of the story.

Lilliana kept telling these people how grateful she was that we came and was in tears the whole way home and didn’t want us to leave.  She said that they look up to the people in Utah so much and they were so grateful that there were people here that were showing them that couples can be happy in marriage.  I was so surprised and so grateful that we were there and could lift them unbeknowingly.  She also expressed gratitude that they could serve us.  Isn’t it interesting how these small acts can mean so much?

Another amazing day in the Lord’s kingdom!

I will say this—every time I travel, I become more and more grateful for the country and especially the place I live in.  I think the Lord has put me in the choicest spot of the vineyard!  I am very blessed!

Puerto Rico Day 3-- Saturday

Saturday, Paul and I went on a zip line excursion.  The Dalton’s son and dil, Matt & Sheri, were with us.  It was a lot of fun talking to them and getting to know them.  They are close to our age, so we had a lot in common.  They were married later, and have 3 little kids. It was fun to visit with them.

The zip line was fun.  I wasn’t nearly as scared as last time.  I really enjoyed it.  The worst part was walking back UP hill.  Boy, it was a work out.  Kind of like cardiac hill—it was muddy, too, that added to my enjoyment.  At least I felt like I was getting a good workout.

The guide stopped in between runs and told us a little bit about the rain forest.  One of the things that struck me as a great lesson was him telling about a particular kind of tree.  It grows slowly because of lack of sunlight, but when the hurricanes or strong winds come through, the upper branches of the canopy break off.  This allows sunlight to come through for a short time.  In two or three days, the tree will grow two or three times its size.  It has unprecedented growth just from the sun.  I couldn’t help but think of how some of us are like that.  We just eek along, growing slow and steady, or perhaps not much at all, but when the light of the Son comes and hits our life just right, we can grow at a rapid rate.  I feel like that is what has happened to me in the last few years.  But I have also observed it in others, too.  Anyone who accepts the gospel can have those large growth spurts due to the light of Christ entering into their lives.  (Oddly enough, there was perfect example of that in church on Sunday—story coming up.)

When we arrived back from the canopy tour, we quickly grabbed a burger.  May not seem out  of the ordinary, but we got the burger at the little shack on the beach/pool area overlooking the ocean.  The weather was perfect, and it was this beautiful calm warm night.  I was sitting there with my sweet husband, and I thought of how blessed I was to be able to enjoy this small moment and reflect on the beauty of God’s creations.

We then took off to the Bio Bay tour.  It was the coolest thing!!  We were put in kayaks in the dark and paddled across a little bay area, then through a channel.  Now this channel was lined with mangrove trees.  So imagine yourself in the pitch black paddling in water with trees on both sides and you have no idea where you are going.  There were glow bracelets on the front and the back of the kayaks so you could follow them.  Now here’s the cool  part….the fun of Bio Bay….there are little microscopic critters that light up when they are disturbed much like fireflies.  So every dip of the paddle and the movement of the boat lights up the water.  You can stick your hand in the water and swish it around and it lights up.  I’m telling you…it’s cool!  I wish you could take a jar and take some home.  However, they only light up at night and they die off if not in their natural environment.  Pretty cool!  Also kind of a fun possibly spooky experience to paddle in the dark down a canal of trees.

Puerto Rico Day 1&2

Well, we started out our trip to Puerto Rico in true Webster fashion---late and missing the plane.  I was so frustrated that no one would even TRY and help us get on.  Everyone just kept saying, “you won’t make it.”  Regardless, we ended up staying the day in Vegas.  The Christensen’s, Eric & Joni, were with us, so I felt really bad about making them late.  We went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, then got a room at South Point and had a nap.  I rested for an hour or so, but mostly spent my time doing my power point presentation.  It really turned out to be a blessing because I may not have gotten it done while here, and I am presenting on the 20^th, so there was that good that came of it.

We arrived in Puerto Rico on Friday evening.  Changed clothes, had dinner and walked around the resort and visited with Eric & Joni.