Our talks went very well

Our big day to speak in church finally came. Our church is at 9:00 am and so our day started at 6:30 am. Luckily, we bathed the girls yesterday in anticipation of today. We got dressed and out the door 30 minutes early. We got in the chapel 2nd and while the lights were still out. Kiera took Kembri to feed her and Alexa decided to go with her. I tried to study my talk while I waited, but that was not realized because Ashlyn was crazy and wanted to run all over. Also, one of the Elders started putting up chairs in the back and so I joined him. I felt that I needed to practice but felt that servicing was more important and felt that the Lord would provide if I helped. Anyway. sacrament started and come to find out we had two youth speakers and a musical number by the primary, Which should mean that I will only have about 10 Minutes, but that ended up not to be the case, Kiera gave her talk that was about 7 minutes and I was left with a full 20 minutes.

It was amazing because Sunday the 9th, I could not sleep and felt that I needed to write down my thoughts on the Birth of the Savior, without any research, just my thoughts. So I headed upstairs and ended up writing my entire talk. All I had to do was insert the scripture references and make minor changes but it was all done. The interesting thing is that when I timed what I had put together it was 16 minutes. I had figured, especially when Kiera only had about 7 minutes, that I would just cut some out. Well, the Lord knew that I would need all of that because I was left to fill 20 minutes.

I was semi-nervous for this talk because the more I practiced at home the more I got concerned. I can't express how amazing it was because from the moment I stood to speak the words just came out. I was able to bear testimony and I felt that the Spirit was there in abundance. I realized even more that I am nothing and it was all the Lord. I need to always remember that when I am on the Lords earned, I can rely on the Lord after all I can do and he will provide in the capacity that fits His will. I need to step aside and let the Lord do His work.

So here are our talks:

Craig- What the Birth of the Savior Means to Me

Kiera- The Birth of the Savior

I am updating my blog

I am inserting blog entries into the dates when they happened, so be sure to scroll down and see what is new. I am sorry I have been so bad at updating my blog.

We could not get home because of the snow

We went out to do some errands and went to eat at Red Robin (that is such a good place). Well we came out of the mall and it was snowing real hard. We stopped to get gas and could not get out of the gas station because the road was too steep, so we went another way and it looked ok at first until we got a few feet from the stop sign and we stopped. I had to get out and push while Kiera drove. I thought we where home free, but no. We started up the street before our street and we could not make it up. We tried another way and no luck the roads were too steep and our tires had no traction. We drove around for about 45 mins trying different routes and finally we stopped in the side of the road and decided to just walk up to our house and come get our van later. While we were getting the kids clothes on the snow plow came by us. We jumped in the car and took off, it went up the steepest hill and we were still unsure that our van would make it but thanks to our prayers we made it up the hill. Next we had to come down another very steep hill. I held the brake the entire way home, some times I had control and some times I did not. Well we made it to our house, finally but could not make it up our driveway. I got out and cleared the snow and attempted it again, but still could not get up so I put rock salt down and then was able to make it up our driveway. We are going to invest in some chains so that this will not happen again. This picture below did not turn out that good, but you can see how heavy the snow was falling. All together we must of gotten about 8-10 inches of snow. I am in the back left and Lacie, Alexa, and Ashlyn are to the right in pink but we are hard to find.

Got asked to speak in church

Two days ago I designed Kiera's blog header shown below:



Yesterday I decided to create one for myself also but wanted to focus more on the Savior and so I designed the one below (and my header).



Anyway, I enjoyed putting this together and it helped me think about the Savior and his life. Well, yesterday in the evening I got a call from the first counselor in the Bishopric and he asked Kiera and us to speak in church the following Sunday. The topic is the birth of the Savior and what it means to us. I thought it was kind of funny how it all worked out.

Suspicious characters at our yard

Last night we came home and there were three boys outside our house playing with our blowup Christmas decorations. They saw us and dropped on their bellies. Then, they realized that they were still in clear view and they all made a mad dash to get out of the yard without being seen, but to their dismay we watched everything. One of the boys tripped on one of the lines that were staked into the ground and fliped over, it was so funny. We stopped and got out to find that it was Lacie's friends, Jackson, Dustin, and Dustins brother. These boys all like Lacie and are always coming over just to say hi and to see her. Jackson, the one that had tripped on the line was kind enough to re-enact his flipping over, we laughed and then sent them on their way.

I was hoping that I had a few more years before I had to deal with boy trouble, but I was wrong. It seems that the boys these days are a lot more daring then when I was a kid.