Summer of Service

This summer I've tried to involve my kids more in service and working on accomplishing goals. For Victoria and Karissa, they've been working hard on Personal Progress for Young Women and for Austin, he's been working on earning his Webelos badges. With the upcoming changes in the church in Scouts and the Personal Progress Program, we're hoping to have completed these by December, though it will be tricky for Karissa, since she's only had this year since she's been 12.

Victoria planted the garden this year for one of her projects. She loves the green beans!

Karissa's been on fire. She's really enjoyed cooking with me for a couple of her goals. She does a great job making dinner and her cookies are fabulous! She and I went to the temple to perform baptisms for some family names that my Aunt Karen sent us to do. Victoria ended up being sick that day, so it was a date with Karissa.

Baking cookies

Peeling carrots

One of her best dinners: chicken, roasted potatoes, and veggies.

It worked out well that Karissa and I went to the temple because the next week, Victoria and I went to the Church Home Storage Center to stock shelves and pack bags of oranges for a couple of hours, while Karissa babysat the boys. It nice to be able to work together in service.

Goofing around on the cart when we were done!

Jason and I have been working with Austin in earning badges toward his Webelo. The main one being his Stronger, Faster, Higher, which was mostly just an exercise program- great during the summer! Both Austin and Erik played with 2 year old Jacob, who's the son of my friend Becky, who I minister to, while she and I had a nice visit at our house. They did such a good job keeping Jacob occupied, that I could see that they will be awesome babysitters one day!

The best service of all, however, was serving Dianne Smith. She was in a nursing home for cellucitis 
in her legs, which I don't really known how long she had it for when we started visiting her, but by the time we started to visit her, she had been in a bed for so long that she had lost all muscle control and couldn't even get out of bed. She had other complications as well. Encouraged by our Bishop to pay her a visit to lift her spirits and give her some exercise, I brought Jason and the kids as well. Karissa brought her a card that brought her to tears and that was the beginning of a strong friendship. Each time we went, my kids brought cards, pictures, origami, and rocks they wanted to show her. They shared stories with her, and she with them, and held her hand bands while she strengthened her arms with some exercises. Jason gave her a blessing one time after she had to go to the hospital when she started having some problems with her kidneys and blood pressure. For her birthday, Karissa and I played a violin/viola duet, Victoria danced, Austin made her a bunch of origami, and Erik showed her a Lego set he enjoyed playing with. We brought cards and a clay cake that Karissa had made. She was such a fun person to visit and expressed her love for us each time we went. She told others who visited her how much she loved my kids and their visits. Dianne was an extrovert and was an adventurer, just like my kids.

Origami hat that Austin made her one time.

She really wanted me to post pictures of her on FB.

Her birthday origami.

Holding her "birthday cake".

I'm so glad we got to serve her, for 10 days after her birthday, she passed away very quickly. We were supposed to visit her the day before she died, but since I had a fever the day before and my girls had bad coughs, we didn't want to bring our germs to the hospital where she was. Well, it turns out that she was not good at all that day, and went down fast. Monday morning, her spirit left her body.

Tomorrow is her funeral and we will attend that and then the party held in her honor. They're calling it a Celebration of her life. The celebration will be at the beach at a lake with a taco bar. She always wanted a party there and that was her favorite beach.

I'll always be grateful for the happiness we felt while serving Dianne Smith. It's an experience that none of us will ever forget!