My Pioneers!

There go two of the Lord's most powerful weapons.

Well this is the first week that my parents are officially gone on their mission and not just coming back in a week from the MTC.  As I got ready to take my parents to the airport my dad was in the car and I went to see if my mom needed some help as she hadn’t come out of the house yet.  As I approached the door I heard her quietly turning off the lights and saying goodbye to her home of more than 35 years and my heart broke for the courage these two have.  I then was reading the conference talk “Hope you know, we had a hard time” by Elder Quentin L. Cook because my sister Becki and I decided we are going to switch off giving each other spiritual boosters over the next 18 months and it was my turn to prepare something.  I came across a statement by Sister Bathsheba Smith who while recalling the evacuation of Nauvoo wrote “My last act in that precious spot was to tidy the rooms, sweep up the floor and set the broom in its accustomed place behind the door. Then with emotions in my heart I gently closed the door and faced an unknown future, faced it with faith in God.”  Sister Smith has been applauded for the faith she showed in this simple statement yet here my parents were in 2013 quietly packing up their home and facing an unknown future of their own.  What examples and pioneers these two will be for the generations who will follow them. 

This week I had the opportunity to attend New Beginnings with the Young Women in our Ward.  New Beginnings is where they set the precedent for what is to come throughout the year.  The theme was all about shoes and how our “Souls” will take us to “Stand in Holy Places”.  They announced the YW Camp theme as B.O.O.T.S. Camp which stands for Becoming Our Own True Selves which I thought was really clever.  Lastly as we walked into the room there was a table at the front covered in all different pairs of shoes and we discovered that the girls we each asked to bring a pair of shoes that encapsulated who they are as a person and how these shoes helped them to “Stand in Holy Places”.  Accompanying each pair was a short explanation about the shoes and how they helped them.  I was humbled by the sweet and powerful testimonies of these girls.  My favorite was a pair of colorful rain boots with the explanation:  “A rain boot is an all-weather shoe.  It can survive through the muddiest times and the sunniest times.  I’d like to think they represent my testimony.  If I have a strong testimony, then I can overcome anything!”  Wow did you just feel the spirit in that.

We also began to tackle the renovations and updates at “Oak Hollow”.  I guess I should explain a little.  We recently were blessed to have the opportunity to purchase my parents home and my childhood home which has been a dream of mine.  Since we are now the second generation to own the home and we plan to live here the rest of our lives we decided (rather I decided and B humored me) that the house needed a name.  We have been thinking for months and finally settled on "Oak Hollow" because the property is nestled down in a carved out hollow where deer, quail and squirrel all congregate and is surrounded by an original scrub oak forest.  Doesn't it sound like some place you would like to come home to.  Back to what we are doing, we are adding some new can lights in a few rooms and took down some cabinets over the bar in the kitchen and painting what seems to be every last inch of the house…not because we don’t like the colors but because once you move furniture out of any house and take down pictures that were hung you are bound to need to paint.  My sweet B has been amazing as she has organized and orchestrated every bit of it.  I couldn’t be more proud.  Photos will come but we want to get to an after before we show off any of it.  B has actually started or is starting a blog of her own to document the changes and tell her side of our life together and the craziness that is Sophie and Molly.  Her blog is www.adventuresofoakhollow.blogspot.com  .  Don’t worry though I will be posting my own updates on the design.

I realized recently that if asked what my passion is it all has to do with design.  Interior or Landscape you name it I love it and I love the creative process behind it.  We also met with a realtor this week to tour a townhouse we are thinking of purchasing for my parents.  We loved everything about the townhouse but our only hesitation is the location as it backs up a busier road.  However we were there during rush hour and the noise wasn’t bad at all and even outside we only heard a little white noise but nothing that I think would be a huge bother.  The instant we walked in I was redesigning and placing my parents furniture and I have always had the ability to see it in my mind and look around and not see what is there but what could be there if that makes any sense.  I can really see my parents happy in this townhouse but we will have to wait and see what they think if we can ever get a hold of them in the roman fortress in the mountains of Croatia.