June 1st, 2018 - We honored the 40th anniversary on the 1978 revelation for all worthy males to receive the priesthood. Our awesome friends, Regee and Loraine, from Zimbabwe, invited us to watch them perform in the celebration. It was so cool! Listening to the stories of these faithful pioneers brought tears to my eyes. The spirit was palpable. What a blessing in history! I couldn't help but think of the parable Christ gives in Matthew 20 about the laborers in His vineyard - the one's who came at the last hour were no less valuable and were given the same exact blessings as the laborers who came in the first hour.
Adoption Day June 4th - and Temple Sealing to our little Amillia on June 5th
What an amazing experience this has been to adopt a child! It has been challenging and beautiful, overwhelming and wonderful, all at the same time. This little girl is my shadow. She doesn't like to be any more than two feet away from me. (I'm sure she's still trying to feel safe.)
Given the fears and anxieties she has to battle with being removed from her biological family, she gets along with everyone in our home. She has some of the common issues that children bring with trauma but I'm grateful she can self-regulate far better than any other foster child we ever had.
She's almost four years old and knows very well how to walk and run and do all those things but these two days, she would not let me set her down for even one second. She wanted to be held constantly. It's pretty much like that every day around here though so I've started telling her that I can hold her for five seconds each time she asks... just to give her the reassurance and then I set her down again.
She is a sweet and loving little girl. Last week, I climbed in the back of the van to sit next to her and help her eat some spaghetti as we were on the run that evening up to visit family. "Mommy, what are you doing back here?" She asked with excitement. "Well, you didn't get any dinner and spaghetti is hard to eat in a car so I'm coming back here to sit next to you and help you." She nestled her head into my shoulder like a purring kitten and kissed my arm. "Oh, I love you mommy." I helped her with her spaghetti and then decided to just stay sitting in the very back with her for the rest of the 40-min drive. She wouldn't let go of my arm, pulling me as close as she could to her, kissing my shoulder every few seconds." She is very sweet. She gets very jealous of any attention I give to my other kids though. She's not afraid to show that jelousy.... and that presents some big challenges.
Overall, she's really a joy to have. We're grateful for her. We love you Millie!
What an amazing experience this has been to adopt a child! It has been challenging and beautiful, overwhelming and wonderful, all at the same time. This little girl is my shadow. She doesn't like to be any more than two feet away from me. (I'm sure she's still trying to feel safe.)
Given the fears and anxieties she has to battle with being removed from her biological family, she gets along with everyone in our home. She has some of the common issues that children bring with trauma but I'm grateful she can self-regulate far better than any other foster child we ever had.
She's almost four years old and knows very well how to walk and run and do all those things but these two days, she would not let me set her down for even one second. She wanted to be held constantly. It's pretty much like that every day around here though so I've started telling her that I can hold her for five seconds each time she asks... just to give her the reassurance and then I set her down again.
She is a sweet and loving little girl. Last week, I climbed in the back of the van to sit next to her and help her eat some spaghetti as we were on the run that evening up to visit family. "Mommy, what are you doing back here?" She asked with excitement. "Well, you didn't get any dinner and spaghetti is hard to eat in a car so I'm coming back here to sit next to you and help you." She nestled her head into my shoulder like a purring kitten and kissed my arm. "Oh, I love you mommy." I helped her with her spaghetti and then decided to just stay sitting in the very back with her for the rest of the 40-min drive. She wouldn't let go of my arm, pulling me as close as she could to her, kissing my shoulder every few seconds." She is very sweet. She gets very jealous of any attention I give to my other kids though. She's not afraid to show that jelousy.... and that presents some big challenges.
Overall, she's really a joy to have. We're grateful for her. We love you Millie!
Dinner with friends and family to celebrate our sealing day.
Cousin Day- We gathered at the Salt Lake Cemetery for a scavenger hunt to find as many of the Prophet's graves as we could. I like this one because Miriam's middle name is McKay, named after David O. McKay, the one who was prophet when my mom joined the church.
A picture with a few of the cousins and aunts outside the house that used to belong to Joseph's great grandfather, Senator Joseph Lafayette Rawlins.
Yard Sales and Lemonade
Playing at Parks
I went to Oregon for our annual Sister's Retreat with Joseph's mom and six of his seven sisters. Our first day was Multnomah Falls trail, then the Oregon temple together, then the rose and Japanese gardens, dinner at a local popular seafood restaurant next to the coast, and an evening walk to Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach.
The other days we enjoyed a hike to Short Sand's Beach at Smuggler's Cove, Tillomook's cheese factory (ice cream and cheese tasting - yum!!), more hiking, painting pictures together, watching a chick flick, our sharing night and gift giving, flying little balsa planes from the Astoria Column, and more.
My ultimate favorite part was walking barefoot alone on the beach early in the morning, stepping over moon jellies, and collecting sand dollars. Every sand dollar I found made me think of my mom. She absolutely loved sand dollars and loved to tell us their legend. Somehow I felt her spirit so close to me in those quite morning walks along the beach.
One of the evenings the sisters chose to either watch a movie or paint. I chose to paint.
I had lots of fun with this.
Portland Oregon Temple
(Front row: Ann Thomas, Lee Richmond, Judi Bell, Alicia Rawlins, Ellen Sanchez)
(Back row: Merrit Whitaker, Megan Jarrett)
**Two sisters who couldn't make it on the trip were: Erin Demille and Jenn Rawlins
I am richly blessed!!
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