Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Young Women in Excellence...

...and EXCELLENT Young Women...

Each Sunday in our Church, in the Young Women's meeting; the young women stand and recite the "Young Women's Theme":


"We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith, Divine-Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue

We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values,
we will be prepared to
strengthen home and family,
make and keep sacred covenants,
receive the ordinances of the temple,
and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.
"

It serves as a reminder to the young women who they are, that they have a loving Heavenly Father, and of what He expects from them.

Tonight, we attended a program for the Young Women in our Ward, including our two beautiful daughters, Jackie and Amanda. This program, called "Young Women In Excellence" spotlights the activities and achievements of the Young Women in our Ward throughout the year. Each Young Woman is encouraged to bring items for display which highlight her goals, achievements, and activities. This is the first year we have had both our girls in the Young Women's program.

The theme for our Stake Young Women's program is taken from the Bible. It is based on 1st Timothy 4:12 and reads:

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”


This year, I've watched my girls work on goals and Personal Progress (another Young Women's program); and I've been so pleased and impressed with how much they have learned and grown; and with the positive example they have set. Tonight's activity reminded me of just how blessed Kevin and I are to have these two precious daughters of God as our children. We were both reminded of the gift of this stewardship we share as parents. We have amazing girls, and we are so grateful we get to be a forever family.


Amanda displayed her piano books, her favorite music, her service projects, and her personal progress journal.


Jackie displayed her personal progress journal, "The Family: A Proclamation" - which we memorized this year, and examples of her art work.

Tonight our "Young Women in Excellence" program reminded me how excellent MY two young women are! Way to go, Mandy and Jackie!!! We love you!!!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Finding Joy in Her Journey...

It seems like yesterday that Kevin and I walked into a conference room in the Salem Offices of LDS Family Services. We had tried to have children for almost six years. This was the answer to many heart-felt and tearful prayers. In the corner of this HUGE conference room was a wooden cradle with a tiny pink bundle snuggled in the middle of it. I told Kevin to pick her up because I was almost afraid to touch her. After so many years of waiting, praying, and hoping; I was afraid I would wake up and find I'd dreamed it all. Kev very carefully and tenderly lifted the corner of that pink blanket and we got our first glimpse of the angel-girl who would change our lives forever.


My spirit recognized her at once...as if it said: "Oh, THERE you are!!! I've been waiting for you to come!!!". That was 16 years ago. What an amazing journey it's been. She changed us...she made us better. She taught us the meaning of unconditional love. She was a gift from our Heavenly Father. That was why we gave her the middle name "Noelle" as a reminder of another precious gift from our Heavenly Father. Amanda Noelle Webster...our first baby...our angel-girl.















It's your "Sweet-Sixteen" Birthday, Amanda!! Thanks for all the blessings you've brought to our lives! We love you!! Happy Birthday, Angel-girl!

Friday, October 9, 2009

A Mom's work...

...is never done...

This was performed by one of my favorite LDS singers at Deseret Books' "Time-Out for Women".

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Hello, Monday!!!

This is how my day started...

For Family Home Evening, Kev got us free passes to "Hee-Haw Farms" pumpkin/harvest festival... The following pictures tell the tale.

There's a little bit of animal in all of us!

Let it slide


They each had their favorites...


This is how they measure up...

Braving the "Corn-Maze"


Going home...


The End...

Sunday, October 4, 2009

General Conference

So, Amanda needed to see a live choir performance for her choir-class at school. Since General Conference came along at the perfect time, we got tickets from our Bishop and I took Jackie and Mandy to the Saturday Morning session. What a great experience!

I am SO glad I got to take the girls to a live session of General Conference! It was so important to me that they have this experience and feel the great spirit that was there.


Kevin took this before we left!


Bless the Utah Transit Authority for the TRAX commuter trains. It made the trip into Salt Lake so much easier. I didn't have to fight traffic or try and find parking! AND the train stops right at Temple Square, so we didn't even have to walk that far!


We weren't able to take any pictures during Conference, so here's the first one I could take after Conference was over.

What a great meeting. The Spirit was SO strong and the talks were amazingly inspiring! I hope the girls felt it, too. I hope their testimonies were strengthened. I know mine was!


A really nice couple took this picture for us! I had such a great experience, I hardly wanted to leave!!


I'm so glad we went! I really love this Gospel!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Sweet Sixteen begins!

The first part of Amanda's "Sweet Sixteen" Birthday present began with a trip to the Miley Cyrus Concert in Salt Lake. It was just me and Mandy, but we had a blast!!! I'll let the pictures tell the tale.

Getting ready to leave:

On the train to Salt Lake:

Waiting for the big event:

Passing the time with cotton-candy:

She's REALLY into that cotton candy...

It begins...

Miley singing "Bottom of the Ocean"

Singing "I Love Rock-n-Roll" on a Harley...too cool...and I EVEN like the color!

Concert Buddies:

On the train home with her now favorite article of clothing:

We had SUCH a good time!!!!