My Life is Packed with Blessings

Hahaha... I can't help laughing at the play on words in my title. My life right now IS packing! But I am still blessed, even with the never-ending boxes and things to do.

Before this week's blessing list, I have to back track to last week. Hopefully, after we move I will be able to post more about Ryan leaving for his mission and the girls' haircuts and the experience we had as a family, thanks to Brett, that jump-started our return to consistent family scripture reading. (Which had been rather hit-or-miss lately, with everything going on...)

This week's joys...

I met Angie, an online friend!! It was so neat to finally meet one of my new good friends. Angie, thanks for taking the time to stop and visit. I'm glad that your move went well. It gives me hope for the destination end of my own endeavor!

We all went to the graduation party of a friend of Sarah's and Jeff's. She has been to the Hotel so the girls know and love Ashleigh, too. After the past few weeks of so much packing, it was nice to relax and slow down for a while.

Sarah and Jessica were at Girls Camp this week. They had a lot of fun. It's hilarious to just sit back and listen to them talk endlessly about this and that and the skits and this thing and that person... I'm glad they enjoy this experience so much.

I have some fantastic friends, and four of them came over throughout the week and helped me pack. Thanks!! Y'all are amazing. What an awesome blessing!

I woke up Wed feeling nauseous; it was not a fun morning. I'll spare you the gory details. But not getting out of bed until 3:30 PM was really nice! Katie was a big help and I was grateful to have her nearby. Jeff oversaw things and Laura let me sleep. I have decided it most likely was a combination of minor germs, something I ate, fatigue, stress, and my body telling me if I wouldn't slow down, it would slow down for me! (I got the message...)

We didn't get the intended packing done that day, but later that evening we were able to take care of some of the purging and packing that needed to happen. I sat in the living room and had the kids bring things to me with which I needed to be involved. By the time I went to bed, I was feeling much better.

And then Thurs Laura had a fever. She spent the day sleeping on the couch. The rest of us packed and worked around her needs. Luckily, she also was only sick for a day. I'd rather have us sick now than during moving week! These two days put a damper on how much we accomplished this week, but we are still making progress!

On Wed - the one week "anniversary" of Elder DeGraw entering the MTC (wow, has it really been a week?! - and by now, a week and a half?! well, at least packing keeps us busy!) - we received a wonderful surprise. We received an e-mail from Elder DeGraw! We have heard his mission does not allow e-mail, so we haven't really expected it - even while he is in the MTC. But he will be able to e-mail for a few weeks anyway.

It was nice to hear how he is doing. His first week coincided with training for new mission presidents, so there were many more General Authorities at the MTC than usual. (Ryan commented he hadn't realized before that Pres Monson is fluent in Spanish.) The Spirit is strong, he is busy - and he is happy that with the arrival of another Wed, he's no longer considered one of the new guys!

Fri evening, we took a break and went to Fairfield Idol. Our friend, Ethan, won. Yay! Afterward, we watched the city fireworks display. It was a nice evening. At first a part of me kept thinking "we should be home packing" but another part of me realized that we all needed the break and just the chance to get out of the house! We had a fun time, and I am glad that we went.

We have 8 straight days of family scripture reading. with more to follow! And in one week, Ray will be back to help us wrap up the final weekend before loading the truck, cleaning, and moving! Whew... And even more - Wahoo!

Note: I was finally able to write Sarah's birthday post. I pre-dated it to post on her b-day, June 27. I also recently wrote a post about my life.