She was found!

I had an hour till work so I put lunch in the microwave, did some vacuuming while it cooked and decided to sit down and use the hour to do some indexing. I signed in, downloaded a batch, read the instructions and got to work. Today I did some passenger lists from the late 1800's. There were names from Germany, Russia, Prussia and one even from Holland. "I thought oh goody! an easy one!"
One reason I love to index is I love to think about the names I index, what their life was like. I especially love military records. Some times it is really sad though. I did some gravestone orders from WWI and it was sad to see these young men's death dates compared to their birth dates, they were so young. These men all fought for our country a great peaceful love over comes me when I do them!

Well, I finished the batch and looked at the clock, I had some time so I downloaded one more. I was overcome with tears! Holy COW! This has never happened before. I fought through the tears and when I was about a third of the way through I came to a name! She was soo happy to be found!! Her spirit was soo strong!! She was right here with me! She was WITH me! I couldn't hold them in, the tears flowed freely.




later in the day I wanted to finish this post but didn't want to start crying again because every time I thought about it I was overcome with emotion.
I was thinking about it again a while later and thought of a video our ward indexing leaders showed during a meeting. I thought about this sweet sister whom I helped today and got goosebumps and teared up again. Watch the video! It really DOES happen!! I have a testimony of that!

The Amazing Service Race!

A few months ago, right after the season ended for The Amazing Race (my favorite reality show) I told Cora we should do The Amazing Race for Young Women's. As we started talking how fun it would be we thought it would be fun to do it centered around service and include the young men. We got some paper and started brainstorming! I sent the YW president a text told her Cora and I came up with a fun idea for an activity. It could be short or long. I pretty much left it at that. Then at her next youth committee meeting Cora brought it up. The bishop was curious so I typed it up and sent him the Brainstorm session we had.
A few weeks later they were talking again and decided it would be fun for our big Youth activity this year. I told them yes and Cora and I got to work. I told her we would do it together for her Good Works Project! I got a tentative schedule down and then a few weeks out from the activity I sent sign ups around the Relief Society and Primary. The first week we only had one person sign up. I was worried. The second week I explained a little better and had a few more. The third week I was confident it could be pulled off.

So this past week we got everything made up, the clues and such and decided to do Bandana's to decipher the teams.

The last few nights were spent making phone calls getting stuff arranged with the neighbors who signed up for service.

For the most part there were very little kinks. I did change the Chute's and Ladders games for Candyland cuz I couldn't find but 1 C&L.

leaders Letter
Schedule

When we were finished we figured we had close to 130 hours of service for the day which is pretty amazing! The kids worked great together, we ended up with 4 teams of 4 youth. Mix and matched with the different personalities. I had one adult with each group. Even though Cora worked so hard and knew what was going on she was still able to be on a team and help when she could.
It is a nice pat on the shoulder when I hear "can we do this again next year" I love that!!!

It is funny how quickly time passes when you don't blog...
Here we sit on a cool Presidents Day. Although I think today might have been the highest temp of the year! I am excited for what this year will bring. I think in the month 2013 has been around it has been better than 2012. I do believe it was a crummy year. This year I plan to love higher, better.

A few weeks ago our ward was combined with another, something I have hoped for for a long time. I am excited to meet new friends and know more people in the neighborhood. I often feel on the outs, and it get discouraging. I just keep my little family together by creating experiences for them to grow.

Jacob turned 14 last week and became a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. He is excited to advance and all the fun things that come along with it! He is doing better in school with the help of a great teacher.

Cora start her second round of volleyball last week and hung out with a bunch of her friends at the school dance. She said it was the best dance yet! it was just the second one but she had a fun then they all came over for an after party.

Owen is still the trouble maker, teaser of the family, he knows how to push buttons but he is so cute I just can't help loving him to death!

Sadie is almost 7! I just can't believe it!! My baby isn't a baby any more but oh my do I still treat her like one!! ack!! she loves school and has a bunch of friends she loves to have playdates with!

I have a big surprise for my kids this spring and I can hardly wait for it! We are finally going on a family vacation! A real true family vacation, no tents, no trailers. I can't wait to give them this gift!