Young Women's Camp!!!

The theme for camp this year was "Sisters in Zion". The goal was to help them come closer to our Savior and closer to one another. It's funny how the Lord knows what needs to happen in order for us to reach our goals. But I'll leave that for a little later. We had a wonderful time and the girls were very well behaved and did not complain. I was there as the camp cook (I have cooked for the past three years and imagine that I will be for the next 14 since I have so many girls). Anyway I loved it. This was the first year that I actually utilized the help that was offered me and it made it so much easier to handle cooking for 50 people. I also learned that you don't have to make the most exotic meals for these girls they just want to eat.Alecia took this picture of the sign while the sun was setting. I think it is very pretty.Alecia was making a lattern from a tin can. She really had a great time!There was no running water so if the girls wanted to bathe they had to do it in the lake. As you can see that didn't stop them! We did have porta potties brought in. It was a wonderful growing experience for them all. Alecia, Tori, Lauren and two other girls from camp strike a pose. Tori, Alecia's cousin, is in the green stripes. Lauren, an honorary cousin is in the pink stripes. They all had a wonderful time at camp.

Lauren took this beautiful sunset picture!

Alecia took this one. The Lord gave them such wonderful things to look at while there.

This is a picture of all the girls at camp.

Okay so back to the story. It rained, well actually stormed all three days that we were there. Thankfully the storms came during the afternoon and we were able to get the girls to safety inside the trailer until they passed. The first day, the leaders were outside in the storm saving an army sized pavillion that was borrowed for the girls. It kept trying to fly away and we had not tied it down. So as about 6 of us held it down (believe me this was not easy) the men there to make sure we were safe tied it to trees. We finally got it tied and then went in with the girls. It lasted about 30 minutes and through it all the girls kept asking when they could go swimming! After we got out we looked around and there was some damage control that needed to be done so off the girls went happily to take care of what needed to be done.

The second day the storm came again, only this time it was worse. It came with hail. Sis Funderburk was starting to get really worried. She knew that hail sometimes means circular wind movement not something you want when you have a trailer full of girls. The girls started to sing "As sisters in Zion". As soon as they started to sing the storm started to dissipate. It was such a wonderful experience to know that our Heavenly Father was watching out for these precious young women! Once again the girls went out and this time there was a lot of damage to the camp. We lost seven tents. The big pavilion was blown away even with the tie downs. One of the big metal posts was snapped in half! Our ten man tent was destroyed. One pole was snapped in two and another was bent backwards. This type of problems was seen all over the camp Except for on the patio. Everything that was left of the patio was still there. It was like our Father in Heaven reached down with His Loving Hands and covered us with a protective "bubble" as the girls were calling it. What a wonderful thing to witness! What did the girls do? You would expect complaints and a desire to go home but not our girls. They went out and said things like "Look at that" and "Cool". Then they went out took care of there stuff, which was soaked by the way. When they did all they could for their tents they went looking for things they could do to help others. They were bonding and learning to have joy in adversity. It was so wonderful. After a little while Sis. Funderburk asked the girls who was going to stay with her and they all raised their hands. Then we all knelt in the mud and thanked our Father in Heaven for protecting us through the storm. All the bedding was wet so Mom took it to town and dried it all in the laundry mat. Thank heavens for modern innovations! The girls continued on in strength for the rest of the camping experience.

The third and last day. We woke up and put everything away into cars and tore down camp. Once again a storm came the wind blew and the girls were safe inside. I know that a loving Heavenly Father knew what needed to be done to bring the girls closer to Him and to each other and that the storms were a blessing. They even cooled down the temps so that at night we were not sleeping in excessive heat. I loved the opportunity to cook for these sweet young sisters and I am looking forward to the years to come as I watch more of my girls learn and come closer to Christ. I love my Savior and know that He did all He could for us to return to Him and our Father in Heaven.

Mom's house for a week!

We had a great time with mom this week. The kids pretty much stayed outside the whole time. They were either in the pool or in their club house. I really love going to visit Momma, the kids always have so much fun. I don't worry about them outside there and they pretty much get the run of the place. They know the rules, where they can play and what is off limits (the barn and other important places). They always get to spend time with their cousins and just have a wonderful time. I have already posted pictures of the park. Mom thought that it would be a good place to take them to let them play and get some good pictures. I was a great idea. The week seemed to fly by and we were getting ready to leave Thursday (Jared had to get stitches out of his finger Friday) when Jared fell on the steps and Off to the ER again. I think that he needs some kind of a bubble. I mean 2 ER visits in 2 weeks is completely nutts! I was thinking about this. I have had kids for 14 years. The first 13 were spent blissfully unaware of the pains fo stitches. In the past year Jared has been to get them 3 times. I'm getting to be a professional at this. The first time I thought I was going to have a heart attack, the second was horrible because of how bad it was, however this time I looked at it and said yep we have to go to the ER. With it being so close to the last ones Jared knew exactly what was going to happen and let me know that it was only a little blood and he didn't think that he needed stitches. However I knew other wise. So anyway he got 4 stitches in his chin. When I took him to the Dr office yesterday they just laughed and said boys will be boys. Gosh I'm tired of the er and hopefully we'll stay out of it for a long time now. Needless to say our trip to Grandma's went out with a BANG! WE still had a wonderful time and loved visiting our FAmily.

At the park with Grandma

Wednesday June 18th we went to the park in Leesville with my mom. The kids had a great time. We were able to bring our cousins, Reighn, Becky and Tori. My Friend Dawn brought her three girls Kimberly, Natalie and Rachal so we had a lot of kids having fun at the park.All the kids at the park! My mom was the one who thought of this idea. It was sooo much fun. Jessica had a great time climbing on the climbing toys!Jared enjoyed just about everything but he really had fund standing on top of things.Bethany was so sweet when she had me take her picture. She too enjoyed the climbing toys.Krystal wanted to take a picture too so she had to pose on the slide. She wasn't quite as daring as the others but she had a great time too.Krystal and Bethany stayed together a lot and they really loved the swings!Katie enjoyed playing with Becky and Rachal. Of Course Brandon stuck with the only other boy his age. His cousin Reighn. Alecia had fun swinging and she also took a lot of pictures for me so I had a hard time finding any with her in it!Tori thought that she would fit on the toddler toys! Isn't she cute

Rachal and Natalie striking a pose for the camera. Sorry Kimberly is a little camera shy.

Bethany had a great time playing with her friends!

Awesome Saturday!!

We have had a wonderful day today. David took the day off and we spent the whole day together playing. First we went to a car show. It was way cool. The kids got to pick which 5 cars they liked the best and then were able to vote. Jared liked a cool yellow motorcycle. He said that he wanted it. The owner of the bike heard him and let him sit of it. Jared was very excited as you can see by his smile!

After we were through looking at all the cars the kids decided that they wanted to go and climb the rock wall, so off we went.

Brandon got to the top twice on one of the easier sides and half way up on the hardest side.

Alecia was able to make it half way up and then the height started to scare her so she had to come down.

Katie and Alecia were climbing at the same time and there for a minute it looked like they were both going to make it to the top but then they decided it was time to come down. After we were done with the rock wall we took the kids to the theater and watched Kung Fu Panda! They have been walking around singing the theme song ever since. They had a great time and enjoyed eating candy and popcorn while they watched. It is not something we do hardly ever so this was a very special treat for them.

After the movie everyone decided they wanted to do the rock wall one more time so we went over again (it was in the theater parking lot). This time David decided he had to try!

This is David trying and the difficult side he managed to make it half way and then he tried the next side down and made it to the top. All in all it was a wonderful day. We went to get David's fathers day present afterwards. He go a grill and is very excited he is still putting it together. Tomorrow David and I will celebrate our 15th anniversary along with Fathers day. It sure doesn't seem like we have been married that long time flies by so fast. I hear it is only going to get faster but that is so hard to believe.

We were very thankful to be able to have a full day with David!!! We love you all.

What a day!

Well today started out pretty good. I went to a luncheon at a friends house and had a great time. However just before we left Jared was playing and got his finger slammed in a door. I am not so good with the whole blood and gore stuff so I didn't want to look. Just a glance made it clear that he needed to go to the hospital. One of the sisters that were there helped get his hand cleaned up and put a paper towel and tape around his finger so that I wouldn't have to look at it. Remember or for those of you who don't know when he had to get stitches in November I wound up getting 3 myself because I passed out. Not a good track record when I had to drive him to the hospital. Anyway I start driving and being the concerned mother that I was a was going faster than a should have and got pulled over by a police officer. I stuck my head out of the window and said "Excuse me sir but my son has been hurt and I am taking him to the hospital. Can you please come up here and look at it so that I can get on my way. He stuck his head in the window and saw the bloody bandage and Jared crying and told me to put on my flashers and the go. So I put them on and off we go again. This time I was trying not to go so fast that a police officer might think it neccary to stop me. Well then we get to the area where the hopital is and I had to figure out how to get to the emergency room. (Whoever made that plan did a lousy job because there are a lot of one ways and not a lot of ER this way signs) I stopped in the middle of the road and rolled my window down and spoke to a nice elderly gentleman and he helped me get to where I needed to be. We finally made it to the ER and the nurse at the desk wanted to see Jareds cut so I had to take of the paper and Jared was not happy about that. We were sent to sit in the waiting room and he was called in shortly. They weighed him, took his temp, blood oxygen and blood pressure and then had us in a room very quickly. The doctor came in and said that he would need to have an x-ray to check for broken bones and then they would be able to see what needed to be done. When he came back i was informed that he had broken the tip of his finger (left middle) and that they would have to stitch it back together and the bone would be held in place by his skin and a splint. YUCK!! The cut on his finger was very deep and it was kind of only hanging on so they had to do a lot of tugging while they stitched, poor Jared cried the whole time he was being stitched and the Dr kept saying that there was no way that he was feeling anything but I could tell that he was feeling something when he screamed and held out his arms and cried MOMMa. There were two nurses helping me hold him down and he was very perturbed that I would allow someone to hurt him. With everyone around I held him and sang to him while the Dr worked on his finger. Jared and I were both relieved when he was finally done. He kept telling me that he wanted to go home. Anyway he got 7 stitches on the tip on his finger and they splinted it so that he wouldn't damage it further. He is now drugged up and doing well but boy was it a hard thing to deal with. No mom wants to see there precious babies hurting. Oh well these are the things that we must deal with and no child gets to make it to be an adult without something happening. He is doing well and the bandage is not causing him to stop playing. The rest of the day went fine. We picked up his pain meds and antibiotics at the pharmacy and I took him to Wendy's for a burger and a frosty. All well that ends well

One of Alecia's many Poems!

A Child's Innocent Love
By Alecia Alford

A Child's small, tender hand
rests in a woman's calloused palm.
The pink hand of the child
is unworried, and trusting;
the worn hand of the mother is weary and loving.
Her hand is not that of a rich woman in the monetary field;
but, in the area of love,
she is exceedingly blessed.
The child's hand, so innocently bestows
that blessing upon her mother.
In temporal standards,
She is poor, and must work hard for what she has;
In eternal standards,
she is by no efforts of her own, rich indeed!
Her home is small but filled with love,
her car is old and falling apart,
but her loved ones don't complain!!
The food is simple, but made with love.
All this is portrayed, by the simple scene,
of a child's hand,
resting in her mother's palm!

Alecia's Awards

Alecia did really well in school this year. On May 19 she went to an awards ceremony where she was honored for having the A/B honor roll all year, being in the top 10 percent of her class, and making an advanced score on her English and Social Studies Leap test. The leap test is a test that the kids take in the 4th and 8th grades and must pass. Advanced is the highest score (but like an A where there are many levels) Alecia is very smart and loves to write. She wants to be an author when she grows up and plans to go to college for a double major in English Literature and English Education and a minor in history. She feels that she will be able to get the best educational background this way. I know that she can do what ever she puts her mind to.



Alecia and one of her friends were having a great time at the ceremony.

Alecia getting one of her many awards. She and her friend were in the top 10 percent and they also had the exact same GPA. They thought that was cool.

Alecia getting another award. We are so proud of our little scholar.