Ian and his Girlfriend!

Okay so I have the habbit of pairing my kids with the cutest girls thier ages and trying to convince the parents of the girls that our kids should get married. So Ian and I had the chance to babysit the little girl I'm sure he's destined to marry! She is so adorable and we got some really cute pictures of them! Oh, her name is Evie.

Part 2

So I want to let you all know just how much I love my husband! First he buys me a chinese wool rug then today we put our down payment on the Van, which will be ready by May 1st!!!! After that, we went back over to buy another chinese wool runner, but they didn't have the one Joe really liked, so instead he bought another 6x9 rug and and 8 ft. runner that are just amazingly beautiful AND I got my Secratary!!!! He totally suprized me with that one! I am so shocked! He doesn't like it because it's not quite as "ornate" as some of the other items, but I fell in love with it when I saw it. So Because our rugs are in their wrappers, and I forgot to take the camera with us, I can't show them to you, but here is a picture of our secratary! It's not the best picture but it'll do until you come and see it for yourselves!

getting what i want!

So now that we are at the end of our time here in Okinawa, I have taken it upon myself to start buying the things I have always wanted. Some things are only $1 and others are quite a bit more. I found a secratary desk that I really want and so I took Joe to go look at it. He's wasn't as fond of it as I was, but that's okay because I did have a back-up plan... Chinese Rugs! There is merchant here from China that sells rugs. Beautiful rugs for a much cheaper price than if we were to buy the in the states. I have admired the rugs on many occasions. They are only here every 4-6 months or so. So I motioned across the room to the rugs and said to Joe, Hey, that rug is really pretty what do you think? And then we were off on an adventure of finding a rug we could both be happy with. Okay so I am a little devious, but I always get what I want....in a round about way. So We bought a beautiful Chinese Wool Rug for about 1/3 the price! I am so excited. Because we are moving, we had them wrap it up for us. When we get settled in Monterey, I will put up some pictures. Now, What more should I get before I leave?.... (Perhaps I can convince him the secratary desk would be a worth while item and then I can have both!)

Sunday Lessons

I am currently serving in the Young Women organization and I truly love it. I have the opportunity to teach every 3rd or 4th week and I think I glean more from the lessons than the young women do. This weeks lesson on Homemaking, or "Family Consumer Science" as I like to call it (just to be politically correct), really brought some things to the fore front of my thinking. I have never been the best housekeeper and I tend to find excuses for most of my short comings. This is not a good thing. I must be honest.... I don't like to clean. Just ask my mom or my sister. I have never been very good at cleaning. (I used to bribe Jamie to clean our room and then "forget" to pay her in the end.) But after much thought and prayer over this lesson I realized that being a good homemaker is much more than being a good housekeeper. You can be a good housekeeper and not a good homemaker, but you cannot be a good homemaker without being a homemaker.

This may sound confusing to you, but let me explain. To keep you house clean is very good. It's even commendable. But if you want to be a good homemaker, you have to be able to keep a tidy house and in such a way that you invite the spirit to dwell there with you. If you have an impeccably clean home but there isn't an attitude of love you have not created a space that the spirit can reside. And you can't have a dirty, cluttered home and think that the spirit would want to be present.

There are many days that I have been able to keep the house tidy and the spirit is very present, but on the days that the clutter creeps up on us, I can tell the spirit drifts far away. So I wanted to share with everyone my new "goal" or "ambition": I want to be a good Homemaker. I want to be able to have a home that the spirit wants to dwell with us and since no unclean thing can be where the Lord is, I want my home to be clean. So I am going to really de-clutter with our upcoming move. It will be a time of purging and giving away things that are just taking up space here. I have already purged my "sewing" closet, and next will be my kitchen. Since it seems to be the biggest of my problem areas. Wish me luck!

I hope I can spread the message of the importance of having a home that will be inviting to the spirit and where the family can live with service in their hearts, and love always abounding!