1. I was contacted by a great company called The Fresh Air Fund. What do they do, you ask? Very simply, they take kids who live in big cities and give them the chance to spend time in rural and country areas. These kids, through donations and host families, are given the opportunity to experience "Fresh Air" --and a true summer vacation.
I have a banner on my sidebar (it's below the information about me and my kids and my Church; see? Down there!), and here's another link:
They really need families in the New England area to help out, so if you happen to live near there, now is a great chance to help a child experience a rural summer. They need host families, ASAP! Contact them if you can give of your time. I wish I could! What a great program/idea.
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2. If I don't reply to your comments, please don't take it personally. Until I get the office moved from the pit of despair, I mean, basement, I tend to read things only on my iPhone. This is another reason why I haven't been writing as much --it takes effort to go downstairs, man! Plus, you can't hear anything going on upstairs, and since I have to be on "watch" 24/7 with these crazy kids, it's hard for me to make an excuse to come down here. By the time this baby is born, the office will be upstairs and it will be easier to reply to your comments, I promise!
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3. So, I get the LDS Living Magazine (yes, yes I do. I comes with my Deseret Book membership, yo!) and the main article for the July/August 2011 issue was outstanding! It was by an attorney by the name of Keith Hamilton and it's entitled "God Gifted Me My Race." Brother Hamilton is a black Mormon (or, if we need to get PC, he's African American). Born and raised in North Carolina, he was baptized in college in 1980, went on to serve a mission for the Church in Puerto Rico, was in the Air Force, and then went on to be the first African American to be admitted into the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU. He was one of the first of his race to be called as Bishop (in his ward in California --Bay Area! Woot!), and he's a husband and father. A few quotes from the article:
"The Church's history regarding blacks is long and complicated. And while some people --members and nonmembers alike --may struggle to come to terms with past events, I am not one of them.""As I came to appreciate both my earthly and divine legacies, I also realized that who I came to Earth to be, through the family bloodlines I acquired, was not by coincidence, nor of small consequence, for me, or to my Heavenly Father.""Today's blacks, particularly black members of the LDS Church, may have more capacity to recognize, receive, and contain the joy of the gospel than some other because of the deep sorrow carved into their souls by past experiences and restrictions.""I do not know when or why the restrictive practices against my people were adopted and carried out by the LDS Church, but I do know that the policy and practices were the Lord's doing and not the autonomous or unilateral act of any man or men."
Honestly, folks, you need to find this magazine and read this article! FANTASTIC!
4. I'm seriously ready to call an audible and hire 12 people to come to my house and help me purge it like there's no tomorrow. I've done a reasonably fair job so far, but there's still so much to do! And I'm so exhausted. I seriously cannot go one day without a 9-10 hour night and at least a 30 minute nap. I've never been this tired with my other pregnancies before. It's got me slightly worried, but not really, just more...more...tired. Tired of being tired? Well, not really, but it's frustrating, I guess. Because I know if I had the nesting instinct and the energy, I wouldn't need a dozen people to come purge and organize for me. What I need, instead, is a GREAT BIG DOSE OF PATIENCE! and to just chill out until I get that nesting instinct and energy. Because I know it will come! And then I can go all cleaning-crazy. Yeah. That's it!
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5. The lawn comes tomorrow! HUZZAH!
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6. We are going to Midway the last week of July. Yes, Midway. YES, Midway, UT. I know it's only 20 minutes away, but we're having a large family reunion, and not to be left out, we found a steal of a price on a condo to rent for the week. Steal, I tell you! Steal! So, we'll be up there and Brandon will commute to work from there. Which, ironically, is about the same amount of time (commute wise) as it is from here at home. Ironic. Anyway, I won't be around much (not that I've been around much), but I just thought I'd tell you so you could be A. Jealous of me (but not really, because if you were jealous I would feel bad) and B. Well, there is no B.
Tell me about your family vacations this year. Where did you go? Where are you going? Are they traditions? Do you wish you could change them? Do you like the routine?
4 comments:
Hm. My next issue of LDS Living hasn't arrived, I guess. I'll have to watch for that article. Thanks for the heads up.
Have a great time in Midway! Sometimes getaways that are close to home are the best. Less stressful, that's for sure.
We went to Utah for vacation. Someday we'll go on vacation that isn't Utah but you can't really beat the free lodging and food that family provides. :)
We went to Hawaii to visit family. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of money. I hate to complain about 'having' to visit Hawaii, but we feel guilty spending money to go anywhere else when we should go visit family when we can.
I hope you have fun in Midway--I actually think Midway is a really cool place.
We moved my computer upstairs to our bedroom and I've actually been really happy with doing that. We still have the office downstairs where my husband works, but now he's undisturbed and I can let the kids have their 'screen time' on the computer while I can still monitor them.
We might be going to Australia. If that doesn't pan out, then likely no family vacay this year. But there have been lots of trips with Dad for the kiddos, and even one for me (rare w/ my weird sleep issues). Fun.
We are heading to your state this week for back to back family reunions. We are going to a family cabin for one and sticking around SLC for the other, nothing too exciting. It will be super busy and crazy, but so fun! Wish we could trade FoxyJ and she could visit Utah and we could visit Hawaii for our family reunion! :)
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