The Weekend

We started this past weekend with Ethan playing several soccer games, as part of a Tournament his team played in.  He did great, even scored a goal.  But the best part was the team lunch after the games on Saturday.  We pretty much took over Ruby Tuesday with a large group of rowdy 11 year old boys.  It was fun!

We did a little late night swimming at the pool.

We picked up the kids back to school supplies.  This year we ordered them all from a company that takes the kids school supply lists and compiles them for you.  All I had to do was show up and pick up the boxes (and pay, of course).  But it seriously was the best thing ever!

The last thing we did this weekend was have our annual Back-to-school Feast!  The theme we chose this year is from a quote given in a talk by President Monson.  It goes like this:

"Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger trees;

The further sky, the greater length;

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow."

We chose that quote because there have been lots of changes going on in our kids lives right now. New schools, new home, new friends, new ward in church, etc. The kids are facing lots of challenges, but we wanted them to know that each challenge will help them grow stronger. The rest of the talk by President Monson reminds us that the Lord will never forget us and will always be there. We talked about that also. We talked a lot about trees and how they grow, what they need to grow and how that applies to us growing into what the Lord wants us to be. We watched a video about the Legend of the three trees, which is a great story about three trees who had big plans for what would happen to them when they got big enough. But none of them got what they wanted, because the Lord had different plans for them, and these planes were better than they could have ever imagined. Sometimes the Lord has different plans and takes us on different paths than we ever thought possible. But if we trust in Him, we will be blessed. We shared this with the kids and then we all signed our names on a tree stump piece that we would promise to become "good timber" this year and be strong.

We finished off the night with our annual "Big Carrot" search.

And then Shawn gave the kids each a Priesthood Blessing.  It's always a wonderful part of the back to school preparations.  The spirit was strong as I watched each of my children receive their blessing.  I felt gratitude for their wonderful spirits and that the Lord has allowed me to be part of their journey here on earth.