Sunday, July 31, 2011

Family Time



God gives us all little magical moments that you can’t put a finger on to mark it and you cant put a price on it to sell. Sometimes you might not realize it at that moment but in the bad times the memory of that moment will be what sparkles and helps pull you through. I’ve been so blessed in the last month to have so many of those wonderful happy moments that are so full of joy that I can hardly contain my self. They’ve been gone for a week but those moment I am talking about are when my family came down to visit me….In the midst of my crazy work schedule and summer school, my two brothers and my little girl  (sister) came to see me. At first I didn’t think it was a good idea just for the fact I wouldn’t get to do everything with them I wanted to do, but I pushed that aside and bought their plane tickets. The Sunday that they were supposed to come down, North Dakota had a hurricane and there flight was delayed… I was so bummed and stayed up half the night trying to reroute their plane but it didn’t work out and I was forsure that my plans had just been smashed. They weren’t… my brothers and Abby ended up coming four days later, and waiting for them at the airport seemed like an eternity. when I finally saw them walking out of the security area I almost wanted to knock that little “do not pass this point” sign down but instead Abby leapt out of her brothers arms and did the running for me. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of months and When I picked her up and spun her around I felt like the world couldn’t get any better. I could have pause life right there with her in my arms and be content for forever.. but I couldn’t pause life lol… instead I just hugged her so tight and almost cried happy tears =) my brothers came thru and all I wanted to do was hug them but Isaac (my not sentimental one) broke the moment by telling me I was embarrassing him =). After waiting for forever for their luggage we got in the car and headed to the restaurant to grab a bite to eat. We sat there and talked about a lot of stuff and I couldn’t stop smiling at the way Isaac would interrupt Kalab to tell me something he thought was sooo important or vis versa. Abby topped off the meal by running around like a crazy person, talking to every one, and then exclaiming that the painted alligator on the wall was her “best fwend” which made us all laugh. We had church that night so we headed home and I was reacquainted with the frustrations and the cute moments of trying to get three hooligans dressed for church. Abby was a tad uncomfortable being the spotlight at church but you just cant help it she’s soo cute. Afterwards I sent her home (unwillingly) with my aunt Kristy and me and my brothers went to the OTC youth lock in. Im glad they got to go they seemed to have a lot of fun and two of their friends were even there. The next three days I spent with them just hanging out at my aunt Kristi’s loving every moment of being with them. Sunday night we headed back to my house but because I had school to do we didn’t bring Abby along she stayed with my aunt Kristi. Fourth of July Monday morning I didn’t let them sleep in, instead I woke them up at 8 (horrible sister I know lol) and they came with me to help me paint the restaurant. Like all little brothers do they soon got bored with that and wanted to do something else so me feeling they needed something more boyish went and found them some be-be guns and targets and we lit up the back yard with silver pellets. We went and got ice cream later and then watched fireworks from my roof. I had a slight sentimental moment as I watched them staring at the sky and thought what it would be like to have them with me all the time but then Isaac tried to beat up Kalab and that thought fled lol. Tuesday morning I dint bother them a bit and they slept in until it was time for me to leave the house. They groggily followed me around for the rest of the day and then to church for Tuesday evening service. I didn’t have to solely entertain them for long because Thursday we packed up the camper and stayed in the woods until Sunday evening, the Monday we got back I had school to do so they helped my papa clean out the trailer and wash it off. Tuesday was pretty much the same. Wednesday they thought they were going crazy so I ended up taking them to their friend Aundre’s house and they got all there feelings of going crazy In a couple hours of video games. Thursday morning I packed up all there things and grudgingly put it in my car (because of my schedule they would be spending the rest of their visit with their aunt). With much thanks to Glenn me and the boys had a blast at amazing jakes that day, and Isaac (my professional complainer) got in the car that evening and announced he had “a blast” =) on the way home however he almost gave me a heart attack when he accidentally put my gear shifter into neutral while I’m going down the highway!!! We finally figured out why my car was stalling and finished our journey to my aunt Kristi’s… I think he just did that because he didn’t want to leave his big sis HAHA…. I spent Sunday with them but after that I shipped my self off to the best conference ever and came home 4 hours before they got on their plane so I could give them all a hug and tell them to have a safe flight…. I am so thankful they got to come out and share a few weeks of my lovely crazy life with me =)

Abby got the 1st hug =)

then came my bro's







Isaac and chase playing the piano while we were camping

in the back of papa's pick up driving to the lake







SAY CHEESE NAE-NAE










**
   Whittney Annie
                          **

Monday, July 25, 2011

HERITAGE 2011


Heritage this year was so much better than I expected and not to say I expected anything less than great but it was… amazing! Every year I have gone and come home with a little bit more of a touch of God than before, but this year was sooo much better and with out trying to sound redundant it really did change my life. I went there struggling just a tad to be the happy go lucky person I like to be and I came home bursting with the happiness of God. I don’t know how make my human mind comprehend it and put it into words but what I can say is GOD IS SO GOOD. Sunday after we came back I got the  biggest surprise… I was asked to testify…I felt so honored when Bro Stanly asked me to testify (I was nervous to boot as well) but I was glad I could tell my congregation what God had done for me.  I didn’t say this in my testimony but when I went there I didn’t think God would answer my one specific prayer for specific change, but he did and then the last night when Bro. Frazier preached about letting your past go it just topped it off because I already knew what he was preaching about was so true. I just wish I had dragged Kalab with me so he could have gotten the Holy Ghost. Along with God being so very good I had a blast so here are a lot of pictures (NOT in order) I took on my trip…..