Carolyn and I were talking. I was expressing my gratitude towards her that she came to be by me while I was folding laundry in my room. She expressed that she came to be by me because:

Carolyn: "I don't like being by myself. That's one reason I wanted the Holy Ghost."

How beautiful. That Carolyn knows that because she has the Holy Ghost her Savior is always with her. She is never alone. Beautiful, Carolyn.

One of Angela's spiritual gifts I can see as her mommy is her gift of being able to be intune and discern the needs of others and then act upon those observations and inspiration she receives from the spirit. She has a gift to recognize how to serve and then go to work. For example...today - here are a few amazing things she did that she recognized on her own and then acted upon...

- After going shopping at the store and we walked to our car, Angela went and popped the trunk for me.
- Then, she (without being asked) helped to load the car full of groceries.
- When returning home, she helped me unload all on her own.
- Then this sweet girl started to empty the dishwasher after dinner...all on her own without being asked!
- If that wasn't enough, Angela and Carolyn finished their daily job to pick 5 weeds from the front yard. Carolyn left after picking her weeds with forgetting to put her weeds in the trash and her tool. Angela picked up after her sister.

What a gal!!
Love you, Angela! :)

Angela and I had fun making sugar cookies together yesterday. We made them to thank some people in the ward for helping out with a Relief Society Meeting we had this past Tuesday (It was amazing, by the way!! So happy about how the meeting definitely provided means for the RS Purposes to be fulfilled!) And we used the cookies for FHE treat, of course.

Which, can I just say that I love FHE? Tonight it last over 2 hours, I think. Angela told an amazing scripture story of how the Americas were after Christ visited. I loved the picture she drew of her and Jesus. How she feels it will be like when He comes again. They are standing beneath a beautiful rainbow and beside flowers. And very happy. Emily and Carolyn co-taught. They made an AMAZING game with a poster with cards. In order to advance in the game not only did our pieces need to make choices to get to Heaven such as getting baptized and taking the Sacrament, we also had to answer questions along the way. The questions were scenarios that we might actually be faced with. The focus was on choosing to be nice. Situations at school and home where we have the opportunity to choose to be nice. We also had a Family Tree Focus where Carolyn told stories of Andrew and used familysearch.org to show us where Daddy was on the tree...as well as discussed and worked on our Missionary Family Mission Plan. I love that we have someone do a musical number. We also plan for the week. One of Carolyn's Faith in God Goals is to plan and carry out a service project as a family each week. Anyways, I love FHE. I love that we all have to chant "FHE" while punching our arms in the air. Everyone has to be doing it before it can start.

 

 Oh boy...Emily was filled with flour at the end of the making :)

 Look at that cute floury face :)

Last week Andrew and I finally gave into getting a professional carpet cleaner for our carpet downstairs. I have tried my very, very best with the carpet. I have used carpet cleaners...hand scrubbed it....basically done all I could and it just looked awful. So, we decided to pay the big bucks (okay...so, I used an amazing coupon and got it cleaned for half price...but still - it was a little chunk of money). Anyways, it looked much much better. This morning Angela was using her birthday gift and sharing it with her sister, Emily. Emily loves when Angela plays "baby" with her and loves when Angela puts her nailpolish on her. How sweet that Angela finds such joy in sharing her nailpolish and taking the time to put it on Emily. This morning Angela put the nailpolish on Emily in the family room (yes, where we had the carpet cleaned). You might be able to guess what happened. Huge nail polish spill on the white and newly cleaned carpet. Angela, Emily, and I got to work RIGHT away to get the nailpolish off. A lot of elbow grease. It looks a ton better but a red mark still remains in the carpet. Rather than look at the carpet in sadness, I decided that I am always going to look at that spot with a smile. It reminds me of Angela and her sweetness to want to share her nailpolish with her sister. It reminds me of her good heart and how she loves to serve and make others happy. It will remind me of Angela's spiritual gift of hard work. That she went RIGHT to work with me and worked her hardest with me to get the stain out. I am going to look at it with a smile. What else can I look at in life with a smile? Are there weaknesses or mistakes I have made that I can smile at because it can remind me of who it helped me become? Thank you, Angela, for this beautiful lesson :) I love you. Thank you for always serving and loving.

This morning Angela amazed me - as always - with her strong testimony of the power of prayer. And her always remembering to pray. Michelle and Andrea left this morning to go back to Utah. In hopes that their kids would sleep in the car more, they got up and left at 3 AM. At about 3:30 AM Angela woke up and saw that her cousins and Aunts were gone. She came to my room and knocked on the door. I opened the door and she said, "Mom, they left. I need to pray that they will be safe in the car." So, then she said a prayer for them. What an amazing girl of faith in a Heavenly Father who watches over us and cares for us and hears our prayers. I love Angela's strong testimony in prayer.

Today Carolyn said she felt her first "Stop" from the Holy Ghost. How amazing that she recognized it! How amazing that we are blessed with such an amazing gift! We were going for a walk as a family. Carolyn was in the lead in our family walk. She was walking by someone's house and as she was about to walk across their driveway she felt a "STOP." So, she stopped. She looked up at the house and a car was pulling out of the driveway. Carolyn expressed that that was the Holy Ghost telling her to stop and protected her and the family from serious injury. What an amazing experience!

Today at church Carolyn bore her beautiful testimony. She said something like this:

"Yesterday I was baptized. I got the Holy Ghost. I don't cry a lot. I only cry when I am really, really happy. Yesterday I cried when I got the Holy Ghost."