September/October photo bomb

Brynne played what is probably her final season of soccer this year.  She told me at the beginning of the season that she planned on it being her last so she could have a job next year and make money towards college.  She played hard and their team had a much better season than last year. 

 Fun to watch!

two is rough on mom.  Like when you are expecting dinner guests and you daughter chooses to paint the front porch in yogurt just minutes before their expected arrival.  Yep.

Homeschool field trip and the Siskiyou Field Institute was way fun.  The kids learned to test the PH and temperature of the water, and looked for specific macro-organisms living in the creak.

We also went on a little hike to find this awesome carnivorous plant that is native to the area!

Funny Story:

On Sunday morning as I sat in PEC the Bishop read off a text to me just as we were wrapping up the meeting.  It was from the High Priest group leader.  It said, "sorry I'm not feeling well.  I won't be at church today.  I have no idea what's happening for 5th Sunday combined lesson".

And then the Bishop turns to me and says, "so what is happening?"

To which I reply, "Am I in charge of that?  I thought you were!"

Panicked heart palpitations follow

   

The Bishop said I could toss it to the missionaries, but that hardly seemed fair to them.  It wasn't their fault!  So I pulled up my big-girl panties and put together a lesson. 

This calling keeps me stretching!

Guess who climbed the rope to the top!??!!  Kenna-boo!

Sisters weekend in AZ with the Becksteads was so fun!  

Too fun for me to take pictures, unfortunately.

Luckily we had Dev's friend Natalee do some for us. 

Mesa Temple!

My flight home was amazing.  I saw the red rocks of Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helena, Mt. Batchelor, Sisters, and the Portland Temple.  So fun to have window seats AND great views the entire journey home!

Grandpa Richardson was here for almost three weeks and Faith was his buddy.

We went to Roseburg to watch a game.  They have a riverwalk at the field and there was the most pungent, spicy, delightfully fall-ish smell in the air!

We went for another walk with Hannah here at All-Sports Park

Edward Jones hosted a day at the pumpkin patch for their clients.  So fun!

Hannah couldn't decide what to be for Halloween...

But at work they are expected to dress up - 

She went with the shark!

The rest of us dressed up for trunk-or-treat.  Logan was able to do a repeat of his Jack Frost costume and it was a big hit - he got lots of compliments.

What can we say other than, Olé

Some thoughts that have been running through my mind.

First.  Guys.  Visiting Teaching.  Do you just cringe when the topic is brought up at church?  I kind of used to.  I mean I sort of did my visiting teaching.  When it was convenient or with people I liked.  But otherwise...spotty.

But now.  Holy cow.  How I treasure a good visiting teacher.  And see more and more how important that little thing we call Visiting Teaching really is.  And not just that we do it to check it off our list of monthly to-do's.  But to really try to love with the Spirit and care about our sisters.

This past week I had the interesting experience of having two visiting teaching things come up that served to emphasize this lesson for me.    And so I share "A Parable of Two Visiting Teachers"

First, I got a call from one sister.  The kind that you think is doing fine and is totally not in need of a visiting teacher.  And, in fact, she hadn't been visited in MONTHS by her visiting teacher.  And why was she calling me?  Because her world was falling apart and she needed a friend.  She couldn't call her VT - that woman hadn't taken the time to become a friend.  So she called me.  And we cried together and later we spent two hours in a booth at Dairy Queen so she could talk out her thoughts and collect herself enough to face her life again.  So, yeah.  She doesn't really know me that well, but she needed someone to talk to.

The second call was from a sister in the ward about someone she visit teaches.  She said her sister wasn't doing too well and maybe I could take a few minutes to visit with her.  So I ran over later that morning and what I found was a sister who, indeed, was not doing too well, but who really didn't need me to visit her, other than to know I love and care about her.  Because her VT also stopped by and was prepared to do her grocery shopping.  Brought her stamps to pay her bills.  

Had sent her husband over on the weekend to do yard work.  

Truly was doing a wonderful job of caring for this sweet sister.

When we do our visiting teaching properly we are doing the Lord's work 

in a way that we are seldom ever able to in other facets of our life.  

Of that principle I am learning and quickly gaining a testimony.

Tomorrow is the start of a brand-new Visiting Teaching experience.  Make it a good one!