Sydney is pictured in a Camp Flyer

Just got an email and Sydney is in the picture advertising the camps at Mission San Luis. She loves it there. How neat that she is in one of the pictures!

Funky Toes

Okay... Looks like I have a bunch to share today and yesterday. So, please look back a few days. This will be last post for day or so.

Got my toes done while in Montgomery. It was suggested to try something a bit different and so I did. Instead of a pretty French white pedicure, I went with a loud French Hot Pink pedicure. It's still growing on me. What does everyone else think? You think I should sport it all summer long?

Modern Civil Rights Movement Trip

What a great history trip! It really opened my eyes to what was faced in those times and how people stood up for equality. It made me wonder what side I would have been on. Knowing what I know now, would I have been on the side fighting for equality. But, knowing where my ancestry's came from what would I have been feed and would I have believed what they said or made up my mind differently. I don't have to figure that out but would have hoped I would have made the choice of everyone would have equal rights no matter where they are from or how they got here.

Downtown Fountain near where the slave market was in Montgomery, AL.

Rosa Parks Museum T-Shirt...
"Women who behave really make history"
Civil Rights Memorial (Outside at fountain)

Pictures of the 4 girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham and the boy killed same day at the Civil Rights Memorial Museum.

The Church...

US just before heading to Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors

Mormons go Techie on LDS.org

So, this morning I was going to print out a talk for church on Sunday and found two tremendously awesome new additions.

We have a radio station....
Mormon Channel* (Radio.LDS.org)

• It is on HD Radio also, go to hdradio.org for more information.
• Soon will be able to listen via an iPhone application, and a Facebook and blog widget. Other distribution options are currently being explored, including satellite radio and other mobile devices.
• They have podcasts for children stories... Really neat! I have signed up for that.
  

*Weird because the church has tried to get away from that title however, people know us as this and so I assume the church is going to work with the title)

There is a learning page for kids...
Friend.LDS.org
Below is a match game of the prophets. Its really a great site to have available for our children.

FOR CARRIE ONLY

So, if you are not Carrie, you shouldn't be reading this.

But, I know it won't stop ya... LOL

I have decided to prove my sweet SIL wrong. Sorry Carrie... But, if you feel you shouldn't go private, I think you should. It is best. I stole this picture today without any problem. If the picture is clickable it goes to a page that shows only the picture and the program on your Blogger.com page is disabled. If possible, make your pictures unclickable then your program should work. You know I love ya! Kisses and Hugs!

When you Believe...

Read these lyrics.... more discussion after the lyrics.

"When You Believe Lyrics" from The Prince of Egypt (1998)

Many nights we've prayed
With no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song
We barely understood

Now we are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear
We were moving mountains long
Before we knew we could

There can be miracles, when you believe
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe

In this time of fear
When prayers so often prove(s) in vain
Hope seems like the summer birds
Too swiftly flown away

Yet now I'm standing here
My heart's so full I can't explain
Seeking faith and speaking words
I never thought I'd say

There can be miracles, when you believe
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe

They don't (always happen) when you ask (Oh)
And it's easy to give in to your fears (Oh...Ohhhh)
But when you're blinded by your pain
Can't see your way straight through the rain
(A small but) still resilient voice
Says (hope is very near) (Ohhh)

There can be miracles
(Miracles)
When you believe
(Lord, when you believe)
Though hope is frail
(Though hope is frail)
It's hard to kill
(Hard to kill, Ohhh)
Who knows what miracles, you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will (somehow, somehow, somehow)
somehow you will
You will when you believe

You will when you
You will when you believe
Just believe...in your heart
Just believe
You will when you believeeeeeeeeeee

*****
It is my hope that I am able to express how important those words are to me and how they helped me in my time of need.

I first heard this song as I watched "Prince of Egypt" in 1998 and it became my strength song to help me go forward for the next three years. Times were emotionally hard for me those years and it became a time where I pulled from my depths of my soul to move forward. All that I believed in my whole life was crumbling and my little house of dreams shattering. When it got tough I would put that song in the CD player and play loud and cry. The words in this song are extremely comforting and strong words to me. What also helped was the visualization of the Hebrews and the trials that they suffered but still had the strength to go forth and believe.

Now last week I heard the song again and found myself with tears in my eyes but a different feeling. A feeling of "I believed".

They don't always happen when you ask
And it's easy to give in to your fears
But when you're blinded by your pain
Can't see your way straight through the rain
A small but still resilient voice
Says (hope is very near)

Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe

The above phrases were uplifting to hear and I reminisced about where I was back in those days of pain and sorrow but more importantly to where I have emerged and where I have directed my life because I know that miracles can be achieved when you believe and it might not be when I wanted but there is hope very near. So, when you believe there can be miracles achieved.

Those years made me stronger and I am grateful for them and wouldn't take it back because I wouldn't be the person that I am today.

Be who you are!

As I read my SiL's blog today I was directed to Aimee Heffernan blog, where I found this quote.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."— Dr. Seuss

Sydney gets picked on sometimes because she speaks her mind and when I read this today it made me think, "hell yeah"! We go through life sometimes trying to please people when the person that should be pleased is yourself, your soul, your god. Then when we feel comfortable within our own skin we can go beyond ourselves and make great things happen. It is those people who do speak their mind that I feel go further than those who copy people and try to make other people feel comfortable in their own skin. (With this being said, there is a time and place for all types of personal interaction when people do need to be spoon feed. However, not the topic for today.)

Now, I want to address my SiL's blog entry for today which was on MS (Multiple Sclerosis). I have ignored Aaron's MS until they moved back from Seattle. It was at that time when Aaron lived with me and he sat me down to explain what MS does to his body. It is in the back of my mind how we as a family are lucky that Aaron's medicine has worked so well with his body. I often think about what will happen when his body does fail him and what we as a family will do. What will the family do (Mom, Carmella, David, Robby and Carrie) and how will our lives change. But what really continues to go through my mind is what will we need to do to help Carrie. How will she and the kids survive? What will they do? Will there be a cure that Aaron won't have to experience such huge declines in his mind and body. God has blessed us but I am not naive to think, as Carrie does everyday, each day leads us closer to knowing the answer. Hoping and praying it is the cure.

I feel pretty

BONUS BEAUTY ABOVE

Lately, I have been taking pictures and they have been of me! They are when I feel pretty. Wanted to share them. It has not always been that I have felt this way and I'm excited to share my feelings and belief of myself.