Sunday, May 4, 2014 I realized I left a lot out last week...things like my Thought for the Week, Birthdays, Anniversaries...and Family News:)!!! So I will try to do a little better this time:).
Special Days in April got left out - my apologies to all, but they were:
3rd John Bullinger turned 20!
7th Sara Kirby turned ?? - On her Birthday:)
24th Payton Kirby turned 6 years old!
(We did have an early Birthday party while there!)
26th Steve and Holly celebrated their 6th anniversary - hope they will tell us what they did:)!
27th marked twenty years to the day that Jim and Jeanie were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple:)!
27th marked twenty years to the day that Jim and Jeanie were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple:)!
Coming in May: On one of these days we expect Anslee to make her appearance in Georgia:)!!!
16th Adam and Emily will celebrate 11 years married:)!
Aunt Cathy also will have a birthday:)
29th Guess who has a birthday? Yup - its me!
June is another full month...will try to get it on the blog:).
Thought for the Week:
This came in my “mail” this morning and I will share. The scripture is Psalms 112:1. In the e-mail it says, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.” I checked to see how it reads in our scriptures and it says: “Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.” Either way, I like the message, particularly the idea of delighting in the Lord's commandments.
Here is a quote that came with the scripture: “ Joy, not grit, is the hallmark of holy obedience. We need to be light-hearted in what we do to avoid taking ourselves too seriously. It is a cheerful revolt against self and pride. Our work is jubilant, carefree, merry. Utter abandonment to God is done freely and with celebration.” — Richard J. Foster
And this is the Thought that came with it all: “The motivational adage tells us: if you enjoy what you do for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life. There is a parallel in the Christian life: if you find joy in God and doing the things that bring God joy, your service to Him will never feel like drudgery and an unwelcome burden.
“We worry a lot about taking time for ourselves so that we don’t burn out and become weary in doing good. But perhaps it is a sense of self-preoccupation that saps us of energy, and the act of giving and serving that reenergizes us.
(highlighting is mine)
“Does service energize you and bring you joy? If not, turn your attention to the heart of God and what brings Him joy. You will find God’s joy to be contagious!”
Not sure exactly why, but the above really struck a chord in my heart:)!
Family Notes: OK - this part of the family has been submerged in sorting through boxes and shelves of books and papers. Found a box of pictures that I didn’t know we had; Dad says it was given to him by someone at work soon after we had gotten here. From the stuff inside we know that at some point there was an Oliphant in Oakridge, Oregon! It makes me very sad to think we have all those pictures and no identification for any of them. Also made me think about our boxes of picture albums - that are part of this huge effort right now; my goal is to just get everything sorted - hopefully by year - and then get on to doing something better with them all. Although - I find myself wondering exactly what that something better should be. I am open for your suggestions!!!
Also came across some of our pictures for Grandma and Grandpa Oliphant and their forbears that actually tell on the backs who they are - hoping to get those onto Family Tree tonight with Dad’s help:)! I do think that it is important to get things like that onto the Family Tree program as soon as I come across them; at least that way they are saved for posterity - no matter what happens to the originals. Does raise the question though of: Exactly what should we be doing with the 3 large boxes of pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Oliphant? Help!!! They were scanned by Bill and so are available to all on DVDs, but what do we do with all the originals? So that about sums up what I have been doing - except for several calls to accompany our Sister Missionaries to appointments - which I was thoroughly grateful for and do appreciate:).
Dad has spent a lot of time working outside, pulling out overgrown ivy, cleaning out the garage, carting stuff to the dump and to Sunrise Industries (no DI here). Moving around is good for our bodies and for our spirits, altho I struggle a bit with all the memories I’m going through.
So - way back when this blog began, the idea was to use it for the family to update everyone on what was going on in their lives. I was wondering if anyone would like to go back to that idea and post a little each week or two about what is going on in your lives - to kind of help us stay connected as a family. I don’t get to talk to everyone each week and have a hard time remembering things from the phone calls (I’m sorry about that, it is just a sad fact of how my brain is not working so well these days) - so in my mind it would be WONDERFUL if you’d each put just a note or two on the blog kind of regularly:). Of course - Since Holly and Charlotte each have blogs, we can just look at theirs - if only they will post things:). Just something to think about.
Here is my best remembrance of what all are doing now:
Jim and Jeanie - Jeanie is now a counselor in RS and learning new things there; Jim got an “extra assignment” that is keeping him busy at work - probably busier than he’d like to be. Both are actively engaged in getting the kids to their different activities. Jeanie posted Colin’s school program on Facebook and it was really cute:)!
Chris and Christi - are busy as usual. When I last talked to Christi she was busily painting as their house remodel progresses and she was hoping to be able to move a couple of kids to the new part of the house soon. I haven’t talked with Chris, but I know the farm stuff keeps him working at all hours. I did connect with John - who is still at school, but told me he has a job lined up for the summer. I’m waiting for more details when he gets them:).
Sara and Patrick - still doing the same things. I know from Facebook that they had a horse show last week and that Abby did really well:)! I am sure they are busily trying to do as much as possible to prepare for Patrick’s departure in July.
Adam and Emily - busy as usual. Looks like Eli has adapted really well to the cast and it looks like Rose has decided to walk - which I’m sure you have seen on Facebook:)!
Steve and Holly - also busy as usual. Found out that this coming Friday will be Holly’s last day of teaching...unless they have a baby sooner:). She has a DR appointment tomorrow & will let us know of any news:).
Steve continues to learn more about his new position at the dealership - not alway easy but surely will be worth it:)!
Charlotte and Seth - busy as usual? Haven’t talked to Seth in a while, but it sounded like he was doing well according to Charlotte; she has been busy working on her fish tank and it sounded like the most current group of fish might make it. I hope so! For all the work she deserves some observable success:)!
Mary Elizabeth - busy as usual? She sounds good when I call her; I think life is more fun now that Michael is nearby and it does sound like he is enjoying his job there.
Good News is that it seems like most of this group will be able to gather together here in July - and we will look forward to that. I guess I should put that info under the Reunion part of the blog - altho it doesn’t feel much like the last couple because by its very nature it has to be fairly simple.
Here is our calendar as it sits right now - always subject to change of course:).
May 21 Depart for Wyoming to be there for Michael Bullinger’s graduation on May 26th AND to be able to see all of those great Bullingers for a week or so:)!
June 2 Depart Wyoming for Utah to park at Sara’s, see the Kirbys and Mary just a little, take care of a few things on our property there, and (hopefully) have Mary drive us to the airport in SLC so that on
June 6 we can fly to Georgia - to be there for a baby blessing and to visit with those Georgia Oliphants:)!
June 15 Depart Georgia, fly back to Utah, pick up our MH and drive back to Roseburg, which I think will put us here by the 18th?
July 3rd Family arriving in Oregon to get together:).
July 15th or thereabouts, be back in Utah to stay while Patrick is gone for basic and AIT. (I think that is what it is called.)
We are thinking that once Patrick is back and in charge of things in Payson, we will head down to Texas and visit those Texas Oliphants for a little while - whatever fits their schedule.
I guess that will kind of complete our year of travel - then it will be time to get back to work! (Somewhere? "there's a place for us...")
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