Goodby Frances

The dear little neighbor that I talked about earlier, quietly passed away on 9/11 at 9:11 at night. She is missed.

17

For the past 17 years (TODAY..yep, she was born on a Sunday!) I have been honored/Blessed to call this sweet face, My BABY!
K..Kind
L..Loveable
A..All Hugs
I..Inspiring
R..Replenish me
A..Artistic..music is all over her!
I know this is dorky, but I just love this girl! I am enjoying my time with her!
She is fun to listen to at the end of the day with all of her adventures.
She LOVES music and brings me into her love!
She LOVES her family and misses them dearly!
She is a tender heart.
She is a daddy's girl.
She hates bacon. (Ireally though she liked it...)
She is going to have a busy last year of high school. She is planning to live it to the ultimate!
She is my luvlump...

Emotional Rollercoaster

Last weekend I had so many emotions..from one extreme to the other. I will go in order of events but the first part I really don't like...
I have to preface this by saying that I am SOOO Thankful for what I have been taught through the church/girls camp/and being open to where Heavenly Father needs you...

Last Friday I was prompted to travel home a different way then I usually go... As I drove on my street I saw one of our dear neighbors (she is 86 years old and walks 2 1/2 miles every day and talks to EVERYONE and is just a doll) sitting on her front step just COVERED in blood. She just waved to me..I backed up and pulled in her drive way while trying to get 911 on the phone. She had somehow split the top of her head open to the bone and had been sitting there for some time in over 100* weather. She had tried getting into her house but blessings that she was not able to..I never would have seen her! Her doorstep was a war zone. Blood everywhere. With the help of the police and ambulance we got her on her way to the hospital and I assured the police man that I would clean up the mess before the kids in the neighborhood came home from school. I got it all cleaned up (Now I so understand what my mom went through cleaning up after someone she loved had a horrible accident...Love you mom!) and got Klaira settled and then headed to the hospital to get an update...we were unable to get ahold of any family so I was it! I stayed while they did ex-rays (to find out she had broken her neck..) and then held her hand while they stapled her head close (13 staples and about 6 stitches) and got her ready to transport to another hospital. Still unable to get ahold of any family. She was such a dear and I had a wonderful 4 hour chat with her. We got her into the ambulance and off to the other hospital. I followed to the other hospital but was not able to be with her until they had figured out what she needed. About an hour after being there, family members found me. What a wonderful family she has! I went home just drained!

I stayed up cleaning the house..(that is for another post..) to get up early for the BEST part of the weekend and the other side of the emotions...

Klaira and her YW and leaders have been focusing in on the Temple this year..from several stories they were inspired to walk from one of our buildings to the Temple. 9 miles! Now some of these girls are not very physically active at all, and it was expected to get up to 100* by noon. This was their first Saturday since school and seminary started that they could have slept in, but they ALL were at the church early with a smile on their face, ready for the walk. (Notice the camp shirts the girls are wearing! NICE)

I was blessed to be asked to follow along so that if one of the girls needed a ride, they could. We had another brother who met the girls at stops along the way with water and fruit and encouragement. I did have one young lady drive with me most of the way since she had just had knee surgery but she wanted to do some of the walk with the girls. (LOVE THAT GIRL!)

The girls all had smiles on their faces the entire walk. We had a few that were running the entire time, others that were slower but were laughing and keeping a good pace. THEY ALL MADE IT! The young woman that traveled with me was able to walk some in the middle and then the last mile and a half. When they got to the temple, family members were waiting with open arms. (SO many parallels to our lives...it is hard not to start blubbering again..)

The temple president and his wife talked to the girls about their journey and then the girls had a final group picture and a trip out to the picnic area behind the temple for refreshments and inspiring words from the YW president.

The next day it was the YW program in Sacrament meeting. Klaira led the music and was one of the speakers. (She is Laurel President)

It was one of the most wonderful meetings I have sat through in a long time. Klaira did an amazing job with her talk! LOVED IT! Then on Tuesday it was all wrapped up with a meeting called New Beginnings. What amazing Young Women and Leaders we have in our ward! (Klaira is stinkin amazing too!)

I Love to see the temple....
Photo's by Shelley VanWagenen