CHEERleading!!

Caitlynn just finished her first season as an Upward Cheerleader, and to my JOY, loved every minute of it!!

She did such a good job, so much so that she is anxious to get onto another squad to do some more. Just so happens the pop warner teams are starting to gear up -- and with that we'll be signing her up to join a squad with that league! The Upward squad she was on cheered for a local basketball league associated with a neighborhood church... and over the past few months, she had practice every Thursday, and a game every Saturday morning.

Caitlynn's good friends Adison and Ashley (my good friend Stacy's daughters) were also on the squad and Stacy was the assistant coach -- so made it nice to have good friends in it as well. I posted a few of my fav pics, and a video, from her season...

Caitlynn & Jordan playing with the megaphones on the sidelines

The whole Upward Squad, and coaches (Caitlynn is in the bottom row, far right)

Adison, Ashley, & Caitlynn before thier first game

My bug

Short video clip from one of her games -- This one is titled "Jammin' in the Stands"... Caitlynn is in the back row, middle.

Our little missionaries

What could possibly bring us more JOY than to have our boys doing missionary work??? The answer -- dunno, because it is a pretty cool thing!!

As a part of the Youth activities at church this month, the Young Men and Young Women were called to serve as a missionary in the Florida Jacksonville Mission. And served they did, for about 6 hours in total between their training earlier this week and the ministry to other ward members this evening.

Elder Martin and his companion Elder Powell

(the other) Elder Martin and his companion Elder Hayes

The St Johns Ward "junior" Missionaries

Kenny thought the whole experience was pretty cool -- hence the thumbs up :). All of the kids were invited to share their testimony from their experience. While we didn't get to hear it ourselves, several of the sisters who were there said that Kenny's was very sweet. We were told it included something about the dinner he had before doing his lesson (it was Ratotuie), and something about Jesus as a baby. When we asked him about it on the way home, he said "Yea, I was talking about that guy, his name starts with a J...". CRACKS me up!!

Had to snap a pic of the boys before heading off to the church, I really must snap more of these sweet moments!

It was a pretty neat experience to have the boys prepare for this evening. Starting last Sunday when they received their letters. On Monday we helped them to prepare for their discussion about the Restoration in our FHE, and on Wednesday they were asked to report to the Youth Missionary Training Center Jacksonville South Stake Center in St Augustine, where they further prepared to preach the gospel (complete with lessons on leading a discussion and an obstacle course)!! Come today, I think they were ready to go!

I am so thankful that we had this experience together as a family. Missionaries have always played a big role in our lives, making sure to keep us connected to the church as we've moved all over the east coast. We love missionary work, and know that the boys will be ever so blessed for being able to participate in it!

Joy in Scouting...

Ty and Kenny are starting to get into the scouting program, and this evening a few of the other boys from their troop came over to visit, along with one of the scoutmasters. They learned that a BIG part of this scouting program is camping, which they are so very excited about!

They will get to go on their first camping trip next weekend and will be camping near Lake City, Fl, which is home to the largest Civil War battlefield in Florida -- The Battle of Olustee. It just so happens that the Olustee Festival is that weekend and they will get to watch the reenactment of this Civil War event! I think I am more excited than they are, it is so cool they get to experience a historical event... but realize they probably won't find value in it until they read about it in their history class sometime in the distant future :).

The scoutmaster then started talking about the fact that camping was one of the major ways the boys earn their badges. This part of the conversation was much more intriguing than the first part. Tylar perked right up and started firing off questions about this "badge earning process". His first question was:

• "Is there a badge for bows and arrows?"... scoutmaster responds by saying "you mean archery?"... "Yes", Tylar says "that is what I said."

Another fav question

• "Is there a badge for widdeling?"... scoutmaster responds by saying "like woodworking?".. "Yes", Tylar says "I don't want to brag, but I am pretty good at widdeling."

I'll have to write more after their trip next week -- I am sure there will be plenty of stories to tell!

Joy in Song...

Anyone who knows our family knows that we love song... just about any music that we can sing and dance to. Our newest addiction is the Wii Just Dance game -- so fun, and so good for Chad and I who are trying to loose a few lbs before summer sneaks up on us! We also often find ourselves singing along to the radio in the car, as Chad and I compete to "name that tune" first :). I could go on about the joy we find in music, but today two things struck me that brought not only a smile to my face, but filled my heart so completely...

We've started to go back to church regularly, as a family, and today as we were finding our way to find a seat, a ward family member came over to greet us and handed Kenny a Large Print hymn book (to match his Large Print Book of Mormon). I wish, I wish I had a camera to capture the smile on that boy's face! I am so thankful for such loving brothers and sisters in the church, and appreciate how much they care for us and our family. Now, Kenny has never been one to not sing in church, but to have his own hymn book and one that he can read, just made his (and my) day. A few times I glanced over at him to see him holding both his Book of Mormon and his hymn book close to his chest. Again... I wish I had a camera to capture that sweet moment.

The second thing that filled my heart today also happened at church, and that was hearing Chad sing the opening hymn - Count Your Blessings. Chad usually doesn't belt out in song at church, but I suppose when the spirit moves you??... I made a point to tell him how much I loved hearing him sing, and his response was too funny -- "It was one of the 3 songs I remember, and I like that one."

Our closing hymn today was the song Testimony. As if the joy in seeing Kenny's happiness with his new book, or hearing my husband sing at church wasn't enough, my heart was most full as we sang the third verse of that song:

My eyes are wet; my heart is full.
The Spirit speaks today.
O Lord, wilt thou my life renew
And in my bosom stay.

Amen.