Gift to Jesus Tag - Thanks Tiffany and Janessa

What gift can I give you for Christmas this year?
What gift can I give to bring love and good cheer?
What gift can I give you to tell you I care,
A gift you’ll remember, a gift we can share?
The gift that I’ll give can’t be bought in a store,
It doesn’t cost money—it’s worth much, much more!
The gift that I’ll give doesn’t come from a shelf.
The gift that I’ll give is a gift of myself!
The gift of charity, the pure love of Christ.
The best gift that we can give this holiday season.
Tag Rules:1.) Post this tag on your blog.
2.) Between now and Christmas do a secret service for someone in need.
3.) Tag everyone!!

Doug had Cataract Surgery

We have had a busy month. On Tuesday Doug had Cataract Surgery and it went really well. He is really happy to be able to see more clearly. We are both very grateful. He gets to go back to school today.
He might have surgery on his other eye in about a month.
Modern medicine is so very amazing. Thank goodness for eyes!

I Love our Young Women

Last night was our Young Women in Excellence. It had to be postponed twice and finally we were able to have it. It went very well. Each year we have a Power Point Presentation of the whole year. I love putting it together but making sure the equipment works stresses me to the max. I need to write down all the hints I have learned each year so next time it will be less stressful.
This is a picture of some of our Young Women decorating for our Branch Christmas Party. I left my battery home last night so I wasn't able to get any pictures. Thank goodness one of the Mother's brought her camera and saved the day.

Thanksgiving

We really enjoyed Thanksgiving. It was very relaxing and we invited Rosa Garcia to join us. She is Doug's wonderful Aide at school. We had the works, the only thing I didn't make that we usually have was cranberries. They are not Doug's favorite. We had a great time visiting with Rosa and getting to know her better. She is a very sweet person.

I spent a lot of time thinking about our family gatherings of years gone by. I'm so glad that we lived near our extended family for many years so that we were able to enjoy big family get togethers. I'm grateful for all of the wonderful warm memories.
The day after instead of hitting the stores Christmas Shopping like we have done most years, we Rug Doctor'd our carpets. It was so wonderful to get that done.
On Saturday we took a break and went to the new James Bond Movie and bought a new rug for our Living Room.

Yeah! Jared is off to Grad School

George Fox University

His masters degree will be in Business Administration and he will start in January.
Congratulations, Jared on your acceptance!

Short but Sweet Visit with Mark & Lilly

It was great to visit with Mark and Lilly this weekend. I am so glad that they live in California and we get to see them a little more often.

The Fun of Book Fair Has Come and Gone

It is so fun to see the students eyes take in the library full of so many new and fun books. It is like magic. We sold many and it is always exciting to see the parents so involved with their children's reading.
This year our Tiger Mascot came for the students to have their picture taken. He made his debut at the "Cotton Parade" this year.
The book fair is a lot of fun but a lot of hard work. It is nice when the truck pulls away, the final money deposited and accounted for and the money for the books mailed off to Scholastic. That is what I call relief.
By next Novemeber I'll be ready to go for it again.

Squirting Pumpkins is a hit in Corcoran

For the past two years our Young Women have did Face Painting at our Branch Halloween Party and the adults have taken care of the Squirting Pumpkins. Linda Halverstadt and Doug kept the children happy with treats and squirt guns. I enjoy Halloween because the children get to pretend for a night and have treats that take care of the annual sweet tooth.

Halloween Fun!!!

Amber, Carol and Ilisa had a good time face painting at our Branch Halloween Party. The children loved it and it was a really fun evening.

Birthday Flowers

Doug surprised me with flowers on my birthday. They look so wonderful on the piano and are a welcome surprise everytime that I open the door. Thanks sweetie!

Back to the 70"s

Today we were out on Whitley Campaigning for Prop 8. It brought me back many years ago when Heather was a baby. We had her in a stroller and we pushed her around while we picketed in front of an Adult Movie Theatre in Salt Lake. Heather was a very young activist.
Prop 8 is such an essential legislation for us to have to protect future generations and our own religious and parental rights. I believe Marriage is between a man and a woman just as we have been taught from the Bible. It is the Word of God and I support it with all of my heart.

Fun at Jamison's

Forget order, for some reason my blog and I are not getting along. I post and they go away. I have worked on this for hours today and yesterday. I once had our trip in order but it is the moments of the trip that count. I hope that it stays this time.

There is always a lot of action at Heather's house. We enjoyed a lot of laughter, visiting, delicious food and entertainment. We were able to hear Elizabeth play the piano and Rachel share some of her upcoming scenes as a "Munchkin" in the High School play "Wizard of Oz". Joshua and Rebekah shared their favorite You Tube videos and they gave us some great laughs. We drank out of special Halloween Skull Cups. Jade and Tavis (Jared's children) got smothered with tons of love and attention. What a fun place to be.

Fun at Jared & Danielle's

There is nothing like being in your children homes and enjoying your grandchildren. It was cool being able to read a Book of Mormon story with Tavis and going for a walk with Jade. The time we have together are precious memories in our lives.
I really enjoyed going to church with Jared and Danielle. Later on when they tell me about things they are doing in their ward and people they are doing things with, the time there helps me to better relate.
I loved Danielle's French toast made with her homemade bread.
Thanks for the fun memories.

Ashley with her Family on her Baptism Day

Ashley looked angelic on her Baptism Day. It was a really nice Baptism. Many youth were being baptized but they made it more personal by having each ward go to the Baptism Font one at a time. Ashley and another boy were baptized. Mitchell baptized Ashley and Ashley asked Doug to confirmed her. He was very pleased. The Baptism and Confirmation were really special and a wonderful sweet spirit was there.

It was great seeing Mitchell Baptize Ashley

It is always special to see the Priesthood in action. It was special watching Mitchell Baptize Ashley and seeing Paul and Jared witness the Baptism. On our way to Oregon we stopped at a Chiroprator's office in Fresno. He has a lot of LDS patients and he asked what the occasion was that we were making such a quick trip to Portland. We explained about Ashley being baptized. He told us he was Baptized into his church when he was I think 30 days old. He thought that was way too long. We explained that in our church we wait until a child is 8 and understands the concept of right and wrong. He was pretty impressed.
When we got back he asked if she went completely under the water? I think he has been doing his homework.
It was a special day and a special event and I'm so grateful that so far we have been blessed with the opportunity to attend these special days in our Grandchildrens lives. I have always regreted missing Josh's Baptism and I hope he knows how special he is to us and how that day I vowed we would make every Baptism that we possibly can.

We had a fun surprise last weekend

We had a fun surprise, Krissy Lundeen who was one of my Beehive girls in Corcoran and a friend of Janessa's came for Ashley's Baptism. her family were a vital part of our Branch for many years. It was great to see her and be able to have time to visit and catch up on her life. Thanks Krissy for the family pictures you took for us.

Ashley Couch on her Special Baptism Day

Ashley was very excited about her baptism and she made a special necklace and braclet for this wonderful occasion. She sparkled as much as her necklace did. She was intently checking out the things she needed to write in her Baptism Book. She is our newest family to become a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thanks for inviting us. It was a special day.

Family Pictures before Ashley's Baptism

We were so happy to have as many of our family at the baptism as we could. It was great to get some pictures before Ashley's Baptism because after Janessa was going to a Ward Fall Social and the rest of us went to Michael's football game. We would have gotten a family picture of Jared's family but Tavis and Jade had just woke up and were not in the mood for picture taking. They were good sports about this picture.

Victory Michael & Paul after Game

Father and Son time.
Score 27 to 7