Another Sunday Night

Thanks Matt for letting us fast with you. My prayers were also ascending heavenward. I definitely felt that Heavenly Father was involved in this one. It was a great opportunity for me.

This week I have been thinking about how blessed we are as members of the church. We have available at our fingertips an almost unlimited resource of spiritual material. The Ensign and other church magazines, scriptures, millions (probably) of books on just about any gospel topic we need, broadcasts (like last night) meant to strengthen and lift us, and show us where we can improve, lessons every week to strengthen us spiritually, temples close by, uplifting music, a church channel that we could watch 24/7 if we choose. There is no reason for anyone to not be spiritually fed. I was thinking today about Moses and the children of Israel. You will remember that they were bitten by poisonous serpents, and in order to be healed, all they had to do was look. A simple task. What were they thinking? Are we like them? Do we get so busy with the details of our lives that we can't find time for what really matters? We don't even need to leave our homes to find the words of the prophet--either written or audible. We can actually hear the Prophet's voice! Do we not look because of the easiness of the way? I hope not. I feel we are the most blessed of any people who have ever lived on the earth. I know Heavenly Father loves us all and wants us back with Him in heaven. I hope we will study, pray, attend the temple and do whatever the Spirit tells us we need to do to strengthen our testimonies of the truth. We need to all make it to the celestial kingdom together. I love all of you. xoxoxo mom/debby/grandma

1:42:26

That's how long it took me to do my sprint triathlon yesterday. It was fantastic and I felt great and had a fun time. No sickness, no injuries. I made it a point to be a cheerleader for everyone I passed (or was passed by) to keep up a good attitude. Lauren and I were matching - same swimsuits and everything. We called ourselves Team Awesome. I know. Cute.

xo

Abby

Pictures

Way cute pictures Dana and Jason! I personally do not know anything about football except that yeast cells look like footballs. We are going to a UVa game in a couple weeks though. I love going to football games, though I have no clue what is going on. It is just a fun event!

I want to mention... Matt's blog... there are some interesting pictures on there. You should all take a peek.

www.mattcrowshaw.blogspot.com

(yes. 2 w's keeps it somewhat private and I cant type on a flat keyboard when i am typing for him. sigh)

Go Boise State!

Just wanted to do a little picture update. My kids will be Broncos for life, whether they want to be or not!

A matter of fasting

I just want to ask that anyone who has the time, inclination and desire to join Matt and I this week in prayer- and in fasting- one day this week. He takes the LSAT Saturday very early in the morning (an hour and a half away) and we have great faith in the testimony of the strength of prayers. Also, since we have conference the first Sunday of the month, it would maybe provide additional opportunity for a person who would otherwise be fasting.

We need a score that will get us into a good school (hopefully local) and if not local, into a school with which we would fit well.

It was a glorious day for us- Matt did a great job teaching on Spiritual Gifts that earned him thanks from his class (and not only because of the chocolate), Valerie gave and amazing talk and I actually did not freak out too terribly talking about Chastity with my Laurels. It was actually an amazing discussion. I had a new girl in class to me- apparently an inactive member who stayed after class to talk to me for quite a while who could use prayers and a testimony of trusting the Lord as well.

Finally, we had church friends over for lunch- our first guests- and it was awesome then we went to a farewell gathering at Bishop Snow's- he and Sister Snow are leaving for a mission to the Philapenes in 2 weeks.

I hope all of you had a lovely sabbath as well.

The things kids say

To add to my embarassment the kids and I were at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. The store was doing some remodeling and the asile that we happened to be in was more narrow than usual, only large enough for a shopping cart and an average sized person. As I am looking for whatever a large lady squeezed by. Mia and I have had the "we don't call people fat" conversation quite a few times. So being the smart girl she is she said "Mom, that lady is really big!" I knew what was going through her mind before she even said it and and I was trying to stop her from saying anything at all. Much to my dismay my efforts were in vain. The lady turned and gave a very evil stare at us and I tried to tell Mia that what she said was wrong and so forth. I wanted to run away. That's my girl.

Mia Made a Funny

So we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for Boneless Thursday tonight. You gotta love the Caribbean Jerk. Anyway, there were these two ladies enjoying an adult beverage sitting next to us. They were talking to the kids a little bit. Then they went outside to sit. A little while later they came back in through the door that was right by our table after a little more alcohol and looked at Mia and said "is that a good french fry" a little louder than the socially acceptable level (think drunk Minnesota accent). Of course Mia looks at them like they're crazy and gives her awkward smile. She watched them walk away for 5 or 10 seconds then says "Mommy, why do they wobble when they walk like penguins?" Luckily they were far enough away and close enough to being drunk that they didn't hear her.
Anyways, that's the hilight for the night.
Colin

The Globe

This will be my life for the next 3 weeks. Yes, I'm a horrible wife to be leaving Alex for such a long period of time, but unfortunately there's not much I can do about it. I've been promised that next year I'll travel less. We'll see about that...

This trip will take me to London, Brussels, Paris, Istanbul, Bangkok, Chennai (India) and Hong Kong. If y'all want anything let me know. As always, I'll be looking for Grandma's magnets and mom's nativities and can keep my eyes peeled for anything else you might want/need.

If anything interesting happens while traveling, I'll definitely write about it. Can't wait to hear about Abby's trip!

Lots of love to everyone (especially the little ones),
Les

a real life blogger

Hey Everyone,

I made a blog for me to put all my random thoughts. So if you need to either see some goofy pics of me or scratch your head and wonder what I was thinking at the time I wrote something follow this link.


Random Ramblings (not much on the bling)

Thoughts on Prayer

I was just sitting here tonight realizing that for the first time in a while, I have been very much under the vigil of prayer for many of those I love in precarious situations. It also occurs to me how sincere and pleading those prayers are and how I hope to become extremely proficient at prayers when times are excellent, as well as when they are not.

I also remember the most-recent time I remained in near-constant prayer about one year ago when my very good friends' baby was born 15 weeks early. At first I prayed he would make it through the day, then the night, then the week, then 3 weeks... now he is almost one year old. He still has a major road ahead of him, but he is a miracle and I am certain the many prayers that went up for him sustained that little soul.

I have a video of him on my blog and even now it reduces me to tears to realize how absolutely awful it was to see him when he was first born, but how completely I loved him and how immediate that love was.