The Day the Music Died

I have had a couple lines from two different songs running through my mind today.  Almost constantly.  It's actually been driving me crazy!  I don't mind when a whole song is stuck in my head, but having one line to a song repeated over and over again is a little maddening!

The first one is a Chipmunks song.  It reminded me of Makenna when she was little and it kind of reminds me of Zeke right now ☺  It's called "Song".  The part that I keep singing is,

'Cause when I rock, no one rocks harder than me
And I don't stop 'cause I got mad energy
I got the bass and the drums
They're moving me along

Yeah, oh, inside my brain, there's a song
You think I'm crazy, baby?
Inside my brain, there's a song

We all have some sort of song in our heads.  It's what makes us who we are!  Everyone moves to a slightly different beat.  Our music determines who we are, what we do, how we act and react, and what direction our life goes.  Our music goes along with our likes and dislikes, our quirks, our motivation, our humor.  It shows in our smiles, our dress, the way we carry ourselves.  Our music is our soul, our heart, our emotions.

The other song line that has been running through my head is from the song, "American Pie".  Love that song.  Today, my mind kept repeating the line that says, "The day the music died."

Have you ever had something in your life that causes your music to fade away and die?  Have you ever lost your beat and had your part fade away out of life's orchestra?  Mine has been fading now for almost a month.  Slowly, each day, my music gets harder to hear.  I still keep going.  My motions are the same, but my music is gone.  The music that made me laugh, brought a smile to my face, showed me the rainbow at the end of the storm.  My beat that got me up each day and helped me through life's tasks.  My song that gave me confidence and joy. 

I know some day the beat will come back.  It will be a little different than it was because I will be a little different than I was.  There will be times when the music stops for a moment as I remember or feel this pain again, but then my song will start over again.  I don't know when.  Every experience is unique.  Every beat stopping trial affects us differently.  But everything adds to our song - a new layer, a new depth, a new verse. 

I will be honest, I don't want my song to change right now, not like this. I would give anything to rewind and go  back.  Anything.

School is in Session

We survived the first day of school and the first week of school! 

All the kids seem to be enjoying being back with their friends, classmates and teachers.  I am excited to see what this year holds for each of them. 

 Maddi is in 10th grade this year.  She is in FFA and she will play basketball this winter.  She injured her Achilles last spring in track so she is not able to run cross country this fall but will help the team at their meets.

Makenna is in 9th grade.  She is in choir and cross coutry.  She will also play basketball in the fall and track in the spring.  Makenna loves singing the National Anthem at the ballgames.  She also sent in an audition to the NFR to sing the national anthem one night during the NFR.  Voting starts next month! 

Zane is in 8th grade.  School is not his favorite but he works hard and does the best he can with it.  He will play basketball in the winter and run track in the spring.  He is also in FFA.

Dillon is in 7th grade this year.  His first year at the high school/junior high.  I think he likes being there and switching classes and teachers throughout the day.  He is playing football this fall and loves it!  He will also play basketball this winter and run track this spring.  He loves all sports!

Zeke is in 5th grade.  He also is not a fan of school but suffers through it ☺  He is learning to do what he needs to do. He is playing football this fall and he will do basketball this winter.  He loves hanging out with his friends and he has a very fun group of boys to be friends with.

Olivia is in 4th grade.  She loves her new teacher and she is enjoying getting to know a new student in her class.  She loves school and socializing.  She loves getting dressed up everyday and getting to pick out her outfits everyday.  She is going to start volleyball this fall and play basketball this winter. 

I am the new librarian at the elementary school this year along with all my other duties from last year.  I still help out in the office, help teachers with tasks they need to have done and I will do the year book with the students as well.  I will also help coach Olivia's volleyball team and I will coach her basketball team.  I am also my children's number one fan and try to get to as many of their events  as possible. 

We stay busy but we have fun (for the most part).  Life is good (most of the time) and we are blessed by the opportunities and experiences that we have here. 

A Nerf Gun, A Blanket and A Broom

Yesterday morning I was quietly sitting in my chair checking my emails when all of a sudden something came flying at my head!  I screamed, dumped my computer on the floor and jumped up.  It was a bat!  It came flying past my head again!  I ran into the kitchen, it followed.  I ran back into the living room, it followed.  I ran to the stairs, it followed.  The whole time I was yelling to the kids upstairs that there was a bat in the house.  When I got to the stairs, the bat flew upstairs and I ran out the door, calling to all the kids upstairs that the bat was now up there.  Makenna refused to leave her room.  Maddi refused to leave the bathroom.  I called Zane (my fearless mouse hunter) and told him to get a broom and find where the bat had gone to ☺  I was still outside, refusing to go in.  He found the bat on the wall upstairs between Makenna's and Olivia's rooms.  I didn't know what to do now! 

I decided that we would try to get the bat into Olivia's room and out the windows.  Zane and Olivia went into her bedroom to get the screens off the windows.  I made Maddi come out of the bathroom.  Makenna still refused to leave her bedroom.  Dillon and Zeke were at work with Michael so we were short in numbers.  I got some crutches and they got a big blanket off Dillon's bed.  Once the screens were off, I had Olivia go outside.  I told her to watch the windows because we were going to try to get the bat to fly back outside. 

Maddi and I hung the blanket over the crutch tips and held it up to the ceiling blocking off the stairway and the hall.  The only place the bat could go was into Olivia's room.  I didn't want Zane to get too close to the bat so I had him get his Nerf gun and kneel down by the blanket and try to shoot the Nerf bullets close to the bat to make it fly.  Then he could use the broom to shoo it into the bedroom and shut the door. 

Well, it didn't work the first 2 shots so he had to go find more bullets.  About the 6th shot the bat finally started flying around.  It took another minute or two (in other words, forever!) before the bat went into Olivia's room and he was able to shut the door.  Once the door was shut, I went outside to see if Olivia had seen the bat fly out the window.  She, however, had gotten scared that maybe it would fly at her head when it came out so she had gone around the side of the house and couldn't really see her windows... 

I tried to look in them from down below to see if it was flying around but I couldn't see anything.  Zane snuck into her bedroom to see if he could see it.  He claimed he saw it in her closet hanging from a plastic bag that she had on her shelf.  He said there were too many things on the floor to close the doors though.  I told Olivia, since she had failed at her post, to go with Zane (I really owe him something big!), move the things out of the way and close the door so we could trap it in the closet.  I didn't want to leave the screens off the windows for too long because I didn't want other flying creatures in there too!

They did it and then we left it until Michael got home from work.  He's so lucky that we save fun things for him!  When Michael got home, he went up into her bedroom and could not find the bat!  Zane and Olivia went up and helped.  They pulled everything out of the closet one by one, checked the ceilings, the shelves, the doors, behind the dresser mirror and headboard, everywhere and there was no sign of the bat.  As they walked out, Zeke made the comment, "Have fun sleeping in here tonight!"

Guess who didn't sleep in there last night?  Olivia.  She refused. I don't blame her.  I wouldn't have either.  So, we have no idea where the bat went, if Zane really saw it in the closet or if it flew out the window while Olivia was not looking.  Where ever it is, it's not in her room.  This morning, I made sure the kids came downstairs before me, just in case there was another one flying around - that way I could make my getaway back to my bedroom while they ran around screaming with a bat flying past their heads ☺  I'm a good mom.  I want my kids to be able to experience all the things in life that I was/am able to experience.  It builds character, shapes them into well-rounded human beings, and gives them good stories to talk about when school starts again!

We were lucky this morning.  No flying creatures, no heart attacks, no screaming and no need to pull out the big guns again to protect ourselves.  However, I am keeping my bedroom door shut, just in case...

Tutu Run

Earlier this summer Olivia and I signed up to run a 2.2 mile Tutu Run.  We started running together 3 times a week until the day of the race.  I loved going running with her.  We talked, we listened to music and sang along and we set times we would try to beat.  It was a lot of fun getting to spend time with her.

Race morning finally came and Olivia was very excited to get her tutu!  Me, not as much.  I had never worn a tutu before and wasn't really sure I wanted to!  Tutu's are not my thing ☺  I did it though.  It had been a really rough week and I was running on very little sleep but we did it!  I let Olivia run ahead because I knew I would not be able to keep her pace.  She ended up running her fastest pace yet!  She was at the finish line waiting for me when I crossed along with Michael and Zeke.  Zeke ate my donuts for me while we waited for our friends to finish.

It was a fun morning and I'm glad we were able to do it together.  Maybe we can do it again next year too!

Before the race

After the race with friends from church (Olivia had just stuffed a chocolate donut in her mouth☺)

Lightning Struck

Wednesday morning I was laying in bed, enjoying the fact that there was no reason that morning to rush out of bed.  We had nowhere we had to go until later in the day, so I was in no rush to get up.  It was about 7:30ish.  I heard thunder and thought it was weird because there was no rain in the forecast. About 5 minutes later I heard another thunder way off in the distance.  I thought this was even more reason not to get out of bed because there was going to be a storm and we couldn't go out and exercise anyways. 

Another few minutes went by and then all of a sudden there was this huge flash of light right out of my bedroom window with an even bigger crack and a thunder boom all at the same time!  I jumped out of bed so fast, my heart beating, so glad I had gotten up earlier to go to the bathroom so I didn't wet myself!  I imagine I looked similar to Michael's sister the day that his dad came in and put a rattle snake in her bed while she was in it.  Had there been a camera rolling, I'm sure I would have won some money for it somewhere.  I jumped up, covers flying, eyes crazy, looking around like what the heck just happened!  I seriously had never heard anything so loud in my life!  I looked out the window expecting to see trees down or something destroyed or on fire, but I couldn't see anything.  I ran and got the kids up to get them downstairs in case there was some sort of severe storm on the way that I didn't know about.  It had barely started sprinkling.  I checked the weather and nothing.  There was this ever so small line of clouds showing on the map with a red center that just happened to cross over the top of us.  It rained for not even 5 minutes.  There was not another thunder or lightning that took place.  Within minutes, it was all gone.

We all looked outside trying to see if anything got hit but we didn't see anything.  Later that day, while Zane was out mowing by the barn, he saw it.  He came back to the house telling us he had found where it struck.  We all went out and there in the middle of this little grove of trees was the tree that had been struck.  It was an huge tree, one of the biggest in our yard I think.  The bark on one side was blown off from the bottom to the very top of the tree.  Bark and wood splinters were thrown all over the yard by the tree.  The tree still had a huge splinter of wood connected to it, but fallen down. It was crazy!  And so close to home!

The kids all thought it was cool and we had to take pictures and videos of it and tell everyone about it.  If you come to our house, you can bet that you will be taken out to the tree so they can show you up close.  Of all the serious, severe storms and tornado warnings that we have been in and not have anything happen, to have this little bitty cloud line pass over us and have lightning strike is crazy!

Here are a few pictures of our tree:

You never know what Nature has waiting for you ☺

Build Upon The Rock

This world has been getting crazy!  Some days it really seems as if all hell has broke loose and nothing can stop it.  Evil has even reached our little small towns out in the middle of rural nowhere.  It really makes you think what will be next?  How much worse will it get?  How long will it take for people to realize change needs to happen - and not the change that it taking place right now?  How do we stand strong in our faith when it seems everything is attacking it?

Last night we had the privilege of feeding our local church missionaries.  Before leaving, they gave us a spiritual thought.  They read Helaman 5:12 to us.  It says, "And now...remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

I think we are for sure seeing the devil and his mighty storms.  Our religion, our freedoms, our safety, everything is being questioned , restricted, removed, fought against.  It's scary!  I see the things happening in the world and it is so easy to get caught up in the whirlwinds and be overcome with fear and worry.  I think, how are my children going to survive this ever increasing wicked world?  It will only get worse before it gets better, we all know that.

Last night, as I listened to this scripture, peace filled my heart and soul.  Christ.  Christ will be the way to get through it all.  It doesn't mean that we won't feel any of this pain surrounding us.  It doesn't mean that we won't be affected by someone else's bad choice or by disease, death or heartache.  It does mean, though, that Christ will be the hope and strength that we need to get through it.  He is never changing.  He is solid and sure.  He is our Rock!  If we build our lives on Him, we can not be shaken.  When bad things come and hard times hit, we can have peace with the knowledge that all will be well with us. 

Jeffrey R Holland, a leader in my church, said this and I love it, “The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team's jersey we want to wear!”

We know who is in charge.  We know who will win this war that has been waged and is ever growing.  Why then, do we wonder what to do and how to do it?  We have the scriptures.  We have the gospel.  We have church leaders to guide us and help us.  We have prayer to communicate with our God in Heaven.  We have the Savior - His life, His example, His atonement.  We have what we need to choose our jersey, to fight this battle, to live our lives with hope and righteousness.  Jesus Christ.  His words, "I am the way, the truth and the light: no man cometh to the Father but by me." (John 14:5) In verse 27 of that same chapter He says, "Peace I leave with, my peace I give unto you... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Our Savior and Redeemer, our Rock and our Salvation, will not leave us.  If we will follow Him in humble obedience, living our lives the best that we can, then He - our Sure Foundation - will not let us fall.  Build upon the Rock.

Weekend at the Races!

We just got back from our annual trip to the horse races.  We love going every year.  It's something that we look forward to every summer.  This time we got to bring a couple of Justins.  Dillon brought his friend, Justin and Maddi brought her "friend", Justin.  Everyone seemed to have a fun time.

We went to the races Saturday afternoon. Once the races were over we went to our hotel and swam.  The pool was small, but they all had fun.

 Before going to bed that night, Zeke had to make sure that all his animals had a soft place to sleep.  He even gave up his big pillow for his zebra and took a little pillow for himself.  It was pretty cute.

The next day we went to Cascade Bay in Eagan to swim and play miniature golf. The kids all had fun there going down the slides, floating in the lazy river and playing a round of golf.

After swimming, we went back to the races.  Our friends who had some horses running that day met us there.  We got to go into the saddling area and meet the jockey and watch him get on the horse before going out onto the track.  We watched some of the races down by the finish line.  The boys all picked their horses before the race and then kept track of who won and how many points they got for finishing.  I think Zeke won both days.  It was fun to listen to them talk, compete and yell for their horses!

After the races, they did a big fireworks show.  It was really neat to watch.  Monday morning we headed back home.  The kids were pretty worn out.  This morning everyone was pretty slow moving!

I love going every year, spending time together and watching the horses.  Makes me miss the horses and the horse life... So glad we still get to go and be a part of it every summer.

Born Again and Remembering

The last few weeks in Sunday School we have been talking about being born again and remembering.  Our teacher asked us all to think about that moment in our lives when we were "born again."  When we finally knew that Jesus Christ was our Savior.  When we finally knew the gospel was true.  When our testimony was finally our own and not some one else's.  Then he asked us to write it down and remember it.  Remember the feelings we had, the goals we set, the determination we had to do good for the rest of our lives.  Then he asked us to share it with those we love.

As I thought about it, I couldn't come up with a single moment when I all of a sudden knew.  I guess I have always known.  I don't remember not knowing.  I was born and raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I have been taught about Jesus my whole life.  From the time I went to nursery as an 18 month old baby to present time, I have had Sunday school teachers teaching me about Jesus and His gospel.  My parents always read the scriptures to us daily.  We have family prayer morning and night.  Every week we had family home evening where we would sing songs and have lessons about the gospel.  I read the scriptures on my own daily and had my own personal prayers morning and night.  I just always knew. 

I don't ever remember questioning the gospel.  There were times when I didn't always do what I should, times when I went against the teachings that I knew to be true, but I never doubted - I just chose unwisely. 

When I was 21, I served a mission for our church in Ireland.  We were taught to bear our testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ and of the message that we shared to everyone we met.  We listened to the people, we invited them to learn about the Savior and then we bore our testimony.  Every time, every single time, I bore my testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, mine was strengthened.  Every time I did that, I knew again, in my heart, of the truthfulness of the gospel and of the love that the Savior has for me and for all of us.  Those experiences reinforced what I already knew and strengthened me.

Why remember?  Why hold these things close to our heart?  Remembering strengthens us.  Remembering brings it back into our heart, strengthens our resolve, increases our faith and opens our eyes to how much the Lord is involved in our lives.  Remembering allows us to see His hand guiding us through our daily lives.  I know there have been so many times in my life when I have been able to remember and draw strength to press forward through whatever was ahead of me.  It gave me faith to take one more step into the darkness because I knew that He had been there in the past to light my way and He would do it again.  Remembering gave me the hope that when I reached out my hand, He would be there to grab it.  And He has never failed me! 

I am so thankful for my knowledge of the gospel.  I am so thankful for the love that I feel from my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful for being raised in a home where I was taught from a very young age to know these things.  I am so thankful for all the doorsteps that I stood on and had the Spirit of the Lord testify to me as I testified to others.  I am thankful for a Sunday School teacher who helped me remember.

Swimming Fun!

This last week we had a busy, but sun-filled week.  We had our normal physical therapy, rock picking and work.  We did workouts, had library and got our shopping done.  We also got to spend two different afternoons at the pool with great friends!  We were all having so much fun that I didn't get any pictures taken, so that will be my goal next time ☺

Monday we got to spend 7 hours at the Brookings Pool.  We got there when it opened and stayed until they closed only leaving for a few minutes to go get something to eat - the kids were starving!  It was so nice to sit in the sun and visit with an adult!  The kids enjoyed having someone other than siblings to play with too.

Friday we got to go swimming again.  This time we went to Watertown.  We spent 5 hours there.  We got there an hour after it opened and stayed until closing.  Then we all went to eat together.  This time I got to talk to two adults!  And Watertown has a lazy river that I love going on so that made it even more fun.  The kids had more friends to play with and the day flew by.

I feel so blessed to have friends that I can spend time with and enjoy.  I am looking forward to more days at the pool in the near future.  The kids are too!

Michael

Today, as we celebrate Father's Day, I am overwhelmed with the blessing that Michael is to our family.  Michael and I started this journey of ours over 16 years ago.  Who would have thought that in that time we would have 6 beautiful, slightly maddening children, lived in 14 different houses, five different towns and 4 states, finally settling in the middle of nowhere South Dakota? 

Over the years, Michael has always, always been there.  He has worked long hours to provide for us, allowing me to be able to stay home with the kids while they were little.  He has helped with diaper changes, night time feedings, cleaning, cooking, playing, repairing, building, washing, drying, folding, reading, teaching, and everything else in between.  He has always made sure that I am able to get away from time to time and enjoy a few minutes of non-mom time. 

Despite how tired he may be or busy he may be, he always finds time and energy for us.  He tries to get to the kids games and meets, which sometimes means getting up at 4 am so he can get chores done in time to make it a basketball tournament.  He has helped coach the boys in basketball, football and baseball.  The kids know that he is always there (though sometimes just in spirit and texts) to cheer them on.

He is always willing to help those around him.  He will be the first to offer help to the neighbors, his coworkers and our friends.  He will give up what little free time he may have to help where he is needed.

He is much more patient that I am.  (He doesn't have that red head gene like me...) He will take time to teach and explain to the children why what they are doing may not be the best of ideas. He takes the time to show them and help them understand a different way.  He is the chosen one to be in the front seat with the new, under-experienced drivers in the house. (I sit in the back and white knuckle the door handle while muttering some sort of cross between a prayer to God, my last goodbyes to my family and a death threat to our teenage driver as we take the corner on 2 wheels).  Michael calmly tells them to slow down a little before the next turn.

His funny stories and childhood "memories" bring so much laughter into our family.  The kids love to listen to his crazy stories about crossing the ocean as a baby, growing up with James (his older brother) and anything that starts with the phrase, "When I was a kid..."  The kids can't get enough of him!  His snuggles on the couch, him grabbing their toes and cracking them all at once, getting teased about what boy or girl they may or may not have a crush on, riding in the tractor with him, basically whatever he is doing, they want to be there.

I am so thankful for Michael and all that he is.  I love watching him be a dad.