Yesterday, the fantastic new, higher than high speed, let me do everything I ever wanted to on the Internet and more connection, disappeared. It was simply gone. I started to wonder if I had dreamed it. Guess not, sometime after nine this morning it reappeared.

So..out of the cosmos here we are. I'm feeling a little lonely out here,no comments all week, no new followers (the contest is still one, one we reach 25 followers, we'll draw a name), even if the hits to the site are picking up again. See there are lots of you reading anonymously. Anyway....

Yesterday at church I witnessed a miracle. It was during our Branch council meeting. The Branch President actually asked the opinion of the other council members. Of course, there is no guarantee that he will actually listen to our opinions but he asked. We are making progress. I presented the goal of the Young Women to go to the Dominican Republic to the Temple sometime in the next twelve months and the Branch President as well as most of the other council members were all over it. They are behind it 100%. No scoffing, no debating, they believe, as I do, that it is possible. Oh yeah, that's a miracle. From yesterday on, I am on this like "white on rice", it will happen.

Talked with my little "apple dumpling" Macy yesterday. Today is her first day of school (kindergarten) and she can hardly wait. This will NOT be the child at the door clinging to mom's leg and crying to go home. This will be the little girl who suggests Mom stay in the car, so as not to embarrass her or get in her way as she sets off on this great adventure (a lot like her mother was). I am so excited for her, sad for her mom and incredulous for myself, at how this happened so fast.

According to Rachel, little Rozi is starting to pull herself up on the furniture and I'm sure she will be walking by the time I see her next. Time really does move faster as we watch our children and grandchildren grow up. I pray that they will grow up strong and healthy, in more ways than one. I pray that they will listen to their parents and lead their parents in the things that they have not forgotten. I pray that they will be the very best that they can be.

I know that my children never believed me, and they probably still don't, but I didn't really have a course in mind for them. I just wanted them to be the very best they could be at whatever they truly wanted to be. You know that old "heart's desire thing" from the fairy tales, it's true. You can have your heart's desire, if you never give up on it. You have to know that it doesn't happen in twenty minutes (like most of us would like) but it will happen, if you keep at it and do not let yourself be distracted. Of this I am a firm believer.

There is one more thing that I am a firm believer of and I might as well get it out here today. That is the importance of FAMILY. I believe that these are the ties that should not be broken. I believe that children are precious and should be treated that way. I believe that true love can conquer all. I believe that you have to do your part.

I remember something from my life. We were at a particularly low point. Rick had been out of work and he was working at a Taco Bell (he was in his mid-thirties at the time) and I was working "front desk and reservations" nights. We never saw each other and had no quality time with our children. We went to a "fireside" at church on Sunday night. It was a broadcast, President Benson talking about the roles of mother's in the home. We were on the verge of moving to Florida and once we committed to that move we also committed to me being a "stay at home" mom. It wasn't easy. We had no money and a lot of debt, we could not see a way out. Our vehicle was on it's last legs. We were in a strange place(we had moved to the gulf coast of Florida) and I would have had a much easier time assimilating if I had gone to work and met people. But we both held firm to our conviction that nothing was more important than raising our children and being there for them during this difficult transition.

I will never be sorry for that. The kids did great (better than I) with the move and really enjoyed the time we spent in the Sunshine State. I got closer to them and had a much better idea of what was going on in their little heads. Rick's and my relationship flourished. We had no money, but we had each other and what mattered most; Love and happy home.

When we moved back to the West, we held to our commitment of my being home with the family. Rick has never complained or thought that I should be "pulling my weight" financially for the family. He tells me that he is grateful that we made that choice and have stuck with it. Our children are precious to us still as are their children. I pray for them all continually.

Well...there you have it a lot of thoughts from someone who's motto is "thinking is optional".