Danny Comes Home

eMike's brother, Danny, has been deployed to Iraq since October. He was able to get a couple of weeks of leave and come home. We were expecting him to be at the airport just before 6pm. His plane was late getting into Salt Lake, so he missed his connecting flight. Since we had a few hours to kill, all of the family went out to grab a bite to eat while we waited. Kenneth was really intent on his ribs :)

Boys are so funny.....they won't hug each other. All the women gave Danny hugs - but the men...nope (except Dad). Kenneth was happy with a handshake.

He looks good and we hope he has a relaxing time while at home.

Young Women Conference

We had the amazing opportunity to take our young women to the young women conference in Salt Lake yesterday. In January we challenged the young women to read the entire Book of Mormon in 75 days. That is not much time! Those that completed the challenge were able to go on the trip.

We met at 6:30 Saturday morning and began the day. We were able to spend a couple of hours at Gateway Mall and let the girls do some shopping.

After lots of shopping and lunch we rode the TRAX over to temple square - the girls thought this was pretty cool since only a couple have ever been on it. We toured the visitor centers and took them to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. The view over temple square is amazing from the top of the building.

We changed into our dress clothes and headed over to the conference center. Our seats were .....AMAZING!!!!! We were 21 rows from the podium and just slightly right of center. All 21,000 seats were filled with young women, moms, and leaders. When President Monson and his counselors walked in the complete center became silent and everyone rose from their seats.

The theme of the evening was the 13th article of faith - which is our mutual theme for this year.

When Sister Dalton (the YW general president) was speaking, I had the most overwhelming experience. I have never felt the Spirit so strong in my entire life. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind of what I felt. The Holy Ghost bore witness to me that I am a daughter of God and that he has a specific plan for me. The message was crystal clear - in this life the most important thing for me to do is to be a mom.

The entire experience of taking these girls to this conference was incredible! I love every single one of the young women and leaders that I have been able to work with. I have had so much fun and learned so much from them!!!!

We knew that our ward boundaries would be realigned today, so this was one last final group experience for us. What a phenomenal way to spend our last activity together!!!!

Megamind

We watched this last night.....it was FUNNY!!!! The best movie I have seen in a while.

There were so many great lines throughout the whole show.

My favorite line:

Chicks don't like bouncy houses - they like clowns!!!

Kenneth's favorite line:

Get the spray - oh, we're all out.

Just use the forget me stick!!

HA HA HA HA HA

Prospective Birthparent Letter

We have completed almost all of the required paperwork in our adoption journey so far. This is serious business. They want to know LOTS of information - but that is good. We understand why they request so much detail.

There is one last requirement that we haven't completed yet......we haven't even started it yet. Not because we don't want to......not because we haven't tried.....but because we simply don't know what to say or how to say it.

We need to write a letter to prospective birthparents.

How do we express the deepest desires of our hearts to be parents?

How do we acknowledge the un-imaginable emotions and decisions that birthparents are facing?

How do we convey that we would be amazing parents?

How do we offer comfort to those making such crucial life altering decisions?

How do we stand out compared to so many other great couples?

And how do we do it with only a few short paragraphs?

Hmmmm.....lots of questions, but not very many answers. We will just keep a prayer in our hearts that whatever we come up with will be just right for our situation.

Chrome in the Dome

We took a quick drive to see a car show today called Chrome in the Dome.

Mike really likes old cars - especially Corvettes - like the one in the picture.

Mike's parents went with us. We had a nice afternoon just wandering around the show and then we went out for lunch.

The Beginning of Our Adoption Journey

It is official! We turned in our adoption application today. We are nervous and excited at the same time. We now wait for Family Services to let us know what to do next.

I am finding that this is going to be a very long lesson in patience :)