I'm Grateful

I'm grateful for the chance to serve. I think I feel the purest and the closest to our Heavenly Father when I'm serving. It may sound bad but I'm not into "service projects" so much as just doing something by myself, quietly. It's more of a humbling experience I think. Wondering where these random thoughts are coming from? Let me share...

Last night at work I took care of a an older gentleman who was a long ago retired marine. One of those cute guys that still wears the "retired marine" ball cap with all the patches and everything. Anyway, it wasn't hard to tell he had been living a rough life and was very down on his luck. He lives in the shelter and like many veterans, suffers from under-treated PTSD. (By the way, anyone else besides me find it sickening that so many of these brave men that served our country end up homeless or mentally screwed up with a very poor health system (the VA) to help them?) Okay, off my soapbox and back to topic. So I felt for the guy. He was wearing every piece of clothing he owned and carried 2 grocery sacks with everything else he possesses, everything. I had to throw his only pair of underwear away and the rest of his clothes were only slightly better. I felt so bad and wanted to help but our short supply of used clothing we keep in the ER wouldn't work for him. So after a quick phone call, my sweet husband at 11pm went to Walgreens are bought him a package of underwear and donated a package of his own favorite black Nike socks. I'm so blessed to have Ryan and to live amongst his unselfish and unconditionally loving ways. Without the drop of a hat, he was there at midnight to bring me a few minor supplies for a man who appreciated them more than we know. I'm sure you all know the feeling when you are able to help someone who honestly needs and appreciates it. It felt so good to provide him with the most basic of necessities, a sandwich, and a little brotherly love that he probably hasn't seen in awhile. He was SO grateful!(FYI, I'm a big baby and am choking back the lump in my throat right now).

(Another FYI to lighten the mood: for those of you that don't know...I'm a sucker for animals. Any kind, every one of em, I plan to have a farm someday where I can take in all the animals that need me. But next to animals I'm a sucker for homeless people and the elderly. Let's just say, if this guy had brought in his homeless dog (he didn't have one but if he did), he would be staying in our guest room right now :) Just to show you how serious of a problem/obsession this is, a few months ago, I took care of a truck driver who had to stay in the hospital but his dog was locked in his truck 20 miles away at a reststop. Guess who took the dog home till he got released from the hospital then gave him and the dog a ride back to the truck :)

I'm so grateful for good parents who raised me to care about others, and for a mom who taught me by many examples. I'm grateful on this 4th of July for the men and women willing to serve our country and pray for their well being not only through the war but in the many years to come. I'm grateful to live in this country and to be blessed with freedom. I'm grateful to be a member of the church and to reap the warm feelings that come from serving others. I'm grateful for friends like you who will read my crazy, all over the place posts and try to understand them :)

The link below is to Bianca Merkley's website. Bianca is my "cousin-in-law" (she married Ryan's cousin) and the coolest girl! She is a beautiful singer/songwriter and wrote this song called Grateful. I've heard her sing it several times before she recorded it and every time it touches me. It fits perfectly with my post today but I wasn't able to get it on my blog so please cut and paste the link, go to her website and click on Grateful and just listen. I think you'll love it but please let me know!Love you guys! Happy Independence Day!
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=134056096

I Love Old People

My dad sent me this cute story, enjoy! Let me know if for some reason you can't click on the story to enlarge it.

Triathalon Mania

So I have to share the good news, guess who won her age division at the Provo Triathlon last week (which is no surprise to me)...? My amazing 8 week post-partum sister Leslie!! Can you believe that? I'm so proud of her, I wish I could have been there to see her race. She trains hard for these and ran in one just a few weeks before she delivered! She is trying to work up to an ironman so she can get to Hawaii :)

The other great news is that my niece Mckayla was able to complete with her momma! Yup, she was in her first triathlon since the Provo Tri had a kids division. This girl was born to compete (literally). My sister ran and competed when she was pregnant and Mckayla and Talmage were always in her bike trailer with every bike ride accross the valley (15 miles+). Check out these awesome pictures. I love you girls!



I absolutely love this last picture! She is my Champion!

30 More Days!

Oh I am so excited! My parents and little brother Tyler are coming to visit us next month!! I love the experience of moving away but do get homesick sometimes and this is just what I need.

Per Tyler's request, we are going to see Wicked while they are here (it's only his 3rd time!). I hear it's good, it better be for the pricetag!
Anyway, kind a pointless post, I'm just so excited to see them and show them our new home. Stay tuned for plenty of pictures!

A Visit from Vanessa

We were lucky enough to have Ryan's little sister Vanessa who is 15 come spend a few weeks with us. She is such a good sport and up for anything. We have been looking forward to her visit (she's our first visitor since we left Utah) and planned a few fun things.
Last week we spent 2 days at Cedar Point which is an amusement park in Ohio. It's really cool, it's on a peninsula of Lake Huron so you are basically looking right at the water when you're on the rides. They had some insane roller coasters! Our favorite one, the Dragster went 120mph and 420 feet up then 420 feet straight down! I was so freaking out when they strapped us in but once I opened my eyes to enjoy the ride, I loved it.

We stayed the night at a hotel then the next day we caught a few rides until we got rained out. And when it rains in the Midwest, it POURS! We were stuck in a gift store for about an hour (hence the crazy hat pics below) then we spent a few hours at the mall to let it pass and were able to come back and go to the water park. It was awesome! Overcast, but still warm enough to enjoy it. My favorite ride there was Eerie Falls.

I had to work a few nights each week so Vanessa and Ryan did a few things but yesterday I introduced her to the fine luxury of pedicures. She was really quiet and I was worried it freaked her out but she tells me she loved it. Then we did a little shopping, is that not a killer combination?
And what would a trip to Michigan be without a visit to the dog beach at Lake Michigan. We did that today and had perfect weather and so much fun! Vanessa and Ryan braved the cold and actually swam while I waded with the dogs. We took a nice walk then buried Ryan in the sand.
We have to take her back the airport tomorrow and we are sad to see her go but we sure had a great time and hope she did too! Love you Ness!