Best Mother's Day

When I was little we would ask my mom what she wanted for Mother's Day - her response was always - "A Clean House." I now have a new understanding of what she meant. I'm so excited when the girls will just start helping with house and yard work. When they help they learn a sense of accomplishment and actually enjoy it. I just need to figure out how to get the girls to work more often. This year for both Mother's and Father's Day they were so helpful and thoughtful. It beats any gift that I could be given. I feel like that is one of the greatest gifts my parents taught me is how to work, work, work. Since I don't get to raise the girls on the farm - we will have to find different ideas. Although Emily asked me the other day; "Mommy - next year can we go to Grandma's house for a whole month and work on the farm."

JACK

The girls have been asking for a dog since about age 5. We have tried to put them off with other pets like the hamster, bird and fish. But they finally talked us into Jack - a Mini Aussie. So far he has been a great puppy - puppy being the key word. He does everything that puppies do but we still love him. Our book of study is "Good Owners, Great Dogs" I'm hoping that this will help us figure out everything. Wow it is a lot of work!!!!!

End of School Year

I have taken a long blogging break - so I guess it is time to do a little catch up on my journal. We ended a very positive school year at Northridge Elementary. The girls passed 2nd grade and are excited to move on to 3rd. They had a lot of fun meeting new friends and loved all their fabulous teachers. Miss Harris put on a wonderful year end class party - LUAU!! She had crafts, games, sno cones, and of course Hawaiian haystacks for lunch. It almost made me want to be a teacher again - I used to love to put on parties for the kids. This year Megan and Emily participated in art, science and music specialties - they loved them all. They also loved Field Day!! It was so much fun - Emily ran in the relay for her class.

Neighborhood of Fire IV

Get ready for the 4th Annual Independence Day Celebration! This year it will be on July 1st, starting at 6:30pm. As usual, there will be a fabulous BBQ, children's (big and small) parade, face painting, and fireworks.

All present and past neighbors are invited. If you have moved away, come back - at least for one night! We need to surpass last year's crowd of 320+ and we want to catch up with what's happening where ever you are now.

Wear red, white and blue; bring a salad or dessert; decorate your stroller, wagon, bike or other favorite ride; and bring something legal (or mostly legal) to contribute to the fireworks nightcap.

Finally, if you have a favorite song or artist, make a suggestion and we"ll add it to this year's playlist.

God Bless the USA!!! (and Canada - at least this night)

Spring Break 2008!!

Spring Violin Concerts

I figured it was about time that I sat down and updated my journal. I don't scrapbook so I figure this is close enough. I think it has been a year since Shauna got me and the rest of our neighborhood blogging - I just love looking back at past blogs. I would never have this history if I didn't have the Poynter Times to blog on. April started out busy with a Northridge School Orechestra Concert - there were 2 day time performances and 1 night performance at Oak Canyon Junior High. I'm stil so impressed and amazed at the talent Mr. Huish with his orchestra. Unbelieveable!!! They played many different songs - Lion King, Tarzan, Stars and Stripes and my favorite Cannon in D. After my niece Kristine went to the Christmas concert in December she decided she wanted to play the Cello. The girls have had a great time being in Orchestra together - Kristine was also asked to sing a solo with the orchestra. She was amazing!! It is fun to see these little girls grow up and develop different talents. After this concert Emily has decided that she would rather play the flute. So she is starting flute lessons next week. No more Violin for Emily - I think she is pretty happy about that. So all the girls can have an orchestra of their own - flute, cello, violin. Kind of FUN!!

Just before Springbreak the girls had their Solo Recital. I was a little nervous for both of them - everything turned out just fine. Both Megan and Emily did a great job on their songs!! Yipee!! We haven't practiced the violin or piano for 2 weeks, I think the girls and their mommy needed a break. We will get going again next week.

Small & Simple Things

A Few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. While preparing this talk many of the gospel principles became more clear to me. I have continued to study - this time with more meaning and with more understanding. It is so exciting to feel this peace in my heart. Although I still have much to learn it is wonderful to have this knowledge. General Conference this weekend has been such a great experience - spiritually enlightening. I thought I would share some of my talk - in the process of preparing this talk I had many experiences that taught me. I would like to start by telling you a little bit about the home I was raised in. It is a small, simple farm house – making up only about 900 square feet. It has 3 small bedrooms, each close to the size of the walk-in closet we have now. We had a nice size living room and kitchen and a very small bathroom and a hall. There were 6 kids in our family, and as you might guess, the three oldest and my parents got bedrooms, while the three youngest did not. My younger sister and I would pull out the couch each night, while my sister Tania would take the cushions we removed and sleep on those. There was a stove in the living room that we would gather around to get warm and just talk as a family. I have many fond memories – even though the arrangements were pretty simple.

A few weeks ago I traveled home to Canada for my nephew’s baptism. I attented church in my old ward - almost feeling a little envious that my brother was raising his 5 children in the same simple farm house. I thought for awhile – I am who I am today because of that little house. This is the house where my parents taught me many of life’s lessons - I gained my testimony, learned to love the gospel, gained a deep understanding of the importance of family and relationships. I thought, “How can I have the success my parents had without that little house.” Perhaps my little house could be used as an object lesson. Through small and simple things, great things can come to pass.
The Lord occasionally gives us trials to accelerate our progress! We are all blessed with trials – each of us struggle in one thing or another. Trials are given to make us better, refine us to help us reach our divine potential and become more like our savior Jesus Christ.

A little over a year ago doctors told us that we had less than a 1% chance of having more children. Although I still believe in miracles, this was devastating to me and I have searched and pondered to find answers and peace. I have gone to see many natural clinics, had my blood tested, taken a variety of vitamins, tried different ways of eating and various exercises. If the book or web site said that it would improve infertility, I did it.

Ultimately though, I have learned to rely on the Lord. I have come to understand that having another baby may or may not be part of His plan. I know He is in charge and if it is part of His plan, it will happen. Along the way, I have also learned to have a little more compassion for others – one of those being my older sister Tania.

In September 2006, Tania got married to a wonderful man at 35 years old. To their excitement, within a few months of their marriage, she got pregnant. The day before her due date, I met her at the hospital just as she was getting wheeled in, overjoyed to be having her first baby. The nurses started their routine of checking the baby’s heart beat, but they could not find one. Their baby had passed on just hours before her contractions started. Tania delivered her baby still born. This precious baby brought us closer to Christ and reminded us once again of the importance of small and simple things.

The Savior said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Sometimes we have the tendency to think that the more serious the problem, the bigger and more complex the solution should be. If we will think of the scripture Alma 37:6 “that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. I know now that it was not my small and simple house that taught me – it was the simple principles of the gospel that were taught in our home.

I hope that we can remember the resurrection and the power of the atonement. There have been many times through the past few years that I have felt the healing power of the Atonement. I know that we will be given the strength to bear our burdens and draw closer to the lord.

Smith Family Farm 2008