No Outsiders

 by Ashley Pete. Here is something that Ashley shared in January. She is amazing and so smart 😉

“Cliques” are deeper connections and friendships that have been developed over time. When new people move in, it just takes time and effort. Ward families are dynamic and transient. Because of this, it critical to minister where you are. If you serve in primary, it’s not a sentence of isolation but rather an opportunity to love the children you teach, their families and others who serve in primary. If everyone did this, it seems less likely for individuals to fall through the cracks. While also realizing that even if we have a temporary calling,

We are all still part of the relief society and elder’s quorum regardless and as a ward family member. 

We are all busy and have differing levels in our interest in friendships. If you seek deeper friendships, make the effort to do so. Put yourself out there. Create what you seek. If there is something you enjoy doing and you don’t know of it happening, make it happen. If you see others doing something you’d like to be a part of, ask to be included. If you aren’t comfortable with a particular invitation respectfully suggest something that would be suitable. 

But no matter what we seek, as disciples of Jesus Christ and as striving members of His church we are asked to mourn with those that mourn, comfort those in need of comfort and that requires a certain amount of courage and vulnerability. A heart of charity- His perfect love to reside in us. When filled with His love we will naturally be more drawn to people, more willing to set aside our vulnerabilities and find joy in walking the path with our brothers and sisters. 

That is a responsibility for each of us, not the long timers or the “cliques” to invite the “outsiders” into. Ideally, there are no cliques, there are no outsiders. We are just all doing our best, nurturing long term friendships, culturing new friendships, trying to be there for each other and when we each have the same goal- unity and serving our Lord Jesus Christ, we all win. That is how Zion is established. Starting as individuals, then in families, then in wards, Stakes, communities, and the world. There is no one size fits all or one solution but there is one goal.  

Savie Birthday Party

 Even though Savie's birthday is in December... Annie put together an amazing birthday party for her this month. (December is so busy with other activities... Savie and Owen's parties were in January and February). It was in the backyard and a garden theme. Looks like is was a great 9th birthday party.

Jaden P.

 Jaden is the next oldest grandson... and he has been playing soccer on a school team. We have been able to go to a couple of games and watch. He doesn't get a lot of playing time, but what a great experience for him. One of the reasons he went back to public school this year was to play soccer. Through seminary, he has some great church friends at his school. That also made the "public school" a good experience this year. I only have one pic to share... but it's a good one 😉⚽

Nathan S.

 It is unbelievable that our oldest grandson is a Senior in High School this year and he will graduate in June and go on a mission in late Summer. I guess we actually are that old- lol. Nathan has been playing on a school basketball team. Here is an interesting story about their last game and Senior night. First Annie's version and then Nathan's version.

Annie Nathan BB Story

We had an interesting experience last week. On Thursday, we were notified that the last home game (which was Senior Night) got moved to a Sunday afternoon. For religious reasons, we don’t do sports on Sunday, so it was heartbreaking for them to move that last game, excluding Nathan from participating. Right away I messaged the athletic director and asked if there was any way they could move the game. The response was quick - “No, we didn’t have any other choice.” We went to his home game that evening, thinking it was his last. Alex and I waited after the game for Nathan to come out of the locker room. I wanted to snap a couple pictures, since we wouldn’t get another chance. The gym was completely empty by then, except for Nathan’s coach. I thought how sad it was that he wouldn’t get his moment of recognition, but then I thought maybe that was his “moment”, being willing to literally stand alone, with no crowd cheering, no recognition, but standing up for his beliefs even when it was something important and would have been easy to make an exception. Nathan’s coach and teammates also know about Nathan’s beliefs and his coach was really disappointed too that they moved the game. He said he was going to try to get the game moved. I didn’t have much hope, but Nathan also believed in the power of prayer. We prayed hard… The next morning, I sent another message to the director… and was surprised to get a “we’re working on it”. Hope! A few hours later, they said they had been able to move the game to Saturday night! Oh happy day!! I couldn’t believe it, because they had a lot of people to coordinate with - a whole wrestling tournament, the other team, and who knows how many other people - all on Nathan’s behalf (and his assistant coach who is a pastor). Turns out that Nathan’s coach fought for him. Way to go coach! I was really proud of Nathan for being consistent all through the season with his religious beliefs and not caving even when it meant missing his senior night game. If this was a test, he passed with flying colors!

Nathan-

Following up on my last post. So originally senior night was scheduled on Sunday, and so we asked the athletic director to try to move it, but he wouldn't try. So I ask my coach about it and he said he would fight to get it moved. And he got it moved! I am grateful for a awesome coach! A wrestling tournament had to he moved and they had to coordinate with girls basketball to get a different time that was not on Sunday. I know that the Lord blesses us as we strive to Keep the Sabbath and works through others like my coach!

What an amazing story Nathan has now to share with people on his mission. Nathan is a great young man and a good example for his brothers.

Also Nathan has been applying to Universities for school after the mission. He recently told everyone that he got accepted to BYU and plans to go there. Sam claims this was "his fault" 😉for giving Nathan a BYU hoodie. Looks great.

Nothing New

Since I don't have anything new to blog about this week, I gathered up a few pics from some of the kids 😉 We are living life in the slow lane- lol. The weather has been cold for Texas, which means we stay home more than normal... which our normal is pretty hard to beat. Audrey was commenting to us last night about the fact that we made it to 2022 without getting covid. I am surprised about that too, but maybe that is one of the blessings of not going very far. We went and watched one of Jaden's high school soccer games yesterday morning and then went to watch a gymnastics meet for Eli yesterday afternoon. Today we had two children attend our primary class that haven't been there this year. I don't know if it was their personalities or what happened but our class was "crazy" 😉😕 Actually our senior sing time was crazy too... so I don't think it was just our class. For my Brown Baby Bird business... I am pretty sure that there are boat loads of stuffed animals and fabric stuck off the coast of California, that supply chain seems to be having problems. It will be interesting to see how the next few months go. I got a cute picture of Gracie helping me on my sewing table. 😸 We are at the end of January... time to work on Valentines day stuff- haha.

Here are pics, in no particular order. New taggie, called "Stay Wild". Gracie and Kitty. Dallin and Emmy. Dallin is old enough to pass the sacrament and go to the temple. Mike and the boys at a San Jose Sharks hockey game. Ryan turned 11 this month. Owen got a big January birthday party, even though his birthday is in December. The Simms had a good trip to the temple with Weston, for the first time. Earlier this month, Owen prepared the sacrament, Nathan and Jared blessed the sacrament and Weston passed the sacrament. That was a special day.

 

January Brown Baby Bird

My sales for January have been better than expected... at least at Homestead Handcrafts. There is a website that I can go to, that shows me my sales there, as they happen. I won't know what happened in Bandera until I go back there on Feb. 6. I know that one taggie set sold there, because I got a text message about it. The customer traded the taggie blanket in that set for another one. I went to Homestead last Monday and brought all of the Christmas sets home. (They wanted all Christmas items gone by the 15th) There were several vendors there that day, all working on their inventory and displays. I left 4 "winter items" there on sale, brought Christmas home, and took a few new Spring items. Since Aurora is having supply issues, I looked into a new line of stuffed animals called EBBA. I guess Aurora owns that line, but it didn't seem like as many items were sold out. And I could order online and see supply numbers and/or etas for items coming. I think this will be a good "move" for Brown Baby Bird... with some fresh items. Hopefully I will be able to find cute fabric to coordinate with. I am at the point where it will only take me a couple of weeks to "sew up" all of  my current merchandise. Then I need to do some serious shopping for new fabric. Plus Ebba has some items that I can just retail, to go along with my handmade items. Once I get those projects going... I need to set up an Etsy shop and give that a try. Here is my January booth at Homestead Handcrafts and a sneak peek at Ebba. I am excited for some NEW 2022 merchandise for BBB.

Done Downstairs

 I have gotten a lot of "odds and ends" done the past couple of weeks. In fact I am mostly finished with any downstairs decorating projects. (I only have one wall to paint downstairs left.) I painted all of the trim work that Daniel did in the kitchen... it looks great. I hung a couple of black hooks and black bar on the island. I also hung a couple of decor items on both sides of the TV. (I have had all of those items for several months, just waiting to be finished.) Now that I have a new lamp, the sofa table and the small off white bench, and I ordered two round rugs for the front room... I can't think of anything else that was on my wish list for downstairs. I am starting to plan out a few projects for UPSTAIRS 😉😂 When I started figuring out what I wanted to do upstairs it was like one project led to another project, which led to another project- haha. I didn't like one corner of our bedroom. It had a small black shelf in it and just some random books, magazines, and stuff. I sorted through everything and either put it in a box to donate and or found a different place for it. Part of what was there was my small drawers of cards, envelopes, stamps, addresses etc. Sorting that out led to up dating my Christmas card address list and then putting the Christmas letters that I want to keep in the correct notebooks. I also organized my "Birthday Card" addresses and supplies. I decided I wanted to put the black shelf in the guest bedroom closet, which meant I needed to clean out that closet. (Which needed to be a project anyway. Luke and Hazel always play in there and I had too much breakable stuff stored in there.) Again...I made a donation box, a trash box, and moved some items to a different place. I realized that I had some framed pictures in there that needed to be reframed because I wanted to keep them. And since Daniel did a new accent wall in the TV room upstairs, I now have a place for those pictures. (The accent wall isn't painted yet... but I know where those pictures will go 😉). I have several walls that I want to paint upstairs, one wall to wall paper, and the master bathroom to paint cabinets and walls. I have been hunting for the right colors. I am going to start with the wall paper and match it. (That will be in our bedroom.) So, back to my empty corner... that is where I will start. lol. When I sell enough unwanted items, I will purchase one more piece of furniture for our bedroom. See... I have the plan... let's see how long it takes.