Back to School for Caitlyn

We took Caitlyn back to school on Saturday, but first we went to the Saratoga Springs Temple to see Quincy sealed to Katie and Ben.

It was beautiful.  They are such a special family and Quincy just fits right in.

Kiara asked me to be a witness.  That meant a lot to me, I was honored to be a small part of their special day.

I got a few pictures and then we had to rush off to get to Cedar City.

Wyatt and Hallee helped Caitlyn get the cars loaded up so we could leave as soon as we got home.

It's always hard for Caitlyn and Hallee to say goodbye.

It makes me so happy to see how much they love each other.

I rode with Caitlyn.  It was nice to have that time to talk to her.

She is in apartment 9 this year.  She got really anxious when we got there.  It was really hard for her to see Blakely and Amy moving into her old apartment. It's so hard as a mom not to go over and smack them for being rude to my girl! We met one of Caitlyn's roommates, the one she will share a bathroom with. She seemed nice, but she stares a lot, like a lot.  She will just stare and not talk. 

Caitlyn got more and more sad and anxious as time went on. We did our best to comfort her and help get everything set up.  After that we went to Cafe Rio for dinner and then we took Caitlyn to Walmart to get her some things she needed and her fresh groceries. It was hard to say goodbye to her because she didn't want to be there.  Luckily Amarie came over right after we left and that helped.  It's been a rough start for Caitlyn.  She is not enjoying it at all and feeling very depressed and anxious.  She is considering coming home and going to UVU instead.  She has a couple of weeks to decide while she can still get a full tuition refund so she is looking into all of her option.  We have had lots of tearful conversations with her and we are doing our best to help and support her.  Depression and Anxiety are so hard, but Caitlyn is a fighter and she fights through it.  I just wish she didn't have to fight so hard! We are going to have a family fast for her this Sunday.  I know she will figure out what to do and continue to make a great life for herself.

Hallee was asked to speak on Sunday. I was so proud of her for saying yes because she really wanted to say no.  She did a great job and said she actually enjoyed it and didn't feel to nervous. She wrote her talk all by herself and it was so good. She got lots of compliments about her talk and how well she did.

 She said: "Good morning, my name is Hallee Loosli and I'm 13-years-od and currently in 8th grade.  This is my first time speaking in Sacrament meeting so if I sound or look a littler nervous you know why. I was asked to give a short talk on the Word of Wisdom. The Word of Wisdom is righteous guidelines to help us keep our bodies healthy, holy and pure. I use the word guidelines because they are presented to help guide us to live a better life, they're not supposed to be binding rules.  Our bodies are in the image of God, the scriptures compare our bodies to the temple; a holy place that invites the Spirit. Although we aren't perfect now, the experiences we have with our bodies on earth will help us prepare to one day receive a perfect, glorified body. A more detailed explanation to why we have the Word of Wisdom that I found in the For Strength of Youth Guide is, "The Savior revealed the Word of Wisdom to teach principles of caring for your body, and to promise physical and spiritual blessings." Some of the blessings that we are promised to receive from following the Word of Wisdom are wisdom and knowledge, better health, and we will be protected from Satan. Two ways we can overcome temptations and bad habits are, First, seek help from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They have the power to help us and they are always waiting and willing to help us.  As long as we fill our lives with things that invite the spirit; such a s prayer, scripture study, and serving others. Not following the Word of Wisdom is the opposite of inviting the spirit into our lives, in fact it sends the spirit away.  When we're under the influence of anything i these guidelines it's very hard to feel the spirit. Second, seek help from your family, friends, or pretty much anyone you trust. They can also help you a lot, and lead you to the right path.  Although sometimes it can be our friends or people we're close to that encourage us to break the Word of Wisdom. It can be hard to say no in these moments, but I promise the hold spirit will help you as long as you listen for that small voice. Some reasons I personally have chosen to follow the Word of Wisdom are that Jesus and Heavenly Father do so much for us and I think that following the Word of Wisdom and their commandments are just one way we can show our loyalty, faith, and gratitude. God also worked very hard to make our  bodies just the way they are.  So I like to make sure that I'm treating it like the temple it's compared to in the scriptures, even though it can be hard to treat my body amazing all the time.  I've also heard of people getting their lives ruined because they made bad choices and didn't follow the Word of Wisdom.  So, it's pretty important to follow and understand these guidelines because God will bless you in may ways and help you live a better life. I'd like to bare my testimony that I know that the Word of Wisdom exists to help us. It can bless us in so many ways and help us grow closer to our Savior. By following the Word of Wisdom we can be happier, healthier, holier, pure, protected, and so much more. I know that Jesus will always help us through our struggles and help us resist temptations as well.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

On Monday Mel took Wesley with her to see mom.  She said mom cried when Mel told her who he was.  He is adorable! I wish I could have been there.

Katie and Tiff also went to visit mom. Mom got to see Quincy too.  Hopefully seeing these cute babies lifted mom's spirits.  It breaks my heart that she is just stuck in bed all day, every day.  I visited her on Wednesday and she cried a lot. It is the saddest cry and moan.  She doesn't say much at all anymore, but last week she said, "I think I'm at the end of my rope" to dad.  It is just heartbreaking.

Wyatt's cheek started swelling on Wednesday.  I took yesterday off work and got him into the oral surgeon.  It's been four weeks since he got his wisdom teeth out and I was surprised to learn that is the typical time line for an infection.  Poor Wyatt, he has had a rough start to the school year, he has already missed 3 days and they have only been in for 2 weeks.  The doctor pushed on his incision to try and drain the infection and then put something in there to keep it open and told us to come back in a week to get it out.  He also started Wyatt on some antibiotics.  Wyatt said that was the most pain he has ever felt when he pushed on his infected gums, I felt so bad for him. 

Missionary Life

Here is one more picture of Elder Loosli and Elder Mier in Brussels.

Jonah wasn't sure what this was at first, but he figured it was something iconic so he took a picture of it. This is the Atomium in Brussels. It was built for the 1958 Brussels Worlds fair. There are nine interconnected spheres and they are each 59 feet in diameter.  One of them has a restaurant in it.  Jonah has seen these a few times now. 

Jonah is loving the Belgium waffles.  He has always liked waffles and he says they are so good there. He told us he has been using the cash I sent with him for extra things until the new credit cards come.  I asked him if that has been enough and he said, "yeah except I didn't have enough for a train ticket."  He went on to explain he did have enough, but he stopped and bought a waffle on the street and then he didn't have enough. He went on to tell us that there was a miracle because a lady approached them and said she bought two extra tickets and sold the tickets to them cheaper so Jonah was able to afford his waffle and his train ticket. Ha!  Same old Jonah. 

Apparently they have really good Chinese buffets in Belgium.  They went to one for Elder Gambee's birthday.  Patrick drove them there and paid for Elder Gambee.  Jonah said there is a special place in the Celestial Kingdom for Patrick.  He does so much for the missionaries. 

Jonah said the food was so good.  He wrote, "Wait, maybe this whole mission thing is ok?" on this picture. 

This robot delivered food.  Jonah said it was pretty cool.  He set up obstacles with chairs and the robot was able to go around all of them.

Jonah was really excited to go to the zoo last week on P-day.  It is in Brussels.  Patrick drove the elders there and they met a couple of sisters.  Pairi Daiza is the biggest zoo in Europe.  Jonah said it was huge and they had a ton of every animal.

Here wrote "Moto Moto" on this one.

They decided to wear their mission clothes and Jonah was not excited about that, he said it was so hot.

Elder Loosli and Elder Zollinger.

This is a screen shot from a video of Jonah and Elder Gambee laughing because the deer wouldn't lick them so they were joking that they smelled bad. 

Jonah had his first zone conference last week.  He loved it.  He loved meeting with his mission president and all of the devotionals they had.  He said he was asked to share his testimony a few times.  For pday they all went to Brussels and played volleyball. Jonah loved that, he said blue team is the best!

He added some more beautiful sunset pictures.

A sunset over water is the best.

I think this past week has been a hard one for Jonah.  He is still feeling homesick and there is a lot of things at home that he is sad he is missing out on.  He added this picture to his google photos this week. Last Sunday he spoke in church.  I asked him to send me his talk and he sent me the English version of it.  I'm so impressed that he was able to give this talk in French.  I'm so glad he shared it with me. It was so good! Here is what he said:

Hello brothers and sisters! I am excited to speak to you all today. I will try and make this so that you guys can understand what i am saying. My French is still coming along very slow. 

About 500 years ago, a man named Hernan Cortez took 500 men, and they left their homes in Cuba to travel to Mexico. They were commanded by their governor to go and attack the Aztecs in Mexico. They wanted to have more land. But, when they got there, they saw that there were a lot more Aztecs than they thought. The men were scared to fight. A lot of the men complained to Cortez. They wanted to go home. They thought they were going to lose. Sometimes, I feel like these men. I feel like the battle of life ahead of me is too much to handle. I think that all of you have experienced this. 

So what did Cortez do? He commanded his men to destroy the boats that they sailed in. He made sure that the men had no choice, but to go forward and give everything they had to complete their mission. This was a big risk, but, it ended in victory for Cortez and his men! 

That must have taken a lot of faith. Sometimes God gives us challenges that seem impossible to complete. But, because of his perfect plan, we can find our potential. We can learn so much. One of the best ways to understand our potential, is to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. 

Mosiah 5: 7 reads, "Et maintenant, à cause de l’alliance que vous avez faite, vous serez appelés enfants du Christ, ses fils et ses filles ; car voici, aujourd’hui il vous a engendrés spirituellement ; car vous dites que votre cœur est changé par la foi en son nom ; c’est pourquoi, vous êtes nés de lui et êtes devenus ses fils et ses filles" 

I love this scripture. We need to grow our faith, so that we can learn. We can't expect any blessings if we are not acting in faith. Cortez was a great example of this. There are many other prophets the scriptures who acted in faith, leaving no way to return. Lehi had to leave Jerusalem with his family forever, and give their lives to the lord. And when Nephi had to go back a third time to get the plates, can you imagine how much faith that took? His brothers were all ready to quit and go home, but the angel that appeared to him told him that the Lord would deliver the plates to him. The Lord never breaks his promises. Nephi is a great example. 

It is clear that acting in faith is never easy. While this is true, it is necessary to show god that we love him. If everything was easy, how do we learn? Believe me, sometimes there is nothing i want to do more than to be at home with my family and not complete this mission. This mission is full of hard things. But I have seen the Lord bless me more than anything before. I know that being out here is helping my family more than being there. Faith is also the best blessing for us. I promise that as you choose the right, even when its hard, those choices will come easier over time. Your faith will grow. 

Now, how do we strengthen our faith? It always comes back to the small and simple things. The lord loves effort. That effort starts with praying, reading the scriptures, and trying to strengthen our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is how we find the joy in everyday, AND how we see our own potential. We all have the power to be like Cortez in our lives. You are never too far from the light of Christ. His hand is always extended out to you. 

This last week, I was struggling with the life of a missionary. I had a hard time getting the motivation to do things, and I felt too disconnected from Jesus Christ, and a little too connected to home. Thankfully, in my meeting with my mission president, he reminded me that I need to work every day to give my all to strengthening my relationship with Christ. Since I started doing that, everything has become easier. I've destroyed my boats! President Eyring gave us a great promise. He said, "que nous comprenons et croyons que notre Père céleste entend chacune de nos prières, et que nous nous efforçons d’obéir aux commandements, notre capacité de recevoir la révélation continue grandit. Le Saint-Esprit peut être notre compagnon constant. Nous conserverons une sensation de lumière, même quand le monde qui nous entoure s’enténèbre." (As we understand and believe that our Heavenly Father hears our every prayer, and as we strive to obey the commandments, our capacity to receive ongoing revelation grows. The Holy Spirit can be our constant companion. We will retain a sense of light, even when the world around us grows dark.)  I have seen my faith grow, and my life get better when I act in faith. The Lord loves effort. I know that we have everything we need here on this earth to return to our Heavenly Father. If we destroy our boats like Cortez, we will see the lord give us the blessings. 

We had a great call with Jonah this week.  Caitlyn joined from her apartment.  Hallee and Wyatt talked for a bit and then they went to bed.  Jonah started sharing some thoughts on the Book of Mormon and things he has been learning and then we all shared some thoughts.  We talked about how we can have peace and joy no matter what is going on in or lives.  Jonah talked about President Nelsons talk, "Joy and Spiritual Survival." I have been reading that talk a lot over the years as we have been going through hard things like job loss and losing my mom to Alzheimer's.   It was nice to have that discussion with our kids.  I heard something this week that helped me, a lot of the time we think our prayers will be answered by alleviating our discomfort and making us comfortable, but more often than not we are just given strength through Christ to persevere.  The thing we are all learning is we can have peace in the middle of our trials, not just when they are over. 

Back to School

The kids started school last week.  It's crazy that we only have two kids going back this year. Hallee is ready for 8th grade.  She is excited that she has four classes and lunch with Trinity.  I was happy that we were able to find some new school clothes that Hallee liked.  She sure looked cute and grown up.

Hallee was a little overwhelmed when she got home on the first day, but she is feeling better about things now. She has loved being back with her friends and is excited that she has friends in all of her classes but one. 

Wyatt is excited to be in High School.  He says it's so much better than Middle School. He went to the football game last weekend and had a great time. The second day of school Wyatt gave us a scare.  He texted me at 8 AM and told me that he had a bad stomach pain and went to the bathroom and passed out.  I quickly called Keith who was still home so he could go pick him up.  I texted Wyatt and asked if he was okay and a few other questions and he never responded.  I was sitting there at work stressed and worried. I called the school and asked them to go check on him.  Keith texted me a few minutes later and told me that he was with him in the nurses office and they were getting him a wheelchair because he looked really pale. I left work and met them at home.  Wyatt said his stomach pain was better, but I was worried and wanted to make sure he didn't have appendicitis. I took him to Instacare and his vitals were good and they were pretty sure that it wasn't appendicitis.  I had them to blood work just to make sure everything looked okay.  Poor Wyatt was not happy about that.  He developed a fear of needles when he got his wisdom teeth out because they had to keep moving the IV since he kept waking up.  I felt bad for him, but I wanted to make sure we covered all of our bases.  Everything came back okay and he has been fine ever since. I'm so glad he is okay, that was scary. 

Wyatt got his learners permit no the first day of school.  He was pretty excited about that!

Tessa came over on Saturday. The girls had a great time together and I enjoyed playing some Jack box games with them.

They wanted to take Jackson with us when we took Tessa home. 

Caitlyn has loved volunteering at the stable this summer.  I'm so impressed that she is willing to work so hard in this heat for free.  She loves to spend time with the horses, especially Dream.

She loves this horse so much.  Caitlyn is not looking forward to going back to school.  She has been dreading it all summer.  She finally feels happy and doesn't want to leave work or the stable. She had some roommate problems, Amy wasn't very nice to her, so Caitlyn decided to try and sell her contract and try and live with Amarie.  Unfortunately, she couldn't sell her contract, but she is in a new apartment with all new roommates so hopefully that will be a better fit. 

They told her she can come visit any time and she can volunteer again while she's home for Christmas.

Caitlyn has had a lot of fun hanging out with friends from work.  She spent the night at Zoey's house and they bought matching pajamas and had a great time.

She has also loved hanging out with Hunter's wife, Meadow.

Meadow gave Caitlyn this going away basket with all of her favorite things.  Caitlyn told her that she's worried people don't like her because she gets sad and depressed, so she gave her a Lego Eeyore and told her that she got her that so she can remember that Eeyore is sad and he had lots of friends and people that love him.  That meant a lot to Caitlyn.

Caitlyn and I went to visit grandma last Sunday.  Caitlyn showed grandma pictures of her horse.

Grandma wasn't very responsive.  Caitlyn read scriptures to her.  She seemed to like that.

Caitlyn loves grandma so much and is always so sweet with her and knows just what to do for her.

She stroked her hair and read to her until grandma fell asleep.

I got a nap at mom's on Sunday.  

Mom woke up after a bit so Caitlyn started reading to her again.  Mom took Caitlyn's hand and moved her phone so she could see it and held it there for a minute, so Caitlyn kept it so there so mom could see what she was reading. 

Dad came while we were still there so we got to talk to him for a bit. Caitlyn was glad she got to say goodbye to grandpa too. I went to dad's this week and he showed me this picture in his den.  Sandy gave him this picture recently.  He loves it so much and so do I!  Mom looks so smitten with him. Dad said it was taken at his mom's house and he doesn't remember why they were dancing.  That is one of the reasons this picture is so great, it captures their love and admiration for each other.  It doesn't surprise me at all that they were just randomly dancing.  They have always showed so much love for each other and genuinely enjoy spending time together. 

Ron called me on Sunday to tell me he was in town and had just visited mom.  He said mom didn't respond at all except for when he told her she was a great sister and then she cried.  All of mom siblings just love her so much. 

Tiff visited mom on Monday and said she was having a really good day.  She even said, "Hi Tiff"  and enjoyed watching some videos. Mel and I went the next day and mom didn't talk, but she was responsive.  Mel showed her some videos of her grandkids and she liked that.  We got her to laugh a lot.  Dad said yesterday when he went to visit her she said, "I think I'm reached the end of my rope."  She couldn't tell him what that meant and didn't say anything else.  Poor mom, it is just heartbreaking to watch her suffer like this. It's breaking all of our hearts.  I'm trying to focus on enjoying the time I have with her and not stressing about the things that our out of my control, but oh man I wish I could take this from her!