3rd time is a charm !

Woke up this beautiful morning as Sister and Elder Jewkes! We both had an amazing blessing and setting apart from Pres. Holmes on Sunday. What an inspired man he is. I'm feeling almost normal now from the bronchitis that I have had for almost 4 weeks. Also In the blessings Pres Holmes pronounced a blessing upon our children and  all our grandchildren,of  health and strength. That was a great comfort to me. We are now headed to the MTC this morning. One more time we get to feel the spirit of this great work as we see missionaries and leaders teaching us the things we will need to know before we set out for Canada on Sat.

On Aug 30th 2013 it was 39 amazing years that we have been married. Some good times and some bad times- but we have loved it all. " The purpose of a marriage is to perfect the people in it" As life shakes us rough stones to and fro in the bottle of our lives we become smoother and less jagged and hopefully we can become better  people in this life and the next. That my friends, Is the goal !

Guess I should have mentioned this sooner on my blog but good ole face book seems to be the place where I share things and then it gets lost in the deep dark hole of FB back posts never to be seen again. Im enjoying blogging again and it will at least preserve things for me much better than FB. So, as I posted on FB (thinking I was spreading the news then and finding out that people never even saw it), Here it is again for any of my blogger friends and for me to preserve. A new and exciting adventure for us this year. We will be serving our 3rd Senior mission starting Sept 16th. Leaving so soon and so much to do but we are excited and grateful for this opportunity . Canada Toronto Mission (proselyting) here we come !!

In the so called Book of Life.

Have you ever been breezing along at a good clip and suddenly someone rips the sails off your boat and you wonder if your so out of touch with life that you really don't have a clue what your doing? According to lots of people lately I have much to work on in life, relationships, commitments, organization, planning, etc. As much as I would like to think I have reached the age of 62 in fairly good shape and have had many accomplishments and achieved good things, I guess there are many people who don't think so at all. I thought that I had lived, loved and learned many great things for many years, but now im questioning myself allot. Is it how I feel about myself that matters or is it how others view me that I need to care about? Back to the drawing board I guess. Hope it does not take me another 62 years to get it right. That really sounds exhausting.

Grandbaby # 20- William Finn Jewkes

A few posts down you will see a picture of a cute big belly on our daughter in law Jesi. Her and Paul now have their 3rd child . They named him William Finn Jewkes. As you look at these pics of him I dare you not to smile. I double dog dare you. What a little joy he is :)

This morning I had an epiphany. Thinking about the scripture: .... to afflict and torment man" .... A pearl is a small round natural gem formed when a grain of sand, foreign object or body get lodged in the flesh of a mollusk, irritating the flesh, which responds by coating the grain with many layers of protein and other compounds to protect itself. Pearls are the result of a biological process -- the oyster's way of protecting itself from foreign substances. The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle and the shell, which irritates the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The mantle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl. How can we do that? How can we learn to make the best of the worst ? Are we not as the oyster, trying to exist in our world too? Putting layers of soft comfortable substances over the things that irritate us? God put us on this earth to do just the same thing. To make a beautiful pearl (or life) out of the things that afflict and torment us. I am sure we all know people who seem to have way more of these irritants in life and way more pain and suffering than others do. Somehow they can wrap up the irritating substances and make their lives beautiful again. I have counted my blessings everyday and pray that I will not be tried as some people have. I am not sure why but for some reason it has been one of my biggest blessings in life to have been spared huge trials- Of course that is not to say I have not had trials. I have had plenty, but at least they are the ones I have been able to bear and that is a testimony to me that the Lord will only give us trials that we can bear. I guess I have lots to learn still but for now I will feel blessed beyond measure and let the Lord decide when i need to grow. He can decide when I need to make more pearls.

" Hoards of babies coming over the horizon!!"

If im not mistaken that is a quote from President Kimball. It was a lighthearted moment in one of his talks about procreation. This has been a great year . We added 4 more grand babies to our lives. Cant think of any bigger blessing in life than this. We now have 19 grand kids and one more on the way.

In the picture we have from left top Freddie Lucile Stayner, Riggs Gregory Haynie, and bottom is Stevie Anne Payne, and Clarie Marie Del Toro. And baby no name will be here this summer!!

HOORAY FOR BABIES!!

DAY 10- BIG FAT HEN! :)

But not as fat as I was 10 days ago!!. I have now lost 12 lbs. I actually feel really good. I will say that I have not had real hunger pains much at all in 10 days. More like certain cravings. The good part is, I am not craving junk food. Im craving real food- Cooked asparagus , spinach, A real salad etc. with some lemon juice, etc . Im about to start phase 2 of the reboot which includes drinking and eating fruits and veg. Hooray for the eating part!! I have some great recipes I want to try and I'm excited now to move on to my next phase. Onward! I wont be posting the annoying fat, sick and nearly dead logo any more so you can all relax if I was getting obnoxious.

#9#9#9!!!- As the Beatles say...

Today is day 9 of my juice fast. Wow what a journey this has been. Im still amazed at how little the body needs to survive. As long as it is getting the nutrients in the juices it seems to not complain much. Now the mind is a different matter. My mind is sick and tired of ANY juice. Today I might even do a partial fast because I don't want to taste juice any more. Especially the green juice. Some people love it and would not complain about it I'm sure but I'm wimpy I guess.

End of Day 8!!

Today was a good day for sure. I woke up feeling great and I have now lost 11 lbs.!! I am now starting to plan what Im going to do when my 10 days are over . On Tuesday evening Im going to eat a light meal ( my first real food in 10 days) . The next morning I plan to start eating fresh fruits and vegetables and also juice a couple times a day. I might also have something like oatmeal to start grains back into my diet. No meat yet, No breads yet. I hope to commit to this for one more week and then I will start on lean meats only and fruits and veg. Im excited to see how it goes when i start eating fruits and veg instead of just juicing them all. My energy level has been pretty good but not good enough to do much exercise. I hope to at least start walking 3 days a week when i get a bit more energy.

Day 7!!

I'm amazed that my body can live without food. It kind of reminds me of a David Blaine act. Last night I had a huge craving for salt and felt like a cow searching for a salt block. I found a packet of MC Donald's salt in my car I had left there, and slowly savored it while driving home. I do think I must be needing something but not sure what- Cant imagine the thought of drinking any kind of juice today so I'm going to drink lots of water and ginger/water and cranberries- Must have something new to taste. Salt water sounds pretty good :) JK.ok I wont do that but I wont be drinking the green drink today no matter what! Oh BY THE WAY... I'm down 10 1/2 lbs. Ya like that I just had to include the 1/2 a lb? :)

Today WAS day six of the reboot fast!

Went on a quick trip to St George . Quite an experience to not eat food while driving. Most the time when in the car its junk food time. Drank two of our meals at a juice bar with a shot of wheat grass. Not feeling to great tonight. I wonder if it was the wheat grass or the fact that we came home to a flooded basement. ? Good night will do another update in the AM

Half Way- Day 5

I'm half way today to my 10 day commitment- Drinking Grape, Apple, Kiwi, juice this morning- Woke up feeling pretty hungry but not bad considering. My weight was the same this morning so I'm sure I'm starting to plateau . Wont get discouraged since I have lost 8 lbs in 4 days. Going walking now :)

Day 4- Very hungry this morning-

Drinking hot water and lime juice to try to fill the void. Going to drink the fruit juices in the AM rather than veg juice. Fruit seems to settle better in the mornings. I will drink the veg juice for lunch and dinner and then some fruit juice again when i feel empty through the day. Im amazed that I have even gone 3 full days. I was hoping it would be a bit easier than this but to be honest its not that bad. Just reminds me of being in the hospital and not eating for 4 days because the food was so horrible. :) JK I did eat some then. This morning I have lost a total of.... 8 lbs.

Day 3 of my adventure.

Day 3- Feeling pretty good so far- a bit weak now and then, but strangely I feel energized and can think quite clear. Going to try a few new juice recipes today. ---
"What is a Reboot? A Reboot is a period of time in which a person commits to eating or drinking only fresh fruit and vegetables. Reboot is not a diet, it is a time for the body to reset, cleanse and take in, in abundance, all those vital nutrients Mother Nature intended for us. The Reboot Program ™ allows you to take control of your diet and improve your health big time. You will actually feel the sensation of having been rebooted, [note: italics] much as your computer does when you, well, reboot it! It’s as simple as that."

I cant say its easy but...

Before-


Day Two- down 5 lbs this morning- Head a bit hazy, stomach a bit hungry, but nothing I cant handle . Onward...

My 10 day journey!

Day One- Im on my way- in case of extremely grumpy days ahead , i will ask for your forgiveness now.
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The Church and Race: All Are Alike Unto God

The Church and Race: All Are Alike Unto God

http://www.ldsmag.com/church/article/9448?ac=1

Count your many blessings, Name them one by one!

I have to express my feelings right now or I will burst with gratitude. We have had so many great blessings in our family recently and I just have to share them. I will make a list of pics because I am sure pictures can express way more than my words could.
# 1 -Our sweet big boy Jack got baptized and on the same day his baby sister Stevie was blessed. Such a great day with family!


#2-Stevie Anne Payne was blessed.

#3- We got our whole family together again. It was so great to finally get our entire family in one spot at the same time. The baptism/blessing was attended by all:)


Also # 4-5-6- blessings.
We have 3 new grand babies on their way. Sadie and Charlie are expecting a baby boy in June, Hannah and K C are expecting in Aug, and Mollie and Adam are expecting in Sept. Cant wait until I can get a good pic to post of all 3of them and their baby bumps :)
#- 7
Another great blessing... This has made such a big difference in my life. For the first time in many years ( about 6 years) I am pain free. Free of leg pain, back pain etc etc. I still have a way to go to heal completely and I know that I will still have a few challenges and things I can't do, due to having more hardware in my spine, but to be pain free for the fist time in years is amazing!! This is my Miracle

This is NOT fun. I repeat NOT fun!

I didn't think I wanted to post about this but I have decided now that I will. Mostly because I'm bored out of my mind!! I don't think I'm a person who likes to complain much but in the past 3 weeks I have found myself complaining, feeling sorry for myself, and being quite annoying to myself. I cant imagine how annoying I am to those around me too. I'm just going to write about this because I don't want to forget it. Right now I cant imagine forgetting it but I'm sure in time this horrible nightmare will fade and I will forget the worst parts. I definitely feel like I know what it feels like now to be in an old folks home too. Boring, sad, boring, hopeless, boring, and on and on.
I had spine surgery on Dec 28th.

I have had back surgery before ( 11 years ago) but this was much worse than that was ( if you can imagine) and I promise on my life, I will never go through this again if I'm in my right mind and have any say in the matter. I had a fusion of L5 to #1. Almost halfway up my back. From my tail bone to whatever vertebrae it was. I am going to get the doctors records in 3 weeks and x rays and then I can talk more intelligently about it all. Anyway- I hate this recovery! This surgery is the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. Having all 6 kids at one time could not be more painful. Being shot in the back with a shot gun would feel better than this. Being stabbed in the back would be a piece of cake in comparison. No I'm not exaggerating and that is why I hesitated to write this. Words can not express how horrible it was.
Well at least I can say WAS.. I'm 3 weeks post surgery and in the next 3 weeks I am hopeful that things will get better. It cant get worse!! No matter though, I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband who has been so patient with me its ridiculous, and kids who have come over and helped me several times and talked to me on the phone and cheered me up. I hate being dependent on people. I just hope and pray that I will never have to do this again. I hope I can put it behind me soon and never look back! I thank my Father in Heaven for helping me when I thought there was no way I could live through it. I'm still alive, and I thank Him every day for helping me make it through this first 3 weeks.

Finally ! it is posted !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fANvLTMeVII
I had the opportunity of singing In the Virtual Choir under the direction of Lex de Azevedo.We sang Gloria the Life of Christ. This is the production I had the privilege of singing in years ago in Jerusalem on the wall of the old city. This year we did the performance in the Mormon Tabernacle, but we were not allowed to film it as the Tabernacle Choir is the only one with the rights to record in that historic building. So we took all of us in Millennium choir to Studio 1 the night before and had a crew record us. Then they dubbed in the "virtual choir", from around the world. I think it turned out pretty cool actually. No doubt it would have been so great to record it in the tabernacle with all the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations but we still enjoyed doing this project. It was fun and inspirational.. and I got to sit in a chair instead of stand which made it much easier for me. You wont see much of the original Millennium choir in this you tube video since most of it is focused on the virtual choir but our voices blended well and it was an exciting project to perform with Lex once again. I want to thank my family for their support and for coming the night of the performance. It made my Christmas one of the best and I hope it did yours as well.
Enjoy : This video is not of the entire 2 hour production... just one song. "Gloria"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fANvLTMeVII

An old song for you!

Chestnuts by Freddie Jewkes


Dear Friends and Family,
This is pretty brave of me actually. I normally don't like to have such personal exposure but I just know I'm not going to get all my Christmas cards sent out this year, so I hope you will listen to my "musical Christmas wish" and know that I am thinking of you all. I want to wish you a Very Merry Christmas. With my warmest wishes, love Freddie

Chestnuts

OUR BABY WITH HER BABY

I think this picture says it all. It depicts JOY, PEACE, AND LOVE. Pretty good depiction for this time of year I would say. Its almost Christmas again... one more Christmas in my life will be here in a few days. I am 60 years old now. My body feels it but my brain does not. As I look back on my life ( and I have been doing that allot lately since I'm trying to write my life history ) I can see that each stage of life was a building block for me in my journey, through this "strange act". Each one of my six children performed their miracle on me. Each one made me grow a little more. Now my baby is a MOM... all grown up and starting a family of her own. She has also had her challenges in life as we all do, but I can see in her face contentment. Mollie was then and still is a delightful child. She makes me laugh so much when we get together. She is my ,pull faces with, cry with, laugh my head off with, child. I'm so happy that Heavenly Father gave her to me to be her mom. She raised me up and made me a better person. I still have a long long way to go but Mollie Marie made it a bit easier and brighter along the way. Thanks Mollie! You have one of the most precious and delightful babies in the world now too. Julian James is your first "child stepping stone" to becoming a perfect person. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I have so far.

"Dont forget the guns!"

We took Zander and Smith on a little outing the other day. Of course MC Donald's and Cabelas were the places they choose to go and Grandpa was very happy with that:)

ANNOUNCING STEVIE ANNE PAYNE!!

THIS IS THE NEWEST EDITION TO OUR GRANDKIDS. STEVIE MAKES # 16!! As you can see Audrey is in heaven with her new baby sister.

He'd rather cry than eat ice cream :)

When our kids were small and they would cry about some silly insignificant thing, as most kids do, Greg would say to them. "Oh you would rather cry than eat ice cream I guess". It was so true because he would then offer them some ice cream and they would run off crying and say leave me alone. Hence the saying came about in our family. "You would rather cry than eat ice cream" Looks like the tradition lives on with our grandkids too. This is Cache, Hailey's little 3 year old. Cute HUH?

New shoes New shoes!!

When I was a little girl I loved this poem, by Freda Wolf, called Choosing shoes
New shoes, new shoes,
Red and pink and blue shoes.
Tell me, what would you choose,
If they'd let us buy?
Buckle shoes, bow shoes,
Pretty pointy-toe shoes,
Strappy, cappy low shoes;
Let's have some to try.
Bright shoes, white shoes,
Dandy-dance-by-night shoes,
Perhaps-a-little-tight shoes,
Like some? So would I.
BUT
Flat shoes, fat shoes,
Stump-along-like-that shoes,
Wipe-them-on-the-mat shoes,
That's the sort they'll buy.

I learned it at school and have always remembered it. The other day I saw this pic of our sweet little grandaughter on the Jewkes blog (You will have to scroll down a bit to find it.) I thought of this poem right off.

A special surprise !

The other day I got on FB and right off I saw this pic on the news feeds. I was so excited! This meant so much to us. What a clever way to say hi on face book. This was taken on the steps of the London Temple.
The Bikliqi family was one of the families we taught on our first mission to England. (ELM). There is a wonderful story that comes along with them. It is all recorded in our mission journal. In brief... The Bikliqi family is from Norwich England. We became such good friends with them and loved going to their home each week to teach and eat. Angie made us dinner every Thursday, and we really looked forward to it each week. Well to make a long story short... We were good friends with them from 2004 until today 20011, and we stayed in touch through email. While on our 2nd mission in 2010 we got in touch with them by phone and they came down to the London Temple to see us before we left England. We were so happy to get to see them again. We went to lunch together and reminisced about past times while on our first mission. Its amazing how when you have true friendships like this it can last forever. We will miss this great family and hope they come to visit us in America. Thanks Bikliqi's for your friendship!! We love and miss you :)

Julian James Del Toro the magnificent!

I got to spend a few days with this little guy.
Mollie came to visit us and I will say it was great to see her and spend time with her but I have to be totally honest... Julian was the best part of all!! I know Mollie wont mind me saying that. In fact I'm sure she will agree. His bright shiny face was so fun to see in the morning. JJ is the best baby ever. He is so easy to please, and he has the sweetest personality. Just look at the pic and you can see for yourself what a sweetheart he is.

Time to blog again

Guess its blog time again. I keep telling other people to update there blogs so I guess I better do the same. I have been such a slacker on my blog, and In my life. I keep thinking I have nothing to say on here but golly gee how can that be? I have served another mission, met tons of amazing people and had many life changing events occur, and some how I still think my life is not important enough to actually write it down. Now that I'm home from England, I actually think that life was easier there than here. I know it wasn't but there are days that it just seems so emotionally draining to be back home again. I am pretty sure that I am suffering from "X missionary-itus" . There is nothing like a mission to make one feel stronger,more spiritual, more in tune with the will of the Lord, and much more influential with people. There are many days since I have been home that I wonder who I can actually influence for good. I want to do more, but have no motivation to do so. My brain is scattered into pieces and I cant pin down any one thing and finish it. I started a blanket for my new grand baby... still not finished. I will get busy on things soon I'm sure. I will be back with a new and more interesting post soon I promise. I'm attaching a pretty pic of the London temple at night so you at least have something pretty to look at until I get inspired to write more:)