The Day of my Erika's Birth!

Wow! I can't believe it has been 19 years since Erika was born! I love my sweet Tiny! She is so loving and intelligent and beautiful! I am so very thankful for her! I am thankful that she is one of my lovely daughters. She is a true blessing to me and to our family. I won't see her today and that is very strange for me. This is the second time that I haven't been able to see her on her birthday. The first time was 2 years ago when she went to Hershey Park on a band trip. I love this picture of her. It is very typical of Erika. She is always telling the people she cares about that she loves them. She is very kind-hearted just like her sister. I love, Love, LOve, LOVe, LOVE my girls!

What I was thinking this morning

I was thinking this morning (amazing, isn't it?) as I was reading the Book of Mormon that I so want to be a Nephi and not a Laman or Lemuel. If you've read the Book of Mormon, you know what I mean, and it may seem simple to you. However, as I was thinking about it, I was just impressed upon about how important it is for me to want to be a Nephi - faithful, true, obedient, loving, loyal. I needed to reaffirm in my mind that this is how I am going to be, no matter what comes along. I don't want to be like Laman or Lemuel - head strong, hard hearted, faithless, disobedient, selfish, greedy. I want to do all I can to help myself and my family to return to our Father in Heaven and to be able to live with Him again. I love my family so very much! I love each moment we are able to spend together!

This is a picture of the moon rising on a clear, winter evening. I love looking at the moon.

My sister, Joy, was nice enough to come over today and help me do some cleaning and organizing in my craft room. She is so nice to me! I am so thankful for my dear sister!

I am not feeling well today. I thought I was getting over this cold, but it seems to be trying to call for backup and take over my airways. Ugh! I don't like having a cold. I'm so whiney when I don't feel well. Poor Mike has to put up with me and he does it so cheerfully, too! :.)

continuing with Joanie

Joanie met Mike in the early fall of 1987. Joanie was very blessed to have met him and she is still blessed to have him around her every day!

This picture was taken around April of 1990 when Joanie was pregnant with their second daughter, Erika. What an active baby she was before she was born! And, she continued to be very energetic afterwards, too! Mike and Joanie are extremely blessed to have their two beautiful girls, Becky and Erika. They wouldn't trade their sweet daughters for anything!

Joanie is so thankful for her eternal family!

Ok. I'm done talking in the third person... :.) I am truly grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me to be sealed to my family for eternity. Mike has been so wonderful for me ever since I met him. He is calm and patient and doesn't worry. He has been gently teaching me these things since the beginning of our relationship. I, honestly, do love him more every day!

Becky and Erika are so kind and loving. I am very thankful that they have turned out this way! I love my girls SO MUCH!!!

More Joanie...

Here is Joanie around the fourth or fifth grade. If she were that age now, an orthodontist would probably recommend a palate expander... Those upper teeth look very narrow in the picture... Oh, well, it all turned out pretty well since she never had any orthodontia treatment. Joanie liked the start of fourth grade because she was able to take free piano lessons in school. Unfortunately for Joanie, but better for her little brother, she and her family moved in the middle of the school year. Joanie wasn't able to continue with the piano lessons. Again, oh, well, it turned out for the best. She took viola lessons at her new school, but she didn't care for that too much. She and her sister were able to take Tae Kwon Do that year, and that was kind of fun for her. Her sister, Joy, LOVED it and she was very good at it. Joanie really liked it when she demonstrated to her older brother that she could flip him over her shoulder, though. :.D Joanie liked the house they lived in at that time. One of the accesses to the attic was through the closet in her bedroom, and she and her sister liked to go in there and play. She could, also, go out on the roof of the garage by climbing out her bedroom window. They lived there for a few years, and Joanie finished elementary school and started middle school while living there. She and her family moved again not long after she started sixth grade, and she found out that sixth grade in her new county was back in elementary school :( However, that was really all right because it was only a few months until the school year was over. Then, she got to start middle school again... and hormones started kicking in, and mood swings, and insecurities.... Being a teenager was rough. Joanie is very glad she won't have to go through that again :) Ok, next time we'll tell you about Joanie after high school. I know we didn't tell you anything about her while she was in high school, but she made it through and I think that is enough to tell...

A Little Bit About Joanie

Here is Joanie at about age 14 months. The lady behind her is her Granny (her dad's mom). Joanie was born with no hair, but once it started growing in it grew in red. She has had red hair ever since. Joanie was born in Norfolk, VA, and, except for a few months in other states, she has lived in Virginia all her life. Joanie LOVES living in Virginia. She likes visiting other places, but, to her, home will always be Virginia. Joanie didn't go to kindergarten like most kids do now. Her mom didn't think it was necessary for her to go. Joanie's older sister, Joy, had already started to teach Joanie how to read and write. (Made evident by the fact that Joanie started carving Joy's name into the furniture:) When Joanie started first grade, she found that she really liked school and her teacher, Mrs. Kindred. In second grade, she didn't care for her teacher, but she made it through the year just fine. She was excited in third grade because she got to have more than one teacher, and one of them was a guy teacher, Mr. MacDonald! She really liked Mr. MacDonald because he was a good teacher and he liked to be funny and he wore really cool braces on his legs as a result of having polio when he was little. Joanie can remember staring and staring at those braces and wondering what it felt like to wear them. At the end of third grade, Joanie and her family moved across town. So, in fourth grade, she started a new school. Stay tuned, if you're really interested, we'll tell you a little more about Joanie next time.

Whopper and I made it through class!

Actually, Whopper did very well. The class was a one-on-one with the trainer, and Whopper showed how well he can listen. So, I know now that he can listen! I just need to be consistent... and patient. I can do it! I can! I have to! Now I need to sign him up for some classes that involve other doggies and see how he does! He's a good boy, especially when treats are involved! :) This picture is of Whopper on one of his favorite perches - the back of the sofa. I think he's part cat.