Service, blessing, and lots of dolls

Last Sunday, the 16th, David was called to meet with the Stake President. We knew that we would be getting a new bishopric in our ward soon, so we held our breath as we drove to the stake center! Pres. Richards asked to speak with me first. He told me that they would be calling my husband to a pretty hefty position and wanted to know if I was willing to give him up a little more for that. I said that I would be willing to do that, only because he was such a great husband and father when we was present that I knew he could balance things well. Then he asked me if I considered my husband worthy. What an amazing question to have to answer, as a wife. How wonderful it felt to tell our Stake President that my husband was absolutely worthy in my eyes and honored his priesthood in our home. How blessed I am.

And so he met with David for a bit and then called me back into the room. David assured me quickly that it wasn't Bishop (whew). He was called to be a counselor to our new bishop, Jared Loosli! We are thrilled that we will have the opportunity to serve in this capacity and David is so excited to work with Jared and Dave Lloyd. How exciting.

So we've been planning on going out and finding a new washer that my Grandpa graciously offered to buy us. And then on Tuesday, some men from Home Depot knocked on my door and delivered this beautiful thing! Turns out, David had already to decided to get me a new washer for Christmas when ours broke, so he and my grandpa worked out the details in secret and now I have a gorgeous new washing machine! Love love love it.

On Wednesday, David had his first meeting before the holidays ensued and I had a fun evening with the girls, preparing for our service project. When my grandmother died, we inherited 100+ dolls that she had collected for years and stored in the room I used to sleep in when I visited. We let the girls choose a few to keep and then we decided to give the rest away to a few local children's shelters. On Sunday, I helped Hazel write a little story to go with each doll and on Wednesday night, we watched Home Alone and tied the stories to the dolls.


The girls helped me wash each doll to make sure they were clean and ready to be given away.

And I had to get a shot of their faces when Kevin puts the tarantula on Marve's face in the movie...

What a treasure this is to me! She wrote it in her best handwriting and came up with almost the entire thing on her own. It's the story of a little doll named Aleah who liked to make friends. One day she went into the woods and met a witch who gave her a flower that would make her wishes come true. Aleah wished that she could have a friend that would take her home and keep her and of course, her wish came true! The story ends by saying that Aleah now belongs to whoever is reading this story and is holding this little doll. So cute.

We delivered the dolls to three different shelters on Friday afternoon as a family. Thank you dear Grandma for these lovely dolls.

All dressed up for Charlotte's Joy School Christmas party.

This time Charlotte got to be Mary.

Friday night movie night! (Kung Fu Panda Holiday)

Another activity this week: homemade ornaments. I had the girls make hand prints with paint on these glass ball ornaments and we wrote in marker about their hobbies and interests this year. I try to take advantage of any opportunity to make a copy of those cute little hands while I can.