Aaron and I recently read The Anxious Generation, so we're all about giving kids independence! Lots of homeschool moms in our co-op have read the book, too. The picture below was an unsupervised adventure day that the kids had where they walked to the library and the park and the dollar store. They also got soaked in the rain.
Our whole family attended our stake's youth conference over spring break. It was in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We stayed at an FFA camp and did not do any hot springs of any kind. We loaded up in our fifteen passenger van and made the eight hour drive with twelve kids ages 13-16. I wasn't really looking forward to this trip, but it ended up being a huge blessing in my life! I'm going to tell you all of the tender mercies I received for going.
- For Storymakers conference this year, I signed up for a "premise and plot chat" with an editor/author. The deadline for submitting my synopsis and questions to her was during youth conference. So I needed to finish early. I thought this would be a negative thing, but it ended up being a blessing. I felt like I was very efficient with my time--I easily could have spent the next week (youth conference week) working on the pages if I'd had that time available. But since I didn't, I got the pages done sooner and felt like I didn't really miss any writing time. And I felt really good about my synopsis! I understood my story in a new way by having to describe the whole plot in two pages.
- The Sunday before youth conference, I also was blessed to get a revelation about my RS calling that I'd been seeking for months. I'd wrestled with how to handle a certain issue and never hit on a solution. But that Sunday morning, while I was journaling, the Lord opened up a path for me. A huge blessing!
- Like I said, I was feeling bummed about being asked to go to youth conference. I'd been looking forward to a week of relaxing. But as I worked on changing my attitude, I remembered that cute girls like Elsie (a 13 turning 14 year old in our ward) would be eligible to go to youth conference this year. Elsie is still a preschooler in my mind, so I'd imagined supervising old, crusty 18 year olds. When I thought of the possibility of having kids like Elsie in our group, it made me feel like I could do it. I could go and it would be okay. Well, guess who was in our group when we showed up Tuesday morning! Elsie! Sadie from our ward was in our group, too. They're the literal best. Tender mercy!
- Also in our group was a girl named Nancy. She was from Lubbock but attending youth conference with a cousin in our stake. She knew my brother's family and was friends with my nephews in Lubbock. Also, she's a homeschooler. If she hadn't been in my group, I don't think I would have met her. So it was really cool to have that connection.
- All of the kids in our group were awesome. They had some energy and some immaturity, and I'll admit that I made some snap judgments of them on the first day. But over the course of the week, it was such a blessing to get a glimpse into who they really are as children of God. It was cool to see their faith and character and humility and goodness shine through. One boy struggled with the seven mile hike but finished it anyway without complaining at all. One boy was mean to another early on in the week but put his arm around that boy and apologized at the end of the week. One night when we asked their favorite scripture, they enthusiastically shared verse after verse. One girl turned her phone in early every night. One boy spent a long time at the end of the faith walk kneeling in front of the painting of Christ. Another boy, with total humility, apologized for being annoying and too energetic on the drive there. Another girl was pure sunshine and got so excited every time she told me about her younger siblings. Another girl shared with us how cool she thinks her dad is. And another invited us all to kneel when we said our company prayer at night.
- On the faith walk, there was a verse of scripture on one of the signs that gave me a flash of insight into a symbol in the temple endowment. This new understanding meant so much to me!
- I was a little worried about sleeping at youth conference. I wake up several nights a week with my nose stuffed up. If I can't breathe through my nose, then I can't fall back asleep. Usually, I spray saline solution in my nose or just stand up and move around a bit. But I didn't want to disturb my fellow leaders. Well, this happened on the first night we were there. Because I didn't want to disturb anyone, I tried some single nostril breathing--which is a yoga thing--and that worked! I've been using it ever since to unstuff my nose in the middle of the night, and it's like a miracle! This thing I've been struggling with for years, finally has a simple solution for me. This might not seem like a big deal to other people, but it was a huge deal to me!
- Annie and Scotty were not in our group at youth conference. So we shared an experience but hadn't really talked to each other much for the whole week. When we got home, we spent four hours discussing our adventure together. It was so fun and so bonding and so sweet to hear everything the kids had to share. We had been flies on the wall to their lives, but then we got to hear about it too. That alone was worth the price of admission.
This and other experiences with serving the Lord have taught me that we are always indebted to the Lord. Sometimes we think we're making a big sacrifice for Him, but He always gives us more than He asks. These verses from Mosiah 2 come to mind:
"20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?"
The weekend after youth conference, I flew up to SLC for a quick visit to see the sisters. We planned a twenty-four hour get-together. We went to dinner at Olive Garden and then to see Peter Pan Goes Wrong at the Hale Theater. It was silly and full of hi-jinx and very funny. We got cookies at Chip and spent the night at an Airbnb that seemed brand new. We chatted until 1 am. Liz and I had a good RS president check-in. We got pedicures--my first pedicure ever! And had lunch with the adult granddaughters in the area. We also stopped by and visited Aunt LouAnn who was in the hospital rehab.
This was a photo my Aunt LouAnn had in her room. My dad is the boy at the front of the horse. My Grandma McCombs is on the ground in her adorable floral print dress.
Lunch with the granddaughters. And a great-granddaughter! Kaylee told us all about her proposal and the wedding dress she just bought.
Abbie the grandma!
I stayed for a good portion of Sunday and went to stake conference with my parents at the Salt Lake City Central Stake. It was held at East High School in the auditorium where they filmed High School Musical. My cousins Kathy and Kevin Bellows were also there waiting for their visas to Japan!
The stake had a bagpipe player outside welcoming people to conference and (we think) making it more obvious which door to enter. There was a primary choir that joined the adult choir, and one boy at center stage started clapping from spontaneous enthusiasm at the end of their number, so we all clapped. At the end, they served gelato. "Stay for gelato and propinquity" the program said.
"Soarin', flyin', there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach. If we're tryin', ooh, we're breakin' free."
Ms. Darbus did not make an appearance, unfortunately.
Felicia and Spencer came up on Sunday as well because Nick was giving tours to VIPs at the new visitor's center on Temple Square. I also got a tour. It was awesome! I loved it. And the visitor's center will be opening up to the public in May.
I came home to these fungis (Aren't they pretty? Don't eat them.)
And these fun-guys! (FHE at the library😊)
