Happy New Year!!

Our week started out with a BANG! We woke up on Monday morning and we were all freezing - our heater was broken. Thankfully, we have a home warranty for a year and our heater was covered. A service provider wasn't able to come until the afternoon so we pulled out our space heater and Colorado snow gear. The biggest miracle was the man that came and worked on the heater said the mother board was broken and the part may not be available until the next day. Eleanor was freezing (we all were!) and as I folded the laundry, I prayed to Heavenly Father for help in figuring out our heater situation. About 20 minutes later, the service man returned and he said he was able to find the part sooner than expected! He got the heater up and running and the boys and I knelt down together and said a prayer of thanks that the heater was fixed so quickly. I cried as I expressed my gratitude to Heavenly Father for hearing our prayer. The boys were so cute and Eli said, "Mom, I'm going to share my testimony that our heater was broken and we said a prayer and it was fixed." He inspired me to share my testimony on Sunday about prayer. Most of the time the answer to my prayers take time and I have to wrestle in finding an answer. When the answers to my prayers have come quickly, it strengthens my faith and reminds me to be patient when the answers take time or the answer is no or doesn't come at all. 

As we waited for the heater to be fixed, we went to the library. Eleanor loves these activities! 

Tuesday: we went to the airport and picked up Papa and Grandma Donna! Oh we loved giving them big hugs. They flew in from Denver and we couldn't wait to show them Kansas City. We had Joe's BBQ and we all loved it!

We did puzzles and played games together and watched movies. 

I pulled out our happy New Year's hats before we headed to bed. My favorite part of being with my parents was our conversations.

Happy 2020! We started the day with a hike and then went to a park. The sunshine felt lovely and being together outside is always memorable.

Friday: we drove down to Columbia and met up with Sam and her kids. She brought River along and we loved seeing everyone. 

Sam found a groupon for Bonkers, an in-door play place. It was fun playing games and eating pizza together. August and Eli even won 1,000 tickets each! It was an enjoyable day together! I was glad it all worked out.

Saturday: Eli had his first basketball game and scored 5 baskets! Yay! He's been practicing and the scrimmages paid off. After the game, we drove up to Adam-ondi-Ahman and then Jamesport for an early dinner. Last minute we decided to stop by Far West and it was a spiritual experience. I felt so grateful for all the pioneers and the sacrifices they made to live the gospel. They were persecuted and driven out of Missouri and I wish they could see the gospel now. We have a temple! I'm motivated to attend the temple more than ever as a way to show my appreciate to them.

Our church time has now changed to 10:30 a.m. I always enjoy having family with us when we attend church. Lisa and Troy Mitchell were friends with my parents when we lived in Dodge City 30 years ago. I ran into Lisa at the temple during the summer and it was a tender mercy for me - she hugged me and made me feel so loved. We enjoyed dinner together and chatting and laughing for hours!

Our evening ended with the Sound of Music. The kids were spoiled with so much grandparent time!

My parents attended the temple on Thursday evening and then Aaron and I went on Friday night. I'll continue to say this often - we LOVE the location of our home. Seeing the temple daily and attending so often has strengthened us all.