The rest of the story-the Golden Acorn and more

I promised I would write the nomination letter that Kathy wrote to nominate me for the Golden Acorn award, so here it is.

"I would like to nominate Lisa Stevens for the Golden Acorn Award this year. I call Lisa my library angel, and she is that and much more. Lisa has gone above and beyond as a volunteer and helper in the library.
I first met Lisa about 2 years ago, at that time, she was helping Mrs. Jones in the library doing whatever needed to be done and always with a smile on her face. This last year, when I became Teacher/Librarian at Washington, she came in almost every Thursday to help checkout the students,shelve books and run to the office to do odd jobs. If that wasn't enough, she called me during the summer to ask if I needed help in the library finishing up on the inventory and weeding old books out of our collection. She came in several times during the summer with her two sweet daughters, Jalani and Jolyn, to help do those jobs and then to help me set up my library for this year. This school year, I have 29 classes in the library adn Lisa knows how busy it is with so many classes, so when she can, she comes in several times a week to help in anyway she can. She does some of the processing of new books, deleting/surplusing old books, printing new spine labels to replace the old ones for our books on the shelf, and then checking out and checking in the books for our students.
Lisa has been invaluable to me and our students, I don't know what I would do without Lisa!"
Kathy Dorey
Teacher/Librarian

Wasn't that so sweet of Kathy. I truly feel honored and blessed to work with Kathy and the others in the Library. I enjoy my time with them and the students. I know most of the students I work with by name, and it is fun to address them by their names,and watch the shock on their faces as I do so.
I am thankful for the knowledge I have gained in the Library and for the opportunities it gives me.


Enough on that subject, now on to the next. We are leaving tonight to drive to Yakima and on to Dallas, Oregon to a funeral for Jeff's Aunt Dorothy.
Jolyn hasn't seen most of this side of his family since she was about 2 years old, and Jalani has never met them. So it will be fun for them to meet the rest of Daddy's family. I wish it was under different circumstances, but it will be nice to see them all again.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Love to all!!!

Birthday Luncheon & The Golden Acorn Award

On Tues. the ladies I volunteer for in the Washington Elementary Library had a Bday lunch for me in the library. We had delicious salads and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. I received a bird house on a stake for my yard, and a mini flag holder with a welcome flag. I also received a Giftcard for Starbucks. It was very nice of them to do that for me. It has been a tradition this year, when one of us has a bday we do this lunch together.

That afternoon I was asked to come back to be at the Volunteer Tea they hold every year, to thank the volunteers. They have an award they present every year, The Golden Acorn. The teachers nominate the volunteers by writing a short essay about their volunteers and what they do for them. Kathy, the librarian, who I volunteer for, nominated me this year. I was blessed to be 1 of 2 who were selected to receive the Golden acorn pin and certificate. I felt very humbled to be honored by Kathy this way.
I will write the nomination letter at a later time, as I do not have it with me at this time. It was a good day.

I am thankful I am able to volunteer with Kathy, she is such a wonderful person. I am thankful for her thoughtfulness and her caring for those around her.

I am thankful for my health which allows me to do the things which I enjoy. I am thankful for all of you!!
Love to all!! :-)

The Greatest Week (ok Nine Days)

I know it has been an eternity since you have heard from me!!I apologize for that.
No excuses here.

This past week has been the most wonderful. I had my parents here from May 4th-12th. It was so awesome.
We accomplished alot and had a great time.

Thanks so much Mom & Dad for being here and for all you did for us!! We miss you already and wish you could have stayed longer.

While Mom & Dad were here we fixed some things and planted a ton of flowers, and much more.
We went to a place called Ohme Gardens.
http://www.co.chelan.wa.us/og/index.htm
You can look at it here on this webpage.
They also experienced the tail end of Apple Blossom Festival.
We went to Mai Fest in Leavenworth and had dinner there. Not impressed with the restaurant we ate at. Mom liked the salad. :-)
We spent this past weekend in Spokane with both of our Moms and my Dad. Jeff's brother & his wife also. We had a great Mom's Day dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu, Rice Pilaf, Carrots, Spinach Salad, Green Bean Casserole, Rolls, Pineapple, Strawberries and lots of good things to eat. It was fun. We played Mexican Train together afterwards. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
It was great to have both Moms together at once.
Speaking of Moms, Jeff's mom, Walle, has been put on a lung transplant list and is awaiting the phone call. We are so excited for her to have the opportunity to live a better life, one without oxygen. :-)
Please keep her in your prayers, that when the time comes all will go well.
I am off and running.
bye bye for now!!

Time goes by again!! :-(

Here it is a long time again, since I have written.

I have been busy trying to organize my house. It is a big project!! I am not a very good organizer, but I am trying to improve that.

We are anxiously awaiting for the next week to go by, so we can pick up Grandpa Lynn & Grandma Linda and spend 9 whole days with them. I can't wait. We are going to see the end of Apple Blossom Festival on the day they arrive, and then church on Sunday. Monday -Friday we will have various activities to do: such as, Soccer games, museums, and more.

I have been reading a new book, entitled 'The Holy Secret" by James Ferrell. He is the author of "The Peacegiver". It is really good so far.
I have also started reading a new series entitled "The Sisters Grimm", it is cute!!

Yesterday, we came to the realization that our dishwasher has bit the dust. It is no longer running, I hope it isn't anything major, and can be fixed without too much expense.

Life can throw lots of things at you. You just need to be prepared to handle them!!


I have pondered the responsibility of parenting lately.
Susan W. Tanner in the last Gen. Conf. spoke these words : "The scriptures use the word nurture only twice and in both cases speak of the responsibility of parents to raise their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4; Enos 1:1).
President Hinckley also admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, “How much more beautiful would be the . . . society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord” (“These, Our Little Ones,” Liahona, Dec. 2007, 7; Ensign, Dec. 2007, 9)

I have been trying more to treat my children in the way Heavenly Father would have me treat them. Trying to use softer tones, less yelling and screaming. It is not an easy task, but I will continue to give it my best effort. I know Heavenly Father loves each of us and wants us to succeed in all we strive to accomplish.
I pray I can do more nuturing and less critizing.

Long Time, no write :-(

Here it is another long time no writing. I am not doing very well at this, I guess.
Jeff is currently in Spokane, where he has been since Monday. He went to school on Monday, and then is staying in Spokane for training from work till Thurs.

The girls are doing the WASL this week, which is the state testing they do in Washington as part of 'No child left behind'. It is for 2 weeks. They test at different grade levels and in Math, Reading, Writing and Science. Jolyn came home yesterday and was saying she finished the first portion in 45 minutes, and it was easy. (We shall see when the scores come out.)
Chewy & I went to the Playgroup at the park today, and he was really good with the kids and parents, he didn't jump up on anyone. And only kissed a few kids.
It is sunny, but windy here today.

We are forcasted for snow this weekend. What month is this again???
Jalani has soccer practice tonight, and Jolyn has YW. Mom's taxi will be busy tonight.
That is all for now, folks!! :-)

Spring Break and more

We just finished up Spring Break, and had fun. The girls spent 2 days in the afternoon at the ice skating rink, which they have come to love.
On Thurs. night we drove to Tacoma and spent the night at McChord AFB, and on Friday morning we went and spent the day at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. We spent the whole day and had a great time. We were able to take in a IMAX show at the PSC.

It is now April 16th, and sad to say I am now going to finish what I was writing on the 8th.
It was nice to get away for the couple of days, and be together as a family, with no work or school pressures. It was enjoyable. After leaving the PSC we ate dinner at a food court nearby. Everyone chose their favorite food. Then we started our drive home, stopping in CleElum for Ice Cream. It was awesome.
Arriving in Wenatchee we stopped at Safeway(sorry mom & dad) and bought milk. Jolyn & I were in the store and we ran into the Ralph & Rachel who had watched Chewy and our home for us while we were away. We visited briefly with them, and then got our items needed and left. When we arrived home (parking in the front) Jolyn was the first one to the door and she noticed there were leis on the door. She thought someone had borrowed ours and returned them. After entering the house, we thought we had arrived at a Hawaiian luau. Ralph & Rachel had decorated our front room. How fun!! They are a cute couple and the girls get a kick out of Ralph and his humor.
anyhow, it was a great time.

Temples, Blessings and More

On this past Sat. March 29th, Jeff & I were able to go to the Seattle Temple together. It had been too long since we had been to the temple together. It was wonderful. We had a hard time making the decision on how we were going to go.
We had everything from taking the girls with us, to waiting till Tues. and to go in Spokane and the girls be with Gma Walle, to everything inbetween it seemed.....
We finally at 8:20am on Sat., made the final decision, which would be to leave the girls with friends (whom I had previously contacted) and go to the temple alone together. It was a wonderful experience, even the drive there. We talked about lots of things.....
The session was very small for a Sat. (only 8 people), Jeff & I had a special opportunity, and were selected for an important part. It was awesome!! The spirit was wonderful and sitting in the celestial room after was great...... (I know enough with the great and wonderful.)
It is hard to express in words, the wonderful spirit you feel in the temple.

We ate in the cafeteria after, delicious as always. Then we went into Deseret Book and bought the most wonderful thing..... a book with a Cd by Michael McLean entitled....
"From God's Arms", it has all the adoption songs and words for each song,and some additional information. We listened to that on the way home and read the words, and sang along, and cried......... It was great.
We hit snowstorms both ways over Snoqualmie Pass, but otherwise had no difficulties. It was an awesome day. :-)