Each Life You Touch

 

No man or woman proceeds alone.  All of us are largely products of the lives which touch upon our lives.
-Gordon B. Hinckley

Today, there have been big changes in the Fortenberry house.  In our church we have callings which are our 'jobs' in the church.  Fred was moved from Assistant Scout Master to Scout Master which is a big job and means that they have a lot of faith in him.  I know that he will do a great job, but I also know that he will miss his buddy.  His good friend, Tony has been the Scout Master.  They moved him to another position.  He will still be working with the Young Men just not the same age group. 

I have been working with the Young Women for almost two years now.  In November it will be 2 years.  I was called as 2nd counselor the day before my Aunt Judy passed away.  I remember waiting to head out to Greeville until a member of the Bishopric came by to give me the calling.  I wasn't even at church to be sustained.  Our Young Women's Presidency was released today.

These girls and the other leaders have touched my life more than they can ever know.  I hope that I have touched theirs.  I might write more about them and how much I love and adore them.  Right now, I am too sad.  I know that they will have great leaders, and I know that I will go on to have another great calling. 

Right now, I just can't help but wonder what I will do with myself on Wednesday nights while my kids and husband are at Young Men and Young Women's.  I am sure I will come to enjoy my time to myself.  However, at first, it is going to be so very sad not to be with our youth.

I am thankful that I was called to serve with the Young Women.  I have loved every minute. 

Flashback Friday: Pinewood Derby

On February 23, 2008 Jonathan participated in a Pinewood Derby.  I love the look of concern and determination on his face as he watches his car (or maybe he is waiting to see his time).  Not sure, but he is clearly watching and waiting.

So cute!

1st in his heat

Cousin Time - Cheyanne's Birthday

On September 15th, MaMaw, Jessie and I met up in Princeton to visit with my Grandma.  We loved on her and slipped her some cash for her 92nd birthday that would be coming up on the 18th.  Green is her favorite color.  After spending some time with Grandma, we jetted out to Greenville to spend some time with our sweet cousin, Cheyanne.  Cheyanne is one whole hand old!  Cheyanne was hanging with her best bud, so we only saw her, but didn't visit with her.  It is exciting when kids start making best friends.  We did get to visit with her mother (which is my cousin), so that was just as fun!

My sweet cousin, Tammy, loves to tag people on Facebook.  If you saw me tagged in Cheyanne's birthday pictures, I want to clear up a few things.  First of all, one of my friends commented on the fact that I didn't look so happy.  If you read my Craftacular post, then you know that I had a migraine for three days after staying up too late.  Well, this was the first day after I stayed up too late.  It was the worst of the three migraine days.  I was trying to smile and participate, but I was pretty sure that I might die even though there have been no proven cases of death due to migraines.  Second of all, someone wanted to know why we were in a garage.  We are from the country and that is how we roll.  You are just jealous that there isn't enough room in your city garages, driveways and yards. 

We always have so much fun visiting our country cousins. It always makes me wish that I had kept my kids in the country.  Everything is better in the country (except the fact that you can't get pizza delivery).

Craftacular

Jessie and I had craft night with the girls last week while the boys were camping.  We were so excited to make these awesome pumpkins.  One of the girls got the idea off of Pinterest (or Pin-interest as Angela calls it).  I have redone the polka-dots since this picture.  I had Angela giving me polka dot advice.  Angela is one of those friends that either has really awesome advice or really awful advice. 

I know that I am getting old, because Jess and I were out until after midnight and then we got home and didn't go to bed until 1:30.  I had a migraine for the rest of the weekend.  1:30 was an every Friday and Saturday occurance when I was in college.  Now, I can't even do it once in a blue moon.  So sad!  It was a fun night, though.

Tubaliscious

Friday night we went to hear our favorite tuba player - ok we went to hear the entire Wester middle school band play.  It was fun to hear them play some current tunes.  At night, I just hear the lower brass parts, which aren't all that exciting.  I guess I will always be glad that I played the clarinet. 

They started out old school with Land of 1000 Dances and then they played The Lazy Song, Rock Around the Clock, Firework, Animal,  Party Rock Anthem and Pretty Fly.

Jonathan's favorite song is Pretty Fly and his band director is a proponent of letting the kids dance with the music.  Problem is Jonathan plays the tuba.  He was the only tuba player even trying to 'dance' to Pretty Fly.  Only thing he could do with that big thing was rock it back and forth.  I forgot to grab my good video camera, so I was videoing on my phone which doesn't allow me to zoom.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get his awesome performance.  All you can see is a blur because I was laughing so hard making the phone shake.  Years from now, I will wonder why I was laughing. 

We are so glad that Jonathan enjoys band and hope that he continues to enjoy it.  I hope that he continues on with it into high school.  Until then, I think we are going to have a fun year.

Be Strong Don't Give Up

 

Remember, there is a deeper strength

and an amazing abundance of peace available to you.

Draw from this well;

call on your faith to uphold you.

You will make it through this time

and find joy in life again.

Be strong and don't give up

I know you're going to make it,

and my live and prayers

are with you.

 

-Pamela Owens Renfro 

 

My sweet friend, Susan, gave me a magnet with this quote.  She has moved to Utah and I am going to miss her so much.  We have been friends and we have served the Young Women together.  She has helped our family when were in need.  She is one of my favorite people in the world.  We love you so much, Susan!  Thank you for your sweet service to our family.

Flashback Friday: Auntie Jan and Uncle Joe's Wedding

1) I hit 500 posts last Sunday!  I big accomplishment considering I dropped out of the blogging world for a while.

2) I am a day late on Flashback Friday, so you are getting FF on Saturday.  I hope that is ok...

3) I haven't had any posts this week.  It has been quite the week.  My sweet girls were in charge of a Standards Night at church on Wednesday. We have been planning for weeks.  It has been daunting and we planned one activity only to scrap it two weeks ago.  At the moment we scrapped it, we realized that we lost a week of planning due to a combined young women's activity taking the place of our last planning day. Plus, it has been so incredibly busy at work. We have been preparing for a customer visit all week.   All I can say is that I have had some things to post, but I have been just to tired mentally and physically to sit and type.

So... here is Flashback Friday on Saturday...

Jessie and I had a great time traveling to Austin for Auntie Jan and Uncle Joe's wedding.  We had just returned home from our Port Aransas trip.  We dropped the boys off at home and then Jess and I jumped in the car and headed back towards Austin.  In hindsight, I'm trying to remember why we just didn't stop in Austin, but I think we were trying to conserve money after our vacation, plus there was the concern that everyone was going to be exhausted and on each other's nerves after our time in the sun. It was probably a good call.  Jess and I had a fun girls' trip.

 

Auntie Jan and Uncle Joe got married on August 9, 2008 in a beautiful ceremony in their backyard.  They have an awesome backyard full of trees.  I wish we had backyards like that in Dallas!  Then we moved the festivities in doors.  I am sure Auntie Jan was cleaning and recovering for weeks.  We all contributed our punch glasses to the affair.  We were finding punch glasses, cake plates and who knows what else stuck in every nook and cranny of her house.

 

The sun was in an awful place for this picture.  Jess was so cute that I had to share it.  She was sporting her tan from Port Aransas and we had gone for pedicures just before our trip.  No matter how old you are, you can't go to the beach without a fresh pedicure!

 

 



Prepare Yourselves

Jessica and Lainey

 

Apply thine heart unto instruction,

and thine ears to the words of the knowledge.

Proverbs 23:12

 

I don't care what you plan to do as your life's vocation, but prepare yourselves.  Get the best education you can.  Qualify yourselves in the best way you know how.  It's part of a mandate from the Lord that you train yourselves.

-Gordon B. Hinckley

I read this quote from a couple of days ago and it reminded me of Jessica.  She has started thinking of her future and what she wants to do.  She is really interested in working with preschool/elementary age children.  She talked to her teacher to see what she could work out at school, so that she could get some experience working with kids.  Due to my work schedule, she has to stay in the afterschool program and has been exposed to many different learning difficulties and special needs.  As a result, she has become very interested in working with kids with special needs.

I received an email from Jessica's teacher, Mr. Nathan.  He was letting me know that they were going to pull Jess a couple days a week to work with the small reading groups in 3rd and 4th grade.  If I understand it correctly, most of these kids have dyslexia.  The letter read, "The staff is excited to have some help and Jessica seems jazzed to build her resume and aide where she can work with the little ones.  I see a teacher in her and think getting started now will help her transition into the education field in college."

The next day I checked Jessica's folder, and there was a note on her point sheet.  It read, "Jess helped Mrs. Monique this morning and really liked it.  Monique said she was amazing and can't wait to have her help again."

I am so excited that Jess is getting the opportunity to work with the younger kids at school.  I think this is a wonderful opportunity for her and I am so proud of her!

Flashback Friday: Something Fishy

April 2, 2008

Teaching Moments

On 9/11, Jess and I had the opportunity to discuss the events that happened to our country 11 years ago.  She and I travel to Carrollton every morning, so we had plenty of uninterrupted time to talk about this special day. 

I told her about where I was when I heard and what it felt like.  We talked about how our Co-President and another co-worker were traveling and couldn't get back home. She told me what she remembered from that day.  She only remembered being in Mrs. Weeks' kindergarten class, and that some of her friends left early that day.  She never understood why she had to stay the full day.  That made me feel really bad that she could remember the stay-at-home moms coming to pick up their kids. I had to explain  that I was required to work the entire day.  She told me why she thought it happened.  It was a very special talk and I was so very glad that we were able to have.

Once we finished talking about 9/11, she asked me about Mitt Romney.  She was confused as to why he could be against bullying, yet he confessed to having bullied someone in high school.  This was a great conversation that I was so thankful for.  We talked about how so many of us make bad choices (big and small) in high school.  However, we can learn from those bad choices and make promises to never make those again. 

What Is A Girl To Do?

(Worst picture ever of Mollie and I)

 

The fall weather was rolling in on Saturday morning and we had nothing on the calendar.  It was so beautiful and my family was super lazy.  Jessica was with a friend, but if she had been home she would have been super lazy, too.  Jonathan just wanted to play video games and Fred just wanted to alternate between watching TV and sleeping.

 

So, what's a girl to do when your family doesn't want to hang out with you?  I guess you hang out with your dog.  How sad is that?  I begged Jonathan to go on a bike ride or for a walk and he said no.  Fred completely ignored me, so I grabbed Mollie's leash and we went for a walk.  We met a woman and another dog.  We sat and watched the ducks for a long time.  And, now I'm one of those people.  I'm one of those 'dog' people, because my family doesn't want to hang out with me.

 

It is a sad life that I lead.

 



Personal Reflection

San Marcos River

Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.
-Doctrine and Covenants 101:16

Our lives have become extremely busy.  We run from one thing to another.  We wear ourselves out in thoughtless pursuit of goals which are largely ephemeral.  We are entitled to spend some time with ourselves in introspection, in development, in thinking, meditating, pondering things.
-Gordon B. Hinckley

I love my little blog.  It allows me to do just what President Hinckley counsels... spend time in introspection, in development, in thinking, in meditating and in pondering things.  I don't always record the things that I think about, but it allows me to ponder and think some of my best thoughts and fix the problems of the world (or at least my family).

We should all make time for personal reflection.

Flashback Friday: Mollie's Homecoming

June 21, 2008

The day our sweet Mollie came home with us!

The happiest day ever...

(That was before we embarked on training!)

Weekend Funnies

Filters Are A Great Thing
I was helping pack my Grandma's belongings, so that she could move to a new assisted living home.  While we were packing, Grandma went down to have lunch.  I ended up taking her something which gave me the opportunity to meet her tablemates.  She proudly introduced me to all her friends leaving this one sweet lady for last. She then said, "Donna, this is Jane.  She don't hardly comb her hair much."  And, that my friends is the innocence of a 92 year old.  I sure hope my filter holds out on me, because I have a lot of thoughts in my head that I think should really stay there!

Dracula
I commented to Fred that I needed to run by the store over the weekend and pick up Dracula for Jessica.  She needed to have it for school by Tuesday.  Fred looked at me thoughtfully and asked, "Does she need the black and white version or the new version?"  Confused and then amused, I answered, "Umm, that would be the print version.  She has to read the book for school.  Not watch the movie!"  He just grinned sheepishly, but wasn't too ashamed that he seemed to forget that kids have to READ in English class.

Courage the Cowardly Dog
This weekend I was talking to Jessica's friend from school.  His name is Euciff (not exactly sure how you spell that).  I had met him last year.  However, I got really confused and kept calling him Eustace - as in the old man from Courage the Cowardly Dog.  I kept trying to figure out why that name sounded so familiar.  Finally, Jess got on to me and said that is NOT his name and reminded me where I was pulling that name from.  Poor guy.  I don't think I called him that to his face.  My kids were never allowed to watch that show, but it seemed like it was always coming on TV and we were always having to change the channel.  We got a good laugh over the fact that I kept calling this poor boy Eustace.  Last year, I met Praveen and called him Perveen and Spyker was Stryker.  Am I that uncool that I can't get these names right?  What happened to kids with normal names like Matt and John? 

School Project?

Jessica and her friend, Sarah, spent Friday evening and all day Saturday together.  They were supposed to be working on a photojournalism project together.  They were comparing and contrasting a no-kill animal shelter and a traditional animal shelter. 

I wasn't sure how much work they got done, since they were planning more 'work' on their project this weekend.  And, last weekend's agenda seemed to include dinner at Olive Garden, a movie and hanging with friends.  I did let Jess borrow my camera and I was happy to find some pictures of dogs and cats on my memory card. 

I am glad to see that they did manage to get a little bit of work done!

Swoosh

Over the holiday weekend, we had to head over to our local Academy and buy Jonathan a pair of shoes for tennis.  Jonathan was happily trying on the Nike and Adidas shoes until he picked out the Nike's. His only regret was that he preferred the Nike's that had the green stripe, but they didn't come in his size.

 

A few minutes after making what we thought was our final selection, Fred happened upon more shoes to choose from.  A few Reebok's along with the cheaper Wilson shoes and the Academy brand for a low, low price.  Jonathan tried on the Wilson and Academy private label branded shoes and would quickly yell out that they didn't fit.  He would often yell out that they didn't fit long before he had them on his feet or before they were tied.  Fred was dutifully asking in what way they didn't fit, so that he could offer up different sizes.  However, I had figured out the game Jonathan was playing.

 

For the first time in Jonathan's 12 years, we were having to deal with brand awareness and brand loyalty.  I leaned over and asked him, "We aren't leaving here without those Nike's are we?"  He mumbled something about how they fit and felt so much better than all the others.  I gathered all the boxes up and gave them to Fred, so that we could put them away and explained that we were buying the Nike's.  For some reason, I really wanted Jonathan to have those shoes.  Maybe because I always wanted certain brands, but couldn't have them. 

 

Given the fact that we don't expect Jonathan to be a tennis pro, I should have made him leave with the off-brand shoes, but I didn't.  And, given the fact that we don't expect him to be a tennis pro is the very reason why Fred felt so strongly that Jonathan needed to leave with the cheap shoes!

 

And, let me tell you, all the way home we had to hear about the cost difference between the Nike's and the Tredz (who thought of that stupid name anyway).  Here's the thing, Fred is not loyal to any brand whatsoever!  He will buy a cheap pair of shoes and then get mad because they fell apart or can't figure out why his heal hurts while he is playing basketball.  He doesn't understand what it feels like to want to fit in or be cool.  This man happily drove his Dad's minivan at the age of 19.  He might be the only teenager ever pulled over in the city of Plano for racing a Ford Aerostar!

 

All I know for sure is that Fred told Jonathan that he had better use those shoes all year long and never complain about them one time!

Take Time To Smell The Roses

Lake Bonham

 

"To truly reverence the Creator, we must appreciate his creations.  We need to plan to take time to observe the marvels of nature.... Take time to sit on a hillside and feel the tranquility of the evening when the sun casts its last golden glow over the horizon.  Take time to smell the roses."

 

-Elder M. Russell Ballard

"God's Love For His Children," Ensign, May 1988