2nd Annual YW Christmas Dinner

So, when you do something two years in a row it becomes an annual thing, right?  

I absolutely love our annual Progressive dinner with the Young Women.  I can't even begin to tell you how amazing they are. It is always such a great night to have a little fun, remember our Savior and spend time with one another.

Our leaders are so wonderful, too.  Each and every one of the them love the girls with their whole heart.  I can't even tell you how many blessings have come to me from serving these beautiful Young Women and with these beautiful Young Women leaders.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 25

I am thankful for music.  I love music and have absolutely no talent whatsoever.  I'm thankful for the songs on the radio that I listen to on the way to work.  The music that I listen to on iTunes while I am at work to help make my day a little smoother-- sometimes it's inspirational and uplifting music and sometimes its my favorite Country Music.  I'm thankful for those talented band, orchestra and choir students that work so hard.  I'm thankful for those that share their talents with others.  I'm thankful for the hymns that we sing on Sunday.

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." 

-Plato

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 5

I am so very grateful for these amazing Young Women and leaders.  They inspire me each and every day.  I can't even tell you how much I love them and how amazing they are.  I am so blessed to have the opportunity to learn and grow with each of these sweet and beautiful people.  My testimony has grown so much from serving in Young Women's-- I will forever be grateful my calling.

My Little Basket

Every month I put together a little Personal Progress Motivator for our Young Women.  Now, I don't know that these little motivators send them running home to work on their Personal Progress, but they sure are fun and they seem to enjoy them.  I love making them and they love receiving them.  It's like a Win-Win set-up we've got going here.

I try to make it cheesy and funny, but give them something they enjoy. Ramen noodles, potato chips and Swedish Fish seemed to be the favorites.

The all-time favorite?  Flair Pens!  Flair Pens are the way to a Young Woman's (or not-so young woman's) heart.  They loved their Flair Pens and were so excited when there was enough left to send the basket around twice for a second pen.

This week's treat was simply a Halloween treat, but it was prepared with love!

I stuffed all my little candies into my basket and was thinking that I sure do need to get a bigger basket.  It occurred to me that I received this basket as a wedding gift from my Mom's very best friend, Evelyn.  These projects would have been right up her alley.  She loved a good project and spent so much time meticulously trimming and cutting to make everything perfect.  

I am planning and preparing our Young Women in Excellence and I am in the home stretch.  I am down to the decorating part.  I sure could use Evelyn's expertise right about now!  I feel like I could have given her my theme and she would have had a million ideas to help me tie it all together.

My mom and Evelyn were quite the pair.  They turned class parties into solid gold-- long before Pinterest. 

I wish my kids could have known the greatness of this duo-- Calhoun and Forthman!  I think they were a force to be reckoned with.

Yeates and JFort

So, I got a text yesterday from my sweet friend, Cara, letting me know that she had the great fortune of having my boy, JFort, in her class that day at school.  Okay, maybe she didn't say that she had the great fortune.  I added that part.

When I got home, I asked Jonathan about it.  Here's how the convo played out:

Me:  I hear you had Coach Yeates today.

Jonathan:  Yeah, why?  (He looked a little concerned.  Like maybe Cara had given me some inside information into his day that he didn't want me to have.)

Me:  No reason.  I was just wondering how it went.

Jonathan:  Well, when we came into class one of my friends said, "Hey Jonathan, when I walked in I heard Coach Yeates say, 'Oh man, there's Fortenberry.  I think I'm going to hurt myself.'"  So I told him that it's okay.  I know her.  Technically, we're neighbors and we go to church together.

Me:  What?  You didn't tell him that Coach Yeates is one of your mom's favorite friends?  Or, can you not talk about your mom at school?

Jonathan:  (Looking at me like he was thinking about rolling his eyes) No, Mom!  I just didn't have time to tell him ALL the ways that I know her.


What does that even mean that we are "technically" neighbors?

Also, the first time I referred to Cara as Coach Yeates, Jonathan said that sounded so weird.  He said that what is more weird is trying not to call her Sister Yeates at school!

JFort and I are thankful for Yeates and how she serves others.  This mama considers it a tender mercy that she is at IHS each and every day.

Courage and Heart

Well, it all started on Friday night.  I went to pick Jonathan up at 6:45 p.m.  Supposedly they got out early, because they had to be at the school early for their Saturday contest in Denton.  As it turns out, it was past 7:00 before I saw in band members heading back to the band hall. 

I had shown up before 6:45 p.m. so that I could claim a prime parking spot.  Little did I realize that I was parked next to James who happens to be the brother of one of my very favorite band members (not counting a certain tuba player).  

So, anyway, Faith spotted me as she was headed out to get in her car and gave me a big wave.  I jumped out and gave her a hug.  I would like to point out to you (and I already pointed out to Jonathan) that while Faith was nice and sweaty from all of her hard work, she smelled fresh as a flower.  Jonathan says that is because she is a girl and probably just used more deodorant before leaving the band hall.  He said he didn't have time for more deodorant.  He was just ready to go home.  Faith asked if I was coming to the contest on Saturday and I told her I wasn't sure, which actually meant that I hadn't planned on it, but now I was having second thoughts.  I had already told Jonathan not to expect us, but now having a second person ask about it, I was starting to be swayed.  If one more person had asked, I would have committed right then and there without talking with Fred.

So, I went home and told Fred that I felt compelled to go to the contest.  So, he struck up a deal.  Fred loves to strike up deals.  It's his favorite thing.  He told Jonathan that if they made it to the finals then we would be there.  Jonathan was super excited and held us to it.

On Saturday, I got a text letting me know that they made it to the finals.  Performance time?  9:00 p.m.!  What kind of deal did Fred make?  Why wouldn't he just commit to the preliminaries?  Tickets were $16, so we got there in time to see almost every band perform.  Fred said he wanted his entire $16 worth!

In the Finals, all bands were judged against each other regardless of size or ability.  One of the first bands we saw was Atoka (I think).  They were so tiny.  I think they had 14 band members 4 flags and 1 drummer and he was on a trap set.  I seriously teared up when they marched out.  I wanted them to be amazing.  The guy behind me was laughing and his wife was shushing him.  I cried for their determination, heart and guts. I texted a picture to my brother and asked him if it reminded him of his band at Community.  I'm not sure that we were even this small my first year and we had the luxury of including 7th and 8th graders.  And, we were probably only bigger by about 6 more members.  What courage it took for them to compete against a huge band like Wakeland High School.  Way to go!

There were some pretty amazing bands competing.  All were more seasoned than our band and many were larger than our band.  The Knight Band did a great job on the field and put on a magnificent performance.

They came in 7th place behind some very fine bands.  Wakeland was 1st and Colleyville Heritage was 2nd.  Honestly, Fred and I thought it would be the other way around.  They were both outstanding. (In the preliminaries, I understand that we were 2nd in our class and 5th overall.)

Fred and I sat next to the Denton High School band.  At first, they were loud, annoying and stinky.  I guess all band boys stink.  A few used inappropriate words.  It was not behavior that I was used to.  I have been fortunate to spend time around some amazing youth from our church and school.  It is no secret that I just love young people and I ended up falling in love with the row of girls directly behind us.  The group as a whole was still unruly, but I loved those girls.  They were so in to each and every performance.  And, they got excited over every group.  They cheered for every band that was competing against them.  They would yell, "Nice!!" when they would do something especially impressive or "Alright!!"  I didn't notice it at first until I heard the most enthusiastic girl cheering for our Knights.  They were on their feet applauding Colleyville Heritage High School.  

What a great way to conduct our lives.  We can all learn something from those girls.  

O Ye that Embark

On Wednesday, we divided up into groups and headed out to wherever our hearts desired as long as we were back in time to present a picture that represented our 2015 Mutual Theme in some way.

"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day." D&C 4:2

We had the cutest group.  Jaiden, Emilee, Sam, Brendan, Parker, Anndie and Sydney.  It took us awhile to develop a plan, but finally Jaiden remembered a park that she had been to that had a covered wagon, so we headed that way. 

They made sure they could present a collage of pictures and they talked about the pioneers embarking on a journey and how important it is to be surrounded by friends with the same values.  I was pretty proud of this amazing group.

Jonathan was in a cute little group that told a story about embarking on a journey across a pond in the dark and murky water.  It was pretty funny.

Afterwards, they took cute pictures.  Lots and lots of cute pictures.

And, the leaders took one too!

What a great year we've had learning to "embark in service of God."  I have loved this year's mutual theme. 

Hold to the Rod

This summer, our youth had the opportunity to participate in a super fun and kind of stressful activity.  It was an "Iron Rod" activity that allowed the youth to step into Lehi's Dream from The Book of Mormon.

In Lehi's Dream there was an iron rod alongside a river that led to a tree.  The iron rod represents the word of God and the tree represents God's love for us.  In Lehi's dream there was a mist that covered the area so that they could not see.  They would sometimes wonder away from the iron rod and become lost.  The mist represents the temptation that we all face.  There was also a large and spacious building.  Some people lost their way and ended up in the large and spacious building which symbolizes the pride of the world. (This is my over simplification to set up the activity, but you can read here and here.)

The "iron rod" was a course of sorts made from a rope and wound from tree to tree.  Several objects were placed in the way.  Ropes that weren't part of the iron rod were also included to confuse the youth, so that they might go the wrong way and be led astray.

The Priests (16-18 year old boys) and their tricky leaders were in charge of the activity. The Young Men leaders served as "tempters" and the Young Women leaders served as "angels."  Well, almost all of the YW leaders were angels.  Anda served as a temptress to confuse them a little.  For some reason they didn't think I would make a very good temptress.  Whatever!!! 

The youth were blindfolded and given a brick to carry at all times.  The brick symbolized their trials.  They were led to the iron rod where angels would help guide them through the course.  They had to keep one hand on the iron rod at all times and hold on to their brick at all times.

  

While angels were doing angel work, the tempters were hard at work tempting.  Some of the tempters would try to gain their trust.  Others were just plain mean.   Anda made me laugh, because she physically got into her job even though they couldn't see her.

Fred and Tony made me so mad. And, I'm not even joking when I say they made me mad.  I literally mean they made me mad.  They were squirting those kids and their angels with water.  Tony started tying ropes on to the iron rod, so that they would think it was a "turn" they were supposed to take.  I took my angeling seriously.  No one fell away on my watch.  I kicked obstacles away.  Yelled at tempters.  And, didn't let them even touch those pesky ropes.  I thought all of that was crazy.  Each time a new group of youth would come through, those men-- especially Fred and Tony would get trickier and trickier.  It would make me more and more frustrated.  They laughed and laughed.  I wanted to cry. This is real stuff, people. I wanted to cry.  I'm not even lying.

Leading these youth seriously stressed me out.  You've heard of No Child Left Behind.  No Youth Fell Off The Path on my watch.  Which was not the point of the exercise.  I get it.  This mama's heart couldn't bear to have one of mine fall off the path.  I wouldn't let it happen.

If they fell away, they were taken to the repentance box where they received counseling from Brother Reinsch and Brother Call. 

Each time they came back from the repentance box, they were given another brick to hold.  My heart broke for Cannon.  He had two bricks and I was determined to get him through without having to go back to the repentance box again.  We worked so hard together.

My own son had 3 bricks!  He said that he had a defective angel in the beginning-- Brother Dwarf!  That made me laugh.  He meant Brother Dorff.  Brother Dorff was a tempter, so he didn't have an angel at all!  In the end, he had his mom, so he made it safely without having to add another brick.

The boys were easily tempted by the men, because they trusted their leaders.  The girls instinctively knew to listen for the women and to block out the men.  When they got towards the end, Bishop would make the angels stop helping.  The youth would have to find their way by themselves.  They would be so nervous without their angels.  They would often call out, "I want Sister Fortenberry" or "Where is my angel?"  That killed me and hurt every one of my feelings.  I think I cried a little bit.  Cute Cannon refused to take another step without me.  Bishop finally told me that I needed to tell him that he should start moving.  When they got to the very end, Bishop was standing there and said, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

I took a couple of things away that night.  One is that as the night went on, the tempters got craftier and trickier.  They got more and more cunning with each group that came through.  The adversary is like that, too.  

It was exhausting being an angel.  I gave my youth so much direction that I didn't have a single one fall off the path.  I didn't want to be responsible for a single one having to go to the repentance box.  This is probably why the men got so crafty.  I am this way in life.  I want to be sitting on each of their shoulders helping them when they need me, but I can't always be there.  

It also broke my heart when Bishop wouldn't let me help them.  I know I've been in that situation with my own kids where I've had to let them spread their wings and fly, but they've wanted me to hold their hands.  Or, in BYC, when I've had those cute Beehives and Bishop expects leaders to sit quietly while the Presidents do all the talking, representing and planning.  I had one new Beehive President that was scared to death.  I wanted to rescue her more than anything.  By the way, she went on to be an amazing President.

Those tricky men and Priests put on an amazing activity that our youth (and leaders) will remember for a very long time.

Twisted Twister

Our Young Women had the most amazing game of Twister last week.

It involved what I hope was washable paint.  The bottle said Washable.  I promise!  This activity was on the calendar last year.  I bought washable paint for it and never took it back.  Thank goodness, because it ended up finally happening.  And, it was a winner.

This activity required two Twister mats, a lot of washable paint, a cute caller and some fun-loving young women.  I feel like many of these Yong Women managed to get more paint on them than necessary.  After all, it was Messy Twister, right?

Did I also mention that some super-chill leaders were required?  The leaders didn't play-- I don't want to speak for the other leaders, but there is a good chance that I could get into the Twister postions, but most likely I would not be able to get up off the mat.  

Two minutes into the game, I received a slimy hug from our enthusiastic Beehives.  They also painted on my arm.  I don't know how that always happens.

Even Carly's baby was not safe from the paint love.

This picture says it all!  Paint causes teenagers to lose their minds. This is a true story.  

My favorite picture from the night.  Could be my favorite picture ever, because Sydney's face is just priceless. 

I love this cute group of messy girls.  They are amazing-- even when they are completely covered with paint and losing their mind with craziness because of it. I just can't get enough of them.  This activity reminded me why I love Beehives so much.  There is such a sweet and fun innocence about them.  They love everyone and they share that love.  They giggle.  They have fun.  I am also reminded of why I love Mia Maids so much.  They are easily distracted.  They do everything big.  They have big fun and they have big hearts.  And, of course, the Laurels.  Those sweet Laurels have my heart forever and always.  I've known them since they were 12.  They have grown into such amazing leaders with fun personalities.

How blessed am I that I get to rub elbows with these Young Women?

Fun Friends on a Saturday Night

Saturday night, Fred and I spent a wonderful evening with the youth and other leaders from our ward (congregation).  We had the opportunity to attend an FC Dallas game and had so much fun.  We have amazing youth and leaders.  I feel so blessed that I get to hang out with all of these wonderful people.

 

Jaiden brought 2 friends.  Jessie seemed to find common interests with one of them.  They talked about all kinds of things that were foreign to me.  They traded numbers, so they could continue to talk about quirky/weird stuff.

Fred and I knew that our first attempt at a selfie was a fail.  What we didn't realize was that we had a photobomber in the background.   I posted this pic on Facebook and Instagram.  The Colony ward happened to be sitting behind us.  His daughter and granddaughter both claimed him.  One on Facebook and one on Instagram.  How funny!

And, last but certainly not least, I had the opportunity to get to know this awesome Beehive-to-be.  I mean I knew her before, but I feel like I really got a sense of her precious, fun, sweet and energetic personality.  I am counting down the days until we can be Personal Progress buddies.

I am so thankful for each of the youth and each of the leaders that I spent Saturday night with.  They are such great examples to both me and my family.  I am thankful that my family can spend a Saturday night hanging out with them and having fun.

Good News

So, when I visit the Laurels class on Sundays they go around the room and share their good news-- or fun activity from the week.  I am never prepared, because I forget that they do this.  I think I said something lame-o about having gone to see a movie the night before.  Well, after I had gone, I wanted to scream, "Wait, I take mine back!  My good news is that I got to see my sweet friend, Susan on Friday!"  I only got to see her for a moment at a wedding reception, because she was so very busy.  However, she greeted me with the biggest and best hug and I was so very happy to see her.

Once upon a time, I was a YW 2nd Counselor and Susan was our Beehive Adviser.  I could sit and listen to her teach for hours and hours.  She is my favorite teacher.  I love to listen to her teach.  I know those Beehives loved to listen to her teach, too.  On Sundays, my family would just motion to me that they would be waiting for me in the car.  They always knew that it would take Susan and I a few minutes to wrap up.  On Wednesdays, after mutual, we would be in the parking lot talking (in the dark) late into the night.  Fred would text me to see if I was EVER coming home.  We would be standing in the parking lot solving the world's problems-- or at least worrying about our sweet girls.  It was always hard getting up the next morning, but I loved standing there talking to Susan on those  Wednesday nights.

Our Jessie hit a few snags in life during her sophomore year of high school and we didn't feel it was safe to leave her home alone.  We were afraid that she might hurt herself.  I left work each day and picked her up from school and brought her back to work with me.  It was a crazy and stressful time of life, for sure.  I didn't really tell people what was going on or ask for help.  I just kind of dug in and went to work.  It's hard to ask for help when your are going through that kind of hurt.  Susan knew what we were going through, because we were serving so closely together and because we spent Wednesday nights solving the world's problems.  (Those Wednesday nights were my only time away from my problems.)  Susan started picking Jessie up a couple of days a week from school, so that I could have a break.  It stressed me out at first to have help, but she didn't take no for an answer and it was really good for Jessie to have that time away from me.  They baked together and played with Susan's granddaughter which are Jessie's two favorite things in life.  I will be eternally grateful for the service that Susan provided during that time when we needed help.  I know Jessie will, too. 

I was so sad when Susan moved!  I loved serving with Susan.  She is absolutely one of my favorite people on this earth.  We had so much fun with our Beehives and my testimony grew as I learned from her example.  She taught us about the gospel, loving others and about how to serve others.  

These cute Beehives are now Laurels and we all miss her and think of her often.

Temple Trip

Fred and I had the opportunity to celebrate our 21st Wedding Anniversary with the youth from our church.  And, I didn't even get a single picture of Fred and I!

We took some very special family names to the temple-- both of grandfathers along with my dad's sister and mom's sister.  

Jonathan did the names for the men and Jaiden did the females.  What a tender, sweet and tear filled evening for me.  The spirit was felt for sure.

A Temple trip wouldn't be the same without a trip to Braum's!  What a blessed wife, mom and YW leader I am!

Party Bus

Friday night we drove ourselves to San Antonio, so that we could be at Trinity University bright and early to pick these cuties up from EFY.  Let me tell you, it was like herding cats trying to get them rounded up.  I thought Ethan was just going to stay in San Antonio.  

Paris and I decided to ban any talk of COWs (crush of the week).  That is all the boys could talk about.  We pretty much were over it after about an hour.  

We stopped off at my Auntie Jan and Uncle Joe's house and went to breakfast.  We had a great morning.  I got the prize for having the coolest aunt.  Paris and I posed with our Texas shirts.  We are pretty proud of our home state and we didn't even plan our outfits!

We hit the road where we had DJ Ethan or DJ EJ (I forget what he calls himself) spinning tunes for us all the way home.  He said he was taking over for Big Mama (our friend Rod who DJs the church dances).  I guess Rod better watch out, because Ethan's got it going on.

We partied all the way to Buc-Ees where we obtained gas and some Beaver Nuggets.  Those things will make your eyes roll back in your head they are so sweet.   It's a small world, because we missed my cousin by 40 or 45 minutes.  He rolled through the same Buc-Ees 40 minutes after we did.  Too bad we didn't hit it at the same time.  We could have had a family reunion and some Beaver Nuggets.

We had so much fun with those three kiddos!  We heard all about each of their EFY Companies, Ethan and Jonathan's COWs and all about how Jonathan had to shave (apparently Jonathan's mustache fuzz violated the "no facial hair" policy).

If you're ever looking for a good time, call for the Fortenberry Party Bus rates.  We're pretty cheap!