Much To Be Thankful For

Five days after Adrienne came home we celebrated Thanksgiving!  This was our last Thanksgiving all together as a family for a couple years.  Adrienne just got here and in a few short months Jacob will be leaving on his mission.  General conference this year brought some exciting news for Jacob.  The age for male missionaries has dropped from 19 to 18 making Jacob eligible to go at any time.  He would be leaving right away if we were better prepared. Honestly, I was never really sure Jacob would serve a mission.  But Jacob has proven to me in the last couple years that there is NOTHING he cannot do when he puts his mind to it and with the Lord's help.  Because of the autism, we never set up a missionary fund for him, so we are doing some make up saving now, which has been a bit tricky with so many of us going to college.  But we have been extremely blessed and know we are doing the right thing.  Jacob is working full time at Basic American Foods processing potatos and should have his half of the missionary costs covered in a few more months. He plans to get his papers in after the first of the year.  Because this was his last year with us for a couple years, it was a happy day for us all!  I am so grateful to have my family all together with me!

We had quite a Thanksgiving feast this year!  It was our first year doing everything and it turned out fabulous!  Adrienne was so much help!  She helped me make a pumpkin pie, an apple pie and a cherry pie!  And she helped with rolls and turkey roll ups!  It was as fun preparing it all as it was eating it all!  Richard is a wiz with turkey's and this year it was perfectly seasoned and so moist and juicy!  I had planned for us to eat off this meal all weekend, but we ran out on Saturday afternoon!

For fun we watched Arthur Christmas and it was really cute.  I must say it was really nice this year just staying in and enjoying the family! 

Exploring Rexburg by Adrienne

Hey there! So almost 2 weeks ago I moved to Rexburg Idaho for school and to be with my family! It has been 5 months since I have seen them, and I can not tell you how happy I am to be with them again! Rexburg is a beautiful town, and I have had lots of time to go out and explore. I will be taking many, many pictures around here in the future, but for now here are a few that I have taken. =)

My little brother Joseph is my adventure buddy.  I love him! =)

All Together Now!!!

Adrienne came home on the 17th of November!  After being away from our family for five loooong months, you can imagine the excitement in our home that day!  We worked hard all week cleaning the house and we decorated her room.  We wanted everything to be perfect!  It was a Saturday and Richard and I had some errands to run in Idaho Falls and we were rushing to be sure we were home when she got there.  I was very emotional all day in anticipation of seeing my dear sweet daughter in person again!

Adrienne got up super early and made the long drive by herself!  She arrived around 5pm and despite the cold, Annalina was waiting on the front porch reading a book.  Jacob was at work, but the rest of us all ran out to her car and hugged her and when we got inside, Adrienne ran from room to room with the kids checking out her new home.  It was fun to watch their excitement at being together again!  She loved the streamers and balloons in her room and has left them up! Annalina was about an inch and a half shorter than Adrienne when we moved in June, now they are about the same height! It feels good to have the family back together!

Family

I was doing some homework for my Book of Mormon class when I came across these words about Family by President Hinckley.  They touched me deeply and I want my own children to know that I believe what is said below with all my heart.    I have a testimony of the importance of families.  I love and respect my husband as the head of our house.  I love and adore each and every one of my children and know that they are a blessing from the Lord.  I am so grateful that we can be together forever!

Words of the Prophet: Your Family

Gordon B. Hinckley

Strengthen the Family You’re in Now

Let us continually work to strengthen our families. … Let us not take one another for granted, but let us constantly work to nurture a spirit of love and respect for each other. We must guard against faultfinding, anger, and disrespect one for another.  If we would look for the virtues in one another and not the vices, there would be much more of happiness in the homes of our people. There would be far less of divorce, much less of infidelity, much less of anger and rancor and quarreling. There would be more of forgiveness, more of love, more of peace, more of happiness. This is as the Lord would have it.

Pray Together to Stay Together

I feel satisfied that there is no adequate substitute for the morning and evening practice of kneeling together—father, mother, and children. This, more than soft carpets, more than lovely draperies, more than cleverly balanced color schemes, is the thing that will make for better and more beautiful homes.
In such a home, parents are loved and not dreaded; they are appreciated and not feared. And children are regarded as gifts of the Lord, to be cared for, nurtured, encouraged, and directed. There may be an occasional disagreement; there may be small quarrels. But if there is prayer in the family, and love, and consideration, there will be a residue of affection that will bind forever and a loyalty that will always guide.

Aim for a Temple Marriage

 Every normal young man desires a wife. Every normal young woman desires a husband. Be worthy of the mate you choose. Respect him or her. Give encouragement to him or her. Love your companion with all your heart. This will be the most important decision of your life, the individual whom you marry.
There is no substitute for marrying in the temple. It is the only place under the heavens where marriage can be solemnized for eternity. Don’t cheat yourself. Don’t cheat your companion. Don’t shortchange your lives. Marry the right person in the right place at the right time.
Choose a companion of your own faith. You are much more likely to be happy. Choose a companion you can always honor, you can always respect, one who will complement you in your own life, one to whom you can give your entire heart, your entire love, your entire allegiance, your entire loyalty.

A Strong Family Is Worth the Work

I believe in the family where there is a husband who regards his companion as his greatest asset and treats her accordingly; where there is a wife who looks upon her husband as her anchor and strength, her comfort and security; where there are children who look to mother and father with respect and gratitude; where there are parents who look upon those children as blessings and find a great and serious and wonderful challenge in their nurture and rearing. The cultivation of such a home requires effort and energy, forgiveness and patience, love and endurance and sacrifice; but it is worth all of these and more. When all is said and done, this is what the gospel is about. The family is a creation of God. It is the basic creation. The way to strengthen the nation is to strengthen the homes of the people.

Beautiful Oregon: Hilsboro Library by Adrienne

 Well, in about 9 days I will be on my way to Idaho for school and to be with my family! It is crazy how fast time flies. I am starting to realize how excited I am, but also how much I am going to miss Oregon and its beauty. I was able to go to the Hillsboro library while it was sunny and nice out to take some pictures. =) I had such a great time.

Happy Halloween 2012

We started the Halloween festivites on Sunday night by carving pumpkins.  We missed Adrienne terribly, but we bought her a pumpkin and carved it in honor of her! 

See the resemblance?

 

It was a fun Halloween here at the Loomis house!  Joseph had a fun party at school that lasted ALL day except for recess and lunch when they had to take a break from the party.  Annalina went on a field trip and got to play at the park and go to a straw maze!  We waited until about 6PM, then headed out for some trick or treating fun!  We managed to cover the entire neighborhood, well Richard and Annalina did.  After an hour and a half, Joseph got tired, so I took him home while the other two pressed on.  Then the kiddos had fun answering the door and handing out candy.  The last trick or treaters came at about 8:30.  In total we had about 225 kids come by!  Not bad!  Jacob went for a nice Halloween run and ran into a friend from Hillsboro who was out running with a couple of girls.  They ran together and went back to the dorms to hang out.  Then he ran home. I am glad he got the chance to do something fun on Halloween!

Annalina wore her Jedi costume to school,but decided she wanted to come up with her own costume for Trick Or Treating.  So we have a Dragon and an Eskimo!

A "Trace" of Snow for Rexburg...

Last week we had our first snowfall of any substance.  They were expecting a trace of snow, but we got a whopping 7 inches. It was beautiful and I went to school with the snow falling peacefully all around.  It was amazing.  I could totally get used to this!  The kids went off to school too.  They do not cancel school for snow, but they were excited to get to play in the snow with their friends at recess.  After school they bundled up in their snow pants, jackets and gloves and went out sledding at the park here in the neighborhood.  It has some great hills!  The next day after school they were out again with the neighbors, building snowmen, throwing snowballs, just having a great time.  The snow has melted and it has been up to the 60's again, but the sky is blue and it is truly a beautiful time of year. We are all looking forward to more snow soon!

I was especially impressed by the young men in our ward.  The boys are assigned to shovel for the single sisters in the ward and sure enough, bright and early the boys were out shoveling snow in our neighborhood and the next. 

Look at the size of that icicle!!

 

 

Our first look at the snowfall...early in the morning!