Many Beautiful and Thoughtful Surprises

 Mother's Day rolled around once again.  It seems to do that every year.  :-).  Lynda Ann told me about a talk that was given at their RS by their Stake President.  She is going to try and get a copy of it.  But, this is the essence of the talk as she remembered.  And now as I retell it, it may lose some of what was said but I think we will get the gist of the message.  It was good for me to hear and probably good for every parent who feels at a loss when their children don't stay close to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

The Stake President talked about how a light house is a permanent fixture that doesn't move or go looking for the ships out at sea.  I shines its light and as the ships find the light they can follow its beam to safety.  He then related that to mothers (and fathers).  We are the lighthouse in our children's lives and can shine our light and hope and pray that our children will follow it to safety.  But, our Heavenly Father has given us all this wonderful gift of free agency and everyone has to use that free agency how they choose.  He also reminded us that Our Father in Heaven is the perfect parent and he lost 1/3 of his children.  We, as parents, can't be playing the "what if" game.  We just have to be steady in shining our gospel light and let our children have their free agency.  

I'm sure I haven't done justice to the Stake President's message but what I gleaned from what Annie told me, it is a wonderful message for me.  I've spent many hours playing the "what if" game with the Maxfield children and it doesn't lead to any solution, just a lot of frustration with no answers.  This talk was a good reminder to me and to Neal that we have to let our children have their free agency, love them unconditionally and keep our light shining.  

Back to Mother's Day.  When Mallory, Annie and I were in Tennessee I saw a sweatshirt that I considered buying and then talked myself out of it.  I love it and have regretted not buying it ever since we left Tennessee.  Unbeknownst to me, Lynda Ann found her receipt, got the phone number of the shop and ordered the shirt for me.  I was thrilled - beyond thrilled.  To think that she would take the time to research where we had been and at what shop that shirt was at was certainly going beyond the extra mile.  

Don't you just LOVE it and it is my color!  This is the logo on the front of the shirt.

Then to my surprise, there was another gift with it.  This is a sewing needle holder!  Yup, it holds your sewing needles so you don't have to put them down every time you have to leave your stitching to do something, which happens to me often.  You put this little magnet (about the size of a quarter) on your sleeve or somewhere on your shirt and when you have to put the needle down you simple put it on the magnet.  That way you don't lose them and you don't drop them, etc.  Could there be a better gift?  I doubt that.

The back side.

This cute card from Mallory.

My next surprise was a card from Neal with a pedicure in the future!  

Then I had another surprise on top of that.  Emmi had Mallory get me a gift card for the Habit!  I love that place and Emmi remembered that.  What a sweet heart to think of her Gam.  

I am a truly blessed and loved wife, mother and Gam!!!  And the message that Lynda Ann shared with me from her Stake President just made my day a very happy and calm one.