Left to Tell

I read a very inspiring book this weekend and one that I think everyone should read.

Immaculée shares her miraculous story of how she survived during the Rwanda genocide in 1994 when she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor’s house for 91 days! In this captivating and inspiring book, Immaculée shows us how to embrace the power of prayer, forge a profound and lasting relationship with God, and discover the importance of forgiveness and the meaning of truly unconditional love and understanding—through our darkest hours. 

This book really puts things into perspective.  In the spring of 1994, I was graduating from High School.  I was just concerned about planning my senior to trip to Del Cornado, CA  and making sure I graduated. While in Africa during this same time, people were fearing for their life just because of their ethnic background.  Over the course of 100 days, 1 million people were killed.  77% of the Tutsi population were slaughtered during this time.  It is interesting though, that today the Tutsi are currently in power in Rwanda but they do not refer to them such.  

Sometimes we just don't realize how good we've got it.  Her faith in this book is amazing and I do think she was saved so she could share her story.  She truly was LEFT TO TELL.

Houston Ranked #1 city to live and work and play

We are happy to be living in the greatest city and enjoying all there is to do here.  

For my Utah friends don't feel to bad...Provo, Utah was ranked #10.

Summer is almost here and this is what we've been up to:

Slip and sliding and swimming

Hanging out in the dark...power out for several hours.  The kids were excited to get into our emergency backpacks to get the flashlights out.  We had pack meeting that night for Christopher's scouts and they held it in the dark with glow sticks/necklaces. That was one cool meeting. One boy was receiving his "arrow of light" award and once the cubmaster handed his award the lights came on.  Right on cue!

Volunteering at school for the fairy tale fair.  Madelyn was a great helper.  

Eating lunch at the boys school.  Look at Madelyn hanging onto Christopher.  So cute!

Celebrating Madelyn's upcoming birthday.  She loves to go out of town and stay in a hotel so to celebrate we went to Schiltterbahn in New Braunfels.  Schiltterbahn has been voted #1 Water Park in the world for the last 10 years so we have been excited to try it out.  It is just a short three hour drive from our house.  There was so much to do that come 8pm we still had not gone on every ride.  The lazy river is by far my favorite thing to do.  I could sit in one of those all day.  That night I kept dreaming that I was still in the water going around and around.  One ride actually takes you out into the Comal River. Pretty cool except for the algae on our feet. Nice and Slimy! 

Our neighbors also went along with us.  The kids had a blast and they think we should do this every weekend. Sounds like a plan to me.

The next day we went to a cave in San Marcos.  It is the nations only earthquake-formed cave. It was neat to see the fault line running the length of the cave. 

They were all amazed at what they saw and learned.

Look out tower to see the "Hill Country" on one side  and the "Gulf Coastal plains" on the other.  

We be Caven'n!

Eating Ice-Cream.  On our way back from our get-a-way, we wanted to stop at the Blue Bell ice-cream factory.  They were closed but we found a gas station that sells all varieties in yummy waffle cones.  A great end to a great weekend!  

May

May reminds me of:

Garrett's Birthday. We love you Garrett!

My oldest brother, Todd's Birthday.
He was born to live at Lake Powell.
Happy 41, I mean 29

My youngest sister, Danielle's Birthday.
It is the big 2-0 this year! I found this picture of your eighth birthday and I think it is darling! Your special party at the "Lion House". You lucky duck. I always wanted a party there and of course I never did. Mom always made your birthday's special.


School ending.
Madelyn's last day was Thursday. She loved Ms. Julie. She always asked when she could go play at her house. She loved her more than the kids in her class.

Madelyn and Ms. Alejandra. Notice the big "scratch" on Madelyn's cheek. She fell down on the road and of course...she always lands on her face.

Field Day
Go Christopher!

Go Garrett! Still can't figure out why 1st grade was assigned Pink as their shirt color?

Christopher dressed up as Wilbur Wright for his wax museum at school. He had fun learning all about the first flight.


Memorial Day
The Memorial Day before mom passed away (2005...mom didn't even know she had cancer yet), I went with Mom and Dad to visit Grandma and Grandpa Wade's Grave and Grandpa Berg's Grave. I asked mom where she wanted to be buried. Not even thinking this would be happening anytime soon. She said that she wanted to be buried in Bountiful with all the rest of the Wades. I was grateful that I had heard her say where she wanted to be buried. I don't know where I would want to be buried. Do you? Do you have a plot? If I was to pass away now, I would want to be buried in Bountiful too. I had a friend that passed away last April at the age of 30 so I guess you never know.

(front of mom's headstone)

(back of mom's headstone) Last Memorial Day when I went to visit.

Now that I live in Texas...whose grave can I visit?


Whenever I think of May, I think of May 20-24 2006. Those five days spent with my WHOLE family. Can you imagine a hospital room with about 20 people in it for five days. I can. We laughed. We cried. We told stories. We listened to music. We prayed. We witnessed blessings. We kissed. We hugged. We remembered. We said, "I love you" We were Together. And then on the evening of May 24, 2006, Mom's spirit left us and life will never be the same. We love and miss you, Mom.

May also reminds me of Mother's Day.

Spring Baseball 2008

Spring Baseball is over. The boys had a good time and really improved over the season.

Garrett #7 Batting

Garrett's team party with trophies, swimming and bbq...what could be better?! Go A's

Way to go Garrett!

Christopher #4, Catcher

Christopher's team party.  Go Blue Jays!  They ended their season in first place!

Coach Brian telling everyone that Christopher has the heart of a champion!

Madelyn is going to miss having these a couple times a week! That was her favorite part of the games.

Happy Mother's Day

Last year was my first Mother's Day without my mom. I tried real hard to be brave and not cry all day.

Thankfully, this mom had us over for dinner last year. We ate and swam and tried to forget that I was missing mom. Thanks Liz!And this friend sent a cute note in the mail last year that said:
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you with cry with your girlfriend" She knew that I would be missing mom and wanted to know that she cared for me. Love ya, Leigh. This year, I am going to forget that mom is here.And be thankful for Matt's mom that has ALWAYS been a wonderful mom and grandma. And has always treated and loved me like a daughter. Happy Mother's Day, Bev!

I will be thankful that I am the MOTHER to 3 beautiful children. And, I will be thankful that my mom TAUGHT me how to love and laugh and that I was able to spend 30 of the happiest years of my life with her.

A mother holds her children’s hand for a while…their hearts forever. This is how I picture her in heaven! Beautiful, all in white watching out for all of us!
To Grandma Griffiths, sisters and friends, Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Birthday Garrett

G:Giving. Garrett loves to share with his brother and sister. Just this morning, Garrett said he was going to use his birthday money to buy Christopher a Mariokart (so they could play together) and a matching shirt like the one he got for his birthday!

A: Adventurous. Garrett will try anything. He loves the BIG roller coaster rides and was so excited that he was tall enough to go on them at DisneyWorld! He loved seeing the alligator cross in front of us this spring break. He wanted to go touch it. He probably was close...because he was cut out of the picture.

R: Remembers. Garrett has a great memory. He can memorize numbers like you wouldn't believe. He knows all the scores from the Rockets/Jazz playoffs LAST year. He knows what the score was for the Astros game that he went to for his birthday LAST year. He knows the scores for ALL the teams in his baseball division and what place they are in. He knows all the neighbors street addresses. Not just a few but all 80+ neighbors. That was the strangest one for me! Garrett, one day that memory will be a blessing to you! He reminds me of Russell Crowe in this movie.

R: Reader. Garrett has turned into a fabulous reader this year. At the beginning of the year, he was so far behind that they thought he would have to go to a special reading class but his wonderful teacher had faith in him and now he is way above average.

E: Excels. Garrett excels at everything he tries. He has Loved playing baseball this year and played a great season of basketball. Sometimes I forget that he is younger than Christopher.

T: Tease. Garrett has his dad's sense of humor and he loves to tease us and get us laughing. He loves to turn the music up and dance around the house. He loves to laugh and keeps our home a happy one. Sometimes he just says the craziest things!

T: Testimony. Garrett has a testimony of Jesus Christ and he tries hard to follow the commandments and corrects us if we try to do something wrong. I love teaching his class at church and listening to him share his testimony.
Garrett, we love you and are happy that you are in our family!
Love,
Dad, Mom, Christopher and Madelyn