Wedding and Ward changes

We went to the wedding of one of dear friend's this weekend; JP Chavez and Monica Edwin. We are so happy for JP and Monica, they have waited so long!

The wedding was beautiful and had an autumn theme throughout and was quite spectacular with live music and singing through the ceremony. They had a pianist, harpist, guitarist, flutist and two singers. The bridesmaid dresses were light brown, which when I heard about it I thought it would be less than nice to say the least. I pictured paper bags and burlap sacks - silly I know, but I really had nothing to go on. The dresses were light gauze with satin slips - very classy! You can see one of the dresses on the far left of the photo. The brides dress was very pretty and strapless. She didn't have a long train or veil but her brilliant red hair was curled and done up with bling clips.





It has been some time since we attended a wedding and this one was so special. JP and Monica are devout Christians, although not LDS, and through their belief in Christ, they saved themselves for marriage. An unusual thing in these days and even more so since they are both in their 30s. The ceremony was prayerful and devoted to the Lord. We feel honored to have been part. It is with bitter sweet feelings that I recount the wedding ceremony. It was very obvious to me, having been sealed for eternity, when the preacher said 'til death do you part or Christ returns.' I have never heard the Christ returns part before but it was said several times during the ceremony. They are so in love and have such faith that it makes me cry to think that they are not sealed for eternity. I am so sad for them. I wish they could have all of the blessings that the Gospel can offer. SO... We have decided that as soon as they return from their honeymoon we will invite them to church with us.

You can see the love in their faces! They are such a wonderful couple and we are honored to know them. Their faith in Christ has carried to the to their wedding day and will carry them through many years to come. We wish them the best for a long and happy future.

Speaking of church...
They diced up our Ward like a pie last night. We and 5 other families are now members of the Windsor Ward, which if you look at a map of the Stake and Ward boundaries, it does not make sense. Our dear neighbors and newly baptized members, the Carters, are struggling with the change. Sandee hasn't stopped crying for two days. I shared some of the following with her in an effort to comfort her.

I was shocked at first because we loved our Ward, the people, my calling was perfect and we had great activities that made us not feel out of place because we live in the boondocks. We all know that once we start to feel comfortable, the Lord gives us changes and challenges to stretch us. I guess I should have acted a bit more uncomfortable!

We met the Stake President when we renewed our recommends this past February and we found him to be a wonderful and caring man. I have a sense of comfort that Windsor Ward (our new Ward) will be very well organized since it is his home ward! Since Windsor was not cut, I anticipate it will take them a bit to find us callings and get used to having members in the boondocks! We will find our place, all will be well.
After speaking to one of the brethren it was made clear to me through his words and prayer that we are a very important part of the Windsor Ward. You see, they have property to build a new church in Windsor but do not have the membership to support it. They added us to help their Ward grow to the north so that we may be able to build a new building for the Lord. We have been chosen!
I have been praying since last night and I feel strongly that this move is mean to make us stronger in some way. This is an opportunity to learn and grow. There is a lesson waiting for us in Windsor Ward, a lesson that will help us to grow in faith, strengthen our testimonies, become more self-sufficient and to allow us to participate in a great work for the Lord. I miss so dearly my friends, seeing them every Sunday and visiting each month but the Lord knows that we need someone in Windsor Ward and someone in Windsor Ward is needing us. it is our jobs to be faithful and of good cheer so that we can recognize it when the Spirit prompts us.

The best part, the part that puts my heart at ease is this - the time may change, the people may change but the Gospel is always the same no matter the building, time, people or Ward; the Gospel is always the same. We will find our home in the Windsor Ward.

Case of the mising dish towels

Does anyone else have this problem or is it just an Eastern Colorado Ranching thing?

I regularly purchase dish towels for the kitchen, sometimes they come with hot pads but most of the time I just need the towels. See, my hot pads never disappear; only the towels... I swear last month I had 4, today - none. Not a single dish towel, not even a remnant of a dish towel. No goodbye note or dear john letter; just *poof* gone.

Ah, there they are... In the garage covered in what I will presume to be grease. Nice!

So I ask, 'what is my dish towel doing out here?!' The response you will never guess... 'the picture was faded so I thought it was a rag, and I know how you hate rags in the linen closet.'

. . . *crickets chirping* . . .

'OK. Thanks for trying to help! Maybe next time, ask me before you cover it in grease?'

Final Interview Day!

Today was our final interview day. We have one step left to approval; CORE training. We should be attending CORE training, signing our paperwork and active on July 9th. But today, today was 'the interview', you know the one where you answer questions about your past and relationships separately and confidentially... Well, after 13 years of marriage - we already knew each others answers. But it was still an interesting experience to go through again. Again, you ask - well yes, again. Read on.

We left early, stopped for doughnuts in Greeley and drove leisurely down to the LDS FS office. We arrived early intending to go to the cannery to load up on sugar and flour. We had everything filled out only to find that they are closed on Fridays! Ah, darn. We decided that we will stop by again on our way back from Arizona in a few weeks.

As we sat in the shade of the trees in the parking lot, we chatted about what we were expecting the interview to be like, what they might ask, how we felt about it. We watched K, our case worker, pull in, unload his car, reload a car, buzz around front, run inside. I commented to R that he seemed to be very over worked. He is always in a meeting, on the phone, out doing a visit, getting back from a visit. Seems like he just goes and goes and goes. I pondered out loud, “I wonder if he likes his job. I know he gets paid, I wonder if the fulfillment of making eternal families everyday makes up for all of the stress.” R assured me that K must be one of the most blessed people we will ever know. He, for a living, gets to help families come together, for eternity. Can you imagine? What an amazing thing to behold once, but to be part of and behold it again and again. I am in awe of K and his dedication to his job, beliefs and the eternal principles that we hold near and dear to our own hearts. K's sweet personality and strong testimony of the truth of what he does permeates everything around him. We feel comforted just being near him and having him help us through this process.

We met with K, finished our paperwork and went through our interviews. It was painless and actually pleasant. K helps make this process comfortable. People keep asking me how the paperwork is going and I keep saying that it is fine. They ask if we have questions, no – not really. It is funny because when I started working in Law Enforcement R and I both had to go through intense interviews, they dug into our past – deep, deep into our pasts – and I did a polygraph test, twice. Compared to that, this process is peachy! There is nothing in our past that has not already been dug through and sifted, held to light and examined. We are comfortable with who we are, the paths that have taken us to the place we stand today. We stand together, as one, united and together walk our path in life; we walk together through all things. We are very at peace with this process and our present place; we receive daily verification that we are on the right path, that there is a Birth Mother out there, somewhere for us, that we will be re-united and will be able to start our family with her help.

We left the city, did some grocery shopping and came home. I was a bit swollen when we got back, so I went to lie down. Our dear neighbors (I use the word neighbor loosely), brought us dinner. I cried – they are so thoughtful and helpful to us over the past weeks. Our neighbors, Sandy and Dan Carter live about 4 miles east and 5 miles south of us on 100 acres. They are just on the other side of ‘town’. As members of the church who share the same values and lifestyle we do, they are a blessing to us. We are learning from them and them from us. I cried from their honest care and concern for us. I cried from their ability to know we needed their help and their ability to hear and heed the spirit. We are so blessed.

Hafley Reunion 2009 - better late than never!

We went to California last summer for the Hafley Family reunion. It was Grandma and Grandpa's 55th wedding anniversary and Grandpa's 80th birthday. Sherri had been planning the reunion for almost 2 years and I believe that only 2 grand kids didn't make it out.

We flew out for a long weekend and left all of the animals at home, stayed in a 5 star bed and breakfast and got to catch up with the family that we love. We stayed close to where we both grew up and visited many of the places that we saw on our honeymoon. It was nice to visit our old haunts after being married for 12 years - although we did not tempt another canoe ride.

Why am I posting this so late, you may ask - well here goes... I took almost 200 photos while we were there and loaded them onto the computer when we came home. Within two days, before I could even make a back up, a virus got to them and corrupted all of the photos. I have been researching for the last 8 months on how to recover them; no luck. Everyone, even the super computer geeks, have told me that they are gone. So last night while I was up with my cold I decided to try one last time. and Voila!

Sherri and Carl - What can I say? I have the best in-laws ever!

Grandma and Grandpa still committed after 55 years of marriage.

The whole Hafley gang. We are in the top left corner with Sherri and Carl. Jasmine is on Grandpa's lap and Riley is on the floor in front. Anthony was unable to come and Jason left early.
And a couple photos of the ocean.

Our little buddy we found on the beach one morning. So cute and soft looking, he took a bite out of my leather boots!

Adoption Paperwork and Memories

Our adoption paperwork/process is set up into five sections. We finished sections 1 and 2 fairly quickly and started on section 3. Section 3 is made up of paperwork (again) and some online forms that ask about family and background, etc. We finished the paperwork portion and started on the online stuff two weeks ago. Some of the questions are very straight forward and some take some definite thought.

We finished the online portion today. It was interesting to think about the answers and reminisce about times past. One of the questions was something about sharing any special experiences or memories. Of course our temple marriage was at the top of the list. After almost 13 years of marriage, how do you pick a few experiences and memories of the many we have had?! We each finished our sections and started talking about some of our memories. One that Robert reminded me of goes as follows:

We were on the third day of our honeymoon and decided to go canoeing. Since we were renting a house on a private beach, the river that we were going to canoe on lead to the ocean. So we rented the canoe and started out. The current was strongly pushing us out to the ocean and we paddled upriver. Robert is more adventurous and wanted to paddle in the middle of the river so we could have a better view of the fish, shores and what was ahead. I am less adventurous and wanted to be near the beach, so I could jump out and grab sand if something went wrong! And, I don't like to be on or in water that I cannot see the bottom. So, we are canoeing, Robert in front and me behind. He kept paddling out to the middle and I would paddle back to shore. We spent the whole trip up river doing zig-zags to the shore and back to the middle, to the shore and back.

As in an marriage, it take some time to get used to your partner and their idiosyncrasies. It also takes some time to find the middle ground and compromise. We stopped at our destination, drew hearts in the sand and took some pictures of each of us near our heart that said "I love you!". After finding our middle ground, the canoe ride back was much less work and much more fun.

That was one of our first experiences learning about compromise and working together as a married couple, we have a lot more! So again I ask, 'how do you pick a few experiences to share when you have SO many to choose from?!'