We just got back from a quick visit to St. George.  Our niece Abby and her husband Travis Sorenson were sealed today in the Temple. (Abby is Jonna & Kim Forbes' third child.  Jonna is my second sister.)  It was such a sweet, tender time.  I'm so happy that we were able to be there. They are so happy!!!

The next time we'll get to see the Forbes will be in April when their youngest daughter, Emmeline, will marry her fiancé Colton.  I love to be around the Forbes family. They are so kind and make us feel so welcome.

After the Temple ceremony we all went to eat at Benja's Garden. There were 25 or 30 of us there. It was yummy.  I especially liked the orange chicken and beef broccoli dish.

We drove down on Friday (yesterday) afternoon and returned to Provo tonight.  Mirielle, June, Esther, and Jeff & I all got to go.  Mirielle was kind enough to share her car with us.  We were actually able to drive as fast as the posted speed limits of 65, 75, and even 80 miles per hour.  This summer when we were traveling in the Dinker bus we reached the lightning fast speed of 56 miles per hour.  It was a treat to travel to St. George (some 240 miles from Provo, UT) in just under 4 hours.

Well, I really need to get to bed. I teach tomorrow in Relief Society.  I don't want to fall asleep standing up!! The lesson is a great one.  This year we are studying the teachings of President Ezra Taft Benson. The lesson is chapter 1: "The Great Commandment -- Love the Lord".  I'll end this post with one quick quote from the lesson that I love:

“When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.”

7 October, 2014

Don't faint!!!!

I looked and saw it's been nearly an entire year since last I updated the blog.
Claire has only until March 4, 2015 until she'll be home from her mission to Reno, NV for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That year went "fast". Only fast looking back on it, day by day it has seemed to drag along somewhat.

Logan is now also on his mission. (It's been about 4 years since Colby left on his mission.) Logan is in the Redlands, CA mission.  He entered the Mexico MTC on July 9, 2014.  After a six week intensive Spanish language immersion he returned to the USA to preach the Gospel in Spanish to the good folks in CA.  Both Claire and Logan are loving their missions.  It's truly a joy to read their emails every Monday!!!  Until Logan was 9 we went to the Spanish Ward in our Stake ( those boundaries changed several times before we decided to go to our neighborhood English congregation) He is now picking up on the Spanish more quickly than he had ever imagined possible.  We know it's because it is familiar to him after 450+ Spanish-Church-Sundays.  Half of his life he attended Church in Spanish.

I am forever grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Another great happening since last year: Mirielle graduated from Utah Valley University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.  Her emphasis is photography. I love her work.  I have a link to her blog in the side bar. Check to see if she has updated her work lately.

Colby and Alicia have been working in China for a year, now.  They work for Rimports.  They oversee several factories where the different components of the "Scentsationals-- wickless candles" are manufactured. We miss them dearly, but they are having a blast.  They have travelled to 10 different countries in the short time they've been overseas.

Junie is on the Provo High School Varsity Ballroom Dance team. She's involved in choir, too. Now that she is 16, she has even gone on 2 dates so far.

Esther is in 6th grade.  She's enjoying school for the most part.  She gets to take a Drawing and Painting Class.  She likes it.

All of our children have a creative "artsy" side to them.  It's so fun to see them finding and developing their talents.

This post is starting to sound like a Christmas Newsletter.  Jeff is still as wonderful, creative, hardworking and handy as ever... and I'm still me.  Until next time..... ( hopefully it won't take a year to add another installment!!!)  We shall see.

14 October, 2013

I have been behind, (duh) on keeping everyone up to date on Claire's mission.  So I'll try and do an adequate summary.

She entered the MTC on August 21.  She had a great companion Sister Anderson. Their time together was wonderful & too short. They travelled to Nevada on Sept 3.
She has been in her 2nd home of Nevada for 6 weeks. Time truly has sped by!!!
Her companion there is Sister H.  They get along very well. I'm so happy for that.  They have a great group of helpers in their ward.  We have had contact with 3 individuals from the ward who have assured us Claire is fine and well.  They love the missionaries and are taking good care of them.  I want to share two excerpts from this weeks letters. The first paragraph is from her letter to Jeff, the second paragraph is to me (Jamille). Piece them together. It's a great story. I love missionary experiences.:

"...Then yesterday there was a sweet lady we've been meeting with as often as possible. Probably one of the most powerful women i know and her husband passed 3 years ago. Since then she's been struggling  with bills and what not, but always seemed happy and just trying to push on. well yesterday I felt prompted  that we need to stop by and visit right then. We had planned to visit her sometime yesterday but not till later on. I told my companion 'hey lets visit Chris' She said "we will later... after lunch". I got frustrated and before I knew it or thought, I said 'I have a prompting, we need to visit her.' Thank goodness we did cause.. she was taking apart her house and taking pictures down and stressed to the brim.  We listened to her and let her vent. It was quite overwhelming but she needed to get out her feelings. This week we plan to go help her paint and clean so then we will slip in some upliftment and such :) "


"It is very true that we need to teach with the spirit for sure! I know that stories and scriptures we share without the spirit present aren't effective at all. It's hard to listen to people talk about how they don't have anyone there for them, and just don't take the opportunities to Pray! Heavenly Father is Always there for Us!  I mentioned that to her and she shut it down which was hard. She said 'Well God Sees me. He sees what I'm going through why does it matter. I'm sorry to shut you down but I've tried everything he doesnt listen to me"...but.. I just kept trying to listen to her and the spirit for guidance. She was talking about how her kids don't take time to talk to her or stop by and help her with things. And then I got this big overwhelming prompting to share with her. 'Chris, I have a prompting to share this with you. God is our father. You are a mother and you want to hear from your children. you want to know what they have been up to how they are doing. Well, Chis, Heavenly Father Loves you and wants to Hear from YOU.(I pointed) He wants to know the desires of your heart and the heartaches. It's so important to Him to know," and she was quiet. She didnt have anything else to say, and then we left her with a prayer. :) It was a powerful moment and I am so grateful that you and dad have brought me up in this gospel! I am grateful you have taught me I have a Heavenly father who LOVES ME! & Cares about me and ALL is children :)"

Called to Serve

Well, nine months and a few weeks ago we welcomed Elder Colby Sanford back home from his mission to Taiwan Taichung for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Two days ago we sent out another missionary.  This time our third-born child, 19 year old daughter, Claire Sanford is the missionary.  She currently is in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT.  On September 3 she will travel to her mission area named: Nevada Reno.  

There are several ways to keep in contact with our Claire bear.  I'll post the addresses in here and on the sidebar, too.  Log on to DearElder.com and you can write her messages that are delivered daily (except Sunday) in the MTC. Her mission has a blog, too.  If you choose to contact her by email, know she only gets 30 or 60 minutes a week (depends on her mission rule which we don't know yet) to check, read, and respond to them.  

She'd really like "snailmail letters" a lot. Whatever you choose, choose something.  We need to show our love and support to our missionaries near and far.  


Sister Claire Sanford
SEP03 NV-RNO
2009 north 900 east, Unit 166
Provo, UT 84602

claire.sanford@myldsmail.net

Nevada Reno Mission

Sister Claire Sanford
1146 Prater Way
Sparks, NV 89431

www.NevadaRenoMission.blogspot.com

No fainting!!
Colby came home.  It was absolutely the VERY best thing next to the birth of one of my children-- seeing him again after a long 25 months!

So, here it is 5 months later. We had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's day, Pi  day, St. Patrick's day, and in a few days it'll be Easter.  Claire's birthday was in there, too.

Life happens.  It's good and lovely!!!  I feel so blessed.  I need to put a bunch of photos up, but I can't right now.   So, here's one for now.

This time tomorrow he'll be home. I wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight? I'd love to skip work tomorrow to continue sprucing up the house.  Tomorrow is going to seem longish I fear...at leastuntil we see and retrieve Colby.  I'd better try to sleep!

Rhyme for a time

A few days ago I woke and was thinking of Colby's return from his mission. I was giddy, so I shared the thought on my Facebook status. "Oh thank heaven, we're down to seven"  I'm now kinda obsessed with the silly little game of sharing my lack of literary skill.  It's been fun and I 'll keep it up. It is obvious that I spend a good chunk of my weekdays with Kindergarteners. Life is to be enjoyed!!  Here are the Status that are terrible/silly rhymes about Colby's return date:

7- Oh thank heaven we're down to seven.

6 - Time ticks, now we're at six....

5 - Jump & jive, he'll arrive in five.

4 - How many more? You guessed it, 4!! :D

3 - Momma said it yesterday: "whee, only 3"...can it be?? Slap my knee.

There are still a few more days, then I will stop it with the terrible rhymes.  Probably.