27 April 2014 -- Adventurous Week

My computer is struggling to attach computers so we will see what I can do.

 Those pictures are for my one year mark celebration we had popcorn and sister Bray made french toast for breakfast (=   Yep, haha, I like the pants too, they are sooooo comfortable.

     This week was adventurous but unfortunately not in terms of missionary work. It all began on Monday- ohhhhhh dear Monday. We went to visit a less active family. Sister Bray (my companion) had not met the wife yet. So we showed up and their little boy was in the front and the mom was in the back. He let us in and we tried talking to him but he ignored us and kept playing on his ipad thingy. I snatched it from him (he is 9 years old) and enjoyed playing keep away with him for a few minutes, bahahaha... He loves me. Haha. Then Sister Bray knocked on the door and talked through the door to the Sister to see if she would come out and talk to us. (side note- this is the same family that was suuuper not happy to see me and Sister Stohre before. Finally she came out and sister Bray put out her hand and asked her what her name was. Her response was "WHAT? You don't know my name? You come to my House and don't know my name?" and walks away, hahaha. Sister Bray persisted and tried to get to know her and was repeated blown off. Until finally Sister Bray just broke down in tears (she is not yet use to this family). It was at this point that the Sister stopped and asked why she was crying and asked her to sit down and explained that she only treated my companion like that because she loves, Sister Bray. The scene continued with shallow "I love yous" and "Please come back every day" and "You are always welcome here." I just kind of sat back and watched. They are not ready for us to teach lessons and so we are just working on building trust right now. But when we walked out the door she put her cheek out for me to kiss. .... Can I just tell you..... the only thing I wanted to do with her cheek was..... BASTA! I sucked up my pride and kissed her cheek. THANK HEAVENS for zone conferences on Patience otherwise I would be a dead man.

     Just wait... the night continues... So we are on the tricycle driving home and he pulls up and we are having this exciting conversation, we jump off, say goodbye and he drives away. We are at the gate and 6 feet away we hear this OH TOO familiar "Hello". We know exactly who it is and we BOOK IT inside!! The other sisters were inside praying and we came in making this huge ruckus and then we saw they were praying so we whispered and creeped up the stairs to the balcony to see if he had left or not. We texted the Elders and told them that HE WAS BACK and to COME RIGHT NOW! This man then moved from the gate to 15 feet directly outside in front of our door in this little forest thing right in front of our house. He stands in this open area so he is in plain sight. As always... he has a flashlight shined down on him and his pants have been removed. He literally stood there and waited for us. We hid behind the wall and while texting the elders, tried to keep him in our sight. It was scary..., mostly because we still have not seen his face. He seems to know everything about our schedule, etc. but we still have no clue who this guy is. The Elders showed up 10 min later dropped their bags and BOOKED it after this guy in the woods. When he saw the tricycle with the Elders showing up though, he took off. The elders spent the next hour searching for this guy, we got the WHOLE BARANGAY involved and police came. Finally these little kids told the elders that they saw this guy running and so the Elders went to this guys house and met his mom who said that he has always been a really bad boy but he is not crazy. His name is Hino. It was really cool to see how literally the whole neighborhood just came together to help us and protect us- given I think the elders were more excited about decking this guy then protecting us, hahahah. It was still nice to know that so many people cared. Sooo... we still don't know what he looks like BUT he has not come back since. So we are happy! (=
     Nothing huge but Tuesday before district meeting we were getting ready to leave and I remembered that I had one piece of Spanish bakery bread left. I was not hungry but I thought I should bring it. We got to the church and the gate was locked. We waited there for 5 minutes and this lady came up to me and begged for food. My normal response came out that we are not allowed to give money away and I have no..... WAIT!!! LIGHT BULB!! I opened my bag and handed her the bread. You should have seen the smile on her face and she immediately sat down and ate the bread. I love the spirit! What a simple but beautiful blessing (=

     Lots of tender mercies have come into my life this week. I woke up three times this week and my first thought was honestly.. WOW... I'm so happy! hahaha. Its been crazy! I love being a missionary. I really just am happy. And what a blessing that is to wake up Happy!

     It's been a much needed blessing too because we have been rejected, ignored and punted like crazy this week! It's by far been the hardest week in terms of missionary work. We feel like this is the American Philippines because of how rude people have been to us this week. But still there is always sooo much to be grateful for and we are happy and moving forward. I don't know if I already shared this but it's been a huge help to me.

• Patience with yourself is Hope.
• Patience with others is Charity
• Patience with God is Faith. 

I love that. Simple. I just need to be patient with the Lord's time. Life is good!
 

   Friday we did not work because it was deep cleaning day. You get a tiny piece of it with our light switch picture. We tried to clean it but in so doing Sister Bray got shocked.... so we gave up, hahah. WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES (=

First and last can just for your birthday, Dad!

     HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!! APRIL 30th is right around the corner! And I want you to know that I celebrated your birthday for you as you can see in the picture. That is my first and most likely last can of pop I have had here in the Philippines.
     Thank you Dad for being a constant support and light to all you meet. Thank you for loving the Lord and CONSTANTLY ALWAYS serving Him. Thank you for loving my mother and all of us kids. You are exactly what every Father should be. I miss you and Love you so much!
     I had another learning experience this week. We have two investigators, they are kids, the whole family is investigating but the parents can't get married because sister was married before and so they have to wait to be baptized. After their interview my DL (who I love and respect) said he thinks we need to wait to have them be baptized. They had all the answers and they are good, but he felt that they needed more time to really pray and read every day. At first my natural reaction was WHAT THE HECK, they are kids... no such thing as a 100% prepared convert. BUT then I realized that this is Tacloban, this is not Bacolod. In Bacolod, we were running people to the font as fast as possible- that was what our president wanted. Here, we take things slower and we make sure our investigators are as ready as they can be. It was a good opportunity for me to reflect on my purpose and to realize truly the importance of reading the Book of Mormon daily and fervent prayer. I am so thankful for my district leader who is in tune with the spirit and gave me an opportunity to reflect and evaluate and increase my testimony. The mission really is just the best!
 

This picture is Brother Ambida- not a member. His wife is. He is big in philosophy and science and no faith, BUT I love him to death and he is leaving until after the next transfer day so in case I get transferred...we took a picture (=

      Another funny experience happened. My companion and I and the Elders decided to get up early on Saturday to go to the beach and play volleyball. When we got there the court was full, but they let us switch in and play. It was not until 5 minutes into playing that we realized that this was not Co-ed. haha. They were all bayots or baklats AKA GAY, haha. I honest to goodness thought a lot of them were girls. Haha. But I was up at the front net and one of them asked me "lalaki ka?" Which means... are you a guy? hahahahahahahahhahahahahah I DIED OF laughter! Not sure to take it as a compliment for doing damage on the court or if I really do look that much like a man. Basta. I chose to laugh and we had a lot of fun(=
     Well he is not the only one that tells me I am like a man. It's funny. I know I'm tall and all but ... basta,. It's ok. I'm happy with who I am. Plus, half the people I say it too are just jealous that I can take them out. Basta.
     Also I am traveling to Tacloban after this, which is why I am on early today. My sweet ZL already bought me motion sickness medicine. (= Excited (= We have a mission tour. Elder Nielsen, the Asia Area President (the husband of the woman that called you after the storm a number of times), he is here and talking to the whole mission. (=
     Thanks mom! I'm going to go now! But I love you! Give Dad a kiss for me. Mom, you mean the world to me. take care (=

Sister Ralph

PS Oh mom, you can tell Bishop that I want a calling right when I get home and I want to contact Bethany Hillary about working with her at the therapy center when I get back. Thanks.

20 April 2014 -- Happy Easter

AHHH!! I JUST GOT MY 6 MONTH LETTER!! AHHH!!! October 22, I think that is the day I go home. Not positive though.
   Also I have a few favors to ask DAD!! You remember that picture you gave me forever ago- with the blonde young woman in the armor... you told me it reminded you of me... well that is my favorite picture. And I lost it in the storm... soooo... if you see one anywhere on sale.... I would love another (=
   Favor number two... this might take a bit so I apologize. Dad do you have pictures or names of the direct line from Christ that you got your priesthood?
 

The baby is KEA and her mom Ritchell is our investigator
who believes but the keeping commitments is a struggle.
I love her so much and we are praying sooo hard for her!
She just had her baby boy two days ago. She is doing well (=

   So not a ton happened this week, a few small adventures here and there. We were walking out in the POURING more bucketing rain one night holding on to each other with one umbrella and we had to hold the umbrella at a slant because of the way the rain was coming at us and all of a sudden a tricycle showed up out of NO where and was coming right at us! There was no time to respond for us. We just screamed and saw our life flash before our eyes... it slammed on its brakes and stopped not even a foot in front of us. It was a night of thanksgiving for us... that's for sure.

    Speaking of being home...It's more.... looking forward to the bed without bugs. There is constantly blood trails left on my sheets from all the mosquitoes, I'm assuming. And the mice poop on our beds is increasing as well, haha, lovely.

             Ok this picture we were out working and it just POURED!! You can't see the rain well... but just pretend like you can.

   

My shoes molded 3 times this week because
of how wet and nasty they were. Lovely hahaha

   We have yet again another stalker. He stands at the gate when we come home and pulls down his pants. He has now been upping his game so when we do laba (washing) in the morning... he is there as well. We told the ZL and he said next time we see him they will run over and teach him a lesson... so that is good to know.
    We went on exchanges (the picture below) with our sister training leaders (SLT) for just a few hours but I enjoyed it. We taught a less active who is now returned actually and it was a really exciting experience of watching the power of the Book of Mormon. I was inspired truly by the spirit to teach him about the law of chastity. We normally read from the Book of Mormon and have a good gospel discussion but I felt prompted to teach this specific commandment. We started off with the over arching... not good to be with someone outside of marriage and he was good with that. Not married yet. Then we were prompted again to talk about clean thoughts and viewing only good and uplifting things. I said so when something comes on the TV to turn away or turn off, cover your eyes etc.... and his response was "I'm not a child"... WOAH! BUDDY! Was that a Red flag or what????  

   I asked him what he meant by that and he went on telling us about how he needed to find out what was in the world and that "if we are being realistic and he is with a group of friends that want to watch a bad movie.... in reality... he will too." "We all are imperfect and have weaknesses." he said,...etc. OH BOY! So we went on to talk about where his desires were etc and he was still stubborn and told us not to judge etc etc... THEN YET AGAIN I remembered my personal study from two days before in Alma 42 about the justice and mercy of Christ. No matter what we said... nothing sank in until I asked him to read ALma 42: 31 (I think?) about not excusing our sins.... When he read that... he said "OH YEP! You're right! You got me! I'm guilty!!" He thanked us and said he would try to change. It was so amazing to see how obedience (personal study everyday) with the spirit and with the Book of Mormon really working together as a whole in this work! I love missionary work! It's amazing!

   One of the things that drives me crazy here is stubborn old people... who are Catholic. We taught a few this week. And don't get me wrong... I love them! But man!!... they all say the same thing. Teach my kids. They can be Mormon, but I'm Catholic and I was born that way and I'm going to die that way. Yep your message is true, I feel the spirit. But.... I'm Catholic!! AH!! Shoot me now!
   Easter was much like every other day. But Friday was for SURE SUUUPPPPPER QUIET. It was weird. Everything was shut down and there were only three or four people outside. It was crazy. Can you imagine how much better the world would be if we treated every Sunday like the way Catholics treat Good Friday? They had a bunch of celebrations but we did not get to see because it was not ok to work on Friday. We, all the missionaries, went to the church and watched Joseph Smith videos. We enjoyed ourselves but at the end of the day I learned something. Even though our activities were focused on the Gospel and we felt the spirit... it just was missing something. We enjoyed the activity but afterwards it's kind of this feeling of... well sweet... now what? But on the other hand... when we work... part of you does not want to teach, a little part of you wants to stay in bed all day and eat food in an air-conditioned room... BUT At THE SAME TIME... working teaching people, helping and serving.... is SOOOOO satisfying! it's always coupled with this battle of overcoming the natural man inside us. But ITS the best more satisfying feeling. I LOVE missionary work!
   Easter Sunday all the Catholics go to the Beach and party at the beach, hahahahahahahha is that not ironic? Haha. Even though Heavenly Father sent a huge thunder storm that morning and it rained like crazy.... STILL, they go to the beach. I got a good laugh out of that.
   Oh also, one of the STL's was my companion in my last area and so she told me that that HUGE white house that I lived in before with her.... well.... haha, the white lady started going crazy after I left. "White lady" is what they call ghosts here. And she was angry and upstairs would slam the doors and cupboards over and over again in the middle of the night. Soo.... grateful I left that place! I still have not figured out why the Philippines seem to be stalked with these types of experiences.
   I am going to go to the beach now, haha. I love you so much! Thank you for letting me know of your desires. I miss and love you so much! Take care!!
 
LOVE FOREVER,
   Sister Ralph

P.S. Mom, sorry the letter was not super great but I tried, hahaha.

13 April 2014 -- Lots of Happenings.

Ok so here comes my email.

     We are starting off with last P-day. After everything was done we went to the beach like always and there we saw a white older man who had a translator with him and a mega phone -teaching and handing out books. I HONESTLY wanted to see what he was teaching and find out what he believed. Well...... yeah.... hahha. He came over and jumped the gun. He started talking about how there was no way our religion could be true because the first sin was Satan trying to be a God and yet that is exactly what we claim we can do as members. He went on telling us that he was surprised that we as Women would join a religion where the men get their own planet and as many wives to be their slaves. I looked at him and said "Do you honestly believe that I would belong to a religion that believed that?"....
     I asked him if I could explain the error in his understanding of what we believe but he would not listen. We did not fight back, we just listened. But OH MY GOODNESS!! Can I just tell you.... Do NOOOTTTT TELL ME What I BELIEVE!! If there is any way to TICK me off!!! ... he found it. Hahahha ok ok! 

P-day at the beach playing with the kids...

(Mom I'm working on a big letter but its storming now thunder and lightning like crazy and hour house is flooded... the power keeps going out so it's going to take some time.)

FHE with the Canete Family and investigators.

BUT DO not fear... ALL! I was very gentle and kind to him. I did not interrupt even, I just listened, hahahha. I'm practicing my patience and grateful for the opportunity to TRY IT (= He eventually just left because there was no point in our conversation. But he was on my mind ALOT the next few days. If his message really was true..... why didn't he share it with us? That's all I wanted in the first place was to see what he believed. Broke my heart. He continued not far in the distance talking to everyone with his translator man about the message he had and we went back to the beach and played. The little kids were playing soccer and one kid got hurt. You should have seen how all of us missionaries just immediately ran to him and comforted him and picked him up and massaged his leg and gave him juice. It was a beautiful sight. Then the picture that you see... It started out as me and three kids just playing tag. Only a few minutes into the game (also I DO NOT like tag-- but they were so cute)....
              (each continue means the thunder killed the power again haahahha so I start again..)
     I am soooo out of shape and could barely breathe... but for over an hour we chased and tagged, and I picked up the little boys and threw up gently on the ground (laughing) and we wrestled and just had a blast! It made me SUUUUPPPPERRRR Mommy hungry! I am so excited to be a mom... but I just realized how much I love them. They are so precious to me! Each of them! They could feel our love for them. They wanted to know when we were coming back and they walked us home and just smiled and hugged us. CONTRAST that to the preacher earlier. I think we helped share the message of Jesus Christ more with those kids in an hour than that man will be able to do his whole life.... Because WE LIVE what we preach! I love missionary work!

     I had a blast that P-day! I LOVE kids soooo much! They make me so happy! Then that night we had FHE slash birthday party with the Canete family, new investigators. and the one where the elder looks like he is scolding me. We had a blast! Those brothers in the picture lost the game and their punishment is to spell their names with their rears in front of us.... their wives laughed sooo much. This was where we were really able to get their love and trust. I LOVE FHE!

This is the Bum picture.

FHE game!

      After FHE, Brother Arnie let us ride on the back of his big dump truck and took us home. IT WAS SO FUN! That is the other picture.

Getting a ride in a dumptruck.

   

Soaked clothes from the storm

Buckets of rainwater on the inside...

Baling buckets of water all week....

     So we also taught a new couple this week, the Marco family. Brother Marco is a teacher at the college and so he is professional. (= He asked great questions and we are excited to go back. Things might be slow this week because it's holy week, which means they have crazy traditions! We are not even allowed to work on Friday... apparently they do Crucifixions here! AHHH!!!

     We also taught my favorite! The Calos family! They are such an incredible, beautiful family! We had a plan to teach them about faith and tying it in with following the prophet but the spirit had another plan for us. This experience increased my testimony of the importance of teaching people and not lessons and asking questions, the right questions at the right time. We started off the lesson talking about faith and asked a few questions and Sister Calos brought up her concern that we had no idea about. She said that every time the missionaries have taught her and her family (including us) that someone in her family has gotten sick....
     You know you are teaching as the Savior would when you have the courage to lay aside what you plan and teach what comes to your heart as you listen to your investigators. That is what we did. We shared other scriptures from Ether and other prophets about faith and trials. It was beautiful to watch as the light came into her children's eyes as they understood our message and then THEY bore testimony that it would be alright and God was in control. There were no dry eyes in the room. The spirit was so strong that I could not even speak normal. We were all whispering and even as we left... we were whispering and hugging and crying and yet so happy. I love the spirit so much! This work is TRUE!
     So zone conference with the president was awesome!! I LOVE President Andaya soo much! And I love and appreciate President Lopez, too. Because of President Lopez.. I respect and appreciate President Andaya more and his vision and love for me. He is such a humble and Christ-like leader. I am going to miss him. The WHOLE conference really was focused on PATIENCE! THREE separate lessons or trainings on patience, hahahahha. You think they are trying to tell me something?
     This week Sister AGreda... my anak... she was with me during the storm. She randomly started making fun of me for my reaction to the call that I had to leave Carigara. When the brothers came to our house and said grab a pair of garments we are leaving NOW! She thinks ITS SOOOOOOO funny to re-enact my reaction. Hahaha, Hysterical crying and bawling...it's crazy she remembers word for word what I said. It's kind of sad but at least we are happy we can laugh about it now. IT was bad though.... If I didn't know it was true I would have said it was REALLY bad ACTING! Haha, we love laughing now though.
     The other picture is of our apt. It has flooded 4 times this week and is currently flooded. We have not been able to finish our personal study because it's always interrupted with Sister Agreda screaming up the stairs BAHA!!!! which means flood... I got some fun pictures of a few of the times. It floods because it's POURING BUCKETS AND.... the pipes for some RIDICULOUS reason haha, lead INTO our apt. SO the water comes is faster than we can bucket it out, haha.

     Did I get to watch conference??? Please mother... of course, I have been looking forward to it for 6 MONTHS!! But it's not as smooth of a process here. We watched the first session at 7 pm at night even though it was scheduled for 10 in the morning.... BROWN OUT! gahh! And I got to watch part of priesthood session! SO AMAZING!! WOW!! MY theme was "Love God First and then love your neighbor!" Then! "BE COURAGEOUS!!" I'm SO excited to be given opportunities to be courageous!!! I was inspired and I just LOVE our General Authorities. I did not get to see myself, haha, because our American investigator Judy came and I was walking her outside when apparently it came on... sad, hahah, ok la.

     But I loved conference so much! Elder Teh came and spoke to us at our last mission conference here and Elder Ardern, the one who said the opening prayer in Sat afternoon is the one who rescued us from Tacloban! I love them so much!

     MOM!!!! Now its your turn!! HAPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     Mom- I can't tell you how many times I have said out here in the field... "I just want my mom to hug me" "My Mom would know what to do" "I only know that because of my mom" "It's because my mom is the best"...... President Andaya always asks us.. how do you want your companions to remember you? I know that if my companions know anything about me...past my testimony... they know that I love my family and respect and love my mother. You are constantly in my thoughts ... as I reflect, as I try to make the right decision. I think of your example. I have NO idea why my Father in Heaven blessed me with such an incredible Mother and exemplar... But I'm doing my best to serve him with all my heart so He knows how grateful I am. And because I know it's what you would do and what you would want me to do. I remember when I was 9 or ten years old. We were doing the dishes after dinner one Sunday and we were talking about church. I told you that I did not know how to repent and just started crying. You grabbed me and put me in your lap and said... Sarah... you are repenting right now. This is part of it.
     I will never forget that. That experience helped me learn what it means to have Godly sorrow, how to recognize the spirit and how to repent. That is one among millions of Pure Christ-like love you have demonstrated to me. I cannot thank you enough. Mom, you are the most incredible woman on this earth. You are my mother! And I treasure that knowledge. I cannot wait to see you, to hear you scream my name on the phone, to call you every day, to watch you dance in the kitchen, to lay beside you on your bed, to watch you jump off the couch during a scary movie (or not scary at all (; ), to see you rock a baby to sleep, to see you serve my father selflessly. You inspire me daily! You are always in my prayers, thoughts. Please be safe!!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you so much!

Love Forever,

Sister Ralph

She is Tongan!! She is Sister Fotofili and my house mate. She is a doll! We are at the most American restaurant in town. All Foreigners, not missionaries, always eat here. It's "mahal" or expensive so we don't eat there too much. 

We drove to Tacloban this week for zone conference and that is me zonked out on my companion. I got SUPPPPPPPERRR car sick and kind of started hyperventilating out the window and it was just... bad. But I felt sooo much love. My companion rubbed my back while I'm crying out the window and the elders were helping me breathe and gave me a wet rag for my head. I was taken care of (=

Zone Conference in Tacloban

6 April 2014 -- Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Me and Sr. Bray

Ok here is my letter... sorry it's short again.
   Most of the pictures are going to be a re-enactment of what we do or what my house looks like... because of the lack of pictures. Sorry haha

  I did get the package from the Carters though! Thank you soooo much! It was such a nice surprise... the pix is of us eating the mac and cheese. It was perfect! Thank you soo soo much! I am excited to meet all the people that signed the letter when I get home.

Yum, Macaroni and Cheese from the Carter's

Sr. Agreda and me

Dinner time

Bedtime

Study time

   Ok, so this last week we met a member who does not live here but is here on business. Brother Arnie and he is amazing!! He was a priest in the Catholic Church before and now is a TRUE member missionary.
     So Brother Arnie is the perfect example of what members should be doing to fellowship. He moved in, met his neighbors, found ways he could serve them and while serving them shared his beliefs and invited them to learn and be taught by missionaries. He has been at all our lessons and picked them up and brought them to church this last Sunday. They enjoyed their time at church despite a number of stumbling blocks. We committed them to be baptized on May 3!

These people are the referrals from Br. Arnie.

   

This week has been better than last, slowly, slowly, we are finding more people to teach and learning so much! I LOVE LOVE personal study soooo much! I learn so much every single day. I'm learning soooo much about myself... every single day. I am learning that APPLICATION is the Key! I'm starting to really focus on the application of the words of the prophets rather than just enjoying the spirit as I read their words. It's been wonderful! I've been worried recently that my prayers have not been as faithful as they should be ... because I let Satan fool me into thinking that He was not really answering ALL my prayers. WRONG! WOW! I realized that recognizing the spirit, is recognizing God's hand in my life. God rarely answers my prayers while I am on my knees... but throughout my day, while I'm working, studying and really thinking.... God Is soooo Good! But he rarely answers my prayers in the way I expect. It's a life time pursuit to recognize the spirit AKA His Hand, His Answers to my Prayers. I love the Gospel!!!
 
I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE SOOOO EXCITED FOR CONFERENCE!!!!
 

Look close at the baby on that guys back... we got a goooooood laugh.

Mom... I'm terrible at humility.... terrible. hahahaha
   When the leaders are hypocrites and use their calling to control...... I just lose all respect and don't listen to them. It's terrible! I'm such HAMBOG! Prideful! I love respecting those that I DO respect... but .... GAHH!
   We work with youth in the ward. They are wonderful! I am happy! No discouragement! I just had to complain to you about my humility because I wanted your advice and words of wisdom but I'm not letting it get to me. I'm tired and done with letting Satan make me think that I am not a good person. I am doing my best and trust in my Savior.
   In my personal study time I always start with the Book of Mormon- the key to personal revelation. I cannot explain how much I have come to value and treasure this Book. It has become my compass, my blanket, my desires. I have been reading talks and PMG as well... to inspire and direct my thoughts and study for how to improve our missionary skills. I love personal study... it needs to be 5 hours every day, haha. I am soo happy! I say this every day because I really am. God keeps his promises. There is joy beyond words that we all can experience in the service of the Lord.
   I love you all so much! 

Sister Ralph
 
Oh PS.. there is another storm coming I guess tomorrow or something so if I don't respond next week... HAHHAHA I LOVE YOU!!!
      PPS. No one told me how Jess's b-day went... Give Hadlie a squeeze and kiss. Tell grandma and grandpa I love them!