Holding Out Help

Just received the most incredible email from a dear friend in Utah.  I love hearing how God has used you to make a difference in someone else's life.  Especially when it's someone you've never met.  Most days it's hard to see the big picture, but messages like Tonia's make it very clear that God is alive and working the lives of so many leaving the FLDS.  

For those of you who don't know, FLDS stands for Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints.  They are a sect of the LDS church that continued to practice polygamy once the mormon church banned the practice.  They are led by the sick and twisted Warren Jeffs.  Warren is currently in a Texas prison serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting two of his 24 child brides.  

I have read a number of books, met former FLDS in person, heard their stories, seen the effects of years and years of brainwashing, etc.  It's absolutely heartbreaking to say the least.  

Tonia runs an organization called Holding Out Help.  She's an incredible woman who has an incredible team of people who help find ways to serve these people leaving polygamy.  They help them leave, find them housing, jobs, food, transportation, etc.  HOH is an amazing organization.  I met Tonia through South Mountain Community Church and then got to know her better during our chats while our kids took swimming lessons over the summer at the gym pool.  My kids have been involved in helping HOH too.  Every year at Christmas we try to provide for a polygamist family in need and the kids have donated their our own toys and scooters.  We've also been fortunate enough to donate financially to HOH and they have been able to use that money to provide for families in crisis.

Hearing the stories of people leaving and starting new lives, coming to Christ, being baptized...I get chills and tears fall every time.  It's amazing the way God is changing hearts from the inside out.  It will take years for these folks to overcome the challenges they face but knowing they have a true savior they can trust warms my heart.

If you want to learn more about the FLDS cult, I highly recommend these books:

Escape by Carolyn Jessop (probably my favorite one so far)

Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs by Elissa Wall

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the FLDS by Sam Brower (most informative book about the entire cult)

You can also find out more about Holding Out Help's ministry by clicking: HERE  They have links to 20/20, Sister Wives, ABC News, etc.  

The movie Sons of Perdition is also a good way to understand some of the abuse and brainwashing that goes on in the FLDS.  I warn you not to watch it while your little ones are around - there is some foul language spoken by the boys.  You can find more about the movie HERE.

Is It Really The End of the Year Already?

Can you believe it?  Time flies!  Tuesday night was Kendall's preschool program.  They hold it at New Life which is the church at Providence School.  Kendall's class was combined with another class to sing two songs and then the entire PK4 program sang two songs together on stage at the very end.

All of the classes' songs and motions were incredibly creative!  We were impressed by the performance.  One class even did the Cha Cha Slide and put some of my former middle schoolers to shame!  Sis told me earlier that she wanted me to sit near where she was going to perform so that she could see me!  Once she was settled and with her class, I made sure I showed her where we were sitting so she could look for us.  She waved a few times and even blew us some kisses from stage!  What a ham!  We had a great time and are proud of the job Sissy did tonight.

Riley

From April 28th...

Tonight's Rileyism:

R: Hey guys, what's that quacking sound I keep hearing in my room?
Dad: It's the frogs outside Buddy, not ducks.

Going Tubing?

Depends on where you live.  I've done both of these...

More -Isms

From May 1, 2013 via Facebook posts:

Today's Rileyism:
Me - Tomorrow is Dad's birthday. Do you want to go get him a card after school?
R - Yeah! Can we get him a present?
Me - Sure. What do you want to get him?
R - Hmm. What does he like? Oh! He likes beer! Can I get him beer?

Never a dull moment!

And a Kendallism wasn't too far behind this morning. 
K - Mom! Look there's an animal in the water. 
Me - Yep. It's a bird. Isn't it pretty?
K - It looks like a keycock!

It wasn't a peacock, or even close to a peacock.  It was some type of crane!  I've always said God gave her to me to keep me laughing!

Is There Gonna Be A Flood?

Kendallism from Saturday, May 4th:  

You know it's been raining for the past 3+ days non stop when you hear your youngest child singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in the back seat of the car. Might be time to build ourselves an ark...

May the Fourth

When it's cold and raining the bookstore is a great place to go.  We headed over to BooksAMillion to get a few new books and get out of our cramped tiny little apt.  

They announced that they were going to have a Star Wars event shortly after we got there. The kids were excited for that so we stayed. Little did we know our friends the Dickinson family had the same idea for their afternoon.  Ford, Taylor and Annah were decked out in their Star Wars costumes.  They looked great!  

The kids got to try their hand at origami, answer questions about SW, eat candy, hear a story, and play with their friends. 

We left with books, prizes and on a sugar high!

Shrimp Festival & Good News

On Sunday we headed up to Amelia Island after church to check out the Shrimp Festival in downtown Fernandina Beach.  We were so excited to be outside in the sunshine after 4 days of gloom and rain.  

See how happy they are to be in the warmth of the sun!  We found some boiled shrimp for Kendall. 

Can you believe she ate 20 shrimp???

Riley ate 7 which I think was a record for him!

Andy found a shrimp pie that he enjoyed!  I ended up earring leftovers at home instead. 

We went to Tasty's to get a drink - they were selling beer and peach sangria!  I also found the owner Katy and introduced myself because she happens to be good friends with a friend of mine from Utah.  Small world, huh?

We had such a great day.  To top it off, Riley told us after church that he wants to get baptized!  We were thrilled at this news!  He's getting dunked with 300 other believers from Eleven22 in the ocean at Hanna Park. Can't wait!!!

She's A Big Girl Now!

I know.  I know.  I'm SUPER far behind in my blog posts.  Life has been soooo crazy with our move!  I hope to play catch up some this week and next.

Today's activity was too good not to share!  I decided since it's a beautiful sunny day, that after Sissy came home from preschool, that it would be a great time to have her practice riding her bike without her training wheels.

First I moved the wheels up so that she teetered more side to side to get use to balancing more than in the past.  This was successful so I told her we were going to take the training wheels off and give it a try.  We were out in the parking lot of our apt and she did one lap around the small parking area and she decided she wanted the wheels back on.  I told her she needed to go for a second lap.  During the second lap I was able to let go of her seat and when we finished I told her what I had done.  She didn't realize she was doing it by herself and this was just enough to convince her to give it more practice.

We headed down a long straight stretch of the parking lot so she could go straight and get a little speed. All I did was get her started and then she was off!  I could barely keep up with her while running beside her!  She's fast and thought it was hilarious to make me run faster!

She can stop fairly well by herself but just needs some help to get started.  I'm so proud of her!  She couldn't wait to see herself riding in the video!

A New Decade Begins...

This morning's conversation:

K:  Are you 40 now Mom?

Me:  Yes, I am.  Do I look older?

K:  No, you still look the same.

Me:  Oh good!  I'm glad I didn't change overnight.

Rileyism

Today's Rileyism:

R: How are you able to do some many things while you have the phone to your ear?

Me: Girls are just born with that ability.

R: Is that why you are able to cook better than Daddy?

Me: Ha! Ha!

R: Daddy can only make stuff that's ready and just needs to be burned...I mean grilled!

Me: Ha! Ha! Ha!

Saying Goodbye

This past December we said goodbye to our sweet dog Penton.  She was 13 years old with dementia, most likely cancer because she lost 8 pounds after weighing 50 lbs for her entire life, arthritis in her hips and had a bladder infection of some type.  She was in bad shape.  

Andy and I adopted Penton when we lived in Albany, NY.  We had her for 13 years out of the 17 we've been married.  She was a huge part of our lives.  We did so much with her.  I use to take her out with my 4 wheeler because she loved running with me while I rode.  We use to take her hiking with us and she loved it!  I also would take her to the local playground so she could do the slides.  She could climb right up one of those straight ladders on the old metal slides and then run down the slide and repeat it over and over again.  She was a loyal dog.  She warned anyone who came to the door that this was her family and her house and anyone she didn't know should be scared of her bark!  

She was so sweet with the kids too.  She tolerated all of Kendall's abuse, and Lord knows there was a lot from Sis!

This is how Sis and I feel about Penton - she was best friends to both of us

Drinking pool water was a favorite way to cool off!

Dogs make a great back rest!

Or a good pillow

One day in Jax, I spilled some formula on the kitchen floor.  Penton thought it was an invitation to try some!

Best buddies

Nap time!

Penton just wanted to be left alone...

Play time!

Snuggle time!

Enjoying the sun

Her favorite time of year was winter.  She'd bark to go out and roll around in the snow.  She couldn't get enough of it!  When we lived in NY, she'd go outside then bark for us to come out and play with her.  When we lived in PA, the neighbor girl would come over and knock on the door and ask if Penton could come out and play in the snow with her!

More snuggle time.  

Penton was Sissy's favorite pillow.

Who knew this could be so much fun?

This is Penton just a few days before we had to put her down.  

Kendall received a gift card for Christmas to Build A Bear.  She took one look at the German Shepherd and decided she needed to have her own Penton.  She told me that even though our Penton was in Heaven, she could still pet this one and pretend it was her.

Penton really was an awesome dog.  Everyone use to tell us that they'd be happy to take her if our situation would ever prevent us from keeping her.  She was so intelligent and had quite the personality. She is missed every day by us.  I don't miss the constant tumbleweeds of hair, but I'd take that to have her back.  I'm hoping once we move and get settled in Jax we can consider getting another dog.  No dog could ever replace her, but it would be nice to have another furry in the home.

My Greatest Invention So Far...

So usually I'm the one taking the two kids skiing by myself during the winter - especially the past two winters.  Typically I'm stuck carrying my skis and poles, Kendall's skis and Riley's poles.  Well now with us eating Gluten Free, I always wear my backpack with our lunch packed in it.  Talk about being weighed down!  I knew I needed something to change.

I had seen a kid at Brighton this winter carrying his skis like a sling with some type of contraption attached to either ends of the skis.  Of course, the light bulb goes on in my head.  Hey, that's a great idea!  I bet I can make them!  So I start to search the web for ideas.  I found a few companies who sell them for $20 or more.  Andy was very against me buying them for the kids with us moving.  That's when I decided to make them for us.

This is Riley modeling his ski carrier in the kitchen 

right after I made my first one!

Here is Kendall at Alta with hers.

Everybody who sees us with our ski carriers comments on what a great idea it is.  No kidding!  I have made a few for some friends here in Utah.  I don't often have great ideas, but I must say, this one was one of my best!  They fold right up and fit into their coat pockets so we have them no matter where we go!

If you know of anyone who wants one, please tell them to email me at schunko@aol.com and I'd be happy to make them for $10 each plus shipping if not local.  

Ski Lesson Wrap Up

Another year of ski school has wrapped up at Snowbird this year.  Both kids were in Adventure Team school.  Riley's been enrolled for the past three winters.  This was Kendall's second season but first time going out all day for lessons.  Both kids did really well this year.  Riley has improved in his confidence as well as his skill level.  He has been doing jumps in the terrain park, taking any possible trail through the woods and even dared do a black diamond with me!  He loved Regulator Johnson and got to go up the new Little Cloud lift!

Kendall did just as well this year.  She is capable of making parallel turns, but she'd rather not - go figure!  She did Chip's Run to Rothman's Way to Lower Bassackwards this past weekend.  All BLUES!  It's one of the longest runs at The 'Bird and she did it with little to no stops!  This was the note from Kendall's instructor at the end of her 5 week session.  

Our Gluten Free Journey

We have been trying some new things with Riley for his ADHD.  One of those things is to change his diet.  We have now become a GLUTEN FREE family.  It was trying at first because that meant he had to give up Goldfish, favorite cereals, and rolls.  Once we got over that - and my friend who hooked me up with an awesome flour mixture, we've been smooth sailing.  

We found two bakeries that do gluten free and we go to one regularly.  Eleanor's Bakery is in Sandy and it's near Riley's chiropractor.  We stop there every Wednesday before his appt. to stock up on bread, brownies, cupcakes, cookies, etc.  Her bakery is completely gluten free and it's delicious!

The other bakery we've tried is One Sweet Slice.  It's located in West Jordan, just a little further west from Eleanor's.  They do gluten free on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  OSS was the winner on Cupcake Wars.  Those cupcakes and flourless chocolate cakes were out of this world!  

Here is Kendall sampling a chocolate cupcake.  Notice that she ate the icing first!