He Just Made It!

(Jordan sitting with 1200 kids in the stands at the Vancouver Youth Celebration on day one of the conference)

The first LDS family to set up their lives here in British Colombia

was the Copley family in 1875.

Over a hundred and thirty years later,
not 1971 the year I was born,

or 1989 the year I graduated from high school ,

or 2004 the year I gave birth to my second daughter.

but May 2010, that was the year our temple was erected and a

youth celebration was organized.

Jordan would be exactly twelve years and eight months old.

Eight months earlier and he would have been too young.

One hundred and thirty years in the making . . .

He just made it.

A Little Lesson

Standing on the stage a few steps away from Elder Uchtdorf and the

Prophet of the Lord while conducting 5000 people singing O Canada. . . terrifying.

Being interviewed by the Ensign and laughing and joking with those

women like they were my BFF's . . .exhilarating.

Watching the 1200 kids singing the music I had borrowed from heaven. . .breathtaking.

Being there with my son who was actually one of the youth. . .

perfectly unforgettable.

He just made it!

Down Time

At the lake while kayaking the other day, Craig and I came across thousands

of lily pads all in bloom. I couldn't help myself! I picked!

What's most fascinating about them is that they

open for the brightest part of the day and then they close completely.

Then the next day. . . they open again! Even in my bowl on my kitchen island!

A Little Lesson

God even made the lilies to take a little break and have a little rest.

Sometimes you just need to close things up

and lay on your side for a while.

There is nothing like a

s u m m e r a f t e r n o o n n a p.

Maintenance vs. Repair

The past two Tuesdays have been the highlights of my summer thus far.

First, witnessing my boy go through our beautiful new

Temple with his deacons quorum to do baptism ordinances and then again

this week when I had the incredible opportunity to first do a session and then

be on the evening cleaning crew for the the temple.

It was like a deep breath of pure oxygen for my spirit.

A Little Lesson

After I finished vacuuming the first ordinance room my duty card

told me to to go vacuum the celestial room.

I entered the brightly lit room.

I carefully pulled the vacuum back and forth over the perfectly white carpet.

I gently went under each chair, one by one,

knowing this is where members in our temple district

sit to commune with God.

I knew I was in earthly life's most sacred place.

Finally, there in the right hand corner of the room I discovered a small piece of lint

on the floor that my vacuum quickly sucked up.

I continued vacuuming room after room and then finally

in the women's change area I vacuumed up a small red tic tac.

It occurred to me how I was vacuuming a building

that was carefully and purposefully maintained day after day.

It went quickly, efficiently because it was so beautifully

maintained, everyday after each temple day came to an end.

I thought of my own home in the throws of a renno and busy young family life,

where neglect and sporadic attention and care for each room

meant less maintenance and a lot more repair.

Our lives work better when we take care of sacred things daily.

Attend the temple, scripture study, prayer, service,

remembering covenants. keeping commandments

are always a good start.

When I find myself neglecting these basics

tackling the bumpy journey of life seems to be more about

fixing and repairing

and less managing and maintaining.

Essential

we laughed

we ate

we pontificated

we advised

we planned

we shared

we resolved

ahhhhhh

A Little Lesson

Girl's night out with old friends,

an essential part of the Plan of Salvation.

What We Leave Behind

(Photograph courtesy Greg Johnson)

Craig and I finally headed out to the lake to go kayaking.

(I didn't dare bring my camera, first time and all.)

The lake was like ice, not a ripple to be found.

It was exhilarating sinking my paddle deep into the untouched glassy water

and move quickly across the serene lake.

A Little Lesson

As there was hardly a soul on the lake that morning everywhere we went

we glided along perfectly still water.

Behind us however, everywhere we went, we always left a wake.

No matter what, there it was.

Even when we went in circles, it followed us.

And so in life we also glide along meeting people here, visiting people there,

interacting left, collaborating right.

We will always leave a wake where ever we go. . .

No matter what.

As Sister Hinckley used to said

"Be Kind!"

Family Home Evening # 664

A Little Lesson
During Family Home Evening,
when you loose your temper while giving the lesson
about not loosing your temper . . .
well. . .
it's an automatic go to jail card.
Do not pass go.
Do not collect $200.

Yep, one of those nights.

No Pressure

Benjamin and I usually get along so well.
He's not as cute as my Benjamin but he offers me
so many choices when fulfilling my wall covering dreams.
Today it feels like too many choices.
Will it be trusty Baffin Island or the mysterious Coriander Seed?
Shaker Beige or Manchester Tan?
Will it matter in the eternities?

A Little Lesson
Probably not.
But if you've ever painted your walls the WRONG colour. . .
it feels like it WILL matter in the eternities.
No pressure.

Grown Up

Last week we all headed into Vancouver to witness
Jordan's "Edith Cavell" grade seven graduation.
It was so wonderful to see all the kids Jordan has grown up
with and their wonderful moms.

It was an emotional day for all of us parents.
They all commented how tall and grown up Jordan has become.
It feels like he is growing about an inch a week. Really.
He passed me (5'9") a few months ago and he's going for his Dad, (6'1").

A Little Lesson
I know that I am the grown up in the relationship with my boy.
However, as we are only stewards over our children and not owners,
the gap between my time on this earth and his seems to be closing quickly.
He grows wiser everyday.
He internalizes the lessons he learns in church, school and home and
brings a wonderful humble perspective that permeates our home.
Since we are all here to keep learning and growing,
when this life is over I will be grateful that we spent this earthly time. . .
growing up together.

You rock!

While we were at the grad ceremonies, where were my little guys?
Where else?
At Niki's, making cool graduation chocolate cookie suckers. . .
and getting their faces painted.

A Little Lesson
Niki you rock!
It's a lesson I learned a long time ago.

Today

We went to see Toy Story 3 for our Family Home Evening game on Monday night.
There's nothing like a trip to the movies to help my children
love each other just a little more.


As we waited until the last minute to bring 2 year old
Benjamin into the theatre. . .

I studied the Buzz that used to dangled safely from
Jordan's little hand whenever we would leave the house.

I looked at him.

Buzz what happened?
The little boy who used to yell
"to infinity and beyond"
is over there by the popcorn counter standing five foot ten.
And I worry if I blink we will be back here with our grandchildren.
It's going too fast.

A Little Lesson
I know if our arthritic footless Buzz could talk he would say. . .
"It's going fast but enjoy today
enjoy every minute of it. . .
and
don't worry . . .
e-t-e-r-n-i-t-y
is a long time."

As for the final scenes of Toy Story 3 - I bawled. . .
bawled like a baby.

Operation Father's Day

Sometimes Father's Day is a time to shout out to the dads of our lives and say

WE LOVE YOU!
Thank you for all you are and do
dad of my kids
dad of me and
dad of my husband.
Sometimes Father's Day is an excuse to go and buy
something that wasn't in the budget and not feel too guilty about it . . .
Exhibit A:


A Little Lesson:
I hid these babies in the little forest next to our house.
Purchasing them, bringing them home and executing operation father's day brought
covert operations
secret plans
strategic manovering
and
undercover clandestine actions.
Considering all my cohorts were under the age of 12 . . .
I seriously think I could work for the CIA.

City Slickers

When I see them on the ride-on it might as well be horse wrangling up the cattle.
It's so foreign.
So country.
So home on the range.
I'm about ten seconds away from renaming my blog pioneer woman.

A Little Lesson:
Okay, perhaps a little extreme.
One thing I know for sure. . . it doesn't matter.
We can live on a 250 acre ostrich farm or in a penthouse in New York city and we still have to
be kind
be honest
forgive
be patient
go the second mile and
get up after we've fallen down.

Divide and Conquer

We all left at the same time. . .
Boys turned right on 240th street and the girls turned left.
Boys went father son camping, girls went on a "girl's night out".
Boys roasted marshmallows, girls drank blueberry milkshakes at White Spot.
Mom spent lots of money on a shopping spree for the girls.
Dad spent lots of energy wrangling Benjamin in the woods.
Girls slept poorly: hot heaters and noisy fans to dry drywall mud.
Boys slept poorly: woes of sleeping on the ground.

All Murleys reunited on Saturday for lunch.

A Little Lesson:
We don't divide up this way very often.
Love it.
Sometimes girls just need to be girls.
And boys just need to be boys.

Big Strong Arms

Benjamin is a lucky little boy.
He will travel through this life with a big brother.
A big brother with big strong arms.
Because when all you are wearing is some flip flops, and a t-shirt,
sometimes you need a helping hand,
to avoid the rubble.

A Little Lesson
Jesus of Nazareth is referred to as our Redeemer, our Lord, our King, our Savior, our Advocate
and. . .our older brother.
An older brother with big strong arms who promises to carry us over the rubble
when all we are wearing is some flip flops and a t-shirt.
I believe Him.

Hooray!

A few Saturdays ago for my birthday, my buddy Tam swooped in at 7:30 am made everyone Eggs Benedict with fruit and swooped back out again to return to her busy busy life.

The next day for breakfast I made oatmeal.


A few weeks ago Meliss, Chris and I swooped up to the lake to surprise De for her birthday with a weekend filled with kayaking, pedicures, fishing on the dock and chocolate covered strawberries all planned and executed by her hubby Art.

This weekend I have about nineteen loads of laundry to fold.


A bunch of Fridays ago Magna swooped in and turned a house full of beautiful girls
into tigers, fish, avatars, ponies and tropical hula girls for Emily's birthday.

This Friday both my girls have spent 2 time-outs on the stairs and it's only 4pm.



Two Wednesdays ago for my birthday Craig swooped home and took me downtown to eat at the blue water cafe (one of Vancouver's finest restaurants) and to see Sting live with the London Philharmonic Symphony, we sat about nine rows back in the center. Incredible.

This Wednesday our family was selected from our ward to clean the chapel.


A Little Lesson
Can we all say hooray for birthdays.

Colourful Personalities

Most people loose socks.
They blame the washing machine.
We loose Ikea cups.
This is my fourth installment since I started having kids.
I always buy this many.
I learned in grade four science. . .
matter cannot be created or destroyed.
They must be somewhere.

A Little Lesson
For the record, I have friends who will read this post and say. . .
"What? I don't understand. Where did they go? Don't they live in your cupboard?"(Judy)
others will say. . .
"I hear ya sista, only four installments, we're on installment number seven over here!"(Sariah)
and others who will fall somewhere in between.
Thank goodness.
Life is is a lot more fun that way.
Certainly more colourful!

Every Single Day . . .

Everywhere I look, every single day,

there is a new mess.
cement, drywall, mud, debris, wood, nails, dust, plastic,
I can't keep up . . .

Everywhere I look, every single day.,
there is something new in our yard bursting onto the scene to check out. . .
leaves, berries, flowers, vines, trees, bushes,
I can't keep up . . .

A Little Lesson
Life

It's all about what we choose to look at!

Really