A Life of Service

"God the Father gave His Son, and Jesus Christ gave us the Atonement -- gifts of unfathomable depth and value for us. Jesus gave His gift freely, willingly to us all. One of the sure signs of a person who has accepted the gift of the Savior's Atonement is a willingness to give." Henry B. Eyring, Giving with Joy, Ensign, Dec. 1982

Our countdown to October is almost officially over. You may remember several months ago I posted a blog saying that when October came around that our family would be focusing on giving more service to those around us as a way to honor our little Aspyn. I also challenged and invited those who read this blog to join us. As the time has gotten closer I sill feel that it is very important to do but have wondered if it was necessary to make one month out of the year seem more important than the rest to serve those around us. It may seem weird to some that October is the Ogden family service month. Let me explain a little more about why we are doing this.

When Aspyn passed on we really didn't know what to do or what to expect. But before we had the time to figure this all out we immediately were given support from our family and strangers that we did not know. Even at the hospital I had nurses and hospital workers that came to give emotional support and offering to help with making arrangements for Aspyn. I was amazed at the generosity of Amy Engle and the time that she spent at the hospital taking care of things for us. Such as taking pictures and putting together a memory box for us to keep. She was there almost the whole day ready to give of her time. Not much later we began to have family come to the hospital as well. Randy's parents came and were a big help to us with furthering the arrangements of what needed to happen as well as took the other kids to eat and brought them to the hospital, and were just an all around comfort to us. My mom hopped on a plane and got here that evening and was a big help with the kids in making sure that things tried to stay as normal for them as possible. If it weren't for her they might not have been trick-or-treating last year. My sister was available for me on the phone every time I called her and was a great listener as we shed tears together, even at 5:00 am when I woke her up to talk! It didn't end there either. We continued to receive support from people all around us even from people we didn't expect. Meals were brought in for several days, arrangements were made for graveside services and burial, we received gifts of love from family, friends, and even people we hardly know. At that time we had not really ever had the need of service from others, besides the occasional helping us move kind of thing. The amount of love and kindness that we received at that time was very touching and as I look back now it was also inspiring. So now we want to be able to give back.

We are taught in church to love and serve others. The two really go hand in hand. How can you love somebody and not want to serve them as well. So we decided that October we would really focus on giving to service to others in hope that we will make it a part of our lives always. I know that we have our families that keep us pretty busy and I remember in a VT lesson a couple of years ago that it said our service should begin in our homes with our families. However, we need to make great efforts to serve those in need as much as possible and incorporate our families into that. For our children who are older they can learn so much from our example but also by being a part of it.

It is my hope that by focusing on service this next month that we will become more in tune to the needs of others and be able to bless their lives as ours was blessed last fall. When I think of the Savior I think of how much he loves each of us, and how his mortal life was filled with service and charity. He gave all he had to everyone around him. And now he still serves and love us and we get to know of his love through the service of others. I knew that he hadn't forgot our family because he sent others to us in our time of sorrow and they brought his love with them. We need to always be willing to share his love with others, which means serving others, even if by small and simple means! Let us all follow his example and be better givers of service!

(Is givers even a word?)

An Update on KOREA

I know this is about a week late, but Randy made it to Korea safe and sound, and without any sleep on his flight. He arrived in Seoul last Friday and spent the night in Suwon. On Saturday morning they jumped on a bus for a 4 hour trip to Gwangju which is where he is now and will be for the remainder of the trip. He says his hotel is decent and hasn't minded the food too much. He doesn't particularly care for the Kimchi which happens to be the main food in Korea. He's been eating a lot of rice dishes with veggies and pork. Yesterday he ate mostly western foods with lunch at Burger King and spaghetti for dinner. His first night in Gwangju he ate at a traditional Korean restaurant. You must remove your shoes at the door and the sit on a pillow on the floor up to a table. The waiter didn't speak English and I don't think Randy knew what was on the menu so the waiter brought him a whole bunch of food to eat. He says he ate it and was getting full and then the waiter brought him some more! LOL

Randy has been working the afternoon shift so he goes in typically around 2 or 3 and works until about 11 pm. Well he arrived at his hotel room two nights ago to find a strange man asleep in his bed. By strange, I mean that Randy didn't know him! The man was not waking up so Randy headed down to the front desk to let them know there was a problem in his room. They employee went with Randy to try and wake the man up and he wouldn't even respond. Needless to say he was very drunk and passed out on Randy's bed. So the employee and Randy started gathering Randy's stuff to move him into a new room . . . I guess he didn't want a roommate! As they were gathering his stuff the man still passed out began to vomit. HELLO!!! He must have had a good night or a really bad one, but it still didn't wake him up. Needless to say I'm sure he didn't have a good following morning! Randy got a good chuckle out of it. He was a pretty good sport about the whole thing. It appears that the guy got off on the wrong floor and his key just happened to work in Randy's door. Moral of the story . . . don't leave anything valuable in a hotel room in Korea and don't wander around naked!!! You never know who's going to be coming in and it may not be room service!

We are sure missing Randy here but he is doing well over there. He's anxious to get home, but while he is there I'm hoping he can get some good shopping trips in!!! LOVE YA BABE!!!

Retail Therapy Baby!!!

Okay, so I deliberately "forgot" to mention a little shopping trip Ciara and I took after we left the airport the other day. I felt so bad for Ciara missing her daddy and probably having no idea why he wasn't coming with us. So on our way home while she was crying for her dad, I asked her if she wanted some new shoes, (I know...I'm horrible!!!) and she said "yes"! I knew she would, she loves shoes. She gets that from me! So we made a side trip to the store to get some shoes. She really liked it, we got her some fall clothes and a couple pair of shoes. I tried to get a picture of her "therapy" today so she could show daddy, but she wasn't so cooperative!!! She just likes to see herself in the camera. So here is the best one I could get! BTW she says "HI DAD"!

HELLO CUTENESS!!!

From the Canyon to the Fireside, Zoo, Home Depot, and Korea

The cooler weather has been so fabulous that we have tried to take advantage of it! Randy got off work early on Saturday so we headed up the canyon again. This time we just took a picnic though so we could spend more time chasing Ciara!!! Kylie decided to go with her friends family to another canyon though, they were taking horses and 4-wheelers, so of course that was more fun. It was cool enough that we needed jackets. Ahhh . . . jacket weather is the best!

I had organized a youth/parent fireside with the missionaries for this last Sunday. I was quite nervous if anybody would show up. Our ward has a great record for not showing up...example; in a town of just under 1000 we have 1 ward with an average attendance of 27%. So I wasn't sure anyone would come, let alone to a fireside about how to fellowship and share the gospel. I had organized a youth choir to sing there as well. Needless to say, the choir sounded beautiful, the missionaries gave awesome talks, and the bishop told me that was the best attendance they had ever had. It was a great fireside!!! The choir did so good that they are having them sing their song in sacrament this Sunday. I hope that the message will stick with the youth. The spirit was really strong and the message was awesome!

Randy, Ciara, and I went to the zoo on Monday. I thought Ciara would be getting old enough that it would be fun for her, and the weather was perfect for it. So after a few wrong turns we made it there and boy did Ciara have fun! She would hardly stay in her stroller (except walking up hills) and she loved running around. Her favorite part about the zoo was probably the carousel. (Should've been our last stop) Her next favorite thing was probably the water in the exhibits. She would see the animals and make the sounds they make, or say what they were, but as soon as she saw water she would get so excited saying "water, water, see, see?" It was really funny, until we went to look at the penguins and she saw their pool and sat down to start taking off her shoes so she could go swimming! She also liked talking to the other little kids around her. We were there for a few hours and by the time we were leaving she was pooped and about 20 minutes down the road, she was out!

Well with all of this excitement that meant Tuesday we needed to make a trip to Home Depot. What's a week without HD? Don't ever let anybody tell you that the Provo HD is going under, because I'm quite sure we keep them funded!!! LOL We went to get that paint we needed for the wall with Randy's gun and of course picked up some other stuff too! Randy also finished the chimney to the stove, so now we are down to doing the brick work (any volunteers?), mantle and book shelves. Can't wait until that's all done!!! I got the wall painted yesterday and it looks fabulous. Randy took his gun out to shoot since he had a new muzzle break put on, only to find out that it was too small and had to take his gun back in to get it fixed. Then I had a nice relaxing night with the YW making "Charity Never Faileth" jars.

So now we are up to today and the Korea part. I had to take Randy to the airport this morning so he could jump ship to Korea for 2 1/2 weeks. For work of course. I know he just got back from Taiwan 2 months ago, but is anybody listening to me? I'm telling them right now, he needs to be home for the rest of the year!!! Ciara daddy, daddy, for 20 minutes after we left the airport. She was sad we dropped her dad off somewhere and of course doesn't know why. It broke my heart. She finally fell asleep in the car around Lindon. She really loves her daddy!! So the good part about Randy going to Korea is that he will get to pick some stuff up for Kristine to have for her baby. Malia is still in Seoul and will hopefully be home soon, but this way they can have some things for her from her first home! Randy will not get to see her as it is not allowed anyway. And he will only be in Seoul for a few hours and then he is off to Kwangju which is at the Southern end of the country. The worst part of these trips is waiting for that phone call where he says I'm in my hotel. Let's see, I have about 15 hours until then. We all miss Randy while he is gone. Especially his super, great, BBQ burgers!!! Ask the kids, they are the best!

We LOVE and MISS you Randy! Be safe!

Uh-Oh He is 11 Now!!!

Do you realize what that means? In one year he will be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood, he will be a Deacon and will be my little man passing the sacrament!!! I'm so not ready, especially since we all know how time flies, I'm not going to be ready then either. I'm glad I have another year!

Dallin's birthday was on Friday and naturally that meant we had an early start! 5:00 am early, since Randy leaves for work around then and who wants to wait to open presents until 7:00 at night. Yeah right, like I could wait that long to give them to him! He was eager to get up and was so excited for new jeans that he could wear to school the same day. (On Fridays they get a semi free dress day) He didn't even want to go back to bed after Randy left. It is getting harder to find things for him. I think it is so much easier to shop for girls than it is for boys. I think it must be harder for him to think of things that he wants too. He could only say that he wanted a motorcycle and books. Books okay, motorcycle. . . not happening my friend! After I got done making salsa last week he wanted his own jar of that too! He likes when we can salsa before his b-day so he can get his own!!! We had some "Better than turning 11" Cake, which of course is better than a lot of things, and then had to watch Indiana Jones! It was a fun day for him. He has been a pretty easy kid to raise. He is usually pretty relaxed (sometimes too relaxed), and laid back. He has a sweet heart, and really looks out for Ciara. He really likes to play with her and her toys. He is such a great kid and who could resist that cute face?! Yes, I'm a bias mom.

Dallin's B-day

Finally a Cool Down!!!

But not necessarily a slow down! It is so nice having the kids back in school. Ciara really misses Kylie while she is gone though. Now that it has cooled down some I got to take Ciara to the park where she could play without getting burned on the toys. She really likes the park ... like is an understatement. I think she would swing all day if she could! We took a little picnic and ate, then she played on the swings for about 20 minutes. When we went to get our stuff all packed up she saw some birds in the parking lot and went to chase them off. She tried calling them back by patting on her legs like you do to get a dogs attention. She wasn't to happy when they wouldn't come back.

My mom made a surprise visit last week. I didn't tell the kids she was coming so they came home from school last Wednesday and were very surprised to see her here. They had a great time with grandma. We even woke up one morning to quite a laugh when Ciara came out of her room. Randy had put her to bed the night before and had stuck one of those plastic diaper covers on over her pants! It was very cute, but she seemed a little embarassed. Dad's are funny!

This week has been the week to get stuff done! I have canned a bunch of salsa and we can hardly wait to eat it! We are big fans of salsa especially the home-made kind so I'm sure we will be doing more so it will last at least until next fall! I dragged Randy up to Tai Pan on Monday to do some fall shopping. He wasn't to excited about it, but he ended up finding some great hooks to hang his shotgun up with. Earlier this year he did some refinishing work on an old shotgun he inherited from his Grandpa Black. He wanted to hang it up for display, so he was pretty excited when he found these hooks. We have extra wood around so he found a piece and sanded it up really nice. I was so impressed with his work. It turned out great. I stained it for him and we hung it up yesterday. It looks really great so of course that means we will be repainting the wall!!! I've given up on the idea that I could possibly be done painting in the house. Oh well, I always enjoy seeing new walls!

Pics of the Last Week