Speaking in Church

So we were beginning to think that we really weren't supposed to talk in church at all.  The bishopric had  been asking us every couple weeks since last July but they would always ask us to speak on a weekend that we were going to be out of town.  With so many baby blessings, mission talks, athletic events and other family activities, we couldn't help it.  But they finally caught up with us in December and asked us to speak on a week that we would actually be here.  So I stressed and worried all week trying to get mine and the kids' talks ready.  We were given the topic of service so it was a good pre-Christmas subject.  I found a short poem for Alex to say and Halen pretty much wrote his talk all by himself.  I was really impressed with it too.

Well, Randy spent the day Saturday helping Brent move out of his house and Josie move into Brent's house and I kept all the kids so they wouldn't be int he way.  It had snowed earlier in the week but it snowed really hard the whole day Saturday.  My parents had planned on helping Brent take the U-haul up to Enterprise and unload it then they were going to come back down Sunday morning for our church at 9:00.  But when they got going on the road, it was pretty bad with a lot of slide-offs so we told them not to worry about coming back...it wasn't worth it.  But by 9:00 that night, word starting getting around that church's were being cancelled around town because the roads were so slippery.  So we got the call saying we were off the hook to speak.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little relieved to not have to speak in public because I absolutely hate it, but a part of me knew we would eventually have to do it so I just wanted to get it over with.  I'd already stressed about it all week so let's just do this thing.  But, instead, we stayed home with the kids and had a nice day together.

They asked us to speak the next week which was the week before Christmas but we had the Simkins family party so we were gone.  We finally got it over with the 3rd week of January.  I gave my same talk even though it talked about Christmas a little bit but oh well.  But I just have to say how proud I was of my boys.  We've had Primary prayers and talks not happen because they were too scared to go up or say anything so I worried about how they would handle this.  But when it was time, Alex walked up with Randy and said his poem and testimony so good then Halen walked up all by himself (we sat in the front row with Mia instead of on the stand), put his paper on the podium and read his talk and bore his testimony.  I planned on telling them how proud I was of them but I wasn't prepared for how emotional I was going to be.  They did awesome!!!  It was one of those mom moments where you realize you're kids are growing up and I saw that they're starting to get their own testimonies and gain some confidence in themselves.  I love them so much!