The Day of the Dad

What's up amigos??

Possibly my favorite thing a member has ever said to me: "I could hardly enjoy church cuz I was watching the door the whole time waiting for our friends to walk in!"

Recently all of our friends have been praying for help from God in keeping their commitments. It's so cool to teach them something then see the desire working in them to follow God's will. Especially when they ask Him for that help without us even inviting them to! That's true desire.

We had five people at church and that is a new record for El Dorado. It felt so good and was much needed cuz it's been a long time since I have felt the rush of watching our friends come through the door. I'm especially excited about a couple who are progressing insanely well but also want to know everything before they get baptized... please pray that Maria and Josue will have the faith to act even when they don't have all the answers. The desire of my heart is to baptize them before I leave and the time is ticking fast so all the prayers count.

We had an exchange and I left my area for the first time in two months! It felt really good to leave and have a break for a day. And I got to go explore Nibaje, a land of amazing bakeries and hills. It's a complete maze there and I never had any idea where we were but I loved it. And I got to hang out with Hermana Arizpe, a Mexican hermana who is such a light to everyone around her. God never let us be companions but getting to do two exchanges with her has been a party and I'm grateful I have gotten to serve with her!

Also Happy Father's Day! Lots of people think their dad is the best but there are actually only five people on this whole planet who have the best dad: me and my sisters. I am so grateful to my dad for teaching me how to be an example, a leader, a learner, a driver, a go-getter, a story-teller, a disciple of Christ, a hard worker, and a fun-haver. My dad's a hero to me and I love him so much.

I hope all of you take a moment to talk to your dads and express your love for them --- and I'm talking about your earthly father and your Heavenly Father. Both of my dads are there through thick and thin and they never leave me hanging.

"Our Father in Heaven has given us, His children, much more than any mortal mind can comprehend. Under His direction the Great Jehovah created this wondrous world we live in. God the Father watches over us, fills our hearts with breathtaking joy, brightens our darkest hours with blessed peace, distills upon our minds precious truths, shepherds us through times of distress, rejoices when we rejoice, and answers our righteous petitions. He offers to His children the promise of a glorious and infinite existence and has provided a way for us to progress in knowledge and glory until we receive a fulness of joy. He has promised us all that He has. If all that is not enough reason to love our Heavenly Father, perhaps we can learn from the words of the Apostle John, who said, 'We love him, because he first loved us'".

(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, The Love of God)

Don't forget that GOD LOVES YOU. That's an infinite and eternal truth and will not ever change, no matter what you do or how hard you fall.

Have a semana FANTÁSTICA! I'll catch you guys next week!

Hermana Cazier

pics

1. Lesson with Marleni, Youseline, and Mizca with Richard and Saada's help!

2. Selfie with Hna Diaz cuz I love this girl

3. We made baby empanadas! They were soft good

4-5 Me and Arizpe vibing 

6. I got to teach English class with her and it was so fun! We taught about food and at the end one of the people asked us in broken English if we were going to give him cheese for dinner 

7. Rats are a daily sighting but normally they don't hold still long enough to be caught on camera

8. Exchange pic

Copenhagen, Denmark

(April 16th-27th, 2023)

At the rate that Beau is going, she is going to be more of a world traveler than I in short order. She went to Ghana last summer and this Spring, she had the opportunity to go to Denmark! Crazy. I'm learning the hard way that people REALLY don't like to do blog posts about their trips. They would rather have no memories on here than do it themselves. So, even though the Ghana post is half finished and may never make it to cyberspace, I'm going to give you the super condensed version of this trip to Copenhagen. I need to have something to mark the space.

It helps that I have access to the two thousand photos she took on her trip. There were so many photos taken, which makes sense since it was an art trip. Ironically, Beau stopped going to art school in January. She got her CNA license and got a job working at a Rehabilitation Center. But the opportunity to go with the students to Copenhagen in April was too much to resist. (I don't blame her. How often do opportunities like that come along?) So she went for the experience (and the art) and she had a fantastic time. 

Back to the many photos. I don't think kids nowadays realize how awesome they have it. I remember taking my film camera on a school trip and knowing I could take 24 pictures, or maybe 48 if I brought two rolls of film. I wouldn't know until later if the photos were any good and then I was stuck with what I had. Now, you can take a million photos, as long as you have space on your phone. Then pick your favorite ones. It is so magical. They just don't realize...

The blog books, however, cannot take that many photos. I've learned that the hard way. So I just chose some of my favorites. They probably aren't Beau's favorites, but oh well. So here is a little slice of the trip to Denmark:

Beau was obsessed with the pigeons. She named them all Frank. She has lots of pictures of them. 

I love this picture so much. Doesn't Beau look so suave and European?

The obsession tipped the scales of sanity and Beau got a tattoo of none other than Frank. That is commitment. She even left him little snacks on the windowsill. At least I think that is what those fries are.

After almost two weeks of travel, it was time to come home. She sent me this picture and said, It doesn't fit. No kidding. But don't worry. She is the queen of Tetris and she got everything in there. Impressive.

Sadly, Beau was traveling on her birthday. What a fun way to spend the day. Tyler picked her up at 2 or so in the morning. What a hero. 

I love how thoughtful Beau is. She brought something for everyone in the family. She spent time thinking what everyone would like best. That is very nice, and a very grown-up thing to do. We had a great time opening things and listening to her stories. 

Should be noted that she did NOT show us the tattoo. I found out about that later. She showed Pearl first and even recorded her reaction. :)

Naturally, we celebrated Beau's birthday later on. So that's another post, but hopefully this gave you a glimpse of the great adventures she's been having. 

Lover's Lane and the Best Sundaes of the Summer

(June 12-16th, 2023)

This third week of summer was a busy one. Room changing finished up. It is such a crazy process, but I'm so happy with the finished results and I think the girls are too. First up is the Neapolitan room, named as such because of the pink, white, and grey walls. Daisy was leaving this area. Before exiting, she had found a new way to cover the space as much as possible. Apparently, you just move your mattress to the floor and you can mess twice as fast. 

Pearl moved into the space and it doesn't even look like the same room. And she got a fun collage on her wall too.

Ivory was down in Atlantis and struggling to keep her space in order. I'm not lying when I say this was a tidy day for her.

Daisy moved downstairs and it is pristine. She has some great goals to make her bed each day. It really makes a difference.

Pearl left the green room. She was actually quite unhappy to be leaving the green. It is her favorite color and I've heard many grumblings about the color pink. :)

Ivory found a place for her bed that has never been tried before. I actually like it and it's really easy to wake her up. You open the door, reach out an arm and she's right there.

As usual, we got rid of lots of stuff. The purge is my favorite part. It is so great to declutter and find things that need a new home. We had a pile to be taken away. (The high chair is not ours. I promise I didn't hold onto something that long.)

I haven't mentioned movies, but we've been watching a lot of them. We have some that are scheduled, like Cool Runnings. It's been decades since I've seen that. But we also throw some in that are just because. Like the Jurassic World movies. Everyone loves Blue.  

Our treat for the week was Lemon Cream Cheese bars. They were okay. Too much cream cheese, not enough lemon in my opinion. But definitely edible.

Thursday, Ivory and Daisy left for Youth Conference. They had a fantastic time up at Camp Williams running all the military simulations. They have great stories and no pictures. So just imagine them having an awesome experience. 

Meanwhile, the rest of us got to go to Tyler's annual summer work party. It is one of my summer highlights. Sadly, the golfing was just for employees this year. So we didn't get to use our mad skillz on the course. Really a shame. But there was still the BBQ. I'm glad Analena and Beau came because it would have been so lonely with only three of us. 

Still love the salad and steak. Dad even cut up my meat since I'm so bad with a plastic knife. 

And the sundaes are so amazing. I'm going to try and duplicate the experience for the fourth of July. I'm going to do strawberries and brownies, cool whip and chocolate sauce. So delicious!

We still went over to sit on the bridge. The stream looked smaller, but really the weeds are encroaching. No one is trimming them back.

We also played a little cornhole. I like watching the girls throw. It seems easier to throw when you lift a leg.

Thursday was damp, so Pearl and I did a hike on Friday. We tried a cute trail named Lover's Lane. We couldn't find the trailhead right away. We took a picture on the road since we had to start somewhere.

But we found it further down the road. It was a cute trail that ran behind the neighborhood houses. Often it was bordered by backyard fences. 

At one point, it spits you out into a cul-de-sac. I knew that wasn't the end, but it was a little tricky finding the trail. You literally have to walk up someone's driveway. Can you see Pearl up there? That is where the trail continues. It felt like trespassing, but I think it must be a common sight for those residents to see people traipsing down their driveway.

I think it's called Lover's Lane since it is a cozy little trail with plenty of shade. Oddly, we only saw single people out on the trail and not many of those. But we did find these two little love birds strolling together.

Cute Pearl. I'm glad she came hiking with me.

On the second half of the trail, we saw quite a few little fairy and gnome homes. That's so fun that people put those up.

It's just an out and back trail. We reached the end and turned around to go back. 

Pearl found her own lover on the way back. She is stalking this chicken much like a raptor. Too many Jurassic Park movies for her.

I think it was because of the rain the day before, but there were dozens of snails on the trail. Some were already crushed, but if we saw them ambling across, we moved them to a safer space. This guy became king of his own castle candy shop.

It's tradition to take a mighty picture now. So Pearl and I made sure to get one. Since Ivory has been making us do chin-ups, we both have some defined muscle. 

Find the large bumble in this picture. I love fat bees.

It was a super fun, cute hike. I highly recommend. Then we grabbed some Rockwell Ice Cream. Since we were close enough, it was a good excuse. 

Another great week in the books. Oh, and the girls came home from Youth Conference just fine. They were tired and a little dusty but happy and tougher.