My heart is full as I look back with gratitude at the way K.C. and our whole family have been blessed. Hearing about his experiences and being able to see how much he has grown...well there's just nothing that could make me happier.
Every Wednesday morning is just like Christmas for me.... I somehow automatically wake up about 5:00 and fly downstairs to the computer to see how his past week has gone. His words always brighten my day and lift my spirits. After being gone for nearly 11 months, he is still the same funny, sensitive, smart, compassionate kid, but times that by 10 and don't divide it.
It's pretty cool when you can see what the Lord can do when you put a piece of precious clay in his hands and trust him to take good care of it and to make something beautiful from it....

Hey Mom,
How are you doing? Sounds like you had a way good week, we had a really good one too. We had a really good week last week, we achieved all of our goals and our whole mission set new records for lessons taught and new investigators. I learned a lesson about how fasting this last Sunday, we are supposed to find 2 new investigators a week and by Saturday night we still didn't have any new investigators, so we decided to fast on Sunday and find some. So we fasted. While we were waiting for sacrament to start a member from Kohovsky branch came, she is the wife of the branch mission leader, I sent a picture home once, anyway she talked to a guy on the street and invited him to come meet us, so there was our one new investigator. And the second was the husband of a woman from Armenia who is in our branch, he came to church for the first time and stayed the whole time and wanted to meet with us this week. And the last one we were just walking around talking to people on the street by our branch and we talked to a guy who had been to our church before because his friend invited him, but had lost contact because he was busy. We taught him about the blessings that God has for those who obey His commandments and he wanted to meet again. I was so amazed at the way that the Lord answered our prayers and our fast. Incredible. I love you Mom, I'm doing really well and I'm really happy.
Elder Jensen

Hey Dad!
Snow?! No way. It has been rainy here, so we had to cancel our zone p day :(. We had a way cool experience last night, we were walking through a park by our house and then we heard these people yelling at us to come join them in their picnic, but we didn't really want to because they were kinda drunk and we had an investigator with us...i don't have time. next week. Love you!
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Kelley Carson Jensen
To: Katie Jensen
Sent: Wed, May 26, 2010 12:50:57 AM
Subject: Re: test


Hey! You passed the test! I got the pictures. I like the one where I'm sleeping, I don't remember that at all. How did your sunday school class go? I bet it was fantastic, wish I could have been there to listen. The weather has been rainy here lately, which is fine until you plan the coolest zone p-day ever and then it rains and cancels it. Oh well. I'm glad to hear you got to go hiking. I have been out of the city and into the woods a few times this last week and it has convinced me that I will never live in a big city. Everytime I leave I feel like I take off some weights or something that I have been carrying around for a long time. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel good when I'm out there. I love Moscow, but no city can compare to what God created. I Hope that you are doing great. Love you!
Elder Jensen

Is Lizzy there?

Yesterday Olivia called. She didn't want to talk to me though. She said "Is Lizzy there?"

"Well yes she is...she's laying right here" "Can I talk to her?" "OK...here she is"

So I put the phone onto speaker phone and hold it out so Lizzy can hear.
When I was driving to racquetball this morning, I was thinking about it and picturing me holding up the phone so Lizzy could talk to her and I started laughing out loud.

Lizzy has really been in the dumps since they left....just laying around all day and not even lifting her head up when I offered her a doggie treat.

So when I held the phone up, her eyes flew open and she got up and looked around. Olivia was barking away...(I don't know, maybe they have something going on here we don't understand), then Lizzy comes over and gives the phone a big lick. OK that was gross, but pretty sweet.

Surround Yourself With Joy

I had the neatest experience last week. I was able to meet Janice Kapp Perry! She has always been one of my hero's! Can't begin to explain how her music has influenced and touched my life.

When I saw the poster in Relief Society announcing her coming to speak for our stake, I was like "NO WAY ! How did they get her to do that?" Then I found out that it happened about the same way as when Shawna got Elaine Dalton to speak for our stake young women....

Our presidency was just sitting there in the tabernacle after being taught by the general young women leaders in the meetings they hold before general conference. All of the sudden, Shawna says "I'll be right back..." and she marches right up to the podium and starts talking to Sister Dalton.

We were just sitting there with our mouths hanging open. After a few minutes, we saw Sister Dalton give Shawna a hug and Shawna walks down the stairs just beaming.

She sits down by us again and says "I don't know how or why I just did that, but I found myself up there asking her if she would come speak to our stake young women about the new value and she said YES!"

Anyway, I heard that this same sort of thing happened with sister Perry...One of the stake R.S. presidency asked and she said Yes! I guess that goes to show you that it doesn't hurt to ask.

Not too long after I saw the poster, I got a call from Merrilee Cook asking if I would like to sing with a group of ladies that was singing a song that she had written recently for the program. Oh Yes!

It's called " Surround Yourself With Joy" The words are so beautiful...it really got to me at that first practice. For some reason the words just seemed to hit me.... so profound and true. I didn't do a lot of singing...mostly just blubbering.

"Life holds much of sorrow, that we cannot avoid.
So when you have the chance, when you have the choice,
Surround yourself with joy.
Surround yourself with children, so innocent and sweet
For life can seem so simple if you can make believe.
Surround yourself with music, and you'll find solace there,
For when your heart is tender, your song becomes a prayer.

Surround yourself with friendship, when you feel all alone.
For in the love of others the sweetest joys are known.
Surround yourself with beauty, enjoy God's handiwork.
In sights and sounds of nature, the voice of God is heard.

Surround yourself with silence, for when you are alone
the whisperings of the spirit are quietly made known.
Surround yourself with heaven, in every waking thought,
For there is peace and safety, within the love of God.
Life holds much of sorrow, that we cannot avoid,
So when you have the chance, when you have the choice,
Surround yourself with Joy.

Singing under her direction was a joy! Merrilee has such a great spirit and made this a wonderful experience.

I was so glad that Camille and Candice could come to the program. It was just a treat to get to sit and listen to her for an hour and a half. She was everything I thought she would be and more. She was funny and smart and humble and very down to earth...kind of like sitting and talking with your mom. I was right in the front-center because we had the group of ladies sit together that sang, so I felt like she was talking right to me....kind of uncomfortable when I couldn't stop bawling when she had us all sing the favorite songs with her....Childs Prayer, Armies of Heleman, I'm trying to be like Jesus...that one always gets to me, ever since the Katie, Camille, and Candice sang that together in Sacrament meeting when our family had to do the program. Her words are so meaningful...So simple and straight forward. I know she has been given a special gift to write these words and put them to music so we can remember the messages they teach. They have sure stayed with me throughout my life.

After the program, I got in the line to say hello to her. She was really sweet when I told her how her music had touched my life and and how K.C. was such a big fan too!

I had told K.C. when he called on Mother's day that she was coming to speak to our stake. He said if I got a chance I should be sure to get her autograph or take a picture or just tell her that he loves her music. He said he sure wished he could meet her.

She said for me to tell him that she is proud of him for serving the people in Russia. She said she was thinking that she and her husband (by the way, he was so cute and sweet with her...took care of the recorded accompaniment and sang a little part of a song with her) would be called to serve a mission in Russia because her husband speaks Russian. They ended up in a Spanish speaking mission which she had some great experiences to tell about. She had a great message about taking little steps to achieve your goals and dreams. Don't ever think you are too old or that you are not good enough or that something is impossible...just keep taking those little steps....that's all God expects of us...we don't have to be perfect, just that we are trying... and finding joy in that journey!
I really wanted to get a picture of her to send to K.C. so after the crowds had left, Carol took this picture of us. Pretty special night!

Hello sweetheart...

You are so beautiful! Even though I haven't met you in person yet,

I feel like you have already filled the spot in my heart that I was saving just for you.

You probably already know this because you are still so close to Jesus, but you are the answer to many prayers.

Just the thought of you made us all so happy...now that we can see you, you are not just a thought anymore. You are real! and we can joyfully anticipate your arrival!

You probably already know this too, but you are being born into a wonderful family who have been waiting patiently ( and sometimes not so patiently) for your turn to come to earth. So when you have to leave our Heavenly Father's presence, don't be afraid because you have a whole lot of people here just waiting to love and care for you!

See you soon

Love, Grandma

smile because it happened...

Camille, Kellen and Olivia headed for home this morning. I've had the most wonderful time with them here! It seemed like every day was filled with fun. We didn't do anything monumental. Just being together, doing the everyday things is just great for me!

These are some of the highlights... Olivia (puppy dog Myra) and Lizzy

They were pretty much insepreable while she was here. "Can I let Lizzy out?" and when she says out she means in. No wonder Lizzy gets depressed when they leave. She gets about half of Olivia's food while she is eating and lots and lots of doggie treats. Liv seemed to have come to a new understanding with Lizzy...she has been kind of rough with her (liked to ride on her and pull her feet out from under her) in the past, but this visit she was very gentle and sweet with her.

Saying goodbye is never easy. It's been so fun to have Candice spend more time over here too. Olivia has a way of wrapping herself around your heart and I think she's wrapped pretty tight around Cheweys. She told me today after Camille left that she has decided that she DOES want to have kids! Really? Can you imagine how beautiful her babies would be?

A good belly shot so we could compare how big the baby is now and when we see them again. Camille was pretty sick when they first got here...lots of throwing up! So she called her dr. and he got her a prescription that has seemed to help....just makes her tired.

She is at about 11 weeks now so I hope she will start feeling better soon. It's hard to watch her be so sick but she has a great attitude about it and is just so happy to finally be pregnant! We are so thrilled to see their little family growing.

We got this beach ball at the dollar store and Olivia couldn't get enough of it. Forget the movies and playland and the zoo. I want to stay here and play with my beach ball!

I operated...she is fine now.

We had a fun day at Wheeler Farm while Kate was here.

Pishing

I had Bunko here last week and Camille and Candice were such a big help to me! We made tamales and an avacado salad that was pretty good. I don't know how the ladies felt about the tamales. Might be an acquired taste.. They were all nice about it anyway.

Camille and Candice substituted and it was fun to have them. Lots of laughing! The Bunko ladies are great. Very sweet with my girls.

Trying to not have double chins

A few more pictures from Brians wedding

We had pretty crappy weather while they were here, but Olivia didn't mind at all. She wanted to be outside playing whether it was raining or not!dress up

We went over to Grampa's and had a good visit with him. Olivia loved all of the fun things at his house and wanted to stay for pive more hours

Warren happened to be there when we stopped by. It was nice to visit with him. Camille found out she only lives about a mile away from him in AZ.

We went into Petsmart to look at the animals and saw the Koi fish were on sale so we picked out a pretty yellow and white one.

Olivia was pretty excited about it and named it Myra. Of course.

This was the last we saw of him. He might be kind of scared of the other fish that are about twice his size.

Kelley found the box of the girls old Barbies up in the Attic and got it down. Now that was fun! We played Barbies for hours. There was some old Barbie furniture too that just fit in the doll house.

This was my first Barbie (Midge) She is in pretty good shape (except for a few bite marks and missing toes) for her age.

The original Polly Pockets! Those hold a lot of memories...I think all the girls played with them.

Olivia did not like the Beauty and the Beast doll. She put it on the other side of the room and didn't want to play with it even when we took the mask off and he was the handsome prince.

Ariel gets a ride on Lizzy

We met Meg and Ryder at a bouncy place called Jumpin Jacks. It was a fun place for kids with lots of energy.
Wore me out just sitting there watching them.

Camille and I played this for a recital years ago. Kind of rusty but still so fun to play!

Liv drew a cat for Chewey. "Why does it have so many legs?" "So it can run paster!"

We had some fun playing hopscotch. That brought back a lot of great memories of playing this for hours with my girl friend Leslie LaPray. She lived right across the street and was my best friend when we were little girls. Hopscotch, jacks, monkey bars and roller skating. Those were good times.

We went to see "How to train your dragon" with Meg and Ryder. It was a cute show but super loud. Seriously why do they turn the volumn up so high??? I was deaf (more than usual) all evening after the show! I didn't realize Olivia was afraid of the dragons till we went to go to the new Shrek movie and she said she didn't want to go because there was scary dragons there.We met Holly and Jeffery and Hannah out at Chick- filet for lunch and had a good visit with her. Her kids are darling. When they were in the play place, Jefferey was very protective of Oliva. It was funny when Camille got them all a ice cream cone, the girl that worked there brought them all at once and when she tried to hand them to the kids, dumped them all over them.

Just a fun afternoon browsing around at Target
Popcorn and cokesprite

We went over to see the shop while Kelley was painting there...it's really looking good. They are working on getting one of the places ready for a nail shop to go in.

We went to El Primo taco that was just down the street and while we were waiting for our food it started raining really hard. Liv didn't mind. Caught the rain water in her mouth and found some good puddles to jump in!

Chewey!

Lets meet for lunch at Cafe' Rio!

We went to see the new Shrek movie in 3D. Very cute!

Kellen got here thursday afternoon. It was great to have him here for a few days.

Kelley was trying to put together his Haiti pictures for a presentation for the Aaronic Priesthood commemoration. Kellen said he would help him and made a great program out of the pictures he had. He added more information and some great scriptures that really added a lot to it. Thanks so much Kellen!