Be in the Moment...

As the month of January closes, three thoughts come to mind that I’d like to share with you.

·        Wherever you are, Be There.

·        I get to!

·        Let go of “that”… 

Wherever you are, be there. 

I have been striving to BE IN THE MOMENT, to really be where I am, in presence and in heart.  There are times that we are physically present with our kids or our spouses, but our minds, our thoughts, and our attention wander elsewhere. I don’t want to miss out on the things that are right in front of me and I realize that those who are most important in my life deserve my full attention when I am with them.  This is applicable in ALL situations of our lives.  Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, with whomever you are engaged…be there, FULLY.

I get to!  

This thought is a big one for me.  Years ago, I watched as the health of a dear friend of mine deteriorated until the disease she had been stricken with took her life much too soon.  I can still hear her voice as she answered a question I had posed to her as she sat in her wheelchair one afternoon.  My question had been a simple one, inquiring of what was most difficult for her and how I could help.  Her response touched me in a way I had not expected and has forever changed my heart.  She had one little boy that she adored, with the progression of her disease, her days of playing with him had changed.  As she pondered my question, her eyes looked upward, a smile crossed her face and then a tear welled in the corner of her eye as she told me how much she missed being able to sit on the floor and play with her little one.  She still did all she could with and for him, but life had changed for her.

 For the next several weeks, I rolled on the floor with my babies, I played Legos and Barbie’s every time I was asked; I was consumed with the time I had taken for granted and wished to capture every second of the time I had with my beautiful children.    

I also changed my thought pattern…I get to make breakfast for my kids, I don’t have to.  I get to take them here and there and everywhere, I don’t have to.   I get to do math with 5 or 6 kids all at the same time while they are all at differing levels, I don’t have to…I made this choice and I get to!  Having this pattern of thought helps me to be more grateful and aware of the blessings that surround me.

Let go of that…

“That” being anything you cannot control, change or fix.

Why hold onto these things any longer?  Let them go…let the happiness and the peace in.  We already hold so many things that we are responsible for, allowing ourselves to let the things go that just weigh us down unnecessarily is a gift we owe to ourselves.

My hope for each of you is that you focus on the things that bring joy to your lives.  Wishing you a month filled with magical moments!

Stacey

  

219 days gone and 2 weeks worth!

Sister Danielle Brieanna Lytle 

has 

been 

gone 

for 

219 

days, 

today...

Yep, I miss her.  

But she is doing great!

AND I have a couple photos to share that I received from a sweet lady she is with.  

I was in the middle of our co-op classes a couple weeks ago when my phone "dinged" at me that I had a message...

the kids were busy doing a writing assignment, 

so I took a quick peek, then I gasped!!!  

I always do that when I get a message about Danielle.  :)

AND this message gave me a BIG reason to gasp!!!

WOW ~ check it out...

 I LOVE IT...her hair looks so healthy now...

and check out what some lucky person is going to be blessed with.  

Her hair was donated.  (love!)

This week I decided to cut my hair, and I cut 11 inches off of it! 

The morning before I got it cut, we were working at a soup kitchen, and some homeless man came up to me and said, 

"Wow, if you let your hair keep growing, you're going to look like somebody-something-or-other. She's a singer. Her hair is so long she walks on it. You should probably cut it." 

THAT'S when you know it's time to cut it. 

Hahaha. 

I was so embarrassed. 

This week a really cool miracle happened. 

We were dropping by a lady named Judith, who I've never met. She just lost her mother last month, and we were going to see how she was doing. 

When we got there she was doing fine, but after a few minutes she broke down and just cried and cried. She was so stressed and overwhelmed with life, trying to get caught back up after everything the month before. We could have sat her down and talked to her, but instead, we decided to ask her what was on her chore list. We did all KINDS of chores! After a hour or two of cleaning, she just looked at us and started crying. 

"I was praying so hard that you'd come, but I didn't think you would." 

Man, God really does love each of us. 

I'm so grateful He let us take part in that little miracle, and we had no idea what was happening. 

The church is so true! 

Love ya all!!

Sister Lytle

AND Week #2...THIS WEEK!  

So sorry, I'm just behind on posting...

This was a fun week! 

We had so much going on. 

We had a 24 hour exchange on Tuesday, and an ice storm that night. Most of our appointments were without power and cancelled because of it. 

Then Sister Richards, the mission Presidents wife, studied with us on Thursday, AND we had clean checks. 

We decided to go to Randallstown without our car, and carpool to each appointment on Saturday (that was scary!!) It's about 15 miles one way to Randallstown, so we had a member drive us out to our first two appointments, then drop us off at our dinner, who drove us to another appointment, which tried to CANCEL as we showed up on the doorstep without our car/ride! Luckily we got in, and then our member showed up, and she's the one who took us home after the lesson. 

What would have been a 50+mile day was so much shorter! 

It may not sound like a big deal, but for us, that was pretty huge. 

Especially since it was forecasted to snow, and if it did, we'd be TRAPPED in Randallstown with no way home! 

I'm not sure how people figure it out, but somehow people just sense that I know how to braid hair. 

And so I've braided a few little girls on my mission who have crazy hair. The most fun have been Terri Ann's girls, Patrice and Shyann. Their dad is from Jamaica, so they have LOTS of thick, curly, black hair. A week ago I did Shyann's hair. She's two, and I had to walk around the house with her to get it in the braids 'cause she would not sit still! but it was a fairly simple task. 

Then I showed up Saturday and Patrice had just washed her hair for the week. 

It was HUGE! 

I've never seen it down! 

It was spectacular. 

I have to adopt one of those. 

Anyways, that took an entire hour to braid it. but it was so much fun. 

Haha she is a gem :) 

We also had a super funny lesson with a niece/aunt. We asked them what it would mean to them to be baptized and have all their sins washed away. 

"Oh that would be amazing." 

"Yeah, that WOULD be amazing, Kesha has a LOT of sins to wash away!" Hahaha. 

Then in the closing prayer they said, 

"And please bless all the Mormons." 

So funny.
Well, this week has been great. 

Life is good! 

Love you all so much!

New Coats ~ Taking the Polar Plunge!

Had a super happy moment this past Sunday afternoon when a sweet boy, that I miss like crazy, from Middleton sent me a Facebook message with these two pictures of our missionary daughter, Danielle.  Just so happens, that the other girl in the photo (dark haired one)  ;)  is friends with this boy, Colten...

She and my Danielle met each other and made an instant connection and the rest is history.

Below is Danielle's letter to all of us for the week ~ Enjoy!

The pictures from Colten Miller were taken with his friend Regan Smith, who grew up in Middleton! I was on exchanges in the Singles Branch and walked into Relief Society and the girls all asked where we were from, and I said Boise, Idaho, and they asked where (usually when I tell people where, they have no idea where Kuna is) and I told them and Regan goes, 

"NO WAY! I grew up in Middleton!" 

And so I said, 

"NO WAY! I grew up in Middleton too!!!" 

And then we took some pictures and sent them to Colten while she facebook stalked me. We had 40 mutual friends, hahaha. She's a doll. 

This week has been so weird with the weather!! 

Tuesday was the coldest day in either 20 or 30 years. 

I'm not really sure which though because people kept telling us a different number, but it was in that range. It was only single digits while I was outside, which doesn't sound too bad, but it was really bad. It's amazing what humidity does. 

Breathing was a trip! 

And I kind of felt like I was doing a polar plunge, or something along those lines. 

We kept our day booked with appointments though so we wouldn't be outside for more than a few minutes at a time. 

Funny enough, in Maryland they will CANCEL school due to cold weather. 

How crazy is that??? 

That would never happen at home! 

They cancelled it, but then wound up only delaying it for a few hours, so it was a late start instead. So funny. 

While it was so cold, my companion was complaining about how she needed to buy a new coat so that she wouldn't have to layer so much. And there were a few members that were in on how she was needing to get a new one. 

And so they decided, out of the goodness of their hearts, to give her new coats. 

She is now the proud owner of two of the UGLIEST coats I've seen in my entire life. 

One looks like the Michelin Tire guy, only gold with a tiger sewn to the hood. 

And the other is a brown detective style coat that's about double her size and just terrible looking. 

I learned the value of not complaining this week because of it!  hahaha 

We died laughing over them. 

One of the neat things we've been doing in our mission is practice teaching the missionary lessons to active members of the ward we live in. 

We've been asked to teach at least one active-member lesson a day. 

And it's been so neat! 

We've had a lot of really cool experiences doing it. 

This week we were teaching a lady the Law of Tithing, and she said, 

"One of the blessings I've always believed comes from paying an honest 10% is that all my daughters have husbands. And so I thought, 'Great! Now I can stop paying it!' and then I realized, 'No, I really want their marriages to last and for my granddaughters to get married.'" 

And then she proceeded to tell us that Sisters who have boyfriends at home obviously have parents that pay 11%, or else maybe the ones who are single have parents who need to get on the ball with paying tithing. HA!!! So funny.

The rest of the week was just wonderful, and we're seeing all kinds of miracles. 

But now for quotes of the week! this week was packed full of stuff. 

The zone leaders were talking about how the one companion was BEGGING to go to the horse track on Monday, and Elder Green says, 

"But Elder Hitchcock, there won't even be any horses there..." 

"I don't even care. I just need to see it." 

Yep... he's from Idaho. 

Oh the phone trying to set an appointment with a couple in the ward, 

"Well, we have an old dog whose back legs collapse and a lot of cats so we have cat hair all over the house and so I don't invite missionaries because sometimes they think it's too gross. Should we call it dinner?" 

"Umm.... no. How about 7:30?"

And my favorite.

*Making a phone call* *ring.ring*

"Man, I need to change that ringtone."

"Why, what is it?"

"It's that one that goes Du du du- and then has the rushing noises."

"Huh. why is it on there?" (Special ring tone for the sisters???)

"I just haven't gotten around to changing it is all"

"Okay, well, this is the Sister missionaries and..."

"OH MY GOSH. I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY WIFE."

Nope. For sure not. For sure not. 

HAHAHA. 

Anyhow, have a wonderful week!!! Lots of love!

SisterLytle

Snow Days ~ News from Danielle

It's Monday...News from Danielle!

This week has been crazy! 

The weather is so nuts... 

some days we are allowed to drive, 

others we get grounded. 

And we also had a few no-pros days with the holiday, so it was a slower week for us. 

But it was still good. 

We saw several miracles! 

We began teaching a few families this week that are super awesome and I'm so excited for them. 

We went over to the Schneiders home to shovel their drive way on Saturday, and that booger had already shoveled it after telling us he'd let us do it!! 

"I told you I'd leave a snowflake or two." 

Nope, he didn't. 

No one ever lets us shovel snow. 

One day we went out and just begged people to let us... and everyone told us no!

But that's okay :) 

Quote of the week (not so funny this week, but it made me think a lot)

"You may be the only Book of Mormon that person will ever read." Mary Halsey. 

2nd Quote of the week, "So what have you heard about Mormons?" 

"All's I know is y'all have a lot of wives and a lot of husbands" 

Yep, that's all they've ever heard haha. 

Have a wonderful new year! Love you all! 
Sister Lytle

Message from Danielle :)

More news from Danielle this week...

I'm a little behind on posting her things, but we'll get caught up!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week was super fun! 

We've been so busy lately! 

Lots and lots of people to be teaching :) 

Two of the funniest moments this week came while we were teaching about the Restoration. 

We were teaching a girl named Rosie who is 18 and sweet as could be. 

We told her about how after Christ died, how the church fell apart, but eventually God called another Prophet to put it all back together again. She had the most amazed look on her face. We asked her what she was thinking about and goes, "I NEVER KNEW THAT!"  

A few days later we were teaching Flora. She is 21 and has two little kids. We've tried to teach her the restoration a few times, but things have always gotten in the way (either family problems or busy kids running around) but we caught her on a good day and were able to sit down and teach her. When we got done we were talking and all of a sudden she goes, 

"What... is there a Prophet today?" 

*face-palm* 

yes Flora, 

we've been trying to tell you that for weeks! 

Haha she got so excited and we had a really awesome talk about it. 

Then, part way though she asks, "Does everyone know this?" 

Haha, yep, you're the last one to know Flora darling :) 

She's so funny. I love, love being around her. 

Then! 

A few nights later we went over to her house and she had been cooking. 

African ladies are always cooking. 

But whatever she was making was so spicy that we were choking on the air! 

AND THEN she offered us some! 

So she dished us up some African fried rice, and it was so hot. 

4 Habenero (sp?) peppers in that stuff! 

My lips and ears and everything was burning! 

And she just laughed and laughed. 

To be fair, it was super yummy. 

Probably my favorite African food so far, but it was so hot. I thought I was going to die while eating it.  

Quote of the week!! 

(In a prayer from a 5 year old) 

"And thank you for the missionaries. And please bless them that they will come over everyday. and I love them and they are girls and I want them to come over everyday." 

Build relationships of trust? Check!

Have a Merry Christmas! Talk to you all soon!!! 

Sister Lytle

#NaPhoPoMo Day 28...100% IN LOVE

What a marvelous and perfect morning I shared with my darling little girls...

they worked, very happily, 

right alongside me 

cooking, baking, decorating 

and setting places for 24 for dinner...

We danced and sang to 

Christmas music ringing through our home!

This was truly a day of 

Thanksgiving

and a day I won't soon forget!

I am 100% 

IN LOVE

with being the MOM!!!

#NaPhoPoMo Day 27...Love you forever

I went into my sons room early this morning to wish him Happy Birthday...

I sat on the edge of his bed just looking at him,
his soft baby face
has grown into a handsome,
well-defined, 
stubbly, whiskered face.
I quickly pictured one of my favorite books,
I Love you Forever...
my mind went to the pages of the momma holding her son who had grown and grown and grown...

I secretly wished to pick that darling son of mine up and rock him again 
just as I had so many countless nights of his life.

Knowing that I never passed up a moment to rock that sweet boy
or to hold him each and every time he wanted brings me so much happiness.

Seventeen years goes by so quickly...
I still remember holding that little, tiny 6 pound baby in my arms.
I remember checking every finger and toe,
I will never forget the doubt I had of myself that I could be a momma to a boy,
what would I do with a boy???
Little did I know two more boys would follow so quickly...

He was just so perfect, so wonderful, so cuddly, so heart warming...
I could have never imagined that this baby boy 
would have grown into the amazing young man he has become.

And true to that wonderful story that I love so much,
I think it would be easier for him to pick me up 
and rock me at this point in life 
than for me to pick him up...

Life is wonderful and abundantly full!
And I am richly blessed because of all these amazing children...
AND
I found that I've done pretty okay 
at being a Momma to boys and to girls.

Life may have been a little dull without all the heart attacks my boys have given me!

Time for the 

Day 27 PHOTO

We took our family to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate...

I saw this crazy chicken on the wall 

and just knew that was 

THE SPOT

to capture the Happy Birthday photograph!

So glad he's a good sport!

I tried to get him to move this way and that so I could make the picture just a little more perfect,

but thought I might be pressing my luck and took what I could get,

with a smile and all!

Happy Birthday Myles...I LOVE YOU!!!