THE TEXAS JENSENS

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Homecoming 2008

THE BIG GAME: FRIDAY, OCT 10

Homecoming was this weekend, and the girls had a very busy couple of days. The football game was yesterday. Creek played Cy Woods and won 54-25. Always exciting to win your Homecoming game and this win was even better because it was their third in a row. Creek is undefeated in district play and is starting to looking like a powerhouse this season.

Play that funky music white girls!

Because of all the Homecoming festivities, the band didn't march during the game. Normally they would march after the game, but since they had a contest this morning the directors didn't want to keep them out later than they had to. In the end our girls got home after midnight and had to be back at school by 6 am. So glad they gave them an early night!

HOMECOMING DANCE: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11

It really was strange to have Erin involved with homecoming activities The girls made their mums at our house with friends. Mums are probably one of my favorite ridiculous Texas traditions. They really are unique.

Here are pictures of Erin's mum. For some reason we didn't manage to get any pictures of her wearing it. Mums can be very expensive. We get around this by making our own instead of buying premade ones. I love Erins mum because it was made out of parts from one of Rachel's old mums (which was made out of parts from one of Melissa's old mums). Hurray for recycling!

Both of the girls went to dinner and the dance with groups of friends. They both looked beautiful and had both had a really fun night.

Rachel can't believe her baby sister is so grown up!

Erin's went with four of her friends, Ashton, Hannah, Grace and Jessica, and their dates. (Jessica and her date arrived late for pictures). They went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner where Erin enjoy some excellent Lasagna. They then went to the dance and had a really good time.

Erin, Ashton, Hannah, and Grace

Erin, Mason, Ashton, JD, Grace, Chris and Hannah

Rachel went with Lauren, Lindsey and Megan. They had a great time taking a ton of photos at different locations. They had dinner at the Cafe Red Onion, which Rachel absolutely loved. The dance was fun too, although definately not the highlight of the night.

Katy Marching Contest

Today was the Katy Marching Contest, which is the band's warm-up competition for UIL. The day was perfect for marching and the band did an excellent job. After performing the kids loaded up on their buses to go to the mall for some lunch. We heard their scores right before we left and texted the girls with the good news--they had scored all 1s. Erin called me to make sure I had told her the correct scores. When I assured her we had heard it over the loudspeaker, she told her bus and the kids exploded in celebration. It was pretty cool to hear how excited they were. Good job Creek Band!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Consecration

When Joe first left on his mission and I couldn't call and talk to him whenever I wanted, I wasn't sure missions were a good thing. But from the very beginning, he has written letters have shown me how much the Lord blesses you when you commit to serve Him and do His will, and I quickly gained a testimony of missions. Reading about Joe's experiences always make me want to do better at being in tune with the spirit.

I went to the temple last week with Cindy Solgere and was impressed by the teachings on Consecration. So I came home and decided to study that topic a bit--not the law of consecration, but the act of spiritual consecration. I found a talk by Neil A Maxwell, who said the "ultimate consecration is the yielding up of oneself to God" and "The best way to valiantly testify of Jesus is to become steadily more like Him, and it is that consecration that carves out the emulative character". No wonder Joe has such amazing experiences on his mission and we have see so much spiritual growth in his letters. He truly has consecrated himself to the Lord, and the blessings are evident.

So my goal for the rest of the year is to work on consecrating myself and becoming steadily more like the Savior. Hopefully that effort will bless me as well.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

I Love Conference!

General Conference was this weekend, and it was the highlight of my week. I love that we have a living prophet that speaks to us on a regular basis. I love that the Lord knows each one of us individually, and knows what counsel we need to hear. I can't even tell you what my favorite talk was--I just loved all the messages and the spirit that I felt as I listened to each session. I really needed that spiritual feeding. I felt like a lot of the messages were given just for me, so my testimony of the leadership of the church was strengthened.

It was also exciting to see the gospel continue to spread across the earth. President Monson announced the building of 5 new temples Saturday morning. They will be built throughout the world--in Calgary, Canada; Cordoba, Argentina; the greater Kansas City area; Philadelphia; and Rome, Italy. Exact locations will be announced later, but the Kansas City and Rome temples were very exciting to me. Rome, because who would have ever thought we see a temple there, and Kansas City because of the potential for it to be in Jackson County. Once these temples are completed, there will be 145 operating temples throughout the world. It seems like only yesterday we hit the 100 temple mark. It is such a blessing to live at this time, and witness the work of the Lord spread across the world and the blessing of the Temple become accessible to more and more people. The Lord truly loves his children!