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November 4 2018 from Mom

Hello my love!  How is my favorite mish???!!!

I had a very fun/eventful week!  I stayed in Provo thru Thursday morning and spent some time with Dani and her family and some of my other friends.  I visited with Noelle and her fam but couldn't stay there because Jenny and Tom were bringing Lindsey to the MTC that week and were staying there.  So she is now in the MTC and sounds like things are going great so far!

Then Thursday morning I flew to LA to spend the weekend with my friends Kellie, Laurie, Monica, Angel, Marci and Penny.  Penny and Hugh, a friend of ours from our byu days, just got married two months ago so we went out to celebrate with them  She has been a widow many years (her husband died of a brain tumor when he was 30) and he is recently divoriced. We spent the weekend in Santa Barbara where they live and we had a blast!  It is such an incredible blessing to have great friends.  All of them (well excluding Angel, but she is getting back to church now) are strong in the gospel and it feels so great to spend time with them.  We also saw on Facebook that an old byu friend was in Santa Barbara because he son goes to school there and it was parents weekend.  So we reached out to them and they joined us for lunch one day.  You can see the whole group in one of the pics I sent you.  It was just great connecting with such amazing people.  Choose your friends wisely because they can make a huge difference in your life!!!

I had fun reminiscing of our time in Santa Barbara with our whole fam! That vacation was seriously so fun and I treasure those memories!  We went out on the pier right where we ate that one night and I got to relive a moment with my boy who is soooo far away right now.  It made me feel closer to you!

Anyway, I got back Sunday afternoon and the dogs literally attacked me. They would not stop jumping on me!  A cute and not so cute moment.  They are crazy and we need to get them training!!!!  It was good to get back home and be with dad too.  I was gone for like 10 days!!!  

I have two addresses for you to add to your group letter you send out:

daniebates@gmail.com (look at that one carefully.  It's like Dani E Bates)

Here is my spiritual insight for the day.  I can't remember if I already shared it with you but I've been thinking about it a lot lately.  Its really profound and has helped me understand some things.  I remember listening to Elder Renlunds talk during conference and I really liked it.  But it wasn't until I was reading it later that I saw something I hadn't heard or remembered before.  He said:

"Our Heavenly Father’s goal in parenting is not to have His children do what is right; it is to have His children choose to do what is right and ultimately become like Him. If He simply wanted us to be obedient, He would use immediate rewards and punishments to influence our behaviors.
But God is not interested in His children just becoming trained and obedient “pets” who will not chew on His slippers in the celestial living room.3 No, God wants His children to grow up spiritually and join Him in the family business.
God established a plan whereby we can become heirs in His kingdom, a covenant path that leads us to become like Him, have the kind of life He has, and live forever as families in His presence.4 Personal choice was—and is—vital to this plan, which we learned about in our premortal existence. We accepted the plan and chose to come to earth."

I really like the part where he states that if he only wanted us to be obedient then we would have immediate consequences for our actions.  Like a dog pees outside so you give him a treat... he pees in the house and you put he nose in it.  Then the dog learns obedience.  But we are supposed to not just "do" different things but "become" and "choose" different.  That is why sometimes we might feel frustrated that the blessings don't come immediately when we want them... even when we are being obedient.  It is all part of our faith and growth.  I hope I'm making sense and you love this like I do.

Well my love.  I can't wait to hear from you today!  I love you sooooooo very much!  I got to tell lots of stories about you to my friends this week!  You are my angel son and you are an extraordinary man.  I love you G

Momma

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