Diamond in the Rough

I realized that I haven't shared my diamond story, except for a snipet on Facebook. For posterity sake, here is my "Diamond in the Rough" story. Hope it's of benefit to someone at some point.

So, in I think it was February, after waiting almost a month, I took Eric's ring to the jeweler to get adjusted; it had become an oval instead of a circle and was uncomfortable for Eric to wear. It also go polished. While I was picking up Eric's ring, I decided I'd ask the jeweler about my ring. The wedding band has not been sealed to the engagement ring and I wanted to know how much that would cost. I took of my ring for inspection and asked.

While the jeweler was looking at the ring, he noticed that the prongs holding the diamond were not exactly securing the diamond. There are six prongs and four had rubbed down so much that they were barely keeping the diamond from falling out.

"One good hit and this diamond is gone." The jeweler told me.

To get the prongs fixed and the band sealed would be about $350. I didn't have that much money (still don't) so I made a comment about saving my pennies and the jeweler said he would take that ring off until it could be fixed. I paid him $20 for Eric's ring and took the kids to the car.

I felt the diamond a little and could feel it move within the prongs. "It's been okay so far. I'll just watch it carefully, make sure it doesn't fall out." I told myself as I drove home. And for the first few days I was careful about where I put my hand. Then I became a little careless.

I believe it was in April, Eric and I both had to be in bishopric meeting on a Tuesday night; he's ward clerk and I'm Relief Society President and we were talking welfare. I had noticed my diamond at work and remembered seeing it at dinner that night, before bishopric. We had our meeting, came home, went to bed.

In the morning, as the family was eating breakfast, I realized my diamond was gone. It had to be somewhere between the house and the church, but that's a lot of space for a little diamond to hide. The kids looked after breakfast to see if they could find anything. I swept the kitchen carefully. I looked in the car, several times. Then it was time for school and work.

"Is it better to fix the diamond before it gets lost or replace the diamond?" Eric said to me. "You are never going to find it."

"You don't know that. Give me one day to look." I replied.

I saw the disbelief in his face, but I had to at least try.

I prayed on the way to work that we would find the diamond and I thought about it all day. When I got home the kids did some more looking in the driveway. Graigry brought me a little piece of glass that he thought might be the diamond. I could tell they wanted me to find it.

I had texted the bishopric to ask, IF they happened to be in the building and IF they happened to remember, could they please look around for a VERY small rock. Bishop Scott, I don't know if he was in the area or not, but he texted me later that afternoon that he had looked and didn't find anything. I thought that was very sweet of him.

When I drove to work that next day, I guess it would have been Thursday because the diamond got lost Tuesday night, I prayed again. I remember saying something about "I know it's not that important in the big scheme of things, but it would be really nice if I could find my diamond." It was during that car ride that the thought came: "Check your bag."

When I got home, after dinner as I recall, I got my black purse/backpack on the table and took everything out. Nothing. Then I got out my church bag. I took out the folder and the books and papers and then looked into the bottom of the bag with all the spare chain and other bits of trash.

"I FOUND IT!!!! I FOUND IT!!!"

I went into our bedroom which is right off the kitchen where Eric was lying down watching tv. I had the diamond in between my thumb and pointer finger. "I found it!" He smiled at me and said something like "I'm glad" or "Good for you."

I quickly put the ring and the diamond in my jewelry box for safe keeping until we have the cash to get it fixed (that won't be for who knows how long). I was one big smile. I had found what seemed impossible to find, but more importantly, my prayer had been answered because I had followed the prompting from the Spirit. Heavenly father will be involved in the details of our lives if we invite Him to be. It may not be very important in the eternal perspective of things, but if it's important to us, it will be important to Him.

Neta turns 5!

June 7th this year was the last day of school for the kids and Neta's birthday. Plus, that evening was mutual and a cub scout pack meeting. I got home from work, we ate hot dogs and fries like Neta wanted and then we went out the door to church. Grandma Hibbert's birthday package had arrived earlier and Daddy said it couldn't get opened until later. Neta was very anxious, so when we finally got around to presents AFTER the church meetings (about nine o'clock) she was quite happy.

Here are a few snapshots:

I was very creative & wrapped my gifts in plastic bags.

I love my hedgehog puppet!

Cinderelli, Cinderelli!

Daddy helps un-suran wrap the present.
Grandma is a pro with Saran Wrap!

A "Friends" lego set.
This is our first one. Kids had fun swapping hair out
with our regular lego people. 

We didn't have time for cake and ice cream on June 7th, so I made a cake on Friday. Neta and Ro helped with the decor.


The Lego polly is watching the horse corral.
I enjoy using leftover candy stuff to decorate cakes.

Smile for the picture!

Make a wish!!!
She didn't get all the candles out in one blow,
but oh well.

Neta played the "it's my birthday" card quite a bit Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Now she's got to wait another 362 days before that card is valid again.

I can't believe she will be starting kindergarten in July. Time goes by too quickly!

Random Pictures

Again, I'm behind. Working two jobs, plus relief society and me always finding something else to do keeps me away from the blog. I came back today and found a different format, which I'm not sure I like.
April, I thought I had more for that month, but obviously not. Kids have been plugging away at school. Eric has been gutting the most recent rental purchase, and I've been working at CCHA and doing scans. It's a fairly busy life, but that's the good life, right? Kids have just over a week of school left and then will be free from school walls until the very end of July.

So here are a few pictures from my phone, which again, are not the best quality. I need to see if there are any pictures from the camera from the last two months.

WET FUN!

Because our pool has massive holes in the liner and we've decided not to replace it this year, I bought a slip and slide for the kids to play with. Xela was at a birthday party and Aurora was somewhere, so the little three got the first slides. They loved it, but then, they love all kinds of water stuff.

Neta tip toeing through the sprinkler slide.

The next run, Neta couragously slid on down the slide.

Nate doing a karate kick slide.

Graigry Slip Sliding Away!

They had a ball! It was fun to watch them play and get wet. The lawn is going to take a beating when it gets really hot. I tried to upload some video, but blogger doesn't seem to like my videos or something, because I haven't been able to upload anything for a long time.

BIKES!!

Nate crusing & concentrating on the Pensy Trail.

During April, the boys learned how to ride bikes. Cousin Jayden was of great encouragement as the younger boy who could cruise without training wheels. He came over one afternoon and the boys decided they would try again. Then we went to the Pensy Trail behind the kids school one afternoon and nate really got going, not able to make small turns, but got the jist of it down.

They practiced wide turns in school parking lot, as there were very few cars there. Graigry could only make left turns, which I found interesting. He wasn't that interested in trying without training wheels in teh parking lot until Nate got a treat for doing so well. Amazing what a little sibling/cousin rivalry will encourage.

We've gone on several family bike rides and the boys are much better and more confident with their biking abilities. Neta has a Disney Princess bike that I found at Goodwill, training wheels included and she will cruise with us on that or on the extra wheeler. I can't wait to take them on the Monon trail for a "real" ride.