NEVER say NEVER, because you just NEVER know . . .

I had the wonderful pleasure this past week of going to the airport to welcome BT home from his mission. BT is not my son, but I would gladly claim him! He is a young man I worked with in seminary several years ago. And from him I learned a very valuable lesson. NEVER give up on anyone.

When he was fourteen his name showed up on our seminary rolls, but he was not attending. Not knowing anything about him or his family, I did some investigating and was told his family was not active in the church and that he would NEVER come to seminary.

Fortunately, his friend Nick, didn’t know that. And so Nick invited BT to spend the night on a school night and the next morning got him up for seminary. BT came that day and the next, and every day for the rest of the year. Two years later he served as our seminary council vice-president and did an excellent job. After graduation he attended BYU Provo before leaving to serve his mission.

During this same time his mother went through a divorce and moved out of state. A couple years later she moved back and into our stake, and in fact into my ward. She is now not only active in the church, but she is also one of my very good friends.

So . . . NEVER say NEVER because you just NEVER know . . .

After all, here is another NEVER story for you.

Although I grew up with pets, we have NEVER had them in my married home until this past summer when my son dropped off a stray puppy he found in the desert. Personally I thought Lacy was a pain, and I NEVER thought I would miss her. But this past week she spent a few days at my son’s house and surprisingly, I felt so sad!! My house seemed so quiet and lonely during the day without her constantly under my feet. Literally.


And lastly . . .

I have always said I will NEVER put up my Christmas tree in November. I think each holiday deserves its own attention and yet here I am with my tree up and decorated a week before Thanksgiving.

The reason is that my life right now is a bit crazy and pretty much out of control so I am not going to have anytime this coming weekend to put up decorations. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem but this year I am hosting a Christmas party at my house on December 1 and thought I should probably have some evidence of the holiday in my house by then. So. . . this is why my tree is up. It is also why it is gold. I have NEVER done that before either, but that is the color I wanted to use to decorate the tables for the party so . . .

NEVER say NEVER, because you just NEVER know . . . :-)

Now a couple side stories . . . After my husband put together the tree, I saw him walking downstairs carrying a tree branch. I said, "Oh, I see you have a left over part." He replied, "I have lots of them!" Hmmm. He assured me the front of the tree looked good, however. I guess he was done with that job!

Second . . . last night I was doing a google image search and ended up on a woman's blog who had posted a picture taken while eating at Carabas following Women's Conference last spring. The funny thing is that my friends and I were in the background of the picture!! It is such a small blog world!!

But the best part is all of this brings so much . . . joy to my journey!!