A thoughtful gesture

A total stranger was doing some work at a neighbor’s home while we were out front doing yard work.  Before he left, he came by to introduce himself, and hands us cookies out of the truck because “I saw your van, and the only people I know who drive a van like that are Foster Families, so these are for you.” I then recognized him as half of the couple who won Arkansas Foster Parents of the Year, last year.  These wonderful people have welcomed 60+ children into their home and family over the years, they have a house full of teenagers, and here they are giving US cookies, inviting us to join their circle of support, and showing us by example that sometimes it takes very little to give encouragement and say “I see you.”

Quincy Suzuki Celebration

Q participated in  district wide Suzuki Celebration for 7th graders, this week. She came home with a medal and a trophy for being among the students who mastered all of the songs in Suzuki Book 1, and performing them tonight. She is making great progress and working on the last piece in Book 2, at home.   Keep it up, Quincy Bee! 


Here is a pic that I took while volunteering at their rehearsal on Monday night. 

Willy You My Valentine?

Love is in the Willy House! ❤️ shaped calzones for this crazy bunch of people I love to love! It is so fun to scroll IG and see the many ways people celebrate loving each other.  Here are some of ours: today, I folded all of the boys’ laundry for them and did the older girls’ daily chore/contributions for them, just because. Tomorrow, I’m teaching a friend how to make artisan bread and the triplets will help me make chocolate covered strawberries for Aaron and then I might even iron because a freshly pressed shirt is totally his love language. I patiently listened to a 25 minute detailed dissertation on dodgeball this afternoon because Valentine’s Day reminded me to be intentional and love better by listening better. My parents served me today by entertaining Sloane while Aaron and I met with the restoration company about getting the work on our house finally completed, and then they babysat again to rescue from 2 hours in the car during piano and cello lessons. Huge blessing and I felt the love! This year is a unique one because it only required making ONE valentine box 🥳! Soren loaded up his millennium falcon with all sorts of special cards and thoughtful, adorable treasures. I 🥰 this fun holiday and all its little ways to love well.

The love fest continued all weekend and into the following weekend. I made a chocolate fondue and cheese fondue. Eunice came over for a Sunday afternoon visit and brought her homemade chips that we love so much with bean dip and salsa, and I added some guac. the primary president gave heart balloons to all the primary children. Aaron brought home a pot of tulip bulbs that we enjoyed watching grow and bloom on our table. Corbin and Aaron made face pancakes and brought me breakfast in bed, and Aaron and I finally made it over to the new Torchys Tacos....which did not live up to the Texas torchys experience. But a date and a taco are always a win.  

A Sonnet, by Reese

Reese is writing a Sonnet about our family road trip for an English assignment and sent me this photo of her work in progress, tonight. 

Willy Family Road Trip 2019 for the win! 

Haha best memories, indeed. What a trip that was. 

Meg Reads

I read a book in January! 

An actual book. For fun! 

I know. I almost cannot believe it, either. 

I liked 75% of this one. The whimsical, the draw for book lovers, the imagery, the stories within stories within stories that are actually metaphors about people who love stories. There were gaps and loopholes in the timeline, but that was the point and the book was a bit of a rabbit hole. I liked most of it. But reading it also felt a bit like being trapped in a labyrinth because I’m not sure the author knew the way out either. The characters became the metaphors and things got a little weird. Like being lost in the maze. Maybe it’s supposed to be that way. Maybe the writing and editing grew weary of walking in circles. But by the time I was ready to lose interest, the end was in sight so I kept reading with a hope of redemption for the last few misplaced abstract chapters and story pulled itself back together enough that it’s still a winner. Definitely not the Night Circus, but a captivating read.  

I read a book, and made it back up to the surface after a whirlwind trip on the starless sea.  

Meg Runs Bentonville Race Series: Valentine Sweetheart 8k

Ok, o I was supposed to run 8 miles today, but Jennifer Van Slooten, Leslie Chapman, and Mary Saumweber got me out to run 8 on Thursday with them. It was 18 degrees and those ladies are crazy fast! I kept up but it was rough! We ran a 9:30 average pace for 8.5 miles! And miles 7 and 8 were the fastest over all. This got me wondering what I could do in the race this weekend. So I took off guns blazing. That’s always a mistake. I’m still sore from Thursday, and an 8k is still 5 miles! Ahhh! I was getting tired. 

Then Mary, who had started at the back of the crowd, caught up to me around mile 2 and started chatting—-because she wasn’t tired like at all. I ditched a layer of clothing because I was “warm” and kept up, thinking she would take off any minute, but she thoughtfully stayed with me the rest of the race and helped push my pace. We ran 9:15 splits until a big burst in last mile that kicked out overall pace to around 9:05. I can’t believe it, and definitely could not have done so well without her! 

Pretty exciting stuff.

I placed 91st out of 353 female runners 

I ran my fastest 5K ever at 27:34

I took about 2.5 minutes off last years time and 30-40 seconds off my overall pace. 

I look like a shrimp next to caprice and Naomi! This is Caprice’s first half to train for, and Naomi took 4 minutes off last years race time because she’s an animal. Also I think she never gets sweaty...or maybe she just sweats glitter.  

So if I can figure out a way to maintain this new pace, I’m shooting for a 2:05 finish time for the Bentonville Half.  That’s a tall goal. 

I need to start doing hill repeats and start breaking in a new pair of running shoes. 

Reese’s Young Womanhood Recognition Award

Reese completed the Young Women Personal Progress Program in December and received her medallion necklace in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. 

Finley also finished her personal progress, so Julie abc I decided to take these these lovely, hardworking daughters out to celebrate them and recognize and honor what they learned and how they have progressed. (Delaney also competed hers awhile ago, and was being celebrated for a math award she received that morning! Way to go, D! You are a super amazing math smarty!) I know Finley also worked and worked the personal program and I am so happy to celebrate her progress and accomplishments. 

And by celebrate, I of course mean a mother daughter tres leches and churros extravaganza!  We talked about high school and friends and faith and futures and challenges. 

Reese worked hard on the program.  She set goals and went after them, taking on some big projects and spent 20-30 hours on many of them. She organized an underwear drive and then volunteered regularly sewing reusable and sustainable feminine hygiene products for our local Days for Girls Chapter. 

She taught dozens of kids how to knit cotton yarn hats and organized a “caps for chemo” campaign to donate to our local oncology center.  She read the entire Book of Mormon before her 13th birthday...a huge undertaking that really challenged what she understood about the capacity of her brain. Doing this opened her eyes to the gifts of Dyslexia and removed a lot of emotionally placed academic road blocks in the way she approached learning.  Reese organized the collection of donations, assembly, and delivery of Christmas stockings and new year boxes for the NWA Women’s Shelter and Saving Grace. She worked with business owners and hosted a “give a dress, get a dress” event to bless the women’s shelter, and then got to present teen and young adult girls who are aging out of foster care and learning to thrive independently with a great gift of “shopping” for dresses. This particular activity was impactful as Reese began to understand that our individual worth is not something we “earn” and that our circumstances do not change the effectiveness of the Atonement. She was able to witness the way these wonderful, brave girls are facing extreme life challenges and create beautiful lives for themselves.  Reese did several 2-4 week challenges that improved relationships with some of her siblings. She nurtured divine qualities and began to understand the errand of angels. She began doing family history work and devotes time every fast Sunday to indexing historical records.  She explored her strengths and her weaknesses and Exercised faith in applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ to nurture them.  Reese studied faith.  She practiced being a better friend, learned to schedule and keep commitments, created lists and studied divine attributes she would like to develop. She learned how to recognize promptings from the Holy Ghost and follow divine counsel.  She learned a few simplified hymns on the piano and played them in her seminary class.  Reese did some difficult things and failed at some things and tried and tried again at some things. She did a lot of studying and journaling and offered compassionate service.  She has progressed physically, spiritually, intellectually, and brought many together to make beautiful and inspiring contributions to our community. Her testimony has strengthened.  She continues to progress and be teachable and shapeable.

We love you, and we are so happy for you, Reese! 

Team Jesus

We are having our carpet re-installed this week, and after walking through the house a few minutes, one of the installers asked me, “You guys don’t happen to love Jesus Christ, do you?” I couldn’t really tell if he was being sarcastic or just making observation of our artwork.  I replied, “Yes! We do! We love Jesus.” 🤷🏻‍♀️ As I ran errands throughout my day, I regretfully wondered why I didn’t continue the conversation, or say something——anything else to testify what I know about our Savior.  When I returned home, I heard the familiar bluegrass playing in one room, that’s been going for 3 days now....and then recognized a Christian radio station coming from another room.  I found the same worker from this morning in the room, singing along, and concluded, “Well hey! You love Jesus too!” To which he replied, “Yes m’am! He is my Lord and Savior.  I’m a big fan!”  As casually as if he was telling me his favorite sports team, or who he hoped would win the Super Bowl.

This continued my thinking, and reminded me of  elder Hales’ 2012 General Conference Talk “Be a More Christian Christian” and the many ways we can accept the call to follow Jesus Christ.  Elder Hales talked about Christian love, Christian Faith, Christian sacrifice, Christian service, Christian patience, caring, service, peace, forgiveness, conversion, and endurance to the end. We don’t have to get loud. We can testify through the way we choose to live. 

I hope I wear it on my countenance, and the walls of my home dressed in depictions of Christ, but I also was impressed hearing our carpet friend, Bob, SAY it.   So here’s my declaration so that my social media “wall” also bears the Savior’s name in this space as well, saying we love and follow Jesus Christ. Willardsons are “Team Jesus”

We are “big fans” here, too. 

Run for Jennifer Memorial Run

On Saturday my training group joined the annual Jen Bikel Memorial run. I was able to run with her twin sister, Kelly for the mile that approached the crash site.     I believe Trauma and Grief are also twin sisters. 

What a morning. 

The run was 7 hilly miles long and every step was filled with so much love and support from the community for these sisters.  I especially loved seeing friends (the White’s, Katia M, the Owen’s) out there and running with Caprice, Hailey, and Naomi. 

Bless that Groundhog

It got up into the 70s yesterday. Of course we are expecting snow in 2 days but yesterday was just glorious and I took a minute to just warm my face (and soul) in the sunshine. 

Soren and Sloane did some great sidewalk art on the driveway.