Stephenson Family Ties

....is for House guests!!!

If you come cheerily,

Here shall be jest for you;

If you come wearily,

Here shall be rest for you.

If you come borrowing,

Gladly we'll loan to you;

If you come sorrowing,

Love shall be shown to you.

Under our thatch, friend,

Place shall abide for you;

Touch but the latch, friend,

The door shall swing wide for you!

by: Nancy Byrd Turner

We've been so blessed to have a home that spoils me. (Yes!! I am spoiled on all sides!!) Blessed with a home that is larger than our needs.
A home that brings us pleasure and backaches with the never ending supply of home improvement projects!!
And, though the future sometimes looks a little foreboding, Im of the attitude that my cup is 3/4's full, not 3/4's empty. And because I have been greatly blessed, its easy for me to share what I have.

And so-- We have two wonderful surrogate 'kids' living in our home. And we have been GREATLY blessed for having opened our doors. We now have two of the finest young people to grace this planet, with us.

You may wonder what some of the benefits may be??
*uncommon companionship
*help with groceries and meals
* cars in the driveway
*lively discussions about various topics; a favorite being about just how dumb boys are!! wink wink
*enlightening scripture study
* more playmates for L
*help with chores
*more smiles and appreciation
* glorious youthful influences
*one cant have too many friends- of all varieties!!

Each of these guests have found themselves out of their comfort zones.


We have our beautiful southern bell-Lynley; who has now landed in the center of our scorching desert, that sometime freezes in the winter, with nary an eligible Mormon man to find!! (YET!!!)

A sweet southern bell who misses her family and her mommy's cooking and sharing adventures with her dad. She misses her nieces and nephews too. But each morning she arises early (really, really early!!!) with a strength and determination to make the best of living here. I think she has come to love the desert too, in a short amount of time. With all the unknowns before her, she still smiles and giggles and has become my best dang, indispensable, spell checker there is!! She cooks a killer broccoli casserole and a spicy sausage concoction that has become a favorite around here!! She has been a joy and delight every moment shes been with us!! We are blessed to have her and to call her family!!

Then there is Justus. Another gift to our humble household. He's become a brother to Brian. A brother of a caliber that I could not have raised-but who we have needed here with us. He's easy to talk to. He adds a perspective to our sometimes silly, sometimes serious discussions that Im not accustomed to having come from a teenage boy. He's tender and receptive to the Spirit. He insists on living each day so that the Spirit will stay with him. A tough thing for a handsome teenage boy to accomplish. He has a beautiful friend that's a girl, who adds spice and variety and complexity to his life.

He misses his family too. He has many brothers and sisters and amazing parents who live in cold cold Idaho. Our home must feel like a tomb at times; without the pitter patter of little feet and the commotion of many bodies coming and going that happens in large families. I sometimes wonder if one of my insignificant roles as surrogate mother to Justus is to help him learn to lighten up a bit. But...at the same time I shudder at the thought of influencing him in any way to change much of anything about him!! He must err on the side of soberness, rather than my side of frivolity. NEWS FLASH!!...I can be frivolous!!! How about that???

Justus has high goals and aspirations. And he'll achieve them all Im sure. I just pray that we here in this home, will do something right to help him along his way. We are blessed to have him, and call him surrogate son!!!

WHAT I KNOW:

Where much is given.........GIVE BACK!!!
Generosity is a two way street. We receive so much from our fun house guests!!