the Bishops Storehouse is a very cool place

Many times I am driving home from somewhere I have just discovered new insight or learned something I think to myself...kind of like a self check.  'Brooke, what just happened?  lets not forget" and I think on it.

and then I have to type it out RIGHT NOW.  or else it is gone and I can't capture the moment again.

But the thing is, my job in life is not to be able to sit and write out my thoughts but be a mom to these five awesome kids who are home with me in the summer.

I have three asleep now and two are reading.  yes, baylie is taking a nap and still needs to a few times a week.  I sat down after eating some leftovers for lunch and read with the others.  Book club is tomorrow and I have to read the book still (Thirteenth Tale) since I read the wrong one (The Fault in Our Stars, highly recommend, but warning some language). 

I stopped reading my book in perfect silent house that is so rare because I cannot forget what just happened to me.  And while the perfectly thought out version in the car has run away, here is the few hours later thoughts.

ready?

Today was (lots of wood knocking) my last trip to the bishops storehouse as a customer. 

Everyone should know what it feels like to load a grocery cart full to the brim and walk out of the store with it for free.

When we were driving there (I left Luke at home) I told the girls that remember how they don't go inside the temple til they are 12?  Well, this place is like the temple to me.  So sacred and special.  Fills a very tender spot in my heart and fills our pantry and fridge...and our bellies, and our emotional bank accounts, and our love of the Savior and His amazing church.

Dude, how could everyone not want to be Mormon?  Seriously the most amazing church in the world and clearly led by God.

I truly believe that those peach trees (well actually my kids prefer the pears) were planted many years ago with the foresight of the prophet and Christ to one day be picked and used for me and my family today.  That sounds really conceited, but I think He was planning long long ago for all the many mouths that would feed from those trees.  And the cows, and the honey bees, and all the other miraculous items that the has been thought up to be stored at the bishops storehouse to be used for all those in need (and not just the Mormons folks!)

You better make the opportunity to serve there.  You need to see how this works in action.  The gospel in action.

About a month ago, Jason and I had a feeling maybe this chapter of our lives would be closing.  And so I felt strongly that all the kids should go there and see what its like.  We had brought a few from time to time.  So after school I picked them up from school and we filled our order.  Its in a sealed envelope with the bishops signature on top so it cannot be altered or taken advantage of.   We got there and it was like kid day.  Everyone must have had the same idea as me (bishop storehouse user note:  go in the mornings at the beginning of the week when they are fully stocked)  There were a few Luke sized kids helping their moms get things off the aisle.

So here's how it works.  You park, go in, grab a shopping cart.  Say hello to the nice people, hand them your envelope.  They open it.  Someone helps you with your order and calls off the items while you walk around with your cart taking them off the shelves and putting them in bags.  (another user note:  go yourself, don't send your husband).  Kids start to bicker over whose turn it is to get the next thing cause they love going there and then you are finished in a jiffy and out you go.

Bye!  Thank you, you just walk out. 


Here is the thing.  You might be able to survive unemployment without getting food from the Bishops Storehouse.  You could eat cardboard and scavenger for berries or something.  But the thing is, then you would be missing all the amazing blessings and instruction the Lord had in store for you when you go there.  There were some amazing things I needed to learn these 9 months.  Worth it worth it.

But today, was historic.  At the end I told the random lady I had never seen there who was just volunteering for the day and the sister missionary who I have seen many times serving there, that my husband just worked his first Monday since September.  And thank you thank you.  Yes, I started crying.  Yes I am so grateful.  Yes, I am going to miss the granola.  And you bet I will continue to pay a generous fast offering so many others can enjoy these benefits just like we had been doing for 15 years before this. 

I am so glad to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I hope you don't get sick of hearing it because it is a huge part of me.  The biggest and best part of me.

Don't want to lose the lessons I have learned and feels like I'm grasping at making them permanent.