Brew date with my lady

 This evening I promised Brooke a date at the Brew. She knows I go to the Brew alot with Emilie and she was curious to see what it's all about. Our deal was if she was good and obedient for a whole week I would reward her with a date to the Brew. Brooke did awesome with her behavior for a whole week. We did have meltdowns here and there, but over all she was a pretty easy child. :)) It was fun to see her reaction when seeing the Brew for the first time. I don't know why, but I guessed she envisioned like a Palazzo Hotel scenario or something, because she was like "this is the Brew (in a shocked way)?? haha..I explained to her that alot of Wayland students come here to study or hang out with friends while drinking hot chocolate and enjoying baked goodies. It was no nice to have this time with her. To see the look on her face of pure happiness, by just being with me was so rewarding to myself!! She is such an amazing little girl, who I just know will get far in life.

 We talked about Math, friends from school (which was pretty much her telling me about the drama on the playground), what she wants to be for Halloween and the Plan of Salvation. She told me about her friend Layla's grandmother dying of a heart attack, and she asked me why we die. I explained to her that Jesus probably stopped Layla's grandma's heart to bring her to him in the spirit world. That dying pretty much just means we leave our bodies to move onto the spirit world, we never lose who WE ARE. Then I briefly went over the Plan of Salvation with her. This was nice to re tune myself with the gospel and our eternal plan. I got to take advantage of this topic and

 tell her at the same time to always try and be the example. That if we are nice and obedient we can display our Christianity to those who haven't been saved, that we must lead by example. I know she is only 7 years old, and will have many challenges in life being a latter-day-saint, but I believe by me telling her these things and living it myself will build her touchstone, her foundation of our covenants with our Heavenly Father. I am not perfect and I do not always have a clean mouth, but I do obey what I have promised my Father in Heaven. I pray for forgiveness of my weaknesses and I pray for strength.

 Brooke mentioned to me that she doesn't like seeing her uncle Trenton, Daddy and Pepaw drinking beers, that it is wrong and they aren't living the word of wisdom..this was also another great opportunity to help her see what a worldly life is about. I explained to her that we love Trenton, Daddy and Pepaw and that we must pray for them. That there are going to be people in our lives who we love dearly that are going to do things we don't agree with, but it definitely doesn't mean we have to choose to do it either. I grew up a Church of Christ member, and in this church they have no word of wisdom, they live by worldly people's instruction, not the instruction of our prophets. So alot of people haven't accepted the word of wisdom because they may have not been taught it or they just don't allow the spirit to guide them. I really hope that having these talks with her will help her choose the right in the future. Drinking and smoking and all other habits of the world cause us to be prisoners. I pray so much for my children to follow this gospel, because they choose to, because they have faith in the blessings that come with being obedient. People now a days are so blinded by the blessings that come from living a pure life that they mistake brief joy as blessings, only to be stoned with grief and regret after the high crashes. I do not judge these people, for I was once them. But the pain that I caused myself and most of all my husband was a very hard obstacle to over come. However, by the Atonement of Jesus Christ I was able to fully repent of my sins, and it is now as if it never happened. That is how we are supposed to feel when we truly repent of our sins. So it was nice to have this conversation with Brooke tonight, I hope we can have alot more of them in the future. We also talked about Brian. I asked Brooke how did she feel about her daddy (Jason) adopting her. She said she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I explained to her that this isn't going to hurt anyone's feelings. That there are lots of children who are adopted into wonderful families, and that she is lucky to have Jason and me. I told her about the story of Brie Gomez and how Jesus called her to heaven while her kids are still small. I told her that God has a plan for us and we need to trust him, but at the same time our family is somewhat different, and that I wanted to take care of her on this earth in case Jesus calls me to Heaven before her. I asked her if I were to go to Heaven before her, where would she want to go, and she said she wants to stay with her daddy and brothers. This itself answered my question. I know Jason and I need to legalize Jason as her primary legal guardian along with myself (which I already am). Jason has been raising her since she was practically 7 months!! She is a Parks for sure!!! So we will soon begin this journey as our financial situation enables us to. I accomplished so many things tonight with Brooke while on this date. We will for sure continue going on these dates as her behavior permits. I am so grateful for this, I can't express how content I am with her. <3 He is amazing in all his promises!! Xoxo - Kayla