You Have To Get Creative

That White Stuff

So it finally REALLY snowed in northern Arizona and my kids were very excited.  We have received a few "dustings" and they said "Wow, it snowed so much."  It made me laugh because if you can see the grass peeking through, it's not really snowing, folks.  LOL  G. was almost 2 when we moved to AZ, so he has little memory of snow and K., well he was born here, so this is a completely new experience!  Unfortunately, it wasn't good packing snow, but we had a great time anyway.  :)

Look Behind the Tree

This is an article I wrote for the December issue of our church newsletter. I had to submit a picture as well. A nice staged one! :)  And if you are curious, the "sister" was Jaycie.


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One Christmas when I was a girl, all I wanted was a 10-speed bicycle. When I asked for it, I knew it would probably be one of the only things I would get that year.

Christmas morning, when the lights came on, there stood a vibrant red bicycle. I ecstatically ran to it to discover a tag with someone else's name written on it. I felt deflated. My sister hadn't even asked for a bike. Had there been some mistake? Seconds later, I realized maybe I hadn't looked around enough for MY bike. There it was! A blue bike tucked behind the tree!

This is a story that is retold in my family, and surely somewhere a videotape of my reaction exists. I am sure someone thought he was very clever to hide the bike.

We ask our Heavenly Father for many things. Sometimes we see others receive the blessings we desire, and to some those blessings seem to come so easily. We may feel jealous or confused. We may try hard not to allow ourselves to feel cheated. We may be upset that the desires of our hearts take so long to come to pass. Or we may worry that what we ask for will never be given.

Make no mistake. A loving Heavenly Father will bless us-- is blessing us. It may be in ways not noticed or expected. It may be more slowly than we had hoped, but He loves us and knows us. Sometimes He will deny us what we want, but will bless us with the gifts that truly are the best for us. Sometimes our lives are paths to places we did not expect, but places that will help us become exactly what He has in store for us.

This holiday, when it is easy to covet talents, blessings, and gifts of others, let us look away from theirs and "look behind the tree" to see what gifts are ours.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

Disclaimer:  I have been thinking about this post a lot lately.  It won't come across as humble as I would prefer.  But this is my blog, and assuming you Reader, are my friend, I am going to be open and hope you don't judge me...

If you asked me what my talents were, I probably would say they aren't "talent show" talents.  I write.  And actually I read one of my pieces for a talent show.  Kind of weird, but it turned out OK.  I actually dream of writing something for a magazine someday or talking about my new book on the Today Show.  (It's not written, or being written.  Just my dream...)  I know that God blessed me to be really comfortable in front of others.  Public speaking is no biggie.  I've spoken in stake conference twice and I can give a church talk on the fly.  Sometime, I'll have to tell you about the time I found out about a baptism talk I gave with about 5 minutes notice.  And I am a teacher.  It is who I am, through and through.  I love to teach at church.  I love to teach children.  And I am good at it.  A talent from God, I like to say.  But see-- not "talent show" material.

When I was a girl, I dreamed of being Taylor Swift.  Of course, she wasn't born yet, but that was my dream.  Being on stage, singing my heart out.  (OK, no blonde curly hair though.)  Not for the fame or money, just because I love to sing.  Even took a few years of voice lessons (thanks Mom and Dad).  And since we always had a microphone, had a few moments of singing in front of family friends and once for the Moses Lake Yacht Club and a Jr. Miss Pageant.  But I guess at about 17, I accepted that I was probably a small group singer.  Ironically it was probably because of a musical we did at church and having lots of friends that were great singers.  And watching American Idol.  I guess I figured, I was one of those that thought they could sing.  And really needed to find another dream.  And I had accepted it.

I have usually joined church choirs more to support them, rather than because I love to sing in a huge group.  I have moved into new places and been asked at church, "Do you play the piano? (no talent there)  Do you sing?  Small group, large group, solos?"  And I would always mark anything but solos.

But then I moved here.

For some reason, people here think I sing.  Surprise!  Maybe they know something I don't.  People keep asking me to sing stuff.  For various things.  Like Sunday, one of my friends suggested I sing for an upcoming talent show.  And last week, someone asked me to sing at a Christmas church activity.  I've felt a little put on the spot, but I am definitely rethinking my singing ability.  Maybe being in that musical, when the directors taught me some things about my voice, maybe I got a little better.  Maybe I have underestimated myself all these years.

So right now, I've been singing mostly to support other people.  But I have to be honest.  I'm still left a little dumb-founded.  I'm not planning on auditioning for AI.  (Of course, I'm too old anyway.  Why does that age requirement make me feel ancient??)  But I guess I'll keep saying "yes" when people ask, I guess.  And maybe someday, I'll volunteer.  Not sure.  I'll let myself enjoy it in the meantime.  Just in case I have them fooled.  LOL
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P.S.  Our family was asked to sing in church on Halloween.  We practiced and practiced and the boys knew every word of "Nephi's Courage"-- all three verses.  We practiced but not in front of the microphone.  So the day of, as we began, G. really wanted to be heard.  He pressed his face up to that mic.  We were in the middle of the song, so we did the best we could to pull him back.  Then the circus began.  In front of everyone, we moved him around and then K. decided he wanted to lean forward to the mic.  But we couldn't stop the song to get everything under control.  So we finished the song and I think everyone could tell we knew the words.  But it was an entertaining reminder that we adults are NOT in charge; we are at the mercy of our kid.  They remind us often that we shouldn't think we are too cool because they will find new ways to embarrass us.  Andy had been worried that people would be able to tell he wasn't a singer.  I can PROMISE no one was thinking about how great of singers we were.  Afterwards, we couldn't really punish him, because he said, "No one EVER let's me use the microphone.  EVER."  So can you blame the poor boy?

Doesn't he look all innocent here?  ;)