The Aftermath

Yes, that's what it looks like.  A box of peach jello.  A box of cherry jello.  A box of pistachio pudding.  A box of chocolate pudding.  And three (count them THREE) boxes of vanilla pudding.  

And this is the bowl that had all that powder mixed with water from the bathroom sink that was carried (dripping all the way, on tile at least) to the kitchen.

G. almost lost his life...  And there is a Mommy that needs to repent from thinking such horrible thoughts.

This is being recorded, not to embarrass G., but to record it for memory's sake.  And so I can remember to tell it to his future wife so she knows why her kids do similar things...  Because I wished it on their dad... ;)

So she won't feel like a horrible mother when she thinks impatient thoughts when it happens with her own kids.  Because stuff like this happens to all mothers.  And it isn't our finest hour.  

But, later on this day, G. went to a friend's house to be babysat while I took A. to get started on his Pinewood Derby car.  G. told me afterward that he saw some T-rated video games that looked really cool, but he didn't play them because he knew that it was against our family rules.  

So far, we haven't allowed any T games in our home.  Of course when G. was 3 and he LOVED Spiderman, we had a long-winded argument on the way home from Target when I wouldn't let him get a T-rated Spiderman game.  I told him that I wouldn't allow that in my house because it might have bad words.   (I had recently bought a Spiderman cartoon DVD that had some mild SWEAR words.  I was horrified!)  G. told me he liked swear words and I was so mean.  I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with my toddler!

I was so proud that G. had made a good choice even though no one was there to see him make it.  We talked about "integrity" on the way home.  Could this be the same child that had made "Jello/Pudding" water!?!  (And the babysitting mom said that the "T" he was talking about was the T for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not the rating... lol)

One more story about G.:

He really wanted a red pencil to mark the scriptures we gave him for Christmas.  I wasn't sure what he would mark, but OK, sure.  The other day, we were looking at a verse that I thought would mean something to him. He pulled out his pencil and started marking words that he felt were important: Lord, commandments...  Then he underlines "children" and says "that's important, huh Mom?"  I was so touched that I got a little misty.  

He's such a great kid.  He just has crazy ideas sometimes.  LOL

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?  ;)

Life's Good When You're 3

K. had a birthday in October.  G. had him planning out the entire party with lots of G.'s input, but little from the people with the wallets.  LOL  K. kept telling us that we were going to Peter Piper Pizza for his birthday.  How do you break it to the brand new 3 year-old that he's not getting the party he's planned?  There was a school fall festival planned for the same night and Andy and I determined that we would actually save money by going to Peter Piper Pizza.  So the little guy got his birthday wish!

He loved this ride, until it started to move.

All the boys

Trying to get that "3" down...

Got it!!!

Oh, how exciting the toys are here...

The Sponge Bob cake requested by the boy that never watches it.

Blowing out the candle

This is the face he makes when he wants to look "cute"

Happy Birthday K.!  

Light in the Darkness

So I have heard that if you need speak to God you pray, and when you want God to speak to you, you open the scriptures.  Totally happened to me this week.

I find myself reading message boards about controversial topics usually that have to do with the principles that I am trying to teach my growing boys.  And a mother that considers herself Christian can feel a little battered and bruised listening to the attacks on Christians these days.  I know that we live in a world where there is a lot of diverse ideology and everyone wants to be left in peace to live as they wish.  But I also believe in a loving Heavenly Father that gives us commandments to help guide us through life.  And I believe in one that would like to destroy us, and bring us down to his world of misery.  He is real and he has nothing but our destruction in mind.  So I believe that commandments aren't restrictions, but fences that keep me in the safe place, the place where I can find peace and comfort.

But I feel like those that criticize Christians don't know me.  They don't know that I love Jesus and I know that he loves ALL of us.  I try to treat people kindly.  But I also believe there are blessings in obedience to Him who knows and understand all.  But I worry for my children, that they will be attacked because they feel this way to.  Because they believe.  And I want them to feel safe, but some in this diverse world want to not only ignore their choice of lifestyle, they want to crush it.  So I have felt a little in turmoil about what the future holds for them.

I was heavy-hearted, but had to get dinner on the table.  My boys were doing homework.  While I was stirring the food, I opened my New Testament.  And I am not kidding, there were answers everywhere.  I started writing them down, as fast as I found them.  It's a wonder my dinner wasn't burned.  So in my hectic, noisy house, in front of a hot stove, holding a spatula, He answered me.  My questions.  And soothed my heart.  I am still nervous.  But not heavy.  And I have a list of verses I can return to when I need to remember...  I love the verse that says "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you."  (John 14:18)  He definitely took care of me this week.