Pictures from the weekend

Here you go Faith! These are the only ones I have...

snow benny

benny and i went and walked through the snow for just a little bit this morning. 'snow' is his newest word, he wrinkles his nose and says, "noh." he started saying it last night when we were walking from the store to the car in the snow and he started it again this morning. i thought it would be fun to take him out in it.

i really like this one.
he walked up to the greenhouse and started knocking on the door. i think he's so cute when he's this happy.

picture request

this is a request to all of those who were in draper at any time last weekend and had a camera to please post the pictures you have. it was a fun weekend, and i'd love to have some documentation of it.

i hope everyone is having a great holiday season. merry christmas!

Jimmy Smiling

Dominic took this picture on his phone... Jimmy has started social smiling. It is really fun!

Jimmy's baby blessing

For all of you who weren't able to make it... we really missed you! Here are a few photos for you. It was a great day. Dominic gave a beautiful blessing.

giving thanks

there are so many things i'm grateful for right now. to keep things fairly brief, i'll limit it a little. i am really grateful for spencer and for what a wonderful support he is to me. these last few months i've been so grateful that i know everything is going to work out for us because of all of spencer's hard work. i'm so grateful to have that comfort.

i'm also grateful for all the support that we have gotten from our families. it means so much to have those we love supporting us in the things we're pursuing.

i'm grateful that life is good.

This is pa at noon

Today was a pretty late day, I was up for a couple of hours early this morning, decided to pay a bill and check out cougarfan.com, and a little solitaire/free cell. So at 10:00, we started the turkey and the stuffing. The turkey was not a big deal, mom made the wide foil, and i made the stuffing. this year's simon and garfunkel memorial stuffing is: one large tube of Jimmy Dean sausage, fried pretty hard with a couple of large onions, seasoned with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. added to that nine slices of toast, cut and crumbled, and in a large mixing bowl add two cans of cranberry sauce, two cans of chicken broth with a few drops of your hot sauce of choice, add a fresh onion chopped up, and the secret ingredient this year wasfour fuji apples chopped up. Put it in the turkey and cook it for three hours, we're one hal hour into it at this point.

That's been my day thus far. Dominic and Iris, (it's her birthday today) went to get grandmother, the guys did their turkey bowl this morning, and by all accounts cleaned up the opposition.

Not much going on. It's predicted to stay under 50 degrees today, Mom and i may get out for a walk, i still have potatoes to cook and mash, yesterday i bought gravy at costco, so that will make part of today easier.

I'm struck with the idea that i may be more of a pessimist than I previously thought. not a good thing, particularly at thanksgiving time. there is a lot of good in life, and there are a lot of things that would be nice if they were a little different, but that's OK. i shouldn't let the bad keep me from enjoying the good, things will always work out, if i will learn what i'm supposed to learn, life is good.

have a great holiday everybody.

love, pa

Happy Thanksgiving (and Happy Birthday to Iris)!

I'm (slowly) learning more about how to "wait upon the Lord." New opportunities for me to examine and stretch my faith. For several years I've been realizing that I have such a strong desire for "food storage" that I too often lack appreciation for the "manna" that comes daily to sustain me. I an so easily ignore the day to day ustennce that gets me through, while focusing overmuch on the answers and resolutions that have not yet appeared on the horizon. In those times, it's too easy to become almost childish (as opposed to the desirable "chlld-like") along life's journey, asking impatiently and much too often, "Are we there, yet?"

But I'm learning...I think. Dad once read me a statement from C.S. Lewis, saying, "When we know we are on the right path, it is inappropriate to ask for mile markers." So I try to stop thinking so much about whether or not I'm "there," and more patiently and faithfully wait upon the Lord.

One last thought (for now), I think one of the challenges of waiting upon the Lord--and most other things in life--is finding the right balance. You've all heard me say that I don't think the Lord wants us sitting on our suitcases waiting for the bus. To move forward, to find a direction, to be anxiously engaged in good, seems to me essential. The tricky part, in my opinion, is being appropriately invested in those good works and directions while not minding if the Lord has something entirely different in mind for us and we have to give up on our own temporal goals and change our direction. I find it challenging to invest meaningfully in what I believe are good directions and yet, to be prepared and soft-hearted (as opposed to soft-headed) about giving up on any or all of those directions, if it becomes clear that this is not the direction the Lord wants me to go. It's too easy, sometimes, for me to feel, "Well, if the things I'm working on aren't happening, I'll just sit here and wait for the telegram." Tempting, but I don't hink that's the correct response.

Well, let me not fail to clearly express that I am grateful for the things I've learned and for the areas I'm still trying to figure out. I begin my prayers with expressions of gratitude for the gospel and for my husband and children and, not infrequently, the prayer doesn't get any further than that (although I do regulalry petition the Lord on your behalf--all of you). I have so much to be grateful for.

I love you.
Mom

Many Things

There really are many things I'm thankful for, but instead of listing them all here separately, I'll summarize.

Last General Conference President Eyring's talk really struck a chord with me. I was really touched by his writing in his journal daily about seeing the hand of the Lord blessing his life and the lives of his family members. Although I haven't done it daily, I have made an effort to record in my journal the ways I have seen the hand of the Lord bless my life, and I have been amazed at the miracles that have occured on a regular basis in my life that I might not have noticed otherwise. I've also learned to look at more and more events as miracles -- for example the timing on Amanda getting lice was a miracle. Had it come three weeks earlier I would have had a breakdown -- no kidding, I was really hurting when we were first told to start checking her hair. I felt a physical panic come over me at the thought of dealing with lice then. By the time we were infested (3 weeks later, and only 5 days before Grace was born) I was able to handle it, and handle it well -- a miracle.

In a nutshell, I am grateful for the Lord's hand in my life and am grateful that I'm learning to accept what happens in my life as coming from Him for a reason. I'm also grateful for the coping skills He sends with the trials.

Happy Thanksgiving!