Christmas Time--Family Traditions

We have been blessed with a wonderous Christmas Season this year.  Along with the normal hussel and bussel of getting everything in place for Christmas Day, we had the anticipation of the long awaited phone call with Missionary Matt or Elder Helm.  Oh my how I counted the hours until his call.  In some ways having him on a mission have been much better than I expected, however not being able to talk to him is so much harder than I thought it would be.  Today he sent us a picture of the baptism that they had last week.  The gentleman being baptised is named Ryan.

There have been several other baptisms, however he has not sent the pictures on to us.  I get really too emotional talking of Matt's phone call--so I will only say, it was wonderous!

On Christmas Eve we had a large gathering for our traditional feast.  The tradition behind this feast is in honor of Bill's grandmother, May Nelson, as it is her birthday as well as to have a big meal so that we don't have to cook on Christmas Day.  So we went and brought Ethel home for the celebration and invited a few friends who have become like family for us.  We had Sister Noma Aikins, a little spitfire who used to drive 18 wheel trucks for a living--she is now retired.  The Boston family,  Dacia, John and little Anthony, along with Dacia's sister Jessica Foster, were there as well.  We have come to really love this family.  We also had the missionaries as that is as close to having Matt with us as we can get.  Last we invited our next door neighbors, Karen and her two grandsons Phillip and Cory.  Phillip and Cory's mom won't be home until New Years Day so they had postponed their Christmas celebration to wait for her.  We thought they should come and celebrate with us.  We had to move the couch out of the front room and add an 8 foot banquet table onto the end of our table.  It was quite a crowd. 

We used disposable products to make clean up faster.  After dinner Bill read a Cajun Night Before Christmas, the missionaries gave a message and Bill ended the evening with the story of our Saviors birth from the Book of Mormon and New Testiment.  It was a remarkable evening.  

Christmas morning came bright and early with Rachel and Marcus calling before the other children woke us up.  It was fun being woken up by Rachel for a change.  We opened gifts, ate and waited for Matt's call.  After Matt's phone call we went and took Ethel's Christmas presents to her.  After that things got a little crazy.  It was time for the MADD (Marshmellow Assult Delivery Device)war.  We knew that Phillip and Cory would have a hard time not opening presents when the rest of the world was ripping paper off as fast as they could.  They are only 5 and 7 and while the knew they were waiting for momma, it is hard to see presents there and not be able to open them.  So Jessica, Joshua, Daniel and Mandy taught them to make thier very own MADD and the war was on.

We finished off the day with our Forgotten Carol tradition.  Bill reads and we add the music where it is appropriate.  This year the Boston's, Jessica Foster, and Noma Aikins joined us as they had never even heard of the Forgotten Carols before.  Our Jessica added to the experience by giving us ornaments that she had made that goes with the story.  These ornaments are amazing.  I can't believe that is what she has been doing for the past couple months in her room.  Now the cuts on her hands make sence. 

She hand carved the flute, and the pen really writes when dipped in ink, all the ornaments fit in a plastic canvas suit case.  I was speechless when I opened this gift. I don't know how many times she must have read the book and listened to the music to get the details correct.  I am just really thankful for her gift of crafting.  It really added to the day.

All in all a very wonderful Christmas Day.  A day of peace.  A day of family.  A day of Love.

Final Grades

So the Final Grades were posted.  I got straight A's.  I worked hard and I earned them!!  While I am very much enjoying the break, I can't wait for next semester. 

Elevator Music

This past week has been seriously one of the weirdest ones. For a little background, I am now in my last week of classes before final exams. So when I received an email from the Center for Better Learning (or the tutor place as I call it) that there would be a workshop on Prepping for Finals, on last Wednesday, I signed up. I didn't have any classes at that time and this seemed to be in the "good to know" category. It was a wonderful workshop. I learned many things among which was creative techniques for dealing with anxiety. After leaving the workshop, I got on the elevator to go down to the ground floor. (Since the weather has changed, it hurts my arthritis too much to do the stairs right now) I was going down, when there was a jolt and then the elevator fell for what felt like a mile, but was probably only a foot. In addition, the door refused to open. I was stuck in the elevator. You know how I don't deal with small spaces well, so the first thing I did was call your Dad. That I got him was a major miracle, as there is not supposed to be any service in the elevators on campus--it interferes with something or there is just too much metal. Anyway your Dad told me to push the emergency phone button and tell them of the problem--so I did. Within 5 minutes there were maintenance men outside the doors trying to get me out. As soon as they got there, I lost the cell signal, as I said, major miracle that I even got the call out in the first place, and I was no longer alone. I could hear them working, and was starting to feel as if I couldn't breath when I decided I would sing my hymn--Abide With Me--that hymn led into 30 minutes of singing hymns in the elevator (acoustics are fantastic in an elevator shaft) at which point the good maintance men got the door opened. I must say that I could have done without the practical application of dealing with anxiety. But Heavenly Father greatly blessed me during that crisis. I really need to work on dealing with the after effects of anxiety though, because I shook for most of the rest of the day, feeling on the edge of breaking down. Next day, after some good sleep and much prayer, I was better though. Worst part though was that while I was on the edge, I had really bad fights with two people I love and while one quickly forgave me, understanding the after effects of being stuck in an elevator,the other one will probably not talk to me for quite a while.  I will pray that this person will forgive me as well.

Black Friday Shopping

It's funny, 27 years ago, not a even a full month after I got married, Bill told me that he didn't want me shopping on the day after Thanksgiving.  He said that he didn't want me out there with all the crazy people who were willing to push, shove, and sometimes even punch others just to get their great deal.  He said that he would just worry too much.  I didn't unnecessarily agree with him, however my Grandma asked me if my shopping was more important than Bill's peace of mind.   As the years moved forward, and Bill went to work for Kmart, and then Michael's, he would come with the Black Friday war stories and I was thankful I wasn't out there in the trenches.   Sure I heard the stories of the great deals that my friends found, but was it really worth possibly getting hurt for?  Besides I am allergic to poinsettias, and as there are everywhere, we knew that meant huge asthma attacks, so why go out on this horrid day?  Anything I wanted that was on sale, Bill would go and get, either before work or after.  I am a kept woman. 

I believe that being an obedient wife was more about respect for my husbands feelings than just blindly following his rules.  Besides, if I ever really had a problem with what he asked me to do or not to do, I argued with him until we compromised between what I wanted and what he wanted.  So while he is sometimes over protective, he has respect for my feelings too, and has pretty much given me what I want over the years.  Yep, I am a kept woman for sure.

Imagine my surprise when talking with Bill around noon today about what we wanted from the adds, and he says "be careful when you are shopping today."  My reply "you are letting me go shopping today??"  I was stunned, ney shocked!  After 27 years of him reminding me to stay home on Black Friday, now I can go?  Mandy and I left quickly before he had a chance to either
a) come to his senses
b) remember the date or
c) change his mind.
Armed with a new allergy medicine this year, the poinsettias are not too much of a problem.  So to the stores we went. . .funny thing though, as we went to the couple of stores we had outlined, it wasn't as fun as Mandy and I thought it would be.  We did get what we went for, however we felt guilty the entire time--like we were breaking the rules.  In fact it has me so weirded out that I now have an upset stomach.  As much as I like to be my own person, apparently I like being a kept woman.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for:

1. Being a child of God--I know who I am and that Heavenly Father loves me.
2. Having a loving and supportive family
3. Being married to Bill for time and all eternity.
4. Having the gospel in my life to guide me
5. Having a son who is serving the Lord in a full time mission.
6. Being able to go back to school.
7. Being able to do the math.
8. Having friends who tutor me when I need help.
9. Old friends who have stood beside me through thick and thin.
10. New friends, who I am just getting to know.
11. The Internet that lets me stay connected not only with my friends and family, but what is going on in the church--instant access to scriptures even if I am not at home.
12. Having a variety of food to eat.
13. Having children who do their chores well
14. Cell phones, that let me talk to my children who are far away and to my best friend Laura as much as I want without a high bill.
15. Church callings that teach me new things
16. Mandy to drive me to school
17. Jessica who makes me smile
18. Daniel who makes me laugh
19. Joshua who makes me think
20. Rachel who cheers me onward
21. Marcus who protects my Rachel
22. Matthew who is a gift from God
23. Bill who sees the best in me and helps me achieve greater things, and who always believes in me.
24. Parents that raised me in the gospel
25. Sisters and Brothers who will be my friends for all eternity
26. A home of my own, that I can paint broad slashes of color on the walls while I decide which color I want to paint on them.
27. Music that calms my soul, gives me energy to do my chores, and gives me joy always.
28. Knitting--need I say more?
29. That Bill has a job in this crazy economy
30. Most of all--Prayer--the ability to pour out my sorrows, trials, joys and triumphs to my Heavenly Father and know that he is there, listening and waiting to help me. All I have to do is ask.

These are just a few of the things I am thankful for and will be thinking about today.  I hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving filled with love and joy.


Blessings of Teenagers!

There are many blessings to having all teenagers around the house.  Some are just the ease of having a large, capable and helpful cleaning crew that makes the chores go faster.  However the thing I feel most blessed for at this time, is their cognitive abilities.  Because of their age and understanding, we are now able to have a really deep gospel discussion for Family Home Evening.  We have taken advantage of this by introducing a monthly Stop-n-Jot session.   Here is how it works.  Bill and I prayerfully find an Ensign article that we want to explore in depth.  He then prints out a copy for each member of the family, and divides the article into parts.  Each member of the family brings their journal to FHE and after opening prayer and introduction to the article, we all begin to read up to the first marked stopping place.  We all then record in our journals our thoughts and feelings about this article to this point.  When we have all finished this particular entry, Bill calls on each of us, in a random order to share what we have written.  We continue this pattern to the end of the article.  Yes this usually takes several pages in our journals, but the individual introspection is amazing.  Our teenagers are very deep thinkers.  They have a firm grasp on gospel matters, and a great love for the Lord.  I love hearing their thoughts on the subjects we are reading about.  Often their thoughts cause me to reflect further.  I love the minds of my teenagers.  I am really blessed to be their mother.  They as those who are now grown have been Bill's and my greatest blessings.  I am very thankful Heavenly Father chose to send them to us. 

Challenges are a funny thing. . .

It is funny, going to school seemed like such an insurmountable challenge, something that was to be feared.  Yet as I have moved through this semester, I have found that I love the challenge.  I stress over tests, however unlike when I was younger, I no longer freeze up.   Funny thing is, I love all of the new things I am learning.  Each day (with the exception of Biology 101) I find myself charged up.  This so rocks!!