Open up a can of worms

One of my (three) callings in the church is Primary Pianist. We seem to have a real problem getting the kids to be reverent as they come into the primary room and wait for opening exercises to begin. Well, last week I had this (brilliant) idea that we should give the kids a gummy worm and say we "Caught" them singing in Primary. So, I will be playing songs that the kids are familiar with and if the leaders "catch" them singing they will get a gummy worm. We'll see how it goes. Just thought I would share (because I'm pretty proud of myself)

the Garden of Life

There are so many analogies to be made in life. It seems that nearly every subject can be compared to the gospel in some way. I LOVE having a garden each year. I am far from a "Master Gardener" but I enjoy it nonetheless. It is pretty much MY baby. Greg tills up the dirt and that's about the extent of his contribution just because he's so busy with work and church stuff. The kids help me a bit (only if I bribe them). Anyway a couple of weeks had passed and I hadn't paid much attention to the pitiful thing. Last week I was trying to get the mower to start (we have two and neither would cooperate). Since they wouldn't start I decided I would weed my garden. We have sheeting and straw down but somehow those weeds find their way through. Along the fence they were taller than me...taller than the fence. I started looking at my tomato plants and they had this one weed that wraps itself around the stalks and stems. So I carefully untangled and "unstrangled" each one. This particular weed will begin to produce a pretty purple flower if left alone. I compared that to sin. We sometimes leave things unchecked until we are completely overcome and we may even think that the sin isn't so bad, it's appealing even like the little purple flower. But if we don't work to remove sin, we lose something beautiful. In this case, the plant will produce a delicious fruit if I remove the weeds. It is so maddening that the weeds seem stronger than the fruitful plants. Kind of like the host of Satan's minions...there are MORE of them than there are of us living on the earth today. They consist of 1/3 of all of the spirits that took his side in the war in heaven. The other 2/3 live at different times on the earth. So mathematically we are outnumbered. It's kind of daunting...but motivation to work that much harder. I have to be gardener of myself in my own life, weeding out the bad. I also am responsible for removing the weeds from my family's life. If I take care of my garden, then my garden will take care of me. If I take care of my family then we can all be happy. I'm sure I would appear mighty strange to someone passing by because I actually talk to my plants. Telling them that they needed to stay inside their cages. The cages will keep them strong. "Stop getting out of your cage!" The cages are like commandments. They may seem constricting but they are there to keep us safe and strong. The garden may view fertilizer as a heap of dung being poured on it. This can be compared to trials. Sometimes our trials may seem like a big pile of crap being dumped on us but these trials actually help us grow and progress. Anyway, there is just something about growing something. It feels almost God-like to grow a family and grow a garden...to be able to create something beautiful. I have picked a couple of tomatoes and one zucchini. I have ordered more corn seed because I have planted 6 rows of corn TWICE and it will not grow. So I am going to try it again with some good White Harvest seed (fingers crossed). I'm also growing crook-neck squash, onions, cucumber, and bell peppers. It is so amazing to go out and pick something right off the plant and eat it or cook it for my family.

What a Glorious Reunion it will be.

The other morning I got to thinking about my Angel Babies. As I did, the above quotes came to my mind. I have learned to be at peace with what happened. That's not to say that I don't still miss them. On this particular morning, I was in-visioning the moment when I will be reunited with each of them. Just that one thought...the mere THOUGHT of seeing them again, takes away the sting of losing them. It makes my heart sing every time I think about it! All WILL be made right. I have this perfect shining ray of hope in that truth.

40 Years and still goin' strong

For the past six weeks or so, my Aunt, Grandma and I have been putting together a Surprise 40th Wedding Anniversary Party for my parents. It was my grandma's idea, yet my Aunt and I did pretty much all the work. I told everyone that I felt like a teen again for all the lies I have been telling my mom lately. Anyway, the party was pretty much flawless and a total surprise to both of my parents.I had a lot of fun planning it but I am glad it's over. When I think about my parents and how they have made this whole thing work for the past 40 years, I think the main thing is that they laugh together. My mom thinks my dad is way funnier than he actually is. And my mom has a laugh that is very distinct. I think you can hear it from about 1/2 a mile away. I've heard stories of people who were out in public and heard my mom laughing (not knowing that she was there) but then knew immediately that it was hers. My dad...well, if you've never had the privilege of being in the same room as him while he watches America's Funniest Videos, I highly recommend making a point of going to my parents house when it is on. We have actually wanted to film him watching AFV so we could submit it to AFV. It is that funny. Looking back on my childhood, there were MANY nights that I would be in my room trying to sleep and I would hear my parents in their room giggling. At the time I found it very annoying and wanted to yell 'SHUTUP!' but it is a nice memory now. Don't get me wrong, my parents had their fair share of fights too. When those would go on, I would want to crawl in a hole. I do not like confrontation even if it's not directed at me. But that taught me something too. I knew that it was not something that I wanted in my marriage so Greg and I don't yell at each other. We just don't. We probably don't laugh as much as my parents do but, then again, I don't think anybody does. So this is all stuff that I wish I would've said at the party as sort of a "toast" but instead I sang really bad karaoke. So Happy Anniversary to the best parents I've ever had. You guys really are the best.

What you smokin' man?!?

Also for Christmas I got Greg an electric smoker. We brined and smoked a couple of chickens and took them over to Carl and Sherry's. It smelled like Silver Dollar City. Everyone said they were delicious. Also, some random dog showed up at Carl's and Adley fell in love instantly. He was really disgusting but as sweet as could be. Adley also had to pet Abby, their horse. Greg and the kids went shooting. Adley pooped in the toilet...inside Carl's 5th wheel trailer and it smelled awful. Since Christmas we have also smoked drumsticks, beef roast, spareribs and pork tenderloin. Greg said the tenderloin was possibly the best meat he has ever eaten. Anyway, we have been smoking a LOT lately.

I'm doing this all backwards

For Christmas I got a camera. I'm still trying to figure it out because it seems to be difficult to capture people especially if there is more than one person in a shot and if any or all the people are moving-well just forget about it, it will be a blurry mess. Anyways, we had a great Christmas. Just thought I would share a few pics.

The Birthday that just keeps giving

Noah's birthday was the 14th. We had a family party that evening: Enjoyed some Jimmy John's sandwiches and FlufferNutter Ice Cream cake (which I made;) He has a foosball table in his classroom at school and loves it. So I found one on craigslist. Turns out the guy selling it is a friend of mine from church so he gave me a great deal on it. It also turns out that it is a giant hunk of junk but Noah loves it so it's all good. Friday night Noah got to spend the night with my parents. Saturday he went shopping with my mom and played video games and such most of the day. Monday was a Holiday so there was no school. For his "Friend Party" (don't ask me why I started that whole thing--my kids now get TWO PARTIES?!?!) anyway, for his friend party I took him and 6 of his friends to see the Star Wars movie and it was pretty awesome. We also had pizza and I made a cookie cake (which was pretty stinking delicious..I actually ate a tiny sliver of it and I wanted MORE!!!) Then they called off school Wednesday and Thursday because of snow and last night Noah went out to dinner shopping with Uncle Zach. In other words, Noah's birthday lasted a week. But he's a pretty great kid so I guess he deserves it.