for the rest of the week (and in no particular order)
snow
more snow
music
antibiotics
play
having the TV more off than on
...the kids more home than not
...more playing than fighting
(if you know what a rarity the above is around my house you might understand the depth of my gratitude)
having (some) cheerful help with the decorating, decorating cookies, cleaning up wrapping up
home
family
ambience
the baby Jesus Melody made for me
scent of Christmas
lights
flannel
warmth
the promise of deep bubble baths in the days to come
God
hugs
cold water
slippers
love
L~ deliberately slowing down her prayer so it's not pronounced as one superspeedybiglongword
Luke reading Luke 2
being humbled by a new calling (not it's not a big calling, just a hard one--for me--and no, so I didn't really enjoy that part, but I'm thankful nonetheless)
soothing lotion
cute neighbor kids
lavender
tall lanky teenagers
friends
seeing some of my kids really think about what their sibling might like to receive
generosity
having my great grandma's recipe for steamed pudding
did I mention music?
watching my kids pool their hard-earned cash for a friend in need
getting paid for not being at work this week
cream
not getting more stuff for Christmas
being able to take a big load of stuff to DI
contentment

Friday--is it getting a little old that I have to say Puffs with Lotion again?!

Oh but there is more: As I left work just after noon today I knew I was not coming back until a week from next Monday. Wahoo!!!!! Now if I can just get feeling well I could get my house clean. Or something.

Thursday--music, more snow, chicken soup, slippers, lavender, sleep

Wednesday:

A sweet single mom of seven who noticing how my face had fallen as I arrived late for my youngest son's Christmas singing told me it was all OK. I'd done my best and my best was good enough. She even gave me a hug. I'd really been OK about it until that point and then I wanted to cry.

My sweet husband who let said son show me the pictures and video.

Said sweet son who was forgiving and totally cool about it and even gave me solo renditions of most of his repertoire.

Dear friend Melody who gave me lavender and silk and made me feel like a queen.

Dear sav-ed daughter who just now apologized for having told me stories about not having YW tonight so she could go play night games with a friend but who did come mostly willingly when I caught on and sent her dad to fetch her. Although she told me she didn't want to go sing to old people she went anyway. As she entered the house and walked up the stairs I motioned for her to come toward me so I could give her a hug and she thought it was for the apology. I got both the hug and the apology and then I got to see photos of the ever elusive LeRoy Brown boy she likes.

Staying in tonight. Still trying to fight off this cough and headache.

Slippers.

And did I mention the silk lavender eye pillow?

Heaven!!!





Tuesday:

Did I mention the funny bad smell I came home to last night?

Well this morning I got the rest of the story.

And so I am thankful for angels watching over my darling and only daughter.

Here's what happened:

In a blatant display of unsupporting siblingness my two middle children did not come up with their dad to hear the concert in SLC last night.

Which meant that after babysitting, L~ was home alone.

She got a little hungry and decided to make herself some cream of chicken soup.

And then she got distracted by the computer (hmmm...where did she get that from?) and completely forgot about it.

Fortunately my husband called her while on his way home to see if she was hungry.

At the thought of food she remembered the soup and ran into the kitchen in just enough time to take it off the burner before it caught on fire. But the entire contents of the soup can is burnt black and hard onto the bottom of the pan.

I'm pretty sure if my husband hadn't called when he did you'd be reading about us in the paper tonight.

And it would have been very sad.

Thank you angels.

Monday -- enjoying a slice of this for breakfast this morning.

Sunday -- when the sacrament meeting speaker lends truth to the words I had uttered only moments ago to my sixteen-year-old who told me he didn't want to go to church (and yes, by that time, said child was present--by his own choice--and, hopefully, listening).

Saturday -- breaking "bread" and a piñata surrounded by good, good friends.

I guess since we laughed out loud and lingered well past midnight I can add the love of a good book group to today's list. I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt and I had tears running down my face. I may have scared a few people when the topic became politics and a few sweet young things learned that hell hath no fury like a voter betrayed. (My bark is worse than my bite...I promise hope.)

Stimulating conversation with good friends over a plate of Kneader's raspberry bread pudding. Does it get any better than that?

And I don't even know which day this should belong to, but I must tell you I don't need to watch any tear-jerking Christmas flicks this year to be reminded to believe in miracles. A good friend of mine almost--and by all counts should have--died a few weeks ago. At best he should have been hospitalized through the holidays and then come home on oxygen for a long recovery. The doctors are all shocked and disbelieving, but he was released from ICU into a long-term rehabilitation facility a week ago. He was expected to remain there a week to ten days. Due to a beautiful and powerful blessing and countless prayers of faith he was able to come home Monday, breathing completely on his own. I finally got to see him yesterday and he's doing amazingly well.

You can have your Tuesdays with Morrie. But I'm really starting to love my Fridays with Brenda. Today we started at RC Willey and ToysRUs, worked our way up to Borders, crossed over to University Mall and then headed back up the street to TJ Maxx.

Not bad for a day's work.

Melody

b.

Lo

Sarah K.

Each one of you brightened my day today.

Thank you.

Love,

Compulsive

20 good things for 20 years

1. Waking up this morning trying to muster up enough umph to tackle the negelected dishes only to find one of Santa's elves had done them after he got home late from playing basketball.

2. If you have to be memory-challenged like me it's nice to have someone make up the difference for you, especially when it comes to remembering names. He never forgets a name. This is something for a school teacher who gets 25-30 new students each year in his class, but also knows the names of the rest of the third graders at his school, too. And remembers them (and their birthdays) 17 years later.

3. Sometimes when life comes at you fast and hard you don't know whether to laugh or cry. Lucky for me my other half has a good sense of humor. On most days anyway. This is essential when one has a houseful of teenagers. Especially of the female variety.

4. He's a good man with a good heart. He took the most excellent care of my grandparents lawn and other needs for years, while also being at the beck and call of his aunt and uncle. And now he is the number one landscape consultant for my mother. As well as all the widows in the ward.

5. While his aunt was at the intermediate care unit of the hospital and again recently while his uncle was doing time at the Trinity Mission Shane was such a frequent visitor that he soon learned the names and the stories of their roommates and their neighbors in their respective units. He's nice and friendly like that.

6. Now that my grandmother and his uncle are neighbors at the Jamestown he is a regular there as well. He is now starting to get to know the names of the neighbors. And the help.

7. He's a good dad. We kind of take turns at who's going to diffuse which situation and whose turn it is to play good cop or bad cop. That's nice.

8. The other night we were at dinner with my BIL and SIL and their tiny baby. They had invited my oldest son to come, too. The baby needed a diaper change and it was funny to watch my son's reaction--"We'll I'll never..." Lucky for me his dad (and I know he'll come around when it comes to his own kids) is not adverse to tackling the dirty work when needed.

9. He takes out the trash.

10. Another handy thing to have around when your memory is unreliable is a dedicated journaler. When I need to know when or where or with whom something happened way back in '92 (or even earlier) he knows exactly where to find the information. Amazing, really.

11. He's not addicted to Warcraft or Halo 1, 2 or 3.

12. Best buns in 501s two years in a row back int he 80s. And he's still got it. Way to go!

13. In a world where materialism is all the rage its refreshing to know and love someone who's just not into that. It makes it a little hard to shop for him at Christmas and birthdays, but it's still so much nicer to not have the pressure of keeping up with the Joneses. (Although if someone were passing out iPhones this holiday season I think he might be interested.)

14. Not only does he keep a good record of our lives through his journal, he could also put together a pretty extensive and complete photo documentary. He has a way with candids as well as scenic and wildlife photos. Someday when we have time to organize them it's going to make quite a scrapbook. (tee hee)

15. Did I mention he is a good man? He likes to surround himself with good people and learn at the side of other good men. He tries to look for the best in people and be positive even about those people who try really hard to get on one's bad side.

16. He's a good provider. The road of a school teacher is not an easy one, but he always worked nights and weekends at a second job until he worked so hard to earn excellent grades in his master's program in order to bring in a little more from his first job. He puts in way over 40 hours at school even though its not compensated. And he never made me feel like I needed to work outside the home. When I went back to work after the kids were in school it was my choice.

17. One of the first things that attracted me to him was his love of the simple beauties found in nature. He helped me become more aware and appreciative of a brilliant sunset, the gorgeous red and yellow of the fall leaves and even a perfect rose. Just last night he phoned home to make sure we ran out to look at the sliver moon.

18. I will never forget how it made me feel one day (and many more since) when I was with him in the halls at the local high school and I witnessed big tall boys totally let go of their "cool factor" to run down the hall yelling "Mr. Rowley!" and run up to him to give him a hug. I cannot even tell you how many kids he has loved and served all through their youths. They get it that he really cares about him. You can't measure that kind of value in a teacher with a letter grade or a test score. One of my friends put it best when she said his area of emphasis as an educator is self-esteem. As a parent I know that kind of boost for a child is priceless.

19. Sometimes he completely makes my day with the tiniest of gestures. One day a few years back I came home to find a vase full of pussy willows after simply having mentioned a few weeks earlier that I wished I had some. Yesterday morning I went out to find the ice scraper tucked into the handle of my car. Little things mean a lot.

20. He's put up with being married to me for a whole 20 years. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if he knew what he was getting into (strong, opinionated, independent...but I try really hard not to be nag) or if he wishes he would've chosen one of the other half dozen girls who were trying to butt in line in front of me when I returned from my mission. But he doesn't complain.

Getting lost in a good book.

Winter.

Experiencing cold so I can appreciate warmth again.

Slowly working through things on my yuck pile (read: bills-to-pay, unpleasant-issues-to-resolve).

Dinner out with family. Their treat.

Finally purchasing our Christmas tree. I'm always worried they're a little dry this late in the season, but we'll see.

Family.

Branches laden with boughs of snow.

The kind of start choir practice gives to my Sabbath.

The warmth and light that electricity brings, noticed more for its return after hours-long absence.

Being brave enough to defend myself when I was being treated unfairly.

Having friends who validate me:
--Thanks Mel for understanding my need to not be just another burden and stress and for never making me feel I am merely that.
--Thanks Brenda for lifting me up when I was being too hard on my mother-self.

Bright Primary kids.

Staying in most of the day after yesterday's seemingly endless marathon of obligations (which all, thankfully, ended up being more fun in the attending than they were in the overwhelmed anticipation).

Relishing the silence of early morning. (Yes, even an early Saturday morning.)

Witnessing the break of dawn from the comfort of my cushy sofa and wrapped in a cozy quilt.

Being mesmerized by the steady fall of snow.

Rain.

And more rain.

With the promise of snow.

And more snow.




Ambiance, warmth and curry with two of my very favorite people.

Spontaneity on a Friday afternoon.

Visiting my grandmother and my uncle-in-law at the posh retirement home. I need to go more often, but at least for today I did right by them.

Today the flooring manager at R.C. Willey came to my home in a business suit and got down on his hands and knees and cleaned the black tar marks off my new hardwood floor. That pretty much made up for all the non-returned phone calls. And then when I gathered my energy to discuss the bill he told me it was taken care of and that there would be no charges for the moldings and trim.

Huge blessing--to the tune of more than a couple hundred dollars.

I am thankful for resolution and for saving big bucks right before Christmas.




I love jazz! Tonight I attended a fabulous concert featuring Wayne Bergeron, PHS Jazz Band and the UVSC (UVU) Jazz Ensemble. (So essentially my son got to accompany a big band trumpet player.) There were some amazing solos and the sound was fine and I had a great time! I'm half tempted to take up the piano again just so I can pound my heart out. That sounds like a good New Year's resolution, don't you think?

For yesterday:

The blessings of doing initiatory work.

A philharmonic orchestra, wind ensemble band and choirs of angels.




For today:

A new day. I believe we often underestimate the power of a brand new day.

Oops--I missed a day. Here's for yesterday:

I was grateful I didn't have to go to Costco by myself. Stores like Costco and Lowes and Home Depot (no, I have not yet been to IKEA) completely overwhelm me by their magnitude and the sheer amount of stuff. Lately I am overwhelmed by stuff.

Additionally, I'm happy that my home is a place in which at my kids' friends are comfortable just to hang out. They know they are welcome to join us for dinner, family prayer or whatever. They know they are loved. (It's a bit sad that not all of my kids want their friends at our home--I think some are allergic to younger siblings--but it makes me feel good that at least some know they are welcome.)

I am spiritually fed this day. I wish I could write more about it, but it's almost too much. Today I am thankful for the love of good leadership as well as humility, testimony and revelation.

I'm thankful that I know a big secret. The Saturday session of stake conference is often the best and I try not to ever miss it. I was inspired and encouraged to be a better wife and mother and to help make my family stronger. I needed that.

I'm thankful that today I got to watch and hear two of my boys sing in the tabernacle with a choir of young men and their leaders. And that I noticed as twice Elder Richard G. Scott got out of his seat and walked up the stairs and stood during the songs so he could look into their faces.

I'm also thankful to have been humbled by the daughters of one of my friends as they were spontaneously called up to the stand to be "interviewed" by Elder Scott in such a loving and touching manner. (I know one of these girls well and love her to pieces. After the meeting I went up to her and told her I wanted to be just like her when I grow up. And I mean that with all my heart.) After they so beautifully and candidly answered his questions and then sat down Elder Scott noted that he could've gone on about how parents can teach their children and what they can do in their homes to raise children who are confident in truth and who know who they are as children of God, but it wouldn't have been nearly as effective as what we heard from these two delightful young women. He was correct.

And it was a pleasure to watch Elder Scott shake the hands of all three of my sons and encourage them to not let anything stand in their way of serving the Lord as missionaries. (I'm sure he could have said the same thing to my daughter, but she lit out of there so fast afterwards she was practically halfway home before we even got out the door.) He told my youngest what fine missionary he will be. I'd guess that message will stick with him for the rest of his life.

I am grateful for an apostolic blessing.

I heart snow!