Thanksgiving Weekend's Highs and Lows

The high points:

The hike Thanksgiving Day. I love being able to get outside and see the natural world. I don't like being trapped inside all day and feeling like all I did was cook and eat.


The Thanksgving program. I love gathering my family together and singing Thanksgiving songs and sharing what we are thankful for. It doesn't feel like I have celebrated Thanksgiving without doing this.

The LOW point:

I gave W.... a graham cracker that supposedly didn't have any allergens in it. And this is what happened.



He didn't cry and scream like usual. I am guessing that is because this allergy didn't effect his insides. But the swollen ears were particualy unnerving for me. Why the ears? They were swollen at least three times their normal size. I was so disturbed. I'll be calling the Allergist on Monday to discuss what the new allergy might be.

Uncles

Miss R has just started praying on ther own. Her first prayer ever were she came up with it herself was at bed time last night. This is what she said, "Heavenly Father. Thank you for this day. Thank you for the dinner. It was really good. Amen."

And now she is always saying prayers and coming up with what she wants to say on her own. She even said the breakfast prayer this morning. She said, " Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ loves us. Amen."

Happy Thanksgiving

Miss R said she was grateful for Candy and Guy Spream!

My favorite sentence that Mater I wrote in the Thanksgivng journal was, "I am grateful for God and that I get to get baptisd. I am grateful for land and sky and woter. I am thankful for Nacher (spelling not modernized)>"

Mark said he was mostly grateful that he didn't have to repeat the difficult parts of life that are already over. what can we say? Some years are just harder than others. My new joke for him is that I have a 9,9,9 plan to make him happy. I of course use my best Herman Cain voice when I am presenting this plan to Mark. (I guees I should explain to my posterity that Herman Cain was a Republican presidential hopeful that had a 9-9-9 tax plan that he always talked about. Mark and I watch the debates together and so this joke really made him laugh.) The nines in my plan always change, but usually are things like 9 minutes of hickling, 9 loaves of wheat bread, 9 loaves of banana bread, 9 trips to Arches National Park, and the list goes on.

This year I have thought a lot about how I am so grateful for the influence that my dad's conversion and testimony have had on my life. I am grateful first of all that it sustained him and gave him light in very dark times in life. Secondly, I am grateful that this testimony of his, that lit his path in life, gave off enough light to light my path as well so that I could see life as it really is.

Little Miss R Not So Little

Getting ready for Church on Sunday.

She reminds me so much of Chloe when she was little. The one thing that is definately different is that R.... is very tall. I was in Costco the other day and someone asked me if she attends the local grammar school. Yesterday I went to I...'s school lunch and the students asked me what grade she was in. I tell them, "She is two!"

Reaching the Age of Accountability

Here is my boy at his school doing a musical sharing time for the parents. He looks bigger than his class, but I admit I still think of him as my baby. I can't believe that he will soon be eight.

He walked through the door and to his dismay I was on the phone. He told me, "Mom, I need to talk to you right now!" I quickly got off the phone and his troubling experience came tumbling right out. "I was on the bus with Andrew and he wasn't feeling well. And he threw-up all over the bus. And the throw up was even coming out of his nose (his chin was quivering when he told me that part). And so the bus driver went back to school to get towels. And Andrew had to sit in the back of the bus. And I felt bad for Andrew so I just sat back there with him and asked what I could do to help him. And the smell was really bad in the back of the bus. And now I feel like I am going to throw-up!"

I was so proud of him to see how much empathy he felt for his friend. The scriptural explanation defining how to know if someone is ready for baptism came to mind.

Mosiah 18:8-10 And it came to pass that he said unto them.. and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, ... Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

I remembered this scripture and marveled at his developmental progress. He has developed empathy! I think that he is almost ready to be baptized.

Born to Nurture

A little ridiculous , I know, to have all of these pictures of my little girl playing. I couldn't help myself. I wanted to remember as much as possible what it was like to watch her play with her babies. She is so nurturing. It touches the deepest place in my heart.

She is even nurturing to me. The other day I lay down by her on my bed to try to get her to sleep for her nap. She loves when I do that. She paid me with a slobbery kiss on my nose. I cherished the show of love, but wiped of the excess moisture not even thinking that she would be aware of what I was doing. But she did notice. She said, "Don't wipe that kiss off." Then she kissed me again to replace the one that I wiped off. It took all of my self-discipline to not wipe off the drool. It was so gross, but I just laid there with it on my nose and then started to giggle about it. She quickly corrected me on that saying, "Don't laugh about it!"

Before she fell asleep she did an inspection of my face. She touched my teeth where they are crooked in the front and said, "You have pokey teeth." Then she gently touched a healing blemish and asked, "You have an ouchy?"

She is a nurturer. I sometimes call her Mudder (her name for me--mother with a two-year-old accent). The other day she looked at me in confusion and said, "I'm not your mudder."

I really believe that, "... gender is an essential characteristic in our individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose (The Family--A Proclamation to the World)." I look at my little girl and I see a mother. She has developed those attributes already and has come to Earth from the premortal life with them. I hope that in this life she is able to give full expression to the mother that is in her. But, even if she doesn't get to mother her own children, I know that those who cherish motherhood in this life will cherish it in the next.

The Family--A Proclamation to the World
http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,161-1-11-1,00.html

Everyone Has Discouraging Days

This blog is a convenient way for me to keep a journal. It is a record of motherhood for my daughter, a way for our devoted parents now turned grandparents to stay connected to the joy of their grandchildren, and a way for me to stay connected to God through the process of writing and recording so that in the end I come out seeing life as it really is! This entry is for my daughter. I want her to know that I had discouraging days as a mother too.

I love my husband's mission story of when Elder Anderson visited his mission to speak to the missionaries. At the end of his talk he opened up the time for missionaries to ask him questions. One missionary asked, "How can I be like Paul and the other New Testament missionaries that were so full of faith and never discouraged inspite of really difficult challenges?"

Without skipping a beat, Elder Anderson said something like, "They got discouraged!!! They just didn't write their epistles on those days!"


So, "Da Darling", here is your epistle on one of my discouraging days.

Baby is crying. Don't even have the luxury of wallowing in my self-pity. To be conintued....

Family Update

We went to Home Depot to do their craft on the first Saturday of the month. It was really fun. I can't believe I haven't done that before. The kids loved it.


We made stuffed pumpkins for Halloween dinner night. The kids loved the idea, but the taste not so much. They ate some of it because it looked cool. I usually try to do a spooky meal. On Saturday I rolled out the tortillas to the shape of ghosts and just made that count for this years spooky meal.

Whole Wheat Bread

I am recording this recipe because people have been asking me for it and because I want my children to have it. I made it myself through trial and error. I was forced to change my wheat bread recipe because I cannot use dried milk or eggs because of my son's allergies. My family loaves it. We prefer it toasted with honey or honey butter on top. Yum, yum.

Sponge
5 Cups Warm water
2 Tablespoons yeast
3/4 Cup Honey
5 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

Make a sponge by mixing above ingredients in Bosch for 1 minute or until ingredients are incorporated.
It will look like this


Let rest until the mixture reaches close to top. Apx. 1 hour. It should look like this:



Mix in
5 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tablespoons of your best tasting sea salt

Knead mixture and add more flour towards the end if needed to make the mixture clear the sides of the Bosch. Mixture will be sticky to the touch, but it will clean the sides of the mixer.



Shape into loaves. This yields 4 normal loaves, but lately I have been doing 12 mini loaves instead. I just do 6 per cookie sheet. I form the ball by pushing the dough through a hole in my hand.




Let rise until doubled in size. This takes at least 1 hour.



Bake a 350 for 15 minutes if you are going to do the mini loaves on cookie sheets