The Christmas Song?

We've all grown up with the lilting melody and words of The Christmas Song. It starts out, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. . ." Now this has always fascinated me. I have never had chestnuts, never smelled them roasting on an open fire, but the picture painted in the song still elicits warmth and comfort and nostalgia. Imagine my excitement as I opened the Clark's Market Ad for the week and saw, CHESTNUTS!!! The first time in my life I have seen them for sale. I did grow up with trees in the neighborhood which were "horse chestnuts" but these were labeled "poisonous" and were merely kicked down the streets of our town and sometimes stomped and squished on the sidewalks. So I bought a few, they weren't horrible expensive, but not the cheapest item in the produce aisle either. I was being cautious. I got on the Internet and found that you could take this little wonders, prick the "flat" side of them with a knife, soak them in cold water for 15 minutes, drain and bake at 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. The instructions spoke of the warm roasting smells which would come from your oven. (The same process is followed for roasting them on a "shovel" over an open fire.) For our Family Home Evening, I planed on having roasted chestnuts for the treat! Some serving suggestions included salted, dipped in sour cream, dipped in melted chocolate. I was excited, I was pumped . . .and ultimately hugely disappointed. The smell was less than appealing and I guess if you like the taste of potatoes baked in the microwave a little too long, so they are a bit over cooked - you'd like roasted chestnuts. They were starchy, bland, better with salt, not good with sour cream, and a huge waste of good chocolate! I'll never have the same nostalgic feelings for The Christmas Song! Ahhh to our dreams being shattered!

"A Woman's Heart"

I had my Thanksgiving feast early this year - today Sister Julie B. Beck, General Relief Society President came and spoke to the four stakes in our region. It was a feast I must say. I would like to share some of her wisdom here. She spoke about the Relief Society for just a few moments and then asked for questions. As sisters asked questions, she then delivered a marvelous sermon on the subject. I just loved it!

Balancing Life

When asked, how you keep a "balance" in your life she said we must discipline ourselves to take care of the essentials first. She quoted Elder Holland's advice. "If you are sealed to it or if you have made a covenant with it - it had better be your priority."

She also said women are multi-taskers and nearly always take on too much. She said our day has three shifts, the "Day shift," "Swing shift," and "Graveyard." If you work three shifts you will wear yourself out and not give adequate attention to any shift. A woman can only work 2 shifts. She must get sleep, exercise, and healthy nourishment in the other shift. She then quoted a scripture I love so much, "It is not meet that a man should run faster than he has strength."

Helping Out in a World Wide Church

One sister asked, as we sit here in the many comfort we have, how can we help the Church members in foreign countries? She gave 4 wonderful steps.

Pay a full tithing

Pay a generous fast offering

Contribute to the Humanitarian Fund

Contribute to the Perpetual Education Fund

She went on to explain the perfect organization of the Church and how the needs of the members are monitored and considered by the first presidency. She talked about members of the Church in ShriLanka. Due to their humble circumstances and the Hong Kong Temple being the closest temple, members who are temple worthy, can have their air fare paid for by the Church in order to obtain their endowments and be sealed as families. Thus paying a full tithing, contributing generously to the fast offering help those less fortunate a half a world away.

Dealing with Wayward Children

"Successful leadership is the ability to get "volunteers" to set and keep worthy goals." Her advice was to continually pray for these children always remembering "We voted for the plan!" "The plan includes us being "volunteers" i.e. free to choose for ourselves.

"Sleeping single in a double bed"

"We all signed up for the family plan. Waking up and finding ourselves single is very difficult place to find ourselves. It is the responsibility of men to pass on the ordinances and covenants from one generation to another generation. Women are to influence children to accept and keep the ordinances and covenants which have been passed down by the priesthood. In these separate roles as men and women, we can make this influence felt whether or not we are married and have children."

Pornography - a Voice of Warning

Quoting Pres. Monson, Sister Beck stated, "I issue a voice of warning to ALL concerning pornography!" She said, most forcefully, "Each of you have the responsibility to ask the men in your lives, When was the last time you saw any pornography?" We must ask our husbands and our children - This is War and we must be prepared to fight it. The blame goes on the Adversary! Pornography is a storm of the latter days. In fighting this war she referred to Alma 48. This is a time when the Nephites are engaged in war with the Lamanites. The strategies in fighting that war are applicable to us today. Vs. 7: ". . . (he) prepared the minds of the people to be faithful to the Lord their God." It is our responsibility to strengthen our families, discuss the evils of our time and prepare them to be faithful to the Lord. Vs. 8: (they) erected small places of refuge." Our homes are these small places of refuge. We are NEGLECTING OUR DUTY if we do NOT have filters on our TVs and COMPUTERS! Vs 9: (they) placed their greatest number of men at our weakest points." Identify our weakness and and determine as families how we can fortify ourselves against these weaknesses. And even though they were in these extreme times of war, in Alma 50 it says, "There never was a happier people." We can be the happiest people even though we are living in the dangerous times.

Can We Do It?

One tearful young mother said, "I have one 2 year old and I'm expecting another, I see how wicked the world is and I wonder, can I do it?" Sister Beck gave some beautiful counsel. She said, " We are not asking you to be perfect in this life, we are asking you to be precise! Teach your children the doctrine of Christ. Be "intentional " in your teachings. Nobody owes you anything - you asked for this life and for these responsibilities. Rather you owe the Savior, you asked him to atone for you, we owe the Savior everything. Thank the Lord for the adversity that comes your way and then beg for his help. Her younger sister was the mother of 5 children, the youngest a newborn when her husband left her. She had nothing, she had no money, she had no house, she had nothing. When she asked her sister in later years how she had raised this successful family she had her sister remarked, "I did everything I could with exactness recognizing I totally depended on the Lord. I was not perfect, I was precise. " She stated she did not dare miss a single prayer, a family home evening, a day of scriptures with her children. She could not take care of her family alone, but she could fulfill these acts of faith with exactness and leave the rest to the Lord."

Take Heed of the Promptings of the Spirit

This rather surprised me. Sister Beck said, "When you kneel down to pray, have a pencil and paper near by. Let the Lord know that you are prepared to listen. Write down what he tells you and do it."

It was a spiritual feast indeed. Hopefully there is something here that touches your heart! I'm grateful for the opportunities to learn and to grow that the Lord has given me. I'm so grateful for the teachings and examples I learned in my youth. I'm grateful for the things I did right with my children and hopeful my children will do better and be more precise than I.

Bit by bit - row by row!

We opted not to go on a road trip for the football game and stay home this weekend. 1350 miles last weekend rather did us in! And we're glad we did! We got up early today and went and picked up our windows! We put three of the four windows in, leaving the largest window out until we have "access" to the room. I love the windows, they open so easily, and they actually went in quite easily - minus one near mishap when I was holding in a 4' x 4' foot window and it started to fall out. Then the tough work began - we emptied our closet - threw away about 1/4 of the stuff in it, hoping to throw away at least 1/3 more before we put it back into our closet. So my shoes and Levis are in the coat closet, dad's close are in a closet in another bedroom and my clothes are in a different closet. There may be a lot of streaking through our house! Then we took a hammer and wham, bam, took out the sheet rock in the closet. We will next take out the sheet rock in the other bedroom and rebuild our closet into the "hall." As soon as that is done, we will put in the window. Its all lots of work, it will take us some time for sure, but as the saying goes, bit by bit, row by row! I love it!

Halloween - For The Young At Heart

So everyone knows it - I LOVE HALLOWEEN! Why? well, because it is just such a happy time. I adore the trick-or-treaters! Last night was weird and I was so sad because it was 6:15 and we had not had one trick-or-treater. I didn't know if it was the cold, the still melting snow, or if we are just an "old" neighborhood. But then at 6:30 YES! The doorbell rang and Dracula stood on my front porch! We had a fair amount finally come and also stop at a very respectable time - 8:30. I saw some great costumes, two little boys dressed like girls who made me laugh and laugh! Then in between door knockers we could smell the distinct odor of skunk. I guess all the traffic in the neighborhood riled one up. So a knock on the door, and there standing on my front porch is the cutest little girl, dressed like a skunk! I said, phew you stink! She said, "Yea, I know!" Friday I dressed up for the clinic and to take treats around to the principals and school officials I

work with. Didn't get a pic of me "in" the costume, but here's the costume - I was a "fried egg". I made these Ghoul Cupcakes, there is root beer in the batter and they taste more like brownies than cake. They were great!

I love decorating for Halloween time to. I have "sobered up" a bit and my decorations probably fit with my age, more reserved I guess. We went to a football game, 1/4 finals on Halloween as well (which we won, even though it was a terrible game) and ate Brats. So, all in all, it was a heart warming, fun, successful Halloween! You have all inspired me to get creative with pumpkin carving next year and I am going to carve some WOW ones!

Fall - Did I Miss It?

I never expect Halloween to be "good" weather. We generally have a freeze by the time Halloween comes around. So what is it with SEVEN inches of SNOW !!!!!!!!!!

I don't ever remember having such a snow storm as this so early in the year. I'm trying really hard to be optimistic that fall will return, that this is just a fluke or something. Much of it did melt this afternoon. The mountains are covered and we are hunkered in. How much did YOU get?

The Lord's "Autograph"

This evening I had the opportunity of listening to Brother Gerald Lund. He spoke to the youth of our community for their standards night. This was the "kick-off" event for youth conference this summer which will be a handcart trek from Bluff to San Juan Hill, a portion of the trail the Hole-In-The-Rock Company took. In his talk he spoke about and pointed to many instances in the lives of those who came to our area through the Hole-In-The-Rock. They were specific instances where the Lord brought circumstances to pass in the lives of these people that they would know without a doubt that His hand had been there. It was as if he were giving them His personal "autograph" saying, "I know you, I care for you, I hear and I answer your prayers." Brother Lund shared many other "autographs" for other people. One remarkable one was of a young Korean boy, adopted while only a few days old. Prior to leaving on his mission, he felt the great desire to go through the Salt Lake Temple. His mother went with him and she had occasion to sit where she could see her son. She smiled at him several times and was met with an odd, cold stare. When in the celestial room, she put out her arms to him and called his name, only to have him turn and go into the arms of another mother and be embraced. Her son then touched her shoulder and she realized that her adopted son had an identical twin of which they had never known. They met that day in the celestial room of the temple. Not too long after they were photographed together at "the map" in the MTC. What are the odds, that these two would be adopted by LDS parents, both live in Utah, and both attend the same session at the Salt Lake Temple on the same day? It certainly made me think of times in my life where I know the Lord prepared a way, that what some may call "luck" or "coincidence" were in fact my "autographs" from the Lord. Take a moment and reflect upon your life, find those times where the Lord has given you His "autograph." Thank Him.

I Don't Remember Growing Older . . . .

I really don't remember growing older. Lately, it seems everywhere I go, i'm looking around and suddenly it dawns on me . . . "I'm the OLDEST person in the room!" I take a minute, look in the mirror and ask myself, "Do I LOOK like the oldest person in the room? I certainly don't feel like it." People are discussing events, times, places and I chime in, "Oh yes, I remember that." Then comes back the kicker. "You do? I was only 2 years old, or I wasn't born yet." Wow, I don't feel ancient. But I must be getting there. The trick I guess is to just keep "thinking young!" I suppose if I do that, then every time I come upon a situation I will be surprised to be the "oldest in the room!" If I never allow myself to FEEL like the oldest person in the room, then it doesn't really matter what the calendar says. To be perfecly honest, I wouldn't want to go back and do it over again just to be younger! I'll remain, ever yours, the OLDEST person in the room!