Spring Break

 We had a couple of other fun things planned over break.  Little Man read The Great Gatsby in school and really wanted to see the musical.  Watching the musical reminded me how I had hated the book when I read it in high school.  None of the characters are remotely likable or redeemable, but I will say that the set was phenomenal, and the two male leads had the most gorgeous voices!  The music was fire and the story was meh.  Little Man loved it all, so it was worth it.

The following day the 3 oldest went to the temple.  It was lovely being there together.  I can't wait until Little Guy can join us next year.

A Light in Darkness

 There was a huge storm that blew through the city this afternoon.  The wind was crazy, but as we were driving to pick up the kids from their dress rehearsal at school Little Guy and I saw a beautiful rainbow.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was so lovely peaking through a double set of clouds.  It brought a smile to my face and reminded me there's always beauty for us to see if we are looking for it.  

Sometimes it just takes a little bit of light to dis-spell the darkness.

Valentine Preparations

 I'm down to 3 who need Valentines and 2 who need boxes.  BB was super easy.  He just wanted Star Wars, and I love Hallmark, because they have a box and valentines you can buy.  Click!

Little Guy just needed Valentines.  It was pretty cute to watch him write his name on all the cards.  When he was done he declared, "My hand is SO tired!"

Little Lady's class has food allergies, so we went with bracelets. 

She wanted to make a cat box.  I may not get crafty often, but I felt good about this one.  Nothing like felt and packaging tape to make your world go round or at least to make a cat box.

Gratitude Pies

I have the sweetest Beehives.  I love these girls!  Sadly, one turned 14, so I'm down to 3.  I want to keep them from turning 14 forever!  For our class activity the girls wanted to make Gratitude Ice Cream Pies.  They each chose their favorite flavor of ice cream and then I researched a recipe for each of them.  They wrote a thank you card to go with the pie, and then we delivered them that evening.  These girls are so fun and thoughtful, and I love being around them.

It Keeps Rolling On

This Winter sure is having a hay-day.  We had church canceled today because of the latest snow storm.  I was downloading pictures off my phone and came upon another picture from the last ice storm.  This is the bush in front of our home the night of last month's Book Club.

Speaking of Book Club, we recently discussed John Kralik's  365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life

"One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; he was 40 pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and overall, his dearest life dreams--including hopes of upholding idealistic legal principles and of becoming a judge--seemed to have slipped beyond his reach. Then, during a desperate walk in the hills on New Year's Day, John was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn't have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had. Inspired by a beautiful, simple note his ex-girlfriend had sent to thank him for his Christmas gift, John imagined that he might find a way to feel grateful by writing thank-you notes. To keep himself going, he set himself a goal--come what may--of writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year. One by one, day after day, he began to handwrite thank yous--for gifts or kindnesses he'd received from loved ones and coworkers, from past business associates and current foes, from college friends and doctors and store clerks and handymen and neighbors, and anyone, really, absolutely anyone, who'd done him a good turn, however large or small. Immediately after he'd sent his very first notes, significant and surprising benefits began to come John's way--from financial gain to true friendship, from weight loss to inner peace. While John wrote his notes, the economy collapsed, the bank across the street from his office failed, but thank-you note by thank-you note, John's whole life turned around. 365 Thank Yous is a rare memoir: its touching, immediately accessible message--and benefits--come to readers from the plainspoken storytelling of an ordinary man. Kralik sets a believable, doable example of how to live a miraculously good life." 

Kralik's attempt to turn around his life by completing 365 thank you notes in a year was a very intriguing concept to me.  I found the change in his perception of his life as he began to be grateful to be really interesting.  It makes me think about people I need to thank more often.  I really enjoyed this book.  Maybe I should be more grateful for the weather.  :)

Giving Tree

I don't usually talk about things I do outside of my family, but today I want to share with you a little about what I've been up to this crazy month of December.  A little background:  I'm Relief Society President in my ward.  For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, I am over the spiritual and temporal welfare of the 200+ women that are 18 and over in my church congregation (we refer to congregations as wards in the LDS church).

One of my responsibilities during the holidays is to oversee the Giving Tree.  I try to find out what families need help with for Christmas, and then we place tags on the tree for members of the ward to take and get things for these families.  It takes a lot of coordination, because we try to make the giving and receiving as anonymous as possible, but also because in our particular ward we have a lot of needs.  For those of you who are not familiar with the way Mormon congregations work, it's all by geographical boundaries.  You attend the ward where your home fits within the boundaries.  You can literally type your address in on lds.org and it tells you which meetinghouse you would attend.  I can travel anywhere in the world and easily look up where I would go to church.  It's kinda nifty.  Anyway, the boundaries in my particular ward include a section of downtown Columbus, and we happen to have a lot of people who struggle financially and are going through hard times.  A lot of families needed to be on the Giving Tree.  I also wanted to make sure that single parents and widows weren't forgotten about.  This meant the Giving Tree was quite a huge project to manage.

For the last week my house has looked like a Christmas explosion with gifts, stockings and gift cards all over the place.  Last night I emptied my house and we came to the church to make all of the fruit baskets and organize all of the gifts to be distributed.  It was quite a production.  We put it all together in just over an hour, and then sent out people to make deliveries.  After all was said and done we gave out 44 fruit baskets, 46 gift cards, 15 stockings and 18 gifts for children, and 5 turkey dinners.  The cellophane wrapping didn't hold as much fruit as we originally thought it would, so we also had a lot of extra fruit and nuts.  We ended up giving another 20 families the rest of the fruit. 

It was a completely chaotic evening, but it feels so good to have everything done and distributed.  My favorite part of this whole experience has been to witness the generosity and thoughtfulness of so many people.  The Giving Tree wouldn't have been possible without their willingness to give and to serve.  I love the holidays for this very reason.

Now that this particular endeavor is behind me, it's time to do some holiday baking.  :)  I'd say I was going to sleep for 24 hours straight, but since that's not an option I'll settle for baking. 

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Have you ever met someone who is so wonderful, but for some reason seems to get more than their fair share of bad things happen to them?  We have friends, who we love dearly, who have tried for a very long time to have children.  They are the type of people who you just know will be the very best of parents.  Ask anyone who knows them and they would say the same thing.  They are kind, caring and some of the most giving people I know.  I really ached for them.  I cried I was so excited when I found out they were going to have twins- a boy and a girl.  I cried again when they found out their little boy has anencephaly (a defect that causes the skull and parts of the brain to not form correctly or at all).  These babies usually are born stillborn or only live for a few hours.  

My first gut reaction was, "Why?!  They have already been through so much. Why do they have to go through this as well?"  And then I started really thinking about their reaction and how incredible they have been in the face of such difficult news.  They are so inspiring to me.  Here they are with such emotional, devastating news and yet they are comforting those around them and making everyone  feel at ease when it should be the other way around. They have somehow found the good in the situation.  Their example has reminded me how each and every one of us has struggles and goes through difficult things in life, but it is how we choose to respond to these challenges that really defines us and solidifies our character (for better or for worse).  They have a difficult road ahead of them.  It will be a mixture of joy and deep sorrow knowing she will give birth to two babies but only come home from the hospital with one.  I am in awe of their eternal perspective and how blessed they feel to have both of them as part of their family.

As soon as I heard the news last week I knew I wanted to do something for them.  I can't change the situation, but I can give love and support.  I set about making a quilt for their little boy right away.  They already have such love for him and want to celebrate his life, however short it may be.  I plan on making a quilt for the little girl as well, but I just felt an urgency in giving them something tangible to hold onto throughout the rest of her pregnancy.  It may sound odd, but while he's still alive inside of her this is their time with him.  For the last 4 days I have spent every extra second I had thinking about and making this quilt.  Life has been super crazy, but I can't even begin to tell you how special this quilt became to me.  I had such a sense of direction and peace envelop me as I worked on it.  When I saw Elizabeth's Heart String tutorial I knew I had to make that the focus of the quilt. They have such a strong love for their little boy that a heart was the natural choice.

I also wanted to make it as personalized as possible in the FMQ.  They have focused on their knowledge that they will be an eternal family and that they will all be together again forever.  I wanted to somehow convey that in the quilt.

I thought this print was extremely fitting for the back.  The message is perfect and it's a cuddly flannel.

It has been a very emotional couple of days, but it has made this quilt a work of pure love.  I cried with her as I gave her the quilt this evening.  I am truly humbled by the faith of her and her husband.  The journey of this quilt was very personal for me as is their story.  If you would like to read their own thoughts you can read it here. 

I debated about sharing such a personal story for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, but in the end I think it is experiences such as these that makes quilting so special and knew it needed to be shared. (Also Linkin' up to TGIFF)

Making Strides

It's been almost exactly six years since we had our engagement pictures taken.  When Joel saw them he made some comment about the glory days being over.  It made me laugh.  It's not like we're old and decripid or something.  It may be true that these past six years have not been kind to our bodies, but I also have 2 lovely children that contributed to those changes.  So, six years and 20 pounds later I thought I would give it a go again to get back into shape.  I've tried several times to eat better, work out - you know the drill - but for some reason I could never lose wieght and I would get really frustrated and just give up. 

This time around is actually different - I've lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks (which for me is nigh unto a miracle, because I wasn't able to work out much with Joel out of town for one of those weeks).  I couldn't figure out why all of the sudden it was working when Joel reminded me that this is the first time in a really long time I'm not on progesterone which can cause weight gain.  He's even down 6 pounds after a week of eating really well in New Orleans, so maybe...just maybe we'll get back the "glory days."  :)  Either way I still love us - I love him.  These last 6 years have been wonderful and I couldn't imagine taking this journey we call life with anyone else.  Looking at these pictures make me smile, but I would argue we decide every day whether or not it will be a day of glory, and I'm pretty happy with my life right now, so no offense to my hubby, but I consider the glory days to be on-going.

Letters of Gratitude

This past week's Activity Days fell on the last day of November, so we made Gratitude Cards.  Each girl made three cards expressing gratitude for 1- someone from church, 2- someone in their family, 3- any person they chose.  They made the cards themselves - I was impressed by their creativity. 

Our newest addition to the group is slightly under aged, but she's so cute we've decided to let her tag along with her mommy.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

A cold night in February five years ago I went out to dinner with my friends Christie and Dan.  Earlier that day Joel had left a message on my phone.  For some reason I was really nervous about calling him back and wanted to put it off.  Christie and Dan were very excited that he had called me and they refused to go into the restaurant until I called him back.  (A little known fact is that Dan had actually sung with Joel in Districts and Regionals in high school).  Luckily, Joel was working so I just left a message on his phone and we went in to eat.  Later that night Joel called me back- Christie and Dan got out of the car and stood out in the cold, so that I could talk to him.  Joel asked me out on our first date and the rest is history. 
Well, Christie and Dan are heading through Ohio on their way to the ACDA Conference in Chicago next week, and we're so excited to see them!  I finished the quilt for Christie just in time. It was supposed to be a birthday present, then a Christmas present,  and I even tried to work it in with Valentine's Day, but I was going to be really upset with myself if I didn't finish it before she got here next week, so I was thrilled to finish it this morning.  It's a little thank you for giving me that extra push to go out with Joel.

Love Revisited

There's a Scottish proverb that says...

Thee lift me, and I'll lift thee

And we'll both ascend together

I think this is the perfect way to describe a happy marriage (or any meaningful relationship, really).  They always say your companion should make you want to be a better person.  I have been thinking a lot about this lately, and feel very blessed to be married to my best friend.  I'm grateful that Valentine's Day is a nice reminder of that love, but that it's not the only time there's evidence of this love.  What a dreary world it would be if we only felt loved once a year.

In the meantime, my husband got a fortune cookie yesterday for lunch that said, "Flowers will brighten the day of a close friend."  This may be one of the few times I actually have no complaints about the "fortune."  He decided to heed the wisdom of the ages......thanks, sweetheart.

On a different note, I show you this cake not because of the fancy decorating (sorry, you can't see me chuckle as I write that), but because of the flavor of it.  My husband loves strawberries and all things cinnamon.  Betty Crocker has a new cake mix from Cinnabon called Cinnamon Swirl.  If you like cinnamon you'll love this cake!  There's really nothing fancy about it- It's just 2 9" round pans with some fresh strawberries in the middle and a cream cheese frosting.  It's rather yummy though.

Since I'm on a Strawberry kick:

If you want a fun drink that incorporates strawberries, here's one my husband and I really like  (from The Taste of Home Cookbook):

Strawberry Cooler

3 c. Water

5 c. Sliced Strawberries

3/4 c. Sugar (I used Splenda blend)

1/4 c. Lemon Juice

2 tsp. Grated Lemon Peel (optional)

1 c. Ginger Ale (the diet tastes just as good to us)

It's pretty simple:  Blend everything except the Ginger Ale in a blender in batches until smooth.

Pour it into a pitcher and wait to put in the Ginger Ale until you're ready to serve.  They suggest serving it over ice and using whole strawberries as a garnish, if desired.

Written Gratitude

I've mentioned this before, but my friend has enrolled herself and others in a Service Boot Camp for the month of February.  The charge is to write letters to people that have touched your life- one of those purposes can be to express appreciation.  My first "official" letters are in conjunction with this lovely holiday that is right around the corner (um, tomorrow).  The first person I wanted to thank was the lady that takes care of Nathan in the nursery at church.  She's so wonderful and patient, and Nathan loves going to nursery every Sunday.  I added my own twist with a couple of Heart Krispie Treats to go along with the note of appreciation.  (I couldn't help myself).  The treats are also going out to our neighbor and some friends, but it's Nathan Nursery Leader that receives my first letter.  If only all women were like her in their tender care of children that our not their own.  

Another Love

Becky- I love when I complete a project.  It's a nice feeling when I can cross it off the list and admire it before I go on to the next thing.  I like the nice sense of accomplishment.  Here's Justin and Jenny's quilt with the train theme to match their nursery.  Only a few more weeks until their first bambino makes his debut!

Joel- I love growing up.  As Becky and I will be moving for residency, we are looking at the possibility of buying a home in our new locale.  We are starting to meet with banks about mortgages and looking at real estate online.  It all is the sort of thing you think about when you are young--getting married, starting a family, buying your first modest home, getting a real honest-to-goodness job, etc.  And now it's all happening.  I love it!  Now I hope that someday I actually feel like a grown-up, rather than just doing grown-up things.

Throwdown Love

Becky- I love a good Iron Chef throw-down challenge.  Our activity tonight for Young Womens (church youth group) was awesome!  The secret ingredient was strawberries.  I was so impressed with the creativity and expertise of the girls.  I was a judge (since I'm never one to give up the eating aspect of any activity) and I loved every second of it.  I must say that after tonight I'm considering a new career in taste tasting.

Joel- I love reading.  I don't know why I didn't try it sooner in life.  :)  I think the key for me was understanding that it is OK to start a book, not like it enough to invest the time, and put it down.  Once I realized that, I have really begun to enjoy it.  I just finished "Liberty and Tyranny" by Mark Levin (it was OK, but mostly a rehash of conservative ideals I already understood).  Reading doesn't get your heart rate up any more than watching a movie, but I always feel better after spending an hour doing the former rather than the latter.  Love it, love it, love it.

Family Love

Becky- I love my in-laws.  You constantly hear people complaining about "the other side of the family," and how they didn't help with the baby or how they don't like you (some of my friends have some serious doozy stories), but I have to say that I consider myself truly lucky.  My in-laws are wonderful- they've always treated me like a part of the family and they were SO incredibly helpful when Nathan was born.  When I thought I was going to break down and cry if I didn't get some sleep they came over and took care of him all through the night (on several occasions).  They are wonderful grandparents and Nathan loves them, too.  Yep, I'm pretty lucky- No scary in-law stories from me.

Joel- Given Becky's comments, I feel now would be an appropriate time to share how much I love my in-laws.  Now, my father-in-law does have a gun collection to be admired and envied, but I have never felt that there was a significant chance he would ever use them on me.  So that's a plus.  :)  Seriously, though, they have been very supportive of me from the beginning.  They have never drawn a distinction between me and the rest of the family; I was always one of them.  Becky's siblings, too, have been accepting of me and have always treated me like a real brother, not just some random brother-in-law.  I have some stories I could tell about my in-laws, but they are all stories of love, humor, and faith.

Wishful Thinking Love

Becky- I love to read- love it, love it, love it!  I just wish I had more time to do it.
Joel- I love to feel needed and wanted.  Today, Nathan was playing in one corner of the room.  I wanted to see what he was up to, so I got down on all fours and went to find him.  He saw me coming, and his face just lit up.  He motored on over to me and pushed his face into my stomach (his sign for "cuddle with me").  Especially after his doctor's appointment where he had to get a shot, it was nice to see that he didn't hold a grudge.  I love that little boy!

Movie Love

We love thought-provoking movies.  Joel and I just recently watched "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?"  It's by the same guy that did "Super-Size Me."  He's funny, witty and actually I thought he did a really good job of discussing a lot of fascinating ideas about the "War on Terrorism" and such without actually getting political.  It took Joel and I 3 days to get through the movie because we kept pausing it to have deep conversations about things brought up in the documentary.  We had quite a few lengthy and shall we say lively debates about American Foreign Policy. :) 

Friday's Love

Yesterday we went to the musical "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change."  It was hilarious!  It hits on just about every love truth that exists from dating awkwardness, wedding craziness, to marriage, raising children, divorce and growing old together.  I think it's so funny because almost everything it poked fun of was something that you could relate to or knew about- it was TRUE.  Joel and I both walked away from that say, "I love being married.  I'm SO glad we don't have to date ever again!!!"  We've made a pact that we have to die at the same time as each other because there's no way we're ever going back to the dating days!  Bleh.

Embarrassing Love

Becky- While cleaning my house this evening I turned on my ipod and visited an old love- Ricky Martin.  It's one of those guilty pleasures that you probably shouldn't like but do.  I love his Spanish albums.  I was just remembering that before I left on my mission to Spain the very last thing I listened to was Ricky Martin - I know- it's ridiculous but true.  My sister is a witness- she was in the car with me on the way over to the church to get set apart as a missionary as I listened to his then brand new album for one last time.  Tee hee- I promise I like more "quality" music as well - I am a music teacher after all, but everyone has to have that embarrassing guilty pleasure.  Anyone else want to fess up about theirs?!!

Joel- OK Becky, I'll take the bait.  My guilty pleasure is naps.  I love them.  I'll take them any time, any place.  They make me happy.  I don't even have to be overly tired to relish them.  There's just something about changing into your PJ's in the middle of the day, snuggling into bed, pulling up the covers, and just saying goodbye to the world, knowing that when you wake up everything will be better, even if nothing has changed.  Naptime is sacred for Nathan, but it also approaches that status for Daddy.  After all, sleepiness is far from godliness.

Late Love

Becky- I missed blogging my love of the day yesterday.....Tuesdays are my very long days.  After 13 hours straight of middle school students (school, musical practice & then select choir rehearsal) I can safely say that my true love was my bed, and I couldn't be with it soon enough.  It's calling my name even as I sit here and type this, but I think that my love for today is laughing.  I love to laugh.  I suppose that seems random and odd, but there's nothing like a good laugh to brighten your day.  I think it keeps us all sane and when you can see the humor in life it makes life much more worth living.

Joel- Yesterday's love: I love my 4th year of medical school.  I'm mentally checked out and heading towards bigger and better things- Residency.  It's great!  Today's love: I love a freshly tuned piano. You never realize how it's slipped until it's put back into place.  Kind of like life only without the fee.