My Cup Runneth Over

I absolutely love spring! It seems that as the snows begin to melt and the spring rains come the water has to find its way - often through a variety of obstructions that come in all shapes and sizes, to get to the sea. Some obstructions are difficult for the water to get around, and it builds in volume as it patiently waits for its way to be opened once more. Some obstacles are simply pushed out of the way by the volume of water rushing at it.

Life is so much like water. Every day we have to make our way around obstacles, sometimes they are so big that we can't keep moving, and so we pause, and wait patiently for the way to be opened up for us. As we wait we exercise faith and trust in the Lord, knowing that we will be able to move past even the largest obstacles. Then, one day, the water starts moving again. As it waited it made a beautiful place, lush and green and full of promise. Exercising faith does that, and as we move on past obstacles we are able to leave them behind with beautiful places in our memories. Why? Because we learned so much while we waited there and it brings joy to look back and see the growth and experience we gained while we waited.

Today I just feel happy and feel like sharing that feeling with the world. Life is wonderful. My joy cascades like the waterfalls below. Each one I have visited and enjoyed. Each one is uniquely different from the other, but the one thing that they all have in common is that they keep moving, that water never gives up, even when it looks like it can go no further - then it makes a lake, creating beauty before it rushes on toward its eternal goal - the sea.

 Cameron Falls

 Castle Mountain Falls

 Castle Mountain Falls

 Johnson Canyon

 Johnson Canyon

 Lundbreck Falls

 Fairmont

Fairmont

I know that as I face my own challenges, they will become beautiful to me as I look back at the growth I gained as I waited and trusted. What joy there is in trust and patience. And look at the beauty (in the pictures above) that is created individually as we each make our way to the sea. I love the spring!!!

Another Adult

This month we now officially have 3 adults living in our home! Nope, nobody new moved in with us, but somebody had a birthday! The big 18. This was a pretty laid back birthday from my vantage point.

"What do you want for your birthday?" I asked multiple times.

"I don't know. I'll be happy with whatever you get me." was the reply.

So we found some fun things, and threw a party! The best part of it was the arrival of the grad dress! That was pretty exciting and timed perfectly!

Yup, she loved her gifts. What a joy it is to have grateful children. Of course, there are no pictures here of the grad dress, because it is supposed to be a SURPRISE! Only a few more months, and you'll see my lovely graduate!

It's hard not to reminisce when a child turns 18. It really doesn't feel like even half that time. It feels like only yesterday she was baptized, and even less time since I was painting the mural for her grade nine graduation. And suddenly we are planning another high school graduation! (Shylah, look what you started!) It is joyful watching children growing up, interacting with others, learning and practicing new skills, and then suddenly (the not so joyful part) watching them leave. After they move away, then we look forward to the fun visits and moments we have together as life moves swiftly forward. I found the following quote and couldn't help but think of my little girls and the fun they had as toddlers....

“A girl is Innocence playing in the mud, Beauty standing on its head, and Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot”      ~Allan Beck

To me innocence and beauty help prepare a girl to nurture others and touch lives for good as she moves into adulthood. Alisha you are a beautiful girl. I am so blessed to be your mother.

I Love the Temple

My whole life I have looked to and loved the temple. I love to visit and serve within its walls. As you know, everyone inside the temple wears white, and so each time I go to the temple, I carry a bag which contains my white clothing. For years my temple dress has been crammed inside a small carry on bag. As a result it has been somewhat rumpled (even though the fabric resists wrinkles pretty good). About a year ago I determined that I would sew a bag that will hang in my closet so that my dress is always hanging, and I don't have to remember to hang it when I get home. So I bought the fabric, sketched a plan and this month I finally found the time to sew it up! Here is my sketch. 

Well, that wasn't much of a pattern so I did a little research and came up with this one:

And, this is my finished bag, all loaded up and ready for a trip to the temple! It took me about 4 hours to finish it, and a lot of tweaks to get it the way I wanted it, but it works great!

I love the temple. I can't visit there too often. I love the beauty and majesty of the building, but more than that I love the peace and tranquility that fills its rooms. I love to bring those feelings home with me. Attending the temple of the Lord helps me pattern my home after the temple as well. It is wonderful to be able to walk into my home and feel reflected there, the same feelings I feel at the temple. I love the peace, contentment and tranquility that abide in the heart and home with the help of the Lord's choicest blessings.

I am so grateful for temple blessings in my life. The knowledge that families are meant to last forever - even beyond our time on earth, of course the things we do here will determine what our families look like there. But those bonds will always be present, family is family and those ties will exist forever. I am so thankful for my children and husband, they are my joy and my song. I am also thankful for the family I grew up in. I had a lot of good times growing up, and I am so blessed with good parents who did their very best to raise me and my siblings well. Of all the joys in life, I think family is the one I always feel the most grateful for.

Electrical Power

I've been thinking that there are so many blessings we enjoy every day, that sometimes we stop appreciating them as fully because they become so commonplace. It prompted me to think of what life would be like without power - not power over others (that's not any kind of life to have), I mean actual electrical power. The stuff that we use every day without even thinking about it.

In it's rawest form, electricity is beautiful if not a little frightening. One night the kids and I even tried to get a picture of it, and couldn't manage to predict well enough where to point the camera, of course by the time we wanted a picture, the storm had significantly faded in the distance. Lightening itself is deadly if one is hit by it, but when that energy is harnessed it serves us well.

So saying, without electrical energy, carefully regulated so as to be safe, many difficulties would arise.

Currently we buy a weeks worth of milk, without electricity, we'd probably have to buy a cow to keep a fresh supply instead. For sure we'd need an underground cold room, and that in and of itself is way less convenient!  So besides losing the convenience of a fridge, also would go the deepfreeze. Then there is the heat that keeps us comfortable in the winter. While natural gas is the source of heat, it is electricity that moves it around. We are very blessed to have a fireplace that is wonderful to curl up next to on a cold day, but that would still leave the rest of the house rather cool. In our home we use an electric stove - of course, cooking would be drastically changed, or a new stove would become a necessity without power. There are all the kitchen appliances like the toaster, microwave, blender, food processor, electric skillet etc, etc, that would become useless as well. (Oh, yeah, there's the dishwasher too...) I can't say I would miss the television, we don't rely on it much anyway, but oh how I would miss the lights! Especially in the winter when the days are so short. I have to say, that I am very grateful for electricity! It has actually replaced a lot of work that would have to be done without it. I am grateful for the convenience that ease provides, but because it is easy, it is easily forgotten.

Other things that would change without electricity include doing laundry, running a business, listening to music, picture taking, communication via electronic devices, and the list goes on and on.

I hope that I will be more aware of the great blessings that I have been blessed with. I KNOW that I enjoy many blessings and it is humbling to realize that I need to be more aware of what those things are. I am so grateful to be able to live in this time and age, despite it's difficulties, it is a wonderful time to be on the earth. Each day is filled with JOY, I just have to seek it out and be grateful, and then my days are filled to overflowing. May JOY cascade into your days as it does mine!

Entering the Double Digits!

If you could be any age again, what age would you choose?

Most of us would never choose to be 2 or 3 years old again, and I think that probably we wouldn't even wish to be 8 or 9 again. At that time in our lives, most of us were viewed as children, and hadn't really started making a lot of decisions for ourselves yet, though to a certain degree, even at that young age we had started to make decisions about who we would be and how we would approach life. Even with the relative ease of life at that early age it is not usually something we wish we could return to. We value our independence and the things we learn about ourselves too much to want to return to any level of dependence.

So back to the original question, if we were to choose an age to return to, usually it will include 2 digits. That means that turning 10 is an exciting birthday. Most people are never older than just 2 digits, and while the numbers grow in value, they are still composed of only two digits.

Last week, we had a momentous 10th birthday in our house. It was an exciting time when the family all gathered together and honored our sweet Charity. She was lavished with her favorite meal. This year it was crepes loaded with nutella, banana's, strawberries and whipped cream. Following that a beautiful dark chocolate forest cake. Charity loved the cherries, and was quite happy to help those who don't care for cherries out. After all she was the birthday girl.

 Gift opening came next. She got lots of special things from her siblings, which were made for her with extra care and creativity. What those things were will likely not be remembered, but what will be remembered, is the love and the time that was put into the making of each gift. Charity got all the special things she asked for besides and has been busily putting them to use since then.

I love birthdays! They are wonderful family times where we all get together to pay special honor to one specific family member. On those days, feelings of love, excitement, anticipation, cooperation, and more are present. I love to watch my children prepare for birthdays as they draw close. It is heart warming to see them spending special time and effort to honor the birthday person. What a joy family is. I am so glad there are lots of birthdays in our family, to draw us together often! What a blessing my children and husband are to me.