Birthday Pies

OK, it was last year already that Beth celebrated her 16th birthday, but I can't skip and even though we are only weeks away from celebrating her 17th, I want to tell you about her last birthday.

Beth decided to stray from tradition and requested pie instead of birthday cake. Beth quite likes pumpkin pie and since her birthday is in the fall, it is usually quite easy to come by the ingredients. We made two large pies and then served them after a special birthday meal.

Beth even helped to light her own candles before blowing them all out!

After enjoying our delightful treat, we had to open gifts. I had fun shopping for Beth's birthday gifts this year. I had hoped to find a pair of horse earrings where the horse head was the front part of the earring and the legs and tail were part of the back, but I never found one. I did find a cute frog instead, so that's what she got.

Of course, anyone who knows Beth, knows that she loves to read and I don't think we could properly celebrate her birthday without giving her at least one book. This year she got a book set which since then she has read out loud to Charity who has enjoyed them along with her.

Of course, if I have the camera out, which I always do at birthday celebrations, I will always take a photo of all the siblings (and sometimes us to - but not this year ☺)

 Here is Breanna being silly, but I love her smile.

 Charity and Melodee also graced me with their beautiful smiles and sparkling eyes.

 Myles was busy and so I had to take what I could get.

Of course, Naomi is too mature for birthday photos, especially when it is someone else's birthday, but she's so beautiful, even when she's not smiling.

What a wonderful family time. Sometimes birthdays are crammed into a short few hours, but they are still special. It is a blessing to be able to honor our children on the anniversary of the day that they joined our family. We love each of them so very much.

Working Hard

In the fall of 2013, we found ourselves travelling to Calgary nearly every other weekend, sometimes more frequently. We were so blessed to have a family that live up there take us in. Without them, it would have been impossible to do what we did. With all the travelling, work suffered a little as well. Once again, family helped us out by providing us with work.

Chad was able to do for them some of the things they needed at the same time that they did for us the things that we needed. We needed work, and they needed work done. That is a WIN-WIN situation if ever I saw one! Not only did we work for them, but we were welcomed into their home. Over the months of travelling to Calgary, we grew closer to them than ever before. They were there for us without reservation or expectation. We enjoyed visiting and sharing ideas and talents. I learned, while there of art quilting - making a piece of art from fabric and machine quilting it. I was VERY intrigued! Since then I have tried my hand at it (that's another post too). We were also blessed through them to acquire some precious family photos that we never could have come by any other way. We are so grateful for all that they did for us.

We even managed to do a work project at home during the week. We installed soffit on the under portion of our back deck. WOW!!! What an amazing difference. It is SO much brighter down there now, and NO more gigantic cat spiders!!! Myles and his dad were able to do that project together.

I am so grateful for the benefits of work and family. I have been so richly blessed with family both on my husbands side as well as on my own. I feel my family relationships growing stronger, and while there are always a few that need more work than others, my heart of hearts is filled with love and forgiveness toward them all. What a blessing and a joy it is to work hard on relationships. A relationship is like a job. The effects of diligent work and effort are ALWAYS rewarding - EVEN when not reciprocated. I like it best though, when there is reciprocation. The relationships grow and strengthen so much more quickly when both parties are working to enhance them.

Fall Wedding of 2013

Well, it was a whole year ago and then some, but we attended a Thanksgiving weekend wedding last year (2013) in Calgary. Not being close family, we normally would have stayed home from this wedding, but since we were travelling to and staying in Calgary frequently (caring for Chad's father as he recovered from his stroke), we were there, so we decided to attend. It was a beautiful wedding. I LOVED the cupcake tree that was in the middle of the reception area!!! I was amazing!

It was so nice, being so far from home, to see and associate with so many people that we knew and loved. I love weddings! They are exciting and always worth the effort and sacrifice required by not only the couple being married, but also by their family members who wish to celebrate with them. The success of a marriage is a community investment. Successful marriages strengthen not just individuals, couples and families, they also strengthen communities significantly. I am so grateful that we were able to participate in the celebration of this marriage.

I love the opportunity that attending a wedding gives me to reflect back on my own marriage. I am so grateful for my husband and the children that are a result of the love that we share. I am always amazed at the immensity of the love that grows within my heart for him. I have come to understand that love better over the years. Love is like eternity. It has no limits or boundaries. It can grow as wide and as big as we let it. Each time we serve one another, speak kind words, perform thoughtful acts, and work through problems together, our love grows and fills us up. I know that this love I have for my husband will continue to grow, for it is an eternal love. I am so thankful for the promise we have of eternity - being together forever even after we die. 

Abundantly Blessed

Not too long ago I read about the need to welcome abundance into your life. Abundance is so much more than just money, it includes family, friends, spirituality, joy and so much more. One thing we have always had an abundance of is produce. We have been so blessed to live in such a fertile area that our garden and trees yield sufficient fruits and vegetables for our needs.

In 2013 we saw our first full crop of grapes! This year we had another beautiful yield. I think grape juice is one of my favorite of the homemade juices, it is a boon to be blessed with such.

Last year our full sized apple tree yielded some beautiful apples. We also had a friend give us some from their tree. With so many apples we had a freezer pie making day and made apple pies to enjoy throughout the year. We are still enjoying those pies! This year our tree yielded MANY apples! We had them for the wedding AND we still will be doing an apple pie making day. I guess we'd better start eating pie more often! ☺

In 2013 we decided that with so many greenhouses so close, that we would purchase canning tomatoes for our needs. They are so cheap that you can't go wrong. We were able to fill the pantry shelves not with just bottled tomatoes (my spaghetti sauce base) but we also made salsa which we are still enjoying. This year, I grew just enough tomatoes to keep us supplied with fresh tomatoes during the summer months. It was perfect because with the wedding plans this year, there wasn't time to do more.

This year with Naomi selling corn, we patronized her business and purchased corn for canning. We sure enjoyed the ease of buying corn through her. There is nothing quite like fresh corn on the cob in the summer months. We truly had an abundance to enjoy.

Both this year and last year we had a lot of cucumbers, but this year I was able to use them. We had so many that we ate them all the time, gave them away to anyone that could use them, and of course, made relish.

Last year we had an abundance of crab apples. I hate to see anything go to waste so we picked and froze bags and bags of them. It seemed that the deep freeze was nearly full of nothing but apples! However, this year I was so busy planning the wedding, that I didn't harvest any apples from my tree, especially knowing that there wasn't room in the freezer for them anyway! As the wedding plans progressed, I determined that it would be best to make the apple juice base for the cider we planned to serve. I had just the right amount of apples in the deep freeze to complete the project. What a blessing!

As I look back over the past two years, it is easy to see that the above is just a drop in the bucket of the abundance we have enjoyed. Our yard has produced plums from which I made jelly in the winter months, we had a healthy crop of potatoes, peas, zucchini, and carrots this year in addition to the berries and fruits we grew. We have pumpkin - enough for everyone to make their own jack-o-lanterns (that's another story), lettuce, onions, and more. It is not always easy to maximize the abundance that we have been blessed with, and yes sometimes we don't take care of it quickly enough, but we have always had what we needed and to spare. I welcome abundance. I love filling the pantry shelves and preparing for the long, cold months of winter. 

Every bottle I fill, is filled with love. I LOVE to make jams, jellies, sauces, relishes, and preserves. As with our preserves, we seek to fill our home and family with an abundance of love. In my opinion, love is a tonic, that if we serve one another daily in generous portions, sweetened with kind acts of service, life then takes on a joyous glow and there is nothing that can suppress it. I love my family so much. My children, husband, parents and siblings are a great blessing in my life. Not only have I been blessed with an abundance of produce, but my my family has produced an abundance of love in my life, they have helped me seek out and partake of the overflowing abundance of the Savior's love and joy that He offers daily. We are so blessed to live in a time of such abundance. As we fill our hearts with love, we are then prepared to share it in the long cold days of forsakenness that everyone experiences from time to time. May the love we have preserved warm the hearts of the forsaken as we love more purely and completely.

So Plainly Obvious

You know when you have an accident of any kind, or do something stupid, you really don't want to have to wear great big badge on your shirt that announces to everyone that says, "Hey look at me, I did something stupid!"

So the doctor called me back to his office after the specialist had looked at my x-rays. It would seem that I had a non-displaced fracture in my arm just below the shoulder joint. Well I guess that explains why I can't lift my arm away from my body. However, since it is broken, that means it has to be immobilized for six weeks. Yep, I get to wear a badge telling everyone that I had a dumb accident. There is no cast for this type of break, I simply wear a black sling which holds my arm up and secures it against my body. So now whenever I go somewhere everyone will know that I have injured myself. I must say, it is very humbling to have to wear your imperfections on your sleeve for everyone to see and know of.

Now that's how it feels to have a broken arm. Oh, I wasn't doing anything stupid to break it. It was a freak accident, something that shouldn't have happened but it did. I have already resolved in my heart not to point fingers or try to place blame. Truly I feel like I should've just been more careful because it could have been prevented.

So if I feel this way wearing my injury badge.... How much worse would one feel to have their sins and wilful acts of rebellion shouted from the roof-tops?

"...all things which are hid must be revealed upon the house-tops."  Mormon 5:8

"And the rebellious shall be pierced with much sorrow; for their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed."  D&C 1:3

My accident has certainly been thought provoking. I am so deeply grateful for the infinite Atonement of Christ which makes it possible to repent and receive His forgiveness. I can honestly say that I know of no greater joy that to receive this blessing.