Answered Prayers

Well we have had quite a bit of snow over the last couple of days (10+ inches). Of course this is when Eric is out of the country on a business trip. He has managed to escape many 'opportunities' to snow blow while traveling. It is a gift he has, traveling while it snows here in Minne-snow-ta. To be fair, it does stress him out knowing he can't be there to help. The good news: I was able to dig out our driveway 4 times yesterday, help 3 neighbors with their snow dilemmas, and best of all...dig out a garbage truck stuck at the end of our cul-de-sac. The garbage truck was quite fun. I watched for awhile thinking something that big would have no trouble with the snow. I finally grabbed two shovels and headed down. Much to my surprise, the garbage man was not a man at all. :-) She hopped right out, cheerfully and thankfully took my other shovel and we proceeded to get her free. Later my neighbor came home from work and misjudged the snowbank and got her car quite stuck. Fortunately, Katryn saw the whole thing and came to tell me she was going out to help. I smiled, grateful to know where her heart was. We both got our snow gear on and went over. We were all quite a sight, but we were able to get the job done :-) Today, my sweet neighbor came over to tell me, she had literally been praying, saying "God, how am I going to get this car out? It is just me and my son. How can we do this?" when she looked up to see us walking across the street, shovels in hand. She wanted me to know we were an answer to her prayer and that God was looking out for her. The most wonderful feeling came over me. It was three years ago, almost to the day, when Eric was on this same trip, and we had a tremendous snow storm, I had a newborn inside with severe acid reflux, who hardly let me lie her down for more than 15 minutes at a time. I opened our garage to see an amount of snow I didn't think I would be able to handle, even with a snow blower. I silently prayed. "How can I do this? Please help me." I started clearing the driveway. Not 5 minutes went by when I heard this same neighbor calling to me. She said not to worry, she was sending her two boys over to help me. (Schools were closed due to the snow that day). My neighbors were my answer. God was looking out for me and my family. Miracles are around us daily, we just need to notice them and be willing and open to be a part of them.

My Mommy finally let me out!

Today was Nathan's first real experience playing in the snow. I think it was a love/hate kind of experience.

The first impression

So the play equipment doesn't work so well in the snow



My unwilling angel...

I love these cheeks!

I'm a BIG girl Mom!

Mackenzie turned three today! Where has the last three years gone? I remember her birth so vividly. My little miracle. There is something about her personality that amazes me. She know what she likes. She is very decisive. We had a Dora the Explorer birthday party for her today. When asked who she would like to invite to her party she listed everyone in our family. I didn't argue. :-) We did the full on party here with just us. It was wonderful and she was thrilled! Mack and I went to Party City on Saturday so she could pick out what she wanted for the party. We had Dora plates, cups, napkins, tablecloth, balloons, party hats and cake. Lots of accents of orange and pink since these are her two favorite colors. She was so thrilled with the entire evening. Dinner Menu: Mummy Dogs (aka pigs in a blanket), broccoli, steamed carrots and juice. Then it was present time. Since this was a 'Dora' party, she had a 'Map' to show her where her presents were hidden. She had a blast running through the house to find her gifts. Yelling "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for my birthday and my presents!"

Words to live by

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Just Desserts

After dinner last night, I had one of my favorite desserts: a bowl of canned peaches with a 'healthy' dollop of plain yogurt. Ah, dessert Grandmother style. If only I had canned raspberries for tonight...

Opportunity Knocking

I love the visiting teaching program through our church. Once a month we go with a partner into the homes of a couple of other 'sisters' who are members of our congregation. We visit, have a short lesson/discussion about a gospel topic, and find out if there is anything they need for themselves and their families. Conversely, once a month I have the opportunity to have two 'sisters' come to my home and perform that same service for me. If you are in a bind, you can always call your visiting teachers for help. Today I found yet another blessing of this program. For those who don't know me well...I am, shall we say, organizationally challenged. Once a month I have the opportunity to get my house in order to welcome these wonderful sisters. Of course there are other reasons and opportunities to do this, but this is one that I can count on. So, here I am blogging and not feeling guilty about it. AAAhhhhh, I love a clean house in the middle of the day. Thank you, my visiting teachers :-)

Today's lesson was on Becoming Self-Reliant. Here are a few things that were taught that struck me.

What Is Self-Reliance?
“‘Self-reliance means using all of our blessings from Heavenly Father to care for ourselves and our families and to find solutions for our own problems.’ Each of us has a responsibility to try to avoid problems before they happen and to learn to overcome challenges when they occur. …

“How do we become self-reliant? We become self-reliant through obtaining sufficient knowledge, education, and literacy; by managing money and resources wisely, being spiritually strong, preparing for emergencies and eventualities; and by having physical health and social and emotional well-being.” -- Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

A Gospel Responsibility
“As we live providently and increase our gifts and talents, we become more self-reliant. Self-reliance is taking responsibility for our own spiritual and temporal welfare and for those whom Heavenly Father has entrusted to our care. Only when we are self-reliant can we truly emulate the Savior in serving and blessing others.

“It is important to understand that self-reliance is a means to an end. Our ultimate goal is to become like the Savior, and that goal is enhanced by our unselfish service to others. Our ability to serve is increased or diminished by the level of our self-reliance.” [ “A Gospel Vision of Welfare: Faith in Action,” Basic Principles of Welfare and Self-Reliance (2009), 1–2.]

I love this topic. I love that we are given gifts to help ourselves and when we do need help, there are those around us who are put into our lives to bless us. I have been on both the giving and the receiving end. I was so struck with the above concept: Our ability to serve is increased or diminished by the level of our self-reliance.

I love my Savior and am grateful for my health, circumstances, and His perfect example. I hope as I work to increase my self-reliance, that I will recognize my ability to continue to help those around me and that the Lord will guide me to do His work.

Times are Changing

I have started to feel immense anxiety building. Mostly, stemming from not keeping up on this blog. I love blogging, it is an escape of sorts but also a way for me to focus on a day or an event. My days zoom by and if I don't stop to journal or blog, they just run into one another. My days seem so similar as I reflect on them as a whole, nothing too exciting to differentiate time passing. Yet, as I stop to record a moment, that day, that time becomes special. Perhaps that is why we have been challenged to journal. Most of us feel we live unextraordinary lives and we do in a way, but the way in which we choose to meet life and live it is incredibly unique. I love hearing/reading how life was different for my grandparents, as well as for my parents. I chuckle when my own children ask, "What did you do when you were a little kid?" My life can't be so different than their right?

January 2, 2010, I was walking through the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport with my children waiting for our flight to board. As we walked, Lindsay asked what this was:
A Pay Phone. :-)

Which led to another question from Katryn. What is that?


A Phone Book. The blurry close up is a picture of Grampa and Gramma's phone number and address! "A book that has everyone's phone number?! That is so cool and helpful! - Katryn

When we got back to the gate, the education continued. Mackenzie asked what are all the empty boxes for?




Newspaper stands with 10 empty boxes. The kids loved climbing in the slots. Newspapers? What are they?

Apparently my life is changing. I had better give myself to blog now before I forget these little stories. My stress is that I want to spend quality time with my ?(insert subject) post. I keep thinking I can't blog about this until I finish blogging about that. At this rate, I will never get to blog again. I am freeing myself from the chronological chain to which I was tethered. Don't be surprised if my 'Christmas' post shows up in July. :-)

Eric's Birthday

We had a fun time celebrating Eric's Birthday this year. We went to eat at Axel's and made a chocolate cake, with a chocolate ice cream center, and chocolate frosting. The C3! The girls went shopping for him and chose some special gifts for him without any help. Katryn chose a running shirt and a race car. Lindsay: a cool new ruler and permanent pens. Mack: a BMW motorcycle, she made a Perler bead circle, and beach stickers. Nate: a blue race car. The kids all worked really hard to make Dad a humongous birthday card and Mack decorated the table with tape for the party ;-)

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we were so blessed to have Eric's sister's family come to visit from Washington. Melanee, Mark, Aaron and Ryan braved the cold to spend a week in Minnesota. The girls had a great time playing with their 'big kid cousins' and their uncle and aunt. :-) Nathan was thrilled to have the testosterone equal that of the estrogen. (5 guys + 5 girls=10) One night, Eric and the rest of the guys, went to a movie. As they were preparing to leave, Nate was visibly upset and I believe, knew he was the only guy staying home. He yelled quite a bit as they were leaving. I think the Mall of America was the highlight of the week (of course this doesn't count Thanksgiving) The Malmoe's went twice, a day of shopping and a day with us to do the fun stuff. My kids thought their cousin's were crazy to go on the 'super scary' rides. They put us to shame. :-) We also played Wii and they were a great audience for the kids' antics. Nathan misses all the attention he got from Mark and Melanee. Snuggling with Melanee and wrestling with Mark. Nathan also picked this week to take his first steps! Show off! Thank you for such a fun week. We love you and miss you!



Thanksgiving was wonderful! I confess I have never made my own turkey. That didn't change this year. Mark did a fantastic job on the turkey, stuffing and yams. Thank you! I only wish I'd remembered to get a picture before the carving commenced...thus the one sided pic. We had more food than we knew what to do with. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green been casserole, cranberry relish, rolls, yams, strawberry kiwi jello, pie and I am sure I am forgetting something else. Nate went crazy for the yams and the girls for the jello. Mmmm, it makes me hungry thinking about it. Needless to say, the house smelled wonderful. We were so thankful they came to spend the holiday with us.