FHE Treasure Hunt

Tonight for FHE I decided to do a lesson on families. Evie has a thing for pirates, so I thought it would be fun to make it a treasure hunt. Evie even dressed up like a pirate for the occasion with a bandanna and sword, as you can see by the picture. Horton is also a pirate. Apparently the toy hamster is supposed to be his sword. Anyway...

Every clue corresponded with a person in the family and a job that they do to help the family as a whole. These were the clues I made up:

Evie has lots of fun toys in her room. When she plays with them, she’s making our family better because she’s learning to use her imagination and she’s having fun! For your next clue, find an orange kitty that Evie loves to play with!

Daddy works very hard. He earns money that helps us buy food, clothes, and toys. He helps our family when he goes to work. To find your next clue, look for daddy’s boots!

Mama needs to be strong and healthy in order to take care of her family. It’s hard to take care of other people if you can’t take care of yourself. Where does Mama go to do her exercising?

Evie eats healthy food every day so she can grow, grow, grow! By eating her food, she’s making good choices that help keep her and her family strong. Where does Evie like to eat her food?

Daddy likes to relax after work. Sometimes he reads good books. They help him learn new things that he can teach to his family, to make everybody smarter! For your next clue, look where Daddy keeps his books.

One of the things Mama does for her family is cook them dinner. She does this to serve them, and to show them love. It strengthens our family. Where does Mama keep the pots and pans?


The treasure chest was in the pot cupboard. It was full of gold and silver-wrapped candies, along with a picture of our family and the quote, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Luke 12:34

I ended the lesson bearing my testimony about families, and how they're our greatest treasure, and how we all have to do our part to make it the best it can be. :) Anyway, I thought it was a great idea, and it went really well. Surprisingly, after the first clue, Evie totally understood how the whole treasure hunt thing worked, and even figured out most of the clues without help. She's a total smartie! I'm so proud. :)

Dreams

Last night, Ben brought me a pregnancy test and told me to take it. It was one of those new-fangled computer chip types. I went ahead and took it. While I was waiting for my results, the test made several offers to me (online colleges, book-of-the-month clubs), which I declined. Suddenly a big notice flashed on the screen, "Your results are in!"

The screen showed a little video clip of a woman dressed as a mail carrier. She smiled into the camera, and displayed a package marked "Special Delivery."

"Congratulations!" she said. "Your own special delivery is on its way!" Then the screen went blank except for the word, "PREGNANT."

I was shocked. The test was positive. Finally, FINALLY I was pregnant!

I threw open the bathroom door and told Ben the good news. The look that crossed his face was one of disbelief, hope, and incredible joy. He swept me up in his arms and hugged me as we cried into each others' shoulders. After almost two years of waiting, we were finally pregnant.

As the tears of joy flowed down my face, I realized that I was dreaming. I hadn't actually taken a pregnancy test, although the time was drawing very near that I could. I woke up, my heart pounding, feeling an overwhelming sense of disappointment. I wiped the tears off my face and lay back in my bed, contemplating my dream.

It had felt so real. And most months, waiting to find out if I was pregnant or not, I dreamed of blood, cramps, and frustration - which then would come to pass. Never before had I dreamed of such a joyful result. So this felt like a sign to me.

I couldn't go back to sleep anyway, not with the way my heart was racing, so I went into the bathroom and pulled out one of the pregnancy tests I had stashed there. It was just a cheap dollar store test, but I had it on good authority that they were effective. And, since I've been taking so many over the past couple of years, it seemed like a good idea to buy several.

I took the test, and while I waited for the result, I prayed. I prayed that I was finally pregnant, that the dream had been a sign; I prayed that the test would give me the true answer, one way or the other; and I prayed that if, once again, I wasn't pregnant, my heart wouldn't break. I prayed for faith, for optimism, for strength, and for hope for next month - assuming I would have to try again next month.

After a few minutes of fervent prayer, I checked the test.

Negative.

I guess my dream wasn't a sign after all. It was just a beautiful, wonderful, heartbreaking dream.

But, maybe next time it won't be.

Clearly...

It's been too long since I last blogged. I have to admit, though, that I have been pretty busy. There have been lunches, vacations, car wrecks, tender moments, hectic travels, and even a few deaths. It's been life as usual, only x10.

Back at the beginning of June, my mom-in-law and brother-in-law came for a quick visit on their way across the country. About an hour after leaving our house and heading west, they lost control of the car and rolled it. It was completely totaled. Ben went and picked them up (miraculously unhurt, other than a few bruises, contusions, and a little blood), and after they rested for awhile I helped them pick up a rental car. Mom couldn't drive the last 19 hours of the trip on her own, though, and Daniel was too young to drive a rental car. So I drove with them, then flew back to Oklahoma the next morning.

That was car wreck #1. In the following weeks, my cousin Diane totaled a car, as did my little sister's sister-in-law - in stop and go traffic, no less! The guy who hit her was CLEARLY not paying attention. My friend Heather's brother got in a motorcycle accident, and I think there are a few others that I'm not remembering at the moment. They say bad stuff comes in threes, but at the moment it feels more like sevens or eights.

Then Ed McMahon died (you know, the guy with the giant checks?), followed by Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays. All fairly well-known celebrities - especially Michael Jackson, who has been a pop icon for decades and was only 50 years old. That was weird news to hear.

Then in the real world, a pair of sisters I know lost their mother, and one of my favorite college roommates lost her little brother. It's crazy! All this sad stuff happening - it's madness! Madness!

There have been good times, too, though. I've been on vacation with my mom and baby brother for about a month. My dad was with us for the first two weeks, as well, which was awesome. I only get to see my family once a year or so, and while it's hard being away from Ben (he had to stay and finish his T-6 training in Oklahoma), it's worth it to see my family. We went to Branson, Missouri for a week and had a lot of fun going to shows and mini-amusement parks and such. Then we had our family reunion in Idaho, followed by time in Utah with my sibs and Fourth of July celebrations. Then we came BACK up to Idaho to spend time with my mom's fam, which has been fun. We've played games, gone swimming, eaten out, and even had a girls' night out with my mom, aunts, and Grandma. You haven't lived til you've been bested by your grandmother at bowling, let me tell you.And Evie had been in top form. We were driving in the car one night, and she told me, "Mama, the moon is following us. It's intolerable!" I was a little shocked to hear such a big word come out of such a small person, so I double checked that I hadn't misunderstood. "Intolerable, Evie? Is that what you said?" "Yes, Mama. It's intolerable." I cracked up. What a funny kid!

Then, a few days ago, a sippy cup fell and hit her on the leg. She cried a little and asked for a band-aid. I told her she didn't need one because she wasn't bleeding. Mom reached over with a Hershey kiss and handed it to her, saying, "A kiss is all you need to make it better." So Evie accepted the chocolate, pulled up her pant leg, and placed the Hershey kiss on the boo-boo. After a few minutes of silence (aside from my anguished attempts to not let Evie hear my laughter), she said, "That's better. Can I eat it now, Mama?" Of course, I told her yes.

She's gotten darn good at jumping on the trampoline, too. I've managed to get a few decent shots of her in mid-air. I can't believe how big she's getting!

Anyway, today we head back to Utah for 3 days, in which time we plan to: Go and see the new Harry Potter movie; go to the Distribution Center and buy new garments; have lunch with my sibs-in-law; have lunch with my college roommates; go to my brothers' apartment and scan some illustrations; use Photoshop to put together a book; get that book printed at Carol's Copy Center (where I used to work); go visit my granny; go to Borders and spend my gift card; spend a lot of fun time with Lyssa and Daniel; and several other things, I'm sure. THREE DAYS!!! But then I get to drive home and see my hubby, who I miss desperately. So at least my busy schedule will make time fly. :)

Anyway, there you have it. Everything above adds to my lack of blogging over the past month. I hope I'll be forgiven. My guess is, once I get home to Oklahoma and my schedule frees up some, I'll be writing a lot more. Especially since I'm going to see Wicked in a week and a half, and that will definitely be worth writing about. Huzzah!

Sunday Thoughts

We didn't get to go to church today, because Ben's mom and brother were in a car accident and we needed to help them out. Apparently their car was completely totaled, beyond repair. But the two of them walked away from it almost completely unhurt. Daniel (Ben's brother) has lacerations, but as far as I've heard, that's it.

It's a miracle that neither of them was seriously injured or killed.

A lot of people don't believe in miracles anymore, and this boggles my mind. Miracles happen every day. Maybe the fact that they DO happen has made people desensitized to them. But that just seems silly to me. There are lots of people out there who say "Look at the world around you. With all the pain, hate, and evil, how can you believe that there's a God?" I say, "Look at the world around you. With all the love, beauty and miracles that you see every day, how can you believe there ISN'T a God?"

People are so quick to judge God. They say, "If there was a God, He wouldn't let bad things happen." But then, if something wonderful happens (a miracle), their response is, "Well that was good luck!"

Seriously, give credit where credit is due. Bad things happen because bad people exist. They make bad choices, and do bad things that negatively effect other people. God is not to blame for these people's choices. They are free to do good or evil, just as all of us are.

Sometimes bad things happen that aren't caused by bad people. Storms destroy homes, fires consume lives, things fall and crush people... sometimes tragedy strikes, and there's no one to blame. So people blame God. This, I can understand a little better, but it still seems foolish to me. Yes, God could prevent ALL tragedies if He wanted to. But that's not how He works. He allows us to suffer so that we have the opportunity to grow. If He protected us from every bad thing, we would never learn anything. We would never become better, stronger people. And we would never show our true colors if we weren't tested. When bad things happen, rather than place blame and curse God, maybe people should try asking themselves, "How can I turn this into a positive?"

I'm not saying that we should be constantly happy. Mourning and sadness have an important role in our lives. They can strengthen us as well. And, if we never knew sorrow, we could never truly know happiness. It's a good thing, to mourn things. But it's not a good thing to hold on to that pain and make it central to your life. Do your mourning, be sad for awhile, then move on. Grow. Learn from what happened, and be supportive of those around you who are also going through hard times.

The thing is, the kinds of people who curse God for their troubles are the kinds of people who don't see God as the loving Father that He is. They don't realize that, when they're suffering, He is feeling their pain. He understands their sorrow, and He mourns with them. He loves us, and THAT'S why He allows bad things to happen. So that we can become the best people we can possibly be, and become more like Him.

Going back to my original thought - giving credit where it's due - God does so much for us. He gives us love, family, and friendships. He helps us live up to our potential, by giving us a body and a brain. He gives us opportunities to improve ourselves. He gives us beautiful flowers, plants, animals, mountains, and oceans. And every day, if you pay attention, you can see Him performing miracles.

He performed a miracle today, when He saved my in-laws. He performed a miracle the day my daughter was born, when she entered the world 100% healthy and perfect, and I suffered no complications myself. He performs miracles each and every day. They happen all around us.

But from the cynics who choose to blame Him for all life's problems, He gets no credit.

I was singing "I Stand All Amazed" today, and one line hit me particularly hard. It was the line, "Such mercy, such love and devotion, can I forget?"

As I've mentioned before on my blog, we're having a hard time getting pregnant. We've been trying for more than a year and a half, and still have had no luck. This is one of our biggest trials at the moment, and there have been times when I've felt extremely impatient. I've even had a few moments of anger at God, because I know that He has it in His power to give me another child at any time.

As I sang that line today, it struck me that I HAVE been forgetting. God sent Christ to earth, to suffer and die to save me from my sins. He sacrificed His only begotten son, in order to save the rest of us. I can't imagine what it must be like, watching your child be murdered by your other children - the ones you're trying to save. And Christ was completely forgiving. He didn't place blame, or curse God. He simply said, "Forgive them Father, they know not what they do."

We are SO LOVED. God loves us, Christ loves us, and they both bless us constantly. To say otherwise is to do them a huge disservice.

I personally have a testimony that God loves me. He blesses me every day.

"Such mercy, such love and devotion, can I forget?
No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat
Until at the glorified throne, I kneel at His feet."

Wife Swap: Home Edition!

I was watching an episode of Wife Swap today, and it occurred to me that the concept is something that could be done in the home. You don't have to trade places with a random stranger across the country to be able to learn how to make your home a better place. The point of the show is about learning how to walk in another person's shoes, and see the world from a different point of view. And then, of course, you learn and grow and make changes to improve your life.

Evie's too little for me to do this any time soon, but when she's a teenager, I'd really like to try a similar experiment. The best time to do it would be over summer vacation, so that we really can trade places. But rather than two moms trading places, the mom can "trade places" with her kids. Children often don't realize how many sacrifices their parents make for them, and this kind of thing could help them see that. On the flip side, parents are often oblivious to just how hard it is, being a kid (especially a teenager). They also may not realize if they are doing things that disappoint their kids. Thus, the experiment.

How it would work is very similar to what happens on Wife Swap. The first week, the mom has to follow a list of rules that the kids come up with. Granted, there needs to be some adult supervision here so you don't end up with any dangerous rules (like "Kids are free to get tattoos!" or "Kids are allowed to go to bars and stay out all night!"), but kids are smart and will generally come up with those things which are most important to them. This will likely include things like: Mom does all the kids' chores, Mom spends _ number of nights a week spending quality time with the kids, Mom has dinner ready by _ time every night, Mom has to do _ number of "homework assignments" a day, maybe Mom even has to go to work in place of her child at Pizza Hut or wherever (if they can work it out with the manager), etc. There may be some silly ones in here, too, but pretty much anything that is important to the kids (and not risky in any way) is fair game. Hm, maybe we'd better limit the number of possible rules to 10 or something...

Mom faithfully follows the rules for a full week. Thanks to this experience, she can see things from her children's perspective, as well as learn what things she could be doing better for them. It's a gift, being able to find out what your kids really think and feel about you and the way you do things. It won't be easy, but as long as Mom plays fair, the kids will have no choice but to obey HER rules over the following week, when the rules change!

For the second week, Mom sets the rules. Maybe the kids do all the housework, cook all the meals, do the grocery shopping (while sticking to a specific budget), get the oil changed in the car, pay the bills, etc. Maybe it's something else that Mom wants the kids to learn. In any case, they have to walk a mile in Mom's shoes now. It won't be fun, and it won't be easy, but hopefully when it's over they'll have a greater respect for their mother and the sacrifices and hard work she puts into every day. And vice versa.

I really think it's a great idea. I wish I could have done something like this with my parents when I was growing up. It wasn't until recently, when I became a mother, that I began to really understand everything my mom sacrificed to raise me. If we could have done this kind of experiment, maybe I would have been a little more understanding. It really does do a world of good to be able to put yourself in another person's shoes. And it teaches you empathy.

I hope I can do this with my kids in 15 years or so (Egad! I'll be almost 42!!!). Maybe then the mysteries that I, like all parents, will face in dealing with my teenagers will be a little less intimidating. And if I'm very lucky, maybe my kids will respect me for what I do.

If nothing else, I think it sounds like a lot of fun!

My Thoughts on the DWTS Finale

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU LIVE IN AFRICA AND HAVE NOT SEEN THE DANCING WITH THE STARS FINALE YET! You know who you are. ;)

First off, I'd just like to say "suck it" to all the people out there who have been bashing poor Shawn Johnson all season long. I've read numerous comments calling her "a thick munchkin", "stumpy" and even "fat." You've GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! This kid is solid muscle! She could pretty much break your spine with her thighs if she wanted to. Aside from that, her technique in the ballroom dances has been phenomenal. She may not look as graceful as Gilles and Melissa, but I think a lot of that is because she is shorter. It's harder to make short limbs look long and flowy. Also, with all the precision that comes with her lifetime of gymnastics training, it makes complete sense that she would bring that to her dancing. Personally, I thought she was a far superior dancer to Melissa. Melissa is more naturally graceful, but she did every dance like a ballerina. While ballet is a good base when it comes to ballroom training, ballroom dance isn't much like ballet. I know, I'm a ballroom dancer. You have to be grounded into the floor. Your movement in the latin dances especially needs to come from your hips. Melissa had beautiful arms and legs, but was up way too much on her toes, and had little to no hip action when dancing latin. Granted, if she was told "shake your butt" she could do it, but that "perfect" sambaa had no hip action in any of the basic steps where it should have been. Her shoulders moved, but that's a bad thing.

Shawn's hip action and basic feel of the dances was superior. She was grounded, she used her hips, she was sharper and had a better feel for the rhythm. It made me angry, seeing all the people bashing her online while singing the praises of Melissa. Clearly these were people who knew nothing about ballroom dance beyond what the judges said. As a person, Melissa was likeable, but something about the comments I read online made me really dislike her as a dancer. She's a beautiful dancer, yes, but she is not the second coming to the ballroom world. The support for her and disdain for Shawn made me crazy. It's nothing personal against Melissa, she seems like a sweet girl. But Shawn was better.

Still, because of all the comments I read online, I was sure that Shawn would take third place at best. Melissa seemed to have a lot more fans. Apparently, it only seemed that way. I guess her fans are just a lot louder than most, and have too much free time on their hands. They use that time to write inane comments on every article and blog posted about DWTS. I wonder how many of their comments I'll have to delete after this blog is posted? Don't bother, kids. It's over. The better woman won. And if I may be so bold - HA!

I was, however, shocked that Shawn beat out Gilles. I can't argue that she was a better dancer than he was. I loved her, and was rooting for her because she was the underdog. Compared to every other dancer in the competition, she was superior. But Gilles has an insane amount of natural talent. He blew me away every week. It seems totally fitting that he was only one percentage point behind Shawn in votes. Well, fitting that they were only a percentage point apart. I just thought he would come out on top.

This is not to say that I'm angry, disappointed, or even confused. Shawn was incredible. She got my votes. I'm thrilled that she won. I was just suprised, that's all.

I've read 3 or 4 opinion pieces on the finale since I finished watching it, and I'm amazed how many furious people there are. There are multitudes of people (or so it seems - maybe more poor losers with way too much time on their hands?) who are swearing never to watch the show again because Gilles lost. Seriously, folks. Take a chill pill. It's a show. And it's not like Ty (bless his heart) won. He was adorable and I loved him to death, but the man was not a dancer. If he had won, some anger would be understandable. Still pointless, but understandable. However, that's not what happened. An excellent dancer won the show. In my mind, Gilles was maybe a hair better, but Shawn was in no way undeserving. And she rocked hard over the past couple of weeks. She deserved to be neck-in-neck with Gilles. Just because your favorite dancer lost, doesn't mean you have to throw a temper tantrum, kids. Seriously, there are more important things in life.

And it's not like losing to Shawn is going to be the end of the world for Gilles. I can only imagine what kind of opportunities have arisen for him, thanks to this exposure (no pun intended). He's proven that he's a talented performer, and has increased his fan base by leaps and bounds. Not only that, he's a dancer now. One more thing to add to the resume. He'll be fine. I expect we'll see a lot more of him in the future.

What it really boils down to, for me, is this: Great job, Shawn. You earned it. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. They're just jealous. They wish they could be cool like you. :)

Mama Mia!

Happy Mother's Day to the bestest Mom in the world! Don't worry, I know that's poor grammar. She taught me better than that. :)

I'm going to rip off something my baby sis did, and list the top 10 reasons why my Mama is the "bees' knees." Or is it the "bee's knees"? Just how many bees are we talking about, here?

Here we go!
10) My mom once dressed up as a tattoo artist, complete with ratted hair, "REPENT!" t-shirt, and multiple tattoos (including one on her forehead) for career day when she was a teacher at my school.

9) When my sister and I get into "your mom" fights ("that's weird," "you're weird," "your mom's weird!") she jumps right in and tells us that our mom is weird.

8) When she's excited about something, she does a little dance and goes, "Oh yeah! Oh yeah!"

7) When I was a teenager, she pretended to be excited about the things I was excited about, even when those things were actually making her very nervous (i.e. boys). As a result, I told her all sorts of stuff and always felt very close to her.

6) She's learning to hug like her dad (my Grandpa) does. It involves hugging as tightly as possible, then wrapping the arms together closer and tighter. They're the best hugs in the world.

5) Over Christmas in Africa, when my Dad asked her if she would join him in the shower, she replied, "Do I have to be dressed?"

4) She was my dieting partner one summer, and I lost 10 lbs. I've never looked so good! And I couldn't have done it without her.

3) She's attended every show, concert, play, etc. that I was in growing up, and as many as she possibly could since then. To be fair, she's lived halfway around the world for the past few years, which makes it difficult. Even with that, I think she's only ever missed 1 show.

2) After Evie was born, she came to visit us. She stayed up with Evie at night so that I could sleep, and helped a TON in getting Evie's sleep schedule adjusted so she was sleeping at night.

1) She's taught me everything I know about being a mom. I can't think of anything she did raising me, that I would do differently. I have an incredible relationship with my family, and I give a lot of the credit to her and the way she raised us. If I can do half as well with my kids as she did with us, my kids will be amazing. ("Oh yeah! Oh yeah!")

I love you, Mama. You're the best. Happy Mother's Day! :)