Days of Gladness

I have a little Spencer with a fever today, he is currently experiencing the joys of teething and he only wants to be held. So I figured I would be happy to quit mudding the sheetrock in the basement to hold him and post a new entry in the blog- good excuse right?!

I am so delighted that the winter has been mild this year and that spring is graciously making it's grand entrance into our lives. The magnolias have bloomed and the daffodils are smiling and nodding at me all through town. The pear trees and peaches and nectarines and quince have let out their blossoms for me to savor, and the sun shines and the breeze blows and gives me every reason for rejoicing.
Not to mention Joseph returns for a few days on Saturday!

Mystery Train Dinner Theater At Californos in KC

Today I have gladness in wonderful friends old and new. These last few weeks I have been realizing how truly precious it is to keep relationships vibrant- my goal is to reach out and remember that happiness comes from small acts of kindness and that I can do something small each day. 

There is no doubt that it will always enrich my life- no matter my circumstances. 

Without fail I always get more back in return than my efforts ever warrant. 

On February 29th (a.k.a Leap Day) in honor of our friends, Karl and Julie Savage, I took the kids out of school to enjoy the day at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. We met up with our other good friends from Lawrence, Liz Berghout and her girls and displayed our "mild civil disobedience" in taking Leap Day back! It was the perfect arrangement and a lovely way to catch up!

Some of our favorites this trip:

Zach was enamored by this one- the reflections would change with the angle at which you observed-
it was very fun to look at!

So glorious! Photography is one of my favorite mediums.

This was a wonderful moment during our visit- you can ride in the art to see the art; consider us amused!

A new favorite for sure!

Gorgeous inlaid wood on this piece, it made me think of Joseph and how he would enjoy the craftsmanship.

A moment of meditation

The kids wanted me to take a picture of the real mummy,
but I really feel these Egyptian moments bring me much more joy!

Joe had a birthday too!

 Joseph turned 40 on Saturday the 25th of February. 

He has been thinking of this particular birthday for years now,

for some reason the adding on of more years bothers him a little bit. 

Thankfully everyone in Erie made it a wonderful day for him, Grim Reaper and all. 

His awesome co-worker Sandy decorated his cubicle for him at work on Friday.

(Thanks Sandy!)

He took these pics from the camera on his computer which shows everything backwards- So 04 or 40, either way he has reached a milestone!!

They had a little celebration for him at work and allegedly the cake was amazing, lemon with raspberry sauce and cream. I guess I will have to become best friends with this cake lady and learn all of her tricks! He had us watch him eat the remains of the cake on Skype- it was so kind of him!

Speaking of Skype it really is such a blessing for our family right now, we get to talk together everyday and it is so wonderful to be able to "see" each other. I can't believe we didn't utilize it earlier-like 10 years ago (was it even around then??), it has only been about a year that we have been using it. I love just having him "here" in the room with all the commotion of our regular lives. Sometimes he will just sit quietly on the other end soaking it all in; we always seem to wish for the thing we don't have- he wants to be here in the commotion and I wouldn't mind some quiet solitude. But, as long as we get to enjoy these little moments together it makes it easier to endure the time apart.

The Sawatsky's, who he is staying with, threw a little party for him on Saturday and we got to join in the frivolity via Skype. It really is fun to be able to "meet" the people who are a part of his life right now, we are already indebted to them for their kindness and willingness to take Joe into their lives and help him feel like he isn't alone in the world.

To top off his amazing birthday celebration a group of co-workers from OSI got together and took him to a Thai restaurant where he was delighted to be with good company and to be able to consume such delicious foodies. I guess Sam from work, who is Thai, made him some egg rolls that were unbelievably scrumptious- so it looks like cooking lessons are in order for me once I get there! 

We always miss Joseph when he is gone, but we are so grateful that he is always surrounded by such wonderful people. He is starting a traveling Norwegian waffle campaign so he can get to know more people- he will bring the waffle iron and make the waffles if you will provide him company! 

I want to sign up on that list too- I call March 18th!

What do you mean "she is 12"??

On February 16th our beautiful Isabella turned 12, it is utterly ridiculous that she is that old! We try with all our might to keep our kids from growing up so fast but there is no stopping them... 

We have no control! As much as I hate to admit that, it is all too true!

So for Bella, this means she has now officially entered into the Young Women's program at church, which seems like an epic achievement to them since they feel their primary days will continue on forever. So as part of the special 12th birthday, besides going to YW we give our children a nice set of scriptures and for the girls they get to have their ears pierced. Don't ask me why we wait until then other than they are a little more responsible about it since they have had to wait sooooo long, and because that is when I got mine pierced-that should be a good reason, right?? 

What ever- that is just how we have worked it. But with that being said, did I mention that getting your ears pierced these days is highway robbery??? 

Good thing we only have 2 girls!

We adore our little Izzi, she has a very keen sense of humor and keeps us on our toes. This series of pictures really sums her up; she is beautiful and mild and loves life...

she is slightly sarcastic and loves to put on a good show- 

she can certainly be very theatrical...

and then there is the sweet and slightly deviant little lass that comes out from time to time! Oh how she makes me giggle, and she comes in such a sweet little package that it is hard for her to get into trouble-well, we should say rather that she gets away with a lot because she is so cute!

We had a wonderful time with our friends that evening, we had dinner and the ice cream cake from DQ. (Too bad her b-day wasn't 2 days later- we could have got it for half price at the customer appreciation days at DQ- but even then when I went there to get one for Joe's b-day all the customers had already appreciated all of the cakes right out of the store; how lame!)

Now we all know that Bella is a Lego maniac and since Joe is not here he wanted to participate in the fun, so he had done some shopping in Erie (a new favorite for him since he is close to lots of shopping establishments- all the clearance of course) and he found a Pirates of the Caribbean set (on clearance) which he sent for her big day! 

We love legos, especially on clearance since it is so rare that they ever are- they have the most amazing business model and the corner on the market completely. We, and by "we" I mostly mean Joe and Bella and Eli, but the rest of us as well- are complete suckers for those Danish wonders and get reeled in to the amazing-ness of those designers who make models of all the things there are to love in the world.  Bella has been saving up her money for the last year and for her birthday purchased the set she has been eyeing for years- 

The Medieval Village!! 

She feels all grown up now making an online purchase and everything!

We love our Bella especially when she does things like this:

Happy Happy #12!

Happy Valentine's Day

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 

FROM OUR CRAZY BUNCH

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WE HAD WAY TOO MUCH FUN WITH THESE LIPS!

EVEN JOE GOT TO PARTICIPATE FROM HIS REMOTE LOCATION

THE KIDS HAD A SNOW DAY YESTERDAY FOR THE 3-4 INCHES THAT WE GOT- 

THEY BETTER ENJOY IT WHILE THEY CAN, THERE WON'T BE ANY OF THAT NONSENSE WHERE WE ARE GOING!

BYE FOR NOW- MORE AMUSEMENTS LATER!

I feel grown up

I am a big girl now- I had a real pedicure today at the salon.  I am slightly lacking when it comes to doing things like this for myself, but I have had a gift certificate that a friend gave me just before I had Spencer. So, to those of you who loose track of time like I do, that means that it was a year and a half ago. Good thing there wasn't an expiration date on it. They did hassle me a bit since it is under new ownership, but I have been in there and purchased gift certificates for several friends- I had just never redeemed mine. 

Anyhow, I made it an event with my good friend Sara and it was a wonderful way to spend time with a friend. Of course we ate Matsuman Gai at Siam before going which made it even better! Sometimes I just have to get my Asian fix. Sara talks about Japan a lot since they are back here now after spending the last 3+ years in Okinawa, and it sends me right back to all the fond memories of my time in Japan! (Thanks again Anne and Ron all these years later for giving me that opportunity, I will forever be grateful!)

Well, I am feeling pampered now- so back to work right?

Other happenings:

I have a good friend here in Warrensburg who I have known for over a year now, her name is Carolyn Burris and she is one of my favorite people. She teaches me that each day can be a good day and there is no reason to hold grudges, and to just be grateful for the small things in life.  I love that about her!

We made crepes and chocolate cake to celebrate her 65th birthday and had a chance to just hang out- what a great lady! She always has such a grand disposition and we have lots of laughs together. 

My life is so much better for knowing her!

Spencer loves Carolyn, he is always waving at her and he was super excited that he got to play with her and sit on her lap near that cake!

Well, I am adding more random things here- because I can! This special moment is brought to us by Zachary, and in typical Zachary fashion, he makes me laugh!

Kaija had a project for school where she was supposed to draw the 3 basic styles of columns then add one more to the mix and talk about them as she presented it to the class. Zach got ahold of her poster and added his favorite style of column which is the Unicornish...

She totally got docked points for having that one there and not being able to explain it! 

Zach is crazy, which leads me to his math assignment. He was supposed to write a love letter using math language since it is the month of Valentine's I guess. 

 Anyway he asked his teacher if he could write a hate letter instead...

Man I love that kid! These are the moments I am savoring this week- I actually have tried to do something everyday where I think outside of myself- it is refreshing!

Christmas- Delayed Reaction

I figured that since it is nearly Valentine's Day I would post a few pics from Christmas. 

Better late than never, right????

Kaija at her band concert.

Zach and Bella both performed as well but the pictures didn't turn out well. 

Zachary was a Roman Soldier for our church Christmas party- A night in Bethlehem. It was a fun evening, but the best part was when Joe surprised us and showed up at the house later that night. 

I can't even remember now where he was... Greeley perhaps

 yep I think that is where he was.

Spencer loves to get into the kids instruments- he practiced right along with all of them, 

though he does leave some love drool behind to show how much he cares!

Bella participated in the Dress like a Chrismas Tree day at school- 

they took a picture of her too, so she was happy!

This would be the Christmas morning hair moment since we had church to attend.

 And my goodness, aren't we just gorgeous?

So Zach has this thing with those Christmas Crackers that they traditionally use in the UK and other such locations. So we decided to make that a part of the celebration, 

and here we are in all of our Cracker Crown glory! 

Spencer was delighted with the concept of presents, 

it was hard for him to wait until after church to dig in and see what it was all about.

The kids had a wonderful time choosing gifts for each other this year, 

and they chose some very practical things...

like Zach's gifts of jello, spam and prunes, or Kaija's Psych-like gift of a pineapple. 

(You would have to be a fan of the show to really appreciate it)!

It was all rather surreal this year; we enjoyed being together, but there was a lot of the magic of the season missing in our lives right at that moment. The whole quit your job, then have to work for another month thing really took the wind out of our sails. Next post I will share what fun things we did over the holiday break, the kids were so happy to get back to school!

Perspective

Sometimes God blesses us with a change of perspective.
I am so thankful that he provides those moments for me where my eyes can be opened and my perspective changed.  I have been complaining far too much about certain things in my life and circumstances which, as it turns out, are really just another avenue for a loving Heavenly Father to bless my life in ways that I could never anticipate.

Today I am thankful for people who show their example of faith in the midst of trials, which enables me to gain a greater understanding of how I should be addressing the challenges in my life.
I am ready to embrace the life I have been given and really live and savor the moments that make up each day.

This is what we have been greeted with at the back door for the last few days. The timing was perfect for me to have one more lesson about how beautiful things can spring up out of bleak situations, and I could focus on the dross of the winter or rejoice when there is the tiniest evidence of new life... 

I CHOOSE LIFE!

Last night for family scripture study we were reading in Romans 5 which talks about the atonement of Christ and I continue to be enlightened as to how I can gain peace and understanding through trials (which again, in comparison to others, are rather miniscule).

 1 Therefore being ^ajustified by ^bfaith, we have ^cpeace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

 2 By whom also we have access by ^afaith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

 3 And not only so, but we glory in ^atribulations also: knowing that ^btribulation worketh ^cpatience;

 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

 5 And ^ahope maketh not ashamed; because the ^blove of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

I am realizing this pattern in my life again and again.  Hard things come my way and try my patience, but from each of those experiences I turn again to the Lord in hope. There are times when it takes me longer to turn to Him, but eventually I always realize that I can, in fact, "glory in tribulation" because the Spirit has been given to us for guidance from on high; he has been, and will always prompt me along the way with what I need to do, if I will just recognize it and act upon it. The trick is remembering that I need to humble myself instead of being "compelled to be humble" in all these things (Alma 32). 

Today is a day to renew my desire to do the will of the Lord, and that the inward battles can all be conquered as I put my trust and faith in Him and rely upon the merits of the atonement to help me be whole when I find that there are empty places in my soul.

It never ceases to amaze me that when I need direction and comfort, I am blessed with people who come to my rescue with out knowing it, and I always receive answers to prayer from reading the scriptures, and from reading or listening to messages from our church leaders. In the January Ensign there is an article from Elder Christofferson entitled: "Recognizing God's Hand in our Daily Blessings"  Daily Bread is the link to that talk. I like that concept of asking God for our "daily bread rather than our weekly, monthly, or yearly bread"- one small thing at a time, smaller bites first!

Obviously there is a lot of refining left to do in this gal, and from time to time that Refiner's Fire is hot- like it is right now in my life! 

So much for me to learn!!