Big Snow and Blow of 2008

It sounds as if we all have tales to tell of the many inches of snow that fell so fast over Western Washington this week. I'm relieved that for the most part we've all made our way safely through this experience. Emily has had a chimney fire, complete with red fire-truck Christmas lights in her front yard, and several of us have 'ziggy' road stories of trips to town, but we're all healthy, safe and warm, and for that I am thankful.
Danny and I had a good walk this morning around the neighborhood this morning. Church was cancelled, so all that hard work and sacrifice for the choir won't be paying off this year. Too bad, we had some really beautiful music prepared. Since neither one of us sit still all that well, we bundled up in double sweaters, double pants, hats and gloves, and I had a chance to test out my pretty aqua Gore-Tex boots. (They worked great; toasty toes for miles.)
We truly love this little piece of heaven we get to live in. It's just a collection of big and little, old and new, mostly humble old houses, but the people here are wonderful. There is so much laughing together, helping each other, saying hello to your fellow walkers and ice-scapers, hunkering down together, watching out for each other. Knowing you can count on your neighbors is a wonderful luxury, a throw-back to another era, and I'm grateful to be here in this piece of the vineyard.
I hope I captured the silent beauty, the quiet, peaceful way nature has drawn a blanket over the hurried, harried world we live in. Here by the water, the pace has slowed to almost nothing, only the creatures of nature are out. This morning we saw raccoon tracks, a Great Gray Heron, an osprey, bald eagle, wood ducks, mallards, and a couple I don't know. The ice is interesting, because it doesn't really freeze on salt water well. Mostly it freezes on the beach and the incoming tide lifts it up and carries it out. I tried to capture how pretty that looks, but I know, "ya really had to be there."
The old wreck has taken another hit with this weather. It seems to be listing to port a little more. I don't know how it continues to stay upright, there is almost nothing left to hold it up. We keep watching, one day we'll walk down and it will have collapsed. It's changed alot in the (how long is it?six years?) time we've been here.
Stay warm until we thaw. Seasons; we need the contrast of them all to make a year. If you pause for a moment it isn't hard to draw parallels to our lives, is it. Love to you all, in seasons of sunshine and shadow.

The pictures of Jenna and Chloe have made it to my list of all time favorites. You know the ones; the pictures that show pure joy and delight. They aren't about money, exotic places or expensive toys, they are about people connecting in pure, loving ways.
Jenna is tickling Chloe on the count of three, and Chloe is standing there waiting for "three". Her giggle was so cute, and she kept coming back for more. The luckiest of us have aunties like this, who make our lives sweeter by sharing their sweet spirits with us. ( I did, thank you, Aunt Mona and Aunt Miriam!)

Let the Good Times Roll

I know, I know, it's almost Christmas and I'm posting Thanksgiving pictures. Pathetic. I fully intended to just skip it, because it's shamefully late, but then I looked at them and said, "Oh, what cute kids! What fun memories!" So, because keeping this blog is to keep people updated, (Well, not instantly updated) and also to help fulfill the commandment to keep a journal, I'm posting them. (Has anyone out there printed their blog pages? I'm wondering how it turns out, and if I could keep a hard copy record of them.)

Did someone say, "chinnigan?"

I love our monthly get togethers. As many as are able gather at my house the second Sunday of the month for food, laughter, conversation and good times. That's not to imply that we are not too many to fit comfortably at a table, or that we don't make enough dirty dishes to keep three people washing for an hour, or that late comers might miss out on Aunt Christy's jello. But as we crowd into our little house we learn about each other, we help each other, we entertain each other, and we love each other as we wash those dishes, clean up those spills, help button the dress on a bear, find the helmet for that Lego guy, and teach about how to share, and why we don't bite.
This last dinner we had finished clean up and were thinking about sitting around being full and mellow, I was asked if I had any eyeliner. Kind of a funny question if you know about how I apply makeup. (I'll just say it takes about 30 seconds and involves two "beauty products" and one of them is Chapstick.) I said, "Yeah, in my halloween stuff. What for?" Suddenly we had a very impromptu demonstration of what a chinnigan is. Or should I say, who a chinnigan is? My mother and my aunt used to have little wigs and dresses, and knew the greatest songs to show off the unique characteristics of the chinnigans. I hope you can imagine how truly cute they are, by looking at the wonderful, funny, hams in our family. I love their willingness to play along. Good times, irreplaceable memories.

Oh, and that old Chinese lady? That's supposed to be Mulan ('s mother) who visited our Halloween party at school.

Think on the perfect moments in life...

I have so much fun reading my kid's blogs that by the time I'm through them (and watch the videos more than once!) I feel like I can't justify spending any more time on the computer! But I have a few minutes tonight, and with gentle prodding from Zach I realize it's been almost a month since I put anything new on! Good gracious, where does the time get to?
I've been thinking on an idea that occurred to me last time I went to the temple, and I'd like to try to put it into words. I may not be able to make myself clear, but you have to promise not to make fun of me if I try. Everyone promised? (and 'crosses' don't count). Here goes:
When Adam and Eve were in the garden they were perfectly happy, and perfectly perfect. They had just been made by God, and were clean and pure and innocent. You're all too young to remember the old bumper sticker that said, "God don't make junk", but really, do you think Heavenly Father made any mistakes with them? Of course not. There they are, smelling the beautiful flowers, petting the soft lambies, and enjoying the wonders of nature in their perfect home. Satan comes into the picture, uninvited, and stirs up all manner of trouble. Genesis 3: 1 says that Satan is "more subtle than any best of the field" (footnote, "crafty, sly") That's worse than a wolf, worse than a hyena, worse than anything. When Heavenly Father sees the need to come and check in with his kids Satan interrupts and says to Adam and Eve, "See, thou art naked, hide yourself!" And without thinking it through, they decide he must be right, and cover themselves and hide from the presence of the Lord. Is that because Satan seemed more experienced? Did he come off as having some knowledge or authority? Heavenly Father asks, "Adam, where art thou?" I think Heavenly Father knows exactly where they are, the question is for Adam's own introspection, to ask himself; " What is my standing before God? Where am I?" Adam's response is that because he was naked he hid himself. Heavenly Father asks him, "Who told thee that thou wast naked?" Do you think Heavenly Father really didn't know? I think that this question is again for Adam and Eve to ponder. And this is the heart of my thought: Satan told Adam and Eve they were imperfect and had need to hide, to be ashamed.
How many times in our modern society has Satan told you that you were imperfect? That you should be embarrassed, perhaps feel less than someone else, magnified your flaws, encouraged your insecurities, or in any one of his thousand ways told you that you were not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, rich enough, WHATEVER enough? His assaults are everywhere, all the time, saturated in every media.
I want you all to consider how perfect you are, that you are made in your Father in Heaven's image. You are doing good and wholesome things with your lives. Every one of you is working, and growing, and striving to improve day by day. I see amazing things, even miracles, occuring in our own family. Never, never believe Satan when he tries to get into your head and tell you, "See, you are naked." He knows your weaknesses, and will pick at the tiniest flaw in your armour. I know, he works on me all the time. Don't believe it. You are strong, and beautiful, and wonderful. I am proud of you every day. Gird yourselves up with the armor of God; you know the ones. Scriptures, prayer, temple, service. Be faithful! You are awesome!! Love, mama

The Big City

We have friends who gave us their seats left of 1st base about 15 rows back. With such good guides we had a blast. We could hear Ichiro sneeze. We didn't watch him hit a homer, but we watched him try up close and personal! I just thought you all should know that if conditions are right we can be lured away from paradise to have adventures. We were grateful for friends to 1)show us how to get to Safeco Field 2) show us the secret free parking places 3) How to navigate the homeless 4) Show us how to get in the proper gate 5) Explain what you can bring in to eat and what you cannot (thus saving us from the $8.00 hotdog option) 6)Explain Safeco ediquette (Example: How to truly insult the other team by throwing the ball back onto the field if they hit it into the bleachers. Not very hospitable if you ask me.) 7)How to get back out of the stadium, dodge traffic, get to your car, and manuever out of Seattle safely. EASY! All you do is.....

New Pencils and Clean Erasers

Hello dears,
I just spent 12 hours at my "apartment". I have some food in the fridge, some crackers in the cupboard, a bit of chocolate stashed, and lots and lots of books, and plenty of plants. Sounds like a place I'd live, right? I clean it, vacuum it, wash dishes there, rearrange furniture, and do a lot of picking up. The difference between this place where I live quite a bit of my life, and my real home is that I share the apartment with between 22-27 ten year olds.
But some of the things my homes have in common is that they are both filled with people I care about, try to teach, try to set an example for, try to laugh with, try to help them in all the ways a mom can. (Some times my kids get confused when I say, "My kids.." Once I said that and Emily said, "I don't remember that" and Dad said, "She means her other kids." I'm not even conscious I do it some of the time.) Both sets of kids keep me awake at night some times, I wish them all the very best of everything. I feel so responsible for their success. If my kids at school don't learn all they must they won't pass a state test called WASL, but if they don't learn all the things that are really important, they won't pass the test called life.
I started a very cool mural of a bit of forest outside my doorway today, I think it's going to be pretty. I'll try to take a picture of it and post it for you to see. I spend a lot of time trying to make our apartment an environment in which one would like to spend a lot of time, since we do.
I will try to keep up with the blog commitment I started, but don't be afraid to email me with a nudge if it starts to get dusty. New pencils and clean erasers, feels like anything is possible in this new year, doesn't it?

Going to TRY some pics!

It Continues...

After achieving success with the first post, and actually getting four comments, (thanks, guys!) I was encouraged to keep exploring this strange new blog world. I love the music on Jen's blog, and decided that would be my next thing to try.
And I thought putting a picture on was difficult.
I finally called Jennis and she tried to walk me through the procedure. When I followed what I thought were her instructions I ended up creating a play list, but it's on Facebook, and what 50 year old needs that?! But that seems to be the route that must be taken, there is no other way. So my play list is a work in progress. After two hours I managed to download four songs. I know, Pathetic. I did get three people who want to be my facebook friends in the process, though. HA! I went back and changed all my preferences to, "NO you can't contact me, NO I don't want to be your friend, NO don't leave any messages, NO I'm not putting my picture here, NONONO!"
Here's to trying new things, expanding your horizons, and not being afraid to try.

It begins...

I was going to wait until I had someone to help me with my first Blog attempt, but decided to give it a try on my own. This is actually my second attempt at posting, as the first one is frozen somewhere in the "drafts" sections and I don't know how to thaw it and get it out.
It's actually kind of funny because in the first one I said something like, "If my past experience is any indicator, it won't work the first time anyway!" Sometimes it's no fun being right.
It reminds me of a sign I saw yesterday that said, "I was going to try to think positively, but I knew it wouldn't work."
I will put more energy into this later, but I'd like to see it work before I invest any more time. Love you all!