Chrismas Mistake

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations-extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend in the evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.
So, the morning of the dress rehearsal I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several parents quietly scampering to their places. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor,. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas", I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. When my son's class rose to sing "Christmas Love", I was slightly taken aback with its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and brightly colored snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row- center stage- held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing, "'C' is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then "'H' is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas is Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet girl in the front row was holding the letter "M" upside down. She was totally unaware that her letter "M" appeared as a "W". Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together.
A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood; the reason why we were there, why we celebrate the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities.
For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"CHRISTWAS LOVE"

And, I believe, He still is.

Hooray!

Conversation overheard by two second graders:

"Do you want a birthday cupcake?"
"I can only have it if it's gluten free."
"Well then, you can! It doesn't cost anything!!"

Being the Student

This is my cutie-pie granddaughter, Alice, who is pretty darn good with a bow and arrow. She makes this skill look pretty easy. Her dad, Jacob, is very, VERY good with a bow and arrow. On this day he shot the bullseye on a small piece of paper on a tree a VERY long way away. It was quite impressive. We would never go hungry if Jacob were in our midst.
So, when it was my turn to try, I followed Alice's example, and I tried to do as I was told. Lift this, tuck that, pull that, straighten this out...ready? Pull back a little more...Go.
The arrow fell at my feet.
That's okay, I'm in the company of kind people, who didn't laugh. They lined me out again and I got off a few arrows that flew a respectable distance, for a newbie.
Well, I was at choir practice tonight, and figuratively, once again, the arrow fell at my feet.
We were introduced to an arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon/The First Noel that is very beautiful. I couldn't find what page we were on. We just jumped in, and our very talented pianist played the wonderful accompaniment, and an equally talented sister played the rest of the accompaniment on the organ. (What do you suppose it means when it takes two people to play the music?) I all I heard was a whole lot of notes that didn't seem to have one thing to do with the alto part. I'm not kidding, I didn't know what page to even look at. First or second ending? Huh? Contrapunel? Who? Go back to where? I just shut up and tried to make sense of any of it. At one point our dear director says, "I can't hear the altos." Really? Ya think?
Then someone said those words. Those dreaded, hated, banned-in-my-classroom words, "it's really not that hard." Whose twin is, "It's easy." Whose triplet is, "Alls ya gotta do is..." Sure, it's easy for those who have already mastered whatever it is! This was a wonderful reminder for me of how it feels to not know how. To be the one who doesn't get it when those around her seem to. To be the one who doesn't fit in. It's awful.
And I'm going to be a better teacher tomorrow.

Families Are Better Even Than Chocolate

Thanks family!! I had such a fun time tonight. You are all so fun and beautiful and helpful and wonderful! I am a lucky mama and grandmama. You are all so enthusiastic about my Beach Breeze adventures that it gives me hope and courage. Thank you Jennis, for my pretty background. I am so not the zebra print kind of girl. :) muuuaaaahhhh; until we meet again.

HUH?

I don't know if I can tell this and make it funny, but I'm going to try. This morning at assembly Mrs. McLaren was going over the usual pieces of business before we say the flag salute and sing a patriotic song. (Which was God Bless America in sign language. If you have never seen 500+ kids 'sing' this in sign language you have missed a rare, inspiring, and beautiful treat. Thank you LeighAnn.) As part of the daily announcements Mrs. McLaren has a quote that she repeats for a week, something like, "If at first you don't succeed..." These are always prefaced with, "Don't forget what my Grandma always says...". Being Friday, the kids have all heard the quote all week, and can usually parrot it back. At the appropriate time she asked the kids in general, "And what does my grandma always say?" and a little bitty kindergartener shouted, "DONUTS!!!!" There was a big pause and a lot of head scratching, and I'm thinking, "Maybe her grandma has a tradition of buying donuts when they get together?" And when Mrs. McLaren started laughing, and we remember the quote, which was "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" we all got a big belly laugh out of it. Apparently "unto" is an unfamiliar word and doesn't translate well over the loudspeaker into a 5 year olds ear. She heard, "Donuts for others as you would have donuts to you!" It makes me laugh all over again just to read it. I don't know, maybe you had to be there, maybe I'm just over-tired, but I thought it was hysterical.

Teasing

For our ward temple night Danny and I went up with Dan and Melinda Carruth. It was a very crowded session, and a very old lady in a wheelchair was squeezed in next to me by the wall. She must have been well into her 80's, and hunched over pretty good in her wheelchair. With rouge on her cheeks and with a hairpiece of dark gray on her white head, she looked ready to be "out and about." I kept my eye on her, but she didn't need much assistance from me.
When we went into the Celestial Room, we and the Carruths were standing around enjoying the wonderful feeling of being there together when this same little old lady wheeled up to us. She looked at Melinda and said, pointing to her husband, "That your husband?" Melinda smiled and nodded yes. She lifted her gnarled finger and tapped her wrinkled old cheek and said, "You mind if he gives me one right here?" Melinda chuckled and said, "No, go ahead, Dan." Poor Dan, put on the spot, leaned in and gave her a respectful tiny little peck on the cheek.
"No!" She says, "Not that! I want him to rub those whiskers on my face!" We all had to check ourselves from laughing out loud. She knew exactly what she wanted, and it was to have his whiskers scruffing her face. Poor guy; he obliged and we just enjoyed his embarrassment and her happiness.
"Oh, she says, it has been such a very long time!" I was smiling pretty big at this scene, and she turns to me and says, "When you're as old as me you can get away with all this stuff! It's great! You're going to love it! Forgive me, she says, I've been up since 4 o'clock this morning to be here early, and I'm a little tired tonight!"
She wheeled away and left us standing there giggling. After we composed ourselves and went to change into our street clothes I saw her one more time. She was asking her friend, "So, we still going for teriyaki?"
I've thought a lot about her, and how much we are going to miss things we might take for granted. I wondered if in 1920 she was a little girl on her daddy's lap when he rubbed his whiskers in her neck. Of if her husband in 1940 used to tickle her with his beard. Someone somewhere teased her with whiskers! I thought of all the little loving teasings we do with each other, and how much kids giggle and come back for more of it. I think they all send the message "You are important to me, and I love you."
So in case you're wondering what the pictures have to do with my post, they are moments of teasing and playing, of which these kids cannot get enough. Don't let another twenty four hours go by without giving somebody a dose of playful attention.

Hellllloooooo?

I have a funny story but I'm not gonna tell it for just me. If you've visited this blog would you say "hi , I was here"? I've been averaging about 1 comment. :( lame-o.

B-i-r-t-h-d-a-y !!!

We had a play day at Auntie Emily's house where we got to groom and ride horses, roast hot-dogs and marshmallows, eat watermelon, and even break a pinata! There were doggies to play with, and room to run! At one point we heard a terrible metallic banging, and discovered Taylor and Harley kicking and pounding the inside walls of the horse trailer. The little metal room reverberated like the inside of the Liberty Bell, and they thought it was hysterical. Forget Disneyland, these country kids like the farm!
Notice particularly the shot of Emily holding onto Sarah's leg. It is totally unconscious, her hanging on to her like that. It struck me as tender, that we instinctively grab and protect the things we love. I was watching Sarah carefully that day, as she was a little concerned about that 1200 lb animal and herself being so close together. She is not disturbed that she is being held onto, indeed, I know she felt a great deal of comfort in knowing she was clutched in Auntie Em's hand. They share a bond of trust, and I love that Sarah would go outside her comfort zone on the promise that Em would be right there. The parallels between ourselves and Heavenly Father are right there, don't you think?

Let the Good Times Roll...

Since there are too many sweet faces to get into one entry, here's more of the fun times we shared. I just kept thinking, "These kids are sooo lucky!! I'm so glad they will grow up with the memories of aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas laughing, playing, talking, helping, and watching over them." It's all about the relationships, isn't it? At the end of the day, or week, or year, or life! What a joyful satisfaction in savoring the days together and the love we shared. Even as summer ends and school life begins, let's not forget to nourish those friendships!

Multnomah Falls

"Be Fun!"

Danny and I just returned from BYU Education Week, and he is already making plans for next year. We had not been for, gosh, maybe 7 years, and decided we'd try it as a couple instead of a family of teenagers. I have to tell you that I missed the kids! There were many warm and fuzzy memories as we thought about those "good ole days". It was 101 one day, and thunder and lightening like crazy the next. We remembered how lightening struck so close to us one rain-storm day on our way back to the car after classes. We thought about making lunches at 5 am and sneaking out of Gretchen's friend's houses trying not to sound like a herd of elephants.
But, actually, the main idea behind my post tonight is that throughout our many classes over many days a recurring theme emerged. It was that we should be a happier people. With what we know, and the blessings we enjoy, we should be downright giddy with happiness. We should laugh more, have more giggles, enjoy appropriate humor, sing louder, play more uptempo songs, play games, and have the joy that "man is that he might have"...
Well, I've taken that to heart, and thought I'd post a couple of pictures from this summer that typify that feeling. We stopped at Multnomah Falls because it's ridiculous to drive past something that beautiful because you're in too big a hurry to be someplace else. The rest are from our Robinson Reunion crashing days in June. Brothers and sisters sharing a moment, Alice, Grace and Ada learning to hula from Ranie ( I did try, but it went to fast and I couldn't keep up with the instructions. I was back on "rotate your hips like this while keeping your knees bent and your heels up" and they were already pulling their fish from out of the sea), and one of Dad and Tom looking so handsome together. Anyway, one instructor at BYU said that you should not tell someone, "Have fun!" when they leave, but instead, "Be Fun!" I guess it's sort of like getting out of the meeting what you put into it, whether it's a meeting for instruction or for fun. We were reminded that almost the first thing President Monson did his first conference as Prophet was wiggle his ears! So in that spirit, when Amanda and Dad were teaching Harley how to hang a spoon off her nose (she did it!!) and she asked grammy to "do it", I DID! (Those who know me best know I have a very low tolerance for looking foolish) Here's to being happy!!

Family Home Evening at the Beach

I love sweet summer evenings at our little beach. It's rocky, it's kind of oldish, it sometimes even smells like low tide. And I think it's charming. I love to watch the grandkids throw rocks, pour sand in each other's hair, exchange shoes, 'only get their feet wet' right up to their armpits, and generally enjoy being outside.
Children, I adore all 9 of you. Spouses; I adore all of you. All 21 of our grandbabies, I love you with all my heart. I wish I had more of everything to share with all of you. Since time if finite, resources too, know that my prayers and love are not. I love you from here to the moon and back again.

Whether You Think You Need It or Not

It has taken me so long to find the pieces and apparatus to download my 200+ photos from my camera that now I only have patience for a short blog. Check back soon, because I now have lots of material from which to draw inspiration for blog posts!
While Zach and Debbie were here from Utah we decided to go see the ocean. It has been so long since I had been there that I forgot that Ocean Shores is miserable cold!!! This is just a tiny moment in that day that made me think as I watched it transpire.
Imagine the cold wind blowing it's icy fingers down a bitty neck, and hair being whipped around in watermelon slices. I think Taylor's lips were going blue, and her arms had goose bumps. While it's true that Taylor wasn't complaining, and may have happily endured the weather for the privilege of running around the beach, Auntie Amanda had a better plan for her warmth, health and ultimate happiness.
She rounded up an Elmo Sweatshirt and called Taylor to her. Taylor went willingly and let her put that shirt over her head. It didn't go easily, however, and there was a good deal of tugging and wiggling. All the while Taylor is in the dark, her arms flailing trying to maintain her balance. With a final insistent tug the sweatshirt goes over her head and there is daylight for Taylor once again. Her little arms require a small amount of coaxing into the sleeves, but it seems easy in contrast to the head opening.
One might think that would be sufficient, but Amanda also saw that her hair was still being tossed about her head and went to work fixing that problem. Still Taylor stood while her piggies were pulled straight and reworked. In the end she was warmer, able to see without hair being blown in her face, and able to eat without straining her food through her tresses. She was released and went on with her day.
I thought how trusting Taylor was that Auntie Amanda was going to be helping her somehow. While she was content with her lot, she knew that someone wiser would improve her situation. It required some tugging, some darkness, some loss of balance, and some delay in her own plans.
Are we as accepting when Heavenly Father says to us, "Come here, I can help you" ?

My Pearl

One of the prophets said that he is always listening for the "pearl" that will come out of each meeting if you are paying attention, and waiting for it.
Last night we went to the Nisqually property to meet with other empty-nesters for family home evening. (Our dear bishop calls it the 'old fogey's FHE) (fondly, I'm sure) We roasted marshmallows and read a talk by Julie Beck out of the April conference Ensign.
She was talking about the value of virtuous women, and how hard it can be to be validated in Babylon. How the world's standards can leave you feeling that you aren't measuring up. She talked about the invaluable contributions made by spiritual women, and how you add so much to the world with your goodness. Still, I wonder, I am doing enough? There was one sentence that hit me as we were reading, and it had to do with a question that often haunts me; am I acceptable before the Lord? Am I okay? On the one hand we are to "lengthen your stride" and the list of things that I 'should' do is quite long! On the other hand, we are not to "run faster than we have strength", and "not to let the good crowd out the essential". I know that fine line is the balance we all seek. I also know that the answer lies in personal revelation for your own situation. Here's my pearl: If you are receiving revelation in any of its forms, then you are living in a way that is acceptable to the Lord, and he is letting you know it by granting you that supreme gift of the Holy Ghost. Having revelation is a sign that Heavenly Father is aware of you, and pleased with you.
I guess that hit me with such force because I needed to hear it. Thought maybe there might be one among us that could use to hear it too. I love you all.

Father's Day

This is the dad and grandad we adore!! Hugs and kissies to him on this Father's Day! 'nuf said.

Is it Done?

I pick this one up every once in awhile and fiddle with it some more. Tonight I added a few more buds, some more leaves, deepened things a bit, and finally thought, "I think I'm close." After I took a picture of it I put some more yellow in the middles, and scratched a couple of highlights. Shall I quit before I do something I regret? :)

Mixed Bag...Of What Do You Suppose?

When I'm teaching, I always take a moment to explain any idioms I use in conversations with the kids. This week I said someone was "asleep at the switch", and then explained what a switchman was, and how disastrous it could be if he were neglecting his duty; asleep at the switch. Then we get back to the lesson. Because of that habit I instantly wondered where the phrase "mixed bag" comes from. We use it when describing the weather, or the day's activities, or multiple subjects within one blog. Because I wish I had some, I think it should refer to penny candy, back when you picked from a candy counter and the salesclerk put your selection into a bag. What do you think?
But, back to the blog. I think pictures are the best part of everyone's blog, so I like to include some, even if they are a bit random.
I dropped by Jennis's house last week because I missed everyone, and the kids were on the tramp. That was hysterical. Taylor will not be denied, and seeing her bitty body jumping, and rolling, and running, and flopping between Jacey and Luke was funny! It should not be hard to pick my absolute favorite, because how she looks represents how I feel. And I say, Why not! --- Let's all jump around in whatever we want, holding whatever blankie makes us feel happy and secure, squeezing everything we can from the experience. The heck with our hair! Have some FUN!
I think the far-away family likes seeing the monthly dinner pics, so there are few of those. Lucas loves playing with the big boys, and it is so very good for him to wrestle with someone as tough as him!
Next: I'm thinking it's time to take the plunge, I think I'm going to go get my business license and market this artwork of mine. I've got jewelry coming out my ears (and off my neck, ankles, and wrists) and I have to sell some so I can justify making some more. I have watercolors begging to be notecards, hand crochet-edged baby blankets ready to welcome a newborn, etc, etc. I know those who have been there might think I'm crazy, but hey, I already admitted that! After going around in my head for several years I think I've settled on Beach Breeze Studio. (Imagine it in a pretty font, if you would) What do you think?

8 days old, and thriving!

Here's an update of Asher, and didn't he change in one week? Look at those cheekies! He hit five pounds this week, got all his oxygen removed, his bed is no longer warmed and he is holding his own temperature just great. He is due to get his feeding tube removed as he is eating on his own. If he can prove he doesn't lose any weight he'll be ready to go home. He never jaundiced, so he didn't need the UV light. Let's see; Bryant has the apartment just about perfect, Dad is going up today to help lay laminate in the bathroom, just about all that's left. It should be any day now that the family is reunited and home at last. Hooray for everyone!

Tah-Dah!

With Amanda's permission here are a few pictures of Asher's First 24 hours. He arrived May 4th (Auntie Ranie's birthday, too!)and weighed in at 4 pounds 12 ounces, and started out this journey 17 3/4 inches long. He is just so darn cute! My first impression was how much he looks like Harley; they are going to be a pretty cute matched set of siblings.
He is shown here with "just a whiff of oxygen", as well as various monitors. One for heart beats, one for oxygen levels, one for body temperature, one for--oh, I forget what else. His second day he got a little more oxygen assist, so that he still works, making his lungs stronger, but not quite so hard, which tires him out. The tiny mask fits over his whole nose, and is a little bit bigger than a nickel. They gave him a feeding tube the second day as well, which is about as big as a piece of dental floss, so that he can have constant nourishment until he can eat/breath/swallow comfortably. By day three he had only lost one ounce, and that's great.
Amanda was checked out yesterday, and is staying at the Sunshine house next door. She went home tonight for the first time, and will be back there Sunday. She is doing great, walking and getting stronger every day. Bryant has done a fabulous job taking care of Harley, and his Mom, and cooking/cleaning/all while remodeling the apartment for his family to come home to. I'm very proud of him, he's done an awesome job.
Just want to thank everyone for their fasting, and prayers on behalf of Asher and Amanda. Many people went to visit,and call, and send cards, and Jennis watched Harley lots so that Bryant could concentrate on building. I know that the faith of all of us who love them strengthened Amanda during her forced rest, and Asher while he got a couple more weeks to mature before his little body was ready to be born. Miracles have not ceased in our day, we witness them all around us. It just takes eyes that see. Love you all, mom