12 of 12 January

1. Playing in the snow from the night before.
2. Snuggled up under our quilt from Grandma. It's been getting a lot of use.
3. I love the light in our house when it is sunny after a snowstorm. So bright!
4. Spending part of nap time menu planning. Why is it so hard? And yet it makes the week so much better if I do it once instead of 7x/week when everyone is already hungry.
5. A sweet email from Truman's former occupational therapy. I sort of wish he still qualified for OT, just for the Katie visits.
6. Waiting for Dad to get home.
7. Millie always requests a smiley face on the back of our Sam's Club receipt. Much happiness that today's marker was magenta, and Darlene drew her smiley face to look just like her!
8. Replacing the sweep on the front door so we don't have to cover it with blankets to retain warmth in our house.
9. Kept the kids busy coloring on the white board while dinner was cooking/the sweep was being replaced. Millie scheduled in a little happiness. :) Also, she's been rocking Article of Faith memorization.
10. Despite the chaos of the evening, dinner was really, really enjoyable. (Hat tip to Millie taking a nap.) We had chicken tacos, but letting the kids make and roll their own somehow made it really fun and less stress. I'm not sure how it worked out that way, but it did. I love this family of mine.
11. Chris helping Millie with her FHE lesson.
12. Each week both choir directors insist on their own podium for conducting. And they fight over who gets the tallest one. Then Truman jumps off during Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam and gives me a heart attack.

Blessings Apparent

Sometimes it takes a few hiccups in life to put things in perspective. And when things are in focus I realize this life I have is pretty good.

Late one night a few weeks ago Chris told me the light bulb in the fridge wasn't on. "Light bulbs burn out. We'll get a new one" I replied and we went to bed. The next morning the light was still off, and things were feeling a bit warmer than they should be in the fridge. Hmm. Dang.

An aside: I usually can and process my jam in jars because a) we don't have a ton of room in our freezer and b) I would be so sick if my berries and jam went to waste in a power outage. So of course we went berry picking a month ago and the strawberries were so good I couldn't stand to process them. So I made freezer jam. Yeah.

I was starting to get sick about losing everything in our fridge and freezer, so right after breakfast I start formulating plans to save our food and decide I better google if there are any ideas for quick fixes we might try to save ourselves from having to buy a new fridge.

1: Make sure the fridge is plugged in.  Since the plug is behind the fridge, there is no way it could have come unplugged.
2: Check the breaker. We'd already tried that one and it wasn't the problem.
3: If there is a GFCI, check it. Click. Light on. Fridge on. Compressor working.

And just like that, the fridge was saved. Saving us a chunk of change and food in the process.


Later that week we drove to Lake Michigan and had a great time. On the drive home we stopped for gas and the car was making a weird noise after that. I start assuming the worst. Chris and Nick got out and there was a wad of electrical tape in the wheel well. Pulled it out and things were smooth.

After we got home, shook the sand out and scrubbed the baby, I decided to make a quick run to Target. I wandered for too long and it was too late, but I got what I needed. I pulled into the driveway in third gear, not first or second. Nelly did some little hiccup, the battery & brake light came on, I coasted to park and turned her off. Yeah, so I still occasionally kill our car.

We head to church the next morning and the battery and brake lights are still on, even when the car is running and the brake is off. And we have no power steering. I remind Chris we only have to turn five times to make it to the church and to crank it hard. Then I notice the A/C isn't working. So we roll down the windows and start to worry a bit more. Chris says Nelly is driving funny. The check engine light comes on and I glance over and realize the thermometer is sky high hot. Uh oh. Say more prayers.

We see a friend's car in their garage and debate stopping. But decide to go the next mile to the church. And then Nelly starts losing power. We're both sick with worry and I'm dying with the thought that we just cooked our car. We make it into a Baptist church parking lot and I decide I'm walking back to the Jessica's house. I see her coming down the road and run as fast as I can in my heels to flag her down. Thankfully she sees me and stops to pick us up. We transfer a car seat and buckle up, making it to church just on time.

We hypothesize with Jessica's husband, Jonathan, about what could be wrong. I suspect maybe a belt and he thinks radiator. He knows way more than I do, so we go with his thought. After church Jessica brings sleeping Millie and me home while Chris and Jonathan go to assess the damage, both riding on his motorcycle. Cute.

As soon as they open the hood Jonathan spots a belt that has come off. They drive the car back to their house to see what they can do. After a quick look in the owners manual, getting the belt back on looks complicated. Then Jonathan tells Chris to wait a bit while he runs next door to his neighbor Chuck's house.

Chuck is home and tells them to bring the car over. They take it to his garage where he has a mechanic's lift. He hoists up the car, uses his pneumatic tools to take apart the car and his stocky strength to man-handle the belt back on. Good as new, minus the check engine light that needs re-set.

Really? That's it? Yeah, really.

Twice in one week we were incredibly blessed to come away so easily from potentially expensive situations. (I must admit I got excited at the thought of a new car. Until I realized what we could afford would probably be worse than our already paid off auto. Suddenly, not so exciting.) Often I focus on what I don't have or what's wrong instead of everything I do have and all the things that work so well. The balance will always tip heavily in favor of everything I don't have. But that's the wrong thing to measure. In the showdown between what I need and what I have, the abundant blessings win. Every time.

The experiences were a huge reminder to me from where our blessings come. What a generous Heavenly Father. We are so blessed.

A Very Full Easter Weekend

Saturday was a busy day. I had signed up for Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at the Y several weeks ago. We started our day off there, and then browsing an auction at the fairgrounds for a bit.

We came home, put Millie down for a nap and Chris left to buy a bike seat from a guy of Craigslist. (Chris had gotten a bike the week before, so now we can bike as a family!) We cleaned it up and put it on my bike.

The Wallins and Wilsons hosted lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Kanien had emailed me the night before saying she had been wondering why I hadn't RSVPed, but then she realized she hadn't invited me. We're glad we got the invite!

While the women were busy in the Wilsons' kitchen getting everything ready for lunch I had this feeling come over me. I might not be able to be with my family, but here with these people is a good place to be. They're our family for now. I am so grateful for friends that help here feel like home.

Then it was across the park to the Wallins' for the Easter egg hunt. Millie doesn't like grass (even with pants on), so despite being plopped down in the middle of three eggs, she didn't go for any of them.

 She needed some help from Dad to reach the higher-up ones instead. And Mom got to enjoy the spoils of sun-warmed Cadbury eggs.

On the way home we bought Millie a helmet and after a nap it was time for our inaugural ride. I'm still a little nervous with such precious cargo on back, but she loves it (and forgets how annoying her helmet is) once we start moving.

We thought about riding our bikes to dinner and the next Easter egg hunt, but decided we'd be a little too saddle sore the next day if we attempted a 10-miler as the second ride of the season.

It worked out well that we drove because we stopped to pick up stuff from the Wallins we had left earlier in the day and Kanien and the girls decided to join us and ride to dinner. (Jon was at school and had their car.)

When I had RSVPed to this party I asked if I should bring anything more than our potluck contribution (like eggs and candy). The friend told me they should be good; they had about 300 eggs!! There ended up being about 10 kids, several infants, a few toddlers and one Marcella.

After we ate the kids were herded inside while the adults hid eggs. It didn't take very long for all the good hiding (more like perching) places were taken and we just started scattering them on the lawn.

This is what you call an eggcorn!

And the hunt was on!

At the earlier hunt each kid was able to get 12 eggs. Marcella asked me how many she could get now. I told her twenty. It wasn't long before she was back to report she had her twenty. I told her to get thirty. Then forty. Then fifty. After fifty I told her to just get as many as she could fit in her basket. I think she ended up with about 72 eggs!

It was such a fun time, scrambling all over the yard and trying to encourage Millie to pick up the eggs. And Mom and Dad ended up with all the candy spoils!


The next morning we had to be at the church at 8:30 to practice with the choir for the Easter program, so we were up and going early. Millie found her Easter basket waiting for her. Chris and I have enjoyed hiding eggs and surprises for each other each Easter since we've been married. But I have to say, being a parent makes holidays so much more enjoyable. It was fun to get Millie's basket from the Easter Bunny arranged just right.

 

Our bleary-eyed bunny. The Easter Bunny knocked it out of the park with her Easter basket. Go Easter Bunny! :)

This Easter I was strongly struck with how amazing it is that our Savior was resurrected. What a blessing! I feel so much joy at the thought that through Him we can work to be better. Each day we get to try our best, and through Him, we can improve. We don't have to be perfect right now, but we get the opportunity to better ourselves. And we're able to be resurrected and continue on after this life. So much hope, so much joy and so much gratitude.

 

A/C Woes

Last week our air conditioner started doing things that were a little bit concerning. Like cycling on, and off, and on, and off, and on, and off, and on, and off... So I turned it off at the thermostat and turned our ceiling fan to high while my visiting teachers were here. I knew cycling that fast was bad for the compressor, so it made me a little worried. But it is hot and humid here, and that was pretty miserable.

And then the A/C fan wouldn't turn off. It wasn't cooling, but constantly blowing air. We thought maybe it was the thermostat, so we tried new batteries, nothing. We tried turning it off, nothing. The only way we could get this to stop was at the breaker (we discovered this little problem at about 3 in the morning). It was starting to get a little concerning.

Next thing we knew there was water in the middle of our hallway, adjacent to the furnace/compressor and water heater closet. The carpet next to the closet wasn't wet, so it was a puzzle.

Chris taught his primary lesson last week on tithing. As he was testifying of the importance of tithing and the ways the Lord opens the windows of Heaven I had the thought, "We paid our tithing today. The Lord will bless us. Maybe He'll bless us with our A/C problem? Because we don't have money for major repairs."

We were video chatting with my parents that afternoon and I told my dad about the problems. Then I had the thought, "Why don't we take off the vent in the hallway that connects to the A/C and see what we can see."

This is what we could see:

About four or five inches of really icky water, hanging out in the drip pan. (If you think the dust bunnies under your bed are bad, try looking at the inner bowels of your HVAC system! Or rather, don't.) With no apparent drain system, we got out our one gallon Shop Vac (thank you, wedding present) and went to work. After a while we got it all sucked up and dumped down the bathtub drain.

We realized that with the water so high, when the fan kicked on it blew water out the vent and into the middle of our hallway. I'm guessing this water has been here, just building up, since before we bought our house. Which explains the musty smell it gets when the air hasn't been on for a while. And with that much water, I'm sure it evaporates, condenses on the cold A/C and just continues the cycle.

We set up fans on the carpet, baseboard and inside the drip pan. Before long, it was dry as a bone. But still plenty icky.

The A/C hasn't done the rapid cycle thing since. The fan hasn't blown constantly. And there is no water in the hallway. The drip pan has stayed dry. My mom said I couldn't make special request blessings based on my paying tithing, but I know that Lord answered my prayer. I was inspired to look inside the vent. With just a few hours of sucking and dumping, the problem seems to be solved. I love paying tithing.

On Gender

Right before we went in for our ultrasound, I had a pretty profound realization. I had been thinking that our baby had a fifty-fifty chance of being a boy or a girl. (Chris and I like to joke that since he comes from a family of all boys and I come from a family of all girls that the odds are evenly split!)

But, with some great power I realized that it wasn't a game of odds. True, to us, the odds were fifty-fifty, but it wasn't a gamble to my baby. I know that the words in The Family: A Proclamation to the World are true. "All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose." (My emphasis added.)

Baby girl didn't just happen to form into a female. Premortally, she was female and so her mortal life continues. Her gender is part of who she is, just as much as it's part of who I am. This understanding makes me appreciate the power the Lord gives us to bring new life into this world. It makes my duty as a mother so much more than feeding and clothing. I'm grateful for the above document, continued revelation and the blessing we have to pattern our families in the Lord's way.

Living Wise

I just sent Chris in for his surgery. After he was gowned up and lying on the gurney with his IV, I told him I was grateful he was healthy. I don't know that I could spend much time at hospitals. He said it was just a blessing we've been given.

A man a few stalls down was giving the nurse his medical history and he told her how much he smoked a day and all his other woes, some of them self-inflicted. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to Chris, and as her reviewed his medical stuff one more time, he told Chris, "We don't have many perfect patients here, but you're pretty darn close!"

I'll give the credit to living the Word of Wisdom. What a blessing, and I don't think I recognize that enough.

Thankful Top Ten #2

#2- I have been incredibly blessed by the sister missionaries serving in our ward. Though we never get to "hang out," and nearly all our conversations are gospel-oriented, they have become dear friends in our time here. This Sunday night we met with them, and the one sister that is still here that was here when we moved in brought up our first encounter. Her and her companion came to visit me, I was still in my pajamas and our house was a mess. But I'm glad I answered the door and invited them in. I'm glad I keep signing up to feed them, and that they come to visit us. They have given Chris and I commitment after commitment and multiple opportunities to serve. My testimony had gotten a little stagnant, and I'm grateful for the sisters' influence in strengthening it again.