New Improved Garden Bench

 A few years ago I bought what I called an old red desk, but was probably really an old dresser missing the big drawers.  I turned it into my garden bench, and didn't bother painting it because it was being used as a place to work with dirt and such anyway.  Now in our new house, I wanted a corner of the garage for my garden bench.  Today, with the help of Jake, we moved the wood down to the basement, and the desk up to the garage.  He helped me cut the tops of the extended corner desk, and helped me attach everything securely.  Then I painted.  I was not a perfectionist about painting, but it looks pretty good for a garden bench!

This is the desk before painting.  The drawers are out and I decided to spray paint
 them since it seemed easier.

From red to black with a little red on the edges :-)

Mostly painted

Now the white cabinet just needs handles and I need to figure out where to hang all of the tools.
I'm pretty excited about my work bench!

The Story of Derek's Work -- 30 Years!

A bit over thirty years ago we were living in Bountiful in our first house with our first daughter Trisa and we were expecting our second when Derek got laid off.  That was a bit stressful!  One of Derek's Mom's friends, Virginia Q., saw an add in a newspaper -- the print kind of newspaper -- for a job at Nature's Sunshine in Provo.  She thought of Derek and passed it along. Derek got an interview that was to happen when Tia was two weeks old.  Since my sister Tina and her family lived in Wymount at BYU at the time, we headed down together.

Derek had an interview while Trisa played with cousins and I spent time with Tina.  Tia's belly was a little swollen and red and Tina told me it was not normal and I needed to take her to the doctor and so, as soon as the interview was over we headed back to Bountiful and I got her right in.  The doctor told me to go to Primary Children's Hospital right away and so I went to get Derek.  Our good neighbors took Trisa and just as we were getting ready to head out the door to the hospital the phone rang.  It was someone from Nature's Sunshine offering Derek the job.  He said he would take it, and we headed out.

This was today's cake for Derek.

 The whole Tia situation was very scary for us, but she ended up just having a cyst that they removed the next day and coming  home a few days later. 

The job at Nature's Sunshine has obviously been a huge blessing in our lives.  Derek's work has provided for us all of these years, given us good friends, and provided a lot of fabulous adventures around the world.  He has had quite a variety of opportunities to use his many talents, including tact when the management changed and things weren't so easy.

We thought the Grogu (baby Yoda) balloon was a nice touch.

I was sad when the first group of people Derek had worked with started either getting fired or laid off.  They are our friends.  We still enjoy getting together with them whenwe can.  I actually cried when Derek's last boss Eddie left to go work for his church.  He is a really good person, and I enjoyed getting to meet him and his equally awesome wife Alex.  I have no doubt that they are doing a good work for Christ at their church!  It just had been so nice for Derek to have a boss he really liked again.

We are very grateful that Virginia Q. thought of Derek when she saw that Nature's Sunshine needed an employee.  Derek has has so many titles over the years that I quit keeping track and just call him the Nature's Sunshine expert since that seems to be one of his main roles -- telling people what has been done in the past, and why things have and have not worked.

It is rare nowadays to have had a job at the same company for so long!  Hooray for Nature's Sunshine!

Gethsemane

 

This is a watercolor painting done by RND Illustrations of the Garden of Gethsemane.

This evening (Thursday) I was talking to one of my daughters about pain and suffering.  I kept saying the wrong thing, but I didn't want to give up until I had said something right.  Our conversation reminded me of me having a "little bit" of cancer and how I then proceeded to feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself.  I felt that I must in some way be bad for feeling any pain, discomfort, fear, frustration, etc. since "Everyone else" had it so much worse.  Shouldn't I just be grateful?

But the thing is -- I was grateful.  I was grateful that my cancer didn't take me down the awful chemotherapy trail that I have seen others go through.  I didn't have to lose my hair and learn to be okay with being bald for a while.  I didn't even have to have a mastectomy.  I could have chosen one, but I didn't.  I was and am grateful for all of those things I didn't have to deal with -- but I was dealing with something not nothing.  

I am thankful for all of those who told me it was okay to mourn.  It was okay to be sad.  It was even okay to feel sorry for myself (as long as I didn't constantly wallow in self pity).  I do not think any of us were meant to just soldier through everything as if we were robots.  We have too many emotions for that, and even in hard circumstances "comparison is the thief of joy".  We have to mourn and go through the sadness before we can get to the joy of the morning!

I believe that Christ suffered for each of us in Gethsemane.  I think we figuratively all go in and out of our own gardens of Gethsemane (though in no way can it come close to equating with what Christ did).  We can suffer for others and still be suffering ourselves.  We can still need our own angels to come and comfort us and mourn with us, even if someone else is suffering in the Garden beside us and their suffering is deemed "worse".  

In the end, because of Christ, our suffering will be over and our joy will be full.  As a friend of mine said, "Bring on the resurrection!"  May you all have your own angels to come beside you in your suffering, holding you, and assuring you that it will, eventually, be okay.

Dan Thomas and His Drivers License.

 

My youngest child is holding his brand new temporary Driver's License.
Where did the time go?  He used to ham it up for every picture.  Now I am thankful
that he actually let me take one!

When he was just a little boy -- things were simpler then!

Rich in Projects

 Sometime in the last few years I have discovered a love of projects.  Sometimes they are organizing projects, sewing projects, refinishing projects, or just finding a way to make something better.  Often they are D.I. projects.  "Treasures" I've found that I want to fix up.  Here are a few past and current projects.

I repainted the roof of my little house given to me by Connor and Amanda.
It will reside in one of my fairy gardens this summer.
Anyone surprised the roof is blue?  :-)

This is the front of my refinished bamboo tropical cabinet.
The cabinet came with feet but it was unstable and I like it fine without them.

This is the refinished inside of the cabinet.  Whoever had it before replaced the shelves with pieces of laminate type flooring.  It looked like flooring.  I discovered that if I flipped those pieces upside down and scraped the stickers off, it looks like they were made for the cabinet!

Jake brought this cabinet home from work.  All I did was paint the handles and put them on.
Honestly, they need to be redone.  They are a bit loose!

When we had our house built I asked for one of those divided cabinets for baking sheets.  Unfortunately the cabinet guy forgot, and when I reminded them they put in a cheap plastic thing that frustrated me because things were always falling through it.  Rather than get angry every time I opened the cabinet and then feel guilty because it was such a small thing in such a nice house, I decided to fix it.  I added a shelf which now holds lids to the big pans, and added a divider that doesn't let anything fall through.

I got a wood burner to try and put a face on my pig cutting board
and a branch with a bird on my big cutting board!

This is my office and Dan's school room that he really doesn't work in.
I got the chair from D.I. and redid the cushion quite a while ago.  I got Dan's desk from Savers and Derek
refinished it.  (Honestly he's a lot more patient with doing projects right than I am!)

I got this oak plant shelf from D.I. for 4 dollars!  You have to love a good treasure.
All I did was clean it and try to make the couple of scratches look less visible.

I got this cabinet from the Restore.  It was missing the shelf just up from the bottom.  I used it that way for a long time but finally went back to the Restore, found a board I thought would match, cut it to size and....YAY!  Now it has all of the shelves and I love it!

This is our downstairs bathroom that Derek has worked very hard to finish.
It is very close to done.  Derek suggested I stencil a few birds.

I rearranged things yesterday so that my plant (Mickey) could sit next to
my bamboo cabinet since I feel like they go together.

This is one of the three bedspreads I am working on but haven't finished.  I got the cloth from one of our former neighbors.  I only put two of the pictures on here but the third is like the one to the left only dark blue and white and I'll need to add cloth to it because it isn't as big.

The picture to the right is of my favorite bedspread cloth that I have.  Obviously I'll need to add cloth to it to make it big enough too.

This is the downstairs bathroom.  I hung the flower / bird hook
that we got at Savers.  Luckily, once it was up you could no longer see the hole from the bit of plaster that fell out during
my less than professional hanging. (Derek wasn't home and
I wanted to do it myself like the very best of 2 year olds!)

Since I really am really rich in projects there are more but, I will save them for another day!  After all, like the bedspreads, they are unfinished!

Perception, Assumption, Belief, Truth

 I became aware again yesterday of something that the people pleasing part of myself does.  This includes sometimes pleasing myself by deciding to believe something that may not be exactly based on fact!

Though this may apply to many things, I am going to talk about it in regard to finances.  I have a constant battle going on in my head over my relationship with money.  If I can just focus on what is true, I believe I will be more content and a lot less stressed.

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

Perception:  "a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression" (All definitions from Google Dictionary)

For much of my life I have had the impression that people are watching over my shoulder at how I spend my $$ and judging me.  Now, I have "learned" that not everything is about me.  Most of the time when I think someone is judging me, it is because I am judging myself.  Nine times out of 10 -- at least -- when I suspect someone is judging me, they are probably not thinking about me at all.  My perception of what other people are thinking doesn't matter at all.  What matters is what is true.  Am I spending my money wisely?  Am I spending more than I have?  Whether someone else thinks I should or shouldn't be spending my $$ the way I am doesn't matter.  What does matter is the facts of the situation.

Assumption:  "a thing that is accepted as true, or as certain to happen, without proof"

This is how I like to manage my finances!  I like to assume that we have plenty of money for me to do whatever I want, no matter what the numbers may say.  This is silly!  What matters is the actual numbers.  (No worries, we have plenty for what we need and I am generally spoiled in having what I want also, but if I'm not careful, I can get a bit carried away!)

Belief:  "an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists"

I can choose to believe that I can spend as much as I want without it causing problems for Derek or the family, but if the numbers don't say that, then that belief is obviously false.

Truth:  "that which is in accordance with fact or reality".

The truth is that most people have limited resources.  We can't just go out and get anything that we want and expect the budget to balance at the end of the month, or year, or anytime.  I am 100 percent sure that I will be happier when it comes to my relationship with money if I focus on the facts and not on my perception of what others think, or my assumption that there will always be "plenty" no matter what I do, or my belief that I never want too much.  Truth is the key!  

I'm Rich In ....

 Sometimes, just to remind myself of my blessings, I like to announce what I am rich in.  Generally when I am stating what I am "rich in", I am not talking about monetary value, but about things or people that help me to enjoy life, and to remember joy, laughter, and the fact that I am loved.

I am obviously rich in puppets since this isn't even all of them and this is a really BIG basket!
(5$ from Deseret Industries thrift store -- I am rich in D.I. treasures!)

The other day I sent out a text with this picture to show my children how rich they would be in Puppet inheritance one day.  That just got me more puppets since Connor brought his for me to use and keep.

I am fairly rich in instruments, including a couple of harmonicas that I forget I have and might want to get out and try just for fun.

Most importantly though, I am rich in good family and friends and even good acquaintances.  This past weekend my sister Tina came to visit with her son Caleb (who is Dan's "twin" cousin -- they were born the same day).  It was so fun to have her here and we spent a couple of hours on Saturday making aprons since I wanted her help reading the pattern and I happened to have 2 aprons cut out.  We also went to see a play, went for a walk, and had good chats.   Tina is awesome!

Tina and Me.  She made her apron for cooking and I made mine for gardening.
Every time I am with her lately somebody asks me if she's my daughter.
She's my older sister and luckily for me, I think it's pretty funny that people think I am THAT much older!

I am rich in many things, but most importantly, like each of you, I am rich because God loves me.

What else are you rich in?

Picture by Caleb.  I think its kind of fun that Jesus is behind me :-)

HOME

 Today at church I was contemplating home, and what home means to me.  I wish that when everyone thought of home, they would think of a place like the one I am describing below.  Home.  It is where love, light, forgiveness, and hope are found along with all other good things.

Picture by Dan

HOME

I walk inside and peace abounds.

There are familiar sights and sounds.

It has a smell that can’t be beat,

Like baking bread, or a tasty treat.

I walk inside and see a smile.

I hope that I can stay a while.

I’m gathered in for a warm embrace

That brings a smile to my face.

If I feel burdened when I come

The weight is lifted, at least some.

If it seems dark within my mind

Light is there for me to find.

If I behave in a bad way,

Or say something that I shouldn’t say,

Forgiveness will be swift and sure.

Love will be given; sweet and pure

When I am sad and I can't say why

And I just sit down and cry and cry,

I will just be held and loved as I am,

Until I feel and know again that I can.

I can move ahead, and not be stuck.

I can learn, and grow, and create good luck.

I can spread joy, and comfort too.

Because of home.  This is what I can do.

When I enter in filled to the brim

With joy to share with her, or him,

It multiplies until my joy runs o’er

Because growing joy is what home is for.

Peace, love, hope, and patience too.

Things to learn, and things to do.

A place to rest; rejuvenate.

Yes, a place called home is really great.

by Sherie

Sleep Apnea and an Unexpected Tender Mercy

Photo by Simon Infanger on Unsplash
At least I never have to try to sleep while balancing in a tree!

This past Wednesday I had to go in for another sleep study.  This was a CPAP titration study.  I was trying hard to look at this in the correct light.  This is a step forward.  A step towards maybe actually being able to sleep, and get enough oxygen at night.  As usual though, it wasn't quite that simple.  I have this stubborn part of me that always wants to hope the problem will just go away without uncomfortable new things having to happen.  Maybe tomorrow I will go back to being 20 right?  Ha ha ha.  No.  Of course not right, but my brain sure does not want to accept that!

Anyhow, I packed a bag, had prayer with the family, and drove to Provo.  I felt so emotional and so frustrated with the emotion.  I was tired and I was going to go sleep in a strange bed, hooked to lots of wires, with a weird mask on that would help push air down my throat.  I was going where I did not expect to know anyone, and going and doing new things almost always makes me at least a little nervous!

And then I was there being greeted by a familiar looking giant of a man whose last name immediately came to mind.  I asked him his name while he was hooking me to wires and discovered that he was indeed the person I thought he was, which means that his parents are our friends, and he was in our ward's youth group at the same time I was the Young Women's president years ago.  His name is Glen and having him there to take care of me all night was a tender mercy.  I was very grateful and I told him so.  He said that he was happy that he could check off of his list his hope to at some time take care of a family friend at his work.

He teased me about bringing a bag of stuff when I was only staying one night, and I laughed because it was true.  I just can never make up my mind what I might want when I'm trying to sleep!  I showed him pictures of the family and he sounded a bit on the shocked side that Derek looks the same after all of these years.  He caught me up on what his family is doing too.  

Life is complicated and there are always going to be things that I do not want to deal with, but that I have to deal with anyway.  When that happens, and I am feeling sorry for myself ,and nervous, and picked on, it does not seem like a small thing to me to find a friend when I expected a stranger.  These are the times when I find that, even though I feel alone, God is helping me know that I am not forgotten by Him.

Photo by Chris Curry on Unsplash
I also don't have to sleep on a board.

Photo by Fabien Maurin on Unsplash
Or on the ground:-)
You get the picture.

Good Friday -- For You and Me!

 

Photo by Duncan Sanchez on Unsplash

Last night I was thinking about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane asking His Father if there was another way to save me; another way to save all of us than the pain and suffering ahead of Him.  He asked, but He knew that there was not another way and He chose to move forward with Heavenly Father's plan and become our Savior.

Today I think of Him willingly letting people mock Him, and scourge Him, and nail Him to a cross without giving in to what surely must have been at least a little tempting -- showing them dramatically who He really was and refusing to save them.  But, despite it all, He loved them and He also had all of us to take into account.  I do not comprehend how exactly it works, but I have learned over the years that Jesus would have been willing to go thought the suffering even if it was only me that needed saving.  

When I am hurting, afraid, frustrated, sad, lonely, happy, joyful, tired, energetic, helpful, thoughtful, thoughtless, and all of the other adjectives that could describe me at any given moment, I am still perfectly loved by my Savior, and so are you.  That is why today is Good Friday.  Today Jesus chose to do the ultimate good thing and save us from sin, and death.

"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was  bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."  Isaiah 53: 4-5 KJV

I hope today you will truly feel the perfect love of our Savior.  Jesus. The truly Good. 

A Campaign for Kindness

 

I enjoyed being with Brigham today!

I just finished a book called "Reach Out Gather In" by Karen Ehman, and between the thoughts the author had and several talks I heard in General Conference this weekend, I decided to make my own campaign for kindness.  In all of my struggles in the past while, I'm afraid I have focused too much on myself, and not remembered to follow my Mom's advice and example of, when struggling, looking for someone else to serve.  Of course, it is really, really hard to do that sometimes and I am grateful to be feeling happier, and more energetic, and so perhaps it won't be such a difficult campaign!

In her book, Karen Ehman made a list of several ideas of how to serve strangers, family, friends, acquaintances, and pretty much anyone and everyone.  I am planning on dragging Dan into my "campaign".  It is Spring Break and, since we have no exciting travel plans, why not try out a plan for doing as many kind and thoughtful things as possible!  

I am so grateful for people who are friendly and kind even when I am feeling emotional and am overthinking everything!  It is helpful to me to know that I have such good family and friends and even acquaintances who love and care for me no matter what.  I have had people reach out to me, and gather me in as a friend when I needed one.

May God bless us all to be constantly in a campaign for kindness, and may He strengthen us and give us the grace we need when it is difficult!

Teddy on the left, Elder Bednar on the television, Tia on the right, and Brigham in the middle.
Who do you think it was easiest for us to pay attention too?