Words Of Life or Death. Which Do You Speak?

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

 Words of Life:

   Empower

    Encourage

    Affirm

    Give Hope

    Are Confident

    Are full of hope for the future

Words of Death:

   Destroy

    Cause people to lose heart

    Tear Down

    Cause despair

    Are Powerless

    Replay the pain of the past.

Let us speak Life to ourselves and others!

This is from Live On Purpose by Sadie Robertson Huff page 183

I tend to speak a little too much "death" to myself!  The words of Life are the words that Jesus would speak to us.  He is "the way, and the truth, and the life."(John 14:6)  His words give us power to overcome, power to build up, power to have hope, and power to do what He would have us do.  I really am going to work on speaking only the words of Life to myself and others!

The Best Part of Christmas

 

I took zero pictures this
Christmas!
This one is of Brigham
taken by Tia

The part of this Christmas Day that I enjoyed the most was my two girls who still weren't feeling well somehow managing to find things to laugh about anyway.  They are so much fun!  I suspect that is one of my nephew Bryce's favorite things about coming here.  My girls can be pretty entertaining when they are together.  I suppose the whole family can be entertaining when we are together.

We also watched old recordings from our really old video camera.  It was funny to hear us all say awww so  many times as we watched a very little Jake walk, or a little Dan being a little disappointed when he didn't get any presents for Jake's birthday.  He had some good smiles and "moves"!

I enjoyed singing with a women's group and with the ward choir today too.  Singing on Christmas in praise of our Savior is one of my favorite things, even if church starts at 8:30 a.m. and I have practice before 8!

Another great part of Christmas was talking to Derek's Mom and mine, and talking to Tia and Brigham and Mike on video chat this evening.  They have stayed away due to sickness at our house, but eventually they will come and open their presents!

I hope you all have favorite things to remember as you reflect on your Christmas day!

Christmas Eve

 Sometimes the best of plans just don't work out, and so you just make the best of things.  This is Christmas Eve when Trisa has the flu and Kayli (after taking good care of Trisa for a couple of days) isn't feeling her best.  Unfortunately this meant that we didn't get Tia, Mike and Brigham.  We missed them!

Kayli and Trisa up in the game room.
Connor, Amanda, Bryce, Dan, Jake, Sherie, and Derek

Tia, Mike and Brigham played in the snow.
It looks like Brigham was enjoying himself!

Derek had us singing Christmas songs in the dark.

Kayli, Trisa and Chewy

Connor and Amanda with Kayli, Trisa and Chewy in the background.
Connor was our photographer.

Old Christmas Movies

 

Photo by Ricky Turner on Unsplash
It is nice that we can watch our old movies at home now!
It is less of an event, but much easier to do!!

Derek and I watched two old Christmas movies today.  The first was Christmas in Connecticut.  It is a black and white movie made in 1945 that is one of Derek's favorite Christmas movies.  It is funny to me that he likes it more than I do.  I mostly loved that he was laughing so much while I cleaned the kitchen.  It does have some funny things to laugh about!  The next one we watched was also in black and white.  It was called It Happened on 5th Avenue.  This movie was made in 1947 and it took us turning it off and back on at least three times before we got to finish it.  We liked it.  I think Derek described it as kind of predictable but a good Christmas movie.  It certainly was no more predictable than the Hallmark movies we sometimes watch.

It is fun to pull out old Christmas movies and have a bit of light hearted fun sometimes!

BYU Basketball Tradition

 

Some of my cute kiddos at the ball game.
Amanda, Connor, Tia, Trisa, and Kayli
Mike was out keeping Provo safe and Jake and Dan were with Brigham.

Here's all of us including Noelle, Isaac, and Megan
We also saw some friends from our old neighborhood.
Fun!

Sometimes You Want To Go

 Where Everybody Knows Your Name....

This is not Derek's car so I did not take it in for an oil change!

Today I took Derek's car in for an oil change and tire rotation.  I have gone to the same place for years and so many of them know my name.  At the pharmacy maybe everybody knows my name.  I just really like being able to go to the same place year after year so that I can have my car fixing friends and my pharmacy friends and even my Walmart friends.  It makes everything more friendly!

Today when I walked into the car place a neighbor was there.  It was nice to get to talk to her since I know who she is but don't really know her well.  Time went by much faster when she was there.  She is from Payson and we both have gone to the same two car places for quite a few years and talked about how nice it is to find people to trust about things we don't know much about!

I am thankful today that we have lived in the same area for so long.  I'm sure there are good things about moving around too, but I really like the benefits of knowing people, or at least recognizing them because of the time we have lived here!

This is not my car either.  This is the 2022 car show from January.
It is a cool looking car though!

Clearing Christmas Clutter

I love things that remind me what Christmas is really about!
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Today I was dealing with the "problem" of too many unwrapped presents in the closet which made it cluttered and hard to  navigate.  This is truly a first  world problem!  The house was starting to feel crowded and so I was also going through things and trying to find things to give away.  I cleaned, straightened, and sent Christmas cards.  

I feel like, this year, I have let Christmas get a little more like a list of things to do instead of a celebration of the birth of our Savior!  That list is the Christmas clutter that really needs clearing so that celebrating Christ is the focus!  I am glad it is Christmas week and am looking forward to celebrating with my family!

A Moment In The Sun

 

This is last year but it has sunshine in the picture!

Today for a few minutes I got to lie in the sunshine.  I was warm and the sun was shining in the window.  It felt like Spring or Summer and I enjoyed it very much.  It was the most peaceful moment I had today and I am very grateful for it.  I hope you can find some peaceful moments in your day too.

Tie Dye Fun -- Early Birthday Celebration

 

Kayli, Trisa, Sherie (me), Brigham, and Tia

Kayli wanted to have a tie dye activity and so she invited us to join in.  For most of us it was our first attempt.  We had a good time!  We did have a good giggle over the picture.

We celebrated Kayli's birthday a little yesterday and some today.

Kayli is sweet, and wonderful, and fun.  We were happy to celebrate our Kayli!

Guilt for Sadness?

There is always hope!
Photo by Pinakeen Bhatt on Unsplash

Do you ever feel like this?
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

I have what we sometimes refer to as "the gift of guilt".  Not that the guilt itself is a gift, but that I am really good at feeling guilty for a LOT of things, and this is not the helpful kind of guilt.  So, today I was at The Christmas Carol at the Hale Center Theater in Orem with a few family members.  I absolutely love this play and have been a few times before.  Unfortunately, today I was super tired.  It had not been a stellar night for sleeping, and as I watched old Scrooge watch his younger happy self singing and dancing I started to feel really sad.  I was sad for myself!  I love to sing and dance!  I love having fun with people!  I suddenly felt so old.  I still sing, but not as much.  I rarely get to dance.  But once I was sad, I also felt guilt.  I have a really good life.  How dare I feel sad over it!  

It wasn't until I got home and was lying down for a rest that I realized that guilt was not helping.  There is no need to feel guilt over sadness!  Life changes and I can't, or don't, always do the things I used to.  It is okay to be sad over that sometimes! I then need to remember that I can find new things to enjoy, or find ways to bring the old things I enjoyed back into my life!  

Taking away the guilt from the sadness helped considerably.  I felt much less sad without the guilt!  I also felt considerably better after a nap.  Sometimes those are just necessary.  Now I do not feel "Bah Humbug".  I feel like there is a chance I can "keep Christmas" in the manner I like to keep it.  With hope, joy, love, music, celebration and service. 

My plan for the future is to ditch the unnecessary guilt in order to move forward with better humor, and more hope!

Winter Wonderland With Turkeys

 Hi.  The pictures show a fun moment for me this morning.  I still get excited about watching the turkeys trek by in a line!  Later I enjoyed wrapping Christmas gifts while watching a romantic Christmas movie.  Then -- Brigham came!  He's getting teeth and was having a sad day and so he came to visit Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Dan and Uncle Jake and Aunt Kayli and the barking Teddy.  Like many of us, he can be distracted from his pain and grumpiness by something happy that is at least a little out of the ordinary. His Grandpa is good at making him laugh when he is getting ready to cry. Probably my favorite part of his visit was having him sit on my lap and eat cold lasagna.  He ate all of his cold lasagna so we gave him some of the last lasagna left that was warm -- but he wasn't as happy to eat that.  Hopefully he will sleep well for his Mom and Dad tonight.  

The First and The Last

 

Derek is a good person to be on The Path with!
Picture by Connor Summer 2021

Yesterday I listened to a talk Kayli sent me by Sadie Robertson.  Towards the end, Sadie gave a description of who God is.  She started with, "He is The First and The Last."  I have heard that many times but this time I thought of something different.  I thought of hiking!  

It seems like, when we hike, the trail is usually only one person wide - maybe two.  There is someone in the front, and someone in the back.  Because of my speed, or lack thereof, I am usually in the back.  The other reason I am there is that I have this fear of people getting lost, or hurting themselves and nobody noticing.  Equally important is the person leading.  This is true especially if we are on an uncertain trail where the leader knows the way, and others are less sure.

It struck me that being The First and The Last could easily mean that, as God, He is the leader.  He knows the path and the way back.  He leaves markers for us.  Scriptures, Prophets, Family, Mentors.  He is also The Last because He knows that people are always wandering off the trail and getting lost.  They are often alone and hurting.  He wants to, and is, there to help us get back on the path and to heal our hurts.

He is both the Leader and the Rescuer.  He is the Guide and the Help.  He is where we need Him to be and we would do well to look to our Leader, our Savior to guide us so that we can safely stay on the path home.  Not just any home, but the most joyful home available to us after this life if we just follow Him.

I love Jesus and am thankful for this Christmas season to remember how much He was willing to give up to come and live on Earth and to make the path home available to all.

A Little Bit Stuck In A Snow Bank

Miss Piggy The Fabulous
(Muppet designed by Bonnie Erickson and voiced by the late Frank Oz and now Eric Jacobson)

I always think of Miss Piggy when I think of being stuck in a snowbank because in our old Muppet's Christmas video she calls Kermit and explains that she's late because "I just got a little bit stuck in a snow bank".  So today, when I was trying to pick up my friend's daughter from school I got in too big of a hurry backing out and backed into the snow bank.  It was made up of snow pushed to the side of the driveway where I usually back out when it isn't snowy.  

I tried to call my friend but my phone wouldn't work until I restarted it and then she didn't answer.  I got Dan who came and tried to dig me out - but it was taking too long.  I finally called the school and told them I was running late and might not actually make it.  Then Kayli got home and she let me use her car.  I tried to call my friend again, or the school, but my phone wouldn't work again and I had to restart it again.  So, I got to the school a bit late, but I picked up my little friend and took her home and got my daughter's car back home safely.

In the mean time Dan worked really hard and dug the van out.  I left it there in the driveway, but Kayli went out later and put it in the garage.  All is well that ends well I guess!  It was a bit of excitement for the day and I at least got to say hello to my friend and give her a hug before heading back home.