Tender Mercies

There is never a bad time for tender mercies, but sometimes they happen at just the right time, and therefore are hard to miss!

Last night when I went to bed I was tense and maybe a bit cranky.  Dan missed school again and I always worry about him getting behind.  He didn't seem too sick, but he was having trouble breathing -- needing his inhaler as often as he could use it.  It hadn't been a bad day for me, but I am frustrated that Dan gets sick so much, and I was really tired.  Unfortunately, being tired and cranky makes it harder for me to sleep.  And then my phone made a noise signaling that I had a text -- and that I had forgotten to turn the sound off.

I picked it up, and there was a text from Derek's cousin Melanie, who is my friend.  She had sent me a link to an instagram post on how to make a fairy garden because she knows that I'm interested in making one.  It really made a difference to be thought of, and after deciding we should probably go fairy garden plant shopping together in the spring, I turned off the sound on my phone and felt more ready for sleep.

I also had the tender mercy yesterday of seeing a comment my Kentucky cousin Mike had made on my blog.  It was thoughtful, and encouraging, and kind and I am so thankful that he takes the time to write me messages sometimes!  He is good at sharing his faith in Christ, and I really love that!

Quotes To Ponder

A long time ago I started reading Christian fiction as a way to learn a little something while enjoying a good story.  Last year I read a story called In Too Deep by Lynn H. Blackburn.  I took a screenshot of one page (since I was reading it digitally) so I could ponder a couple of quotes.  I still want to ponder them, without keeping track of the paper, and maybe you will enjoy pondering them too.

"If you're worried about having enough faith, then you're putting faith in yourself and of course you can fail.  But when you keep the focus on the God you believe in, then everything changes.  He's beg enough for all our doubts, fears, and questions.  He's big enough for our anger and our pain."

Then, after some discussion about how God allows bad things to happen and we often don't understand what possible purpose it could have the character says:

"I'm very intelligent.  I often start thinking I know the best plan because I've evaluated the plans on the table and chosen the one that makes the most sense.  Then when God doesn't do what I expected or what I think is best.  I get mad.

..."But God is infinite.  He's eternal.  He looks at a situation and doesn't see three or four possible paths to a solution.  He sees thousands.  And he can see that solution number five hundred eighty-two is best, and because he loves me, he chooses not to allow me to have the solution I chose.  No because I chose poorly, but because he's chosen the best." 

 Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash

(And I wonder how long I could sit on a stack of books like in the picture above without falling over!)

 

Dancing in The Clouds

When I was thinking about all of the wonderful things there are to do and see and how little time I have to cram in as many good things as possible, I wondered if I could be happy if I couldn't DO things.  I like to do things.  I like to feel like I am accomplishing something.  What if I was not able to move?  I mean, two weeks on crutches was kind of depressing for me.  It's hard to do things with your hands occupied!  (I plan on living a long healthy life -- in case you were wondering).

I decided that if that ever happens, and I can't move much or accomplish the things I regularly do, I would have to get good at being like Dan -- getting lost in my imagination.  Of course, my imagination wouldn't have me creating awesome animations or video games like Dan's does.  I would create a vision of me doing things that I wish I could do -- like flying, or dancing in the clouds.  Hopefully, while doing that, I would be able to pull up some gratitude for the things I can "do" without moving.

Not Enough Time

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

The other day I was thinking about all of things I enjoy doing, and all of the things that I still want to do and see and experience, and I realized that there isn't enough time.  There also isn't enough energy.  I am glad that we have eternity and not just time because during this life I can't learn everything I want to, or meet all of the people I'd like to, or visit all of the countries, or clean all of the closets :-).  I don't have time to discover all of the treasures that are here to discover!  I will do my best to enjoy what I can do, see, learn and experience, and I will look forward to an eternity when I will have the energy to do even more of all of those things!

Flowers

I got this vase at the D.I. in Provo when I went to drop off things from the storage room that we cleaned out on Saturday.  I had about 10 minutes before I needed to leave for the doctor and I thought this pitcher was pretty.  I put these on the desk in my room.

 I added more flowers!  I got a few taller ones and I like it a bit more than I did before.

Making Space For Greater Joy

This pot was a D.I. treasure too.
I think it will look better with taller flowers
but it is pretty this way too.

"The joy the Savior offers [us]...is constant, assuring us that our 'afflictions shall be but a small moment' and be consecrated to our gain."  Our trials and afflictions can make space for greater joy."  (Elder Budge quoting Pres. Nelson)

I like this view of trials and afflictions.  It turns hard things from something that is just painful to something full of possibilities.  Possibilities for happy change, learning, growth, and a different perspective that can give us greater empathy, or a better view of our value.  With faith in our Savior we can look past the hard moments with hope for greater joy than we have experienced so far!

Focusing on The Right Things

The vase is a D.I. treasure I found this week.
I already had the flowers.

Sometimes I have made the mistake of listing in my mind all of the problems, or challenges that everyone in my family is dealing with.  The longer I count the problems, the more picked on and discouraged I feel.

One of my favorite quotes lately is from Elder Christofferson:  "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives."

When I catch myself starting to think of all of the things that are wrong, I change my focus to all of the good things about, and happening to, each family member, or I focus on the Savior and all that he has done for us all.  Changing my focus changes my mood and makes my days brighter.

Enjoying Some Thrift Store Projects

I went to Deseret Industries in Provo the other day.  I was wanting to replace my plastic paper trays with something wooden.  I found this:

I was excited.  It is very well built.  It had two wooden drawers I didn't want to use, but I could take them out, paint it and use it.  Of course, I didn't notice until I was ready to check out that the "shelves" are really half shelves.  I think I can figure out some way to make it work and so I bought it anyway and decided to paint the two drawers for fun to replace the cardboard boxes I've been using in my closet.

I got tired of trying to fix my awkward bird.  This goes in my closet and not my wall.
It was fun to try!

Since these are the same size they look great on my shelf.
I didn't really need them, but I enjoy them just the same.

We keep trying to clean things out of our house, so I'm waiting for Derek to try to ban me from thrift stores where I seem to pick up about as much as I drop off.  At least I didn't buy one of the solid wood doors that I figured something cool could be made out of if I knew how!  I guess this is what comes of watching lots of Fixer Upper type shows -- I start wanting to find antique doors like Joanna Gaines :-)

The Problem With Audio Books

Lately I get double vision if I read for very long.  One hour.  Two at most.  It's very annoying and takes a while to go away, and yet still I resist audio books. And then I accidentally checked one out from "Libby", the online library app.  I checked out "Make Something Good Today" by Erin and Ben Napier.  I have enjoyed listening to them read the book they wrote in their southern "twang", reminiscent of my Kentucky relatives.  I enjoy hearing them talk about their Mamaws and Papaws, and the descriptions that make me think of all that is happy about home.  I also heard a quote or two I like.

The problem with audio books?  I'd have to sit there with a pencil and paper and catch the quotes because I can't flip back through the pages and find them!  The one I heard today went something like this, "God gives us challenges to elevate us, not problems to drag us down."  Even though challenges may elevate us -- eventually -- I believe it is quite normal to first be knocked down by them a bit.  We need faith in Christ and the extra strength gained from getting back up to reach that elevation!

I still prefer reading to audio books, until I reach the point where I have a splitting headache because I'm trying to focus through the blur to find out what happens next!  Then I remember that I might have been better off using my ears to "read".

Enjoying The Rain

I was at the pharmacy once when one of the workers said, "When it rains it pours?" because I'd been in more than once on the same day and they knew about a couple of things that "hit" our family all at once.  I smiled and said something like, "Yes!  It's been raining a lot at our house lately, but we keep on smiling!"  And at least at that moment it was true.  I felt happy.  Hard things happen, but good things are learned, or strength is gained, or support is given, and not everything hard is bad.  Besides, there are more good things than not.  "Rain" can be beautiful even if we were hoping for sunshine.  And rain is necessary for growth.

Some days, admittedly, things happen and it feels more like baseball sized hail stones than rain, but if we don't give up on finding the good in things then eventually that sun is going to come out.

Photo by michael podger on Unsplash

Mike and The Police Academy

Mike started attending the Police Academy in January.  He should finish in April (I think).  He is really happy to have the chance to become a policeman.  I am happy that there are people who want to be policemen! 

Inviting God Into Our Days

Photo by Milos Tonchevski on Unsplash

Sunday in Primary our music leader asked the children if they could think of some ways of inviting God into their day.  I really like that thought.  Remembering to talk to Him was one of the things to do, and singing "church" songs was another -- though I think any beautiful, worshipful, or joyful song could work.  I think another way to invite Him is to take time to be appreciative of what we have, and share those things, or our time, with others.  I really like the thought that we can invite God into our days and have Him walk with us, talk with us, guide us, comfort us, and feel joy with us.  There is no better or wiser companion that we could have!

Dan Becomes A Teacher

Kayli, Grandpa C., Grandma C., Mike, Tia, Jake (behind Tia), Derek in the back,
me in front of Derek, and Dan in front of me.

Dan, our youngest son, will be 14 in August (even though he got asked today if he was 11).  Jake got asked if he was a deacon (12 or 13 years old).  He'll be 18 in a couple of weeks.  

Dan was ordained a teacher today in the Aaronic Priesthood.  Dan has a lot of challenges, but he also is very smart and has a lot of talents.  He loves his family and we love him and are proud of how he works hard to be good and kind.  He likes to listen to religious talks when he goes to bed, and remembers a LOT of information that he hears and reads and watches.  

The picture was taken by our Bishop.