Christmas Cheer

This has been a unique Christmas Season. I am lucky to have all my siblings and their kids here in town...all in Farmington. It is mass chaos when all 35 of us are together in one home, but it would not be right any other way. The unique part of it though has not been my favorite. Starting Tuesday the stomach flu hit our home and as of tonight (Saturday) the last person of all seven of us threw up. Poor Isaac did not understand what was happening to him. We all have had it is varying degrees, but this is a nasty one. I am feeling very lucky that we are on the tail end of it though. By tomorrow...by Christmas day we should all have passed through the gammet of sickness and be able to enjoy the day and each other. This has been a memorable Christmas! It has had a unique spirit about it for me as I have thought about particularly Mary and her role in bringing the Savior to the world. My feelings for her are on a completely different level and I hope to take the time to explore them more. It has provided me with a very personal spiritual awakening...one that I need. It will be a very Merry Christmas.

A peculiar people

The people of our church are at times called a peculiar people. Our kids are peculiar, not just because of their religious beliefs...but because they are simply not normal. Three things come to mind. 1. They love to watch Michael Buble concerts. I know that does not sound that weird, who doesn't like to watch him. But, they are 8,6,5,3, and 1 1/2, and they like it just as much as any cartoon. They have been watching his concerts for about 4 years. They would pick that over movies sometimes. Not typical. 2. Asher had a school party this week. There was a table full of goodies. There were donuts, big cupcakes, little cupcakes, chocolate cookies, white chocolate popcorn, etc. I asked Mique what she wanted and with all of the sugar laid out before her she picked pretzels and olives. What kid prefers that? 3. The other day I was at hobby lobby and the lady helping me asked Asher what he wanted Santa to bring him. He did not hesitate before saying hand sanitizer. She looked at me and half whispered, "Did he say sanitizer?" I kinda chuckled as I told her, "Yep, he sure did." All I want for Christmas are clean hands!!! We breed them a bit peculiar!

We did it again!

We did it again. We read the book of Mormon as a family again. This time the kids were super excited! They have come to love to read it. We have used our Family Book of Mormon so much it fell apart....literally. It was in about 3 pieces. I took it to a printing place and had them cut the old binding and put a new binding on it. They were nice enough to copy the cover and put it on nice cardstock for me. It is not as pretty as the original, but every time I pick it up I love it even more. This worn and patched together Book of Mormon has been read, used, loved and is now treasured. It is a symbol of family time together and accomplishment. It is a huge accomplishment for the kids, I am so proud of them!

(As a side not...When I walked into the printing place I saw a guy that used to be in our old ward. He owns the printing shop, which I did not know previous to walking in the store. He is no longer active, but remembered me and was very helpful. When I went to pick it up and pay he would not let me. He told me he was donating the work and had done it himself. I am sure it was really easy for him to do and not terribly time consuming, but it meant a lot to me. It felt like a simple little blessing for our efforts as a family.)