Road Block

The oldest son's wedding has hit a road block.
The road block is not really a surprise.
We have been aware that it existed for a while now.
There have been warning signs flashing
along the road as we have moved toward our destination.
Every now and then we have even caught a glimpse of it
off in the distance and wondered
if there would come a time when it
might impede our forward progress.
Road workers were consulted
and they predicted that most likely,
with caution and some help
from an experienced road crew,
it could be navigated around.
That's why most of us were a little taken by surprise
when today we got right next to the road block
and discovered it's actual size.


What had appeared to be rather small and manageable
from a few miles away
now appears quite massive and a little scary.
And the hardest part of all
is that while many of us can stand here
and offer support and suggestions
the heavy duty road block removal
has fallen on the tiny shoulders of the fiancee.
It is her road block to conquer.
At the moment she's not sure if she is up to the task.
The road block appears huge
and she is so small.
She has known for a long time that this road block
was going to have to be approached
and dealt with at some point in her journey
but now that she is face to face with it
she doesn't have a clue how to make a dent
in this gigantic mountain before her.
She is feeling overwhelmed and discouraged.
It seems like it would be easier to just give up.
Perhaps turn around and take a different route,
but now that she has acknowledged the road block
it seems to stop her progess
no matter which direction she turns.
She is stuck.
I hope she can realize
that she doesn't really have to remove
this road block all by herself.
Her loving Savior, Jesus Christ,
is an expert at getting rid of
seemingly insurmountable obstacles
and he is waiting right there
ready and willing to help
as soon as she asks.
We, on the other hand,
are just waiting
and praying.

Milkshakes and Movies

The oldest son had some oral surgery done yesterday. He had 2 spots in his mouth where there were holes in his bone and they had to cut his gum and fill the holes with cadaver bone. He has been spending a lot of time sitting on the couch with an ice pack held to his mouth.
I stocked up on lots of soft food for him to eat during his recovery and he has been using this as a good excuse to consume a few milkshakes as well.

Today he decided to host a Mighty Ducks Movie Marathon. Somehow I was sucked into the excitement of the event and spent most of my day keeping him company. It had been a long time since I had watched one of the Mighty Ducks movies and I can now say I've watched all three of them in about 5 hours. The sacrifices we mothers have to make for our children.

No More Merit Badges

Tonight our scout troop had a Court of Honor that I attended. It is always fun to see all the young men accept responsibility and accomplish their goals by earning merit badges and rank advancements. There were a lot of awards given out tonight. It often seems like in the church once boys turn 14 their progress in scouting seems to really slow down or stop completely. Tonight all the Life Scouts were challenged to not quit but to keep moving and receive their Eagle Rank. My youngest son was one of these scouts. His Scoutmaster officially told him that he could "stop earning merit badges". He has enough.

Now if he can just push himself a little bit longer and harder and get that Eagle project completed. He is so close. He is not sure that this is important to him, but I know that someday it will be. I hope he can hang in there and just do it!

Today I am thankful for

the scouting program that has helped my sons learn to set goals and accomplish them.
scout leaders who expect my son to rise to his potential.
friends to sit by at church meetings.

Food Affection

Last time I was in Utah my sister-in-law made the comment that a lot of my blogs and the blogs of my children seem to include a great number of posts concerning food. Unfortunately, I had to agree with her. My family seems to have a strong affection for food. I like to use the excuse that I only take pictures of the family when we are eating out, but that really isn't totally true. It just seems like many of our memories and activities center around food. Each year when we visit Utah, I'm afraid our agenda is based more on where we are gong to eat than what we are going to do. I realize this is a problem and I have tried to change at times, but it is a hard habit to break.
I have been doing some sorting and organizing in my bedroom recently and I ran across my life history that I wrote for a Genealogy class I took at BYU. It was somewhat discouraging to realize that this "completed" personal history, that was written in 1983, now has more missing years than recorded ones, but that's beside the point. I read the first page and immediately figured out where my food affection came from. There was a paragraph with some memories my dad had written of my birth and this was part of his description of the hospital where I was born "the cook who worked in a rather large kitchen on the ground floor fixed excellent meals and mother always enjoyed her stay which generally lasted four or five days." There it is. My birth was celebrated by my mother with delicious hospital food and my father associated my arrival with that memory. It appears that both of my parents would have had a lot of food posts as well if blogs had been around in 1959. Apparently it's a genetic thing.

Orange Blossoms

My husband, 3 of our children and I moved to Arizona 20 years ago this month. This really wasn't a move I was excited about since I was leaving behind a lot of my extended family and many friends. However, this was where my hubby had a job, so I knew I needed to adjust and learn to be happy. It took a while for this to feel like home, but I did quickly find some things that I appreciated about my new residence. The very first thing I fell in love with following our arrival were the orange blossoms. I can still remember the evening when I walked down the street to the church to attend an enrichment meeting and was almost overwhelmed with the sweet, wonderful scent of all the orange trees in bloom. I had never smelled anything like it before. I still love to breath in that marvelous fragrance every year as Spring arrives.


Today my companion and I finished up our visiting teaching for the month. After we were done talking with our sister she suggested that we go out in her backyard and pick ourselves a bag full of oranges. She wanted the oranges off the trees before the new buds actually turned into blossoms and we were happy to be of help after all visiting teaching is all about service isn't it? I enjoyed the fragrant aroma as I stuffed my bag with large, beautiful fruit. After we left her home and were driving down the road those wonderful blossoms hit us in full force though. My companion and I took turns sniffling and sneezing all the way to my house and could both hardly breath by the time we arrived. Those orange blossoms may smell fabulous, but they sure set off my allergies. I still think it's worth it though.

Today I am grateful for

my son(s) that loves to sing.
free oranges.
boys that aren't afraid to watch "The Little Mermaid" for family home evening and enjoy it.

He's Back!

My oldest son has been fighting a bad cold and cough for a while now. That, paired with a disappointment concerning his future educational pursuits, has caused him to be unnaturally solemn and very quiet over the weekend. I was extremely happy this morning when he started the day singing songs from Annie. The sun may be going to come out tomorrow, but I felt like it was already shining today when I got my loquacious son back. Sometimes his younger brother complains about his singing, but my home just doesn't feel quite right without it. Welcome back boy!

Gone

I just heard that the husband half of the couple that I enjoyed lunch with on Wednesday passed away this afternoon. He has had heart problems for quite awhile, but it's still hard to believe I just saw him and now he is gone. Usually when I go to someone's funeral I find out all about the life they lived and I wish that I had taken time to get to know them better when they were still around. I am glad that I had the chance to spend some time with this gentleman and share some of his memorable experiences while I could still comment on them and discuss them with him. I will always have a great last memory of him.

One Year Older

Tonight the hubby and I attended a Luau

in honor of the 50th birthday

of our neighbor, friend and bishop

as well as the 50th birthday

of the state of Hawaii.

It was fun to spend time

with lots of good friends

visiting and eating Hawaiian Haystacks.

One of my favorite parts of the event

was singing "Happy Birthday".

At our Arizona family birthday parties

the birthday song singing

is usually a painful experience.

I have a hard time figuring out

if we are all very horrible singers

or if singing off key

is just a beloved family tradition

that we want to preserve.

Tonight however "Happy Birthday to You"

actually sounded happy.

In fact, we sounded so good

that the honoree requested an encore.

We then endeavored to see

how many Primary Birthday songs we could come up with.

"You've had a birthday; shout "Hooray!"

We want to sing to you today.

One year older and wiser, too.

Happy Birthday to you."

"This month is such a special one;

It's birthday time for you.

We'd really like to celebrate

your happy day with you.

Zip-a-dee-ay and heigh-dee-ho,

Here's something we can do.

We'll sing a song that we all know,

Happy Birthday to You!"

"'Feliz Cupleanos'

that's how they say it in Spain."

I thought this one was especially appropriate

since the bishop served his mission in Spain,

but that's the only line

we could remember from the song.

We also couldn't skip

the old favorite

"Happy, happy birthday bishop dear.

Happy days will come to you all year.

If I had one wish then it would be

a happy, happy birthday to you from me."

It's amazing to me the flood

of warm memories

that these silly songs

bring to my mind.

Thoughts of enthusiastic actions,

specific individuals

singing with all their hearts,

little children growing older and older

each year until they left primary

and moved on to young womens

or became priesthood holders.

Oh, so many, many happy moments

and special people I remember

all because of some birthday songs.

Today I am thankful for

primary music.
old friends, and I'm not referring to someone turning 50 because I no longer consider that old.
one clean window.

Beach???

For the past two years I have spent a week at the beach in June with a few other women. The first year I took my oldest daughter and last year my younger daughter accompanied me. At the end of last year's trip we were informed that the condo that we have stayed in was going to be torn down and replaced with a time share hotel and we would need to find a new place to stay. We were all very heartbroken.

For the past couple of weeks I have heard rumors that the condo is in fact still standing and that a beach trip was being planned. Even though I hadn't been invited I was feeling sad that I had my oldest son's wedding scheduled during "Beach Week" and I wouldn't be able to attend. Today I received a message on my answering machine that the beach trip is on and taking place a week earlier this year (June 6-June 13) and that I am invited to join the fun if I am interested.

Interested??? Why of course I am!

Do you think it's selfish and unrealistic to consider going to the beach the week before my son's wedding? The daughter who's turn it is this year to go thinks it's a marvelous idea. I'm still tossing it back and forth. Decisions, Decisions.

On the Inside

Most mornings after all my family members have departed for their respective destinations, I sit in my living room chair and read my scriptures and an Ensign article while the sun streams in my big front window. It is a very pleasant part of my day, except for the fact that this window really needs to be washed. It is covered with dust and smudges and all manner of debris that interferes with my view. Each morning I lament to myself the fact that I live in Arizona with its dust storms that are extremely hard on windows. This morning I finally decided that I needed to quit mentally complaining and do something about the problem. I filled a bucket full of warm water and vinegar and headed outside to tackle the task. I was curious how many times I would have to empty the bucket and refill it with clean water to get rid of all the dirt. I washed and wiped and washed and wiped and washed and wiped some more. I was a little surprised that even though I was working really hard the windows weren't looking that much cleaner and my water really wasn't getting that dirty. Finally I realized that the majority of the problem wasn't on the outside part of the window, but rather on the inside. I finished up outside and went inside to see what I could accomplish. It was amazing how almost immediately the view was so much clearer. I started thinking about how this experience might apply to my life. How often do I perceive my "messes" as being on the outside? Someone else is the problem and if I could just get rid of that outside interference everything would be so much better. However, considering what I realized this morning, I wonder if perhaps the biggest problem might not actually be an internal one. Maybe if I started with myself and got rid of the dust and dirt and smudges on the inside, within myself, my vision and my life would immediately improve. It's something worth thinking about.