Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A Long-overdue Garden Post

Little purple pansies touched with yellow-gold...

Oranges! 
Well...the tree came with them. 


Peas...

...and corn



The promise of another bountiful tomato harvest...


...and maybe some pears this year.


Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Happy (late) Birthday to Siara

Siara's birthday came and went whilst I was in Connecticut so I am catching up today with
Birthday Wishes for our Siara!



I know this is a picture of Shanna's 2nd Birthday but I love how adorable those two sisters look in this picture. I love it so much I just might use it again in October for Shanna's birthday. 


Siara and her little sister in matching Easter dresses--
this was for Siara's birthday in the Spring:

Then when Shanna's birthday rolled around in the fall, I would
make them matching Christmas dresses:


Here's to fun traditions! And sweet sisters!
And here's to Siara!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: A Late Anniversary Post





I didn't get a chance to write a real anniversary post--I have been gallivanting across the country trying to find a place to live on the other coast. If we ever sell the house on this coast that is. But even amidst the chaos, I have been pondering the meaning of twenty-nine years of marriage. I checked the traditional anniversary gift list and there is silver for the twenty-fifth and pearl for the thirtieth (Thirty Years of Marriage is  a pearl of great price, don't you agree?) But nothing for the twenty-ninth. So I made up my own.

I can't speak for all women but I think in general, we tend to keep things tucked away in our memory--every little hurt, every unhappy moment is there to retrieve at a moment's notice; to come flooding out when we are upset in the present. Andy and I joke sometimes that I can remember what he was wearing and which child was the baby for every insensitive thing he ever said or did. But in my journey to become, I have been trying to lay everything on the altar. To truly give away all my sins to know the Savior. As I study Isaiah and the parables of the Savior and read the Book of Mormon, I find my heart turned to the meaning of the Atonement in my life and ask myself if I am allowing it to really transform me.

Years ago, I wrote this in my journal: "I am understanding and even generous in forgiving the children their unkindnesses or human weakness because they are young and still learning. I can do the same with friends and acquaintances because I don't live under the same roof with them and hope that my understanding and patience will earn the same for me when I fall short. But I can't seem to do that for my own husband. Why? Why does he have to be perfect? It really isn't fair is it? Perhaps he struggles the same way with me. Expecting perfection and being frustrated. Perhaps this is why marriage is required for the highest degree in the Celestial Kingdom. Surely it is so soul-refining, so humbling that it requires much more than other human relationships. I love Andy and I know with surety that we are meant to be eternal companions. I need to keep that in mind and not stumble over human frailty. Not require more of him than I am able to give."

Well, even after that insight, the "natural (wo)man" in me kept sucker-punching me and throwing me to the ground. So I have come to this anniversary humbled by the time we have had to be apart--he is working in Connecticut and I am here trying to sell the house. While I was there over the week-end I told him: "I just want to get things wrapped up and all of us back together under one roof so we can go back to taking each other for granted." We both laughed but what I really mean is, there is so much I love about being married that can start to feel commonplace after I have had that guy around for twenty-nine years. Just one example: when looking at houses, I can completely overlook little flaws or inconveniences in any house because I know Andy will find a way to fix, remodel and reconfigure it to be just what I want. But his remodeling projects over the years have also been a source of irritation to me. I complain about something that is a blessing to me! Of course I am giving you just one example of many, I am not proud to say.

So, dear, I have decided that the symbol for the twenty-ninth anniversary is slate. As in a clean slate. You can't make it into jewelry like silver or gold. You can't make it into dishes like china and crystal. But I can give the gift of real forgiveness and cherish all of the simple, ordinary, beautiful blessings that add up to an Eternal Companionship. I have tied up the natural (wo)man in me and duct-taped her mouth. She may escape once in awhile but I've got this slate ready to hit her over the head. Happy twenty-ninth.


I like to think of this as our theme song...

Monday, March 19, 2012

Sam's Story


Sweet baby Sam with his Mama
Early in the pregnancy with Sam, I had all the signs of a miscarriage. This was something I had never experienced before (and never did again--against all odds we had eight children and never had a miscarriage).
I called my midwife and talked to a nurse who told me to just lie down and wait for nature to take its course, since there was nothing I could do about it. I laid there and cried and prayed. We thought our family was complete after our sixth so this baby was a bonus and I felt strongly about another boy who was supposed to come to our family. I prayed until peace settled over me and I knew that whatever happened I would be ok. Soon the cramping and bleeding stopped. I worried every day of the first trimester but everything went along fine. I went to Girls Camp that summer and continued caring for my busy brood without any other problems.

The January before Sam was born, I was called to be the gospel doctrine teacher in our ward. I have a clear memory of standing in front of the pews in the Prune Hill chapel, pregnant and puffy--seven months along with our seventh child, and enthusiastically introducing our study subject for the new year: The Book of Mormon. By this point we had settled in on the "S" thing for names (really there was no turning back after about number four). As I began studying and preparing lessons, I decided Sam was the name for this baby boy. I loved that Sam was faithful and that he was a loyal brother to Nephi. I also loved faithful Samuel the Lamanite later in the Book of Mormon. There is also the Bible  story of Samuel the boy prophet who answered the call of the Lord with "Here am I". We named each boy after a prophet or an apostle with the thought that they would have a good name to live up to. And so it was decided that this boy would be Samuel and we would call him Sam.

We thought Sam might be a St. Patrick's Day baby--that was a Sunday morning and I had lost the mucous plug (sorry--TMI?)  sometime during the night and had regular contractions but they were 15 minutes apart and didn't get any closer as the morning wore on. We had a dear older sister in the ward  (Sister Buzan!) who came over to stay with the other six and take them to church while I went to the hospital to be checked. I was dilated to 3 but the contractions came to a halt. So I came home and laid down and Andy went to church. During the night, contractions started again and around 4:00 am one was sharp enough to propel me out of bed. I didn't want another false alarm but there were concerns about Monday morning traffic over the bridges to Portland--I didn't want to give birth on the side of the road. I called the hospital around 7:00 and they said to come in and get checked. So I did...and I was dilated to 3. The contractions stopped again while I was being monitored. I felt pretty foolish--you would think that by the seventh time I would have some clue about childbirth. 

The nurse sent us off to walk around and the contractions started up again. They got down to 10 minutes apart. In the meantime, they were searching for my medical records. There was talk of inducing me  but they couldn't do anything without my records. I had been seeing a midwife in Vancouver, Washington but our insurance  was an HMO that had hospitals across the river in another state so there was some glitch in getting the records over there. That took long enough that by the time I got back to a room and on the monitor, the contractions were going good. I didn't think I would need to be induced at that point but the nurse decided to hook me up anyway "to really get things going." The first contractions with the pitocin were intense and only minutes apart. My usual labor coping skills were not helping because I couldn't catch my breath between contractions. It felt like a knife stabbing me in the back and side with each contraction. Andy and I were alone in the room and I told him to get the nurse and turn off the pitocin. She took her time getting in there and Andy asked her if there was anything for the pain. He was concerned because he was used to me getting through most of labor at home and getting to the hospital just in time to push the baby out. She said she would have to check me first. I was dilated to EIGHT!! And my water broke. She put something in the IV "to take the edge off" she said and she turned off the pitocin. It was such a relief to have the pitocin stopped!

 According to my journal, I had five more contractions and he was born. The doctor who was on call made it in for those five contractions. The hospital had just finished a beautiful maternity addition and the room I was in was on the 5th floor and had a big picture window that overlooked the river below. I remember looking out the window at the people working down by the river and the cars going by and I said "Isn't it amazing that there is a new life coming into the world up here and they are  just going on about their business down there." And then Sam was born. It was 2:06 pm. The doctor laid him on me and she asked me if I wanted to cut the cord. I had never done that so I was happy to do it. She clamped it and I cut it and then I wrapped him up and held him. He calmed down quickly after his initial cry. He had lots of dark hair and big eyes. He looked around and was so serious and alert. The Doctor told me "That was a beautiful experience. You made childbirth look elegant." The doctor and nurses commented on how alert he was-- I was relieved that he was born so quickly before the pain med got to him. The assistant who was cleaning up was chattering away as she pulled off the drape cloths. I moved my legs and scooted up to help her and she let out a little surprised yell. "Oh! I'm not used to moms moving their legs after birth--that kind of freaked me out--sorry!"

Andy went with the nurse to weigh Sam and clean him up. He was 8 lbs. 11 oz and 21 inches long. We brought him home to his six loving siblings the next morning. Bev Buzan was there taking care of everything. She was such an angel to our family.

 About a week after Sam was born, I was doing laundry when I had the very distinct impression that I needed to prepare to support my husband. It was clear to me that he was going to be called as Bishop. I brushed it aside thinking there were so many new people in the ward who would do a great job and whose lives were not jam-packed with children and a job that required travel and selling and building a house. Those few minutes that the thought  lingered were enough for the Spirit to reassure me that the way would be opened for me to handle the added responsibility that would fall on me in caring for our children without his help.  My very merciful Father in Heaven was preparing a frazzled mother of seven--the seventh just a few days old-- for what was coming. So it was no surprise when the phone call came from the Stake Executive Secretary that we had an appointment to meet with President Bair Friday night at 6:30.

When we met with the stake president, I had baby Sam in his little car seat and President Bair asked how old he was. "Eleven days old", I told him. "Just think! He will be in kindergarten when your husband is released!"
 Five years looked like an eternity at that moment.

We had already planned Sam's blessing for March 31st (fast Sunday was early because of General Conference) and that was the day Andy was to be sustained as the new Bishop of our ward. He had one day to choose his counselors so he went to the Temple. We had already invited friends and family to come for Sam's blessing and we didn't really have time to inform them all that there was more than that going on.
So they got a bit of a surprise when all of that happened after the blessing. We had invited our children's favorite kindergarten teacher: Mrs. Heigl and she was there. Afterwards she said, "I voted for you Andy!"

So our Sam joined our family and was swept into the beautiful chaos. He was passed around in Gospel Doctrine by all the sweet grandma ladies so that I could teach and he learned to behave with "The Look" from his father sitting up on the stand at church. Those five years flew by and now there have been eleven more!
Happy Birthday Sam!




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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Missionary Moment

Elder Gale with Pres. and Sister Satterfield~Georgia Atlanta Mission
Our Elder Gale made it safely to the mission field last week. We got TWO letters from him yesterday--an email and a nice, long hand-written letter--yay! He is very expressive in his writing and thus very generous with his use of exclamation points!! I also have noticed that his emails are one long sentence with the exclamation points sprinkled throughout but his letters are neatly written with proper punctuation and capitalization. Since he was homeschooled for most of his education, I am relieved to know that he does know how to write a proper letter. Here are some highlights:

"I am officially in the field! Georgia is stinkin awesome! It reminds me of Washington with all the trees, although the dirt really is red! Kinda cool.  I'm serving in the Rivercrest area, about ten minutes from Alabama! It's one of the only biking areas in Georgia. Lucky me! My trainer is Elder Baleiwai, he's from Fiji! His name translated means something like: "William moves around a lot becomes a grandpa has two eyes and falls in water." Pretty outrageous, but he's super nice and is a great missionary!

We have this huge map in the apartment covered in pins of potential investigators, so we don't have to actually tract much if at all, which I'm happy about! We have a pretty full day planned today. Hopefully we can make some of these "potentials" into full 'gators! (investigators) We'll see, I've still got pretty high hopes to baptize 1 million people, so I like to think they'll all become 'gators and get baptized!

Positive attitude makes all the difference! I'm just gonna work my butt off whilst I can and do what I can for the people here! Human souls are at stake, yet they have their agency, it's just my job to give them the opportunity!

The apartment is purdy ok and I'm healthy and happy! So don't you worry mother! I love you and miss you all but this is where I need to be!

 A quick note for Sam and Shane: Make serving your goal now and plan everything around it! Nothing else will be as important as building God's Kingdom and saving souls! There is no greater duty, honour or privilege you'll have than to join the tiny percentage of the world's population authorized to be official representatives of Jesus Christ! Not to mention we owe it to God to sacrifice and serve him!

And here Gentle Reader, comes the hallelujah every parent hopes for-- please forgive me for basking in this moment of parental redemption....

Listen to Mom and Dad! They know what they're doing and are the greatest blessing in our lives! You punks are lucky and have so much (both temporal and spiritual) and you have an obligation to act on your knowledge. "To whom much is given, much is required." Elder Holland said, "We expect a lot from you and we do not apologize". We have nearly 200 years of missionary tradition to uphold and you both are directly responsible to save certain people who are this minute being prepared and are waiting for you. Don't blow it. If you are already planning, great! Keep it up, but don't ever pass up the opportunity. I love you and will see you soon! Just remember who you are, where you came from and what you have been foreordained to do and become! The church is true, everything about it. Don't ever doubt it and never think you know better than Mom and Dad, and you'll do all right....
Love,
Elder Gale


Monday, March 5, 2012

Last Letter From the MTC


Our missionary leaves for Georgia tomorrow--the three weeks in the MTC went so fast! Here's today's email:

Dear Family,

This last week was awesome! Elder Holland came and spoke in the devotional on Tuesday! it was freaking awesome! He's such a beast! He lays it out and calls it as he sees it! He practically shouted that we have no right to compromise the legacy of missionary work before us and we have an obligation to the younger generation to pass the torch! Anyway, it was way cool! and! last night Alex Boye came and spoke and sang! He was freaking hilarious! You should look him up you don't know who he is! He had some awesome advice as a convert who served a mission.
I'm so ready to get out into the field already! These 3 weeks have flown and I'm worried the 2 years is gonna fly by! So I'm gonna work as hard as I can to baptize the whole world before its too late! I'm already dreading the day I have to take this nametag off and never put it back on... makes me wanna cry already, I don't want to ever take off Jesus' name! I'm so honored and blessed to wear it here now and can't wait to bring his gospel to the people I get to serve! Today is my last day at the MTC and we fly out early tomorrow! I'll try to call sometime, we have about an hour layover in Denver, so I should be able to call for at least a little bit! We shall see. I'm going to miss my district so much! They're all so awesome! I'm afraid I have a false perception of companions now, cause Elder Packard and I have gotten along so well and are good friends! So I hope I can make that happen with all my my comps! Hopefully I won't have to do these leadership things in the field--it's pretty inconvenient. but I feel I have served well and my district still likes me, so I consider that a success!
 The MTC really is a unique place and a spirit all its own! Hard to believe a place filled with rowdy 19 y/o boys could ever have the spirit, but it just goes to show the church is true!
I love you all and will see you all too soon!
Love,
Elder Seth Gale

Happy Birthday Scott!

 It has been awhile since I updated this little family scrapbook on the internet. I like to pop over here from time to time and look at our ...