orphan miracle story

The amazing people at Utah Hospital Task Force gave themselves a mission of delivering food, supplies, medical professionals, and hope to the Haitians and bringing an airplane full of orphans (whose adoptions were in process long before the earthquake) back to the United States on the return trip. They DID it! This is a miracle story that had me crying the whole time I read it this morning. If you need some hope in your life, read on. You will see that God is turning bad things into good on a regular basis.

choice – the deciding factor

The difference between sacrifice and punishment is not the amount of pain involved, but the amount of choice.

Interesting thought, isn’t it?

I just read a wonderful book, Influencer, for February’s colloquium. It is full of powerful ideas about effective motivation, change-making, and turning hearts.

The quote above jumped out at me. I realized I have not sufficiently helped my children to see their choices in this life. I have not taught them to fully understand the concept of agency and their ability to make a choice about their situations. They often view stuff in their lives as a punishment when I wish they would see it as a sacrifice…like washing the dishes for their family when they would rather be reading, changing the baby’s diaper when they would rather be drawing, like waking up early to get packed and on the road for a family camping trip. Many times these things have been viewed as a punishment when they are not at all punishments in my mind. I am not punishing them, life is not punishing them, God is not punishing them…instead they are being presented with an opportunity to serve, to help, to work for a better situation…a clean kitchen, a happy baby, getting to the campsite in time to set up in daylight.

This quote makes me think of struggles people have had – patriots burning their businesses during the Revolution so the British wouldn’t have access to them, pioneers crossing the plains in bitter cold and burying loved ones along the trail, immigrants scraping every penny together to come to America to build a better life, concentration camp prisoners sharing their meager rations with someone in worse shape than themselves, mothers willing to endure months of uncomfortableness, nausea, pain, and exhaustion to grow a baby, the throes of labor, fathers going to work day after day at jobs that don’t bring them joy – and I realize in all of these situations people could choose to view them as punishments, as the cruel servings of life OR they can view them as sacrifices that they are completely willing to choose to reach their goal.

How do I view my life…as a sacrifice or a punishment? How do you view yours?

I am going to continue pondering this statement and try to own my choices more and more and try to teach my children to do the same.

How about you?

Home School Read-A-Thon

Blythe, Keziah, and Fisher are participating in the First Annual Idaho Home School Read-A-Thon. They have been challenged to read 300 minutes in the next two weeks. They are searching for sponsors for their Read-A-Thon and have created a plan to raise $1000. They are trying to find 100 people to donate $10 to their cause. If they read for at least 300 minutes, they will be able to buy books – 50% for their personal use and 50% for children who live at F.A.I.T.H. – Families in Transitional Housing. These are families that used to be homeless who are now in a program learning job skills, taking classes, and working towards purchasing their own homes. There is a library at F.A.I.T.H. for the children who live there to check out books from. They are in great need of books and are very excited that the home schoolers of Idaho have adopted them for their Read-A-Thon project. There are over 100 children from all over the state of Idaho participating in the Read-A-Thon and reading books to earn books for needy children.

If you would like to become a sponsor, please paypal your donation of any amount, large or small, to mom2bmw@aol.com or you can mail a check to our home (email me and I will give you the address):

Thank you so much for considering this cause!

With much gratitude from,
Blythe, Keziah, and Fisher

Blessings to each of you!

thankful thursdays 2/4

* A yummy jar of salsa given to us by Tasha – it saved the day while I went to yet another doctor’s appointment for my elbow and kidney.
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* Turbo Tax. Taxes are done and filed. Woo-hoo!
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* My wonderful community of home schoolers. Ten years ago when we moved to this area there were people who home schooled, but I wouldn’t say there was a strong community feeling. Now, there are strong friendships among children, moms, and family groups. There is a thriving network of clubs, classes, and activities to join. There are phone calls to friends in distress, meals shared with other families, book discussion groups, play dates, game nights, swim days at Lava, camp-outs, hikes, read-a-thons, and much more. We are so blessed to have a community of friends, peer support for my children, wonderful classes to participate in and learn from (Blythe’s Shakespeare and writing classes this year have completely changed her life!), and the sense of belonging that comes when a real community is born. We know we are not alone. We know there are people who understand the excitement and challenges of home schooling and are willing to walk down this road with us. Thank you to everyone who is part of my home schooling world!
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* The book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. This was our book for our adult colloquium group this month and I loved it. I am going to be doing an evaluation of my physical environment this month and change it to more effectively meet our needs. I think everyone would benefit from a careful reading of this book – and its companions, Crucial Conversations and Crucial Conversations.
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* Gymnastics. Have I said lately how much l love being part of so many childrens’ lives. I love helping children learn how to use their bodies, build strength and flexibility, overcome fears, develop courage, and try new things. I love that they trust me. I love when they are proud of themselves. I love when they encourage others in their class. I love when they develop a friendship with someone they otherwise would not have known. I love it and I am blessed by these precious children every week.
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* Family read-aloud time. I love reading to my children and they love being read to. I use all sorts of strange voices and they say they prefer my reading to the myriad of audio books they check out from the library! Right now we are reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. If you are thinking of reading this book, get the version illustrated by Robert Ingpen. The illustrations are beautiful, full-color, double-page spreads that add oodles to the story.
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* A friendly blog reader who gifted me a copy of a Helping and Healing Our Families after she read about it on a post. What a wonderful friend and fabulous book! I can’t wait to devour it!
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* Vacuums, cleaners, towels, and washing machines. They have all been in high demand this week as Annesley has been throwing up and having diarrhea for days. Imagine only having a few rags to clean all this mess up with!
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That’s all for now, my Annesley is finally asleep and out of my arms and Fisher is wanting me to read him How Big is A Million, another book about his favorite penguin Pipkin.

throw up – what is it about my lil’ ones?

My children throw up. A lot. It is their number one response to stress, illness, allergies, and perhaps, Wednesdays. We have leather furniture because of this sad state of affairs. Today, the one piece of non leather furniture got nailed.

Annesley has been throwing up all day. She covered me from head to toe twice. She covered the toilet once, the snuggler once, the carpet repeatedly, numerous towels, the bathroom floor twice, the kitchen floor once, the island once, and herself over and over. She wants to be held. By me. No one else will do.

I had a lot to get done today, instead, I spent the day holding her and working on my mom’s new website. After hours and hours of tweaking, she says she is happy with it. You can go check out her musings at weighingmatters.com. She is a pretty funny lady and I think you will enjoy her thoughts on food, life, and family. She has been on a weight loss journey for several months now and I am pretty sure she is smaller than me now. She is looking fabulous!

Meanwhile, I will be here holding Annesley, having Blythe make dinner, and reading books to Fisher. I am looking forward to a long, deep sleep tonight.

Maybe a slow day holding a baby is just what I needed.

p.s. Now we have had poop added to the carpet, more throw up, and a chapter of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland completed.

happy birthday george leon

Today is not only Groundhog Day, it is also my great-grandfather’s birthday. This tiny man who was about 5′ tall was a giant of man in my eyes. I grew up running a little grocery store in a little town in the middle of nowhere and I was related to at least half of the town’s residents. My great-grandfather was known by everyone and we were expected to live up to his goodness. He lived a few houses down from our grocery store and I always delivered his groceries to his house and put them away for him. He would take me out back and invite me to play shuffleboard on his personal cement slab in the backyard or show me one of his latest quilt creations. I knew I was somebody because I was his great-grandchild (one of hundreds, I might add). He was often featured in a 24th of July parade for being the oldest resident of our town or his name would be brought up in church as an example of service, missionary work, longevity, or just down-home goodness.

I remember people coming into the store and saying “You’re one of those Rollins’ aren’t you? You make sure you live up to that name!” and I would beam with pride and vow to be a good girl.

My great-grandfather lived till he was 103. He was full of faith, kindness, humor, a love of games, and lots of pairs of denim overalls till the end of his days. He served seven missions for his church and worked hard serving his family and community his entire life. He served in World War 1. In fact, he was gone serving in the army when my grandmother was born.

As I think of him on this day, I remember his love for Jesus Christ and how he tried diligently to instill that love in each of his descendants. I am so grateful to be part of his family, to have known him, served him, and loved him.

After our home burned down, he sent us one of his quilts he had tied and a check for $500. My grandma always told me he felt so sorry for us and immediately made up his mind to help the best way he could at the ripe old age of 101. I love that quilt and hope it never wears out.

Happy Birthday Grandpa.

I am still trying to live up to your name.

p.s. Tami gave birth to her 8th baby early this morning…on grandpa’s birthday! I am rooting for a middle name of Leon. His first name is Jace. Doesn’t Jace Leon Lyman sound great?! I’ll let you know what they decide.

book bonanza – grammar help

My friend, Nancy, has a talented son-in-law, who has written a hilarious, easily understandable grammar book. It is called I Laid an Egg on Aunt Ruth’s Head. I just read the two sample chapters online tonight and I can already tell I will need to buy this book. I love it!

The author has this to say:

Whether she is flying a fighter jet, outwitting a dangerous bank robber, walking a tightrope with her pet elephant Binky, or traveling to sixteenth century Italy in a time machine, Aunt Ruth takes the reader on one adventure after another. During the course of her adventures, Aunt Ruth encounters and struggles with myriad grammatical and usage difficulties with the English language. In a clean, humorous, and family friendly style, Joel Schnoor’s stories will leave you rolling on the floor and will answer those nauseating English questions at the same time.

There is a separate workbook for those of you that love things like that:

Each chapter in I Laid an Egg on Aunt Ruth’s Head is represented with one or more pages of questions and exercises in Aunt Ruth Grammar Drills for Excellence. The answers to the questions are (of course) provided as well. These worksheets are fun, entertaining, and thorough.

Aunt Ruth Grammar Drills for Excellence ships as a PDF file on a CD or as a set of printed sheets (looseleaf, 3-hole punched). This item may not be resold.

Buy one CD or one set of printed sheets for the family and make as many copies as you need (for use within the family). Teachers, buy one for your classroom and make copies for your class.

Until I save up my pennies to buy this book, I will be enjoying the author’s blog with his posts on all things grammatical.

For those of you looking for a fabulous punctuation read, check out Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. It is one of my favorite books and writing this blog makes me realize I need to re-read it to remind myself of all those punctuation rules.

great deals at seagull

Fisher and I went on a date today (a very fun date with lots of kisses from my cutie pie). We had to get him some new church shoes so he can stop being barefoot at church. We also needed to take care of some cell phone issues, get Blythe a headset for her Constitution class that starts tomorrow, and pick up my Usborne books that had been left at a party last week. We went to Once Upon a Child to find the shoes and lucked out with a shiny black pair in size 12 1/2 for $5.50. Bargain! While we were in that parking lot we decided to go over to Seagull Book to check out the new Young Womens theme song for this year. We were hoping to listen to it and see if Blythe would love it or not, but had no luck on that front.

The bargain table was a different story! They had a whole stack of Robert E. Wells book How Do You Know What Time It Is? in hardcover for $2.49! He is one of our favorite living math authors and this book is normally $15.99. I had to resist the urge to buy the whole stack! Instead, I am writing to you all to let you know you too can find this fabulous deal at Seagull Book. Also on the bargain table was a pile of The Peacegiver in the Deluxe boxed edition for $11.99. Lovely packaging, amazing book, life-changing information inside. Once again I resisted the urge to buy it because I already have it in hardcover and on audio, but I am sharing it with all of you so you can take advantage of it. Another bargain table product was Helping and Healing Our Families: Principles and Practices Inspired By The Family: A Proclamation To The World. This was 75% off and ended up being $9.99. I don’t have this book and have wanted it for a long time, but once again I resisted the urge to purchase it. I couldn’t however pass up the $1.49 Mary Engelbreit magnet set. I love Mary’s stuff and have been needing some more magnets, especially cute ones, so into my shopping bag they went.

So, if you have some excess funds, head over to Seagull Book and take advantage of some great prices.

*****The Peacegiver and Helping and Healing Our Families: Principles and Practices Inspired By The Family: A Proclamation To The World are LDS books, but I think they are full of wonderful insights for families of all faiths.

how bizarre, how bizarre

I have vivid dreams. Very vivid dreams. Many times I can’t figure out what is real in the morning. It is fairly disconcerting to wake up and believe that such and such happened when nothing of the kind occurred!

The last few days have been full of vivid dreams. The first night we were the subjects in lots of different science experiments. We would go to the library or the movie or anywhere else that there is a line to wait in and a scanner and when we got to the front of the line we would be “scanned” but instead of being scanned, we would be frozen and then taken as a specimen to be experimented on. There were many “sequels” in this dream, but just to give you a taste of what it was like – in one version of this a section of our brain was sucked out with a little hose and then our behavior was evaluated without that section. Then the brain matter was somehow put back in. Pretty strange, eh?

Even stranger when I woke up believing it really happened.

Yesterdays dreams were awful. In my dream I met Richard when I in reality did meet him, but I didn’t marry him. I married a controlling, manipulative, somewhat mentally ill boyfriend from high school. It was horrid – full of fighting, fear, abuse, crazy-making, and all that garbage. Then I left him and somehow found my way back to Richard, who was still wonderful and loved me. Somehow we got married and then for the next 14 years, I had affairs with a series of men and would go back and forth between Richard and these other men (who were also former boyfriends from high school). I would be with these other guys for years at a time and then would go back and visit Richard for a few months and then leave again. Truly despicable. I was so repulsed by my behavior. Finally, at the end of my dream, I hit bottom and my family invited me, my four children (my same four children that I do in reality have), and Richard to go to a water park for the day (which is really funny because Richard strongly dislikes swimming). I watched him throughout the day holding Annesley and realized Richard was who I really wanted AND needed, not all these other guys. We talked for hours and he forgave me and we started building a real life together.

It was such a nightmare! When I woke up I had no idea whose bed I was in or where I was at. I had all these awful feelings of guilt, sorrow, self-hate, longing for security, and much more. I was a wreck. I looked over and saw Richard and started shaking, realizing all the stuff in my head hadn’t really happened. He woke right up and came to my side of the bed and held me for a long time till I calmed down. I tried explaining it to him, and he just kept telling me he loved me and he was here and wasn’t going anywhere and none of that happened.

But I realized something.

It could have happened.

I was so messed up back then that I really could have caused all of that chaos in my life. I could have made those choices. I could have hurt untold numbers of people. I could have committed adultery. I could have, I could have, I could have.

But I didn’t. Through God’s grace I was rescued from that life and given this one. I was literally put in Richard’s path and knew I had to marry him. He was blessed to help me get rid of all that craziness. He was strengthened to love me when I was hard to love. He was taught by our Savior how to heal me.

24 hours later I am still deeply troubled by this dream, but I am also grateful. It showed me clearly what my life would be like without God, without the gospel, and without my dear husband.

Instead, I have a happy family, a wonderful marriage, a pretty stable emotional life, and covenants that we both strive to keep.

A world of difference from my dream. I don’t ever want to go back into that dream. It was horribly painful to watch my life unfold in this other manner, to see my childrens’ pain at my choices and the various men who came in and out of their lives, to see how much I hurt Richard by coming and going in and out of his life and how he tried to help me and love me, but I wouldn’t let him in to my heart.

Awful, awful, awful. It is very difficult to type this all out because it takes me back into it.

But this morning, I am full of gratitude for the life I do have. Full of love for my husband, my children, and my extended family (who in my dream worked very hard to get me back to Richard for good). I am ready to start another week of homeschooling my precious brood and surround them with the security they didn’t have in my dream.

thankful thursdays 1/28

* Garlic-kale-chicken-yumminess. My friend brought over some scrumptious, kill-the-kidney-infection soup today and I am in heaven. It is so delicious! She also brought over some muffins full of blueberry goodness which we are all loving. I will get the recipes from her and share them with you so you can beat your next kidney infection too.

I am utterly amazed that my pregnant friend with eight children of her own would take the time to make me food – what an angel! Thanks Tasha!
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* Music. We have had a great morning playing the cello, violin, and piano. I love music and someday I WILL pass off Happy Farmer from my book one cello book!

My friend, Melissa, says she has a new cleaning ritual for her family. They turn on twenty-minute Ode to Joy and clean as fast as they can. Twenty minutes later they are full of joy because their work is done and they have listened to beautiful music.
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* The sun is shining after days and days of dreariness.
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* My suburban keeps starting! The distributor and cap and rotor ARE broken and need replaced, but it has started all week long. Woohoo!
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* Annesley is the most precious baby ever. I am so in love with her. We just took a bath together and it was so much fun. She was trying to wear Blythe’s snorkel gear, which didn’t work because the face mask is way to big for her. Then she tried Fisher’s goggles and they were also big, but at least they stayed on and she was able to feel like a big girl and try to see underwater. She brings many smiles to my face everyday and I am so grateful I am her mama. She has fully adopted the nickname Blythe gave her when she was born and now insists on calling herself by it as well…”Goo.” It has to grow on you.
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* My elbow is still tender, but is healing quickly.
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Thanks for all the hugs, concern, and prayers last week…and thanks especially to Tasha for today’s yummy food!