blog
not a fan of these changes
Some changes, like rearranging furniture, I love. Some changes, not so much. In the past year, we have gone through a lot of changes and I am still struggling to find a new normal.
A year ago, on November 6th, my best friend, Jessica, moved. Jessica is hilarious and super-talented and beautiful and a million other things that people out in internet-land love her for, but to me, she is simply my friend who I can share my deepest spiritual thoughts with, feel completely at home with, and laugh so hard I pee my pants nearly every time I am with her. We first connected because we were both home birthing, breastfeeding, LDS mamas in the same ward. We found we had similar parenting ideas and even though I am a mega extrovert and she is an introvert, we hit it off famously and have been bestest buddies for many years. We understand the deepest parts of each other that we are sometimes not willing to share with the world at large and have been through a lot together. I adore her. Absolutely adore her and ache so much for her physical presence back in my life. Neither of us is a good long, distance friend who stays in touch with lengthy or frequent phone calls or even frequent emails. We have had a few visits, but they have been quick and not nearly as soul-filling as we have wanted them to be. Life is complicated by the fact that both of us have POTS and have a hard time doing all the work of daily life much less adding in traveling and driving and packing and all that jazz. Our midnight sewing/computer/Thai/Gator Bites nights are a thing of the past. My running over to take care of her mid-POTS episode and vice versa doesn’t happen anymore. Having each other as part of our day-to-day lives just isn’t in the cards right now. And even though I have accepted it and support her choices, I don’t like it one little bit.
Then my other dear friend, Jennifer, moved in June. Really moved. Clear across the country moved. Not 3.5 hours away like Jessica where there is the chance to see her every few months, but something like 30 or 40 hours away. She moved to be near her family, which is a totally wonderful and understandable reason to move…but I miss her terribly. Jen has been my dear friend ever since Fisher was a wee baby. We first became friends when I begged her to teach me to play the cello. Then her girls took gymnastics from me. Then she asked me to be her doula. Then I prayed her to our little town because I wanted so badly to spend the rest of my life with her and her delightful family. Jennifer’s leaving has left a gaping hole in my life and I miss her so much, I can’t even talk about it without bursting into tears.
The four of us, Kat, Jennifer, Jessica, and I were supposed to (in my dream world where everything goes my way) grow old together. We were supposed to laugh and cry and serve and love each other for the next 60 years till we all die around 100. We were supposed to help each other with our children’s weddings and put on huge service projects and go out to eat at Red Robin every month for the rest of our lives. We have this amazing friendship that is simply incomprehensible until you have experienced it and I never, ever thought it would change. Yes, we are still dear friends and yes, we still talk and email and laugh, but it is just not the same as being piled on the same bed together eating Pad Thai at midnight while filling each other with love and laughter.
And I haven’t mourned it. Not really. I have tried super hard to be supportive of their moving and been so focused on getting Blythe out on her mission and getting through the summer and starting our homeschool this fall that I haven’t allowed myself to truly bawl my eyes soul out over the whole thing. I think it is just starting to really hit home that this is real. Now it has been a year since Jessica left and my heart hurts ever so much. I miss them. I miss us. I miss the entity that we were and the force for good we were in each other’s lives and in the world. I miss watching Jen and Jesse (her awesome dh) play in the symphony and I miss Jen conducting our homeschool orchestra. I miss sewing parties and watching our children play together and the Pink and Red party. I miss our late nights and our doctor’s appointments where they held my hands and gave me strength and courage, and our shopping trips (for mundane things like groceries) and our joy. I miss our joy most of all.
Kat and I are still here and love each other dearly, but I think we both agree that this whole thing is really hard.
The same day Jessica moved, I got a phone call from another dear friend, Kari. She said she needed some help, that she was moving and terribly ill and could I come help right away. I dried my eyes and went straight to her house where we got right to work getting her better with my herbs and oils and Richard’s energy work. She pulled out of town the next day and my heart broke a little bit more. Kari and I are nearly psychological/personality identical twins. Even though we didn’t spend gobs of time together, we *got* each other. We could call one another at any time day or night and we would be there for each other. She was my spontaneous, adventure loving friend who I could call at the last minute and she would drop everything to help my plans come to life. At one of our Make It For Maggie events, she made Maggie a look-alike doll – her heart is huge. I mentored her children and love each one of them dearly. We still connect on Facebook, but Facebook is no substitute for real life adventures with a dear friend.
Another big change has been our daughter leaving on her mission. It is truly THE BEST thing ever to be a missionary mama. I love it! I am so grateful she is serving and working and growing and doing hard things. But I miss her. And I miss being a mother of four little ones who would snuggle up on the couch with me while I read to them for hours at a time. I am not really mourning this right this minute, but I did have to go through a big grieving process of saying goodbye to those years of mothering and homeschooling these precious children. Blythe’s leaving marked the end of an era of my mothering and even though we are moving on and enjoying this next phase, my heart still longs for those days of having all four of them gathered round and discussing liberty or morality or The Lord of the Rings or a tricky math problem. It will never be the same again…and while that is a good thing, it is a huge change for our family.
The car accident in January caused some big changes in my spine and overall health. The headaches, neck pain, sacrum pain, spine instability, and muscle spasms weren’t part of my life before the accident. Now, even though I am doing much better than I was during February and March, I am realizing this level of instability will most likely be with me for the rest of my life. And there is really nothing I can do about that. My most recent MRI showed an exaggerated lordosis of the cervical spine at C3 and a reversal of the normal lordosis at C6…this basically means the vertebrae are more like a hilly road in Pennsylvania instead of the gentle slippery-slide shape they are supposed to be in.
And my body is getting worse. That is the long and short of it. My muscles are withering away because I can not do the work required to strengthen them without passing out. We are searching for answers to help my nervous system calm down, but right now, the muscles need to be strengthened so I can stop dislocating joints. Just last week I face-planted on my front cement when my pants caught on our gate. I dislocated my wrist, elbow, and shoulder when I caught myself. Now we are working to heal those injuries by having my wrist taped up and trying not to use that arm too much while it all heals. But those injuries further irritate my nervous system and the cycle continues. I keep thinking there has to be a way to be injury free long enough to allow my nervous system to calm down, but it seems every few weeks or so I have another new injury to deal with because I am not held together very well at all.
Our youngest child is turning eight this month. Miss Annesley is growing up and soon I will have no little ones left to snuggle with. This is good…but boy, it is hard. It seems my babies are growing up and while I am so proud of the people they are becoming, I often wish I could go back and nurse them just one more time or rock them in my arms to sleep. Those baby years were precious to me at the time and they are even more precious now (probably because I am not a sleep-deprived mother of babies!) as I think back on the days of carrying my wee ones in a sling, spending hours upon hours at the park watching them toddle around and discover the wonders of the world, and snuggling up with them in my bed at night. Annesley turning eight is just another marker of the end of that era. She still comes in to my bed first thing in the morning and she still snuggles while I read to her, but she is changing and I can see those things will be coming to an end in the not so distant future.
So many changes. I haven’t figured out how to navigate these new situations. I am taking it one day at a time…and I think I am doing pretty well most of the time…but then it hits me…my friends are gone…and they might not come back…and life will never be the same again.
I have been a little tenderhearted all day. I started weeping this morning watching a Bible Video about the crucifixion and it has continued all day with little bits of tears here and there every time I think of a loved one or a precious moment. It probably means my period is starting soon…not that these feelings aren’t real, they are real and they are big. They are just heightened by dropping progesterone levels.
week 6
Blythe is just finishing up her sixth week in California and eighth week since she left. She had her first transfer and she isn’t being transferred, but is staying right where she is. Still no pictures from our girlie. She has very little time to email us and hasn’t been able to carve out enough time to get pictures sent. But the good news is, we have been sent some pictures from people in her mission! This week I have been feeling her absence in our home more keenly. I miss her music and her silliness and her love of the scriptures and contributions to our family scripture study. I miss her giggling with Fisher and Annesley. I miss her. And I’m grateful she is serving God. And I love her more than I can begin to express. All the tender feelings are here today.
This week has had some challenges. Appointment after appointment fell through. But it’s also been great. We got a baptism date w/ Liz on Mon.!!!!! We’re so excited and she is so awesome. And guess what? We’re shooting for Dec. 5! I was blown away when you said that’s when Annesley is getting baptized!
We finally got in contact with Joanie again and we’re calling in the troops (the Mausses who know her and Bishop Hobbins) from the ward, since we’re having a hard time progressing with her. I think it will be good.
We also finally got back in contact Jean who is less active because she was taking care of her husband who has heart problems. She’s a convert and only member of her family. She wants her mother’s temple work done. I’m planning on giving her your email, Mom. She’s just getting started. We brought a family history consultant with us to help her and she’ll be going to the family history center on Tuesday!
We got in contact, visited with and taught a mini lesson to a less active convert who we haven’t been able to contact for the entire transfer and in the process contacted another less active member who she knows really well.
Well, today begins my second transfer. I’m staying here with Sister Shumway and there are only two people in our whole zone getting transferred. Unfortunately, one is our amazing district leader, Elder Dayton. He’s awesome and sad to go, but he’s been in this area for 6 months, ever since he got here. I guess it’s time.
Please pray for Liz and Joanie especially. Liz’s schedule is crazy and it’s hard for her to keep commitments involving time because of that. We’re also struggling to get in to teach Joanie again, because they’ve been really busy w/ Michael’s doctors.
Love you!!!!!! I am so sorry about the lack of pictures. I finally went through and got which ones I want to send you, but I’m not sure if I’ll have time today!! :(
Sister W.
matthew 10:28
A few years ago when I was dealing with the lump in my breast a dear friend wrote this scripture, Matthew 10:28 down for me.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
It has stuck in my head ever since and helped me to realize that staying alive is not the most important thing (even though it is SUPER important to me to stay alive and raise my babies and lavish nurturing, snuggles, and read alouds on my future grandchildren). Loving God, loving His children, keeping covenants, and becoming like Him are the most important things.
A few years ago, I heard a talk about prayer and the somewhat rote prayers we sometimes say at the end of meetings to “bless us to get home safely.” The speaker talked about how that is a nice sentiment and physical safety is important, but that we need to understand its place in our lives. He told us that we need to be far more concerned about our spiritual safety than our physical safety. Instantly this scripture came to my mind and I decided to focus more on developing spiritually than on merely staying alive.
Since this whole connective tissue blessing/nightmare started, I have been praying to come through it with more faith, more love, more kindness, more patience, more acceptance, and more gratitude and not more bitterness, more flippancy, or more hardness. The reality is, this could kill me. I don’t think it is going to, but it could. People with EDS do die of it. The collagen in their blood vessels finally cannot stay firm enough to effectively transport blood and oxygen and they die. Or their nervous system shuts down. Or they fall and get injured so badly that they wither away in bed. It happens. I don’t at all think that I am that serious of a case, but in the midst of really hard weeks, it does cross my mind, and then this scripture comes to me and I remember that my focus needs to be on becoming like Christ. I am doing all I can to be healthy and strong, but that needs to be my secondary focus. My first focus must be giving God my heart and trusting Him to walk with me and help me become like Him.
week 5
Blythe has now been in California for five weeks and gone for nearly seven. It is pretty amazing to me how fast the time has gone. Our house feels more empty and her zeal for truth, input in discussions, and beautiful music she was always creating is greatly missed, but right now we are still so happy for her that the time is going quickly.
I haven’t even started the process of cleaning out her room…yes, she didn’t get it done before she left…and I have a big goal to get it all emptied and clean so we can either use it as a guest room or move Annesley to it. My goal this week is to get some of our favorite recipes sent to her.
And her P.P.S. down below? Be still, my heart. That right there is payback for the long years we walked our own path to the beat of our own drum. Tender tears…
I have less to report this week. We haven’t made much progress, but we set some good groundwork for the upcoming week, so it should be better. I still loved it, though.
We had an awesome visit with Eileen M. (married to Max) and Sister Shumway played a few beautiful arrangements of hymns for them. It was so cool because Max came out and listened. There was a really sweet spirit there.
The visit with Liz last Monday went great! We didn’t teach perfectly and it was a bit disorganized, but she really felt the spirit. She was very open and loved the message. At the end of Lesson 1 (restoration) we asked if she had any questions. She asked what we believed about the afterlife, and we explained the lessons, and that the next lesson was the plan of salvation and asked when she’d be available to do that lesson. She asked, “Actually, could we talk about it now?” It felt right and we ended up teaching her Lesson 2 right there, gave her a Book of Mormon, and she prayed at the end. We’re meeting with her again today. I can’t believe I have to wait a whole week to tell you how it goes. We’re hoping to invite her to be baptized. Also, she said she’d teach her parents the first two lessons last week. We were just blown away!!
We also tracted and met with no success, but I think Liz makes up for it. :)
Also, we got all the C. family, the investigators with the mom who has cancer) to the Trunk or Treat. Now I know what you’re thinking mom, but it was great. :) We went over beforehand and helped all their kids get ready. Hopefully we can start teaching them soon! It’s just hard working around her treatment, but she really wants to do the lessons.
Love you all!!
Sister W.
P.S. I don’t have Mikelle’s email, otherwise she’d be getting my emails, too. Please inform her that I still love my hair, and it’s worked out great! I can’t even see my roots growing in at all! :)
P.P.S. Also, thank you so much for how you raised me. The way we lived our lives has made the transition to missionary life almost seamless. I had very little trouble adjusting, and that’s because of you. <3
week 4
Blythe received her ukulele last week and we heard today she loves it. Her face lotion also arrived, WAHOO for modern day delivery schedules! It is SO fun being a missionary family. Today in Annesley’s letter to Blythe she said, “Are there snakes in California? My reading and math are improving. I have been working hard on them. Are there a lot of people in California? Are the people in California nice? I miss you. I love you. Last night we finished the book of Mosiah. Love, Annesley.” I love seeing our children grow in love and thoughtfulness for their sister. Tomorrow marks four weeks in California and six weeks on her mission! It is flying by so fast.
This week has been a week of miracles. On Tuesday we tracted into two really promising potential investigators. One, Jennifer, was very open to our message and we talked to her for a while. We also ran into a lady named Linda. She works from home and was really busy getting ready to leave on a flight, so we just gave her our number and talked a little about what we believe. (Also, at some previous point her son wanted to learn about the church though that seemed to have cooled.) We turned to go and she asked “Don’t you guys have like a book?” And we were just like “Yeah, like this book?” She took a copy and we bore a brief testimony of it and before we could ask she said that she wanted to start reading it. We placed 3 Books of Mormon that day!
On Wednesday we went to visit Joanie. She was busy with something, but we were able to talk for a minute and had a good visit. As we were walking away from her we saw a guy. He was this big, young-looking black guy with long hair in braids pulled back into a ponytail. He was the last person I thought would be interested, but I said hi and we started talking to him (He had a puppy by the way!). We told him about Christ’s ministry among the Nephites and he got really excited and was a little shocked that we would give him a Book of Mormon for himself. During the conversation we also met his dad. So then we left and we saw his dad pulling out in his truck. He rolled down the window and asked what we’d given his son and we were a little worried. The son is probably 25ish, but we thought maybe he wouldn’t want him to read it. So we explained it and he thought it sounded pretty cool and said he might read the one we gave his son so I asked if he wanted one for himself and he said yes. We had just given the one we had to Jason, the son, but we were close to the car so he waited for us to get another. Please pray for them both. Jason said this morning that he wants to research, which is great, but we were also worried. We told him that we’re excited that he wants to learn more, said there’s a lot of fraudulent info out there, and that as questions arise that we would love to help sort them out. We told him about the church websites. The dad’s name is Steve.
We visited Linda. They were doing a family thing, so we just got her number, then texted her ours. She replied with “Thank you so much for stopping by. I want to start reading the Book of Mormon this week. Will you follow up with me on Wed.?” We were freaking out! It was so awesome!
Liz’s appointment fell through on Thursday because of a concert and we got worried for a bit, then she texted us and set up another for tonight. So we’re back on track and have high hopes.
On Saturday we had an awesome training at the Stake President’s house and it was awesome. But the point is this story. One of our Zone leaders, Elder Fetuani from Tonga, was so, so sick and lay on the couch the whole time. Elder Fetuani works super hard, and can’t stand not to be. When his companion, Elder Hook, had surgery for an ingrown toenail he went on splits so he could still work. He came to the U.S. not knowing any English, not knowing anything about CA, the only member in his Family, and he fully believed, with no info about CA, that he could very well die on his mission. So he had to be very sick. Afterward, when quite a few people had left, the Stake President asked if he wanted a priesthood blessing. His response was “Yes. I have faith to be healed.” He asked (former) Bishop Hobbins, (who I’ll have to tell you all about) to give the blessing. He gave a very powerful, direct blessing, and said “According to your faith you shall be healed, and rise upon your feet, and go out and do the work of the Lord that He has set you today.” The Spirit was so strong and Elder Fetuani stood and was completely better. He had the most shocked expression on his face. We saw them that night and he said he’d been fine all day, and they’d done service and tracting, and lots of other stuff. God is a God of Miracles. I know it. We have seen His hand so prevalent in our lives this week.
Love you all!!
Sister Blythe W.
alma 5:14
No news on the MRI front yet. The images did not turn out well and we will most likely have to go through the process again to get some clearer images.
My ponderizing scripture for the week was Alma 5:14 which says:
And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change of heart?
More specifically, I repeated this phrase in my mind all week long. “Have you received His image in your countenance? Does the light of Christ shine in your eyes?” Which is from a song by Janice Kapp Perry.
I SO want my countenance to reflect my Savior’s light and goodness. I want His kindness and gentleness to become so much a part of me that that is what comes out of me in times of stress or when I am caught off guard. I want my children to come to know Christ by the love they see in my eyes.
And yet, I get exasperated. I lose my patience. I have anger in my eyes and in my voice. This week has been one of deep pondering of my Savior’s character. I have been reading Elder Bednar’s book, Act In Doctrine, and been thinking about myself and what I want my character to be. It is hard. Really hard to take a deep look at my flaws and see how far I have to go. At the same time, it is lightening to know just how powerful my Savior is at working a mighty change of heart in those who are desirous to change. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity the following.
Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of or which is obviously spoiling daily life. Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment.
That is why He warned people to ‘count the cost’ before becoming Christians. ‘Make no mistake,’ He says, ‘if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect-until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.’
Oh, how I love that thought. My Savior will not help me become anything different than what He is.
As He teaches me and lifts me and cleanses me, I am ever so slowly becoming a kinder, gentler, more loving person. It is a journey worth taking, no matter how far the distance. And so, I will keep singing those words to remind myself to strive to become more like Him.
brains should stay where they belong
I have an Upright MRI today to start the process of discovering if the ligaments holding my brain in place have become so lax that my brainstem is being compressed or CSF flow is being blocked. If those things are happening, the answer is most likely brain surgery.
Oh, my goodness, this feels big. And yet I am doing quite well at staying calm and in a place of trust in God.
During the surgery, they open the skull, trim the cerebellar tonsils, cut away part of C1 and possibly C2 to make more room for the drooping brainstem – so it is not being compressed – and make some sort of covering for the dura matter. Then they fuse C1 and C2. It is a big deal with lots of risks and a big recovery period.
At this point, we don’t even know if I have this problem. Several things have pointed us in this direction, but we don’t know. And if I do, we don’t know that we would decide to do surgery or if it is even my best option. Often I have a pretty good attitude about this whole connective tissue thing, but right now part of me is scared and overwhelmed and a huge part of me doesn’t even want to find out if I have it or not. The thought of my brainstem, the thing that is keeping my alive, being compromised, is a lot for me to take in right now and part of me wants to run away from the whole discussion.
I’m a little nervous about starting down this path and would be ever so grateful for your prayers that one, I make it through the testing without an episode and two, that the people doing the testing will be guided by God to get the images we need to see.
amazing grace
Grace. Oh, how I need my Savior’s grace. Sometimes, usually on the day before my period starts, I forget the lessons God has taught me about His power to redeem me and actually believe I am a hopeless cause, but most of the time, I cling to His grace. A few years ago I watched His Grace Is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox and it changed my perspective on grace. Saturday night I had one of those fall apart nights where I forgot that I am forgivable, redeemable, and not a hopeless cause.
And then the Sabbath came and I remembered my covenants and decided to try again. As I sang the words to “I Believe In Christ” at church on Sunday, I cried tender tears of gratitude for my Savior who not only has the power to redeem me, but also enough love for me to actually do it.
I believe in Christ; he is my King!
With all my heart to him I’ll sing;
I’ll raise my voice in praise and joy,
In grand amens my tongue employ.
I believe in Christ; he is God’s Son.
On earth to dwell his soul did come.
He healed the sick; the dead he raised.
Good works were his; his name be praised.I believe in Christ; oh blessed name!
As Mary’s Son he came to reign
‘Mid mortal men, his earthly kin,
To save them from the woes of sin.
I believe in Christ, who marked the path,
Who did gain all his Father hath,
Who said to men: “Come, follow me,
That ye, my friends, with God may be.”I believe in Christ–my Lord, my God!
My feet he plants on gospel sod.
I’ll worship him with all my might;
He is the source of truth and light.
I believe in Christ; he ransoms me.
From Satan’s grasp he sets me free,
And I shall live with joy and love
In his eternal courts above.I believe in Christ; he stands supreme!
From him I’ll gain my fondest dream;
And while I strive through grief and pain,
His voice is heard: “Ye shall obtain.”
I believe in Christ; so come what may,
With him I’ll stand in that great day
When on this earth he comes again
To rule among the sons of men.
This morning Annesley and I watched this beautiful arrangement of Amazing Grace and more tears came. Watch it, hear it, feel it. Let your heart be filled.
I love the Lord Jesus and thank Him for setting me free again and again. It is truly amazing that he can break the chains that bind each of us.
yummy fried rice
Cooking is a challenge for me. My brain struggles with making sense of the whole thing…what is essential, what can be substituted, what is the dish missing, what flavors go together…all of that is a foreign language to me. Thank goodness I can call Kat and have her tell me how to rescue a meal. My kitchen skills are sorely lacking as well. Burning myself, cutting off hunks of skin, and dropping pans of food are pretty regular occurrences. My recent Facebook post illustrates my cooking situation.
I am trying to make dinner for my family a little more frequently than the not-ever-making it I have been doing. This is how it went tonight. 1. Lost the chicken broth lid under the fridge. 2. Turned off the stove long before the pasta was done cooking. 3. Turned on the stove when I noticed I had accidentally turned it off. Except I didn’t…when I went back to check it, it was still on OFF. 4. Dropped the vacuum on my ankle…the one that is having a really hard time staying in place. 5. Poured the spinach steaming water/juice all over the griddle, across the cabinet, and down the drawers where it finally made a puddle on the floor. 6. Lost over half of the pasta in the filthy sink when the colander tipped over. 7. Dropped the boiling hot pan still full of 1/8 of the pasta on my tile floor and scared one child half to death (didn’t break the tile though!) 8. Saved what pasta I could and poured the delicious spinach mixture all over the top. 9. Ate it with one silent child and one whiny child. So delightful. 10. Forgot about the water that must have spilled out of the pan and the whiny child slipped on it. 11. Ran out of food before husband got home from work to eat it. (since more than half of it got ruined in the filthy sink). 12. Now have to run children to Scouts, Young Women, pick up from Irish, get ready for iFamily and Primary Auxiliary Training tomorrow and have no time to make more food.
This is why I don’t cook. I have such high hopes and my skills don’t measure up. Pretty sure I could win $10K on America’s Funniest Home Videos if I just kept a video camera going in my kitchen at all times!
In spite of all that, I make really good fried rice. After trying for years to make my fried rice taste delicious, I found a recipe online that insisted on the importance of sesame oil. I had always used olive or coconut oil or NO oil in an effort to save money and surprise, surprise, it was pretty disgusting. Trust me, the sesame oil is essential. It is expensive, but it is essential! The original link of this recipe is dead in internet land or I would source it for you. I have changed it a little bit from the original, so now it is time to share this deliciousness with the world. This is exactly what I do and it feeds our family of six with enough leftovers for lunch the next day. I haven’t messed it up yet – it turns out fabulous every time!
Fried Rice
- 9 TB Sesame Oil
- 3 Small Onions or 2 Large Onions, chopped (I usually do 2 large onions…less peeling for me!)
- 6 Cloves of Garlic, minced
- 3 C. Peas and Carrots (frozen bags)
- 6 Eggs, barely stirred, not whipped
- 9 C. Cooked Brown Rice
- Braggs Amino Acids (we use this in place of Soy Sauce)
Pour the sesame oil into a really big frying pan with high sides (I can use my 13″ frying pan, but I usually use my Tramontina 4 Qt. Braiser since the high sides hold the food in better.) and heat it up for a few minutes. Watch it so it doesn’t burn. Saute the onion and garlic and then add in the peas and carrot mixture. Scoot the vegetables to one side of the pan and try to get your oil to the other side of the pan and pour the eggs in on the oil side. Stir them gently until they are cooked. Add in the rice (carefully and slowly so it doesn’t spill all over the stove…there is a lot of it!). Pour the Braggs deliciousness all over it and carefully mix everything together. Add some more Braggs until it tastes as strong as you like it.
The original recipe called for chicken and it was fabulous, but I have only added that in once because it is delicious without it and I tend to be a meat hoarder, saving meat for those meals where it is absolutely necessary.
When I make it, I fill my rice cooker to the 10 C. setting (which makes 20+ cups) and use less than half for this dish. Then my children have leftover rice in the fridge for several days that they eat with milk, cinnamon, and honey.
week 3
Our girlie has now been in California for nearly three weeks and left our home almost five weeks ago. It is going by so fast. We mailed her a ukulele this week, have to say Amazon Prime is AMAZING. Click, click and two days later it is delivered to her. Her mission president served for a long time in Tonga and Hawaii and he has created a Polynesian feel to the mission. They have ukulele lessons on P-Day at the mission home and she was dying to participate. Now we need to put a package together with pictures from home, piles of drawings from Annesley, more of her facial lotion, and her nutritional supplements. She must be being diligent about taking them if she is already in need of replacements. We are SO happy for her and are enjoying being a missionary family. It is wonderful to hear our children praying for their sister with fervency, faith, and heart. It is wonderful to think of her throughout the day and imagine what she is doing. It is wonderful to think carefully about what we should say to her each week in our letters. Since she only has a few minutes to read our emails, we want to make sure we share the things that will help her the most.
I have really enjoyed this week, though it’s been a little hard. We were not able to make much progress with anyone and spent a great deal of time trying to get in contact with people with less success than we hoped. But this upcoming week should be better. We were able to make contact with our referral, though it took most of the week and were even able to set an appointment! We had an awesome visit with Eileen M. (who married the Muslim man, Max) and her mom, Bernice. They both are exceptional seamstresses and make amazing things. We asked them about it and they showed a ton of their things and got super excited. Eileen made her tribal wedding dress for the Muslim wedding and it is amazing! She showed us this gorgeous quilt Bernice made her. It is the most beautiful quilt I’ve ever seen with vibrant aqua blues and greens and every square has these beautiful embroidered flowers of various kinds. SOOOOO pretty!!!! Then we were able to slip in President Uchtdorf’s talk about our desire to create and make it a very natural part of the conversation and showed the video to go with it.
We were not able to teach Joanie again. Her son has a mental illness, as I think I mentioned, and his meds were switched and were not working. This week has been crazy for them trying to get that fixed, but we stopped by to see her on Friday and it happened to be her birthday. We couldn’t stay long, but we’re keeping in contact. Should happen this week.
On Saturday we went on exchange with the Sister Training Leaders and for the first time that week we had absolutely nothing to do. I was staying in our area so I was in charge of knowing where to go, what to do, etc. and we had contacted the LAs and none of our potentials could meet with us. We actually ended up getting quite a few contacts and were able to get in contact with Samantha B., an LA who is good friends with Liz S. (our referral)! Super exciting! We actually talked to her dad, a non-member, who was working on his rose bush. He was really abrupt, and not terribly sociable, which is interesting since his job is a salesmen. I’ve since been told he’s very outgoing at work, but as soon as he gets home he’s a hermit. The funny thing, though, he was wearing flip flops and his toenails were totally painted in stripes. As soon as we were gone we just died!!
We have a few possible potentials among the friends of the YW within the ward. (Tell me if I’ve told you about the Mausses yet.) One sounds like we might get a whole family. One of the other friend’s parents are staunch Catholic and don’t want her learning about the church. The mom said (not to us) that she sees how happy her daughter is when she’s learning about the church so she’s going to shut it down now, because she knows that if her daughter goes she’ll get baptized because she’s so happy there. It’s very unfortunate because the girl is quite miserable at home and school and loves the gospel.
Sister W.
I'm Tracy, a mama with big dreams, crazy ideas, loads of laughter, an insatiable desire to learn, and enormous piles of laundry.
