Broken Things to Mend

In Nazareth, the narrow road, That tires the feet and steals the breath,  
Passes the place where once abode The Carpenter of Nazareth.

And up and down the dusty way The village folk would often wend;  

And on the bench, beside Him, lay Their broken things for Him to mend.

The maiden with the doll she broke, The woman with the broken chair,  

The man with broken plough, or yoke, Said, “Can you mend it, Carpenter?”

And each received the thing he sought, In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll; 

The broken thing which each had brought Returned again a perfect whole.

So, up the hill the long years through, With heavy step and wistful eye,  

The burdened souls their way pursue, Uttering each the plaintive cry:

“O Carpenter of Nazareth, This heart, that’s broken past repair, 

This life, that’s shattered nigh to death, Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?”

And by His kind and ready hand, His own sweet life is woven through  

Our broken lives, until they stand A New Creation—“all things new.”

“The shattered substance of the heart, Desire, ambition, hope, and faith,  

Mould Thou into the perfect part, O, Carpenter of Nazareth!”

--George Blair 

The Tale of the Snow Covered Tree

I have not taken the time to go through the rest of November and all the Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities but these thought have been on my mind for a few days and I thought I needed to get them out.

Since it has been so cold and snowy in Provo and that is where we have been that is where my reflections have led me. There was a group of pine trees going up the roa close to my mom's house that started me thinking.  Those trees don't look exactly like the ones in this picture but the feeling is the same. I feel like this pine tree right here above in the center of this picture.  Now you can see that it is not completely alone but does have some other pine trees in close proximity.  Other observance about this pine tree are that it seems to be covered the most by the snow.  All of the trees have snow on them but this one in middle seems to have more that it's fair share of snow.  The snow is heavy.  The snow looks wet.  The snow is cold and is weighing down this beautiful tree whose branches and boughs usually point upward. But on this day the weight of the snow is so great that is just seems to slump  a little forward and hangs dejectedly.  There is no sun in the sky to hint at a better day to come and the drifts of snow surrounding the tree are so high that even if it could wiggle its way forward toward a warmer piece of ground or shrug off some of the weight of the snow it would not make it very far.  I am feeling like this tree.  Now I was not feeling like this tree so much at the beginning of December because I had decided that I wanted to feel the spirit of the season and the spirit of the Savior this year and that the only way I could do that was to de-stress and eliminate some of the crazy busy and stressful things about Christmas.  The kids were not involved in any concerts, plays or programs other than 1 Valley Voices Concert that Cody was part of.  There were no karate testings or extra parties, only 1 school party for Cayden and our ward Christmas Party that I was helping with.  I did not get that assignment until the week before Thanksgiving so it's not like I had a long time to stress about that anyway. And as far as that party was concerned I really felt like the spirit prompted and guided our efforts and gave me lot of ideas that really worked out.  The snow started to fall on my tree that night of the ward Christmas party and it just kept snowing and snowing.  That blizzard lasted clear through Christmas and even now even into the new year.  The harsh winter just does not want to let up and this tree is just about ready to topple over.  At this point I am having a hard time taking this analogy and turning it positive.  I was on a roll last night but tonight I just don't have it.  So I am leaving this as it is for now until I can come back around out of this slump and wait for the sun to come out and melt some of this ice and snow in my heart.

The Tale of the Christmas Nazi

Cayden has been pleading since Halloween to put up all the Christmas decorations.  On Monday, November 15 I finally gave in.  Don and I spent most of the day prepping for Cayden's return from school by cleaning and dusting and rearranging some furniture.  We got out our 3 Christmas trees: 1 for the piano room front window, 1 for the family room window and the small red and white one for Cayden's room.  You may remember my boycotting of tree decorating last year and how we bought 2 trees from the Festival of Trees. Well this year I wanted my big tree in the front window so we got it out ready to decorate when Cayden got home.  After cleaning 3 bathrooms, dusting lots of rooms and doing our prep work, I made 2 big pans of  Rigatoni which was basically our family Baked Ziti recipe but I did not have Ziti so I used Rigatoni instead.  I also made chocolate chip cookies from the Nestle Tollhouse recipe on the bag chocolate chips.  I made myself ill on the cookie dough since that was only thing I had eaten all day.  Note to self...Take Pepto PRIOR to consuming half the bowl of cookie dough.  Cayden was home by 3:20.  He was so excited that he stood in the middle of the front room and jumped up and down screaming until we told him to stop.  Then we put up decorations for hours and hours and hours.  Don just kept bringing in tote after tote after tote and Cayden kept emptying tote after tote.  Cayden can remember from year to year where everything goes and it all has to be in the same spot as it was previously or it just won't work for him.  If we tried to divert his attention and hide some of the decorations he caught us and reminded us what was still missing.  Don had to leave at 5 for a business dinner but we persevered.  By 7pm I was exhausted.  Everything was up and tree was decorated, the totes were all stacked ready for Don to put away and the floors were all vacuumed.  I was so tired I wanted to cry.   Connor and Caleb wanted to help for about 5 minutes and that was it.  Cody just wanted to make fun of my BAH HUMBUG sign and rearrange the letters so if said variations on the word bum.  So much for our annual Christmas decorating FHE.  The one thing we did not put up was my Willow Tree nativity because I was just too tired.  I told Cayden that I would put it up the next day while he was at school.  He came home and I had not done it yet so he talked his dad into doing for him.  Connor bought him some lights to go around his bedroom door so not only does Cayden have a Christmas tree in his room but lights around his door too.  We have not done the outside lights yet but the Christmas Nazi will continue to pester us  until we do.  It probably won't happen until after Thanksgiving though.  This may have been the earliest we have ever put up decorations.  Heil Santa!

To Eternity and Beyond

Yesterday morning around 10am a sweet little spirit left this world after fighting bravely and courageously.  His name was Rex Stuart and he is the son of my sister's best friend.  He died of a brain tumor and was only 3 years old.  He loved Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear.  I have been so sad yet comforted at the same time.  I've had this poem in my head for a few days and finally put it on paper today.

For Rex

We cried and whimpered, we begged and we pleaded

It seems though another angel was needed

We hope at these words so often repeated

Our family is forever.

We long for the spirit of peace to enfold us

And wait for the day when His face will behold us

We listen intently, these words that He’s told us

Our family is forever.

Hearts heavy and weighted

Confused and frustrated

We wonder for what each life is created

Our family is forever.

Eyes wet from our crying

The truth undenying

We will not quit trying

Our family is forever.

Please Lord mend our hearts

Let our sorrows depart

When eternity starts

Our family is forever.

Little Shop, Little Shop of Horrors

Moapa Valley High School performed Little Shop of Horrors November 2-4.  Cody played Seymour Krelborn.  This was the first musical Cody has been in but the 5th play.  All the kids worked their behinds off and pulled it all together in 2 months.  I tried to upload some video but it would never work.  We have been singing these songs for weeks now. Grandma Penny was able to come down and see the matinee on Tuesday morning.  Thank you to Aunt Pam and Uncle Dave who drove her down here.  Cody's cousin Taylor was in the play also so many family members from Don's side of the family went to numerous performances.  Cody was AWESOME and AMAZING and GREAT and FABULOUS.  I am not biased either.  He got lots of compliments from all over the place for a long time after the show. The show was even in the paper with a picture of him holding Audrey while she dies. 

Halloween

Halloween this year was a week long event.  Starting on Monday night Connor and Caleb spent 3 days getting ready for a haunted house that their Deacon's Quorum put together for Mutual.  They did it at the Fairgrounds in the livestock building.  It was quite the project.  With chili, hotdogs and hot chocolate the evening was a success.  I did not go because

A.  I am not in Young Men /Young Women  and

B.  I H.A.T.E  hate hate being scared.

So I don't really know exactly how it went only that there was lots of blood, guts and screaming.

We decorated the front yard with scarecrows and witches and 3 lit-up plastic pumpkins plus 6 large pumpkins that we used our Mr. Potato Head pieces to decorate our pumpkins. 

Caleb was a Zombie-Nerd.  I taped boxes of Nerds candy all over his shirt for their dress up day at school.  He said the candy was all gone by the end of 2nd period.

 Connor was an Airhead.  I taped Airhead candies all over his shirt.  They did not last too long either.

Cayden was a vampire/magician.  They always have a costume parade at the elementary.  This was on Thursday, October 28 because we always get Halloween off for Nevada day.   His class also had a party that I helped with.  I decided that I really don't like being in charge of things anymore because I have gotten burned a few times in the past.  I am quite content to "help".   His class decorated candy apples, made a haunted house from foam pieces and played a candy corn relay on top of eating lots of treats. 

Halloween was not actually until Sunday but the kids went trick-or-treating on Saturday.  Caleb dressed up as a Rockstar this time and then went with his friend Logan.  Cayden went with some neighborhood kids and them Caleb took around a bit.   My kids did not want to trick-or-treat much so they only went around around our neighborhood and the neighborhood on the next street.  Don't fret though because I had enough candy to get us through the millennium so they were not going to go without.  Connor was extremely worked up from the whole week of festivities and all the excitement.  Don took him for a long drive to help him calm down.  All the unpredictability and the 5 day weekend was too much for him.  We had Monday and Tuesday off for Teacher Development meetings.   After trick-or-treating we hung out at home and handed out candy.  The kids watched Ghostbusters while gobbling up their goodies.  I made caramel apples earlier in the week but the caramel just sort of slid off the apples.  I wanted to give them to my Visiting Teaching ladies but they did not look very pretty.  They tasted just great to us though.   Cody was rehearsing night and day for his play that was the following week so his Halloween was spent singing and feeding people to plants.  On Sunday we had a few trick-or-treaters but the majority came on Saturday night.  

Cooking With Connor

Connor is taking Home Ec this year.  He had to plan and prepare a dinner with limited help, just supervision. He made Artichoke Chicken with Capers, baked potatoes, apple pumpkin muffins, jello, and fresh cantaloupe.  He did it on a Sunday afternoon and it was delicious.