Pyles of Clutter

Finally!!

Oh my goodness people!!  WE FINALLY GOT A JOB!!  WE ARE SO EXCITED!!

Thank you to everyone that prayed for us, kept us in your thoughts, and otherwise supported us.  We so very much appreciate it!

The siege is at an end!

52 Blessings

Apparently I'm a slacker when it comes to acknowledging my blessings.  I think this is only the 7th or 8th blessing that I've talked about.  *Boo*  *hiss*.  I'll do better.

My little story starts a long time ago, when I was pregnant with AJ and working as a nanny.  We lived in Kent, a suburb of Seattle, and I drove to my employer's home to take care of their kids.  One day, I went out to leave for work and I noticed that my car had been broken into and the stereo stolen.  I was in such a panic!  I called Terry, who left for work much earlier, and then called the police, and then had a nervous breakdown.  I felt so violated!  And what if *they* were still watching, to see what happens.  And what if....  I could have gone on forever in my pregnant state of mind.  It was daunting but as I relied on my husband and then on the Lord, I started to get that feeling of being watched over again. 

Now you have all read the story of when I got shot at in the theatre.  I'll skip it all but to say that again, I had to work through a lot of insecurities and rely on the Lord for a lot of help before I was able to leave the house and not be in a panic.

And then there is last night.  At about 10:30 last night, there was a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass.  Can you guess what happened?  Yes, someone through a rock at our window.  Oh my!  I'm so grateful that we have double paned windows as it slowed the rock down so that it didn't come through the window but dropped back onto the ground.  Terry was sitting right in front of the window on the couch waiting for the girls to come home.  It could have hit him.  I feel the same as when our car got broken into it.  Safety issues.

Every day, we pray for protection for our family who is with us, and who isn't with us.  Every day, Tess prays that Heavenly Father will protect her.  I truly believe that those prayers are answered every day.  That he makes sure we are protected wherever we are.  I can't imagine sending off a missionary without that assurance.  It makes it bearable.

My blessing for today is safety.

Emblem of the land--SPT

Yes, I know I'm a week late, but I'm doing my best to keep up here.

Farming is what I think about, when I think of the land that I love.  Our community is all about the farming. 

 

You can see the different farms from this vantage point. 

It was also very windy outside.  And cold. 

SPT--Something.....

Yes, I'm late again.  Here is my SPT for the last three weeks:

 

Something Old:

This is my Grandmother's watch and a heart diamond necklace that she gave to me.  I love them both, not because they have a lot of value, but because they were given to my grandma by my grandpa.  The sentimental value FAR outweighs the monetary value.

Something New:

 

Having my desk be clean is a very new experience for me.  As I look at the picture, I can see that you may not think it's clean, but believe me, if you can see the actual desk and not just a pile of papers on top, it's clean.  So I'm very excited about this!  I can actually do something on here now. 

Something Borrowed:

 

I am SO embarrassed by this!  I borrowed this book from Neighbor Jane Payne last JUNE!  She even asked me one time if I had it, and I thought then, I need to get this back to her.  But, alas, I had good intentions of getting it right back to her, with a plate of cookies, or just a thank you, or just get it back.  It still sits on my desk (but not anymore, see above).  I promise Jane!  I will send it back with one of my girls to seminary, or drive it to your house myself! 

Whew

52 blessings--Sweet spirits

Well, here we go.

I'm going to tell you a story, that is a little irreverent, but it is really taking on a life of it's own, with people talking about it to us almost every day. 

In our church, we take the opportunity on the first Sunday of every month to have anyone that wants to, tell their testimony of Jesus Christ to the congregation.  The meeting is called "fast and testimony" meeting.  Last Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. 

I didn't think Tess was paying all that much attention to the testimonies that were being shared, but the spirit was very strong in the meeting, and some younger children were getting up and giving their testimonies.  At one point, right at the end of the meeting, she says, I want to share my testimony.  I say, ok, you can do it in FHE tonight.  She says, I want to do it here.  I say, oh. Ok. Have Meg take you up there.  She says, I'll see you later. 

So off they go, Meg and Tess to share Tess' testimony.  It started something like this (my thoughts in parenthesis):

I love my family, and I know my family loves me. (nice job, Tess!)  I think Jesus is very nice. (that is also a good thought) I have a favorite sister that reads me stories.  Her name is Lilly. (oooo, ouch) She is really nice to me. (where can this be leading) My dad is the best fixer upper in the world. He fixes lots of things. (liar, your dad is not a good fixer upper at all) My mom is the greatest mom in the world. (Oh my, that is so sweet, but so not true) My testimony is about loving people.  (ok, maybe we can get back to the right subject) We should love everyone because my brother....

At this point, I'm frantically signaling to Meg, who is on the stand to cut her off, because that morning we had been discussing super powers and if we had super powers what would they be.  Mine was to be a great mom and Terry's was to be a great fixer upper, and Lilly's was to read books, and ... see where this is going.  She was going right down the super powers list.  Time to stop!  Yikes!  Some of the other super powers would probably embarrassed other people that happen to be sitting in the congregation at that moment (i.e. Megan, and Zoey)!

I finally catch Megan's eye, but I have to say that the whole congregation was just laughing so hard, and our bench had tears in their eyes from laughter.  Oh my.  I leaned over to Terry and say, I think we have some guidance to do here about what a testimony is. 

But I have to say, that it gave everyone a little lift, to have this little girl extolling the virtues (real or supposed) of the people she loves, and who love her.  I think it gave pause to us, that we should do that more often, compliment those who touch us with their love.  Oh my. 

Big lessons can come in little packages.

SPT--What's behind you?

Last Friday, my nephew, Chance got married to Becky.  It was a nice wedding, short and sweet, with a beautiful reception after.  I'm sure they will have many great pictures of the day with her dad being a professional photographer.  I wonder if that means my sister will get a discount now that he is in the family. 

But I digress.  Because of the wedding, my two nephews from Salt Lake City, and their families came to visit.  Everyone loves to see the Swensen family, so we all piled into my parents house to watch the Sunday afternoon session of conference, four families worth.  It was a packed house, but a fun visit.

My family....

who I know is always behind me.

(sorry for the dark picture! My flash wouldn't go off!)

SPT--Where do your feet take you?

Yes, I realize that it is Saturday.  But it is just taking me that long. 

My feet walk a lot every day.  My phone has a pedometer, right there in the bottom left hand corner.  I keep reading that I need to be taking 10,000 steps a day.  As you can see, I don't really get that far.  Of course, my "pedometer" isn't exactly accurate all the time.  Sometimes, I would take 10 steps and it will say that it is 18 steps.  Funny.  When we were at Disneyland, it said that we went 16,000 steps in one day.  As you can imagine, my feet were killing me. 

My feet clean the house, and take out the garbage.  They take the kids to dance lessons, and the dentist.  They stand for a long time in the kitchen, making lunch, and dinner.  They give baths, and sit under my desk while I work on my computer.  They walk through the grocery store, it seems like once every day.  They want to learn the piano.  They need to walk every more real steps every day, but they hurt like they are walking the prescribed amount of steps.  But this is what they really want to do:

52 blessings--#6

Glorious sleep!

I'm so thankful for sleep!  I love that you can go to bed weary in body and spirit and get up feeling like you can face anything again, physically and emotionally.  I have used that quite a bit this week, trying to catch up from our whirlwind weekend.  I'm a sleepy person, anything short of 8 hours is not enough for me.  This week, I took lots of cat naps, went to bed early, and slept in, and finally, today, I feel like a human being again. 

Thank you sleep, for making me human again. 

52 blessings--#5

WATER!

* Most of the earth's surface consists of water; there is much more water than there is land.

* Water can not only be found on the surface, but also in the ground and in the air.

* There is the same amount of water on earth as there was when the earth was formed. The water that came from your faucet could contain molecules that Neanderthals drank...

* The overall amount of water on our planet has remained the same for two billion years.

* Water moves around the earth in a water cycle. The water cycle has five parts: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration and surface run-off.

* In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere.

* Groundwater can take a human lifetime just to traverse a mile.

* Most of the earth's surface water is permanently frozen or salty.

* Water regulates the earth's temperature.

* If all the world's water were fit into a gallon jug, the fresh water available for us to use would equal only about one tablespoon.

* Less than 1% of the water supply on earth can be used as drinking water

* The total amount of water in the body of an average adult is 37 litres.

* To flush a toilet we use 7.5 to 26.5 litres (2 to 7 gallons) of water.

* In a five-minute shower we use 95 to 190 litres (25 to 50 gallons) of water.

* To brush your teeth you use 7.5 litres (2 gallons) of water.

* For an automatic dishwasher 35 to 45 litres (9 to 12 gallons) of water is used.

* Bottled water can be up to 1000 times more expensive than tap water and it may not be as safe.

I think I've mentioned a time or twenty that I'm addicted to water with ice.  Even when it was -20 degrees, I would have my hot cocoa and then a glass of water with ice.  Plain water just won't do.  It must have ice in it.  Even when I just want a little drink, I put an ice cube in it.  I know, I know.  Weird.  Still, that's the way I like it. 

I know that I don't think enough about how much I use water every day.  Hygiene, cleaning, drinking, recreation, fish tanks.  Water every where.  My list of water loves consists of:

* Hot bubble baths

* Water with ice drinks

* Clean showers

* Dishes cleaned in a dishwasher

* Boats on a lake

* Fish swimming

* Freshly brushed teeth

* Newly scrubbed clean faces

* Rainstorms in gentle temperatures

* Winter snowstorms on quiet evenings

* Frost on leafless trees

* Gardens growing

I'm grateful for all the forms of water.

I'm sure there are more.  What water are you grateful for?  Leave me a comment today and tell me.

52 blessings--#4

Books!!

I love books! 

My ideal day: me, pajamas, a blankie, cup of cocoa, and a good book.  Oh, if only that were today!  This is my stack of books to read.  Impressive, huh?  The really impressive thing, I have two other BOXES of books to read.  It drives Terry a little crazy, but he indulges me, because he has a music fetish.  These are all the library books that I have checked out, except the top one, which is a loan from my dad. 

I love books! 

I'm always in awe when I walk into a library.  Rows, upon rows, of books.  I'll tell the truth, I'm so overwhelmed when I go to the library, even the little one we have here.  I have no idea where to start looking for a book.  Start at "A" and go to "Z", start on the left and go to the right, close my eyes and spin around and point in the direction I should go.  I don't know what to do.  I rarely ever even go to the library unless I am looking for a specific book.  But here's a plug for our NCRL.  The North Central Regional Library is totally awesome.  Just go online, type in a book, send in a request for it, and it comes in the mail!!  All my library books were done this way!  I have 9 books checked out like that right now, with another on the way.  It is ultra convenient and I'm so grateful to have that. 

I love books!

You can find any kind of book you want too.  Books about history, books for entertaining, books for learning.  Books on tape, books with all pictures.  Anything.  You can find absolutely anything in a book. 

I think this is a blessing.