I believe...

The following message was shared through a Relief Society letter and I was touched and thought I would share.

"The Christmas hymn, “Angels We Have Heard On High”, is a favorite at this time of year as reminders come to mind of that extraordinary night when heavenly visitors were both seen and heard by an assembly of simple shepherds. One can’t help but wonder what it might have been like to be among those humble men who witnessed the sights and sounds of such an incredible event. Surely, in that time of need, hearts were lifted, lives were blessed and troubles were comforted.


Christmas always brings extra angels to the earth, I believe.. each and every year. Perhaps they aren’t seen descending from heaven.. nor heard singing from on high.. but if we watch and listen carefully enough we can see and hear them. They walk among us as family and friends… and sometimes as strangers, ….whose hearts are more focused in the season of giving and peace, comfort and joy.

One recent example was shared by young woman last week. For the fourth time in seven years a private airplane crash-landed in their neighborhood. Miraculously, no lives were lost, but the homes of several families were destroyed. In minutes church phone trees sprang put into action quickly assembling local wards to gather and assist. As one of those responding that night, this young woman witnessed earthly angels working the miracles of comfort and peace among the frightened and homeless.

It is not emergencies alone that cause angels to be audible and visible. The miracle of the season is often seen in the generous and thoughtful actions of those who pause to consider more seriously the needs of others. In the most obvious ways it is manifested by those who donate gifts of clothing, food, money and time to those without homes, jobs, health and/or family. By no lesser means it is witnessed in acts of consideration, love and kindness as more and more of us reach out to make life easier and joyful for one another.

Often it is simply and sweetly experienced in the gratitude of our hearts.
Again, my example comes from a recent family event, proving that angels and their blessings come in all shapes and sizes. Having miraculously experienced a peaceful shopping trip with their two young children, a young couple had just buckled the children into their car seats and were headed home. Quietly the young wife and mother whispered a soft , “Thank you, Lord,” as their car pulled into traffic. There was a moment’s pause. Then, jubilantly from the seat behind her came an angelic voice: …”Your welcome, Mom!”
In whatever your holiday may hold…may the miracle of angels be in you and around you as Christmas approaches.. May you see them and hear them, may you speak and act with them… so others may see and hear as well.".

Recipe run and a night out



We are doing our own Thanksgiving this year. Not that we don't usually do Thanksgiving but we usually spend the entire day and weekend with family and for the last few years we have spent it trying to recover from a loss of one of more of our children and missing family that has gone on before us (Dad, Grandpa S, Grandma P, Grandpa P), you get the idea. We have not really had the energy or will to enjoy the holiday and while we are always thankful, we were never really into the spirit of celebration.

So this year, instead of mourning our second set of twins that we lost in early September, we are going to celebrate how thankful we are. Thankful for our lives, togetherness, home, animals, jobs, friends, our bond as husband and wife, our temple marriage, the gospel, the time we have had with loved ones and the time in the future when we will see them all again and the miracle of adoption that we hope will someday bless our lives.

As part of our Thanksgiving, we are doing a recipe run. We have our standard fare of food that we make but we are expanding it to include new recipes from around the world and old family traditions. We have a fruit salad recipe from R's great great Granddad and while it contains more sugar than fruit, we are going to give it a shot! We have a recipe from R's great Grandma and one from his Mom. We also have 2 from my Mom. I am looking for a great cranberry sauce recipe and a new vegetable side dish if you happen to have one. BUT we are not limiting ourselves to those two. We have loyal readers in South Korea, Belgium, Canada and Netherlands in addition to our USA readers. Please send us your favorites!

We are starting to post some recipes on our website, so if you have something to share, please leave us a comment or shoot us an email. Remember to title your recipe or give us your last name so we can give credit where credit is due!
 
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We went to our first Hockey game last night. We have the pleasure of watching the Colorado Eagles play the Mississippi River Kings. Having never been to a hockey game before we had no idea what to expect. We had great padded seats in the adults only section in row 11 which is just high enough to see the entire ring but close enough to see their faces and hear them yelling. What a night!
 
There are only 3 periods in hockey which last only 20 minutes each. So you can make it through a whole game without really needing to get up and stretch. In hindsight, we should have done some research to figure out what all of the terms were (power play, hooking, etc.) but even being oblivious it was a lot of fun - there are some real die-hard hockey fans in Colorado! It is funny to watch grown men race around chasing a little black puck. They fall down and bounce back up as if they have springs in their knees and smash each other into the wall. Sometimes they get too rough and have to sit in the penalty box which is just like a time out! It cracks me us; they look so disappointed in themselves and contrite while in the box, but when they come back out, they are back to their same old tricks!
 
The announcer said a few times to the audience 'Keep your eye on the puck at all times. Under certain circumstances it may become airborne and enter the seating area.' I thought, yeah right. Four times the puck flew into the audience. Luckily no one was injured and it always went into first few rows and never above row 8, so I figure when we get tickets again in the future, they will not be below row 9!
 
I have never been to a sporting event before and was surprised at the enthusiasm from the crowd. Thankfully there was not a lot of drinking and they strongly discourage cursing (by kicking offenders out of the stadium). It was a great time. Not necessarily a kid sport since there were a LOT of penalties and two pretty good sized fights, but entertaining once the men started acting like men.

  On our drive home we hit the county line and noticed that is was just barely snowing (this was around 10 pm). We noticed that as we got closer to home it started snowing harder and harder. I am so glad R was driving! by time we made it 8 miles from home it was a whiteout and we could hardly see at all. 40 minutes later, we made it home. Yes, 40 minutes to go 8 miles; it was snowing a LOT! We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland and are not really looking forward to driving to church. However, we know that once we get there it will be worth it! Winter has arrived!

Winter is coming!

Winter is coming, it is well on its way! We had our first frost last week and all of the leaves on our trees have changes color and most have already fallen. It even got so cold that the crack in my windshield completed its trek all the way over to the other side.

'They' are saying that we will have colder than average temperatures this year. I am not sure who 'they' are, but at this point I am starting to believe them. We still have two barns to build before the snow flies. One horse barn for Molly and a stud barn for Nephi. I am thinking that this weekend is the weekend for building.

Since we don't have a fireplace, our furnaces run on propane. Yes, furnaces, plural... One for the house and one for the garage. I am not sure if the one in the garage is more for the dogs, Robert or me. The dogs because their kennel is out there, Robert because part of the garage is his man cave or me because without a man cave, Robert would be in the house and underfoot!!Anyhow, back on track. Propane is pricey and last winter with our furnace set at 65-70 it ran about $250 per month. I know; that is a lot of money. So this year, we are committed to not turing the furnace on until the end of November. As I sit here looking out the window at this:

I am reconsidering my firm position on not turning the furnace on!



 

In the spirit of winter, we got Dozer a new sweater. He doesn't ever get much hair and he gets so cold. Isn't he a cutie?! They had teal, grass green, yellow, pink and orange. Orange was the least offensive, so Bubba got orange. It fits well, but getting it on him is like wrestling with an oiled pig. Whew!

Our Ward is having their annual Spooktacular Halloween party this Saturday from 1-3. I volunteered us to bring firewood for the bonfire, which means we have to go and cannot flake out at the last minute. It will be at the Walpole's ranch, so there will be hay rides a petting zoo, fire, trunk-or-treat and some other fun stuff. This will be our first real Ward activity in almost 2 years. 2 years?! We spent most of 2009 trying to get pregnant and stay pregnant and most of 2010 recovering from neck surgery and yet another miscarriage. Now that we are on the road to recovery and working on getting our lives back, we are excited to get back into it. If only they would make the pews in the chapel more comfortable - then I could sit for longer than 30 minutes and would be able to attend sacrament more often. It has been quite some time since we tried to make it through the whole hour, and this Sunday is time to try again!

We are pretty excited about the Holidays this year. We were talking our plans and decided to do Thanksgiving at our place. We have invited Mom, if she chooses to come, but even if she doesn't, we will be planning and hopefully carrying out a feast! Christmas is going to be spent much like last year, at home with each other enjoying the true meaning of the season. New Year's Eve will be spent celebrating until midnight... or at least 9:30!