Loser

As I was pondering the many things that I would love to change about myself, one that is at the top of the list is how I am a loser. I lose my cell phone regularly, my poor husband is very use to me IMing him to call my phone. But at the top of the list is my keys, many a morning has started with a frantic search for the car keys so that we can rush to the bus stop. I had prayed on occasion to overcome this weakness, I was complaining to my sister that I still struggled with constantly losing the keys then it hit me. I cannot pray just once to overcome this, it must be a daily prayer.


27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them.

I have always loved this passage Moroni a prophet of God struggled with his ability to write and was worried that people would dismiss the importance of the Lords words because of his weakness in writing. The Lords response to Moroni is beautiful, if we humble ourselves He will make our weakness strong. I didn't need any help in identifying a weakness (I think most of us are painfully aware of our shortcomings) but I did need help in overcoming it.

So one day when I was reading my scriptures, I was pondering this promise of weak things becoming strong, I had a thought come to me. I hardly ever lose my purse, so maybe if my keys were tied to my purse I would never lose my keys. Personal revelation. So I tied my keys with string to my bright lime green purse, I love that color. Than my husband noticed my contraption and he thought he could "help" me. So for Christmas he upgraded my ribbon tethers to a retractable key chain, who knew they made those.

I love hearing how this passage of scripture has helped others. I have a friend who has a weakness for over eating, she says she has a prayer in her heart morning, nightly and at every meal to not over eat. She told me once she realized that this promise could apply to her, she has relied on it.



As for me, one weakness greatly strengthened now on to the next one.....

Doppelganger

I walked by the dinning room the other day and this is what I saw, Holman just talking to his girl. He was saying, "Adrianna I have been waiting for you for over two years." This is a common phrase he tells her, it is uncanny how much they look a like.
















Holman's pictures are on the top, Adrianna's are second. It is funny they are both wearing yellow. They are my twins that are 5 years apart. She was almost born on his birthday, they both had the same due date.











Look how similar their hair is. Sometime I will have to post Olivia and Parkin's similarities :)

Santa versus Mom

Yesterday I was talking to Holman about someone who was all powerful and all knowing, I was hoping that he was understanding the character and nature of God. But he interrupts me with Mom that is not Heavenly Father that is Santa Claus.

I am not a Santa Claus hater, if kids choose to dream of sugar plum fairies who am I to stop them? But I will not lie or play along if they ask me a direct question. When the girls were younger we were preparing to give gifts for Christmas to individuals and family's who might need a little help for the Holidays. They were very distraught with the need to help others when there was a Santa Claus who would take care of them. We told them that Santa doesn't go to every house, and then the constant question, why? For family home home evening I bought Santa hats that said "Santa's Little Helper," I explained that there was no Santa Claus. That if flying reindeer really existed we would save up money to buy one. I told them that loved ones were the real Santas, I let them in on the secret and told them now that they knew they could be a Santa to someone. They could be angels here on earth, helping others. They were actually very excited and couldn't wait to surprise people with gifts. The family night was a success.

Well yesterday when Holman was telling me that Santa was the most powerful being, I thought maybe it was his turn to be let in on the secret. I gave him the speech. He thought about what I told him and then he said, "When I am a parent, I will wait to see if my kids get anything on Christmas, if they do he is real, if they don't then I will believe you." Now that is a scientific approach.

Lemons are Lame but Add Sugar...Ahh Lemonade

"One's life....cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free...Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, 'Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!'... Real faith...is required to endure this necessary but painful developmental process."

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

I love that our Heavenly Father has restored His church on the earth and just like anciently we have Prophets and Apostles. Elder Maxwell has been one of my favorite apostles he taught with authenticity as he struggled with severe health problems while walking in faith. This quote from him has become a favorite of mine, I think of it when things haven't gone the way I had hoped or even prayed for. This quote was taken from an article he wrote entitled "The Growth Required to Return Home." We lived before we came to earth and we will all live again because Heavenly Father sent His son, our Savior. We can make our individual experiences work for our good if we seek guidance from Him.

Confection Creations

When I had Adrianna a friend from the church made us dinner. For dessert she made these yummy cupcakes.
The drumsticks were made with a spice cake, she put a donut hole on top then frosted it with vanilla icing and then rolled them in crushed cereal. She made the drumstick bone out of melted white chocolate. As you can see in the picture someone took a bite out of one.
The cupcake that I ate was the mashed potato. the mashed potato was made out of a generous amount of icing, then she drizzled the potatoes with caramel sauce and the tab of butter was a lemon Starburst. The peas and carrots were made from lime runts and a cut up orange Starburst.
Then the dessert was a chocolate sprinkle cupcake.

I just thought this was so creative I had to share. What kid (or adult) wouldn't want to sit down to a meal like this. Thanks Mindy!

You Can't Catch Me I'm the Gingerbread Girl

I was driving into Tucson minding my own business when WAMO I see a FLASH from a speed camera. Everyday I pass a speed camera on my way into Benson, but I had never seen a speed camera setup on the way to Tucson, so naturally I was caught off guard and apparently speeding. I have been anticipating my little "present " in the mail for weeks and finally yesterday it came.

Yep that's me! I can tell by the hanging vanilla candle from my rear view mirror :) When Parkin saw the picture he said, "Momma that's you and that's Adrianna's seat." Observant little lad.

The damage: $181.50. I had been clocked at 81 mph. Which isn't so bad when the speed limit is 75 mph, but because I was about to go under a train bridge they reduce the speed limit to 65mph. I don't know why they have the speed reduction, unless trolls are jumping out ( which I guess could get messy).


Here is the silver lining. I know there are some of you who think there shouldn't be any silver lining, your thinking you broke the law and you should be punished. Well Ha! I should have the right to plead my case in front of a cop at the time of said incident (I sorta believe that). Back to the the silver lining, the car is registered in Benjamin's name therefor it is his ticket!


The are are three options on my NOTICE OF VIOLATION

A) "Pay the sanction"
B) "If you were not the driver, you must include an enlarged, Clear copy of your driver license to EXCLUDE yourself as the driver"
C) "Contest responsibility"

Nowhere does it say if your spouse, kid, friend, mother in law, bum at the circle K was driving your vehicle you still have to pay. No, simply it says, if you were not the driver exclude yourself of the ticket. SWEET!.

So because the car is registered in Benjamin's name those darn cameras can only catch him when he is driving my car. We are now going to change the registration on Benjamin's car to my name, covering him if he gets paparazzi taking pictures of him, I mean if the speed cameras catch him. I will just have to be extra careful when I drive his car. I honestly am not that big of a speedier, the last person to get pulled over was Benjamin (sorry for ratting you out) but he was able to talk with the cop and viola no ticket.

So take that Big Brother, you maybe watching me but you can't catch me. There are no friendly foxes offering me a ride in Benson so there!

Don't judge a book by its smiling cover

Today I went to the library with Holman, Parkin, Adrianna and their cousin Jared. We headed to the little kids section where Parkin literally took every puzzle apart and was climbing shelves. Holman was playing on the computer and I was trying to discreetly nurse Anna. Jared was helpful he would bring all the puzzle pieces and together we were putting them back together. Finally after I was done nursing and finished reading the boys requests, I was able to really start to clean up Parkins hurricane mess with two hands. We had about five more minutes before we needed to go, and our area was clean, so I told the boys we could read one more book. We sat down in the little semi circle benches they have, they are low to the floor and padded on one side and the other side of the bench is just wood. Holman and Jared were sitting side by side on one bench holding baby Anna and doing a good job I might add. Parkin was on the backside of the bench looking over the boys with a huge smile. All four kiddos were being so well behaved I was so impressed. Then I noticed a lady looking at us intently, I am thinking she must be admiring how well I am manging this brood, or she must really like my reading voice, bottom line she is impressed. Then she politely stops me, I brace myself for the impending compliment, wait for it - wait for it. Then she tells me, "mam your son doesn't have any underwear on and he isn't wearing pants." I quickly go to the other side of the bench to find Parkin completely naked from the waist down. His excited expression at me wasn't because he was enjoying the book, it was because he was mooning the people behind him. Awesome.