The 7-ups

We met with our new Ward today and it was awesome! They are so very nice and welcoming. Of course they read our records and got our names wrong, but who cares?! Heavenly Father knows who we are. We are the furthest north in our Ward - at least they (our home teachers and visiting teachers) will have an adventure every month when they come to visit us! I don't think they have any idea what they are in for - it makes me laugh.

The 7-ups; a way to remind ourselves to live well, be worthy and love & serve the Lord.

1. Wake up - choose to greet each day with enthusiasm and decide to have a good day
2. Dress up - dress appropriately as a child of God and dress for success
3. Shut up - be quiet and listen to the soft promptings of the Lord
4. Stand up - stand up for your beliefs and the virtues that you have been taught
5. Look up - look to the Prophets and the Lord for direction in all aspects of your life
6. Reach up - reach for something higher; you are destined to be more than you currently are
7. Lift up - lift up your voice to the Lord through prayer

An invitation from our Stake President that is a great idea for all members:
"Dear Brothers, Sisters and Youth (ages 8 to 105 years old),
I invite you to read and ponder from cover to cover, every word given in the October 2010 Ensign before Christmas, December 25, 2010. As you do, you will feel the Spirit of the Lord more in your lives, and your love for His Temples here on earth will grow. You will strive harder to keep yourself worthy to go to the Temple. Those of you old enough to hold a temple recommend will strive to obtain a recommend and go more regularly and worthily to the Temple of the Lord. I give you my blessing that if you are obedient in this invitation, to read and ponder every word of the October Ensign, you will be blessed and will draw closer to your Savior and feel His tender mercies in your life. You will point your life towards His Temple, which is towards Him whose house it is."

Goat Stuff

We have had a lot of goat questions coming in lately. I have been trying to email replies to everyone as I can and will continue to do so! Since many of the questions are the same, I will start posting some of the information here on our blog and on our website on the Country Life page under Homesteading. Not quite the right place for it, but until I can get a Goat care page set up it will have to do.

Happy Goating!


Wedding and Ward changes

We went to the wedding of one of dear friend's this weekend; JP Chavez and Monica Edwin. We are so happy for JP and Monica, they have waited so long!

The wedding was beautiful and had an autumn theme throughout and was quite spectacular with live music and singing through the ceremony. They had a pianist, harpist, guitarist, flutist and two singers. The bridesmaid dresses were light brown, which when I heard about it I thought it would be less than nice to say the least. I pictured paper bags and burlap sacks - silly I know, but I really had nothing to go on. The dresses were light gauze with satin slips - very classy! You can see one of the dresses on the far left of the photo. The brides dress was very pretty and strapless. She didn't have a long train or veil but her brilliant red hair was curled and done up with bling clips.





It has been some time since we attended a wedding and this one was so special. JP and Monica are devout Christians, although not LDS, and through their belief in Christ, they saved themselves for marriage. An unusual thing in these days and even more so since they are both in their 30s. The ceremony was prayerful and devoted to the Lord. We feel honored to have been part. It is with bitter sweet feelings that I recount the wedding ceremony. It was very obvious to me, having been sealed for eternity, when the preacher said 'til death do you part or Christ returns.' I have never heard the Christ returns part before but it was said several times during the ceremony. They are so in love and have such faith that it makes me cry to think that they are not sealed for eternity. I am so sad for them. I wish they could have all of the blessings that the Gospel can offer. SO... We have decided that as soon as they return from their honeymoon we will invite them to church with us.

You can see the love in their faces! They are such a wonderful couple and we are honored to know them. Their faith in Christ has carried to the to their wedding day and will carry them through many years to come. We wish them the best for a long and happy future.

Speaking of church...
They diced up our Ward like a pie last night. We and 5 other families are now members of the Windsor Ward, which if you look at a map of the Stake and Ward boundaries, it does not make sense. Our dear neighbors and newly baptized members, the Carters, are struggling with the change. Sandee hasn't stopped crying for two days. I shared some of the following with her in an effort to comfort her.

I was shocked at first because we loved our Ward, the people, my calling was perfect and we had great activities that made us not feel out of place because we live in the boondocks. We all know that once we start to feel comfortable, the Lord gives us changes and challenges to stretch us. I guess I should have acted a bit more uncomfortable!

We met the Stake President when we renewed our recommends this past February and we found him to be a wonderful and caring man. I have a sense of comfort that Windsor Ward (our new Ward) will be very well organized since it is his home ward! Since Windsor was not cut, I anticipate it will take them a bit to find us callings and get used to having members in the boondocks! We will find our place, all will be well.
After speaking to one of the brethren it was made clear to me through his words and prayer that we are a very important part of the Windsor Ward. You see, they have property to build a new church in Windsor but do not have the membership to support it. They added us to help their Ward grow to the north so that we may be able to build a new building for the Lord. We have been chosen!
I have been praying since last night and I feel strongly that this move is mean to make us stronger in some way. This is an opportunity to learn and grow. There is a lesson waiting for us in Windsor Ward, a lesson that will help us to grow in faith, strengthen our testimonies, become more self-sufficient and to allow us to participate in a great work for the Lord. I miss so dearly my friends, seeing them every Sunday and visiting each month but the Lord knows that we need someone in Windsor Ward and someone in Windsor Ward is needing us. it is our jobs to be faithful and of good cheer so that we can recognize it when the Spirit prompts us.

The best part, the part that puts my heart at ease is this - the time may change, the people may change but the Gospel is always the same no matter the building, time, people or Ward; the Gospel is always the same. We will find our home in the Windsor Ward.

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!

Thanksgiving Daily

The more often we see the things around us, the more they become invisible to us. Learn how you can live in thanksgiving daily by noticing the wonders and beauties of this world. Watch and share a new Mormon Message, "Thanksgiving Daily." Read Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's full address, "Live in Thanksgiving Daily."

A minor setback, a lesson and a blessing

I went to the doctor in tears on Monday morning. When my neck gets bad is causes a cascade of other issues like migraine headaches, numb arms, swollen hands, aching back, trouble sleeping and a bad case of the grumpies. Each of those issues cause more issues like lack of enthusiasm and a worse case of the grumpies.

So, I got there at 7:15 in tears and sat in the parking lot crying until they opened the door at 7:50. I saw the Doctor, who I might mention is wonderful, compassionate, understanding and very, very, very good at whatt she does. She gave me an anti-inflammatory medicine shot and sent me over to therapy for some massage and stretching.

Two things I would lie to share with you 1. the anti-inflammatory shot is wonderful and kicks in in 20 minutes. 2. it stings like nothing I have ever felt before - mind boggling stinging. 3. it is a shot in the butt. Not the hip, they do it square on the smooshy part of your bottom. Did I mention that it stings?! Yeah, now you get the idea!

Anyhow, I took 2 pain pills and sat in the Jacuzzi at the Senior Center for an hour. No, I am not a senior, not even close, but it is the only place that one can completely relax when in severe pain because there is a lifeguard on duty. It was wonderful. I drove home for the first time since March 3rd without any pain at all. Amazing!

At my follow-up this morning, she put me on the same medicine as yesterday only in pill form. You only have to poke me once to convince me that waiting 45 minutes for it to kick in instead of 20 is not such a bad deal! I return to work tomorrow and hopefully this is the last setback on the long road to recovery.

I recently ad someone ask - 'knowing what you know now, would you have surgery again?' My answer 'YES!' The pain before was from nerve damage and impingement, which if you have never experienced, I hope you never have to. If you have had it (say a root canal) multiply that by 20. If affected my arm and hand movement, coordination and strength and right before surgery was starting to affect my legs. I still have a numb place on my hip/thigh that I can't feel. Nerve pain and the affects of that are awful, muscle pain and inflammation - easy peasy. This will pass, it is all a part of getting better and I know that. Before, I was getting worse and there was no possible way to get better.

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On to something more fun. Goats!

We purchased Nephi to breed to our does and possibly to offer breeding to others in our area. The interest has been outstanding and lucky for us, he likes his job. He has already paid for himself, which is the whole idea. We make a little money each year off the kids but for the most part, the sale of the kids pays for the hay and vaccines for the adults. Milk is an extra bonus.

We have had Lacey in with him for a month and she just cycled last week, we will know by the end of this month if it took or not. I left her in with him because he is still a baby (11 months) and he has become very attached to her. I know that at some point in the next month or two he will have to move over to the 'Love Shack' alone - ah, the sad, sad life of a bachelor! I just put Lilly in with him and hope that she will cycle this month. That would allow us to have staggered kidding, which would be nice for a change. This whole breeding this is new to me and I hope to figure it all out in the next year!

A lesson and a blessing
We just found out that one of our kids from this year, Midnight, has been given away to a new home. I know, given away?! I freaked out. What if she is abused or worse - eaten!

No need to panic, I am such a fool. She has been given to a home with a small child with Downs Syndrome. He loves Midnight and she is doing very well. Animals can bring such joy and healing, even healing that is inexplicable to doctors. They are more in tune with the subtle changes and delicate spirits of those with disabilities. Will I miss Midnight, yes without a doubt. Does she belong to this small boy, yes - it was destined to be before she was even born. It humbles me to know that my sweet little goat may help this dear child. What a blessing for us both.

How arrogant was I to be upset?! How arrogant to think she was mine?! Lesson learned. I was merely a vessel to get this little goat to this little boy. Heavenly Father's hand is so entwined in my life and I must learn to trust Him, He will not lead me astray. Thank you Lori for helping me learn this lesson!