That One Awesome Fireside

Photos found on lds.org

 

I keep thinking from time to time about the fireside we had last month where Elder Christofferson and Elder Hallstrom spoke.  I think I forgot to do any kind of write-up other than a few notes about it.  You wanna know what the first thing is that I think of when the subject comes up?  Here it is:

We were there about 45 minutes early so we could get a decent seat.  At that point we were waiting for our visiting general authorites, people were visiting, and it was getting a little noisy.  After we'd been there about 15 minutes a lady got up and stood at the microphone.  She was looking around, and I didn't know what she was doing.  I guess I figured she was looking for her group.  Anyway, after she'd stood there for a minute or two she suddenly said, "No, I'm not an apostle, but this is still the house of the Lord.  So SHUSH!"  Yes, she yelled the last part - in the chapel, and all of it was said in a very rude voice.  It was so horribly innapropriate.  It did get people to be quiet, and she did have a valid point, but the message was not delivered in a very good way, and it drove away the spirit.  I didn't like it.

Thank heavens we all had time to recover from that. And right on the dot our general authorities walked in.  It was so cool to see them walk in. The feeling is so delightful, just being in their presence.  I was thankful that they came!

In Elder Hallstrom's talk he talked about the statement that we've all heard many people make: "That's just the way I am."  I know I've heard that a lot, and I admit I've been very judgmental about it.  I've even caught myself thinking it from time to time.  Well, Elder Hallstrom is contrary to the gospel and to eternal progression.  Isn't that lovely?  And so I guess whatever we say that about becomes a challenge to use our weaknesses as a tool and become better people.  We are not meant to be stuck in a rut.  We are meant to have challenges, and we are meant to learn and grow from them and be who God wants us to be (which we all know is AWESOME).

In Elder Christofferson's talk he said a couple of things that got us all laughing.  He was looking for a scripture and said, "I hope the scripture is where I think it is.  Sometimes they move." 

He also told a story about one of his children's families.  They were all gathered around for family prayer one night.  Somebody bumped a Darth Vader toy, and it said, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

And my favorite part of his talk was when he talked about the scripture D&C 64:10.  It says, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men."  When he was reading it a long time ago he thought that seemed unfair that we're required to forgive everybody while Heavenly Father can kind of pick and choose who he'll forgive.  But he realized it's really a blessing.  We don't have to carry the burden of deciding who can be forgiven and who can't.  We are allowed to forgive everyone.  I love that.  It's such an incredible feeling to forgive.  It is such a gift.

My children were pretty restless throughout the meeting.  I was impressed that Hyrum and Joshua recognized that a rare and special thing it was to have an apostle in our midst, even if they were kind of bored.  At the end of the meeting they practically ran up to the front to shake Elder Christofferson's hand, but he was already gone.  I understand that they have a tight schedule, but it was still such a bummer.  I know that is something they would always remember.  My hope is that they remember anyway.

Happy Days

Timmy as Pikachu at Trunk or Treat

 

Last night we went to Trunk or Treat at the stake center.  It sneaked up on me.  I only bought one costume this year.  The rest were reruns.  And honestly, I wish I hadn't bought that one costume.  It represents the fact that I gave in, and that's lousy.

 

Trunk or Treat, however, was a lot of fun.  Every time we go to Trunk or Treat, the four older boys run off on their own right away, so we don't see much of them during the night, but I really enjoyed the time spent with the little ones.  While we were eating dinner and trying to get Timmy calmed down (poor tired, hungry boy), Jill took off with a random group of kids and ran around getting candy for a while.  Jeremy and Grandma took off running to find her.  Thank heavens, she was ok, and she was so pleased that she got candy.  Jeremy took her hand and they went together to get more. 

 

I think the best part of the night for me was when Timmy jumped down and took off running.  I ran and grabbed his candy bag and handed it to him, and then I just followed him as he ran.  He'd run and run and then stop at a random car and hold his bag out.  Then he got around to the end of the church where they'd had games.  They had a floodlight there, and at that point he stopped and bent over to look in his back.  He exclaimed, "Ooooooo Cah-kee!"  (Candy)  It was like he suddenly noticed he had some and was so pleased. :) Letting him run is a great delight for me, especially when we're in a large area.  His eyes light up and he just takes off and looks so, so happy.

 

Trunk or Treat is just one of the many delights about fall around here.  I've stopped grieving so much about being here in Globe and having left our beautiful home in Utah.  I'm looking for things I can be thankful for, and the more I do, the more I find to be thankful for.  It doesn't mean that conditions are ideal or that all the bills are paid right on time, but it means that I am trying to recognize God's hand in my life and how He blesses me every day.  This afternoon I saw it in the setting sun's light filtering through the leaves in the huge trees in our backyard.  It is breathtaking, and it made me stop and cry a little bit.  God is good.  I'm thankful for fall light in Globe and all the other little ways He shows his love and presence in my life.

Things are looking up

Yea, plastic animals! :D

 

 

Right after we got home from a wonderful day in Pima on Sunday, the Relief Society president showed up at our door.  Somebody had tattled about our situation, and she practically forced us (in a sweet, loving way, of course, because she is a sweet and loving person) to fill out a food order.  We should be getting that food today.  I am so thankful!  One of the things I'm most excited to be getting is dishwasher soap.  I've been trying to be frugal, so when I ran out of dishwasher soap I just started washing by hand.  One of the things on the food order was dishwasher soap.  Such a small thing, but I'm so thankful!

 

Also, I checked our food stamps account this morning, and there was money in it!  My jaw dropped.  I had very nearly given up on ever seeing a balance other than zero there.  (Please bless that we never, ever, ever, ever, ever have to live with government help again!  I'm thankful that it's there, and this will be such a big help, but I'll be so glad to ditch it, and I seriously hope we never have to have it again.)

 

And also today, I found Timmy's bucket of plastic animals.  I hadn't seen it since we moved and was afraid it had somehow been thrown away in Cedar City.  I'm so thankful!  It may seem like such a small thing, but it makes a difference to me, and it makes a difference to Timmy.  He loves them a lot.  In fact he loves them almost as much as his Lightning McQueen.  That is quite a bit. :)

I've also proved once again today that a clean home is a happy home, even if that home has non-working lights here and there.

Paracelsus

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

 

I was just reading about Paracelsus.  He was a doctor born in 1493 and had a big influence on the field of medicine during the Renaissance.  Paracelsus is kind of a nickname meaning that he was greater than or equat to Celsus, a famous doctor who came before him.  The thing that stuck out to me the most as I read about him is that he said that cholera came from an opinion or idea.  Yes, apparently he thought you could get a disease from an opinion or idea.  However, he did start up the idea that disease came from outside the body, not just from an imbalance within the body. 

These old doctors sure stumbled around in the dark.  And it's funny, too, because he sounds really stuck on himself.  He made a statement that says, basically, "You're not smart and educated like me, and you can't disprove even a word of what I say."  But all these old doctors contributed their bit and it's because of all those little contributions that medicine is as advanced now as it is.  Pretty cool.

Timma

Cute little Timma is still learning to talk.  It's so darn cute!  He has a little Lightning McQueen that Michael handed down to him, and it's currently his favorite toy, though the little pull-along doggy is a pretty close second.  He can say car, but he says it, "Cah-ee" (one syllable).  His favorite movie right now is "Cah-ees," which he likes to watch snuggled in a recliner, holding his cah-ee. 

He's learned to say Mommy instead of Mama, but when he says it it's in a whiny voice like his siblings say when they're fussing at me.  Ha, ha!  And he still loves to get a drink.  He still sometimes whacks me with a cup when he needs a drink, but not as often as he used to.  He calls water "wah-ee," and often juice is "wah-ee" too.  He sometimes gets mad at me for giving him water instead of juice.  He throws himself on the floor and sob.  The other thing he says pretty frequently lately is "moy."  It means more.  And he's been trying his hand at saying his siblings' names, but mostly just Joshua.

And best of all, Timma is still very cuddly.  He does love to eat my hair still, but he mostly only does it at night now.  Ha, ha!  That sounds like weaning.  He likes to climb up behind me on my chair and bite the hair on top of my head when he gets the urge during the day.  At night I sit in his room and snuggle him and Jill and he grabs a huge fistful (I've got extremely thick hair) and chomps to his heart's content, or at least until he pulls enough that I get upset.  But he does give great hugs too.  Sometimes it seems like he hugs me just so he can eat my hair, but I'm a sucker for a good baby hug. :)

Happy Conference!

Check out what I made for my kiddos for General Conference tomorrow!

They saw what I was making and said, "Do we have to do that AGAIN?!"  I said, "Yep." :) They don't realize it, but it blessed their little lives when I made them do it last time.  So of course they're doing it again.

In times past, I've used this one, but I was kind of frustrated that all the pictures looked like they were from the 80's.  For this one I used pictures from the church website.  (They are not my pictures.  In no way am I saying they are.)  They are more updated.  My little notebook isn't perfect, but it'll work. :)

Happy Conference tomorrow! :D I'm so excited!

Hello. I work for the government. How can I make your life more difficult?

I have been thankful many time since this move that government assistance is available to help those in need.  The funny thing is that now that we need it more than ever, it's been consistently just beyond our reach since the move.  Here's a story for you.

Before we moved here, Jeremy was offered a job at Globe High School, but in order to get that job, he had to pass fingerprint clearnace with the FBI.  That is something that usually takes a long time, but at that moment the list was backed up pretty far, and they said it could take up to 8 weeks to process.  Well, we hoped for the best, packed up our life, and moved back to our house in Globe.  It just so happened, though, that our tenants caused a lot of damage to the house in Globe.  And one of our cars broke down on the way here.  All of that means money, and at that point we were getting kind of low on money. 

After almost 5 weeks, the clearance still hadn't gone through.  We were starting to sweat a little, watching our money supply dwindle.  I applied for government assistance because I didn't know what else to do.  I knew it would be a headache because it always has been, but I bit the bullet and got it done.  I turned in a bunch of paperwork, I did my phone interview, I turned in more paperwork, Jeremy and I did an in-office interview, I spent hours on a workbook about how to get a job, I filled out a big stack of forms, and I spent hours trying to get copies of bills and take them in and writing note after note that said, "We're living off savings.  Nobody's helping us.  It's all running out, dang it!" 

In the middle of all that, Jeremy started working at the high school as a volunteer, unable to be paid teaching the classes that would be his when he was hired.  But at least he wasn't sitting at home going crazy.  This led the DES to think that he had an actual job.  We had to write a note saying he was just volunteering and have the school do the same.  His fingerprint clearance finally came in on Saturday.  He ran down to Tucson with it on Monday and got CTE clearance, and he was officially hired yesterday (with our first payday being still 3 weeks away).  I was relieved to hear yesterday that we were approved for all the assistance we applied for and there would be money in our account today.  Things were sure looking up.

Well, this morning I checked to see if there was money in our account, and there was not.  After calling DES several times and having nobody answer, I finally got somebody, and she said some idiot had put in our records that we're self-employed, so we have to bring in more documents.  What the...  We're not self-employed!  Our income is still a big fat zero!  Well, to up this latest misunderstanding we have to come in for an interview or have another phone interview.  The phone interview list is long, and my boys are about to come home, so going to the office is out of the question.  No doubt they will just ask me to bring in more documents either way.

So here we are two days shy of a month after applying.  We still haven't received any assistance at all.  The endless stream of proof and documents I have had to provide has given me the impression that they just don't believe us.  Because our circumstances are unusual, we have had to provide more proof than the average Joe.  And because we don't have a paying job at the moment, they've got to give us more hoops to jump through.  I just don't understand it.  Don't you think that somebody should see that we're in dire straits and help?  It seems like the fact that we're in such need has instead alerted the whole DES world to slow up the process in any way possible.  It just seems backwards.  Does it seem backwards to anybody else?  Or is it just me?

And I know I shouldn't be angry. I am working through it. I know that nobody's out to get us personally, but I feel so beaten down. I also feel like all along I've been greedy and that I need an attitude adjustment.  I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness yesterday when I heard we would have money.  It was practically in my hands - that deliverance.  And then it was snatched away.  Maybe that's what's really wrong.

All that being said, please don't think that I am begging for help from any of my readers.  We do still have some savings left and money is on the way.  My biggest concern right now is that we've got a hefty home repair bill sitting here and an even heftier car repair bill coming up, and right now we can't pay either one.  More bills are coming in the mail, and, I'm sorry, but food is going to come first.  And we still don't have working lights in the hall or the boys' room or the workshop.  But, yeah.  I'm not asking for money.  I'm just venting.  And I know that we will be ok.  We always have been.  We do what the Lord asks of us, and things always come right somehow.