Excuse me?!

I've been a parent for a long time now, twenty years! Just when I think I've heard it all, I stand corrected and am amused yet again by the fruit of my loins. Last night, Kacey and I had an enjoyable evening at Enrichment where we did our fair share of beautifying the earth with hot glue guns, Modge Podge, rhinestones and staple guns. Oh yes, we signed up for it all. It was an evening to spend with our girls and it was time well spent. Girls, girls, everywhere girls ... from ages 1 to 100. This gathering got me thinking. Rarely have I ever entertained the thought of wishing I had another daughter because Kacey and I just don't need more of that around, but we do like to visit it. So we had our fill of the estrogen filled cultural hall and we made our way home to the testosterone levels that we are used to.

I was scurrying around the house putting all of our crafty clutter away from the aforementioned event, when I heard what I heard. I can honestly say I've never heard these words uttered, nor do I think they'll ever be said or heard again ... so I just had to blog them! Are you ready? This is what I heard Kacey EXCLAIM to her larger yet younger brother. "Keaton! Stop using my tampons! They're almost all gone!" Yes, you read it correctly. So you'll understand that for a second I stood there questioning my hearing and then immediately went to investigate what I thought I heard. Sure enough, there was Kacey standing there with the blue box in one hand and a whole lot of attitude in the other.




My eyes instantly directed themselves toward Keaton and I didn't even need to ask ... he quickly began to explain. Apparently, while we were off using a staple gun, Keaton got a pretty bad bloody nose. One of his friends introduced him to a highly absorbent solution which happened to be right there in the bathroom cabinet! I'm sure he and his friend were feeling quite pleased with the fact that they had stopped the bleeding and that they had gone where few men had ever gone before. I thought that the looks on mine and Kacey's faces would have convinced Keaton to have feelings of regret, therefore giving me the satisfied feeling that this wouldn't happen again. However, the grin on Keaton's face did just the opposite. All it did was make me stand up straighter and realize that my parenting is far from over. So I guess I've got another hundred years to go before I've heard all there is to hear, but this little exchange of words between Kacey and Keaton confirmed my peace with having only one daughter. I can truly say that arguing over tampon theft is probably not something I'll have to deal with on a regular basis. However, if it happens again, I'm pretty sure that Kacey will know how to stop the bloody nose on Keaton ... which she will have caused.

God Bless America

When I was younger, I made some really dumb choices.  So did everybody else I’ve ever met ... ever.  I still make poor choices!  Unless we’re perfect (and we’re not), that’s just part of life.   Luckily, we usually learn from our choices and we become better for it!  This is how I feel about The United States of America. 

When she was younger, she was still learning about everything. I imagine it’s not easy to start a nation from scratch.  No doubt that some stupid choices were made. Can you believe that we actually thought that slavery was normal?  What the heck, right?!  Women couldn’t vote!  Shut the front door!  Shoot!  Shut the back door!  But guess what. That’s not who we are anymore. 

That’s not who we are anymore because we are inherently good and wise. We began to learn from our mistakes how people should be treated. That’s how history works. Our history shapes us, reminds us of our progress, and gives us some really helpful hints on what to do moving forward!  We should be so proud of our country today! It’s still not perfect (neither are we), but look how far we’ve come!  

So when we choose to be offended by our history, and actually begin to remove the landmarks, statues and images that refer to our past ... we’re erasing the piece that we grew from. We’re also erasing some really impressive work that should never be dismissed. Betsy made a grand ole’ flag!  And she’s a girl!  Atta girl, Betsy!

Today we celebrate our independence. Freedomthat some still don’t have.  This freedom recently allowed people to express their feelings about Betsy’s flag. This same freedom allows me to express my feelings about people who choose to be offended by Betsy’s flag rather than measure the growth we’ve experienced since then, and to appreciate the work and the good that was put into that flag!  Are we done learning and growing?  Nope. Can we be better?  Always. History has shown us this.  

So today, on The 4th of July, my gosh celebrate what we have. Light a sparkler and take a bit to rejoice in the good things the USA has offered us.  We’re the luckiest.  We’ll pay it forward.  We always have.  God bless America.

 

Just Watch

I take my husband for granted. There. I said it. Sometimes I forget that everybody's man can't fix everything. Literally everything. From smoked pork, to a Dodge Ram ... he can fix it. Tonight I was reminded and I'm glad.  

Last night, his diesel truck got filled up with regular gas. Ladies, I don't have to tell you the horror of this mistake, am I right?  Luckily, the mistake was recognized immediately, and the truck was towed home before any permanent damage was done.  Also luckily, I don't work on trucks!  So while I felt bad that this had to be dealt with, I knew it wasn't going to be me that got my hands dirty or my clothes sweaty. I was wrong, but it was good. 

I came home from work to see his big ole truck in the driveway. Work had been started, but not yet completed. He was taking a short break, and getting ready to head back out again. All of the "bad" gas had been drained from the tank, the thingy was no longer attached to the other thingies and it was time to put the filters and fuel tubes and pipes and stuff back together.  Huge bummer!  

I sat down in my comfy, air conditioned home and proceeded to relax a bit (because I just sat at a desk for 8 hours)!  Then Gary poked his head in the door and asked "Can you jack this up for me?"  Now, he could have meant this one of two ways. 1. My truck is already jacked up pretty bad, but I believe you could actually make it worse. 2. Can you use the jack to make my truck go up in the air?  I looked up at him over my reading glasses and raised one brow. He wanted me to do truck work???  I couldn't possibly be of any assistance!

I walked outside to see what he needed. The truck was already jacked up (in the air), and the thingy (the fuel tank) was somehow disconnected and hanging down from the center of the truck.  You guys, this tank was a beast. It was bigger than Gary. It was big, messy & complicated. So my job was to slowly raise the tank (with a simple little jack) up in position, while he reattached all of the gadgets and whatnots above it. Cinchy! I could do that!  

As I stayed close to my assignment, and listened to Gary give patient instructions, I watched him. I watched as he wrestled with that tank in the Arizona heat and put that truck back together again. To be honest, I was in awe. Not in a million years could I have done that. I literally would have died an undignified death with the ugly cry stuck on my face.  But he did it!  And the reason he did it was the best. He did it for our family. And then he changed his clothes and went back to work some more for us. 

My goal in writing this down here is not to compare our jobs, our strengths, our weaknesses or our differences.  My goal is just to remind myself to watch more often and be more grateful.  Taking the time to watch him work reminded me, and I'm glad.  Tomorrow, or the next day, I might forget again, because life gets crazy (and so do I), but today ... I remembered ... and it was good.  

Wintery!

It's been cold and rainy this week. It's beautiful when I'm home under my electric blanket!

Favorite Smell

My favorite smell. Fresh out of the tub babies. Thanks for stopping by! 

Happy New Year!

2016 is going to be great. I just know it! 

Different Elder Shaker ... 3 years later

It's been 3 years since I've blogged.  I have a lot to say, and much of it will be about my kids, so I thought it would be appropriate to start where I left off ... with another missionary letter.  Jake has been serving in the Roseville, California mission for one year this week!  He is a fantastic missionary and a pretty amazing kid.  Here is his letter from this week.

"Hello,

I love Citrus Heights!  We have seen so many miracles this week, the ward is very supportive and the whole zone is very on purpose.  I love it.

It is crazy weird being in a YSA Ward.  It's just trippy being around so many people my age.  Especially so many returned missionaries.  It's doing some psychological damage.  This Friday is my year mark.  I cannot believe it.  At the beginning of my mission I had dreams about going home, now I have nightmares about going home.  Not joking.  I keep having this nightmare where I go home and I wake up crying.  I literally cannot remember how it feels to not be on a mission.  Those who have served know the feeling.

I love being a zone leader.  It is so fun being able to help other missionaries.  When I wasn't a zone leader I always thought all these ideas I would do if I was a zone leader and now I can actually do them!  Under the Mission Presidents counsel we have been focusing a lot on finding and the results showed for sure!  Every time I saw someone from the zone I talked about their finding with them and we went from 2 new investigators to 7 new investigators this week!  That felt really awesome.

2 of the new investigators were from us.  We found John and Sandra.  They are ex-spouses who still have a good relationship.  We were walking to the door of a ward missionary to introduce ourselves and John was outside sitting in his garage and we felt prompted to talk to him.  At first he tried to bible bash but we got him to simmer down and then his ex wife drove up.  She naturally said to us "Hi Elders!"  We started talking with her and turns out her grandpa was a Bishop!  She even told us one time without knowing it was wrong, she wore her Grandpa's garments to sleep!  She has a member friend in our ward who told her she shouldn't do that so she understands now.  However, within the past few weeks she said she has seen so many signs pointing her towards the church and she agreed to meet with us!  John also agreed to meet with us.  Sunday night we had a lesson with John and after a little resistance he accepted the invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, so please pray for him!

Also, we are now assigning preparation day activities to each companionship which is way more fun than just playing basketball each week.  Last week we played with nerf gun, this week we are having a crepe party with soccer and next week we are going to a park to launch stuff with a catapult that a member has (we will be safe, I'm an Eagle Scout).

The mission life is great!  I am so thankful for this past year in my life.  I cannot express in words the love I have for my Savior.  Every day He and His Gospel grow more and more amazing to me.  I know our Father in Heaven loves us all so much and I'm happy to proclaim His love.  I love these people more and more each day and I can't imagine His love for us if mine feels so grand and He is glorified and infinite.

Jesus is the Christ.  No unhallowed hand can stop His work.  Hurrah for Israel!

Jesus is the Christ.

Love,

Elder Shaker, III"

I'm very proud of my boys and their service to the Lord.  They are so much stronger and braver than I am.  Go, fight, win Jake!!!  Go, fight, win.  If you have any questions about this letter or the Mormon religion, please feel free to ask!