4 Blessings, all at once

So much for being consistent with the 52 Blessings Project posts. Somehow I got off track. But since I started the project, I'm going to continue....

#28 Wellness

It's pretty much a given that when some part of you is out of sorts, you appreciate your full health more when it returns. This week was my first full-functioning week since my July 9th gum graft. I even ate an apple the other day!! Big news, right? (I will appreciate knowing this when I have my next graft.)

#29 Excercise

Yes, I'm considering excercise a blessing. I worked out out every day last week, Monday through Friday, and it felt like a blessing! Perhaps another effect of being compromised for awhile. Hopefully this optimism continues.


#30 Scriptures and #31 The Ensign

Taking the time to partake of some spiritual food has been a blessing. It's always there for the taking. How often do we snack on it and not feast on it? I've noticed when I really take it in it affects all aspects of my day - for the better. Makes me more aware, alert, in-tune. Helps me feel more centered, less scattered.

Some of my favorite articles from recent Ensigns:

Coming to Know for Ourselves

The Spiritual Component of Healing

May We So Live

Shade SPT and Blessing #27

Shade is one of the great blessings of summer.


Jemma just finished her soccer season and while some of the games were in the blazing sun (the poor kids would get so hot) the last few were on the shady field. It made a big difference for them and us, the spectators. In fact, the games were very pleasant and fun when played in the shade. I was loving those Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the park.


Last Wednesday, before my mouth and ability to eat properly were altered, we sat on a shady patio at a favorite diner for lunch. The memory is even better now when I think of how effortlessly I was eating and enjoying food. It hasn't been the same since.


And sometimes you have to bring your own shade. For me that means a hat and sunglasses. It's saving my eyes and hopefully my face. (I'm trying to get better about including a SP in the SPT challenges.)

52 Blessings Project, #26

A holiday right in the middle of summer.

52 Blessings Project, #25

Outdoor Eating


Eating outside is one of my favorite things about summertime. Earlier this week the kids and I had an impromptu feast (as Jemma called it) on my parent's patio. Complete with strings of lights and Japanese lanterns.

52 Blessings Project, #24

Fresh Air

I absolutely love the days when it's not too cold and not too hot and the windows can be open, airing out the house, letting the fresh air in. It's calming and invigorating at the same time.

52 Blessings Project, #23

Fathers.

my dad and me in 1999

Father's Day has come and gone in somewhat of a blur. I didn't even get to see my father, but he was on my mind and I stirred up some memories of him from my childhood....

standing in his studio watching him paint. sometimes he'd even let me practice mixing some colors on my own pallette. my sister and i coined rutabaga as our all-time favorite color (probably not so much for the color as for the name). i was always in awe of how his brush strokes came together with such lifelike results.

walking out in the garage on a warm summer night with clean bare feet, after just having a bath, to watch him work on a car. trying so hard to understand the workings of a combustion engine as he explained it to me. feeling important if i was asked to hand him a tool (and even more important if i knew what it was and handed him the right tool - such as a ratchet).

snuggling up on a sunday afternoon to watch/listen to the indy 500. he had a way of making it interesting by talking about the drivers and the cars. i still love the sound of a car race, it always reminds me of my dad.

lying in bed at night and feeling the thump of his music in the studio below me. my earliest memories of music are from my dad. back in the seventies he had stacks of albums like simon & garfunkle, the beatles, jim croce, lynyrd skynyrd, harry nielsen, the bee gees.... he listened to music while he worked and i loved blasting it from the huge console stereo in the living room on saturday mornings.

giggling at his funny antics, especially at the dinner table (much to my mom's dismay as she tried to maintain a sense of manners about the table). he would create, eat or do anything with food for a laugh. we once stuck a banana in his taco and he ate it as we lost ourselves in laughter. i would watch in horror as he would shake up a huge scoop of cayenne pepper in a container of water and then drink it. even at restaurants he would make characters out of the skin of a kiwi or the shell of a lobster and then let us bring them home (sometimes allowing them to ride on the hood of the car).

family portrait where the kids can be seen in the mirror behind my shoulder and in my sunglasses.

I suspect when our kids get older their memories of their dad might include things like watching basketball games, working on cars and doing other mechanical projects, sharing candies that only they can appreciate (chocolate covered gummi bears?), learning to wakeboard and water ski....

52 Blessings Project, #22

FUN WITH FAMILY

52 Blessings Project, #21

Fully functioning household appliances.

Our dryer had a problem and it really threw a kink in my laundry routine. Not that I have a set routine, it's just that was recently taking an entire day to finish one load.

We've been so busy lately that I was too distracted to really notice the gradual decline in dryer function until it dawned on me that I wasn't getting anywhere with the growing pile of laundry. The symptoms were weird because the dryer would always start out hot, so I'd think it was working, but when I came back later the clothes would be cold and wet.

That Friday that I ended up having to go to work, rather than work from home, was the day Chris replaced the gas coils in the dryer and solved the problem. I was excited to finally gain some momentum on the laundry, but that plan was sidelined since I had to leave for the day. Did I mention that one of the side benefits of working from home is being able to throw in a load and keep it going?

So accomplishing three loads of laundry in about three hours is feeling like a huge blessing now!

52 Blessings Project, #20

Working from home.

I don't believe something has to be taken away before you really appreciate it, but this is as good a time as any to at least mention that I am thankful to have a job I like and can do it from home.

Really, I do appreciate working from home. It's still work and it requires time and concentration (and a good knack for ignoring whatever chaos may be occurring in another room), but it's so great to be there for the kids and to squeeze in a few things that would otherwise get put off further. Two days this week I ended up having to go to the office to work because of network issues. Aaaarrrrggghhhh....

Of course it's not right to feel so put out just because I had to go to work. It was aggravating because of the last-minute nature of having to go. After all, I did have some big plans (just wait til you see how exciting those plans were in my 52 BP #21 post) while I was working on Friday and they had to wait until Saturday!

52 Blessings Project, #18 and #19

Good food and...

Good company

Suzanna, Mom, Jessie, Jessica, Kristin, Me

My mom took her daughters and daughters-in-law out for a mother's day lunch today. It was very enjoyable. We had some great food, a very relaxing time, and it was something we've never done before...something we should do again!

52 Blessings Project, #17

Fresh fruit in season.

52 Blessings Project, #16

It's always hard to say things like this for fear of sounding trite, but I'm feeling thankful that we live in a place where there's freedom and peace.

I just finished reading The Kite Runner. A good, but somber, book. Have you read this book? If you have, you'll know why this is on my mind.

52 Blessings Project, #15

beautiful combination of jetBlue and Venus in the background
Originally uploaded by helmutfaforke

I found this amazing photo on flickr. I couldn't resist acknowledging JetBlue.

52 Blessings Project, #14

It's all about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I also must say that events like General Conference always remind me of just how amazing, and divinely directed, the organization of this church is. I remember a few years ago when they introduced the new logo (pictured above) so the main focus is on Jesus Christ. I love that. What a blessing to have been fed, spiritually, by our leaders this past weekend - and that their words were available in so many languages, in various formats, and carried all across the world.

52 Blessings Project, #13

I am so thankful for my mom. She's always serving in a selfless way. She is truly an example of one who has charity: she suffers long, and is kind, envies not, and is not puffed up, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, and rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (Paraphrased from Moroni 7:45)

52 Blessings Project, #12

Easter Sunday

And the scripture Jemma said today in primary: "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." 1 John 4:14

52 Blessings Project, #11

Technology

good thing Leanne found this tape before the label fell off!

There many forms of technology that can count as a blessing, but this particular week it comes in the form of an old VHS tape that Leanne found and gave to us. It was footage of Chris arriving home from his mission 15 years ago. So fun to watch! Very interesting to hear him (British accent and all) and see him and all his family in their early nineties-ness. I loved it!

52 Blessings Project, #10

music
Originally uploaded by [phil h]

Good thing flickr can provide a photo when I'm lacking. This week it's music I'm thankful for. A few thoughts:

Chris' family is very musical. They all play some sort of stringed instrument and the piano. They grew up with music in their home. His sister Lauralee is teaching her little boys the violin (see cute video clips here) and she plays with a symphony.

My parents both played a lot of music in our home as we were growing up. My mom was great about having music appropriate to the occasion playing in the background during dinner, especially when we had guests. My dad was into all sorts of music and since my bedroom was just above his studio it was not unusual some nights to go to sleep to the beat and thump of whatever he was rocking out to! My brother Brian plays drums and was in two bands and has a very diverse taste. Mark, my youngest brother, was in BYU Men's Chorus and has an excellent voice.

Last Saturday at a Women's Conference the program was centered around music. There was a beautiful medley of As Sisters in Zion combined with We'll Bring the World His Truth that was performed by girls of all ages (children to grandmothers). On Sunday in church we had an amazing violin/piano duet.

I listen to NPR so much that sometimes I forget to change the station and hear some music. (I've got to keep up with Jordan you know.) Music is really powerful. It can truly set or change a mood.

52 Blessings Project, #9

More days like this:

After so many days like this:

Or, in other words, the changing seasons.

52 Blessings Project, #8

COUSINS

Jordan and Jemma currently have 21 cousins + 3 more coming this year! They love playing with all 21 of them and have had some really great times.

Last weekend we were lucky enough to have Laur and Travis and kids visiting here from Arizona. We went to Boondocks:

And the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point:

And had dinner and music and fun at Grandma's:

Drat - I filmed them with the camera tipped vertically and can't rotate the video. It was a great jam session anyway with Jordan on the clarinet and Laur on Matthew's little violin.