Ladies & Strength

A friend of mine shared this post the other day and I really enjoyed it and wanted to share it . you can read it here . Also another dear friend Susan wrote about the same post which was very touching to me. you can read it here.

Thought for the day.

A few years ago I took a class from Terry Kramer on carving faces….he did a couple of exercises with us to help us learn how to get your right brain to kick in…one of things he said really stuck with me over the years. It really isn’t hard to carve wood; you just take a square block and round off the edges. The difference between a beginning carver and a master carver is his ability to see.  The number one question asked of a carver is” how do you carve that bear” (or whatever) well you carve off anything that isn’t a bear and you are left with the bear.

The same is true for us; the difference in teachers and leaders is their ability to see.  Our ability to see beyond that outside surface to the spirit that is beneath and then be the tools in the Lord’s hands to help to bring that little spirit out. He being the master can see under the surface and can whittle away at the surface and carve away all the imperfections until what he is left with is his masterpiece.

…"this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39)

I am so grateful  that our Father doesn’t toss us away as being worthless junk ,but can see beneath the ugly surface to our potential within and gives us experiences to bring that out.  

New Calling

A few weeks ago , Bro Bush came by the house to talk to C. about being released from his Scout committee chairman calling. while he was here I was able to talk to him about some of my frustrations about my calling, about my feeling a bit burned out and needing a change...He said he would pass the information along and what were my feelings on Primary.(I told him that it wouldn't be a problem). He let me know a week later that he talked to the Bishop about it ...About two weeks ago he asked to stop by and talk to me . I am being released as pianist for the Choir (thank you , thank you.) and then in the same sentence without taking a breath they asked if  I would be the 2nd counselor in the Primary. ( I was really hoping to be forgotten for a little while --not usually me luck).  I said yes I would accept it.
My first week in Primary I didn't have any responsibilities ,however a teacher didn't show up so the Secretary had me teach...,then I got to sit with the class through the rest of sharing/music time. It was so much fun. It has been a long time since I enjoyed myself this much at church.
    It has been a long time (15yrs) since I have been in a primary calling ,a lot of changes have been made over the years with the curriculum and in the scouting program. ( which I will be helping with...I have so missed being in scouting) . I don't know any of the kids ,very few of their parents ,I am terrible with names but hopefully with the Lords help I can learn them quickly.  Our ward really seems to be having a hard time meshing together since this last ward change, at least it seems that way in sunday school and R.S. but the kids do not  seem to have that problem .(...become as a little child...) It was a really nice ,refreshing change. Even though this means more meetings then I have had to go to in a long while, hopefully this will be a good change.

finished fence

The boys finished the fence the other day. It looks so different but I really like it. C. added another gate to the back part of the pasture. It is so much more accessible now. We are really pleased with it.Now we will need to get some scallop bricks and re-due some of the flower beds.  C. hooked up the electrical fence and Penny brought her cows over on Monday night. This is the first night I haven't heard them bellow. We bought two cows from another neighbor , sometime in the next few days we need to get them here.

fence building

This past week, my husband has been working like crazy on the yard. The posts for the fence around our yard are starting to rot off and replacing the fence is on our schedule for this year. The past few weeks my husband has been work at least 2 doubles a week, so a little extra money in the bank, so when the subject of the fence came up he wants to replace it with a chain link fence. (more $, and why really) but since he has the OT. money we decided to go for it. Our neighbor hired to our of work gentleman to work on her corral and Cliff asked them if they would work on our fence as well.
He has spent the week taking down the fence, pulling up the railroad ties, digging trenches, making forms for the concrete mow strip and digging holes for the new poles.He also decided to change the layout of the fence. for the past 28 years the current fence hasn't be square with the yard and it has always bothered him. (oh my) .so he is straightening it out. (yea, he can sleep at night now.) . He took the week off to work on this and come today (Friday ) the wind is blowing too hard to do the concrete .,so work has stopped for the time being.
we are now sitting around looking for something to know...I know I will write about it.  (fills up at least an hour).

the guys came back onThursday afternoon and worked on the fence a bit more. ..They were going to come back on Friday but the weather didn't cooperate.  We had rain ,snow ,sleet and wind.  .They will hopefully come back and finish it up on Saturday. We picked up a couple of cows the other day and we need to get finished up so we can bring them home.

"Use it up, wear it out, make it due ,or do without..."

"Use it up, wear it out, make it due ,or do without..."

We grew up hearing this both at church but in our home as well. Now this has come back around.  Interesting. My mother has said that whats old is new again, same with this motto.

It is no secret that I have been really depressed this winter (more than I have for a number of years) . One of the ways I have been trying to get myself "out of this funk" is to keep busy and to simplify and to dejunk my house. My husband was out of town for a couple of days and while he was gone I worked on this little cupboard. It has been used for everything over the years .it has stored tapes and office supplies, fruits and veges and more recently it has become the cupboard to store supplies for our dog. Over the past 25 yrs it has gotten pretty trashed, I should have taken a before picture. Oh well  an after picture will have to due.

Grandchildren

Tender Mercies of the Lord

I saw a video of a talk given by Elder Bednar , he was talking about the tender mercies of the Lord. Very touching . you can see it here.

When I got home from work today there was a card in the mail from a very sweet lady who had lost her little girl this past year . Her daughter had HPE (Holoprosecephaly) , They were blessed to have had her in their home or 99 days. She had sent us a card saying that she knows the sixth month anniversary is near for when Jayden went to Heaven. She sent two bracelets ,one for me and one for his Mommy. She thought it might be a difficult time for us and wanted to let us know that we are not alone in this journey of loss, many other sweet and precious things were said in this note.
I am totally overwhelmed. We have never met but have talked on the phone, emailed and a few notes in the mail. This family shared a blog here telling their journey with their little girl and when Jayden was born and I was searching for information and answers I stumbled on an article (I believe I was led) on their family. The live in the NW as well as we do and had just lost their little one. I sent her an e-mail and she called me within minutes of getting it and I was able to talk ,ask questions and cry as much as I needed to . She intuitively knew that I needed someone to cry with.
The Lord does hear and answer our prayers but it is through somebody else's hands that help is given. I am so grateful for this sweet family and hope that someday we can meet in person. We are sisters of the heart for sure.

Desk cleanup

This has been a long weekend. I have been really fighting the winter blues . The walls really start to close in on my . So this weekends project was to work on the the desk in the corner of our kitchen. Thursday was spent taking everything off the desk and shelves and shopping for supplies. Friday my husband was home all day so we spent most of the day on this desk. We took off the mobile home strips primed,taped ,spackled then put on a spray texture and finally painted . We decided to take the railing off the shelves and put on a corner round. (Only three extra trips to the store -not bad for us.) Most of Saturday was spent organizing and tossing out stuff and putting it back on the shelves. We are pretty pleased so far with how it turned out. It needs a little personalization now but so much cleaner looking and less busy looking (vinyl wallpaper) .

This week I would like to take the magnet paint and paint the back of the cupboard . A great way to hide away alot of the notes and stuff .

I have had a curtain on the desk (to hide away the junk) ,I picked up one that I really like but not sure if it should be put up or not... the curtain will need to be cut off and shortened to fit right as well as the tassles that are way too long. ( now that it is clean is it needed--hmm)

Trash to Treasure

A few weeks ago our neighbor called me over , she said she had some wood she thought I could maybe use and would I like to take home this table. She is trying to get rid of a few things . The top was half off and the legs and sides needed to be put all back together, also a few scratches. It has been sitting around for the past couple of months. I finally had a couple of days to kill ,so put it al back together, lightly sanded it down, restained it with some stain that was in the cupboard , then the next day painted the raggety Ann on it. My husband put the varnish on the top . Fun project. Now where to put it.

Last week there was no choir, I know cause I was the only one who showed up. ( .."oh I guess we should have let you know huh").

and this week we practiced three songs. One a hymn ,not a problem (thank you). the other two still can't play and in my opp ion not good for our small choir. Song #1 a pianist from another ward has agreed to play if we can work out the parts ahead of time..."but you are going to be able to play song #2 right"..."No ,i can't ,I have told you that many times, still wish we could work on something else." he shrugs his shoulders, smiles and walks away.

I come home in frustration and tears again. is it time to be released?!

Gratitude

Cultivate a Gratitude Attitude

Keep your thoughts positive, Thoughts become your words.Keep your words positive, Words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive, Behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive, Habits become your values. Keep your values positive, Values become our destiny." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Thank God for Dirty dishes.

Thank God for dirty dishes, they have a tale to tell
While others may go hungry, we are eating very well
With home and health and happiness, We shouldn't want to fuss,
For by the stack of evidence, God's very good to us.
.................................................................................................................

Someone posted this poem on facebook the other day and when I saw it I was thrown back to my primary days as a young girl . As girls we were supposed to set goals and learn many homemaking skills , memorize scriptures, ect... we would earn badges and put them on bandilo's.(we were the last group to have the bandiloe) Gaynotes, Merry Miss and Firelights. Out teach Sister Josie had us girls over to her house for an afternoon, we made aprons and cooked in the kitchen having a wonderful day. She had this poem on her wall and of course we all loved it. She took our picture that day and later sent it to us along with the poem. What a sweet memory ,so glad to have had good parents and teachers who taught us the importance of homemaking.

Frustrated!!

I am so frustrated , that I could just cry, if fact that is just how I came home from Choir practice.
In our church all the teachers of the classes ,scouting ,music and ministers are all done by the members of the congregation. no one gets paid for their time or the work they do, it is all voluntarily done as our way of "building up the kingdom" . We are each given a "calling" which gives us that chance to help out in some way...usually it is for a short period of time before they shuffle people around...
My calling is to play the organ usually once a month...at one time our congregation only had three people in the ward who played the organ, one moved away and the other two had very stressful callings already so seeing as I could play the piano , I was "called" to play the organ. Are you kidding me, you do understand that these are two completely different instruments that you play totally different. I have never had that much confidence anyway so if I could only play in another room so no one could see me and have it piped in than I might be OK. Well no such luck.
You will be blessed for accepting the calling and I can honestly say that I have been in most circumstances...I can play the organ now (under protest) and have found that I won't die if I make a mistake...I fake it fairly well most of the time, and have found abilities beyond my own.

My other calling is the Choir Pianist. This one is more difficult than the first one. I enjoy playing the piano for my own enjoyment but not comfortable in front of others, well as choir pianist you are front and center. I am not that good of a pianist , mediocre at best, and this seems to be one of those callings that you never get released from. In the ward we were in I had this calling for 9 years under 4 different directors. Each has their own style of leading and practicing. After those nine years needless to say I was burned out, and also a little frustrated when they would complain that they needed a soprano and where to find one, (Hello sitting here at the piano)
Anyway with the change of ward boundaries I was released. Yea . And I have to admit that I wasn't very supportive for the next year. I didn't go to sing either just needed time to recoup .
Well fast forward and guess who is the piano player again...yup that's right. Me.
(Sigh!)

My frustration has come from this particular director. He is a very sweet man and I love him dearly , but is very difficult to follow. He "feels" everything so deeply that he wants to put lots of emotion into the music so leads very slowly, and never the same twice.
The Bishop once asked me to tell all organist not to follow his lead, just play it faster how we wanted. you can't do that .that is not how music is done. Either release me or him ,but don't encourage me not to follow him.
We have a very small choir , some of which do not read music, so it important to learn each part individually. He doesn't seem to get that ,just wants to jump in and pound it out. There are a few gals that are frustrated because of that and won't come out to practice any more. Also being a small group you really have to be careful to keep the music simple enough be able to put it together. Also as a director you need to pick music that is on the level of your pianist. He doesn't get that either.
Lately the music he has been wanting to sing is so far beyond my abilities that it is not even funny. I have told him that he will have to get someone else to play it . somehow he just thought that I didn't want to...not it at all ,no false humility here,I just honestly can't play it. So trying to be a team player I have been trying to find music that can be put together easily and not too difficult to play and he just seems fixated on the couple of pieces that he remembers and loves and wants to do that I can't play...this last week not one song that I suggested did he want to practice only the songs that I could not and will never be able to play did he want to sing.
Something is going to have to be said or someone has to help me get it through to him that there is a problem or they are going to have to release me.

Sorry for the long post...just really needed to vent.

new ornament.

Finished up a new ornament this morning...very simple but pretty just the same.
I saw this on a Christmas card, I bought the cards for the picture never did get around to sending them out. maybe next year.

Garden signs

I work parttime in a long established shoe store (been around for 56 years) .A few years ago I made a garden sign for a customer who found out that I tole painted...since that time she has been after me to make another one for her...I just never got around to it.Well time has moved on and now the first sign needs replaced ,so she asked if I would make another one to replace it and the second one as well.
She wanted one to say" Leonas seedfood buffet", and the other to say" Thistledew acres."
This is what I finally came up with. I am always a little nervous doing commisioned pieces. ( What I am picturing and what the customer is thinking are usually two different things...) Will they like it?? I tend to get very attached to the things I make so hope that they like it.
Anyway I left it at the store for her convenience and she picked it up the other day...I wish I could seen her reaction...surely she wouldn't have bought it otherwise...

hands

saw a very sweet post today showing many hands...loved it and wanted to share it.
Check it out here.

This year over the Thanksgiving holidays my husband and I went down to Utah to visit with my parents. Just a few quiet days with them at their home. We were able to visit in person or on the phone with many members of the family which was very nice .
I was able to spend a full day of one on one carving time with my Dad. We had a wonderful time carving. we are quite close so we both just enjoy being together.
Dad was working on this Santa this year. He has a good friend who buys five Santa's each year for her sisters ,and this is what she picked out...( I have seen the pattern and had wanted to do him, now was my chance..Whoo -hoo!) .Painted him once we got home.
I am quite pleased with how he turned out. Hope you like him.

Nativity ornament.

Worked on a new ornament the other day. I saw something similar to this awhile ago and have wanted to make my own version of it...This is what I came up with.
I am wanting to make up a few items this year to have for a table the end of the summer. I have also considered putting a few items on Etsy . My daughter has a site (http://littletowheads.etsy.com) and has done very well with it. I am still thinking about it, scary to start up something new...

Update:
painted some more with a slight color change .