High Five for Football

It's been an ALL-football month in Allen.  

1.  Mass transit is the only way to go to SMU.  

2.  We ventured onto the train with three of our neighbors and their kids.

3.  When we got to the stadium, we met a few other families and all sat in the same section...right next to the band!!  SO much fun to watch a great game with people you love. 

4.  Halftime was amazing.  But it's always amazing, right?

5.  And, by the way, we happened to WIN this game, 51-36.  In fact, we were ahead the whole game!  So much for those intimidating other Eagles.  

I wrote a H54Football post because now that we've won all the playoff games, guess where the Allen Eagles will be tomorrow night!!  At Cowboy Stadium for the State Championship Game!  We can't wait.  Stay tuned for one more football post before the month is over.

Nativity

This is how we spent the first weekend of the month, but it's been so busy around here that I never got to the part where I actually posted the pictures and wrote about any of it. 

Sometime near the end of October, I received a phone call from the Stake music director asking if I would play the piano during one of the 30 minute time slots of the two-day Nativity event that our stake holds every year.  I was shocked that she asked and excited to play and said YES without hesitation.  

This is such an amazing, spirit-filled way to launch the Christmas season.  I absolutely love it.  Beginning in early November, announcements are made in each of the wards requesting "donations" of Nativity scenes.  People from each congregation come to the Stake Center with their personal Nativity scenes to be used in a massive display during the first weekend in December.  There are so many unique and beautiful ways to depict the birth of the Savior.  

A day or two after receiving that first phone call, someone else from the stake called and asked if I would be on the decorating committee and be in charge of the living Nativity scene.      Yikes!!  I'm SO not the decorator type.  I agonize over the smallest things, and this was NOT a small thing.  I reluctantly said yes and hoped there would be people there who had previous experience (or at least a picture) that could help me.  

The living nativity scene came together beautifully (because I had A LOT of help.)   And guess who got to play the part of Mary in the living nativity?  Yep, that's my little Flowering Buttercup!  She volunteered for one of the hour long shifts during the weekend.  She was so reverent and beautiful in that costume, and her friend Brayden was the perfect Joseph.  People kept walking up to the stage to see if they were real.  

We went to the Nativity several times over that short 48 hours, both for our various responsibilities and also just to listen to the beautiful music and to feel of the Spirit.  I wish they could have kept it up longer.  It is an amazing way to testify of the birth of the Savior at this time of year and a great reminder of the reverence of this season.  

"Finding the real joy of Christmas comes not in the hurrying and the scurrying to get more done, nor is it found in the purchasing of gifts.  We find real joy when we make the Savior the focus of the season.  We can keep Him in our thoughts and in our lives as we go about the work He would have us perform here on earth.  At this time, particularly, let us follow His example as we love and serve our fellowman.

There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ.  It is the time to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart - and our neighbors as ourselves.  

Let us make Christmas real.  Is isn't just tinsel and ribbon, unless we have made it so in our lives.  Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting.  it is happiness because we see joy in people.  It is forgetting self and finding time for others.  It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values.  It is peace because we have found peace in the Savior's teachings.  It is the time we realize most deeply that the more love is expended, the more there is of it for others.

As the season envelops us with all its glory, may we, as did the Wise Men, seek a bright, particular star to guide us to our Christmas opportunity in service to our fellowman.  May we all make the journey to Bethlehem in spirit, taking with us a tender, caring heart as our gift to the Savior."  

-President Thomas S. Monson

2012 Christmas Devotional

A Better Attitude

You know what!  I've decided there's nothing quiet, reflective or relaxing about December!  I'm craving time to read Christmas books and watch Rudolph's Shiny New Year, but with concerts, football playoff games, class parties, special musical numbers, the Scout Master's end of year travel schedule, and emergency tutoring sessions for finals, we have yet to find a night when we're: 

a) all home
b) not exhausted from whatever we've done all day long.

I woke up yesterday morning and realized Christmas is only 8 days away!  Panic quickly started to set in.  Since when do I not have a week WITH the kids home BEFORE Christmas??  This year, we only have one WEEKEND to do all of our Christmas baking and present wrapping and staying in our jammies all day long!  And Friday night is now booked with a little party Spell Girl wants to have at our house, and Saturday is the State Championship football game.  Since when does football season last until Christmas??   

I have tried so hard this year to keep things simple.  I haven't gone crazy with presents and I've said no to everything except the absolutely essential things.  But somehow, here it is the week before Christmas and I'm feeling like I just want to turn off the world and hide out in my closet with a book.  I don't get stressed out anymore like I used to when I was younger (like last year.)  These days, I just shut down.  I get to that point when I realize constant motion is no longer working for me, and I just stop moving.  Really...

I spent almost all of yesterday trying to do only the most important things, but everything seems "most important" at this time of year.  And I spent the rest of the day curled up in a frustrated heap on my couch wishing these next 8 days would hurry up and go by so that the quiet, relaxing part of December can happen.  And I also sprinkled in a little bit of eating crappy food and complaining way too much about everything from Institute to recital schedules to the $25 gift card the Scout Master received from one of the guys who works for him.  (Ridiculously ungrateful, huh?)   And then I got a little reminder from an unlikely source, about what's really important.

I've effectively been put in my place.  So today, I'm going to stop complaining and go back to being grateful for happy, healthy children, abundance, opportunities to listen to beautiful music, family to buy presents for, people who invite us to parties, and Seminary.  

Dear Newtown, CT

Dear Newtown,

I have thought about you all weekend, as has the rest of the world, I'm sure.  I do not personally know any of you, but I want you to know that my heart is broken for your loss. Even in the middle of all the busy-ness and the joy of holiday preparation, playoff football games and family get togethers, thoughts of you and your beautiful children have pulled me away from my life.  I have spent so many hours this weekend wondering about each of you and praying that you are being comforted at this time.  I cannot imagine the grief you must feel, but I hope you know that there are countless people united with you in spirit at this time.  I hope you feel the support and love being sent from all over the world.  And I hope you have felt the assurance that your babies and those 6 amazing women are safely wrapped in the arms of a loving Heavenly Father right now.  I know that He is aware of us.  I know that His plan is greater than what we can see right now.   

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."   John 14:27

I am grateful for courageous teachers, quick emergency responders, and kind hearted, compassionate people in the world.  I know that we outnumber the unkind ones.  

High Five for Friday

 

 1.  Good friends make a crappy day SO much better.

2.  Allen 37, Skyline 17  (Region Champs!)

3.  Lunch with Amy on Tuesday at Jason's Deli

4.  My new favorite store/website.  Super cute stuff!  www.worldmarket.com

5.  Brothers who are pilots and can fly into Dallas just to have a late dinner.

Throwback Thursday

The teenagers in my house have been telling me for awhile now that I'm such a nerd to have a Flashback Tuesday post.  ("They're supposed to start with the same letter, Mommy!")  Apparently it's Throwback Thursday on Instagram.  (#tbt)  So, I am replacing my Flashback Tuesday posts with a new, improved and more socially acceptable Throwback Thursday post.

In 1997, we flew to Mendon to spend Christmas with the Scout Master's family.  It was the first time I had ever seen snow.  I think if you wait until you're 27 years old to experience snow, you don't love it as much.  I have never really learned to love that stuff.

We weren't very prepared for snow on that trip. I had no idea that fleece wouldn't keep us warm and dry.  We had fun playing in it for a little while, though, and then we hurried back inside to drink hot chocolate and sit by the fire.

Shortly after Christmas, Flowering Buttercup started running a really high fever.  She was so lethargic and wouldn't eat anything.  We waited it out for a couple of days and then finally when we couldn't even get her to drink anything, we took her to the hospital.  She had pneumonia!  So we celebrated New Year's Eve in Logan Regional hospital with our 16 month old baby hooked up to an IV.  She was so pitiful.

A week later, after spending three days in the hospital, she felt so much better and was back to her happy, hungry self.  It was a memorable Christmas for all of us!  

Unexpected Joy

On Sunday morning, I had the happy surprise of being ready for church long before we actually had to leave for church (that never happens) and I sat down to play the piano for awhile.  I played a few favorites and then started playing a Christmas song that I had played the previous weekend for the Nativity.  From the top of the stairs, Flowering Buttercup yelled, "Mommy, why are you practicing that? You already played it."  (Our true character is always reflected in the things our kids say, isn't it?  My kids are so used to hearing me only ever "cramming" for a special musical number that it throws them off a little to hear me playing just for fun.  I'll have to fix that.)  I resisted the urge to be offended by her comment and instead said, "Well, it's still December.  You never know when you're going to be called to play a special musical number."  She scoffed and went back into her cave bathroom because she was not yet ready for church, and I kept played that song.

While we were at church, I got a text from the Ward Music Coordinator...

"I'm out of town this week, but I'm looking for a special musical number for the last Sunday of December.  It's after Christmas, but we will still be doing Christmas music.  Do you have anything ready?"  

Yep, I'm totally serious.  When we got in the van, I read the text out loud to Flowering Buttercup and the rest of my kids who had over heard the earlier conversation.  They were sufficiently impressed, I think.  There was something about "super powers" and something about "predicting the future" and how did I think they would do on their finals next week?

This morning I sat down to play that song for a little while because I would like to avoid the procrastination/cramming technique I've tried in the past.  I know this song.  It's a challenge, but it's not impossible.  When I just let the song play itself, it's beautiful, but when I'm glued to the page and check and double check every note, it sounds forced and mechanical, and oddly, I make more mistakes.  This morning, I tried to just trust my fingers.  A thought crossed my mind for a second, "Close your eyes and play it."  What???  Are you kidding???  There's no way I can do that!!  But I tried it...for about three measures.  And guess what!  Those three measures were more beautiful and perfect than I've ever played them before.  But then fear and doubt took over and I had to open my eyes.  ugh...  The rest of the practice session was a mess.  

For a second I thought about Peter trying to walk on the water and struggling.  "And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"  Matthew 14:31

There are things that I KNOW for sure just like I KNOW those notes on that music.  But every now and then, I feel like Peter.  I feel the wind whipping around me and the boisterous waves, and I start to worry that I probably should get back to the safety of the boat before I drown.  

And then I thought about the FEW times I've actually surrendered my compulsion to be "glued to the notes" in my life, and just let Heavenly Father take over.  I did that once when I gave a talk.  I did it when we moved to Texas.  And I've found that the most beautifully, unexpected joys in my life have come during those times when I was definitely NOT in control.  What would life be like if I closed my eyes more often and just let the music play itself?  How much more unexpected joy is out there waiting for me to stop doubting and just trust? 

Dentist Appointments

Typically dentist appointments wouldn't be on my list of Stuff I Love, but today's dentist appointment was a good one.  (I also wasn't the one in the chair.  I find that I enjoy the dentist so much more when my visit is limited to the waiting room.) 

I have one sweet little head-strong daughter who DOES NOT like to brush her teeth.  I know, who really enjoys doing that?  It's one of the necessary evils of life, though, and unfortunately the consequences of not doing it can be pretty severe.  How many mornings have I said over and over again, "Brush your teeth, please"  "Brush your teeth, please."  "BRUSH YOUR TEETH, please."  This is a straight A student who likes to help her teachers and babysit in her spare time.  She showers multiple times a day, spends hours doing her hair, and can organize a silverware drawer in 5.7 seconds.  But there is no amount of cajoling or bargaining, chart making or rewarding that will get this girl to brush her teeth.  She's beyond the point where I can go in the bathroom with her and do it for her.  (And she's taller than me now, so that would just be ridiculous.)  So, most days, I remind and remind, and she walks out the door pretending she hasn't heard me.  I cringe when I think about all the people she comes in close contact with during the day, and hope that they don't have super sniffers like I do.  

I cooked up a plan before we got to the dentist today for her semi-annual check up.  Typically, I like to just let the consequences speak for themselves, but her teeth must be made of steel because she's NEVER had a cavity.  While she was in the restroom, I secretly took the hygienist aside and mentioned my dilemma and asked for her help.  She assured me that she would take care of it.  

About 30 minutes later, they both came out with a glowing report of NO CAVITIES (of course!) and glowing teeth (finally!)  The hygienist gave me a knowing smile and we were out the door.  And then on the ride home, my head strong little thing said, "UGH!  Did you know that sometimes people's gums, like, disintegrate!"  "And did you know that you can get diseases in your mouth??"  And apparently the hygienist had illustrations to go with all of those terrible things that can happen to you if you don't brush your teeth.  I happily smiled at that sweet hygienist's efforts to support me.  

I know, scare tactics are drastic.  (But, you don't have to sit next to the "unbrushed" in the morning during scriptures!)  The situation is beyond desperate.  And desperate times call for desperate measures.  And sometimes it does actually "take a village" to raise these kids.

I loved that dentist appointment today.  I love that sweet hygienist.  And I love that there are compassionate people willing to reinforce the things we try so hard to do at home.  Hopefully the message will sink in, and my non-tooth brusher will soon be able to add "ridiculously clean teeth" to her list of amazing qualities.   

Notes from Church

I substituted for the Primary Pianist today.  I LOVE that calling.  If I could pick my own calling, it would be that one...forever.  There is no better place to be than behind a piano.  I love hearing the kids enthusiastically singing those simple truths found in the Primary songbook.  And I love being able to set the tone as they come into the room.  

I also love hearing the Sharing Time messages.  Today it was based around this scripture...

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."  Luke 2:52

http://figurativeartlivingmasters.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/del-parson-1948-american/

The sister teaching the lesson asked the children to think of stories of Jesus that they loved.  They thought of examples of him teaching, healing, and feeding people.  And they thought of his birth and his resurrection.  But then she said, "Do any of you ever think of Jesus as a child?"  None of the Junior Primary did.  They were all convinced that he started as a baby and then somehow magically became a grown man.  But the fact that He was a child, and that He learned and grew and "increased in wisdom" just like all of us, gives us hope, doesn't it?  Hope that we can be like Him.  Hope that Heavenly Father can work miracles in each of us.  Hope that we can someday be worthy enough to stand before Him and thank Him personally.   I'm so grateful for that little Primary Sharing Time message that put such a small thing into a much bigger perspective.  And I'm grateful to have been asked to play the piano today so that I could be in just that very spot where I could hear it.  

Johnny and Alyssa

I'm not sure when I became such a chicken about doing things that are different or spontaneous.  I think age has made me less adventurous.  

It was a difficult thing to prepare to leave my kids for FOUR WHOLE DAYS!  These guys are busy!  On most days, I start early and stay in almost constant motion throughout the day.  It's hard to delegate all of that to someone else.  Originally we had asked the Grs to come out and stay with the kids so that we could go on this trip, but some family emergencies came up right before Thanksgiving, so they had to cancel.  We considered asking a few people to stay with them, but none of them felt right.  We thought about farming them all out, but that didn't quite work either.  And that would have been like another vacation all over again if we were all gone for yet another week.  (I had visions of laundry piles taking over the entire house.)  

But then, one of us thought of our friends' son and his super cute new wife.  I think I've mentioned about 1000 times how MUCH we LOVE the Rodriguez family.  They really should have their own picture and caption on the sidebar of this blog because I write about them so much.  We sent Johnny and Alyssa an email and made the offer sound so awesome that we knew they wouldn't be able to refuse living in our house for a week and babysitting our kids.  We were so relieved when they said yes.  I think that was the final thing I needed to fall into place to be able to completely throw myself into the idea of leaving all of my responsibilities for a week.  

They came over the Monday night before we left to get the "scoop" on the house, kids, routine, etc.  And then I made a million lists, pre-cooked a couple of dinners, stocked the pantry, and started packing.  On Tuesday morning, right after they all left for school, the Scout Master and I happily boarded a plane for Phoenix.

Here's the first text I got as we landed...

And then I texted later at bedtime and got this...

And four days later, this is what we got when we texted and told them we were on our way home...

There is absolutely nothing more comforting than knowing your kids are not only safe, but also happy.  We have been on trips before when all we got were texts and phone calls asking when we were coming home.  That was definitely NOT the case this time.  The kids all loved Johnny and Alyssa instantly, and even better...they loved EACH OTHER more while Johnny and Alyssa were here.  And apparently the adoration was mutual, because this is the letter the kids found after they they left...

The Scout Master was so happy that he's already cooking up another trip for February.  We'll see if I'm any more adventurous at 43 than I am at 42.