Faith is...

I think faith is an interesting subject, one I get to teach on today for Sunday School but also one that always hides in the back of my mind for manipulation and thinking. The scriptures have all sorts of amazing definitions for faith, what it is and what it isn't. But I always like to put things into my own words and into the sphere of which I work. A while back I came to define Faith as playing an octave with your pedals at the end of a Bach piece at double forte volume. That takes faith, you can't look at your feet and the volume is already up there. You just have to believe in all the practice, in all the times you have done it right, and put your feet down with conviction and confidence. That is faith in my world.

Brother Fredrikson once accused me of giving him confidence....misplaced confidence! He knew he had a voice but didn't know he had a singing voice, but when told he could sing enough times he started to believe it and then, through his belief, he brought about the desired end. He became a soloist as well as a choir member. Therefore I must conclude that faith has to do with confidence and sometimes, it would appear, misplaced confidence. Nothing really changed with his voice, only the confidence to use that voice. Faith does not waver, we do. Sometimes I have enough faith to just present my gift and feel relatively confident. Other times I present it on the confidence of someone else.

I have Faith in Heavenly Father but sometimes I don't have faith in me. When that happens I have to borrow the faith from someone else until I am strong enough to have it for myself. That is the concept I want to teach my wonderful little ten through 12 year old students today. Use your own faith, exercise your own faith, but when you just aren't strong enough to make it happen then look around and borrow from those that are so willing to offer it to you. Look to unit leaders, look to parents, to friends and peers that you respect. Look there until you can look inside and blow the little sparks of your own faith to full light.

One of the things I admire most about my children is their faith. All of them have a generous supply of it. They keep going when logic says it is time to quit. That is faith in action and that is what we all need to cultivate. Emily was willing to exercise her faith in her musical ability to pick up a viola and play violin music for Nancy's wedding without the preparation time necessary. It didn't happen for other reasons, but the faith in her own ability was still there and I have no doubt it would have been a positive experience for both the performer and the listener, albeit the music might have been sacrificed a little.

What a key component to life this faith is. It is what I intend to work more on as the new year comes upon us. Having faith in all things, including faith in me.

Winter sky

This would be 525 heading towards Maxwelton Rd. And the best part of the drive! Maxwelton was pure white and ever so interesting. Sunlight Beach road was accessible only with 4 wheel drive so Joyce had to catch a friend to get home! We slid on in with no problems. I love the Island in snow when I am safe within my four walls! And this was even good snow!

Merry Christmas

What an interesting Christmas morning this has been. So far I have cleaned the down stairs and gotten a good start on the upstairs portion of the house. Maybe I should explain a little. We went down to Utah for Nancy and Jace's wedding on the 20th. I won't try to explain all the ins and outs of that, but would encourage you to check their web site because, in time, I am sure they will have pictures and comments. Suffice it to say, it was very nice, full of snow and complications, but great all the same. Our flight home on the 21st was canceled due to snow in Washington, and complicated by snow in Utah. We did get out on the morning of the 22nd, one of a hand full of flights that actually were allowed to land at SeaTac! The Kincaid's decided to stay in Utah for the week so they defaulted their tickets and are planning on returning on the 26th, weather willing.

That said, no one is home so there is nothing to do but what needs doing. Such a sad state of events, having to just do what needs doing rather than pushing it aside to do things that are much more fun. Makes me laugh a little when I think of it, but work is a saving grace most of the time and today is no exception. I even vacuumed the laundry room, you know that is scrapping (humm, interesting thought) the bottom of the barrel for me!

And now I am fixing a Christmas dinner for Joyce and Jock, Larry and myself. We will have left over Turkey, a long story in and of itself! You see, Linda stored her turkey in my freezer. When I lifted out the hamburger I was taking south to Lawrence the turkey failed to fly back into the freezer. Needless to say, when I got home it was thawed in a very cold room. I rinsed it, smelled it, felt it and made a decision....I cooked it! And it is one of the best tasting turkeys I have had in ages! WSU ran studies on same, the closer things are to spoiling the better they taste. I must have gotten pretty close because it is really good. And of course I decided not to share the fact with Linda but was over-ridden on that one....she might as well laugh at me while I laugh at myself! And I will replace the turkey! And then I am making Herb Bread but can't get a hold of Emily to get the recipe so we are having Michelle's french bread with what I think needs to be added to make it herb bread.

I had feared this would be a difficult day but it has been perfectly acceptable. I got a cute picture from Luzvie in regards to their Christmas and have had a phone call from Nancy too. The rest will check in later I am sure. And, the bottom line, the house needed some attention.

Life gave me time I didn't really want, but life also gave me a vacuum cleaner and the two have balanced out until things are perfectly acceptable. All is well here on the Island with a beautiful white Christmas that is melting quickly as the rain is coming down and the temperatures are going up. So typical Island!

Between do and over-do

It is the between time. The turkey is in the oven but too early to peel potatoes and that kind of thing. The table is set but too early to put the things on the table. The floors are clean but, well, but nothing, it is rare they are clean, not waxed but at least mopped! I always feel like I should be doing something but there is really nothing to do for an hour or so, might as well sit down and write for a minute.

I was remembering a couple of Thanksgivings that really stand out in my mind. When I was a teen we went down to Ran and Esther Ericson's house for Thanksgiving. It was the first time (and only time) we ever had Thanksgiving away from home, first time I didn't do any cooking for Thanksgiving. It was a good day but that is not why it stands out so much. We sat down to eat and the snow started to fall. It fell all the way through the meal and dessert. We actually left a little more early than we might have otherwise left because the roads were getting a little dicey. We got home safely but it made the holiday unforgettable for me. It snowed the rest of the day and was beautiful as only the Island can be beautiful in the snow.

Another very memorable Thanksgiving was at my new house in Auburn. Kenneth and I had just moved in at the end of October so everything was still new to me (the house was 20 years old when we moved in, but so new to me that it was amazingly exciting). I know my parents came and I can't remember others, but I remember the feeling of finally cooking the traditional Thanksgiving meal in my own kitchen with my own family. I was pregnant with Emily at the time and things were not going well. Kenneth was sick and going down hill rapidly but it still felt magical. Little did I know at the time it would be my only Thanksgiving under those circumstances.

And then I remember the first Thanksgiving Luzvie was with the family. She had never heard of such a thing but thought it sounded like a wonderful idea. I explained to her how the meal was rather traditional and why we ate certain foods for that meal. She loved it all but her little nose curled when I said we were doing pumpkin. She didn't like pumpkin. (we looked it up in the Tagalog/English dictionary because we needed to now we were talking about the same thing). I was shocked as everyone loves Pumpkin pie (Wrong, James doesn't like it!). When the meal was eaten and dessert presented Luzvie agreed to try to pie....and loved it. When she had pumpkin in the Philippines it had been as a vegetable and she didn't like it at all, and I understand that. I am not sure I would have liked it myself! From that day to this I can not make a Pumpkin pie without a little heart tug for Luzvie.

I remember Thanksgiving dinner when my grandmother was alone and could not come to the house, it was her last Thanksgiving. I took down a plate and ate with her in her trailer. It was beautifully touching to have that solo dinner with my Grandmother. I came home and ate with the family too, but it was nothing compared to that shared time with her. The same thing happened when my parents could no longer join us, I think it was Emily that took dinner down to them and enjoyed their company.

I remember Yukiko and the amazing changes she made in the traditional American dinner, and how much I loved those changes! She is magic with food and with Children. Heck, she even prepared macaroni and cheese right out of the box because it was Lawrence's favorite food and she wanted everyone to have something special!

And now I need to remember to get away form the computer and back to reality. A few more corners to clean and then food to fix. I am beyond words grateful that Linda, Curtis and boys are with us this year. Joyce and Jock are here too, but it is the children that make it special for me. All others are at family dinners but not my family dinner....it is good all the way around, but the best part is I have Linda home to share dinner with. God bless us all, everyone!

I love Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. I love the food, I love the thoughts that go along with the whole thing, but some years I love it more than others. Some years it is easy to love the holiday and other years it is a wee bit more difficult. This would be one of the latter years. My mind wants to prepare this large and lavish meal for my family, but my family is all somewhere else except the Kincaid's and they will be my God-send. It had looked a lot like it would be Joyce and Jock for the Thanksgiving meal....good and all but not special without some extra serious mental work to make it special. Each day is special and each holiday is special if we choose to make it so. I just like the easy ones that are special because there are so many family and friends around that it couldn't help but be special. Those others take work, they are well worth it but they take work all the same. Linda and Curtis will make it feel like more than a normal dinner that we have around here...you can count on Linda for that kind of stuff!

I know Nancy will be going to Jace's family for Thanksgiving. Haven't heard the plans at the Campbell house but they have family in the area so I guess they have options. Same with the LJ Godsey group, her family is all in the area so they have options too. In my own little heart I hope they are all together, the LJ Godsey group and the Campbell's, but I suspect they aren't. Having them together would be wonderful but things don't always work that way. I know Lawrence and Michelle spend many important dates with her "familish" as she calls them. And I also know there are lots of Campbell siblings in the area that Emily and James enjoy. And I must always remember, Joyce and Jock count us as family so it is a family gathering of more than it appears here.

But I still miss the days where my grandparents would come, my parents would be here, Luzvie, Emily, Linda, Lawrence and Nancy were all around the table. Good times....please take time to remember good times like that and be thankful for them, just like I am. Memories don't just happen, they are built and I cherish the memories I built around my family as they were all mine.....mine in heart as well as physically. Eat turkey and be thankful.....

Make mine RED

This would represent the beginning of the project. I decided that I wanted something different and had to limit the price greatly, so what do you do under those circumstances? You paint, and you paint something really different. I have always painted every space a shade of white. Some are tinted green, some orange but all basically white. I have this wood stove known in my heart as Belching Bertha, and she insists on putting soot all over everything on an all to regular basis. After dealing with this monstrosity for nigh onto 30 years I came to an understanding, more color means less visable soot. With that thought in mind I painted the living room gold a few years ago. I liked it. I painted the family bathroom Orange and I liked that too. Then came Nancy's joking that I should paint her room yellow (hay, I thought she was being serious!) so it is now bright yellow. Curtis said the beach bathroom would be nice in a rich copper....it is. Next step, a red kitchen with white cabinets and, while on a roll, a red dinning room.

Do I like it? Yes, I think I do. It is still in process and I will post a picture when it is completed so the jury is still out. But I think I will like it just fine. It is almost all painted now, one wall in the dinning room left and it has the first coat but I ran out of paint and it is the Sabbath so I will continue on Monday after a store run. It also helped to put in a new light fixture in the dinning room, one that actually pushes out some candlepower! It is so nice to be able to read in the dinning room and it brings out the rich red color without making it look Christmas like.

Next project, well besides finishing what is started, is the hallway. But I am thinking of waiting on that until after this weekend with Nancy being home and her bridal shower. She doesn't need to deal with the mess and my hands are saying they would like a day or two off painting. Painting puts such pressure on thumbs and mine are weak to start with. And now they are loudly complaining about the abuse! But the eyes are happy and the whole thing makes me feel good, so the hands will have to accept the problem with grace.

Now off to church. Primary program is today so it will be a strange and crazy day. I am glad these only happen once a year but I certainly see the validity of them happening. Ours will be acceptable but not a particularly exceptional presentation. I had expected more what with Karol being President, but she has been sick and others have taken charge and have not pulled it together particularly well. But it will be done and that is the big thing.

Halloween

The final day of October means Halloween has arrived yet one more time. I have read that it is the second most popular date on the calendar, greater than birthday celebrations for many children. Although they say Easter is gaining in popularity and Christmas, of course, is still number one. Why....Candy of course! And Christmas has to be the presents as well as the food. But I was thinking of Halloween the way we did it growing up. It was certainly much different than today and yet, when you look at it, almost the same.
My parents did not subscribe to holidays for the most part and Halloween was one of the least observed. As little children we would wear self created costumes to Woodland Hall and the Maxwelton Community Club would hold a function for all the children in the community. We would have desserts and games, apple bobs and pin the something on the something are the only two I remember. Most of it was an excuse to just get together and talk I suspect. I do remember that I enjoyed the night out.
As we got old, maybe eight and up, we didn't do anything organized. Leland and I would cross dress usually and head to our Uncles house and Grandparents houses, but that was as far as we were ever allowed to go. The cousins were driven to a more densely populated community and came home with pillow cases full of candy. We usually had no candy but a cookie and/or popcorn ball. I thought having that much Candy would be the most wonderful thing in the world.
Then in about the 5th grade I was invited to a friends house for Halloween and they were going trick or treating. My first (and only) time so I was greatly excited. We dressed up in put together things, then covered them with rain gear as it always rains on Halloween! And off we walked. It was fun for awhile and then it stopped being fun when we got to an older woman's house, the group of us was maybe 10 or 12 girls, and she ran out of candy. I was at the back of the group and she said she would go find some money for us but begged us not to do anything bad to her. Looking at her terror of the situation really affected me, I just hung back from there on out and collected no more candy, and then went home feeling kind of low. In our rural community everyone went to the densely populated areas and harvested, they had to invest huge amounts of money on our behalf....and thus ruined Halloween as I thought about it.
Today it is all well again. The children go to the church and we take care of our own. They dress up and get candy while the adults get desserts and visiting. Hummmm...the circle has come around and it is a good place to be. I again love the day and look forward to maybe being a little more involved in costumes next time around. I got to make some costumes for Emily's kids a couple of years ago and it was grand fun. I would like to do that again in the future. But for now I will just enjoy the fact that it is a fun excuse to pretend and enjoy people and food.