Merry Christmas

What a fun day! We had a quiet peaceful morning and the kids didn't wake us up until 8:00 a.m. We also got to talk to our missionary. Each person only got 4 minutes each though, so that was a bit of a downer. She sounds great and eager to work.
But, the weather outside is frightful (that would make a great song) and when we did venture out with a carload full of all of us to head to see Larry's mom, we only got a couple of miles away before we decided that wasn't a good idea and we turned around and headed back home. Suddenly we were in the church parking lot doing donuts in the snow. Don't know how that happened, but we think we may have started a new Christmas tradition. Upon arriving home there was a warzone in the front yard as an impromptu snowball fight ensued. We'll never know which side fired the first shot, but I thought I heard someone say, "Don't stop shooting till you see that white's covering their eyes." Isn't that a famous quote from another war?
In my position on the sidelines where I wore my press pass, I could swear Tony started the war and for some reason it became everyone against him. Unfortunately Maddisyn was in the firing line and Tony used her as a human shield. But Larry took the challenge and lobbed a shot over Maddisyn and got Tony in the ear. My hero!
At that point even the press were in danger so I retreated into the safe zone and shut the door. A perfect end to a beautiful day. I sure love my family. Heavenly Father certainly was smart to put us in families.

The Sock

It's official; he's gone. It wasn't until he came home and took his Christmas stocking that it finally sunk in. Why would this be the act that finally set my heart to wobbling? It seems that it's about socks. My first real sewing project as a mother was that Christmas stocking made 22 years ago. It looks 22 years older, but still has the charm of it's youth (much like it's maker-LOL) I still laugh at the way the teacher of the class looked at me when I asked her to thread my borrowed sewing machine. She said in wonder, "you don't know how to thread a machine?" to which I responded, "It's not mine." That only satisfied a small percentage of her confused look. Somehow I finished sewing that stocking and felt such pride in my creation. I even borrowed and copied the pattern to make more wonderful creations, which I never did do. But over the years I managed to make a couple more stockings but none with the flair of that first one.

How could Tony now march into the house and take it from it's sacred spot on the mantle; leaving a big hole in our magical picture perfect fireplace mantle? It just doesn't make sense. Didn't he know what it would do to me? His lame excuse was, "Stephanie has hers and I need mine so we can have our first Christmas together." And I'm supposed to believe that?

I have been reeling ever since and thought up a few good reasons he should leave it here.

1. Don't you want me to fill you a stocking here too?

2. I didn't take a Christmas stocking from my parent's house when I got married.

3. Don't you want to start things off new and fresh and get each other matching stockings?

But, unfortunately, none of these ideas came to my head before he was out the door with the precious cargo.

And now he has it and possession is 9/10's of the law. Can I claim that since I made it that it really belongs to me?

But, as I sat contemplating the whole affair till late in the night (it kept me up at night, just like he used to. Does he know he's doing it again?) I thought about another sock that set my heart wobbling. It was nearly 5 years ago. Tony had packed up all his possessions and left on a mission. I had helped him get his things put away so that another sibling could use his room in his absence. I thought we had gotten everything. But, with no warning, as I was doing the laundry a few days later, there it was. Tony's sock. It was just one white sock, but it was all it took to start me crying. I had been so brave at the MTC as we dropped him off (okay, there were tears) but I thought I handled it all pretty well; that is, until I found the sock. Luckily I had a fresh basket of clean laundry on top of the dryer in which to put my face as I cried. For some unknown reason, having a piece of his laundry there to remind me of him was enough to make me lose my composure and let all the bottled up feelings come out. I had a hard time going near the laundry area for days after that.

If it were just the two socks, that might be manageable, but just a few days ago as I unpacked yet another box from the move, I found something that I wasn't sure about. As I looked closer there was a little baby boy sock. The kind they only wear for the first month of their life. Is there a conspiracy to drive this poor mother over the brink? I sat looking at how tiny this little sock was and remembered how tiny the little foot was that went inside it. How could it now be a size 12 and be walking out of my house with a much larger stocking on the foot and in his hand? This day was always supposed to be in the future somewhere. It's never supposed to actually arrive. But arrive it has and I only have one warning for you young mothers.

Watch out for those socks!

Nourishing is Nurturing

I've been mulling over this idea for some time now and it has finally come together into something that has taken shape and has clarity. It concerns making dinner (or any other meal) for the family. I've looked back over the years and noticed how our meals have changed. I'll start at dating. When I was dating someone, we would go out to eat. When my date really wanted to be nice or impress me he would take me to a nice restaurant. When I got to the point where I really liked a guy, I would make him a nice meal., or invite him home to eat with our family (and I would cook).

Then after marriage my husband and I cooked together and experimented with different foods, but the majority were fast foods, convenience foods, easy foods, with a few special foods thrown in here and there, like a candle lit dinner when I wanted to show him some extra love. Then when kids came along it became kid friendly foods, including hot dogs (dare I say it!) and ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter sandwiches.

At that same point in my life, I was overwhelmed with motherhood and looked for opportunities to take a break/s. I sometimes rushed through nurturing and instead looked for opportunities for 'me time'. I looked for meals that I could rush through even though they weren't very healthy choices because I wanted to get it out of the way as well; lots of frozen, ready-made foods and other things I could easily heat in the microwave and throw on the table.

The last few years as I have stepped back and looked at my choices for nutrition (or lack thereof) and learned much more about how to eat healthy, I have taken more time to learn about how those foods affected my mood, stress level, energy level as well as my children's behavior. I also had a couple of picky eaters come along that made me stretch in my ability to make nutritious meals that also passed muster with their tongues. I see the reaction in my family when they really enjoy a home cooked meal and I can tell they feel loved by my effort.

It's been quite an adventure, but it's also taught me something about my job as a nurterer. I've seen so many people over the years that didn't like cooking for their family and a lot of times those same people were not very nurturing with their spouses and/or children. I truly see a link in nurturing/nourishing. It really starts at the birth of a child. Many moms refuse to breastfeed their babies and prefer the convience that a bottle gives them. Then others can nourish the child and they aren't tied down. Other mom's can't wait to quit nursing as soon as they can and only do it out of obligation. (To me this would also include allowing more children to come into our families even though it is hard work) On the other hand are the mothers who love it and thoroughly enjoy the time spent nursing and bonding with their little ones. The word nursing is so close to nourishing which in turn is very similar to nurturing.

As I thought about our first parents and their command to sweat to eat their bread all the days of their lives, I wondered.; Was Heavenly Father trying to help them start off on the right track with nourishing as well as nurturing the first crop of children to come to earth? 'By the sweat of our brow' shows me that even if it's hard work to make good food for our families, that it's something that Heavenly Father knows will bring us joy. It may not come at first, but after a while we truly do gain joy from putting a healthy meal on the table before our sweet families, even if we have to sweat.

As I've come to realize this, I've noticed how my nurturing has also changed. My desire for me time has completely changed. I don't look for opportunities to get away. My favorite me times are spent with my mini-me's. We love to snuggle in my bed and read books, or work together (believe it or not, they love it much of the time) and having come full circle we cook together and nourish and nurture each other. Who would ever want to get away from that!

Our Maine Missionary

Even though Ashley's mission is to New Hampshire (aka New Hamster) she started out in Maine. She got her first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean. Here is her latest email;

Dear Family and Friends, Greetings from Yarmouth, Maine. I still can't believe I'm here :) I hope you all had a wonderful week. My week was pretty amazing. Thanksgiving was awesome. My companion and I ate at a member's home. The food was delicious - especially the homemade mashed potatoes. People have been giving us leftovers all week, which is very nice for us - no cooking necessary! Our neighbor made pot roast with veggies the other night and he brought some over to us. It was so good. Especially after a long day of tracting in the cold. Mom - you'll be so proud of me, I ate shrimp yesterday and I liked it :) It was in a yummy pasta dish we ate at a member's house. But anyway, sorry for talking about food so much, you can tell its almost lunch time. The work is coming along. We have a new investigator. Her name is Sally. We met her while tracting and she invited us in. We taught her the first lesson then and there, and she invited us to come back. She said she would read the Book of Mormon. Yay! We had another interesting experience while tracting yesterday. We met a young man named Ziggy. His father turned us away, but as we were walking down the driveway he called us back and said "I'll talk to you guys." He got out his bible and sat down with us and started asking questions. He's been struggling in his life and wanted to know if we could help him know how to be happier. He told us about some of the struggles and we basically taught him the law of chastity and called him to repentance. It was interesting. He said he'd like to read the B of M and come to church tho, so that's exciting. The weather this week has been crazy! We had a big rain storm on Tuesday - it rained all day with pretty strong winds. Up to 50 mph I heard.There was debris all over the road. Luckily we were able to stay inside most of the day, and when we did have to go out tracting, the rain had slow down some. When we got home for the night, the power was out, but it came back on around 5 am, so it was ok. Friday we had some awesome looking fog and Sunday we had snow! The first snow I've seen here. It was really pretty. It's all gone now though - the rain melted it. The members here are great. Almost everyone has a calling because our branch is fairly small. I thought it was really neat that the priest's quorum has the calling to lead the music in sacrament meeting. Yesterday in church we had some really awesome lessons about scriptures and how to be a good teacher. It's cool how the lessons each sunday can apply to every person's life in a different way. I love going to church:) Sorry I didn't have time to finish reading your e-mail before I sent this. It sounds like you are having fun with the holidays, I'm glad that you all like the new house. I haven't been too cold mom, so don't worry too mcuh. My new coat is down and really long, so it keeps me pretty warm. Ricky and Jacqui - Congratulations on your new family member, I'm so excited for you guys. Ammon is such a cute name! Love you all! Shelley and Tammy - Thanks for all your help in getting me warmer clothes :) I haven't received any package yet, but I'm excited. Thank you! I've got to go now, but I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week! Know that I'm doing well and that missionary work is awesome and so important. Much love, Sister Mitchell