It's a Wonderful Life.

I'm having a calm moment this afternoon which makes personal reflection much easier. One of my favorite things to collect are nativity sets. It's such an easy reminder to me of what the holiday is all about.

Well, Guitar Hero World Tour just started up again. This time Allison is practicing on the drums. "Beat It," Alli. Em has been having a great time of it and is giving all kinds of pointers, as Alli did for her with the Wii Fit (which I will definitely be setting a PIN on to access my 'personal' information, thank you!). Ah, Michael is on the PS2 in the basement (Star Wars Force Unleashed) and Steve and I are going to make bread sticks for a dinner we're invited to tonight. Life is good.

I've added a few pictures and comments in the side bar to share a bit of our day with you. Love to all!

PS. the gingerbread house is a replica of my Mom's childhood farm house... she recognized it immediately which pleased Allison to no end.

Do You See What I See, Mom?

Here it is, Helen... give me a call.

This Sunday I Celebrate The Candle

Have you heard the object lesson of the candle in the dark? In a lightless room the flame from a single candle takes away the darkness. I'm celebrating the candle.

Stronger than anything I know is the love our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for us. Nothing strengthens or comforts me more.

Blessings in the kindness of others. Our furnace quit working on Tuesday and we found a small part was broken. We had quotes of $200 to repair it and offers to let us "have" the part for $125. A ward member who is in the business called his wholesale warehouse. The part was $25 and Steve installed it for free! A pharmacist at Walgreen's, who greets me by name, noticed our insurance had lapsed and enrolled us in the "W card" program. Our pharmacy bill for the two rx's, a month's supply of each, was originally $120 and it came down to $70, and that was for a 90 supply of one of the scrips.

These are only two examples of seemingly small things that have meant much more than can be expressed.

Our computer BIOS boot program became corrupted (how!?) so I was very grateful for Mom's old computer. We were able to Frankenstein with our computer so Allison could retrieve some final project homework. I'm still trying to find the old picture files (maybe they're still on the 512gb in the sick computer...).

Going a little overboard on Mom's birthday cake was therapeutic. I will definitely never be invited to compete on Food Network "Challenge"! Coming soon will be the picture of the pathetic ode to Mary Engelbreit that was my birthday cake (when the camera card returns from UT). Many moons ago Marianne and I were teaching school while our husbands finished college. We told each other that it would be really cool to have bake ware that had been around long enough to have "character" like the pans room mothers brought in to our classes. Washing up after some holiday baking the other day I realized I had just washed many items that were full of "character."

My wish is that, like my cookie sheet, I can show a strength of "character" as time goes by.