blessings...

I hated vacuuming when I was young. Not sure why; I just did. Once, as an adolescent who knew better, I even 'dropped' it down the stairs in our bi-level home. They were, however, carpeted stairs- so this act of rebellious vandalism did not have the desired effect! Now that I am a mother with a family of five, with a large golden retriever and six little children in my dayhome, I shudder to think of life without my dear companion, the vacuum cleaner! Another factor in my grown-up appreciation of this useful household tool is the fact that it is built-in; the canister is happily tucked away in the garage, where I don't have to deal with it. I have only once had to even empty it- my helpful husband usually performs this task. What would I do if I didn't have a vacuum cleaner? I think of the daily use it gets doing everything from booster seats and kitchen chairs after snack time, to the expanse of light carpet injudiciously installed across so much of the main floor in...

Last weekend my youngest sister was down with her boyfriend for his old friend's wedding to a woman who grew up here in Pincher Creek. It was, of course, good to see her and her boyfriend, and their huge Great Dane puppy, Jackson. Talk about dog lovers! We went out for lovely long walks together with Jasper, our family pet. He's a Golden Retriever, so we vacuum a LOT, but he has the sweetest temperament... I enjoyed the simple pleasure of walking out in the wind with people I love (whose company is always a treat), and watching our big dogs gallop around, obviously enjoying themselves too. Thank Heaven for the little things, like big dogs and younger sisters. (She's taller than I ;)

I was out walking yesterday afternoon and saw a wooden painted sign on someone's front door, which said "LET US GIVE THANKS"... I am so grateful to live in a place where we stop and celebrate how blessed we are! And what a holiday for us; this long weekend is the final harvest and clean-up of our vegetable garden. In this blessing, I am thankful for our kind friends who share with us their large garden plot on an acreage at the other end of town. There is a deer fence, and an irrigation system which involves collecting water from a pond at the edge of the creek. I always feel rich and bountifully blessed whenever I go down there. I love walking down the hill through the long green grass and opening up the gate into our wonderful shared place. We couldn't enjoy any of this without the generosity of good friends. My favorite part of our veggie garden is Kirby! He's the man who grows it, works it, and without him we definitely wouldn't have any of this earth...

I really enjoyed practicing the piano today... even though I spent most of my time and energy on technique! It feels so good to sit and think hard, concentrate, and push myself to remember and improve these scales, chords, arpeggios- in all their variety... I like using my brain. A lot of the work I do is housework (clearly not an intense use of my mental capacity!)... and social; family, church, etc. Outside of reading, this is my big intellectual activity! And music, unlike literature, is an uphill climb... It feels like work. My hands are slow, and feel a bit awkward at times, but I keep going, and the times when it all comes together are worth it! I am blessed to have a brilliant teacher, and a supportive family. Kirby is always more than happy to see me do anything for my personal development and pleasure. He only wishes I would take more time for these things. Maybe as time goes by I will. Perhaps I will even take up art again one day. One thing at a time, Leah! I think I'd b...

I know I'm not alone in feeling Friday afternoon pre-weekend relief! It's close enough to smell, and I can hardly wait. My little ones here are all happy making pictures and playing while solving Busytown mysteries with Huckle Cat on TV; it's quiet time.   :) School is out, and Emma is home. Jack is working up at the pharmacy, and Mary is off to a volleyball tournament. Kirby is at an appointment in town, and the sun is shining through the crisp blue sky. And yes, there's a bit of a breeze. I like how I can feel a bit of a Friday afternoon buzz humming in the freshly blown in air around here on days like this. And it's a good thing, because I think we're all ready for it!

My right wrist is swollen and sore, giving me nerve pain up my arm and tingling in my hand. A bad flare-up of an old case of tendonitis. As you can imagine, this is a bit of a challenge in looking after my little dayhome children, among other responsibilities. I think there are a couple layers of silver lining to this cloud though... My left hand writing is improving, for one! And having a relatively useless dominant hand is highlighting how caring and helpful my husband and children are! Jack especially. During the workday, he does things like sippy cups, peanut butter sandwiches, and some heavy jobs, especially with little Kash! He's a two year old that's built like a little man, and hefting him around for a diaper change is not light work! I know that not every 16 year old boy would be so willing to help out with little ones, but my heart was warm with maternal pride yesterday as I snuggled an adorable little two-year-old girl after lunch. I asked her, "Who loves you...

On the weekend, my dear little sister and her sweet little daughters came to visit from BC. It was a whirlwind trip, even though they did end up staying one more night and day than originally planned. There's something so comforting about being with her- she's only about 21 months younger than I, so we really grew up close together, and sharing memories since we can remember anything. The layers of social habit and savvy just start melting away, and we can be our very barest selves. Just the real, un-armored, (disarm-ing?  :) women we've always been since we were little girls. Well, hopefully a more mature version of our original selves; we no longer play with mud and garden slugs... This weekend it was actually Dead Sea mud masks and books and free-flowing heartfelt conversation. Thank Heaven for a short but sweet visit with Sara.

All we can reach anyway! I am grateful today for the annual food drive our church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) sponsors in our community. It was fun last night to get together with all the youth and put together fliers, food bags, and boxes for all the different families who will be picking them up and distributing them this evening in various parts of town etc. They are really good kids, and they were so willing to give their evening to do this work that will help others have enough to eat this fall... We had a few games and some good homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies at the end, but they didn't show up knowing that was in store. They just love getting together... I am pretty excited for Saturday morning when the real fun happens; we get to drive around the roads on our route collecting bags of food donations for the local food bank. What could feel better than helping make sure people will have enough to eat? Thank Heaven for this opportunity to...

This oldish Scottish man is my favorite living author... How many happy hours have I passed in the lives of his characters, enjoying their company and his storytelling? Countless. At least I haven't counted them. I have read and re-read the (12?) novels in his famous No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Sometimes an hour with Precious is just what I crave; the humanity and cleverness and quirky foibles blend seamlessly into a delightfully believable character who's become a friend- if one who doesn't know me or even really exist. Bibliophile problems. La's Orchestra Saves The World is a rare book which I read for the second time on a long drive from Arizona to Provo Utah just a few days after New Year's. Out Loud. I read it aloud to my family and our grown niece Maranda. Universally appreciated. Need I say more? Yes, I think I must tell that as we drove by Young Living lavender fields south of Provo, I was reading about La(vender), the main character, who grew l...

My days have so overflowed with blessings this summer that I scarcely take time to pause and share! The spring snows did all melt away of course, and our big vegetable garden ins thriving... thanks almost single-handedly to my industrious husband and his green thumbs. We have already begun to enjoy fresh beans, peas, carrots, baby potatoes, beets, cucumbers etc. And Kirby's talents don't stop there; he's already bottled up beet pickles and B.C. peaches! He's always been a culinary man, and enjoyed gardening. Now it's all highlighted by the fact that I am looking after 5-6 little ones for 9 hours a day, 5 days a week!! Fun work, but pretty full-time! Thank Heaven for my husband's help!

At the old family farmhouse on Coast Meridian Road, there was a huge weeping willow tree in the front yard. It was almost as big as the house, or so I remember it! It had plenty of water in the low wet ground, and was near a huge deep full ditch between the front yard and the road. Near the willow was an enormous holly tree, which seemed to tower around the height of the red farmhouse roof. I remember when Mom cut out a house for us in the middle branches; we liked playing in our secret holly house, although I clearly recall how sharp the prickly leaves were! Dad made us a great tire swing hung from the weeping willow- the kind that sits horizontally. It was so fun to play on... About 7 years ago he gave it to us to put in our own yard for Jack and Mary and Emma- the same one from when we were little on the farm! A couple of years ago when we were out at my sister's place in a lush BC mountain valley, Kirby and I bought a little willow tree in a yogurt container from someone at th...

In my dayhome I have two adorable little twin girls. They came to me in May after being at home with their loving parents, with supplemental care from a doting grandma, until the age of 2 1/2. They are easily the best examples I have met of true, unspoilt 'wide-eyed wonder'... Really, so precious. And their mom and grandma are English, so they have sweet little accents. They have each at times wrapped their little arms around my neck and said, ' Leah, I love you.' Utterly endearing.

All this summer I worked 9 hours a day, 5 days a week here at home looking after 5-6 little ones at a time. This is a lot of work, but it's work I really enjoy. My husband (a schoolteacher) and our three teenaged children were home a lot, and we had wonderful friends and family here visiting pretty well the whole time we were home! It was busy. Happy, but very busy! Then Kirby and I went away together for the last couple days of the long weekend. He had been saying for quite a while that we needed to do this; and suddenly the time was right. We drove to Waterton Saturday afternoon, and walked by the lake, the river, the waterfall, the shops... (Actually we walked right into some of the shops; an art gallery and some red ballet flats called so sweetly :) After a delicious dinner at 'Pizza of Waterton', we enjoyed the pool, hot tub, steam room, and sauna. RELAXING! On Sunday morning it was only a few steps next door to church! Monday morning we went to the temple in Cardst...

This morning we woke up early to a cold, snowy day! About 6 inches of snow lay all over everything, and more continues to fall steadily. I appreciate Jack's intentionally delusional cheerfulness about the weather at this time of year; he keeps us all afloat with it sometimes! Last night when we went to bed, for instance, he calmly assured me that however appearances out of doors were to the contrary, it was not snowing...   :) Yesterday evening when he was grocery shopping with me at Co-op, we bought a few boxes of seed potatoes and about a dozen packets of other garden seeds; both perennial flowers, as well as  several kinds of vegetables. This was a pleasantly hopeful experience... looking forward to when we will put them into the ground with all the faith we can muster and then watch and wait for the little green sprouts to make their way up towards the sun... Ahhh. Good thing I indulged in this delightful consideration while I could!! Hahahah.  ;) Of course I truly ...

Thank Heaven for the Joy of Cooking! My all-time favorite cookbook, and especially good at explaining all about food... So this afternoon I made the lovely, light, butter and milk- free chiffon cake. With orange zest in it and some orange juice and lemon juice squeezed into the whipped icing. mmmmm... Running out the door after supper on my way to the youth activity at church I almost forgot it, but thankfully remembered at the very last minute. Almost there with 4 kids when I realized I'd forgotten to pick up crochet hooks for the cotton smurf-stye beanie hats we were making tonight. Great. Never fear; I sent them in with my precious cake tottering in the hands of Jack, and raced away to buy the last of the equipment for our project. It was fun and everyone went home with a little beginning of a hat for our summer camp. Mary frosted the cake and served it up to us at the end, and that was that. Emma said it was very cute how I was proud of my creation and 'kept' referring...

Nothing is better than the rush I get when I'm out running. Well, maybe there are some better things- depending on what we are talking about. I am just saying that I love the beautiful feeling of 'YES!' that washes over me after I have been running for a few minutes and push past that initial 'no' from my leg muscles. After Kirby and I came home from a lovely refreshing walk after dinner, I was working here at the desk when Mary suggested we go for a run. That was all it took. We were out the door in about 5 minutes, joined by Emma. I was quickly passed by my lithe young daughters, so I had the pleasure of watching them run together with Jasper (the golden retriever) along Broadview. South-facing houses on one side of us, and a field of gently rolling hills on the other. We came home and stretched for a while, and I feel great! Except my right knee, of course. I will have to go back to doing my physiotherapy stuff for that old injury if I want to actually use my leg...

On Tuesday I walked with my little ones down to the library. (As much for the fresh air and exercise on the way there and back as for the literary adventures awaiting us inside ;) The toddlers are getting the hang of it- they play around the children's area in the stuffed toys, puzzle games, colorful computer, and board books. There is a little tiered seating place which they enjoy climbing on, with clear bookshelves up the sides and a little cubby place underneath. This is naturally a popular destination! Meanwhile I hustle around choosing books I can look forward to reading with them over and over during the next week or two.  Of course I search out ones the children will enjoy; anything with animals is a good choice as far as they are concerned, so that's simple enough. Going home is uphill, and frequently into the wind. Add several pounds of books (and sometimes a few vegetables or other groceries that can't wait) to the ever growing babies in the double stroller, and...

Today is my birthday! I am so happy that I get to pass it here with my husband and our children- at home. And it's general conference, so we are enjoying peaceful hours watching and listening to spiritually uplifting and heartening messages spoken to all the world by true prophets.  :) What could be better? I laughed with millions of others around the world when President Monson so comically told his boyhood story of starting a fire with his friend! It's pretty easy to take good advice from a him, not only because he speaks for God, but because he has such a great sense of humour- and knows how to direct it at himself! I have been receiving beautiful, thoughtful gifts I treasure all day, and I thank Heaven for the blessing of loved ones. Life is sweet.

This afternoon I fought off a migraine with some good meds and a couple napping babies to help. But the best was the little 3 1/2 year old boy who was so good and sat beside me playing lego while I rested and dozed my headache away! He was so good.  :) He'd ask me questions about unusual lego pieces once in a while, but mostly he just quietly built his little masterpiece... What a darling child he is. I am truly grateful and I thank Heaven for the blessing of such sweet little people to care for. I felt so much better after that- I made delicious pasta and veggie sauce for dinner, then baked three pumpkin-orange cakes. Yum!

Christmas was wonderful. We travelled down to a family reunion at Kirby's brother's house in Arizona. The thing about school starting up again that's nice is new beginnings. We set goals that matter to us, and this year we are sticking them up on our bedroom doors, so we will remember what they are by February...! There's something about a written goal that takes it from being a mere wish to becoming a real plan. And there's something about an actual plan that gives me hope and excites me. Somehow writing out what I hope to do makes it feel more possible, and likely to happen. And motivates me to work to make it happen. That's cheerful, even on a cloudy and windy January morning. Thank Heaven for the magic of goal-setting. Now I think I'll go practice the piano!