Give and receive

This week I have been taught the lesson of give and receive a few times.




First, On Tuesday I read Joseph Smiths lesson on the second coming. There was a part that really stood out to me. It is dated December 27th 1832. Joseph Smith tells his High priest group that if they wanted to receive revelation they needed to be of one heart and one mind. he then recommended that they each pray individually out loud. Each of them did so, one after another. I was surprised as I read on that they did not pray to be of one heart and one mind. They each prayed and spoke of their determination to keep the commandments. Shortly after, the prophet received the revelation that constitutes section 88.
As a side, the last 2 pages of section 88 are a great way to check yourself and see if you are becoming a Zion in heart as Elder D. Todd Christofferson and President Henry B. Eyering referred to in conference.

OK-second lesson. Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the temple. I was able to give several members of my deceased family the option of being bound together for the Eternity's as Malachi talks about in the Bible. When I was finished I was able to go into the Celestial room. This is a room for quiet meditation. An opportunity to think and pray always gives way in this most beautiful setting. If you ever have a chance to go to a temple open house, I invite you to, and you will see that this special room has a wonderful spirit of love. I was sitting in the Celestial room contemplating my great-great cousin who had done all of the leg work for this family history. He had definitely been motivated from heaven. I had the special feeling of knowing that at least one of the families being sealed was happy, that they would be together for Eternity. As I was contemplating this, my thoughts were led to my brother. He will be finalizing a divorce this week. I prayed for him and my family as they go through this time of trial. After about 20 minutes going on and on in prayer for things that people were in need of, I remembered that I had not yet been brave enough to tell Heavenly Father of my determination to keep the commandments, like the high priests had. I then offered that prayer, and my heart was lead to pray and ask him what I could do for him. The simple answer was, Help your husband. I thanked Heavenly Father and prepared to go home to the whirlwind of boys.
When I walked in, the dishes were done and the house had been picked up. The boys were quiet and playing with Tom. When he saw me, he told me he was going to lay down and take a nap. When I told him about the prompting I had received in the temple to help him, and asked him what I could do to help him, I was suprised at his answer. I don't know what I expected, I was thinking-clean the garage, rake the leaves, etc. His answer, "If you could just clean the house and keep doing all the things you are doing, I would be so happy."
result-I deep cleaned the kitchen with the happiest heart, full of love. I knew that this was helping him and so it made the work full of joy. I continued on through the house, without one feeling of drudgery.

Third lesson- Today was tithing settlement for our family. The Lord has established a great principle of Tithes and Offerings. Tithe or tithing is 10% of your income and Offerings-or Fast Offerings-The Church designates one Sunday each month, usually the first Sunday, as a day of fasting. Proper observance of fast Sunday includes going without food and drink for two consecutive meals, attending fast and testimony meeting, and giving a fast offering to help care for those in need.A fast offering should be at least the value of the two meals not eaten. When possible, we should be generous and give much more than this amount. So now that we are clear on these definitions, I will move on to Tithing settlement. This happens at the end of each year. You and your family go into the bishop, to say whether or not you pay a full 10% tithe. It also gives you a chance to check your records and make sure your records match that of the church.
Before Tithing settlement we had a little discussion with the boys to refresh in their minds what tithing is and where it goes. We gave the boys each a dollar and let them pay a dime from their dollars for tithing. Each of the boys tried to give more. We explained that this was not necessary. The Lord is so good, he gives us everything and only asks for 10% in return. And if we pay our 10% he promises us blessings that we wont even have room to receive. When I told the boys that, the spirit bore witness to me, that I knew it was true, and flashed in my mind the many times that I personally have been able to witness the truthfulness of it.

The "Purple Park"


So, Fourth Lesson-On the way home from tithing settlement we drove by a park. Gabriel said look there is the purple park! Seth said yeah but we don't play at the park on Sunday, and then for the first time, noticed that there were in fact people playing at the park. Mom, he said, some people are playing at the park. Yes Seth I know, but that is because they don't know that Heavenly Father asked us to keep the Sabbath Day holy. But we know that, right. Then Seth said, but I wish I didn't know that, I want to play at the park on Sunday and not go to church. Then I said, yeah it seems like it would be pretty fun to play at the park on Sunday, huh. He said yeah. I said, but can you imagine if you didn't go to church. You couldn't get baptized or receive the holy ghost. If you didn't go to church, your kids wouldn't go to church. If you didn't go to church you couldn't get married in the temple, and that would mean that you couldn't be with your family forever and ever. I said, Seth, going to church is such a small thing that the Lord ask of us. Its like just paying 1 dime from our dollar for tithing. And yet when we keep the sabbath day holy we receive great blessings, like being with are families forever. I am not sure if he learned the lesson, but for me the weeks teachings had come full circle and again the spirit bore witness to my heart that things I was saying were true. I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven who leads and guides me. How blessed I have been!

The Best Cinnamon rolls I have ever made!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 quart warm water
• 1 cup melted shortening
• 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 10-12 cups flour

Cinnamon filling

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons cinnamon (depending on taste)

Orange filling

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1/2 orange, juice of

Directions

1. Place first 3 ingredients into mixing bowl and let sit till yeast begins to work. After about 10 minutes I add 6 Cups flour to this mixture.

2. Heat Shortening, Sugar, salt, and Canned milk, until shortening is melted, and cool to a luke-warm temperature. When it is cooled, add 4 cups of flour to this mixture then mix it with the yeast mixture, after mixed, add one more cup of flour.
   

3. Knead well.

4. Place in a greased bowl and let rise till doubled.

5. Punch down, rise till doubled again.

6. knead then let rest 10 minutes.

7. Roll out about 1/2 inch thick .- I break this down to a third of the dough at a time, just to make it easier to work with.
   

8. Spread with desired filling I melt the butter, add the sugar and mix, then add the cinnamon and mix it all in. As you can see it makes a pretty generous amount- My feeling on this is the gooyer the better. So I dollop it on pretty thick. This is where I add raisins, chocolate chips, or pecans.
   

9. Roll up jelly roll style and cut into 3/4-1 inch thick rolls.

10. Place on greased cookie sheet allowing plenty of room for them to expand.

11. Let raise 30 minutes.

12. Cook 350 degrees for up to 25 minutes, watch carefully and do not let them brown!

13. Store in an airtight conatainer and only frost when needed.

14. To freshen your cinnamon rolls place a pat of butter on top and microwave for 10-20 seconds.

15. Makes about 3 dozen
    

    
    

Dear Heavenly Father

I heard the sweetest little prayer this morning. My Dear Gabriel Was looking slightly heavenward with his eyes open and a dead little fire bug in his hands. Hyrum was kneeling next to him, saying "He was our friend" over and over again.
This is the prayer Gabriel fervently prayed
Dear Heavenly Father,
I killed this little fire bug. I am so sorry. Could you take care of him and make him alive again. We love him. Could you take care of him better than I did. I am so sorry
Hyrum said "He is our friend" and that was it. They were off playing a different game.

Oh the tender heart of a child!

My Dear Gabriel

Ahh, I am not sure if I should be concerned or not. So, I am blogging, because I can't find similar symptoms on the web-to get an idea of what is going on.

Here goes. My Gabe is 3 1/2 years old. I like to say that he is raw Gabe. That seems to be the best way to describe him. He seems to have no barriers. When he gets sick-while the other boys are sick-he is always the sickest. They get a sniffle, he gets a knock down drag out flew, where there is no relief or end in sight. When he is angry, he unleashes a ball of fiery that you had no idea a 3 year old could conjure. He has been kicked out of nursery for throwing a dresser at a teacher-Later she did come to me apologetically to tell me she antagonized him. Still it just seems he has no protective wall. So, that has been a worry to me. But, then recently I have noticed a few new symptoms. He grinds his teeth during the day- I am not sure if he does it at night. He also breaths very shallowly when he sleeps, and holds his breath with a quick intake and a forceful release all through the day, no matter the activity. That is how I breath when I am in pain, ie. popped out rib, labor, or Gall bladder attack.
He takes about a 2 hour quiet time during the day- but never sleeps. He goes to sleep about two hours after he is in bed. And he hates to have his light off.
Do you all think these are related. Do you think it could be sleep apnea, respitory, behavioral, or I should just not worry?
Everyone who reads this, please leave a comment- I am up for any suggestions!

Some Pictures from Minnesota

Well, I finally got the coupon I wanted and got my pictures put on a CD. However, this is just one roll of film, so they are kind of sparse. I used most of the roll on Hyrum, because he is normally down for a nap and misses out on the photo sessions. Please enjoy!


This is Cutie Pie Hyrum on the Swing set. He is 2 years old. I am loving the stage he is at right now. He always walks around saying "Your my best buddy, huh." To whoever is near. You just can't help yourself picking up this guy and kissing him all over until he begs for mercy.
The swing set is one of those blessings from Heavenly Father that I just shake my head, because I feel so blessed. A man from our ward called us up and asked if we wanted a swing set. He thought we could use it. So he brought it over and assembled it for us. Why is Heavenly Father so good to us?

Gabriel- 3 years old
Every night for scripture study we try very hard to be reverent. It is the only way I can make it through one chapter a night on my own- when Tom has to work late. So, if someone isn't reverent whether it is during scripture study or family prayers, they have to sit on the reverence chair. Gabe got 10 minutes for being irreverent during family prayers. I went up to help the other 2 get to bed, and when I came back down, this was what I found with 6 minutes left on the timer. He was trying so hard to be obedient, but he was so tired. What a sweetheart! He scooted that other chair up to his chair so he could lay down and wait for the timer. He was completely asleep when I took him up to his bed.
Here is my sweet little Setherdoo-Seth for short :) -5 years old
This is the baby room. We made it off limits from the beginning so we wouldn't have a hard time keeping the kids out when the baby comes. However, when Seth builds towers he needs complete concentration and no little hands stealing cups off of the bottom row. So I let him build in the baby room. This is one of his favorite past times. I think we may have an engineer on our hands. :)
This is "our" raspberry patch. It isn't really ours, it is our neighbors. Though he is more than happy to let the boys graze all summer long. Behind the Raspberries are Huckleberry and Blackberry bushes. These along with the apples from our apple tree have been such a treat to us since we moved here.
On one of the last warm days of summer, I decided to let the boys fill one of the gardens with water for a pond. So they could have leaf boat races. When the leaf boats sunk, we decided to make it a sort of slip and slide instead. Hyrum thought it was a terrible idea. But, the other two had a blast. They played in the mud for almost 3 hours after Seth got home from school. I sprayed them off the best I could and carried them each very carefully to the tub. It was such fun-I might not plant that garden spot next year and let them do it all summer long. Just look at Gabe and the water next to him-:)
OK last one. I was trying to get the boys to do the "See no evil" "Hear no Evil" "Speak no Evil" But they followed their big brother and they all thought they were so cute that I had to take the picture any way. This picture is taken in our "fortress". It is actually our porch, but the boys call it their fortress, and it has made a great place for 3 little boys to fight the dragons and save me from the bad guys for countless hours. Sometimes however it is my fortress to go to when I am talking on the phone, so I can get away from 3 very loud little boys.

This is just a little of us in Minnesota.

A little piece of heaven

I have been so blessed! I just read next weeks lesson from the Joseph Smith manual. It talked about all the trials that he endured through his life time. Even one sad occasion when some of his "friends" turned mobbers came into his house, drug him out, suffocated him until he passed out, ripped off his clothes, scratched him with their fingernails all over his body, and then poured hot tar and feathers all over him. At the time his little boy had the measles and when they drug him out of the house, the little boy was exposed to the cold and died 5 days later. After he was able to recover enough from the attack, he crawled to a friends house, where they spent the night cleaning the tar off of him. The next morning he spoke during the sunday service(the mobbers attended) with such faith in the Lord that 3 people were baptized after the service. After reading this lesson, I realized how much I complain. I think if I were Joseph at that time, I would have said, Lord haven't I done all that you asked me to do. I have been your humble servant for all these years, and this is what I get in return. But, not faithful Joseph. He knew that this life was a time to be proved and tested. He bore testimony of it time and again. I ask myself how he gained such great faith. I remember more than a few times in the last several months, complaining at little trials ie. not finding the right house, not being able to get everything done as I moved out, not seeing my husband enough, not having enough money to pay all the bills. What little trials and yet each time I gave into the temptation to ask Heavenly Father why. Each time I was reminded of Job and all that he endured with a great love for God that never waivered. I realize at this time that my faith muscles are pretty weak and prone to give out if the trial lasts for to long. But, luckily we have the Faith of other to help build our own.
So, after I read this lesson, I started looking at things in a little different light. And realize how truely blessed I am and how easy my trials really are. I hope that I can remain faithful no matter what trials I face, and I am so grateful for the reminders that the Lord sends my way!

Oh the places you'll go

When I graduated from high school my Grandma Twila gave me a luggage set. She said she just new I was going places, and that it would come in handy. What a remarkable way to encourage me to follow my dreams of travel! She was right. I have used them many times. This year alone, I have traveled a great distance every month. This is going to be a travel log, but if you have never read the book by Dr. Seuss, I highly recommend it, go to the link at the bottom of the post and check it out!
In January I went to Florida as 1 of the top 100 future beauty professionals of the country.
In February I went to the opposite coast, and California as a guest speaker for the Paul Mitchell Schools to talk about a new philanthropic based program the schools were adopting, called "Be Nice".
In March I flew with my family to the beautiful new state called Minnesota. Where we have started a new chapter in our life which I like to call "growing up".
In April I took a month off to approach the state of being pregnant :)
In May Toms company flew us to Arizona for a wonderful mothers day weekend.
In June I again opted to stay home to get over a state of morning sickness :(
In July we made a trip out to Idaho, where July 31st we drove through Iowa and onto Nebraska.
Then August made up the bulk of our trip, where we traveled through Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
By September I reached the state of exhaustion :)
However in October I packed my suit case once again to go see my beautiful cousin be married. We traveled from Minnesota to Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.
I love to drive across the country and think about the early settlers of the country and how they may have viewed it. I was especially blessed on this most recent trip to view the vibrant sea of colors of the Midwest. There are trees everywhere, and they are all changing to match the fall temperature. I saw brilliant maroons, bright reds, deep greens, pumpkin oranges, and golden yellows. What a beautiful world the Lord has given us, and I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy it.

http://schools.fsusd.k12.ca.us/schools/fhs/teacher/link/GigioC/Dreamweaver%202/Oh%20The%20Places%20you%27ll%20Go.htm