Christmas is almost here and I thought I better capture some of the things that have been going on before the holidays put us into a mad rush. On Saturday, a week and a half ago, Amy went with April to Oregon for their annual girls’ chocolate-making-day. While they were gone, Bethy kept complaining about a stomach ache and repeatedly requested a blessing. At first I thought she was being too dramatic and told her to wait and see if it felt better. But after about an hour of lying in bed, I finally put on my shirt and tie and gave her one. About 10 minutes later, she was playing with her sisters and proclaimed, “I’m not sick any more dad!” My first thought was that she hadn’t really been sick, but then I realized that even if she hadn’t, she had shown her trust and child like faith in God by acting on her feelings. Who am I, really, to say that the sickness was not as real as her faith? Amy and I had been searching for our digital camera ever since we left for Utah several weeks before. I had even gone to the store the previous day to compare prices, but realized we couldn’t afford a new one. I had pretty much given up the hope of being able to take pictures of this year’s Christmas. But, when I saw the complete trust that Elizabeth put in the Lord’s abilities I finally humbled myself, kneeled down and asked for help. Knowing that a digital camera is relatively meaningless in relation to the Lord’s grand purposes, I was humbled to find the Camera only ten minutes later in a place both Amy and I had searched thoroughly on multiple occasions. It was another witness to me of the Lord’s love for me and the need to trust him. I know that God doesn’t solve every problem or lay out every correct decision before me. He expects me to use my brain, search my feelings, and recognize the source of all that is good, so that I can learn to become like him. Often, he lets me make a decision on my own because he either trusts me, or knows that the consequences will teach me far more than providing the solution at the outset. I know that he won’t always help me find every lost item, but it sure is comforting to be reminded every so often of his ability and willingness to help me. Maybe the next time I don’t find what I’m looking for, He will provide me the heart to be grateful for what I do have.
Last week ended up very busy. On Monday evening I had a meeting in Meridian and then rushed back to Nampa’s City Council meeting, which went almost to 10pm. I needed approval of the scope of work for the update to the comprehensive plan so that I could request qualifications from planning firms. There has been a lot of interest in providing consulting services for the plan and I’m really looking forward to getting the update moving. Tuesday, Amy and I hired a babysitter and went to the company Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, there were so many people that to me it felt too impersonal. I would rather have had just our department meet at a restaurant or someone’s home, but maybe we’ll try that next year. Wednesday night I had scouts and Thursday night I had the open house for the University District plan I have been working on all year. I really didn’t get an evening with my family until Friday.
The weekend was full of activities as well. We took all the kids to Kelli Dittrich’s birthday party, met up with Angie afterwards so Baily and Bethy could stay with her for the night, baked a ham, went to the Ward Christmas dinner, and spent the evening preparing my lesson for priest’s quorum. Sunday was filled with morning and afternoon meetings, then we travelled to Boise and had our annual Christmas dinner and caroling with Uncle Dave, Aunt Nola, Carolyn, Ed’s family, and the Bevans. It was nice to be together and made me wish our lives were less busy so that we could get together more often. I think we’ll probably go out to see the Bevans on Thursday after we open presents and have breakfast at our place. We sure do have great relatives and we love them so much! For some reason, being at the Bryans this weekend reminded me of being at my grandparents during Christmas time. I hope they are pleased with the family we have become.
We have been so blessed this year. We have felt the spirit of Christmas a little stronger in our family as we have tried to sacrifice a little for others. I hope my children will always remember Christmas as a time to give and not so much a time to get. I am so grateful for my knowledge of the true meaning of Christmas and that Heavenly Father gave us the greatest gift of all - His Son. Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Dizziness, Car Trouble, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Begins
A couple weeks ago, Amy finally got over some extreme dizziness and headaches she suffered through for over a week. Unfortunately, when it first started we didn’t know what to do. We went to several doctors and then had an MRI done before we learned that they had no idea what the problem was. So, $500 later (yes after insurance! Seems a pretty hefty charge to hear they don’t know what the problem is) we still didn’t know what to do. Amy was sitting in front of me one night and I started rubbing her neck and found some really tight and knotted muscles. It was painful, but Amy allowed me to work on it for a while and by the next morning she was no longer dizzy. We think she slept on her neck wrong plus with her nursing and holding Grant all the time, she must have hurt some nerves as well as muscles. Anyway, she’s doing much better now.
That same week, I took my car into a mechanic to get the oil changed and of course was given a long list of items that needed to be done to the car. $220 later I left with the most critical items done. I’m pretty sure that car is not going to be around too much longer, but it sure has been a good one for us. Needless to say, we are now skimping to make our budget work. Raising a family is always an adventure.
We had a really nice trip down to Utah for Thanksgiving. Tuesday night we stayed at the Ruperts so we wouldn’t have to go all the way in one night. Wednesday morning we travelled to Tooele to help out throughout the day with cooking and getting ready for the meal. Since we had Thanksgiving with Ammon and Liz last year, we told the Olson’s we would spend this year’s Thanksgiving with them. Since most everyone was busy with in-laws on Thursday, we decided to have an Ashby Thanksgiving on Wednesday and have oriental food. It was wonderful and if it were up to me, we’d do an oriental day-before-Thanksgiving meal every year. Ammon, Liz, Dawn, Ray, and the Allens all joined us at Mom and Dad’s and we had a great time eating, talking, and just enjoying being together. One major down-side to the holiday was that we couldn’t find our camera before leaving and still haven’t been able to find it since. I’m hoping everyone who did take pictures will share them.
Thursday we spent the traditional Olson Thanksgiving breakfast at Steph and Pete’s home and then spent the afternoon for the Turkey dinner at Amy’s aunt Kristi’s home in Orem. Afterwards, we returned to the Ferguson’s to collect our stuff and talk for a while and finally, returned back to my parents to get the kids in bed (or at least we tried). Overall, it was a nice holiday and I didn’t eat as much as I usually do since I was thinking about my fitness test the following week. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because, as Gary likes to say, it is unadulterated – no push for all the spending and selfishness until the next morning on Black Friday. This year’s Black Friday resulted in a Walmart employee in a New York being trampled to death by early morning shoppers. Thankfully, Thanksgiving hasn’t become so commercialized and self centered as people have made Christmas. Still, I think there is still so much good about the Christmas season.
Friday morning, Ammon, Travis, Ray, Dad, and I went on our traditional skeet shoot. We drove out South of Stockton and had a great time shooting and talking. That is one of my favorite traditions. On Friday afternoon Amy, Grant, and I went camping with all my high school buddies and their spouses. Ammon came too and it was a lot of fun to revisit our old memories and be reminded about so many things I’d forgotten. We went to White Rocks (Cave-Man-Condos) and it was cold but beautiful. We enjoyed trap shooting again, shooting Ryan’s potato gun, talking into the night, and having an amazing dutch oven dinner and gourmet breakfast. We returned on Saturday to the church where Liz and my mom had made a big batch of fish chowder and we met up with the rest of our family members. Those attending over the weekend included: Ryan and Rose; Derek and Maren & kids; Clayton and Ruth; Matt and Teresa; Stephen and his two kids; Ammon and Liz; Amy and Me & kids; and Camille and Scott Hadzik. An unexpected blessing was that Derek got a bunch of gear that needed small repairs, but that were fairly new, from a place he used to work and we got a couple jackets, kids backpacks, and a couple sleeping bags for only $10 – an early Christmas for us! I really want to do this again soon. It was so good to see everyone again.
We attended Church on Sunday, then headed home so I could finish some home teaching on the last day of the month. Someday I’m going to be better at that, but this time it was because families had to keep postponing. We were very grateful to finally get a good nights rest – unfortunately it had been about 2 weeks since we had slept at least 7 hours in one night and we were getting pretty cranky.
Christmas is in full swing now. We have our tree up and have been listening to Christmas music around the house. We watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” the other day and read “A Christmas Dress for Ellen.” We watched the 1st Presidencies Christmas Devotional and have been consistently reminded of how blessed we are. I did really well on my fitness test this time and Amy passed as well. We think we’ll probably get about $170. I kept chanting to myself during the run “Christmas, Christmas, Christmas…” and it helped me get through with my best time yet. One thing that I really liked from the 1st Presidency message the other day was when Elder Uchtdorf said that he believes the economic crisis the world is in will probably cause a lot of people to cut back on the amount they spend for Christmas and that this is probably a blessing in disguise because it turns us to the true meaning of Christmas. I hope I can always keep in mind what Christmas really means. We are trying this year something a little different to make sure our children know how blessed they are and remind them that Christmas is not meant to be a selfish holiday. They have been so willing to think more of others and it has taught me to be more like them. I am grateful for Christ’s perfect example of humility and gratitude and am glad to be reminded of his humble birth.
That same week, I took my car into a mechanic to get the oil changed and of course was given a long list of items that needed to be done to the car. $220 later I left with the most critical items done. I’m pretty sure that car is not going to be around too much longer, but it sure has been a good one for us. Needless to say, we are now skimping to make our budget work. Raising a family is always an adventure.
We had a really nice trip down to Utah for Thanksgiving. Tuesday night we stayed at the Ruperts so we wouldn’t have to go all the way in one night. Wednesday morning we travelled to Tooele to help out throughout the day with cooking and getting ready for the meal. Since we had Thanksgiving with Ammon and Liz last year, we told the Olson’s we would spend this year’s Thanksgiving with them. Since most everyone was busy with in-laws on Thursday, we decided to have an Ashby Thanksgiving on Wednesday and have oriental food. It was wonderful and if it were up to me, we’d do an oriental day-before-Thanksgiving meal every year. Ammon, Liz, Dawn, Ray, and the Allens all joined us at Mom and Dad’s and we had a great time eating, talking, and just enjoying being together. One major down-side to the holiday was that we couldn’t find our camera before leaving and still haven’t been able to find it since. I’m hoping everyone who did take pictures will share them.
Thursday we spent the traditional Olson Thanksgiving breakfast at Steph and Pete’s home and then spent the afternoon for the Turkey dinner at Amy’s aunt Kristi’s home in Orem. Afterwards, we returned to the Ferguson’s to collect our stuff and talk for a while and finally, returned back to my parents to get the kids in bed (or at least we tried). Overall, it was a nice holiday and I didn’t eat as much as I usually do since I was thinking about my fitness test the following week. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because, as Gary likes to say, it is unadulterated – no push for all the spending and selfishness until the next morning on Black Friday. This year’s Black Friday resulted in a Walmart employee in a New York being trampled to death by early morning shoppers. Thankfully, Thanksgiving hasn’t become so commercialized and self centered as people have made Christmas. Still, I think there is still so much good about the Christmas season.
Friday morning, Ammon, Travis, Ray, Dad, and I went on our traditional skeet shoot. We drove out South of Stockton and had a great time shooting and talking. That is one of my favorite traditions. On Friday afternoon Amy, Grant, and I went camping with all my high school buddies and their spouses. Ammon came too and it was a lot of fun to revisit our old memories and be reminded about so many things I’d forgotten. We went to White Rocks (Cave-Man-Condos) and it was cold but beautiful. We enjoyed trap shooting again, shooting Ryan’s potato gun, talking into the night, and having an amazing dutch oven dinner and gourmet breakfast. We returned on Saturday to the church where Liz and my mom had made a big batch of fish chowder and we met up with the rest of our family members. Those attending over the weekend included: Ryan and Rose; Derek and Maren & kids; Clayton and Ruth; Matt and Teresa; Stephen and his two kids; Ammon and Liz; Amy and Me & kids; and Camille and Scott Hadzik. An unexpected blessing was that Derek got a bunch of gear that needed small repairs, but that were fairly new, from a place he used to work and we got a couple jackets, kids backpacks, and a couple sleeping bags for only $10 – an early Christmas for us! I really want to do this again soon. It was so good to see everyone again.
We attended Church on Sunday, then headed home so I could finish some home teaching on the last day of the month. Someday I’m going to be better at that, but this time it was because families had to keep postponing. We were very grateful to finally get a good nights rest – unfortunately it had been about 2 weeks since we had slept at least 7 hours in one night and we were getting pretty cranky.
Christmas is in full swing now. We have our tree up and have been listening to Christmas music around the house. We watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” the other day and read “A Christmas Dress for Ellen.” We watched the 1st Presidencies Christmas Devotional and have been consistently reminded of how blessed we are. I did really well on my fitness test this time and Amy passed as well. We think we’ll probably get about $170. I kept chanting to myself during the run “Christmas, Christmas, Christmas…” and it helped me get through with my best time yet. One thing that I really liked from the 1st Presidency message the other day was when Elder Uchtdorf said that he believes the economic crisis the world is in will probably cause a lot of people to cut back on the amount they spend for Christmas and that this is probably a blessing in disguise because it turns us to the true meaning of Christmas. I hope I can always keep in mind what Christmas really means. We are trying this year something a little different to make sure our children know how blessed they are and remind them that Christmas is not meant to be a selfish holiday. They have been so willing to think more of others and it has taught me to be more like them. I am grateful for Christ’s perfect example of humility and gratitude and am glad to be reminded of his humble birth.
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