FunnyBlog

My Joy is Full

When LG and I had been married about three weeks, we attended the temple together. Once inside we went our separate ways for an hour of learning and service. He went with other men and I went with other women. While there, one statement played over and over again in my head, as if God was trying to tell me something.

“Have joy in your posterity.”

When I rejoined LG as we walked back to our car, he said, “Alice, you are being mighty quiet, do you have something to tell me?” There was no way that I was about to tell LG that I thought God was trying to tell us to have children, when we had only been married three weeks. I said, “I’m fine.” LG’s reply, stunned me: “Alice I felt it every time too, and the temple worker even said ‘Son, now go and have joy in your posterity’ as I was leaving.”

My jaw dropped. God had been talking to me!! And He spoke to LG at the same time so that there would be no confusion or arguing. It took me 6 months of wrestling with the Lord until I was ready to listen. I guess we all act like Jonah at times. I knew if we were to have children so soon that I would more than likely have to forgo my greatest desire, which was to finish college. But, I chose to trust that God knew what He was talking about. I was pregnant shortly after our first anniversary.

Almost fourteen years later, I am still waiting for my chance to finish college. I have been the main nurturer of the children while my husband has gotten all the education a man could ever want. It hasn’t even been a sacrifice really. I so appreciate the fact that my husband has busted his tail to play the role of student/provider and has 100% supported me in having as much time as I want with our kids. I don’t even try to pretend that I know what God is doing, but I do know that I have the rest of my life to finish my coveted college degree and I will never regret its postponement as I think of all the moments that I have been able to appreciate.

I love my children and am so grateful for them. I am proud to be their mother. There is no joy greater than the joy I feel with my husband and our posterity.

Sometimes the joy is so full that it takes me breathe away.

More on joy in posterity here.

Hi.
I just want you to know that you were my hero yesterday. It started with you waking up with a Caroline sized hangover and dragging your butt to work. 
From work in the afternoon you then called me, even though you had a question that needed answering, it was so nice to hear your voice. And it was nice for the two minutes that you let me believe that you just called to say Hi and listen about my day. It made me tingly all over. 
And then after work you read my mind. I do believe we are making serious progress. You rescued me from hell. Literally. You did exactly what I have been coaching you to do all these years and that is to be my knight in shining armor. You said, “Alice, let’s get out of here.” And I so appreciated it. More than I can express. 
You then patiently put up with my ranting, that for some reason I just couldn’t stop myself from directing it at you. And it was so unfair. I am aggressive. And what I was really trying to say (but still have a looooonnng way to go) is I was so in love with you yesterday. And I don’t want that to change. I love it when you are there for me, but I guess I can’t let myself enjoy it. Because I am completely crazy and I obsess about it all coming to a screeching halt which won’t let myself enjoy the good. But I should have hushed my own fears and just enjoyed it. So I apologize. Profusely.
Then, as if all of that already wasn’t enough. When we went to bed, you held my hand while we prayed and when I told you that we didn’t have to hold hands every night, you told me that we did have to hold hands every night. I wondered why and you said that it was part of your big plan. Then I asked what that plan was and you said “staying hopelessly in love with you”. I knew you were telling the truth and I believed you and I have never felt so good. It just took me a night’s sleep to process it. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Ever. 
You are the person that means more to me than anyone and I want it to be us against the world, not the world wedged between us. So today I am happy for all of it. And I am crying because I love you so much and I look forward to tomorrow because I believe you that you want to stay in love with me, and I also believe that you have a plan to do it. Even if you don’t reveal every detail of it. I guess that’s the next step. Progress not perfection. Although really, you were pretty near perfect yesterday.
I love you my patient patient Conquistador.
You win my heart over and over again.

Rocky Mountain High

Here’s the view from my front window.
The mountain is called Timpanogos.
Timp is my newest best friend.
Her majesty is almost as good
as my old best friends
among the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.
But not quite.

I do believe that I spend more of my time
with her
every day
than I ever did with my friends in Knoxville.

Sometimes I just wish that she could talk back.
But I think she is just trying to figure out if
I am Rocky Mountain High
or I am just plain crazy.
I don’t have the heart to tell her
it’s probably a little of both.

That’s not the kind of thing that you
tell your new friends right off the bat.
It takes years to build that kind of re pore.
No wonder why she can’t compete.
We’ve only known each other for a month.

I’ll let you know how the friendship evolves.
I hope she will eventually appreciate me
as much as I appreciate her.
Besides my family,
she is most definitely the highlight of my day.

Exciting feature

Dorry, this is for you.

The rest of you can also be happy.

Blogger has added a new feature where you can select the follow up e-mail box when making a comment. I can then respond in a comment that will be sent back to you if you selected the box. This will hopefully make our comment threads more of a conversation.

So, check the box people.

I am so excited. I have been waiting for this, for a long time. Ever since I discovered facebook.

Also, for those of you who are my faithful readers, if you could go over to facebook and like me, I would be much obliged.

And if you can follow the link on the right to become a follower, I may attempt to lead you somewhere good in the future…like to the tune of giftcard or something.

Fried Rice
Whenever I make a meal that requires rice, I double the amount of rice.
I refrigerate the leftover rice.
In the following few days, I either use the rice to make
rice pudding or fried rice.
I will save my rice puddin (said with my best Southern accent)
for another day.
Here is my fried rice recipe.
It makes a good cheap whole meal 
and is a great way to use up leftovers.
The best thing about my fried rice is
that my whole family will eat it
and I don’t even think they realize that 
they actually get their veggie quota for the day.
I don’t always refer to recipes. Sometimes I just like to wing it.
My fried rice is never the same twice.
I get my wok and heat canola oil. I start with about 1/4 cup and add more in if I need it along the way.
I then take any veggies that would be better sauteed and throw them in the hot oil first.
I always use some type of onion (green being the preference)
and I love mushrooms.
I then add in any cooked meat that I want to use up. The ideas are limitless: chicken, beef, pork, hotdogs, shrimp, or lunch meat (I probably use sliced lunch ham more than anything else).
I then move all of that to the side of the pan and crack two eggs and scramble them into the rest of the ingredients already in the pan.
Next, I toss in any other veggie in bitesize pieces that I need to get rid of:
carrots, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, corn, celery, peppers, etc.
Lastly I throw in the rice from the tupperware straight out of the fridge. (add more oil if needed). I usually use anywhere between 2 – 4 cups of cooked rice.
I season with soy sauce and whatever else I feel like. I like using the fried rice seasoning packets (kikkoman) but sometimes I use leftover shrimp sauce or teriyaki. Or all three.
If you are more of a recipe kind of person, go to allrecipes to find a recipe that you can follow for fried rice. As long as you pick something with a good amount of ratings that is 4 or 5 stars, you can’t go wrong. Unless you burn it. Which I have also done many times in the past. Burning isn’t always a bad thing, sometimes you can go out to dinner as your last resort and you can then celebrate the burned food at home in the garbage as you saved yourself some dishes to do. It’s a good thing because you are going to be scrubbing the burn ouf of the pan when you get back home.
I looked on my two favorite recipe blogs and didn’t find either of them listing fried rice. I am sure Donna or Jennifer could make something even tastier, but you will have to wait for them to post it.

For the Moms
I was asked to write a poem about mothers. I am not sure what is going to be done with the poem. It’s not my greatest work. It’s for my church back in Tennessee. I didn’t have a lot of time, and I really have to be in the mood for poetry. I hope that somehow my main feeling is communicated: I have been mothered by many many women. Some are really my moms and some were friends and some were total strangers.

I will never forget the day that I left the local library bawling. That morning I had just received some shocking and awful news. I decided to take the kids to the library to get my mind off of things. Of course, my two children had other ideas. My baby was a monster that day. They say that our small children respond to our emotions, and I think she was responding perfectly. A man came across the library and pretty much told me I was an awful mother. It was the straw that broke the momma’s back. I gathered the monster, her sister, and tried my best to keep it together until I got outside. I broke halfway to the door.

Another mother had seen the whole thing go down. She ran out to greet me at my car. I had locked the kids in their seats and sat at my steering wheel bawling uncontrollably. I couldn’t even muster the strength to drive back home and even if I could, I couldn’t see well enough to drive. She had the audacity to knock on my window. I sheepishly rolled my window down, and explained that I was having an awful day. She asked me if she could pray for me, and I said, “Oh, that is so sweet, please do.” As a Mormon, I thought that meant she would go back to her car, bow her head and say a silent prayer, but as a relatively new Southerner, I had a lesson comin’ to me. She stood in place and started pleading with the Lord on my behalf. I don’t remember most of what she said except for one line, “Jesus, this woman is obviously having a really hard time, and she has children to take care of, please comfort her so she can do whatever it is that she needs to.”

Do you know that it is six years later and I am still dealing with this major trial in my life. And often, very often I hear the words to that prayer and feel at peace. I wish I could somehow tell that mother, wherever she is, that she has been an angel in my life. But really, aren’t all mothers angels? I think God gets so much of his work done through women with mother hearts. How grateful I am to be one who can succor and to also be one who is succored.

Mothers.
They give birth to babies.
Cradle, not just their own.
A woman’s heart is so large
It’s too big to be alone.
Mothers.
Sometimes are single.
Or have never housed a full womb.
But they still hold hands and hug,
And cry over grave and tomb.
Mothers.
Love and teach.
To everyone they know.
Their children, or mine,
They can’t help but help them grow.
Mothers.
Don’t exclude.
They love one and all.
Because they can’t help it.
They know peace is their call.
Mothers.
I have many.
Lots are far away,
Yet I carry them in my heart,
To get me through each day.
Mothers.
I hear them.
Encouraging my frown.
They laugh with me a lot
And cure me when I’m down.
Mothers.
They are also known as
Sister, daughter, friend.
They are women who I love.
God, to me, did send.
Mothers.
They are busy
Righting the world’s wrongs.
I will, with them, in awe,
Kneel in His eternal throngs.
Mothers.
Work miracles.
In lives old and new.
Because they know how to love.
And succor me and you.
Mothers.
They inspire.
Each person on the earth.
All good things start with them.
Without them, where’s our worth?


Following Christ

I have been catching up on my General Conference talks.

I love the one-liners.
The sentences that ooze truth.
Especially when it’s a truth you have already learned.

Thank you Elder Gonzalez for this gospel message.
I hope you don’t mind that I present it in form of photo.

As you all know, I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know my love is the greatest motivation in my life.
And my greatest strength in overcoming weakness.