Redneck Word of the Day

As I’m sure you can tell from his last email, Matthew is happy this week. After six months of knocking doors all day every day, his latest transfer has given him opportunities to teach. The change in location, companion, and routine has been good for him. He is teaching almost every day right now and loving it. He loves his new companion and is adjusting well to being a trainer. He is just headed into severe weather season in Webb City, and he is loving that too. Before he flew in an airplane the first time and decided that he wanted to be a pilot, he was leaning heavily into being a weatherman and he is still fascinated by meteorology. So being in tornado alley is actually very exciting for him. They do educate the missionaries on what to do in the case of different weather-related warnings (tornado watch vs. tornado warning, when to head to the shelters, etc.) and while he is fascinated, he is not stupid. He isn’t going to defy mission rules and go tornado chasing or anything. And a couple of weeks ago he promised me he wouldn’t die, so I’m not overly worried. 😂 I do, however, reserve the right to freak out a little bit if tornados actually touch down in his vicinity. 

When Matthew is super stressed or unhappy, he has a tendency to go quiet, so it wasn’t until this latest change gave him a burst of new enthusiasm that we realized that he is developing a mighty fine southern accent. When we talked to him last night, he was in high spirits, and the drawl was quite noticeable. It makes us giggle. He’s nine months into his soujourn in the south, and with more than a year left to go, I can hardly wait to hear what he sounds like when he is done. It should be quite amusing. 😉

He is also beginning to incorporate some southern traditions into his life. As we learned from Nathan after his mission in Texas, as well as from Elder John D. Amos in general conference last fall (FYI-he was one of Tawni’s mission presidents while she was in Louisiana prior to her service in Portugal), almost all foods are made better by putting some Tony’s on it. Tony Chachere’s is a Creole seasoning that is ubiquitous in the south. Slap Ya Mama is a Cajun seasoning that is also widely and generously used. Tony’s is not safe for Matthew, but Slap Ya Mama is, and he has been putting it in everything. Including his beloved stroganoff, which he ate last week for the first time since Fort Smith six months ago. If it has made it into the stroganoff, then he is hard core loving the Mama’s!

Another thing he is picking up is a mighty fine new set of vocabulary words. Last night he shared a “Redneck word of the day” with us. 

Inhale: as in “Why inhale am I still in Walmart?”

Yup. Straight from the mouth of my missionary. Who is happy this week. 😁

The Proof is in the Pie

It’s time for a homemade margarine update. And this time around, it’s all about pie crust. The crust recipe I like and have used for years uses a mix of Crisco and butter (or margarine for us). The Crisco makes the crust tender and flaky while the butter adds great flavor. So, while I know I can make a perfectly serviceable and completely Matthew friendly pie crust with just Crisco, I’m much happier if I can stick with my longtime favorite. With that in mind, let me tell you how it worked out.

The short answer is it worked great!

Now here’s the long answer for those who are super into the minutia of baking. After an overnight chill, I usually have to let the unrolled pastry sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes until it is soft enough to roll without cracking. Using the homemade margarine resulted in a softer dough which meant no waiting. It was ready to roll right out of the fridge. I felt like I needed to move as quickly as possible so it didn’t get too soft, but it didn’t get too sticky or overly difficult to work with in the time it took me to roll it, fill the pie plate, and shape the edge. I chose a pie that uses a fully baked crust so I could assess the results at all stages, so the next step was popping it into the oven for a nice long blind bake. Due to it being softer than anticipated, initially I was worried that it wouldn’t hold its shape in the oven. But there was no need to fret. It held its shape nicely and turned a nice golden color just like I’m accustomed to. Once cooled, filled, and chilled overnight, it retained its integrity and remained nice and crisp. The end result was delicious. I’m sure that was due in part to the fantastic strawberries and cream filling it contained, but still, it was a good crust! It had a decent flake and a nice flavor. It wasn’t quite as tender as I’m accustomed to, but I was so worried about it not being baked long enough to hold its shape that I may have left it in the oven a bit longer than necessary. I’ll see if a slightly shorter bake time improves the tenderness aspect next time around. Because there will be a next time around. This margarine is going to be a very usable option in this capacity.

So, success! I’m so very glad! And I’m hopeful that this homemade concoction will continue to perform well in my other cooking and baking endeavors. I am a bit skeptical about how frosting will hold up at room temperature since the pie crust was softer than that made with a store-bought margarine, but we will just have to wait and see how that experiment goes. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy my slice of pie. 😉

Fickle

Two days ago, I was wearing sandals and shorts. It was 57 degrees outside when I got up this morning. Now it is 34 degrees. And we actually have snow on the grass. It’s not a lot, but enough that Kevin brought in a snowball to torment Malia.

Welcome to spring in Utah.

Withdrawals

Matthew was in Bentonville for six months. Geographically, his area was very small, which meant that the grocery stores he had access to were limited in number. Pretty much, it was Walmart or nothing. With his recent transfer being slightly delayed due to his mission president being in Salt Lake last week to be set apart as a general authority seventy, he has been in Webb City for five days. Today is his very first p-day while he is in Missouri. At 7:23 this morning he sent me a message asking if there is somewhere in Webb City or Joplin where he can get Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream. This is one of the allergen free food substitutes that we use a lot. In particular, we use the fake sour cream to make stroganoff. And stroganoff is one of Matthew’s all-time favorites. He hasn’t had stroganoff since Fort Smith since he couldn’t get the Tofutti in his area in Bentonville. Hence the query for a store that carries it. I got on the Tofutti website and discovered that there is a Natural Grocer in Joplin. That is a boon for Matthew because they carry a lot of the specialty foods we use. 

It is now 9:01 and Matthew just sent me a picture taken inside the Natural Grocer, showcasing another of his all-time favorites: free2b sunbutter cups. I suspect stroganoff is on the menu this evening. And I suspect the Joplin Natural Grocer will have a fairly regular customer for at least the next six weeks. 😉

Sisters

During our temple visits, Kevin and I do a lot of sealings. With the headaches being as unpredictable as they have been, the sealing sessions have been a good fit for us over the last little while. It is a shorter session so if I’m headachy, I can get back home a bit sooner. And while reservations for endowment sessions can be very hard to make unless you are doing so months in advance, we can almost always find a sealing session at a convenient time within the next week or less. Which means that if I’m having a hard headache day or week, we can easily reschedule. And honestly, every time we walk in and ask to do temple names instead of family names, the temple workers get excited. There are so many people who are waiting for sealing ordinances, whose names have been printed or waiting in the queue for a long time. It is wonderful that there are so many people taking family names to the temple, but it can also be really neat to do temple names. I’ve had some really amazing experiences performing ordinances for strangers.

For many years, Kevin and I did mainly endowment sessions with occasional trips to do other ordinances. I think a lot of people do the same. But I have really loved participating in so many sealing sessions. It is an opportunity to listen to the words of the ordinance time and time again, which has given me a chance to really learn them, to ponder on the covenants I’m making, and to find joy in the promised blessings. And while it doesn’t happen in every session, there are times when the sealer running the session will impart some knowledge they have learned over the years or invite us to think about one particular part of the ordinance. For example, today our sealer talked about the fact that in the sealing ordinance we “receive” our spouse as opposed to the commonly phrased “take” your spouse that is used in many other religious or even civil marriages. Think about that. There is a world of difference between those two words. 

We have also learned about several differences in the way sealings can be done. First of all, you don’t have to kneel if there is a physical reason you can’t. Those nice cushions that surround the altar can be lifted out so that a chair or wheelchair can be placed right beside the altar. Makes sense, right? Another thing we have learned that I suspect many people don’t know is that if there are multiple siblings that need to be sealed to their parents, the ordinance can be done once to seal all of them instead of doing a separate sealing for each sibling. The ordinance is valid either way, but it can be kind of neat to have an entire “family” gathered around the altar at the same time.

I have been able to stand as proxy in such a sealing several times over the years, and today I had another chance to participate in this less common type of sealing. Kevin and I were proxy as the married couple as two sisters were sealed to their parents. And as I knelt at the altar, the Spirit reminded me in a powerful way that because I am sealed to my parents, I am also bound to my sisters with the same eternal, unbreakable bond. Everything that has happened with Esther in the past month has been a harsh reminder of the fleeting nature of mortality. And this morning the reminder of the eternal nature of my family was a blessing. We are sisters. Always have been. Always will be. And that is a joyful thought.

Painting for Dummies

Art is not my forte. During my school years I always did well with straight up perspective drawings because they are all straight lines done with a ruler, but as soon as I was asked to add a tree or a bush to my straight road with a picket fence or add people to my square city blocks, I was done for. I can do a pretty convincing stick figure, but other than that, my artistic endeavors are laughable. I can paint crafts, but when it comes to straight up drawing or painting likenesses of anything, I’m pretty abysmal. It’s bad enough that when I was teaching school, my fourth graders used to make fun of me:

Me: {trying to draw something convincing on the chalkboard}

Students: Teacher, what is that?

Me: A dog.

Students: No, it’s not! It’s a marshmallow on a stick!

Me: {not even a little bit offended} Yeah, well, I do my best. {chuckle}

With that bit of background information, you will understand that I was pretty reluctant to participate when my relief society had a painting night. They assured us that anyone could do it, but still, when 9-year-olds laugh at your skills, you really have to face the fact that you are not an artist. However, I was saved from humiliation by the big old headache I had that evening. I would have preferred to be joking about my lack of artistic prowess with the ladies in the ward, but it was not to be. However, there were supplies left over after the activity and when offered to any who had not been able to attend, I actually decided to take advantage of that offer. Because I could give it a try and if it turned out horrible, at least I would have something to keep me entertained for a while, right?

But guess what? Turns out even I can paint by number. 😂 I created my masterpiece during conference this past weekend and I’m actually pretty pleased with the result. And now that it is done, you can’t even see the little numbers that led to my success. 😜

All is Well

Today, I’m going to start with a story. I am on the email list for Havenlight Art, one of the local companies that prints and sells art created by a lot of the local artists who are members of the church. It is one email list I choose to stay on because I enjoy seeing new art that is available and honestly, I love getting a dose of Jesus in my inbox once a week or so! Way back in December, the week before Christmas, (Yes, I know that was less than four months ago. These past several months have been hard and have seemed so, so long.) I got an email that included an image of the Savior that I had not seen previously. I really liked it and kept the email rather than deleting it. After pulling that email up every day for over a week, I decided I should probably just buy a print. There was a sale happening that lowered the cost of framed art a bit, so I ordered a framed piece to hang as well as prints to give my kiddos at Easter. 

As for what drew me to this particular image, I think it was the way the red robes were rendered. Rather than being a field of solid red, they are painted in lines that to my eye, are reminiscent of dripping blood. In some instances, that would end up being a gory picture, but in this case, it just reminded me deeply of the love that the Savior has for us, for me, and the fact that He willingly shed those drops of blood on our behalf. Over the years, as my life experiences have expanded and my relationship with the Savior has deepened, I have become more and more aware of just how much love went into His atonement, and just how amazing His gift is. Life is hard sometimes, a fact that has been made all too real for my family and me over the past month, and through it all, He is there, extending his great love and mercy to every one of us.

About a year and a half ago, I happened across a conference talk that I didn’t remember although I’m certain I heard it. In it there was a quote that changed the way I view the atonement. Elder Merrill J. Bateman said:

For many years I thought of the Savior’s experience in the garden and on the cross as places where a large mass of sin was heaped upon Him. Through the words of Alma, Abinadi, Isaiah, and other prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt “our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15), “[bore] our griefs, … carried our sorrows … [and] was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:4–5). The Atonement was an intimate, personal experience in which Jesus came to know how to help each of us.

I love that idea of each of us standing in line, each of us having our moment in front of Jesus when He looked at us, knew us and suffered in that moment for each of us specifically. I love the idea that He looked at my face, knew my fears and my sorrows and my sins and frustrations and worries and griefs and that one of those drops of blood was shed just for me.  This idea has changed the way I view the atonement, and it has strengthened my ties to Jesus Christ. And this particular picture reminded me of that one drop of blood that had my name on it. 

Today is Easter and as such, the reality of Christ’s atonement and resurrection have been at the forefront of my mind not just today, but over the past weeks as I’ve studied and learned and worked to wrap my brain around some of the harsh realities of life that have been placed before me. This weekend is also General Conference, and I feel like that has been a theme throughout conference as well. There have been so many talks about how the Savior is always there for us and that as we turn to Him, He will strengthen us and lift us and encourage us and bring us joy amidst the challenges of mortality as well as even greater joy in the day of resurrection. It has been such a needed balm to my soul. Some of my favorite thoughts are that a heartfelt prayer for peace will be answered (Henry B. Eyring), we never have to walk our mountain alone (Brian J. Holmes), and no matter how bad things are now, your best days are ahead (Emily Belle Freeman). I know that when we go in with a receptive heart and a willingness to learn, the Lord will teach us in very personal ways. And I feel like I received the spiritual reinforcement I need to be able to keep moving forward with faith.

With how serious and heavy things have been of late, I find myself being more intentional about focusing on the good. I’m looking for those little things that bring joy every day and I’m allowing myself to feel that joy even though there are serious things in the back of my mind all the time right now. So, with that in mind, there were a few silly things in my kids’ Easter baskets along with their prints of the image of Christ I have already written about. They each had some Easter egg and Easter bunny rubber ducks, because everyone knows that we need more rubber ducks around here. (Still five more to find from Christmas…) There were also some wind-up hopping Easter eggs which remind Malia of the eggs in Rise of the Guardians. And my favorite “just because it’s funny” basket stuffer was some Dr. Pepper flavored marshmallow Peeps. Malia’s response upon smelling and tasting them was, “That’s not right.” Because the flavor and aroma were exactly like Dr. Pepper, but the texture was definitely not. 😂 

Nathan and Malia were the only ones home this Easter, which while quiet, is beginning to feel a bit more normal. And Malia (almost) always appreciates having one of her brothers here. The exception to that is when Nathan tries to steal her food. Because not only are her holiday candy options a bit more limited due to the peanut allergy, but even when she was a tiny thing, she would share anything with her brothers except her food. That was where she drew the line. And as a youngest child with three older brothers, I feel like she was so smart that way. 😜 Anyway, Nathan teased her as she defended her nut free chocolate treats and today their whole good-natured bantering made me smile. It’s the little things, right?

One of the highlights of the day was an unexpected call from Matthew this evening. We did not know that he would get to call home for Easter, so it was a wonderful surprise! I think it was good for him too, because his mission president was called to be a general authority seventy during the morning session of conference yesterday which means that he will be leaving his calling as a mission president a full year earlier than expected. Matthew was planning on having the same mission president for all but his very last transfer, so this is a big change that has the mission in a bit of a hubbub this weekend. The mission president had a zoom meeting with all the missionaries last night to give them all some info about timing and what info he has, which is not much. The new mission president has been called although they don’t know who it is yet, and he will begin serving on July 1. Until the announcement yesterday morning, only the current mission president and his wife and the church leaders who had called him knew about this change. The mission president has two children still living at “home,” and even they didn’t know until yesterday. So big surprise for almost everyone.

Matthew is feeling a bit stressed about this upcoming change. Transfers are also this week, and there is a very serious rumor that Matthew will be training a brand-new missionary, so he is also feeling a bit anxious about that as well. Hopefully having a few minutes to chat with Kevin and I have helped reassure him that he really is capable and prepared to be a trainer and that while having a new mission president will definitely bring changes, it will also bring blessings. The Lord knows who He needs as well as where and when He needs them, so this is not a coincidence or a mistake. It is a part of the Lord’s plan for the current president and his family, the new president, the mission, and the missionaries. 

I feel like the big takeaway from this conference is that everything centers on Jesus Christ. And when we put him at the center of our lives, we are capable of much more than we are on our own. As life continues to bring us challenges, as I know it will, I hope that I will not just remember that lesson, but that I can live it. And I think that is one of the big challenges of mortality-to actually live what we profess to believe, to keep moving forward with faith in Jesus Christ. But if we can do that, if we can endure as Elder Bednar taught in this conference, in the end, all will be well. As the historic hymn says, “Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear; but with joy wend your way.” I feel like that should be my motto for this next six months-come to Christ, fear not what the future may bring, and find joy in the journey, for all is well.

Another Ending

Over the past four years, Nathan has been taking organ lessons at USU. It is one of those things that he does for the joy, not because he needs the credits to graduate. During that time, we have been able to drive to Logan to attend a number of his end of semester organ recitals. Yesterday was another trip north to attend Nathan’s last on-campus organ recital. He does get to play at Temple Square one more time and he is doing a mini senior recital of his very own a couple weeks after graduation so we aren’t done listening him play some big organs, but it was the last opportunity to meet his teachers and give a big thank you to them for helping him develop a skill that makes him so very happy. It was also an opportunity to take all our college kiddos to dinner and spend some time with them. Neither Daniel nor Nathan have full-time jobs yet, but I know that they are looking all over and will go where the work takes them. That means our short jaunts up to visit them may very well become long drives that necessitate taking vacation time. So, it was nice to be able to spend a few hours will all my crew sans Matthew. Of course, once Matthew gets home, there will be reasons for Logan trips again, but by then the others will likely be elsewhere…