Good Tidings...To All People

Here's an excerpt from a wonderful book I just read that I got for my parents for Christmas.  I'm so glad I got it in time to read the whole thing myself before handing it over, ha ha!, because I really really really enjoyed it!

The book is called "Faith in the Service:  Inspirational Stories from LDS Servicemen and Servicewomen".  
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"Good Tidings...To All People"
by Major Mark L. Allison,
U.S. Army Chaplain
Serving in Afghanistan, January 2004-April 2005

     "And the angel said...I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:10; emphasis added).  On Christmas Eve, 2004, this angelic pronouncement of two thousand years ago was fulfilled among several hundred Afghan shepherds and villagers in the remote township of Jekdalek, Afghanistan, who on that day heard for the first time the story of Christmas and the "good tidings of great joy."

     For several months we American soldiers had visited this village and adopted it as a recipient of humanitarian aid from the families of America to the families of Afghanistan.  Due to its remote location in the terrorist-occupied mountains bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, we traveled by large army Chinook helicopters, which had sufficient room for many pallets of humanitarian aid and dozens of American soldiers to distribute them.

     A few days prior to Christmas Eve (December 21, 2004), a team of us made a special visit to the village with the purpose of speaking with the village elders and the local Muslim mullah.  Our object was to obtain their permission to return on Christmas Eve to share a Christmas program with their village; the program would include telling the story of Jesus' birth, distributing gifts to their children, and eating food to celebrate the occasion.  To prevent an unfortunate international incident, we carefully explained to the village elders and mullah that our intention was not to convert anyone, nor did we wish to cause any offense.  We told them December was a special time of year for us, and we desired to share with them part of our culture as they for many months had shared theirs with  us.  They listened respectfully as I related the story of Christmas as written in the Gospel of Luke.  When I finished, I asked them if they had any questions or problems with anything they had just heard.  Through our interpreter they unanimously said, "No problem."  And then to our surprise the village mullah said through the interpreter:  "Christmas is good."

     Returning to our base, we prepared hundreds of gift bags for the children made the necessary arrangements for enough food to feed the village, and recruited interested soldiers to participate.  As planned, on Friday (the Islamic Sabbath), Christmas Eve, December 24, 2004, some 230 American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines landed via four large army Chinook helicopters at this Muslim village nestled among the rugged mountains and, as promised, we brought food for a Christmas meal and hundreds of gift bagts for the children filled with toys, school supplies, and clothing.

     Through my interpreter and the use of a handheld megaphone, I requested that all the children of the village (approximately 300) assemble up front to hear the story of Christmas.  As the children sat on the dirt in this open-air assembly area, the adults also gathered.  It was an interesting sight to behold, with nearly 700 Muslim children and adults directly in front of me and 230 Christian American servicemen standing behind and next to me.  Through my interpreter, I addressed the village as follows:

     "My name is Mark; I am the 'Christian mullah' for the American soldiers.  Our homeland is America, far beyond these mountains, across the desert and over the sea.  During the past several months we have learned of your beliefs and experienced your culture and we have become friends.  We are grateful to your village elders and the mullah, who have allowed us to come here today to share with you one of our traditions at this time of the year called Christmas.  Today we are going to tell you a special story about the birth of a very special child; we will sing songs, distribute gifts to the children, and then eat food together." 

     I then pulled from my pocket and placed on my head a bright red Santa cap with its fluffy white ball, which immediately grabbed the attention and prompted giggles among the children.  They had never before seen a Santa hat.  With their anticipatory eyes and ears focused on me, I began telling them the Christmas story, much as I had done as a father for so many years on Christmas Eve with my daughters when they were little girls.

     At the conclusion of the story, I offered a Christmas blessing upon their village.  We then, as a choir of American soldiers--Latter-day Saints, Catholics, and Protestants, accompanied by our Sunday worship service organist on a battery-operated keyboard--sang the first verse of seven Christmas carols: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "Joy to the World," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells," "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plain," and finally, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

     At the conclusion of this Christmas program and before Santa's gift distribution to the children, our Afghan hosts wanted to reciprocate by sharing a selection of music and a display of dancing from their tradition.  I thought to myself, "Who would have ever thought on this Islamic Sabbath and Christian Christmas Eve that Americans and Afghans, Christians and Muslims would together celebrate in fulfillment of the angelic proclamation of good tidings of great joy regarding the birth of Jesus Christ."
  
     To begin the gift distribution, my commander, Scott Robinson, presented the senior village elder with a gift.  This was followed by a Christmas gift from me as the Christian chaplain to the Muslim mullah, which included a hand-held radio I knew he needed for his mosque and school in order to hear news from the outside world.  To our surprise, they gave us gifts in return.  What an experience!  Christians and Muslims exchanging Christmas gifts.  Who would have ever imagined it!  With all 230 soldiers deputized as Santa's special elves, gifts were then distributed to all the children, each saying to Santa in broken English as they filed by, "Merry Christmas."

     There in that remote and deso0late, impoverished and humble Afghan village, where the pupulation is entirely Islamic, the true Christmas spirit was both shared and felt by everyone.  Although the villagers were all Muslim, there were no anti-Christmas hecklers or protestors of the use of the name of Jesus Christ, no legal briefs filed, no court injunctions rendered to stop this public Christmas program, no "PC police" to disrup the respectful expression and sharing of diverse religious and cultural traditions.

     It was a memory-making experience none of us will likely forget: on this Christmas Eve in 2004 in a remote Afghan village, in fulfillment of the angelic proclamation that "good tidings of great joy...shall be to all people," Christians and Muslim brothers and sisters heard the story of Christmas--and together celebrated peace on earth and goodwill toward all men.

Colors of My Life: RED

Red is the color of the curly hair I see on that 38-year-old freckley girl in the mirror.

Red is the nickname some of my favorite people have called me : ).

Red is the flavor of jello that they offered to my mom and me in a restaurant a hundred years ago.  ...Seriously.  They asked if I would like jello to go with my meal, and when I asked her what flavor it was, she answered, "red."  Mom and I laughed about that for a long time.

Red is my personality, according to the color test.  I've got some blue in me too--maybe I'm 50/50 red/blue.  I like to think I have only the positive red qualities, since sometimes "reds" can be thought of as harsh and overbearing...but my red, nonetheless helps me get things done : ).

Red food that I love:
-strawberries & cherries (and any candies with those flavors),
-Cherry-dipped cones at Dairy Queen,
-apples,
-bell peppers,
-tomatoes

Red foods that are not my favorite (but I can eat almost anything) are: raspberries, licorice, popsicles, red meat that is too rare, red velvet cake (not a big cake fan, unless the frosting is just right!), pomegranates (too many seeds, not worth the effort to eat one).

Red things that I treasure are: Christmas stockings, all red things Christmas, red fireballs--which are racquetballs that fly really fast, little red dresses that I feel pretty in when I wear them (and anyone that tries to convince me that redheads shouldn't wear red is speaking to deaf ears), red toenails and fingernails (and I only wish I were brave enough to wear red lipstick to match!), red roses--especially on my wedding anniversary, red hearts on Valentine's Day--and every day (I haven't outgrown that little girl fettish of drawing hearts on everything).

Other reds worth mentioning:
Redbox--a very cool movie invention!
Seeing red--something I do far too often.
blood--something I love to donate whenever I can
wine--something I have no desire to taste ; )
ink and paper and ribbon--things I love to create with!
rubies--I would love to own or wear some.  : )
-it's my favorite color for the sun and moon.

What do you love that is red?

Mom's Last Kindergarten Sendoff

I subscribe to a writer's blog that offers great helps for people like me, who are interested in learning about writing skills.  I decided to take on the challenge this time about "How to paint a scene with words," with focus on including important extra details.  Here is my result...a story of my emotional sendoff to kindergarten yesterday.  I thought some of you might enjoy it.

Here's that blog, in case any of you writers out there would like to check it out:
http://thewritepractice.com/

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The feel of the bright yellow Spongebob pajamas was a little rough to my touch as I nudged my sleeping Tate on the elbow.
 
"It's time to wake up, buddy, today's your first day of school!"

He rolled over slowly and stretched every muscle of his body, with the last movement being the huge smile that decorated his sleepy face.

"I know, Mom!" he answered with his low morning voice, eyes still closed.

"Are you so excited?"  I asked, hoping that he was more eager than nervous.

"Yes," he replied, opening his eyes and giving me relief.

I had been anticipating this day for a long time, but my head was spinning more than I thought it would.  I couldn't wait for the free hours to myself--the brand new daily kid-free time that I would enjoy for the first time since I first became a mother, four children ago. What I hadn't counted on was the flooding feeling of emptiness that accompanied sending my youngest off into the great big world (which meant anywhere that was not at home with me).

Tate didn't even think twice about what to wear for the special occasion; it was the bright primary colors and cartoon characters of Lego Ninjago apparel all the way.  I dressed up a little less, in my lazy jeans and comfy t-shirt, just formal enough to be seen outside the home and walk him to school.

Once I realized that his half-eaten breakfast was as far fed as he would get, we mounted the brand new backpack and headed out the door.  Our routine was not perfect yet, so we would have to shoot for remembering the morning teeth-brushing tomorrow.

He allowed me to carry his small, warm, perfect little hand in mine as we walked across the back yard to his school.  Only a few more moments and we'd have to face the big goodbye.  "At least I'll get to see him all the way into the classroom," I planned.

"Does Mom get to walk in to class on the first day?" I asked the principal, who stood guard at the front door of the school, with her perfectly styled hair, attractive dress and jewelry.

"Does Mom have to?" she asked me, with only her student's transition experience in mind.

"I guess not," I replied, realizing Tate would be fine on his own from here.

One big giant hug and kiss later, he walked away from me cautiously but optimistically, as the split in my heart began to hurt, on the other side of the glass door. 

Sounds of My Life

I have been contemplating something, and I feel the need to get it out of my brain, my heart, my soul, and get it down on "paper" (wow, I never really thought of how old-school that expression really is now).  

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Sounds.

Our lives are filled with sounds.  Sounds that we shut out intentionally, sounds that we rely on, sounds that we detest, sounds that we hardly even notice, and sounds that we treasure.

Just think--of all of the wonderful sounds in the world, everyone has their own unique favorites that are special to them, and no two people love all of the same things.  Here's a list of some of the sounds that are important to me:

1.  I enjoy the sounds of nature.  

     I know, who doesn't?  There are times when I feel like I just have to have these sounds all around me.  

     I'm an indoor person, and almost always choose to be inside over being outside.  When it's barbeque time, how about we just cook the food outside and eat it inside?  If there are two pools to choose from, an indoor pool or an outdoor pool, I vote for the indoor one.  Tennis outdoors, or racquetball indoors?  OK, well that one is a no-brainer (it's racquetball all the way, all day, and all night, and forever).  Treadmill with a book or running out around town?  Treadmill please (unless you could go with me and be my running buddy!).  Nevertheless, when I do find myself outside, the sounds of nature are preferable to anything else.     

     When I run outside, or deliver newspapers with my son, I leave the iPod music at home or in the car, and take advantage of every moment I can of the sounds freely provided by Our Creator.  I prefer to hear the birds, frogs, locusts, crickets, bees, wind through the trees, and if I'm really lucky, the sound of water in a stream.  Hearing the sounds of nature makes me feel like I'm surrounded by little tiny miracles, miracles of creation, which brings me peace. 

2.  Rain.

     This is another sound of nature, I realize, but it's a little different than the sunshiney summer sounds.  This is one that I get to enjoy from inside the house, which makes it even better.

     Celine Dion starts one of her lesser-known songs with the sound of rain during the instrumental intro, and then the words begin, "I listen to the rain fallin' down my window..."  I love that song, simply because of that opening line.  Hearing the rain just makes me even that much more thankful for the comforts and protection of the inside of my home.  

     When I need to escape feelings of chaos that may have crowed around me, I like to turn on my "sounds of rain" that I've found on Youtube, and then I can mentally drift away to my happy place.  The sound of rain creates that escape for me like nothing else.   I'm so grateful that even though I left the comforting sounds of Oregon winter rain, I fortunately get to enjoy the beautiful drip drip drops that fall from the Pennsylvania skies!  Thank heavens for rain!

3.  Mystery Science Theater.

    A lot of people use certain sounds to help them fall asleep.  My father-in-law puts movies on his TV most nights to lull himself to sleep, my son puts on audio books of Harry Potter every night, others use a fan or a noise-maker, others music.  I don't rely on audio help at all to fall asleep, because I can normally fall sleep at the drop of a hat.  Or, if for some reason I my eyelids need a little nudge to begin their descent, a few pages in a book of any sort will do the trick.  

     But I do have a favorite lullabye--it's the theme song of Mystery Science Theater, followed by one of their ridiculous programs that cracks...me...up.  It's one of those kind of shows whose humor is so unrealistic and wacko that you can't help but wonder, "how do they come up with this stuff?"  I don't think I've ever watched an entire episode on my own, but my husband--as one who uses TV programs or movies to bring on the drowsiness--introduced me to this program as he went on an MST spree recently in the evenings to help himself relax at the end of the day.  I fell in love with that ridiculous nonsensical humor, and mysteriously like nothing else can, it makes me fall asleep with a smile on my face.  I love it.

4.  I love the sound of silence.

Specifically, the silence that comes when my family is all asleep, or temporarily out of the house (again, this is an in-house peace).  I have the world's greatest family, both immediate as well as extended, but... when family chaos fills my cup to overflowing, and my capacity for patience needs a good detoxification, nothing can cure me like a quiet house.  Seriously, sometimes I feel like I would pay money for the rejuvenation that in-home alone time brings.  When dear hubby knows I'm due for a break, and sends me away for some non-family time, sometimes I just wish I could do the staying and have the family do the going.  Which is why...I'm so excited for my baby to begin kindergarten in only two days!  (!!!!!!)  After the silence, I'm so much happier to tackle my responsibilities as a mother.

5.  I love the sounds of romance.

Which sounds are those?  No, not the sounds of kissing or the sounds of being on a romantic date in a fancy restaurant, although yes I do enjoy those, but I'm referring to the sounds that come from the talented composers of love songs.  I'm including love songs we hear on the radio, love songs that I hear sung on the stage, and especially love songs that come from my favorite romantic chick flick movie soundtracks.  There are certain songs that can melt me into a large puddle of romantic goo on the floor.  Possibly the #1 song at top of my romantic sounds list is played during a Twilight movie, but it was composed long before the movie...the song is "Flightless Bird," by Iron and Wine.  Play that song for me and my eyes turn into puppy dog eyes, or doe eyes, or eyes with oodles of smiling stars and hearts floating right out of them.  I think I'll go listen to that song right now, I'm due for a fix.

As for other miscellaneous relaxing and/or important sounds that I love, I want to include:

*The sound of the words "I love you," spoken by anyone, anytime.

*Sounds of "old fashioned" toys from my childhood.

*The sound of my husband's voice because he just came home.

*The sound of my husband's voice--in its British accent form--because he's reading to the children.

*The sound of a talented and accomplished singer (who likely has had classical training) in a live performance.

*The sounds of my family cleaning, doing their chores, practicing an instrument, or getting along and speaking to each other with loving kindness--without any coaxing on my part!

*The sounds of Christmas--jingling bells, all of my Christmas movies, people singing carols... etc.

*The sounds of the entire Yanni album, "In My Time." 

*The sound of the train running on the tracks at the end of our street.  I think it's so cool that we can still use such "ancient" inventions as trains as one of our most effective means of transport.

*The sound of new babies laughing.  The sound of anyone laughing.

 

I hope your day today is full of your favorite sounds!

Please tell me, what sounds do you love most?

Who Moved My House? Part II

Since I had some major plans fall through this week (missed my flight and had to cancel a 4-day trip--boo hoo!), now's probably a great time for me to get to write this post that I've been wanting to write for weeks.   Here's the rest of the story that I started by telling of my childhood homes...now on to my grown-up homes.

PROVO, Utah*--It's 1992, I'm in college now, and living on my own for the first time.  I got to live in the dorms my first year, so I remained naive a little longer to the life skills of shopping and cooking for myself, etc., but at least I managed to work a part-time job while I studied.  My first job was in this very stadium, in the concession stands.  Good times!  I can still remember trying not to lick my fingers when selling those yummy cinnamon and sugar-coated churros.  I don't think I ever got used to the winter weather there, but who wouldn't want to look at those beautiful mountains every day?!  Gorgeous.  I lived in Provo for almost my entire college career, until I got married (which came in my 5th year of studies).  I just want to finish my Provo segment by saying that the BYU campus is my favorite place on earth.  It has everything I would ever want from the world--superb music & other arts, racquetball (& a few other sports), education (of course), an amazing library, religion, and the BYU Bookstore is something like I would imagine the mall in heaven to be like ; ).  I LOVE BYU.  I hope my kids get to go there!
 *Before I/we left Utah for New Jersey, Jazz and I also lived awhile in Springville and Orem, but those really aren't too different from Provo.  Except that now I was a newlywed, and a couple years later a mother, so of course that was a whole new world!

Paella de Marisco--yum!

SPAIN--Madrid, Salamanca, Leganés, Toledo: In the middle of my college years, for 17 months I had the privilege of living in Spain as a missionary for our church.  I got to work in 5 different areas (2 in Madrid), and once a week if we didn't have too many other responsibilities, we missionaries were able to play tourist just a little bit.  Some of my very favorite things I loved seeing or experiencing while I was there were the windmills in Castilla la Mancha, eating their delicious food, speaking their beautiful language of "Castellano", and meeting and growing to love the Spaniards.  I really miss them.  I loved the castles and the grandiose Catholic churches.  Oh, what I wouldn't give to return there someday to see it all again.
    Spain is indeed a glorious place...but when my mission was through, I was very ready to move forward and return to my native land.

Jazz 'n Jenna with our two babies in 2004

North Brunswick, NEW JERSEY--wow, I love the trees!  I finally understood why some people (not I) think Utah is a desert...hello POPCORN TREES in the spring! The shores (I had to unlearn the term "beaches") were great.  And we all learned by listening to those around us, how to say "How you doin'?" just like Joey on Friends.  We felt that the biggest perk to living in NJ was being close to all of the other northeastern states that have cool sites--like in Washington D.C., in New York City, and in Philadelphia.  So one might think most of our fun was had outside of the state itself, but I should at least give props to Rutger's University in Newark, which granted Jazz the title, "Master of Music" after he completed his degree there in Jazz History and Research.  Thanks, NJ!
       We were in NJ for 2 1/2 years for the completion of that degree, and when it was done, we made a quick stop back in Utah for 8 months before moving on to California (long story...in short, let's just say that the "2nd Master's Degree" plan at BYU didn't work out). 

Sacramento, CA Temple     (I got to sing at its dedication!)

Orangevale, CALIFORNIA-- Here we got to experience life outside of college for 2 1/2 years.  Jazz investigated studying at UC Davis, but that wasn't in the stars for us, so he got to work full-time as a piano teacher, and later I joined him in a family business for awhile selling cookware!  We started out living with Mom & Dad for a few months, and were excited later to have (rent) our very own house (not apartment!) with a great backyard.  The weather in California was a little too hot at times, but that's okay.  We thought of buying a house at one point, but, well, houses in California are just simply too expensive!  No worries, we weren't meant to stay in California anyway.  Hey, how about giving that doctoral degree one more shot?  The University of Oregon thought that was a great plan for us, and they said OKAY!

Eugene, OREGON--We planned on three years, but we stayed for five.  We were very happy there, living once again in student family housing!  There was quite a bit of culture shock when we first arrived to Eugene--some nuances we grew to love, others not so much.  We were definitely in the minority as practicing Christians, politically conservative, and sometimes we even felt like the minority being Caucasian (lots of foreign students shared family housing with us).  We learned to become more environmentally conscious (joined forces with the tree-huggers, just a little bit!), and living in Track-town USA taught me how to become a runner.  Very cool!   A few times we went to the beach the shore the coast, but it was usually too windy and cold. Springtime allergies here were a first for me (NOT fun), but the summers were PERFECT, the pink & red fall leaves were unbelievably awesome, and the rainy winters made me happy!  Like I said before, we were so happy there, but knew we were not meant to stay, and we were so happy to move forward once again...on to PA for...(drum roll...)...a NEW JOB!  Hooray!

PENNSYLVANIA--has introduced us to lush corn fields and country life, which is a beautiful change of scenery.  This is our "adventure in progress", and it's been lots of fun so far.  The kids are thriving in school here, and Jazz loves his job.  I'm fascinated with learning about the new-to-me cultures of the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Amish and Mennonite faiths, and feel so happy to no longer be in the minority as practicing Christians.  Mormonism isn't very prevalent here...yet...but I'm always up for the mission of sharing the gospel when I can : ).  The weather?  Except for the fluke catastrophes we experienced last fall (flash flood, earthquake, snow before Halloween), so far so good.  Last winter broke us in gently.  We think it's cool to be near Hershey (yum), and again close to our US history sites in D.C. and Philly, and all--there is much sightseeing to be done!  And a wonderful life ahead of us to be had, here in Pennsylvania.

      Will there be more moves?  Don't ask me.  For the first time in my life, there are no planned moves, and I'm just reveling in this new feeling of what it might be like to "settle down".  I'm not comfortable with that idea, really, so it's possible I'll get the itch again in a few years to pull out the cardboard boxes and go through the whole process again.
     Okay, I just remembered YES, we have one more move coming up, when we'll change from our rented home to owning our first, but that's not for a couple of years.
     Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is making its way into my heart as one of my many homes.  I feel luckier than most, to have so many!

Who Moved My House? Part I

I confess, I've yet to read the book "Who Moved My Cheese", although it is on my long want-to-read list.  Nevertheless, I thought that would be a good idea for my post title, as I share with you some of the reasons I'm a fan of MOVING.  No, not moving one's body parts around in an aerobic manner--although that's a great thing to do 5-6 times a week, or moving from one's assigned seat at the dinner table to another--a faux pas in our house...rather, I'm talking about moving out of one house and into another, and particularly when those two houses are in different cities, states, or countries.

I have lived in 8 different states, 1 district, and 1 country other than the U.S.A.  My father was in the navy while I was growing up, and that accounts for over half of the states that I lived in.  The rest of my moves were attributed to my marrying an eternal student who started his college career in 1993, and is currently still a student (I feel it's okay to lovingly use that term of endearment "eternal student" for my dear hubby until he actually receives his doctoral degree, sometime in 2012 if all goes well!).  I must not neglect to mention however that he is now a student who has full-time employment (hallelujah!), hence our most recent move to Pennsylvania. 

After all of my moving, I have learned to love it!  I say "learned to love it" because of course it wasn't always easy.  The most difficult move for me emotionally was probably when I was in the middle of 6th grade.  I thought my life was over, and was sure I'd never be able to make new friends.  But sure enough, I have been able to make new friends everywhere I've lived, and I can't imagine missing out on all of the amazing and wonderful people that have made my life so rich. 

And even though it's more the people and not the places that have taken permanent residence in my heart, I'd love to share with you what I remember and love most about each of the places that I've lived.

I was born in Virginia.  I can't claim any memories of VA because we moved from there when I was 2 months old.  From there, I believe we moved into my grandparents' home in Utah for awhile, which I also don't remember (I remember the house from my older childhood memories, but don't remember living there).  Then we lived in Washington D.C. for a few years, where 2 of my 5 siblings were born (I'm the 2nd oldest).  But the first home I really remember was in South Carolina.


South Carolina was palm trees, swimming at the beach and enjoying all of the tiny sea creatures there, beautiful brick homes, rain that brings frogs all over the road, and missing my dad while he was away on a navy ship for several weeks.  Collecting locust shells from the trees and sticking them all over our shirts.  Pine needles all over our front yard, and prickly "gum balls" all over our back yard. My last 2 siblings were born in South Carolina.  We lived there for 5 years, and moved on to our next state of California when I was 10.



Southern California for me meant hot summers, orange trees and lemon trees and lots of other kinds of yummy trees right on our property, avocados that were free because they had dropped on the side of the road, green rolling hills, and having lots of bilingual friends.  I began learning Spanish at this young age and even got to star as "La Caperucita Roja" (Little Red Riding Hood) in my school play in 3rd grade.  I also started my singing career in 3rd grade, when I sang "Over the Rainbow" as my first solo in front of the whole school.  Hooray for encouraging music teachers!  This is the town where I started to gain a little independence as an older child, and I loved being allowed to walk into town with my girlfriend to use my spending money at Pizza Hut and the Hello Kitty store.

In the middle of my 6th grade year, as I mentioned, we moved to Nevada, which I didn't actually learn to pronounce properly until we got there (you'd think that Californians would know that the "va" in Nevada rhymes with "hat", and not "hot").  Our town was a farmland in the middle of the desert, and is one of my favorite landscapes in the world.  I love the rolling tumbleweeds, the sandy light beige dirt we all had for front yards, and best of all, being able to see for miles.  None of those tall leafy things to obscure our view : ).  With my town being partly a dairy farming community, the smell of cows always makes me feel at home (as do Wrangler jeans and bales of hay).  I was blessed to live there long enough to graduate from high school, so I did a lot of growing up there.  High school in Nevada for me was a happy time.  It meant becoming a musician as I developed my singing voice, played a few different instruments, and furthered my Spanish-speaking skills.  I did a little dating but mostly in groups, and I had the best group of friends (many of them from church, most of them from band and choir), that anyone could ever ask for.  Nevada also gave me my first jobs, babysitting (which I loved), and working at Burger King (good times).

From Nevada, I headed off to college at BYU in Utah, but I'll save those stories and my other adult living-location adventure stories for the next post. 

I'll finish up with the top 5 reasons a child can love moving:

1.  Once the house is all packed up and cleaned out, it's really fun to run around and act crazy in the empty rooms.

2.  If there are any big giant furniture boxes, maybe Mom & Dad will let you use them to build forts later.

3.  Pen pals.  Who doesn't enjoy getting long-distance love in the mail?  I have one childhood friend that I've stayed in touch with for going on 30 years.  Whether they be hand-written or e-mailed, getting letters from friends is the best.

 4. Being the new kid in school can make you the cool kid that everyone wants to get to know.  And after the novelty rubs off, at least you can still wow your friends with stories of this mysterious unknown land that they've never experienced.

 5.  Okay, the truth is, children don't really love moving.  But in hind sight, it's awesome!  I LOVE that I got to experience all of those different places in my growing up years.  

To be continued...

L-O-V-E Continues...and Giveaway Winner

I really enjoyed reading everyone's replies to my last L-O-V-E post!  Thanks for everyone's visits and Blog Hop giveaway entries.

 I had my winner chosen the old-fashioned way (I have never used the online random number chooser things that everyone else knows how to use):  I wrote everyone's names on little slips of paper, and I asked my 10-year old daughter to draw out the winning name.  The person who won 5 of my hand-stamped cards is...Mhairi!  I was excited when I found out which person she was, because she had left such a nice comment on my Happily Ever Stamping blog:

"I love your dinosaur cards. I have a little boy who would adore these. Have you done any Lego cards - that is the other thing he loves?
My little girl loves spiders, so I will keep an eye out for some of them.
Love your blog. Thanks for taking part in the bloghop."

Thanks, Mhairi, and I hope you enjoy the cards!  They'll be in the mail within the week after I hear back from you.


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Now that everyone's replies are in, I feel compelled to add an addendum to my post.  I feel so silly for some of the major things in my life that I forgot to mention in my original LOVE list... I was in a such hurry to get the post composed and published that I forgot some of the most important things!  So I'm adding to my own list some of my favorite things that were mentioned by all of my new blogging friends:

*God's perfect love!  I love Him so much and forever, and His love for me means everything to me.  I strive to love others the way He does! 

*Hobbies love.  The things we love to do, or make, or witness, or experience.  My hobbies include performing music (especially singing), attending concerts, taking walks, exercising, reading, rubber stamping/making cards, scrapbooking/making photobooks online...

And some of your favorites that you listed that I thought were great ideas are:  gardening, taking walks, QUILTING (of course!), traveling, sewing, drawing, living on a farm, watching critters out the window, and winning giveaways (ha ha!).

Most of the other things everyone listed I think would fit under my previous categories (Family love, Things love, etc.) but I thought a few more of your ideas merit repeating here.  I wish I could give prizes to all the answers that made me smile and laugh : ), including:

*Star Trek!
*The smell of my husband's neck
*The stranger who might need help
*Laughter
*Being able to homeschool
*America!
*"My grandmother's quilt.  If there was a fire, that's the thing I'd grab first even before the family albums."
*The color of fall where I live.
*Peace & Quiet
*Church
*Smell of vanilla
*Putting puzzles together
*Long, hot bubble baths (yes!)
*Smell of rain, sound of rain

I hope you're all feeling the LOVE like I am!  I hope to "see" you all again soon!

A Few Random February Thoughts on LOVE

Today is the last day of Love Month...happy Leap Day to you!  I was challenged by a friend of mine to join her "Leap Day Giveaway Blog Hop", and since LOVE is one fun subject I was wanting to explore in February, I thought I should squeeze it in.  I ran out of time to plan it and polish it, so here come my thoughts on Love in random order...and at the end of this post you'll find out what I'm giving away (it's my first giveaway!  Are you excited?).

* I have a great last name.  LOVELL!  I'll never forget the day my then-boyfriend of just a few weeks (okay, well it was actually just a couple of weeks) and I called up his parents to announce that we thought it would be a good idea to go look at wedding rings together.  Since our plan at that moment was really just to go ring shopping, and not plan the rest of our lives together per se, I was a little caught off guard when his dad said to me "So you think you're ready to become a Lovell?"  Jazz and I had been dating such a short time that I hadn't even taken the time yet to imagine my future name, "Jennifer Lovell", but I couldn't believe how amazing that sounded.  Could anyone in the world be luckier than me, to be getting "Love" in her last name?  I was super excited by that thought.  I LOVE my name!

 I have often pondered how many different types of love there are, especially in my own life.  I want to list some of them here for you:

* Family love.  I was blessed to be raised by wonderful parents that loved me to the max.  I love my kids the same way. What else can I say about this?  Oh, I love my brothers and sister too, and their spouses, and my extended family too.  I'm so lucky to have a loving family tree, and I love teaching my kids how special and wonderful families can be. 

* Romantic love.  Some people have room in their hearts for a lot of this, some need only a small portion of this.  Me, I am what they call a hopeless romantic.  Sometimes I get so caught up in romantic movies that I think life would be perfect if I could live in a movie...forever.  I like drippy, sappy, creative, ooey gooey cheesey romantic gestures.  I can always use more of them in my world (hopefully Jazz is reading this, ha ha : )!). 


* Eternal companion love.  Words are hard to describe the real true love between a husband and wife.  If everything in this world was taken away from me and I could have only one thing back, I think it would be my relationship with my husband.  It is my most treasured blessing.  I love the thought of growing old with Jazz.  We've had 14 happy years together, and I can't wait to enjoy the rest of eternity with him.



*  Friendship love.  I have had some really fun friends throughout my life.  That's been one blessing of moving around the country--I have met and grown to love beautiful people that I never would have known otherwise.  Friends fill a place in my heart that no one and nothing else could ever fill the same way!  Anne of Green Gables called the most special friends "bosom friends", and I love thinking that I have had many of these very special relationships in my life.  Some of these friends are pen pals (Rima, Elizabeth, Lori), some of them have been exercise buddies (Kelly, Debbie, Shawn), some of them have been childhood or high school friends that have stayed in touch, some of them are choir friends (too many to name!), stamping friends, church friends, friends I've shared hard times with... Some of them we know for years and years, and some of them we know only for a short time before they're in our hearts permanently.  They're needed, and they're rare.  I feel so blessed to have the friends that I have.

* Things love.  There are lots of things that I love that make me happy!  I can do without most things, but I couldn't do without the HAPPINESS that things bring me.  Just a few of the things that I love that bring me this happiness are racquetball, fun TV shows and movies, beautiful things in nature (pink clouds, sunsets, flowers...), jokes, books, blogs, letters from loved-ones, journals, chocolate, whipped cream, cookies, smiley faces, babies in their cute little pajamas...I could go on for hours.  I love my happy things!


Now for my give-away... If you reply to my post and list 10 things that you love most (including people, places, and things), then you will be entered in my drawing to win 5 of my hand-made cards. According to the rules of the Blog Hop, I can collect entries until the end of Leap Day (until midnight).  If you'd like to see some of the cards I've made, visit my other blog: http://happilyeverstamping.blogspot.com/.  If you leave a comment on both of my blogs, you get two entries!

I don't know if I'm doing all of the link things right...but I recommend that the next blog you visit for another great giveaway is: Such a Sew and Sew: Leap Day Giveaway

Click here to BLOG HOP!

I'm a Picky Eater, Are You?

 
I never thought of myself as a picky eater, until recently, when I made a discovery:  I am a picky eater.  

I used to think picky eaters were the kids in my family, who won't eat half of what is served to them (or less than half), or the adults in my family that don't like all of the same foods that I like.  I thought that if someone else was doing the cooking, I would eat just about anything, and anyone who doesn't like my cooking is just simply ungrateful.

I know I'm not the world's best chef (which is understandable since I don't even aspire to be considered a chef of any sort--cooking is my least favorite chore), but why would it matter if:
-I didn't follow a recipe exactly?
-I don't use the same recipe you're used to?
-I included an ingredient or two that doesn't TASTE good to you?  (ham, tomatoes, or noodles--heaven forbid, etc.)
-I burnt the food just a teeny tiny eensy teensy bit?
-I brought home the generic brand instead of your favorite name brand food?

In my mind, those were all the characteristics of a picky eater.  None of those quirks bother me in the least.

BUT, I finally recently realized and decided that I have to be in the picky eater's club, whether I like it or not...just for different reasons.

You see, for me, it generally doesn't matter if something doesn't taste quite right, or look quite right even.   But I discovered that I do have two criteria that all of my food choices center around: is the food A) "healthy" enough, or B) is it so incredibly delicious that I will let the health-aspect slide (and this usually only applies to sugary foods).  Oh, and C)-if the food is overpriced, I probably don't want to buy it (this doesn't apply to wonderful restaurants, where the atmosphere makes up the cost difference). 

Even if it tastes kind of yucky...if it's good for me, I will love it.  Brussel sprouts, tofu, whole wheat everything, fat free/light/low calorie--bring it on.  On the other hand, if it's not good for me, please don't offer it (unless it's sugary).  Extra butter on the popcorn--are you trying to kill me?  Deep fried whatevers?  Get me out of here!  White bread? Pass, but thanks anyway.  Greasy cheesy pizza?  Well, if you'll lighten up on the cheese, make the crust thin, and load it up with vegetables (and less greasy meat), then I'll probably eat 4 slices ; ).

I'm hoping to discover that everyone is picky in their own way.  That will make me feel better for realizing I've been in the picky eater's club all along.

So I'm just wondering...what kind of eater are you?  Picky with taste, picky with nutrition, picky with ingredients, picky with where the recipe came from, picky with cost?  Does this thought represent you: "I don't care how healthy it is, as long as it tastes good"?  What matters most or doesn't matter to you?  (Please reply...pretty please?)