Yep. It's gonna be different

Several years ago my family was climbing out of our van in the church parking lot as the Anderson family, who were the same size in number but younger in ages, were climbing out of theirs. Mr. Anderson said..."Good morning Sister Savage. Tell me this gets easier." I simply returned, sorry it doesn't get easier, just different.
I have been seeing lately the truth of this statement in several life experiences.
Eating.
Exercise.
Serving.
Finances
Decisions.
Responsibility.
But one thing I do know. Each day is a gift. I intend to be more grateful, To be a better wife, to be more obedient, and to be more loving and less needy.
I am still working out the details for my coming goals. Two thousand and twelve may not be easier...in fact I will count on it being...well different. And while I may make plans...I will adjust as necessary. Enjoy the moment it will change. ~HUGS~

I can hardly believe it has been four weeks since my last post. I am so grateful for all of the support.
I am thankful for family.
I am thankful for children...they are a great blessing.
I am thankful for the push to be better.
I am thankful for the changes I see in me.
I am thankful for the ahh ha moments that come onto the eyes of others.
I am thankful for the eye that can see a need.
I am thankful for a friend who knows me so well, and helps anyway.
I am thankful for lessons I thought I had learned being repeated because I didn't really get it the first time.
I am thankful for the example of others.
I am thankful there is not only one way.
I am thankful for clean bedrooms. (even though at the moment mine is not one of them).
I am thankful for sister-in-laws.
I am thankful for healthy families.
I am thankful for clutter. (I am starting to understand)
I am thankful for the strength of men.
I am thankful for the power in one and the many.
I am grateful for the savior, Jesus Christ and grace.
I am grateful for second chances.

Redirecting

I watched in amusement just now as I signed in to type this post and saw the computer inform me that it was redirecting. Especially since I had decided to share the thoughts I had today. Several months ago I received the message to get my life in order. I worked on it and have reached a new point and am feeling stuck. What to do? I asked more questions and I am being redirected. Now is the time to really take the leap and let go of the junk from the past. I do not really know where to begin...but I knew the information was correct when for Activity Days today I went looking for a pumpkin cookie recipe that I got from my professor at the Utah State Child Development lab...and I found it!
You may see right away that if I still have a recipe written on a piece of note book paper from twenty seven years ago...I have a lot of sifting to do. It is part of the experience of information hording, perhaps I should not sift...merely toss toss toss. I can do it...not sure I want too yet, after all the recipe works great and it is delicious...what other marvelous bits of information will I come across and want to keep for another 27 years.. I can do this. I can do this.

Growing

I spent 45 days doing a mentoring program. It is an awesome experience to connect with and learn from another human being on a daily basis.
I have felt the emptiness that has ensued as the days pass without that daily interaction.
I really am grateful that my life includes the knowledge learned as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My mentoring encouraged waking up and connecting to source (God), be in gratetude for the day. Then sending the blessings desired for my day ahead.
During meditation time, after I am ready for my day to think about those children in my life and ask, "what I can do to support them in feeling totally loved today.?" or "What could I do today to help them reach their goals?" "What does my spouse need from me today?" Then check in with myself and check for anyone whom I may have a forgivess issue with and take the time to let go of that so I am not held back. Next to look at my vision board and choose an area that I would like to spend some time on..and see and feel as if I already have it and to consider how having that would affect my spouse, my children..my home and make any adjustments to that goal to be in line with my mission statement.
I am grateful for this season of Thanksgiving.
Thanks for sharing this moment with me. Hugs Lisa

Family
All the querkieness
all the expectations
all the joy
all the work
all the love
all the help
all the support!
This list could be so long. I love that my family has been popping up everywhere lately. At our Bearly even Human cabin experience I loved having the Spackman family in my space. I loved having the Ker Family in my space. (I did not love being in cars on the steep mountainside) Such a pleasant warm experience to see the love and acceptance. The growing of relationships and the sharing of expertise and knowlege that comes from individuals doing what they do to serve each other and man kind. Thank you Rich for the Car support and Bert for the window support.
Thank you Parents and children for reminding me that my contribution is acceptable. And thanks for cooking breakfast Friday Rich...I know others helped too. I had a good time and hope everyone else did as well.
This last week my sweet family was here together...except for Adam and Dad. You know they were backpacking in New Mexico. That is a whole other story.
I felt the love of each of my children as we cleaned, pulled weeds, planted new things, watched movies, sewed, talked by the Ashton pond, cooked and baked, attended church and survived the major thunderstorm/hail/rain and after flood.
Then this weekend my brother and his family came for three days to camp in my yard, they all got blown out of their tents by the wind, and experience the joy of living here. I am so glad they came. It is always such a pleasure to get to know the neices and nephews a little better. And my brother is awesome. We went to the craters, they drove up pass creek to big creek where we used to camp with my grandparents when young, looked for arrow heads, had a hot dog roast at my second home, canoed abit, huddled around the fire and roasted marshmellows until the wind stopped, the moon came out and it was clearly dark. How does it get any better than this? What else is possible?

Just remembering some good times..........

Who said that?

"I haven't had a decent meal in 4 days!"
"Aww...Poor sad dad"
"And he answered N0"
"you're a bumblebee"
"Guess what...I was thinking about_________and look what I got today."
"There's a baby girl in your tummy."

A life in order.

"Get your life in order."
Yep, that's what the message I heard from the unseen (unseen by me that is)two weeks ago or so. Now I have been pondering and dabbling in what that means. What would change in my life if it were in order? Is the message for all the areas of my life, or was there a specific area that is out of order. Help, yes I will need some help. What does my life in order look like? Processing, Processing, resolving....this is going to take a bit.

Mothers rejoice in who you really are.

Mother, Woman, Friend,

Sometimes Mothers day triggers feelings of inadequacy, guilt or sadness. Some of our mothers are gone and we feel loss, some of our families come to visit but we feel we have to work hard to serve them and end up missing the joy of the day, some of us crave to hear words that go unspoken, and some of us wish to see actions that go undone.
To make sure you have a great weekend where ever you are. First find some time to stop and write down all of the lies you are hearing in your head about yourselves, that negative chatter in your heads. This will leave you feeling not so good and possibly the lowest of low, therefore it is important to go back to the paper with a red pencil and write the truth to the lie. You know that there is a truth otherwise the lie could not be there. This will elevate your spirit, you will be able to feel love and peace and joy. While you feel this great get out some paper and write yourself a love letter. Include the answers to, what I love most about you, what I value about you, what I admire you most for, why I am glad you are here and thank you for being here.
Validate that truth. And make it a great day!
For more on this listen to Lisa Nichols at http://www.loveyourlifesummit.com/exposinglies it is a recording about 12 min. long.

Accumulation-growth by continuous addition.

I have accumulated much over the years and some of it I have questioned seriously of late. I realize that much of the accumulation was the desire for myself and my children to have knowledge, skills and experiences. I own so many books that not all of them will be read by anyone else but me. My husband owns many books that have not been read,but he hopes to read them sometime. I see the art books, cook books, history books, how to books and I see an opportunity waiting for someone. I see us reference many books over and over. So I now choose to see the ownership of so many books as a blessing. We wanted them, we choose them, now they are ours. A wealth of knowledge waiting to be shared and explored!

Accumulation is not just for material things. Learning to be really good at something has been researched and found to take about ten years. Don't give up that reading, or math, or music study too quickly. Growth by continued addition...line upon line, precept on precept. That's what education is about.

Habits are done and undone by the same process, growth by continuous addition. That's what character development is all about. nuf said? I get it. Thanks for the nudge. My kingdom awaits and there's forgiveness for my mistakes.

Satisfied

When does one know they are dreaming? Could I have dreamed up this whole life? And if I did are you real? Or are you the one that dreamed me up? Ralph and Adam are spending a lot of time bonding these days. They talk and talk and look and look up information about backpacking...how heavy is that, what advice is out there for lightening the load, the best tents, mosquito proof pants, walking on water, boiling water, weather gear...you name it. They dream of walking the walk with only what you can carry on your back of spending weeks together on the trail. Ralph shared this from someone whose experience he was reading. This is really my take on his story, since it gave me pause to think on something I was already pondering. This man walked the continental divide trail, yo yo style, which means he went from Canada to Mexico and back Nearly six-thousand miles in one long trip. He was camping with a few people whom he met along the trail. A man came into camp and gave him a coupon for a free pizza at the next town. He was thrilled! Just imagine yourself eating dehydrated food for every meal and that pizza was especially something to look forward too. But then something happened. The man continued to pass out coupons to the others in the group. One person got a pizza and a two night stay at the expensive hotel with a massage. Another got a steak dinner and a stay in suite with a hot tub. Suddenly the man didn't have the same feelings about his free pizza. What changed? Wasn't he grateful for the gift he received? Food, real food prepared by someone else was waiting for him and he really was looking forward to it ...until he compared what he had to what he could have had or rather what maybe he should have? How come he didn't get a massage and a hotel room with dinner? He found himself feeling strangely resentful of his free pizza...or was it envious of his neighbors gift? I think I have discovered another "scale"to scrape off myself. You see, I feel perfectly happy with my life, what I have and where my life is taking me. Until I see what someone else is doing or having or being and I think "I could..." Oh! I get it... that is like wishing me away. Wishing away my learning, my talents, my experience and spending all my time and energy working hard to be someone else's experiences. Yeah, think about that one. When did I begin pondering this..last post I hinted at my feelings. Then I watched the Voyage of the Dawn Treader with family and friends and then Ralph shared this story. Me thinks I have some working out more kinks. In the book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the movie misses something about Eustace being a dragon...he had to painfully scrape off the golden scales. Sometimes being better and returning to my divine nature means acknowleging that I have some hidden scales and being brave enough to remove them...not because someone else might discover them...but because I have discovered what they really mean. Hugs to all Lisa

Reviewing my goals.

One of my goals this year is to read the bible(in one year). I have a plan, I know what and how much I need to read each day in order to accomplish the goal. Some days it is easy to do the reading of many chapters or books. Other days I am forcing myself to finish at eleven pm when I should be sleeping. And you can imagine what happens if I forget one day, or two. Playing catch up is just not pleasant. But the learning is so intriguing. Another one of my goals is to keep a more pristine environment. I want to avoid my fear of judgement when someone sees my lack of order. I know that I have a lot of items. I try to keep the useful ones and the ones I find beautiful. But when someone visits my home I suddenly feel like I need to apologize and I realize how much my house does not look like a magazine spread. I live here I know...but I am trying to learn how to work things so I can look like a magazine spread in a few moments notice, most of the time, You know ....just for me and those I love! The way I have always lived gets in the way of how I would like to live (don't misunderstand this, I live a great life-a really good life). I want to do things differently I want to try something different. The difficult part...it doesn't really feel like its working...Yet!. So I have created a plan...I know what to do each day, I know how much to do and I can plan in the extra. The even more difficult part is not feeling like I have to play catchup when I miss a day or from years of neglect. p.s. I am also remembering to be kind to me. I do a lot of things very well. I have learned that I am accomplished in areas that are less visible and to be careful of comparing myself to others. We all have our own battles to fight, struggles for growth and understanding, and hardships which eventually lead to Joy. Now I just need to remember that this is fun, it is my adventure, it is my growth. Living life isn't about things...It's about people...Things are meant to help in the journey. The better I am, the better I can serve others.

The ordinary...been having a little trouble here lately, I sometimes need a little to much cheering on to finish things to completion. I cleaned my bathroom, made it pretty and shiny and removed most of the clutter. It sure feels nice.(Sorry kiddos that is wasn't in better shape while you were here.) I wanted to go outside and work on getting the ice chipped out of the garage...Yeah we built a mess, but the wind is blowing and until the water begins to sink into the ground there is no where for it to go. Perhaps another day. Therefore I am going to make good use of my time and talents today :
I am going to make bread so I have no regrets of not ordering bountiful basket bread and finish the apron I started months ago.
Don't be worried the ordinary is still mostly done...laundry, meals, and dishes and everything those entail.

I love reading blogs.
I hope in someway mine brightens your day. Isn't that what we are looking for? Some way to serve others and brighten the day.
I am striving to be better. (in sooo many ways). Gratitude is such a powerful tool to draw on.
I had a payday in primary this week.
I thanked the boys for coming and listening to my lessons. "T" said, "Well, I like listening to you!"
Such a simple thing had a great effect on me...and the other boys in the class.
I challenge you to be aware of how often you are being served by someone else.
I challenge you to notice how often you are serving others.
Share your gratitude...feel the Love! Hugs Lisa

What a difference attitude makes.

I think you're amazing..

Is it just the calm before the storm? Are you keeping the love tanks full?
I went visiting yesterday. In sharing about history it brought to mind a quote in the movie Anna And the King;

"It is always surprising how small a part of life is taken up by meaningful moments. Most of them they are over before they start."
Although they cast a light on the future and make the person who originated them unforgettable."

There are moments when we get that wow effect and we just know we are in the right place doing the right things. And there are moments when we wish it would all just go away, its too hard...Every moment is only a fleeting bit of time. Honor what is ordinary. Be grateful for the mundane.

Joy is what fills the reservoir for times that cause stress, fear, worry, heartache, and allows love to heal. Practice gratitude! Keep that gratitude journal and if you haven't started one, then begin today and everyday to take time to acknowledge at least 5 things you are grateful for. There is power in it! Each of us needs to have more- to give.

Thinking of you and sending ~HUGS~

Ate-at-home.

Eight in the house..laughter, movies, games, food, chocolate, dishes, and laundy. I had a very productive cooking weekend. Starting on Friday night..we had all five children plus one very welcomed roommate. I love it when we are all home and no where to have to go. It was the Husbands birthday. I made a delicious Apple spice cake, I put two chickens in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots, onion and celery, and made a fresh green salad.
Saturday we had Gingerbread waffles with scrambled eggs and a fruit smoothie. I baked bread so we could eat the left over chicken- sandwich style. I went to help with bountiful baskets the girls came along to help out. I bought the tortilla's with the plan to make taquitos for dinner which tasted delicious, but not sure they are a favorite. We are blessed to be able to eat fresh fruit - kiwis , tangelos and oranges. We ate the rest of the cake for dessert. Sunday morning we had mini bagels, fruit, left over waffles, toast and eggs. I put a roast in the crockpot and added celery, onion and potatoes. We got a new bishopric which means the Husband is now calling free. After church we made gravy, a salad and sliced up some bread and fruit. In the evening we had cheese and crackers and the middle child baked up some brownies filled with oreos. Of course there was plenty of fruit to eat and we pulled out some chocolate. Monday we had cream of wheat, eggs, toast, bacon, and chocolate milk for breakfast. Lunch was homemade pasta and cheese with fruit slices. I dehydrated some apples and blueberries and made a big batch of delicious granola for the girls to take back to school. Now to look toward dinner...I am thinking enchiladas, though the Husband has started a set of lamb ribs to eat. I see that my desire to create a home where we can seek shelter, rest from the world, be nourished physically and spiritually, is coming about. I am truly blessed and loving it. ~Hugs~

Just thinkin'

Taking time to reflect..is a good thing. I feel quiet and I like it. I find myself surrounded by beautiful people whom I love dearly. I am grateful to have been there daily. I am grateful to be here daily. Thank you ! For You! When my second youngest was in second grade...I home schooled him with K12 on line school. The man at head quarters for the school always ended with thank you and make it a great day! The statement always left a smile on my face. So ~Hugs~ and make it a great day!

Lessons

Primary was great today. I got to teach the lesson using one of my favorite stories from history. The story is about a prince who was kidnapped, treated poorly and subjected and exposed to all the ugliness the world has to offer. The prince refused to participate and become part of the ugly. After six months of this cruel and ugly treatment. The prince was asked asked, Why he would not do what his captors wanted of him? He replied something like- I cannot do as you ask because I am the son of a king and my father has taught me to do what is right. I was born to be a king.
We went on with our lesson to learn about Abraham 3: 22-28. We talked about trust and that we know that all of us here chose to follow Heavenly Father, because we are here and have a physical body. That out Heavenly Father trusts us to make right choices.
In the way that only children can one boy asked why another boy in the ward was created here then? Because he is all bad. All in the class are aware of boy and his behaviors, he is difficult, uses many fowl words and is a bully physically and verbally to others in his arrogance, believing he is better than others and beyond the rules. What a question and what a trust our Heavenly Father has in me to be prepared to answer such questions.
I hope these wonderful spirits are listening, I hope they hear they are important, I hope they feel the importance of remembering to do the right things even when the world is ugly around them. I hope you always remember you were born to be King.

Today

Today my youngest has no school, but the second youngest does. It gets a little complicated for me to enjoy days off when they don't have them off together. I thought about going to the movies tonight...Then I remembered that the last time we went to the movies we didn't actually get to watch the movie and that the middle child had the tickets last..now they are in Logan, Utah. I can always buy more tickets. Right?
So for now I will do the regular cleaning thing and possibly give my self a hair cut. And then decide on movie or regular night at home. Oh and I do need to put together that menu for the month so I know what it is that is needed to prepare some beautiful food to go with the beautiful breads I get to make.

PS. Learning tip: Practice taking notes of the key words and phrases, rather than trying to write down every word said. This will allow your brain time to see and hear what is being said, and when you go over your notes the key words will pull the whole thought together for you. Going over the notes as soon as you can after class you will be able to add to your notes or clarify any missing information. Don't forget to review your notes daily in quick fashion. This will save you study time when test day rolls near.