The Power of Prayer

This evening Ryan and I took the kids to move 16 large metal panels (they kind of make a quick, easy, and mobile fence wherever you align and build them...) from one location to another. We had all of them loaded in a trailer, them preceded to set them tightly side by side. This way, Ryan could use a fork lift attachment on a tractor to pick up all of them and move them at one time. That was the original plan... So, we put them all nicely together, then Ryan turned to me and said, "Hun, can you hold these while I go and grab the tractor?"
I replied, "sure!"
I proceeded to the center of the stack of panels, got what I thought was a good hold, then Ryan let go and walked off. As he let go, the weight forced me into a sitting position on the side of the dump trailer. After a few minutes my arms started shaking because the weight was so great, and Ryan still had not yet started the tracter. Around the time I heard the tractor finally start, I started really wondering if I would be able to hold the load until he got there, because I could hear him having tracter issues. Well, I bent one arm and started using my back, but it didn't last long. I started praying at the beginning of this experience, and asking for additional strength to hold this. I kept telling myself I am strong, I can do this, Ryan will be here soon! After a while I realized I would not be able to hold the weight because the tracter was taking too long. I just prayed that I would be okay... I knew I could not bail out of the dump trailer and the only option was to let them crash on my pregnant body. I am still not sure how it happened, but as I felt my body give out totally, my left arm got pinched/caught between a couple of the top panels, and the panels firmly pinned me to the side of the trailer right between my lower hips... Just below where my baby is. I don't think it could have landed any lower than it did because I was so far down holding the panels to being with. If it had been any higher, it would have hurt my baby. If my arm had not been caught in the upper panels, I would have been hanging off the side so much that I would have pulled muscles. I screamed for Ryan and he came running over. He lifted up the panels and helped me out, then made sure I was okay. I was startled, but I know that Heavenly Father heard my prayers and somehow helped me tangle up just right to keep myself and my little baby safe in that situation tonight. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of prayer. I find great peace of mind in my life knowing that I have a Father in Heaven who knows me, listens to me, and loves me! Thank you dear Lord for helping me so much tonight!

Peppermint Divinity in the microwave!

Today I tried making divinity for the first time. I used THIS recipe. It was super simple! I added a little twist to it... After whipping the egg whites, you add a 260 degree sugar mixture to the mixer bowl with your whites. Just before I added the sugar mixture I added a few drops of red food coloring, and about 5 drops of peppermint essential oil. I don't normally like divinity, but this divinity is DIVINE! ;)
Super simple too! If you try it, good luck!

Happy Halloween 2012

The kids and I dressed up as some of "The Avengers, Earths Mightiest Heros". I should have taken a picture this morning... Brycen was Hawkeye (He's missing his mask.) :( Tucker was The Hulk, Eliza was The Wasp (...with a broken arm...), and I was the Black Widow.

  I think we had a great turn out at our church building Trunk or Treat. We had a LOT of kids come through, and we ran out of chilli. :) I took about 80 pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, 36 apples, 60 small bags of cheetos, and had a huge bag of candy that someone else asked me to give away for them. There were a few times tonight when my entire tail gait was surrounded with indecisive children. Alas, I did give every last scrap of treats away to children. I ran out of cheetos first, then cookies, then apples, and candy was the last thing I ran out of... I think it is so interesting to see which item kids pick first. Some of my primary kids came back three and four times. I stated making them do a trick for each additional treat they wanted after they had received two. . ..
Overall, I think my children had a lot of fun today! Hope everyone else did too! Happy Halloween everyone!

Happy Second Anniversary Dear Fingers

I feel I should write a quick note about my anniversary. I think pretty much everyone who reads my blog knows about the accident I had two years ago. I just wanted to say I am so grateful I have a constant reminder in my life that hands are incredibly useful. I think I can safely say that everyone who has good working hand/stubs/any thing that can pinch an object takes complete advantage of what (s)he has. I hope everyone who owns two perfect and beautifully working hands will take a minute today and give thanks for your hands. One of mine is no longer perfect... but I certainly give thanks nearly everyday (if not everyday) that I still have almost all of it attached to me. Thank you to everyone who prayed for me or helped take care of me during that time in my life! I was taught so much compassion through example from everyone around me. I am so thankful for therapy and modern medicine. I can type around twenty-five to thirty words a minute these days. It may not seem high, but I think it is really great for having three fingers that can't really feel which keys they are hitting on the keyboard. I think I could add my ability to type to my bucket list of miracles that I have seen throughout this experience. I am also so thankful I had Eliza at this time. She will be two tomorrow. She has been such a joy in my life. She may squeal and scream a lot, but she is so darling, sweet, soft, and has very adorable big blue eyes! Two years ago it was so difficult to figure out how to dress her, change her diapers, feed her, and bathe her one-handed--But, she and my boys were great motivation to keep going when I nearly felt like I had nothing left to give. 
There is a saying from the Count of Monte Cristo that goes like this, "God sees you out of the corner of his eye". Sometimes I feel like my trials are not important, or I bear them quietly. I am so thankful to know that no matter how many problems other people in this great big world have, God is still mindful of me and my problems. He is always there to pick me up when I am down. To catch me when I fall short. To carry me when I am too exhausted to move on myself. To listen when no one else is there. . . I could go on, but this was supposed to be a short post.
May everyone give a little extra thanks for your hands today!

Our Foreign Exchange Student

Well we had a foreign exchange student for about two weeks. He just went home last Saturday. We had him from August 13-25th. We were supposed to get him on the twelfth, but his flight was delayed. He was a fourteen year old boy from Japan. It was an interesting experience. I now know how to make Miso Soup (a simple soybean based soup that Japanese people eat for breakfast). If you want the recipe I used, click here. My student's name was Reo. He and one of his Japanese friends ate some, they liked it and said it tasted pretty close to what they eat in Japan.
While he was here Ryan took him boating at the local Sandy Reservoir--He LOVED that. I got a "Thank you" phone call around eleven o'clock that night from Japan. His "Auntie" called to tell me they were really nervous to send him, and they were so happy to hear that he was placed in a good home. We also spent one of the weekend nights up on Kolob Mountain at my husband's family cabin. We repaired fences on our farm one night (the boys kicked around a ball while I helped Ryan). Ryan also took Reo to play indoor soccer one night (Reo is in a soccer club in Japan). We made a few trips to Walmart, he LOVED jumping on the trampoline with my two little boys. One night they got out the hose and soaked each other all over. Brycen kept spraying Reo (which Brycen usually does to Tucker), so Reo took the hose and SPRAYED Brycen back. It was about time fro Brycen to have an "older brother" figure pick on him a little for a minute. All in all, it was a pretty neat experience. I am not sure if I would do it again, if I do, I think I will ask for a girl (just to spice things up a little more). . .

Facebook

Over the last year to year and a half I have started thinking that maybe I should get a Facebook account. I have put it off because computer activities are toward the bottom of my totem pole of priorities. Well, I am in charge of my twenty year reunion, in nine more years. Today I decided is the day to get an account. I believe Facebook will be a useful tool in my life, so I have finally "bitten the dust".

For those of you interested look for me on Facebook now. :)