Peer pressure

We've been studying Christ's ministry and crucifixion in Matthew as a family over the past month. I've been baffled by how when Pilate brought Jesus before the crowd they all shouted "crucify him". I thought where were the 5,000 that followed him to listen to his teachings? Where were all those he healed to shout "set him free"? Where were they??!! And how could Peter deny him 3 times! I've always been someone who marches to their own tune and didn't mind standing out or apart from the rest--choosing my way even if it departed from the rest. When I was in college I thrived on that fact. I've often thought I wouldn't be able to deny him, but would I have had the strength to speak apart from the rest? If I did I probably would have been stoned or spat upon or who knows as the people back then were brutal.

This past Sunday I got a better understanding of what it must have been like. I direct the children's choir at my church. I am always looking for creative ways to teach the music so that the kids will enjoy singing. This past Sunday I borrowed someone's idea to play tic-tac-toe. I made a giant board with different song titles in each square. I divided the two halves of the room into x -team and O-team and let the game commence. Near the end of one round one child chose not to block the other team to prevent them from winning so that they could sing a particular song. I asked him if he knew how to play and what the object of the game was and he said "yes". There immediately was an uproar from his teammates to change the square. He was holding his ground and starting to turn red in the process. Again the crowd swelled with "NO! CHANGE IT!!!!" The boy about burst into tears and at the last second changed it despite his original desire, sat down and cried while attempting to sing the new song--not of his choosing. My first thought was, "boy, was this a STUPID idea!". My second thought was, "Wow...this is what it must have been like". You could see the shame in his face as he tried to hold his ground and go against what everyone was telling him. The pressure was too great.

As our society grows further and further away from Christianity I wonder if it will again get to that point. In all the films I see whenever there is someone religious they are always painted in a poor light. As someone who is judgemental and self-righteous--imposing their "crazy" beliefs on everyone else. Joseph smith believed in Christ and that He visited him and what happened to him? He couldn't deny what he saw--what he believed and as a result was teased, beaten, thrown in jail for no good reason and eventually murdered. What did he have to gain by sticking to his story? Nothing. When he heard the crowd and how adversely they reacted to what he saw and heard he could have easily caved and denied it all. But, he didn't. Believing and following Christ has never been a "popular" idea and I don't know that it ever will be. I hope I am never put to that test and have to choose like that.

OK, so this is quite a lengthy post so I'd better quit. Don't know if it led anywhere, but there's my food for thought for the day..... This morning we'll be reading about Christ's resurrection. At least, there is always a happy ending to the story of Christ's life. I think that's why I like happy endings. I believe in Christ and that we all will be resurrected someday and that is good news!

New Things

Some new things for me this week:

I've finally joined the new age and am now texting....Or rather, Nate bought me a phone that I have the capability to send and receive texts on. Haven't figured out how yet, but I will.

Mom, jeans. They're called "not my daughter's jeans" and they go ALL the way up to my belly button and I LOVE THEM!!! I am SO sick of trying to find clothes to fit that won't shrink up when I sit down or feel like I'm spilling out the top of them. Goodbye fashion--I'm done with you and moving on to a happier simpler life :)

Vegan Chocolate cake. Viv wanted to make a chocolate cake with yellow frosting tonight for Family Night. We had run out of eggs so while looking for an egg substitute online I found a Vegan chocolate cake recipe that was actually quite good. Halfway through I realized we were out of cocoa so I subbed hot chocolate. Used blood oranges for the orange juice it called for and it turned out great. It was spongy, moist and chewy. I'll have to post it on the Bird Food blog.

New use for a food scraper. If you lock yourself out of a room without the keys a food scraper will work as a shimy to open the door without damaging the door. Nate actually discovered this one, but I thought it was useful information.

The number 1 ladies detective agency and Doc Martin. Two new TV shows the family and I like to watch from netflix.

Posting within a month of my last post.

Good times

I've been thinking of renaming our blog to "the rantings and ravings of a middle-aged house wife". Sounds good, doesn't it? All I can think of posting, of late, are whinings and unhappy tales. So...if you don't feel like listening, move on!

I seem to have acquired a "bulging disc". I really don't care how many times Nate explains to me what that means, it's a terrible nuisance and I want it to go away! Imagine not being able to sit down or bend over and pick-up anything on the ground. Now imagine 4 children who do nothing but put things on the ground. We are slowly being buried in our own home. Today I actually stepped over a large grape twig--you know the stick-like things that are left after the grapes are gone? Yep, and I left it there too. It's already dried out and in stick form--what's another week. Sorry, "sidetracked home-executives", I will not be reaching my goals this month.

On top of that we are on DAY 3 of Abby's house arrest. I took her to the Doctor yesterday after my sons carpool informed me that she and her children all had H1N1. Abby started out with high fever, flushed cheeks, lethargy DAY 1. DAY 2, lower fever writhing in pain stating her tummy hurt--THAT and the H1N1 news sent me in to the Pediatrician. Turns out she doesn't have H1N1 she has Influenza B! Who knew? Am I kicking myself for not getting the kids flu shots this year? YES!!! Not to complain, but they were only offered the 3rd Thursday of the month, at a clinic 1/2 hour away, AND, ONLY on Thursdays. OK, so if I wanted to do that I would have to skip swimming, piano lessons, soccer and dance--not to mention someone to take my carpools for preschool and Jr. High. If you add all that up (because you can't reschedule classes you've paid for) it comes to a whopping $75 bucks. Could they make it any less inconvenient? Next year--we will make it! OK, so back to DAY 3 of Influenza B. Today is vomiting day. Oh, JOY!!! Doctor ordered her home for 5 days. Oh, and did I mention, my husband, left her $100 Tamiflu prescription out all night when it says to refrigerate?

Yeah. The rantings and ravings of a middle-aged house wife. I think it fits :)

help and high school stuff

OK, so does ANYONE know how to post an upright picture on your blog without it looking retarded? Yes, I said retarded. Whatever, I give up.

Nate and I went with our oldest tonight to visit a potential HS. Oh. MY. Goodness!! Holy Cow--it was like a private university. Their language program from day 1 is an immersion program. They're on a 4X4 schedule so they can complete a language in a couple years--including taking the AP exam and then take another. What do they offer, you ask? Oh....Japanese, Spanish, French, and ASL. Their performing arts program offers chamber choir, Vocal Performance--complete with private voice lessons, Gamelan, Samba Corvo, Rock band--they were awesome by the way....many performed for us tonight. Graphic artists was amazing--they pair up with local professionals, have mentor programs. What on earth?!? I WANT to GO THERE! OK, so this doesn't even scratch the surface of what they covered tonight.

The downside--this particular school will mean A LOT of extra driving pour moi. What a brilliant and novel idea--letting the students choose where they want to go for high school. That way the schools have to compete to want to get your child to go there. This is the way ALL education should be based. Nate and I were floored. I hope the other schools are as amazing--especially the one 2 miles from our house. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Signing out...Oh,and I'm serious if anyone can help me make the first page look normal with an upright photo I would be so grateful.

Jeni

Ah....the sweet life

So, Nate and I have been married 17 years to the day today! Things are going great. I don't know how we got to suddenly be SO lucky. The beginning of this month was SO stressful and today we're feeling so blessed. We LOVE our new place. Our neighbors on one side said we can pick all the avocados (they're Haas, by the way), blood oranges and lemons we want. On the other side we took a peace offering of choc chip cookies for all the fruit the girls have been stealing and they said we're welcome to come pick anytime!!! All their trees drape over our fenceline....Grapefruit, plums, apples, oranges, and the sweetest apricots I've EVER tasted! Mmmmmm.....You know what kind of freaky foodies we are so we are lovin' life.

Oh, and did I mention it is QUIET here? Who knew I could sleep ALL night...Yes, ALL NIGHT! I had no idea how much a quiet neighborhood would mean. Thank you, God, for all we went through to be here today. I LOVE it here!!!!!

Now let's see if those 15 lbs come back now that I'm happy :)

How to lose 15 lbs in 2 weeks! It really works!!!

OK, so you may not want to try this, but it really worked for me.....

First, you want to have your landlord send you an email telling you he'd like to raise your rent $700 per month. Then you frantically look for another place to live while knocking on everyone's doors in the neighborhood to ask if they are renters and if so if they would divulge how much they are paying. Argue with your landlord (actually my good friend did most of the negotiating for us--but we did have to do the grunt work)

Second, find out you actually qualify to buy a house and start trying to find one. Make an offer--a LOW offer--have them refuse your offer, then accept.

Third, stop sleeping because you're so stressed out.

Fourth, ask your landlord if you can rent month to month until you can buy a home and have him say "no" because he believes in only renting in the summertime for one year periods at a time.

Fifth, spend a lot of money on a home inspection, mold inspection, and I can't remember the other inspection we paid for, but we did!

Sixth, find out you have to move in 2 1/2 weeks because your landlord won't let you stay even 6 more weeks past your lease date expiring. SO in between everything else you're trying to do with 4 kids you have to add packing up the entire house to the mix--and find a place to stay until you can move into the new house. You'll have to put your stuff in storage and move twice.

Seventh, find out there's lots of mold in your proposed new (OLD) house. 300,000th's range in 4 rooms--and sellers are unwilling to clean it up properly because you made a low offer. Cancel offer then...

Last, but not least, you find a new rental and sign all the paperwork to move in in 2 weeks.

Haven't finished the last step yet. I know, I know, there are a lot of steps, but it really worked for me! Boy, somewhere deep down I must like a lot of DRAMA in my life! Yep.

Oh, and did I mention I was planning on auditioning for the San Diego opera in June?--I had to give up that goal midway through this whole fiasco--no time to practice! I did manage to get up my own website for voice amidst this crisis, though :)

The perfect day

The perfect end to a perfect day. Everyone woke up early to find their easter baskets. After the hunt we ate belgian waffles with fresh strawberries and whip cream. Then we watched conference, practically uninterrupted as the girls ran inside and outside of the house--playing with their new house made from my new dryer box and getting ready for an easter egg hunt outback. After the first session we ate lunch and had 4 egg hunts in the back yard. For the second session I painted all the girls nails and they helped me laminate some things for Joy School.

After conference I took the girls swimming while Nate and Jake went on a practice run with 40 lbs packs for Jake's scout Havasupai trip next week. After dinner we snuggled and watched a movie before putting the girls to bed.

I LOVE conference weekend. I was touched deeply and was inspired by so many of the talks. It buoys me up and helps me feel like I can face anything. With the Lord NOTHING is impossible. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and am so THANKFUL for conference weekend! I wish we could do it 4 times a year instead of two. I love getting to sit in my own home to watch it and not have to worry the entire time about keeping my kids quiet. They can do whatever they want by me and play all over the house or outside and they are happy as long as we are all together. The internet broadcast was amazing, too, on our giant plasma TV. We had no interruptions and it looked just like it would have on cable.