It was the Forsgren Family Christmas Party at my Parents house. Sam and Lexi stayed home because she was sick with a respiratory infection. But me and the boys headed north in a snow storm.
I didn't get many pictures of the festivities. We ate. We played a trivia game. The boys played the left right game. We built candy bar sleds and had races. We had a Christmas Program. And then we headed home because it was snowing worse. We passed 10 accidents on the way home just on our side of the freeway. But we made it home safe and had a great time.
Seth made a friend Noah last year at Kids Village. We have hung out with him a few times since school got out last year. He invited all of us to his birthday party.
He loves reptiles so he invited the Reptile Man to come.
The Reptile man brought all sorts of animals. Lizards, Snakes, Bigger Lizards, Turtles, Bigger Snakes, a Baby Alligator and an even bigger snake.
I got to hold the Albino Python as part of the presentation. (but no one got a picture with my camera)
He was heavy.
Everyone had a fun. It was a much more elaborate party than I throw. There were adult treats and kid treats. TONS of food. Noah's mom is from Brasil and multiple people said that this was a toned down party for her. Noah is an only child and we were the only not family members (besides the Reptile man) that were there. But we had fun and it was nice that the whole family got to come and enjoy the show.
I went to a lunch the other day with Sam for work. Sister Elaine Dalton was the speaker. It was a room with about 50 people and her and her husband. After we ate she got up and gave a devotional talk.
She talked about a lot of things many of which I needed to hear and were the answers to some questions I had been praying about.
One thing that she pointed out was that miracles happen every day, multiple times a day not just in Christ's time. She encouraged everyone to pay more attention to the miracles in daily life that we take for granted.
I feel like I do pretty good noticing and then thanking my Father in Heaven for his daily tender mercies but I can always do better.
So I got to thinking about my daily miracles.
They are a miracle.
They are my miracle every second of every moment of every single day. They each came with their own challenges. They each came with their own spunk. Their own determined spirit. How easily it would have been for things to go a different way and they would have never made it into this world. Or frankly survived daily life with some of the stuff my boys try. The fact that they are up and running around. That they can talk walk, create is a miracle and one that often gets taken for granted or is under appreciated.
He is my miracle.
This man loves me. He loves my quirks. He loves my because of my faults but pushes me to make them better. He loves me with the most Christlike genuine sincere service I could ever ask for. He has made my life full of love, laughter, more love, and more happiness than I could have ever expected. I'm not saying that it's been easy. We have had our share of troubled times, fights, lows, craziness, disasters but he never wavered. He has loved me through it all.
I can't not acknowledge this little miracle.
Science is awesome. Science has made it so I can live. Research and advancements in medical technology has come so far. Not only is it a miracle that this stuff is invented. It's a miracle that I am still alive. There were years I was a horrible diabetic. I have friends that took much better care of themselves than I did and they are getting shots in their eyes to try to prevent any more blindness. Some have died. Some live on dialysis. Some have had transplants. Some of lost toes. Some have GI tubes because of Gastroparesis. One had a seizure from a low blood sugar and it did enough brain damage that she now has epilepsy. I know that someone paid the price for me and took on my diabetic side effects because he saw my potential. Every day I wake up it's a miracle and a tender mercy of my Father in Heaven. The other night right as Sam and I were going to bed my blood sugar tanked. 3 hours later after lots of carbs, tons of testing, my blood sugar finally came up. My body was exhausted. I quickly fell asleep and I was out. 2 hours later my blood sugar tanked again. I didn't wake up to my CGM alarming. But lucky for me Sam did. He got me juice and sat up with me again. If he hadn't have woken up there is a very real chance that I wouldn't have. There was no more sugar left in my liver work as the safety net. He got up with the kids, made them breakfast, got ready for work, and went on to his day on only a few hours sleep because he was taking care of me. Again every moment of every day I am living a miracle.
She's a miracle.
She was a challenge for me. She taught me things about life and about myself I wouldn't have learned other wise. When she comes to visit I realize how much I miss her laugh and her loud singing. She sends me text pics of her breakfast. She will call just to say good morning. She loves me. She is strong. She is a fighter. She is smart. She is determined. She never gives up. She is a miracle and it's a miracle that she is still here. And I'm lucky enough to be one of the people she calls Mom.
My Laptop...
I know it is superficial. I know it is an item that shouldn't hold as much importance to me. But this laptop is pretty important because it symbolizes so many different blessings to me.
First, the back story. My Laptop is a mac. It's older but works ok. I took it to church with me to show my Sunday school class a video on it. It got knocked off the table and the track pad got really out of line. Also with it being a Mac it made it harder to run the programs I needed for a few of my classes. I knew there was no way we were going to be able to afford a new laptop. It would be super expensive to fix. Which meant I would be doing all my homework on the desktop in the kitchen which means no hiding from kids. Money has been pretty tight with paying all of my medical bills, Lexi's bills, Seth's dental and eye bills etc. etc. etc. Christmas was going to be tight and that was ok we were making it. We have cars that work, Sam has a great job, we have each other it would be ok. It was especially tight and I sat debating about tithing. I haven't debated tithing in a very long time. I prayed. We prayed. We paid it.
Monday Sam called and said one of his missionaries gave him a laptop. The missionary had bought it 6 months before. It was a nice laptop. It was running Windows 8. The missionary didn't like Windows 8 and was tired of trying to learn how to use it so he switched to a different computer that ran an older Windows. He have us the wireless mouse. The bag. The code to put office on it. Everything I needed. I stopped by later to pick it up and all I could do was say Thank you and gave him a hug.
The laptop was a reaffirming of my testimony of tithing. The laptop was a tender mercy of the Lord to remind me that me being in school isn't easy but is the right choice. The laptop is a miracle because it was the answer to a prayer. The laptop was a gift that he expected nothing in return for. So yes it's a superficial item but it was a miracle and tender mercy in so many ways for me.
I could go on and on and on
Like the day I was feeling slightly alone and missing my Grandma when the radio started playing a song from the Holiday Inn.
I used to watch this movie with my Grandma and she loved this song. We would curl up on the pink bedroom late at night and watch old movies. This is always one of my favorites and makes me think of her. I knew there was nothing more important to her than me. It didn't matter that she had to get up early to get stuff done. She would stay up late be spend time with me because I was more important. Songs from the movie are on all the time during Christmas but this song played at the moment I turned on the radio and it's not one of the most common songs. I know it was a tender mercy to let me know that I am loved.
There are a million other things that come every day that are miracles that often get over looked. Sister Dalton's talk struck the chord with me that maybe if I slow down and notice even more of the miracles going on around me. She also encouraged us to reach out and find opportunities to be someone else's miracle. Even if it's the little things like a smile or an outreached hand in the grocery line.
It made me think of this.
So I guess I will end with the biggest miracle to me of them all.
I don't much wear my testimony on my sleeve. It's something that I keep pretty personal. I don't verbally declare my testimony often. I just try my best to live what I know to be true. But I have no doubt that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me. He knows that I am there in the middle of the ninety and nine. I try not to get lost. I avoid leading the herd of I can. I am just in the middle. When I feel lost in the fold and forgotten he sends me reminders that he is there and always has been. He gives me opportunities like this one to reflect on all the tender mercies that come my way. I am safe in his fold. He knows where I am because he knows where I'll be. I am more than just one of the sands of the sea I am one of his ninety and nine. I am so far from being perfect. I sometimes even run away from what my Heavenly Father wants me to do because I don't want to fail. (I know one day I'm going to get eaten by a whale, I told Heavenly Father that would be ok because it meant I was by the ocean :) But he loves me anyway and can see my potential and just keeps encouraging me by sending me the tender reminders and sometimes swift kick in the butt to be better.
Sam's Hall Sister Jeanette and her family moved to Montana for a job a little while ago.
Well things didn't work out as planned so they got to come HOME!!
Jeanette has 2 boys Logan and Codey. They are Seth and Christian's age.
So we were all pretty excited she was coming back.
Papa and Grandma Hall, Uncle Darrell, Uncle Kendall, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Andrew his daughter Cassidy, Sam and Seth loaded up into some trucks with big trailers hooked up and drove to Montana to bring them home.
Seth was so excited about a road trip with Daddy and Papa.
Christian Lexi and I stayed home and had our own fun.
I have no idea what this is but Seth says it's important.
Their house they were leaving.
They ate at a restaurant called the staggering bull. They had sandwiches that were made with bread that was baked in a can. Then they hollow out the center and put all the fixin's of the sandwich inside to the bread is never cut open and and your innards can't fall out the side or the bottom.
They went up on a Friday and came home Sunday morning. So it was a quick trip but they had a great time.
Day three of our trip,Saturday, we headed out side of town where the city is digging up dirt to use it to build a dam.
It had rained earlier in the week so we knew it would be muddy.
But that made it all the more fun.
Halls loaded up the ATV's, Dune Buggy and horses and we headed out for a day full of fun.
We learned a long time ago you where sunglasses because if not you will not be able to see at the end.
Sam on a horse
When not on an ATV, Horse or Buggy ride there was plenty of dirt to play in.
We took the last ride of the day in the Buggy and got so wet and muddy but boy did we have fun and laugh a lot
The boys loved riding in the buggy.
They loved the ATV's as well.
Some how I missed Chris on the ATV and both boys on the horse. I might have been out on the ATV making a mess with one of the nieces and nephews (or by myself). I rode the horse as well.
We came home muddy, wet and tired but we had so much fun. We ate left overs and the boys played more with their cousins.
Later in the afternoon Angie, Jeanette, Peggy and I painted sets of Christmas ornaments.
The next day, Sunday, we headed home to unload, sleep and get ready to start back to school the next day
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