The Wonderful gift of Coal

"He's Make-n a list and checking it twice. Gonna find out whose naughty or nice. 

Santa Claus is coming to town."

 At Christmas time, every boy and girl is so eager to learn if he or she is on the  naughty or nice list. Will their stocking be filled with goodies and toys or an old lump of coal?   I've always wondered, why would Santa give a naughty child coal? The tradition goes back for centuries,  but  there really isn't much of an answer except that coal was the closest thing for Santa to grab from the fireplace. And to a child, coal is useless, undesirable, and worthless. No one wants to find coal in their stocking. But as I was studying  in the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 16: 6-7 (Isaiah chapter 6), my eyes were opened to a whole new understanding for the application of Santa giving coal for Christmas. Giving coal to those who are naughty couldn't be more appropriate. In fact, we should all desire the gift of coal for Christmas when we can understand and see what it represents.

vs 6. Then flew one of the seraphim  unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the alter,
vs 7. And he laid it upon my mouth, and said: Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

The live coal from the sacrificial altar represents the element that cleanses our soul, fire. Coal then represents or becomes a symbol of the greatest gift given to man. The gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

The use of coal as a symbol for Christ's Atonement is perfect and wonderful. And I was able to comprehend its meaning a little more fully when I could see a few different ways in which it is used.  Here are three illustrations to consider:

My husband and I love dutch oven cooking. Using coal to cook dutch oven food is a process, Like the atonement.  One of our favorite  desserts is dutch oven cake. First, we heat the coals until they become very hot. We take our dry and wet ingredients and combine them in the oven and cover with the lid.  The heated coals are put down on the ground and the oven placed on the coals. More coals are then placed on top of the lid. Over a period of time the heat from coal begins to cook, changing the content of the food. These ingredients  become something greater than they were. A few simple, individual items converted to something more enjoyable and desirable.  Cake! Through the atonement, we too become changed,  we become new creatures.   Our very nature or desires turn from that of the world to our God to whom we belong. 

My favorite illustration is that of metal melting. A fuel source, such as coal, is heated to extremely high temperatures in a furnace. Solid metals are places in a large crucible in a furnace. As the metal is heated through, it begins to change from a solid to a liquid. Many metals  have impurities and need to go through a refining process. Often times a coal agent is added to separate the several types of metals from each other, also removing gasses, and removal of other unwanted slag which could make the final metal product susceptible to imperfection and weakness. As we apply the atonement to our own lives, we find that we go through a similar process. We place our sins, imperfection, and/or weakness at the feet of our savior. We  become refined. Our sinned and imperfections become removed or take from our minds and hearts. Our weakness become strengthened. The atonement is the process of making us holy, or pure and strong like that of metal.

The first two illustration dealt with the use of coal,  as the scriptures stated in vs 6, as living coal.  It was heated or living. But my last illustration is the use of coal in it's cold, non-living, non-burning, state.

When hiking in areas that are abundant in water, there is no need to pack large quantities of  drinking water. The one necessary piece of equipment would be a good water filter attached to a water bottle. (I realize there are many filters that are void of a charcoal filtration system, but that would not aid in my concept) A good Charcoal filter uses charcoal or carbon as an absorption system.  As the water passes through the charcoal, contaminants and impurities are trapped in the carbon allowing cleaner water to be consumed.  Again, we see that the use of coal, or charcoal, like the atonement, brings about cleansing and a more purified state.   

In the illustration of dutch oven cooking and metal melting, one can see the application of living, burning, coal as it becomes a symbol for the atonement.  In the illustration of purifying water, the coal was non-living, not burning,  and also shows the symbolism of the atonement. So what then is the significance between living and non-living coal?   For me it means that atonement knows no bounds. It does not only apply to the living, but also to those who have passed on beyond the veil of life. The atonement is for both the living and the dead.  Our loved ones on the other side will continue to learn, grow, and have the opportunity to develop a change in desires and thought when they except Christ as their Savior and  Redeemer. They too will be covered  under the atonement and be brought into the fold of the lamb through sacred  temple ordinances performed vicariously in their behalf by the living.

The giving of coal could not be more appropriate. Coal becomes the symbol of Jesus Christ's greatest gift of love and sacrifice. The gift of the Atonement. Christ says, "To this end was I born". We celebrate  His miraculous  birth  in anticipation of what His life would be and mean. For this purpose he came into the world. To give is own life, to atone for all the sins, trials, hardships, sorrows, etc. that we might humbly place at his feel to take away, strengthen, lift, or purify.  

So, as Santa comes and fills our stocking, I hope we all receive the wonderful gift of coal. The greatest gift that will bring us back into the presence of our Heavenly Father.

 Merry Christmas to all!





picture of coal used from:screensaver.com
picture of Isaiah used from: olivedrivechurch.com
Pictures of dutch ovens used from: datehookup.com
picture of metal used from: greycastfounder.net

Mothers Day

Had a great Mothers day.  Went to church and got to hear Scott talk about mothers. He did a wonderful job  and gave a wonderful tribute to his mom. Wish she was there to hear him talk.

The Elders quorum presidency handed out both flowers and tomatoes plants. We  brought home two tomatoes plants and potted them. They are almost ready to start producing tomatoes.

We were also able to skype with my parents that night too. We don't  skype often enough. We need to do that more. The kids and I really miss all our family back home. 

We are so grateful for our moms and they do for us, even living on the other side of the country. They are always thinking about us and  Praying for us all the time. We sure do miss them and spending time with our moms. We love you and happy Mothers Days.

Penguins

Ethen and I were able to go see Jocelyn perform a class play. It was about penguins. She brought home a script and had to memorize several lines as she was narrator number 1.  She did a wonderful job. She was one of the few who you could actually hear and understand.  They  were three acts and in between each act, the class would sing a song.

  

This is Kelsie, Jocelyns best friend.

 Mrs. Bransons first grade class

Friends stick together.

A B Honor Role

A few nights before the kids last day of school, Elizabeth was presented with a little trophy for her greades in school. She is on the A, B honor role. More B's than A's, but that's okay. We are just glad she is learning and loving school.  Here she is with her homeroom teacher Mrs. Garrison. She loved being in her class.  We are very proud of both girls and how wonderful they did in school. 

Sister Missionaries!

Our family has been so blessed with the  opportunity to know and work with these two awesome and amazing sister missionaries. They truly are some of the Lord's most valiant servants!  They are beautiful, fun, talented, silly, and so inspiring.   

Sister Bowie is from Australia and taught us much about her home country. Some of the tradition, customs, and food.   Her family would send candy and other  food items for her to share with companions and families that feed them. Which we did about once a week for  several months. She was so loving to our children,  so tender and playful with them.    The kids especially loved to listen to her talk. 

Sister Skillings is a Utah home grown girl with many wonderful talents. She wrote, sang, and played the guitar with grace and skill.  If they came to eat, she knew she had to sing and play for us. We are so grateful for this talent and the wonderful spirit it brought into our home. We could sit and listen to her for hours. 

We will miss both of them dearly and will be keeping contact with them for sure. Can't wait to see what life brings them when they get  home and the many wonderful things they will accomplish!

We love you girls! You're in our hearts forever!

Easter Blessings

Easter was wonderful this year. We were able to stay home with our family and watch General conference on TV. It was so nice not having anywhere to go. The kids were able to get up and have a great Easter morning, take their time going through their bucket of goodies, have an egg hunt and enjoy a  lovely breakfast un-rushed.  This was one of the best holidays we have enjoyed. Plus we were blessed to have the sister missionaries come over for the second conference and have dinner with us too.

I really wanted Easter to be special this year. I didn't want it to be all about the candy. So I poured over blog after blog in search for the perfect ideas. I found a wonderful blog  by: https://fhelessons.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/christ-centered-easter-baskets/  

Christ Centered Easter Baskets.

There were few a candy items, but each gift had something to do with Chirst  and the Resurrection. It gave a scripture or quote for each item.  Each item was something useful for them to have. I also put together a basket for each of the sister missionaries and they loved it. I was a great surprise for them.

As you can see there were items like a stuffed lamb, flashlight, flip flops, note book, hand soap, scarves, and then a few colored eggs for the candy. I think my favorite item was the scarf. I found a lovely story that talks about the folded linens and napkins found in the tomb  after Christ's resurrection.

Here they are checking out their goodies.  We got to sleep in a bit before having to get up.  Ethen slept up stair so that he would not catch the Easter Bunny leaving his eggs around the house. He loves camping out with the girls, too bad they don't really enjoy having him up there with  them.

The kids didn't seem to miss all the candy.  They enjoyed reading each of the scriptures or quotes to see what the item meant. I think they really had a better understanding of what this holiday means.

We wish we could have been able to see family. We miss having all those family dinner and egg hunts with the cousins.

Happy spring! Spring has finally come and the flowers are out and the leaves are coming on the trees. The weather is warming up and  we will be able to spend more time outside. We have lots of yard work to do, raking leaves, burning piles of down sticks and branches, planting new flowers to spruce things up.  

I bought the kids some rain boots and they have had so much fun tromping around in the creek.  I  have been looking for some boots too to do yard work in and finally found these really cute ones.  I am excited to get out there and get some work done and look cute doing it!

Spring is Here

We are so excited that spring is finally here. That means we are finally done with snow. It has been pretty cold, but we have had a few days here and there that reached up into the high 50's. So there is hope for warmer days to come. It's raining more now and that means mud  and all things wet. So  I decided to get the kids some rain boots. Being able to go play in the creek, despite the frigged temps, has been a highlight of any warm or almost warm day. They love wearing them.  

I just had to get a picture of Jocelyn outside in her boots. 

Got to love this girl's style.    She is our free spirit.   

We can't wait for the warmer weather and get outside to play more. 

So glad Spring has sprung.

It's a Minion Party

This year Elizabeth decided  her birthday theme was Minions from the movie "Despicable Me".

I was a little surprised because I thought it was more of a boy theme.  But she didn't care.  I  was able to find some really fun idea for decorating, but there were not a lot of ideas for activities or games.

She invited all the girls from her school class and some from church.  About half came. We had 8 total partiers. It was a good number to handle, not too many.

We decorated in Blue, Yellow, and purple. I love having a "Party City" in town. It always has some fun stuff for parties, but I also  really enjoying making a lot of my own decor too. I did a little of both. I love the 5 foot tall minion background wall hanging. It was really cool. Kind of makes you believe there lots of these guys running around.

We blew up balloons and drew minion faces on them, stuck them to the ceiling. 

This is the only time static cling is a good things.

                                      

I really wanted to have a full scale minion, so I found some cardboard and went to work in drawing and painting my own. I love the ones with one eye. They are my favorite. 

We bought a cake from Krogers.  It's a fun design, and the only one they, or anyone else, had for minions. Jocelyn  decided it should say happy birthday Liz instead of Elizabeth. I think that's what most of her friends at school call her. It was to be a vanilla and chocolate marble cake, but I think they forgot the chocolate. 

Ethen named this little square Minion Joe Joe.  I had some random boxes from Sam's club, so I made him into a minion. I love this one since he has a sparkly goggle. He was my main center piece for the table.

Elizabeth and I had a tuff time coming up with party ideas. First she  wanted a Hollywoood red carpet theme.  (LAME) Then she wanted  a movie  night, and a 3 direction theme. Not sure how we got to minions, but it was a lot better than most of the others she thought about.

I came up the idea of minute to win it games. Older kids  seem to enjoy playing those games and it would keep us really busy. I had to find as many games as I could with the supplies I had on hand: cups, marbles, tissue boxes, tape, nerf gun. I was able to get 15 games pulled together with all these items and only had to buy  some ping pong balls and candy.  We were able to do about 9 or 10 of the games.  I wish I  had some  pictures of the girls playing games. They did a good job and looks pretty silly.

After games we had lunch. We did a Mexican theme from the Despicable Me 2 movie. The have a restaurant called "Salsa & Salsa". We had taquitos, chips and salsa, cheese quesadillas, and loaded nachos. I think I was the only one who ate the nachos. The girls loved the taquitos and quesadillas. We were running short on time and had to go quickly to cake and presents. 

She received little pet shops, a gift card, nail polish kit, and some legos. 

For favors I put together a bag full of minion goodies. Minion Twinkies, fruit snacks, and graham cracker. I also found these awesome minion kites for $1.30. 

I love this background! It is so fun and colorful. Side not: I found Elizabeth's shirt at Walmart for $4.00. Party City was asking $10.   She looks so cute.

Happy Birthday to you my  beautiful girl. I love you more every day!

Aren't we cute!?!

St. Patty's Day

St. Patrick's Day

 There kids were excited to see what they would find. 

 Did that tricky leprechaun play any tricks  or  leave any treats?  

No leprechauns found in their trap, but he did leave some green M&M's trailing around their room.

He somehow managed to turn our milk green , which Ethen thought that was great.

Each found a green plate with chips, a drink, lucky charms cereal and a rainbow of water colors to paint with. We made green shamrock pancakes for breakfast and drank the green milk. 

Dinner was even better. We had green eggs, deviled, ham, green mashed potatoes, salad, and green fruit. The kids had a fun time.

Ethen really wants to believe that there is a leprechaun, but he is pretty skeptical. He keeps asking if I'm the leprechaun, and he found some of the left over snacks and chips in the cupboard too.  Now he's asking about the tooth fair and the Easter Bunny. He's pretty sure it's me even though the girls and I try to persuade him other wise.  He's just too smart.

" Be a good little Monkey"

It's all about that Monkey!  Ethen is in love with Curious George. Around Halloween, he discovered the cute, fury monkey and 5 months later he still can't get enough. He will sit and watch it all day long.  So it was no surprise when he said he wanted a Curious George birthday party.  His last two birthdays where quite elaborate and a lot of work to put together.  But I love spending time  making  my own decorations and games. It keeps me busy and allows me to have a creative outlet. But this year  I decided to go simple.  No big ta-due and kept it a family celebration. 

I expected to find  a lot of ideas on this theme, but  it was not as popular as I thought it would have been.  This theme was used mostly for first birthdays. Not quite the age group I was going for.

 I loved the red and yellow color scheme and just went off that. 

I printed off coloring pages for the kids to color and hung those up. Made a plain yellow, red, and brown birthday banner. We had a ton of red balloons that we later played a game with a popped them. The one pintrest decor idea that I really liked was the man with the yellow hat, using plates and cups. 

Ethen is such a picky eater. I was not sure what we would have for his birthday dinner.  But he has just started liking pizza recently.  And we all love pizza .  He also wanted cupcakes and ice cream too. I made these awesome monkey cupcakes that were so incredible easy to do.  They look so cute. Chocolate chips and Nilla Wafers. 

I have been looking for an excuse to try my hand at cake pops. They look really good and quite simple to achieve. Or so I thought.  I had everything I needed, except for the stupid sticks. My pops became cake squares instead. The whole process is a little more time consuming than I like. And it really becomes quite messy and frustrating without the use of sticks. My kids loved them despite the novice look. They did taste good, but man it's too much sugar even for me and I have a sweet tooth. 

                                              

                                   

 Here is the whole ensemble.  

 It ended up just being the kids and I. Scott had to work a late shift at the hospital, but we did have a neighbor girl invite herself in to take part in our games, opening presents, and finishing off most of the desserts.

 Ethen picked out his birthday present from Scott and I a few days prior. A Nerf gun with 10 Styrofoam bullets.  Everyday was battle to not give into his fits about having the gun NOW. He promised he would wait.  I got so  tired of trying to explain he couldn't have the gun until his birthday. 

And waiting all day before opening the package from nana and papa was hard too.

Curious George book, pillow and PJ's. 

The pj's are way too cool. He wears them every night.

Some good friends gave Ethen a Geotrax train set that there boys had grown out of. Every time  Ethen goes to their house to play this is what he loves to play with. He loves it. We have been playing with this for hours.

Happy birthday Ethen, your're finally four. Your growing up so fast and keeping me on my toes.

I love you way too much!

valentines day

So here I am again playing catch up. I take a lot of pictures on my ipad, but they never seem to make it to my blog.  I really need to do better about getting  things posted. 

I went to pintrest and found so many fun ideas for valentines day. And like always, there is so much candy to be had. I tried to find some fun ideas that were treats, but yet not just chocolate and candy. But what is valentines day without chocolate? I ended up  putting together little personal M&M bags and a "I have a Crush on you" drink. Scott loves Red velvet cake! I found these limited addition  valentines, Red velvet Oreo cookie. They really were not that great. I think we will stick with the plain or mint. Each of  the girls found a Littlest Petshop toy and a word search book. Since Ethen broke our last one, he got a new fishing game.

 For Christmas, I was given this really cute scrapbook kit. It was a valentines theme and I couldn't wait to use it for the special occasion.  I had fun putting it together with Ethen's help. He picked out the colors of paper and stamped the red hearts.   We made a pretty good team. Our little treat bags turned out pretty good.

Sunbeam

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam!

No more nursery for this handsome devil. He is now in primary with the big kids. He has been very anxious to "get away from the babies" as he puts it.  He is now a Sunbeam! His teacher is Sister Howell and she has her hands fulls with this new class of 5 or 6 very active and not too timid group. 

I hope primary is everything he thinks it to be.  And I pray for all the Primary leaders  in this ward who get to teach, lead, play, and love him.  They'll need it! 

Nice Mator tattoo Ethen!

Snow Day

The kids went back to School on January 5th only to have School Canceled on the 6th, a 2 hour delay on the 7th, and  canceled again on the 8th. And we may even have another cancellation tomorrow.

We were foretasted  for  1-3 inches of snow. We ended up with about 4-5 inches. Because they don't get much snow here, they cancel school over the smallest little flurry. So the kids have had a great time being out in the snow and sledding down our neighbors hill the last few days. Which is just right of the tree in the first picture.  Today the temperatures are frigid. We woke up to -6 degrees. I think our high is only 14 degrees, but yet my kids are still willing to go out and play in it.

I am not a fan of the cold, but I do like the snow. It just looks to pretty to me Seeing everything all blanketed in the  

fluffy white stuff. 

Here's to our new year, a cold blast of air and snow.  Kids out of school enjoying the semi- winter break . . . . still.

Happy New Year

NOEL

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

We had a wonderful Christmas, like always, and the kids enjoyed a two week break off from school.

We were so blessed to receive numerous boxes from family back in Utah filled with presents for our family.  Every year we are spoiled by great grandparents, grandparents, and others. We really miss being able to spend our Christmas with family, but all the awesome surprises they sent let us know they love and miss us just as much.  They were more than generous this year. The kids got far more than they should have. 

 

As every year, we don't dare put out any presents until the kids go to sleep Christmas Eve. Not a single present to be found until they get up in the morning to see if Santa came.  We had so many gifts this year we had to pile them over to one side and under the new piano Santa brought. Yes Santa brought us a new Digital piano! He even brought a huge power wheel truck for Ethen.

Had to get at least one pictures before they started taring into presents. We  video recorded our Christmas so that our families could watch our joyous encounter. Therefore, I didn't take any pictures of them actually opening their gifts and the great things they found. Wish I had taken a few more.  But at least I  snapped a few of them that morning.

Ethen was so excited when he saw this and the girls where just as excited.  Later in the afternoon, Scott took the kids out to test drive the truck. Since we didn't have snow and the temperature was  in the 50's it was a perfect opportunity to play with it. We found that it works better when there is more weight in the car. Which is great news for the girls because now they can ride with him.  whereas  before going out, we were not going to let them ride because  we thought they were too heavy.

 The kids spent the rest of the day playing with their new toys and trying on new clothes. I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing dinner for us. We enjoyed a wonderful early dinner of ham, potatoes, rolls, green bean  casserole, jello salad, spinach dip and veggies. We ate leftovers for a good 2 or 3 days. I was great.
Thank you to all of our wonderful families! You have out done yourselves in making our Christmas a joyous and wonderful day! WE love you!

Santa at the library

A few weeks before Christmas, the library had a family night to celebrate.  The kids and I had a wonderful time.  They read several stories and we sang lots of Christmas songs.  Then we got a visit from Santa and the mouse from "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie".  While most of the families jumped in line to see Santa, we headed over to the craft table to make  some fun things and then had refreshments.  Each child had the chance to sit on Santa's lap and talk with him for a few minutes. Each child was also given a  book and a candy cane. It was a nice evening to spend together. Ethen  really enjoyed seeing Santa and telling him all the things we wanted for Christmas.

 Jingling those  J-I-N-G-L-E Bells

 Santa's Coming to Town

 Who knew old CD's could be so much fun?!

 We love this series of Books. We have almost all of them

Merry Christmas Jocelyn
You're on the nice list

Merry Christmas Elizabeth 

You're on the nice list

Merry Christmas Ethen

You're on the naughty list. 

But we still love you!