Jesse's gifts

We had a sewing marathon this week.  I've been helping a friend recover the cushions on her couch.  I started cutting the fabric and hinted to Jesse that it would really be nice if she would sew with me.  She busted out three covers that night.  She's a much faster and neater seamstress than I am, so it was really good to have her help.  Tonight we had our machine and one on loan.  Jesse asked me if I was going to sew.  When I said that I was planning on it, she said, "Let's do it." I felt a wave of gratitude for her and thought about just how cool she is.

If something is broken like the sewing machine or the TV, or if I can't figure out how to make the computer do what I want it to, I call Jesse.  She just knows what to do, even if she has never done it before.  It usually takes a few minutes of research, or a click here, or a turn of the screw there, and she's got it up and running.  Here she is with the weed whacker purring in her hands:

We each come with gifts, I really believe that.  

Some are more obvious than others.  

Of all the gifts I've mentioned Jesse has, 

the one I appreciate the most is the gift of "let's do it."  

I appreciate her willingness to help, and that when she does, 

what she does, she does well.  

And because she shares that gift with me, it in part becomes mine too- 

I get to enjoy the fruits of it afterall.  And gifts were meant to be shared.

This gift, the gift of "let's do it" is priceless to me, and so is she.

For the beauty

One of my favorite hymns is For the Beauty of the Earth (words and music here).  We sing it a lot in our home and the words bring comfort and happiness to me every time.  Here's how it goes:

1. For the beauty of the earth,
   For the beauty of the skies,
   For the love which from our birth
   Over and around us lies,

2. For the beauty of each hour
   Of the day and of the night,
   Hill and vale, and tree and flow'r,
   Sun and moon, and stars of light,

3. For the joy of human love,
   Brother, sister, parent, child,
   Friends on earth, and friends above,
   For all gentle thoughts and mild,

  Chorus:

   Lord of all, to thee we raise
   This our hymn of grateful praise.

All day yesterday I was thanking God.  I thanked Him that I could spend the day with  my parents.  I thanked Him that I found my way around town without getting lost, and that we made it home safely.  I thanked Him for so many things that I don't remember all of them now.  I came home feeling happy and content. 

I can't ever thank God enough for all that He has given me, or that He continues to do for me.  What I can do is spend my whole life trying- by noticing His gifts to me in the first place, and then by acknowledging them to Him and others.  Life is filled with blessings, and so many of them go unnoticed and "unthanked."  We have only to look around to see them, and a prayer of "Help me to see my blessings," can do wonders.   Siwa has a gratitude journal filled with pages and pages of lists of her blessings.  I see her writing in it at the day's end and I can't help but smile.

Here are some of the words to another favorite, Count Your Blessings (full song here).  We used to sing this with my grandmother.  I can still see her singing the words with closed eyes (that were losing their sight) and joy in her countenance:

When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings; name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings;
See what God hath done.
Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings;
See what God hath done.

I send my deep gratitude to all of you who take the time to read my words.  

Have a grateful, glad and good holiday.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Texture by Siwa

Four green seed pods from an ironwood tree.

The growing tips of orchid roots.

An unusual shell I found under a rock, it was covered in soft bristles.

Lichen and moss on the bark of a tree.

The bark of a papaya tree.

A glossy lilikoi leaf.

The cap of a mushroom growing on a lawn.

A close up shot of a rock rose (Aptenia cordifolia) leaf. You can see all of the tiny cells covering the leaf surface.

The remains of a citrus leaf with only the veins remaining. Mary likes to call these "Fairy Wings".

Giving thanks for Mary

We celebrated Mary's birthday last week.  A few days before, Fancy Nancy took Mary and me out to eat.  We don't eat out much and we go to town even less.  We're country people, so this little outing was a big deal to Mary.  She looked forward to it for days and squealed with delight when she woke up the morning of.  Fancy had called ahead and made reservations in Mary's name and let them know that Mary would be looking the whole restaurant over before she chose where she wanted to sit.  The Spaghetti Factory is one of those places that looks more like a home than a restaurant- with one of a kind chairs and sofas, chandeliers, and floor to ceiling mirrors scattered all around.  Mary chose a little nook with three high back red velvet chairs- very cozy.  The staff came out and sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her ice cream with a candle in it.  Fancy bought her a limeade with a purple straw and a chunk of cotton candy on the tip of it, and she ordered her favorite-macaroni and cheese.  We talked and laughed the whole time, and after lunch we went and stood at the tall windows and watched the boats out in the harbor.  It was a really good day and she felt so special.  It filled me with gratitude for good friends who love my children, and go out of their way to be good to them.  

Thanks so much Fancy!

Later in the week we had our regular celebration, pumpkin pie 

(Mary doesn't like cake?!!!) and ice cream.  We sang Happy Birthday and gave her her gifts.  

 She had asked Siwa to make her a t-shirt with one of her designs on it,

 and she asked Jesse to make her one of her sling bags.  

The girls wrapped her gifts in oversized boxes 

with items that already belonged to her on top of the real gift.  

She wasn't fooled for a minute and dug down to find the real prize.

Here are some of her gifts:

                                           

She loves her mask!

The bag Jesse made for her- she chose her own fabric

The t-shirts Siwa designed

Trying out her new mask and shirt

Happy birthday Baby! We're so grateful you're a part of our family.
Thank you for nine wonderful years.  You make us so happy!

This week's project

This week we made a pinata for our craft/art project.  

We haven't decided if we're going to have a little Thanksgiving party 

with the neighborhood kids or if we're going to take it over to her best friend's house

 (where we will be eating our Thanksgiving feast)

 so she and her bff can take a whack at it on Thanksgiving day.

I just hope our friends don't mind totally being sugared out with pinata candy

 on top of all the pies we already have planned.  

We also made the tissue puffs hanging from the ceiling.

 We made this turkey out of an old piece of poster board rolled and taped in a cone for the body; a rolled up, used up bubble wrap envelope for the neck and head, and a whole bunch of construction paper.  I got stuck on the head part (because I make it up as I go) but luckily Siwa showed up, thought about it for a minute, and knew just what to do.  She covered the neck and head with red tissue paper and made the beak, eyes and the snood (the red dangling things that hang down on either side of the beak- had to look that one up) out of construction paper.  Now we need to fill it, seal it, and go to it.

Why i'm a mormon

I was born and raised a Mormon.  I grew up in a loving and happy family.  My parents taught me to pray and to love God and others.  I grew up reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  I loved how I felt when I read them.  They felt true to me and I believed they were, but as a child I didn't know for certain that these books were the word of God.  When I was twelve my bishop challenged me to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover.  He suggested that I read just two pages a day.  I took that challenge and began to read every day.  Soon after I started, I wasn't content to read just two pages, I read more and more, sometimes for hours.  I felt warm and good when I read, and I wanted that feeling to go on and on. I also felt a greater power come into my life- the power to be more kind, patient and loving.  One day as I was reading, an overwhelming warmth penetrated my heart, and I clearly knew and understood that what I was reading was true and was the word of God. With that knowledge came a confidence that I could live by the teachings in the book. The Book of Mormon comes with a promise- if you will study the book and sincerely ask God if it's true, He will answer you.  I have received my answer.  The Book of Mormon has filled my heart with joy and enlightened my mind.  It is priceless to me. I invite you to read and ask, and to know for yourself.

If you'd like to know more about the Book of Mormon click here (an overview of the Book of Mormon's content and origins at mormon.org).  You can also order a free copy or read the Book of Mormon online.

Perpetual thanksgiving

 Here's one of Siwa's latest.  This is of the sun rising through the ironwoods, as the river flows into the sea.  There is so much going on in this photo.  I feel as if I'm standing where she stood when she took it.  It speaks peace and gratitude to my soul.  I'm grateful Siwa was in the right place at the right time, and that I still get to enjoy her moment, even though I was probably busy making breakfast at the time.

Thanksgiving is coming up and I don't want to wait until the day of, to blog about gratitude.  This is a quote I read recently that describes how I feel:

 “I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual." -  Henry Thoreau

Living every day with gratitude is one of the simple and great ingredients of a happy life.  Happy Friday everyone.  Have a joyful weekend!
                                                                                         

In the backyard by Siwa

Spent some time meeting the latest inhabitants of the backyard:

Looking up through the Amaranth.

A butterfly egg belonging to a Banana skipper (Pelopidas thrax) on a banana leaf. 

A pink-spotted hawkmoth (Agrius cingulata) caterpillar. Also called a sweet potato hornworm because of the "horn" on its back end. These caterpillars eat sweet potato plants and other members of the morning glory family.They get pretty big as caterpillars, growing to about 3 inches.

Honeybee hiding from the rain.

The top of a flowering basil stalk.

A mushroom under our basil plants.

It has been raining so much lately that we have some new "volunteer" ferns popping up.

A passion fruit (passiflora edulis) flower. In Hawaii we call passion fruit, lilikoi. The fruit can be made into jams, lilikoi butter, passion fruit juice, etc.

A lilikoi tendril.

Bone tired

We spent the whole day helping a friend get her house ready to sell-scrubbing, sanding, painting.  I'm tired, bone tired- tired in my body and my brain.  I'm so grateful to be able to come home and shower, and to have a place to lay down.  God is so good to me.  

Here are some other things I'm grateful for:

Life

Time and place to contemplate

The sun shining through the trees

The pouring rain

 and Ironwoods

 Goodnight all!

Contrasts

 
Here's a quote I read recently that I like:

“There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire,

 which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, 

and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.” ― Washington Irving

I've been thinking about contrasts a lot lately.  When negative circumstances arise, 

the darkness makes us appreciate the light and the color in our lives.  

We also look inside for that "spark" and we rise up and become more than we were, 

we become the gems we really are.  

 Siwa upped the contrast on some of her photos, and the color "beams and blazes."

I thought these pictures were really good when she first took them, 

but I couldn't see all the potential in them until she increased the contrast.  

Now the light beams and the color blazes- 

it really does pop.

Birthday banner

Once a week, we try to do some type of craft for school.  The little girls and I went to gather some leaves for a fall garland and somehow it turned into Mary's new birthday banner.  The leaves come from the Seagrape tree, and are ideal for this little project because they are waxy and thick, broad and flat- perfect for etching and stenciling; and they don't crumble even when they dry out.  When they do turn brown they look like little pumpkins.  I drew the letters onto the leaves with a plain pencil, and in a few minutes the letters turned white. 

These leaves are just one of Nature's many art kits.

Seagrape leaf

Mary broke a leaf.

Laying out the leaves

Stringing them together

 She loves it, especially this one.