My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

This is my favorite song:



Here are the words:

My Shepherd will supply my need:
Jehovah is His Name;
In pastures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake His ways,
And leads me, for His mercy's sake,
In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death,
Thy presence is my stay;
A word of Thy supporting breath
Drives all my fear away.
Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,
Doth still my table spread;
My cup with blessings overflows,
Thine oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be my abode,
And all my work be praise!
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.

Snowy Saturday Morning

Saturday mornings are always great.  Snowy morning are always great.  But a Saturday morning that's also snowy?  Well, that's something different, isn't?  That's something extra special.

Moments

Here are some random moments from the last little while:

 I woke up one morning to find Libby had gotten breakfast ready for each of us.  Carrots and mozzarella cheese.

 I came down just in time to see her trying to cut the end off the carrots with this huge, totally dull knife.

 Libby fell asleep in a laundry basket on a chair.

Every now and then we get snow.  It doesn't stick around for long, but that's okay, because my kids are the kind of kids not to waste a moment.  They are always out playing in it as soon as possible.

Working Hard

Ethan's been gone a lot, looking for work.  Here's Hudson pretending to be like daddy:

Ethan's been interviewing with a company.  I'll post more about that later, when things become official. Right now, I am working on packing up the house - a truly annoying job.  It seems to me that people tend to fall into one of two categories: those who like packing and hate unpacking, or those who hate packing but like unpacking.  I'm an unpacker.  I love that and look forward to being able to do that some day.

We're not 100 percent sure how things will turn out, but for now, we are preparing for a move, and hoping Ethan can come home soon.  We all miss him like crazy.

The Pledge of Allegiance

We say the Pledge of Allegiance most mornings for school.  Here's Libby reciting it.



It can be hard to say all those big words, can't it?

The Christmas Song

This is Libby's favorite song.

The Lilies of the Field

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore, take not thought saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all the things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow.

Mathew 6: 28-34

This scripture has been in my mind a lot the last couple of months.

Random Moments

Here are a few of our random, fun moments:

On this day, I'd given Libby some chocolate chips:

Can you see what she'd done with them?

The boys sleeping together.  How precious:

Apparently, on this day, the "grape fairy" came to visit each napping child.
Linclon:

 Libby:

Having a home full of small children can certainly be fun . . . and sometimes strange.

Broken

I can't tell you how many things I've broken in our sink.  It's cast iron.  It's tough.  If I drop something in there, the sink wins, without contest, every time.

Today someone accidentally bumped my glass blender jar into the sink.  It didn't stand a chance.

Have you ever noticed how everything breaks at the same time?  And when you're at your poorest?

Here's a list of things that have broken since Ethan started working part-time so he could apply for jobs full-time:

• The 6 CD changer in our Suburban (Don't really know what happened here.  It just all of a sudden stopped playing CDs.  And all the CDs are still stuck inside)
• The O2 sensor in our Suburban
• The plumbing in our basement for the washing machine (It's kind of a long story so I won't explain the problem but we've been doing laundry at the laundromat for the last five months)
• The computer printer
• The blender
• A shelf from my refrigerator (I totally shattered it)

Hmmm, that might be it.  That's not too bad.

Actually, I'm not complaining.  This post is all in good fun (I'm sure it will all be funny someday).  As mentioned in a previous post, I see so many of my friends or family members struggling with serious problems, I'm glad to have these be some of the biggest problems we have right now.

In other news,

Libby brought a bag of chocolate chips to me this morning, asking if she could have some.  I told her no (to which she replied she didn't like me and she stomped her way upstairs) but I wondered how she got the bag down.  I purposefully put the chocolate chips very high up on the shelf so she, specifically, can't get to them because she has a habit of sneaking down in the early morning hours before I'm awake to eat whatever she can get a hold of.

Here's what I found in the kitchen:

I'm actually impressed she got the bucket of oats on the stool.  It's pretty heavy.  I'm also grateful she didn't topple over.

The Latest Mishap

Blueberry syrup.  On the couch.  An entire bottle.  Broken.

My pantry is a big, open shelf.  The kids loves to play with the items.  I let them because they are usually pretty good about cleaning up after themselves.  This particular time, they were tossing all the items onto the couch.  The blueberry syrup bottle landed on top of the glass jar of couscous.

That was a fun one to clean up.

The pillow was a goner.  The couch came out okay . . . mostly.

On to November

And just like that, October is over.  I can't believe I didn't get one post in the whole month.

We enjoyed our annual trip to Porcupine Damn to see the salmon run.

We had loads of fun for the one day we had snow:

My kids were hilarious.  They knew snow was in the forecast and prayed that it would snow a lot.  When Hudson woke up the next morning he was like any other kid on Christmas morning.  That kid LOVES snow.  I've been hoping we could end up getting a job somewhere that has lots of snow but it may not work out that way for us.

We went to the annual Pumpkin Walk.

We've raked up and played in the fall leaves.  That was hours of excitement for sure.

Except for that one cold snap that brought the snow, we've been enjoying a very lovely fall.  It's been gorgeous outside.  How I love that sunshine.  And the leaves!  So vibrant this year.

Ethan's still been looking for work.  No luck yet.

And now we are on to November, and enjoying the rest of the loveliness that autumn has to give us.

Mountains to Climb

I was sitting in church today thinking about the many people I know that are experiencing major trials right now.  It's not just a few.  There's job loss, premature babies, cancer, divorce, strokes, death and more just in my little world of friends and family.  It seems times are tough for just about everyone right now.  Here in our own little Nuttall home, that is no exception.  It's been over six months since Ethan graduated with his MBA and we are still looking for work.  Now, I know that is small fries compared to all the things other people are going through, and that humbles me.

As I was pondering trials today, my thoughts turned to how I seem to have this innate desire for everything to be easy.  True, that may be a common trait amongst all of us humans, but I think I have an extra dose of it.

All my life, it seems, I've been doing what I can to make things easy.  During my schooling years, I only did the easy assignments or took the easy classes.  Wouldn't want to challenge myself and make things too difficult!  I rarely add extra things to my schedule, keeping to the most essential tasks.  I keep my hobbies simple and few.  I'm constantly evaluating the things in our home - do we have too much?  What could I get rid of to make things easier?

I stress easily.  I get overwhelmed easily.  So I try to avoid situations where those feelings might occur.

Wanting things to be simple and easy is such a part of me that I began to wonder if I was this way before I came to earth.  Surely life wasn't easy in our premortal existence - there was a war in heaven after all.  I imagined how I must have run to our Heavenly Father for comfort many times.  "Why does it have to bee so hard?" I'd ask.  "Why must there be so much suffering?"

What would Father's response have been to such questions?

Painting by David Bowman

I don't know if this is right, or true, but this is what came to me today as I was thinking about it: he would have said,  "If life was easy it wouldn't be worth living."

Really?  Because I can imagine a wonderful life full of peace and no problems.  Of course I'm kidding . . . mostly, because I know we need trials in our lives.  Trials help us develop, mature, they help us grow  closer to our Savior, they help us to appreciate the good times, they keep us humble, they teach us to empathize, trials test our faith.  Apparently trials are awesome!  I guess I forgot that.

What if, instead of being frustrated and stressed when trials come upon us, we welcome the challenge, knowing what opportunities trials bring?  Could we welcome the hard times knowing that our Heavenly Father uses those times to shape us, to refine us, like in the refiner's fire?

In a conference talk, President Spencer W. Kimball retold a story of Caleb from the Old Testament in which Caleb, confronted with a problem, said to the Lord, "Give me this mountain."

President Kimball said:

There are great challenges ahead of us, giant opportunities to be met. I welcome that exciting prospect and feel to say to the Lord, humbly, “Give me this mountain,” give me these challenges.

Grand Teton Mountains

How many of us have asked for a trial?  President Eyring has.  He read President Kimball's talk and decided to pray to receive a trial.

He recounted:

Within a day or two my prayer was answered. The hardest trial of my life surprised and humbled me. It provided me a twofold lesson. First, I had clear proof that God heard and answered my prayer of faith. But second, I began a tutorial that still goes on to learn about why I felt with such confidence that night that a great blessing could come from adversity to more than compensate for any cost.

Adversity brings blessings.  Great blessings.

President James E. Faust said:

Here, then, is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.

Out of the refiner’s fire can come a glorious deliverance. It can be a noble and lasting rebirth. The price to become acquainted with God will have been paid. There can come a sacred peace. There will be a reawakening of dormant, inner resources. A comfortable cloak of righteousness will be drawn around us to protect us and to keep us warm spiritually. Self-pity will vanish as our blessings are counted.

I'm learning I need to be grateful for these hard times.  We all do.  It's good for us, it really is.

To all of us out there suffering right now, let's be happy.  Let's be grateful.  Let's feel blessed.  And let's say, "Lord, give me this mountain."  Because, I know, that with the Lord's help, we can conquer these mountains.

And we'll come out better, happier people on the other side.

It Makes Me Smile

"Mom!  I squibble my nibbles!"

Not Quite What I'd Asked For

I folded Libby's laundry and placed it in a basket.  I handed her the basket and asked, "would you please put your laundry away?"  I came back ten minutes later to see if she'd finished . . .

Not only did she NOT put her laundry away, piling it on the floor instead, but, as a bonus, she took all the clothes out of her drawers and put them in the pile, too.

What Would You Like?

My grandma and grandpa have given us the Taste of Home magazine for Christmas the last few years.  We really enjoy looking through it and picking out things to make.  I got a new issue last week and thought it would be fun to give the kids little sticky flags and tell them to put a flag on any recipe they would like me to make.  Maria had orange flags, Hudson had blue and Libby had yellow flags.

 They picked out more than I expected:

Of course, some of them got a little carried away:

Libby picked this.  "Libby," I said, "you're suppose to pick things you want me to make.  That's a bed."  "But I want that bed for you," she said.

They did make some nice selections, though.  They all picked this:

Hmmmm.  Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie.  I think I'll have to make that.

When You Go to the River

Sometimes when you go to the river you get to hope across streams.

Sometimes when you go to the river you find great rocks to throw into the river.

Sometimes when you go to the river you have to take off your shoes and socks, roll up your pants, and slosh through the cold, cold water.

 Sometimes when you go to the river your dad will help you walk to the middle of the river and you can feel the river pushing you.

Sometimes when you go to the river your pants get a little too wet.

Sometimes when you go to the river and your pants get a little too wet you have to wear your jacket like a skirt . . .

Or a dress.

Always when you go to the river you smile and smile and smile . . .

Because going to the river is great fun.

Balance

Ethan and I have had to think about balance lately.  Life is pretty stressful right now.  Ethan's been looking for work since April when he graduated.  As any of you who have had to look for work know, it takes a lot of time to apply for jobs.  A lot.  Ethan spends hours every day looking for and applying for jobs.  It's pretty much a full-time job.  We haven't done as much as we would like in the way of fun this summer mostly because of this.  Ethan feels a lot of pressure as the sole provider and I think he let's that keep him from having fun - why have fun when finding a job is so critical?

But that's where balance comes in.  He's been working so hard and not off-setting it with enjoyment.  That only creates stress.  Stress makes life miserable.  Life is to be enjoyed.  Sometimes that's harder to do than other times.  But that doesn't make it any less important.  We realized we need to have more fun.

And so we went into to mountains.

I love how excited my kids get when we tell them we're going to the mountains.  I love how it only takes us about 10 minutes of driving across town before we get into the mountains.  I love how, as we were walking through the mountains, Ethan sighed and said, "I feel more like me now."

As a family, we're getting better at hiking.  We hiked the Jardine Juniper Trail and made it farther than we ever have before - and that's with all the kids walking the whole time!  That's a major accomplishment for us.

That hike was good for all of us.  I love what being in the mountains does for our souls.  

I don't know what our future holds.  I don't know when relief will come.  I do know that where ever we go the Lord will take care of us.

And I hope that, where ever that place is, there will be mountains.

Autumn's Approaching

Can you see the hints of it?

Brigham City Temple

I'm behind.  I've had so many blog posts running around in my head not getting out for you to see.  I actually enjoy blogging - it's fun to look back and see all the great times with my little family - so I'm going to try to do better this next week.

It's been a couple weeks now since we've been to the Brigham City Temple Open House.  It was a great experience and the whole family enjoyed it.

Here are a few photos from the outside:

This window is a peach blossom.  As many of you know, Brigham City is famous for peaches and the peach blossom is present throughout the temple.  There are many beautiful landscape paintings and murals in the temple as well.  It was absolutely beautiful.  

Here is a photo gallery of the inside of the temple.  Take a look, the pictures are amazing.  What a wonderful temple!  I love it!  

I actually grew up in Brigham City and my parents still live there.  They were lucky enough to be called as temple workers in this temple.  What a great experience that will be!  

Here's a funny fact for anyone who doesn't know this:  Ethan's dad grew up in Brigham City, too.  Although our families never met, the Nuttalls actually lived in the same ward I grew up in.  Ethan's dad and I went to the same schools.  Isn't it a small world?