Everlasting Light

Our visit to Temple Square was beautiful. During the Christmas season, we light our homes and businesses and trees and yards with lights as a way to be festive. But ultimately those lights are a symbolic reminder of the true Light who brings hope, peace, love, healing, relief.

"The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." Isaiah 60:19-20

The sun has power to warm and give light. But at the end of the day, darkness settles in. What if we allowed the SON to light our lives. In the darkest of nights, remember that the SON always comes up. He is on duty all night. He is our everlasting light that never fades.

These are the days of . . . 
*Pure laziness. These two weeks come close to my most favorite time of the year. Time slows. I don't have yard work calling. It really is a time to catch up on reading and projects before the new year comes bustling in.

Blizzards and stud finders

This Christmas will go down in the books as one of the most memorable. With our lives kind of stalemated for the time being, we decided to take Christmas on the road. There was one other Christmas where Santa showed up somewhere other than home and that was a bit tricky. Kids were younger and still believed which necessitated hiding presents. Hiding much bigger presents . . . in the same vehicle we traveled in.

This year . . .

was much easier. Smaller gifts. Less gifts. No need to hide. We traveled with presents wrapped in plain sight.

And Alex still didn't have a clue. At Grandma's he routinely inspected the presents under the tree to see if any were for him and was a little concerned to see one from Santa to Kurtis and it was still Christmas Eve.

The snow settled over our world in large snowflakes all day Christmas Eve. With no place to go, I savored the day clad in warm socks and pjs. I'll just be in charge of pictures.

For Christmas Eve I shared a favorite song "Do You Have Room for the Savior?" found here. And Grandma shared her favorite slippers with grandkids.

Christmas morning was little more fast-paced than I would have preferred, but with Grandpa manning the presents, it was bound to be that way.

I love when Christmas falls on the Sabbath. An hour of worshiping whose birth we celebrate was the perfect culmination to a morning of gift opening.


The ultimate gift had Kiersten's name on it. A stud finder. Those college boys won't know what hit them next year. That grandpa is king of fun.


And even George found a banana with his name on it.



Ash was given a freebie -- sleepover with friends. She has asked nonstop for months. A free gift is kind of hard to ignore.

There were movies and reading and sleepovers and eating and dance offs and game playing. Did I mention eating? I know I gained at least 10 pounds as we ate Thanksgiving-type meals for three days. I may have to implement a fast day this week.


Over the pond and through the woods to the great and spacious . . . tree house where nightly sleepovers were held.


With carpet and surround sound and a tv, that little spot became a favorite haven for a few little people.


Christmas was truly a delight this year. 

These are the days of . . . 
*It only took three different drivers at least 15 tries to get our van up a very snow-packed driveway after church on Christmas Day! Kiersten was the successful summiteer.

*Two lost teeth on the same trip. Alex finally lost his other bottom tooth, and I mean lost. He dropped this one in the snow during a trip down from the tree house. That tooth fairy is gonna think we're pulling his leg. Nothing but excuse letters in place of the actual tooth. And Ash lost one in the van coming home. Shouldn't she be about done with this Tooth Fairy business?

Christmas Love

I don't really know where to start.

Our family has been shown such incredible love over the past eight weeks.

I'm asked every week at church how the job hunt is coming.

I've had several people tell me they are fasting and praying for my family.

We've had anonymous gifts left on our doorstep and not-so-anonymous gifts handed to us.

I can hardly begin to process these humbling events.

Thursday evening, December 1, me and Ash and Alex were reading "The Grinch" while the rest of the family was in California, Nevada, or working. We had just arrived at the part where Mr. Grinch is hauling off with everyone's Christmas, when a knock sounded loudly at our front door.

Of course there was a mad dash to answer it, and all Ash could say was "Mom! You've gotta come here."

Christmas had arrived on our doorstep.

We hauled it in and stared in speechless, teary awe. There was a turkey and potatoes. There were presents that needed opening right then that included Cuties and ice cream and frozen corn. 


The rest of the box was a "12 Days of Christmas" with gifts to be opened every day.

Just as we figured out what to do with it all, another loud knock came. Round two.

The floodgate of tears really unleashed then. I have no words to describe the goodness of people. Yes, we will be unemployed at the end of the year. Are we starving . . . no. We feel so undeserving when there are many other families in far more destitute circumstances. But just the thought that others in my neighborhood and ward and community are thinking of us and love us has buoyed my spirits. I have always been on the other end of such gracious giving and am not used to all the love and charity that has been shown us in the past 8 weeks from multiple people. The Light of Christ has undoubtedly been shared with our family. These small acts of kindness will never be forgotten, EVER.

At first it seemed that the two deliveries were one and the same. It was just too coincidental that they happened on the same night at roughly the same time. But as we've thought about it, our conclusion is that it is two different benefactors who were separately giving of themselves.

There have been a million guesses as to who they could be, and it will be something that we most likely will go to our graves never knowing.

This Christmas has been more magical than most. Our circumstances have not forced us to be less charitable; in fact, it has had the opposite effect. We, as a family, decided to still carry on our traditions of giving. Our Christmas tree may be a little more bare, but our hearts are full of love, great love, for others.

As a child we were the recipients of such acts. One Christmas I remember a small Christmas tree with money attached to it left on our doorstep. Another such moment came shortly after my dad's mechanic shop blew up.

I was about 7 or 8 and remember the anonymous money that was donated to help get him back on his feet. I also remember the flowers that were sent from people in our community to my Grandpa Seamons's funeral in Logan, 4 hours from our small town. As a young child, these incidents had a great impact on me at the time.

Isn't that what Jesus Christ would want? A little less self; a little more others.

"Maybe Christmas," the Grinch thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!"

These are the days of . . .
*reading and studying for my Praxis exam

*"God showed me that I have a tendency to give out of my abundance and then to expect to be blessed. I was reminded that he did not call believers to give so we could feel good about ourselves.  He called us to give because we are his children and that’s what his children do.

When I give to get something in return, whether monetary or emotional, I am stealing the glory from God and missing the point of the call. I do not want my actions to steal God’s glory." --Kim Harms, 500dresses.org