YOKED TOGETHER WITH A GENTLEMAN

My husband Mike Anderson is a gentleman and last night talking with some of the ladies after my book club I figured out he may be rare. I have always known he was good but perhaps I am taking him for granted without enough appreciation. So I am shouting it on the rooftops: "Thank you Mike for growing up and being considerate."
One of my boys visited this last week. I always forget they are still children at least at my house. When they come they get out boxes of cereal and have breakfast and then walk off and leave it all sitting there for me to put back. Hello, can we be adults here. I wouldn’t do that at your house.
So, I am telling this to the girls in the car coming home from Salt Lake last night and some of them said, "Well, you are lucky if your husband doesn’t do it too." Then they went on to tell about closets that are strewn with clothes, bedside tables with books flowing onto the floor, dishes put in the sink at the best but most likely left on the table with cereal boxes. Yikes, Mike never does those things. Here are some things I love about Mike:
1. He washes the dishes every night including cleaning the kitchen. If we have guests I get to sit and talk after dinner while he cleans up
2. He takes care of all the finances. I hate to think about what a mess I would make of things and maybe I could learn but am grateful I don’t have to.
3. He supports my whims. I want to paint—sure take lessons and I will build you some frames. Mostly he tries to accommodate my ideas--recently a flagstone patio in our backyard woods. There isn’t much he says no to.
4. He is a man who talks and is interested in women things. Hey, he even watches Masterpiece Theater with me.
5. If I want to go off with my girlfriends to Education Week, a road trip, 10 days in Monterey, New York with a friend, painting in Colorado, whatever, he always says yes and I mean always.
6. He never says a word about the money I spend and he could and he is generous with all the people in his life.
7. He is a patient teacher. He has taught many people to ski. He is our Spanish tutor right now and none of us work very hard but he still plugs along trying to inspire us with creative ideas.
8. He has perseverance in all his life endeavors. He can teach himself how to do anything; rock walls, tile, refinish furniture, stain glass, do woodwork, speak Spanish, play golf ( his biggest challenge) whatever.
9. He picks up after himself--always has and he maintains the cars (I used to tell him that's why I married him).
Thank you Mike for being a gentleman. I am a lucky woman to be yoked with you because you pull more than your load.

"THE KINGDOM OF THE DEVIL MUST SHAKE"

I am fascinated by a quote from Neil A Maxwell from a BYU Devotional in 1999. I think about it often. On occasion I actually pray for it in my supplications to the Lord-- that the kingdom of the devil will shake. This is what Elder Maxwell said:


"There is imbedded in the Book of Mormon a verse I wish I understood...but which I draw to your attention in 2 Nephi 28:19. It says "the kingdom of the devil must shake"...a very intriguing verse. I do not presume to know what this redemptive turbulence will be like...but it will be a redemptive turbulence so that a few people now caught up in the generic kingdom of the devil will find their way out and into the kingdom of God. I don't know how this will happen...but it will happen. I rather imagine, and this is pure speculation that there will in this redemptive turbulence be some jarring inconsistencies brought to the fore, jarring enough that it will cause some people who are caught up in the subsets to leave and find the truth...but it's going to be real turbulence. This is the sort of thing that will take some real jarring and there sits that prophecy imbedded in the Book of Mormon that is full of portent for Latter Day Saints."

THE BEST SUGAR COOKIES

If you like a thick soft sugar cookie these are for you. This makes a big batch and they reroll very nicely. Don't overbake to keep them soft. The orange peel in the dough is wonderful. Add a little zest to the icing to make them even better.


2 eggs
1 C. butter
2 C. Sugar
¾ tsp. Salt
1 C. sour cream
2 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 T. orange zest
6 C. flour
Cream the eggs, butter, sugar & salt. Add remaining ingredients. Roll thick. Bake 375 for 6-8 minutes. Don’t overbake.

SOUL HUNGER - WOMEN NEED WOMEN

COMBATING SOUL HUNGER by Dr. James Dobson
Focus on the Family

Women who feel isolated and lonely often look to their husbands to satisfy what has been called their "soul hunger." It is a role men have never handled very well. I doubt if farmers came in from the fields 100 years ago to have heart-to-heart talks with their wives.


What has changed in that time is the relationship between women. A century ago, great support and camaraderie existed between wives and mothers. They cooked together, went to church together and grew old together. And when a baby was born, aunts, grandmothers and neighbors were there to show the new mother how to diaper, feed and discipline.


Today, however, the extended family has all but disappeared, depriving women of that traditional source of support. Furthermore, the average American family moves every three or four years, preventing long-term friendships from developing.


It’s also important for women to understand that some of their needs simply can’t be met by men.


In the classic book Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy M. Montgomery, there’s a wonderful moment when the teenage Anne says, "A bosom friend – an intimate friend, you know – a really kindred spirit to whom I can confide my inmost soul. I’ve dreamed of meeting her all my life." She expresses a longing that is common to women, but not so typical in men. It’s the need for intimate friendship. I think this is a key to understanding the incidence of depression common among many women today.


To combat this sense of isolation, it is extremely important for women to maintain a network of friends through exercise classes, group hobbies, church activities, Bible studies or bicycle clubs. The interchange between them may sound like casual talk, but the bonding that occurs there makes life a lot more satisfying.

My thoughts: I think we all know this intellectually but if we don't have women in our life we try to get men to play the roll and get frustrated when they are not good at it. The church is such a wonderful facilitator of female friendships. We have been in our new home for 9 months and I have a visiting teacher who is interesting and interested. I love talking to her. I have two ladies I visit. One of them has become my good friend and writing buddy even though she is young enough to be my daughter. We both feel like God put us together. I didn't get to have a sister but consider my sister-in-laws special sisters in my life. Alicia lives close to me and I know that there is nothing she wouldn't do for me. We can comiserate for hours. And I have a daughter that I feel close to. I understand her soul. I hope she does mine. I plan to be there for her whenever she needs me. My soul hunger is filled even by my husband because I am one of the lucky ones who has a man who likes to talk. But, I still need women.

Book Review - Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

This is a wonderful story about faith and miracles. The story takes place in 1963. The father, Jeremiah Land, we will discover as the story moves along, is a deeply spiritual man who spends a great deal of time in prayer and the scriptures. The story begins with Reuben's birth and he is not breathing. Jeremiah eventually takes his son and "said in a normal voice, 'Reuben Land, in the name of the Living God I am telling you to breathe.' " Reuban narrates the story from an adult perspective. He says in the beginning:

"Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature, It's true: They rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in. Lazarus obeying orders and climbing up out of the grave--now there's a miracle. and you can bet it upset a lot of folks who were standing around at the time. When a person dies, the earth is generally unwilling to cough him back up. A miracle contradicts the will of the earth.

"My sister, Swede, who often sees to the nub, offered this: People fear miracles because they fear being changed--though ignoring them will change you also. Swede said another thing, too, and it rang in me like a bell: No miracle happens without a witness. Someone to declare, Here's what I saw. Here's how it went. Make of it what you will.

"The fact is, the miracles that sometimes flowed from my father's fingertips had few witnesses but me. Yes, enough people saw enough strange things that Dad became the subject of a kind of misspoken folklore in our town, but most ignored the miracles as they ignored Dad himself. " (p.3-4)

This is the story of a single father raising his three children Swede 9, Reuben 11 and Davy (I think 17) in rural North Dakota. A tragedy happens to this family as the story begins to enfold that changes the direction of their life and affects them all but the love they have for one another carries them through and helps them deal with each event bringing them together even closer.

I loved the characters and family dynamics. The nine year old girl Swede was especially charming but I thought she was a little too precocious and was writing poetry I wouldn't think a girl that age could write. The narration by Reuben was beautiful and his struggles with asthma after seeing how he came into the world added an interesting dilemma to his character.

The ending was beautiful, sad, uplifting and surprising right up to the end. It had a family sweetness and a spiritual vein you don't often see in contemporary novels. This is great storytelling.

THE FOOT PATH TO PEACE by Henry Van Dyke

To be glad of life because it gives you

a chance to love and to work and to play

and to look up at the stars,

To be satisified with your possessions

but not contented with yourself until

you have made the best of them.

To despise nothing in the world

except falsehood

and meaness and to fear nothing

except cowardice,

To be governed by your admirations

rather than by your disgusts.

To covet nothing that is your neighbor's

except his kindness of heart and

gentleness of manners,

To think seldom of your enemies,

often of your friends,

and every day of Christ,

And to spend as much time as you can

with body and with spirit

in God's out of doors--

These are the little guide-posts

on the footpath to peace.

PLANTING TULIPS AND FAITH

I was listening to the Garden Show on the radio in the car one Saturday morning this spring when someone called to inquire about planting the tulip bulbs they just bought. The garden expert tried to be nice. She said, "I can’t imagine where you found those bulbs this time of year because tulips must be bought and planted in the fall. Sorry, it is too late to enjoy the flowers this year. Tulips need to go through the cold winter months before they will bloom."

I know this all too well. Many a fall I have procrastinated tulip planting only to have the bulbs rot in the garage. Once I dug up some tulips after they bloomed planning to replant them in a new spot in the fall but it never happened. When I procrastinate and spring comes I am sorry and sad but there is nothing I can do then.

That is why last October when Mike and my boys were carrying boxes into the new house I was planting tulips in a little garden space in the front yard. I bought 70 or so bulbs at Costco and I knew when spring arrived I would be longing for those blooms.

I worried about the bad soil I was planting them in and the northern exposure with its lack of sun. But I went forward in faith. A large iceberg formed in that planting area staying all winter and part of the spring. When it finally melted there was not even a tiny sign of growth. I felt discouraged—those little shoots usually start up before it gets warm. Finally, well into April there were a few little sharp points poking through the soil. I saw full-grown tulips bursting in color everywhere else. My hope that they would ever bloom was faint. Weeks went by and they struggled along. The landscapers came to install the sprinkling system and tromped on some of the struggling growth.

Alas, by the middle of May my tulips started to bloom. Some of the blooms were small and I figured it was lack of sun. But then the yellow and red blooms got taller and bigger and reached forward for the sun. Some of the blooms were huge. Even the bruised plants had flowers. My neighbors have voiced awestruck enthusiasm for my tulips. Oh, ye of little faith. Doubt not fear not. Plant and God will take care of the rest but plant before the snow flies.

I can't just get up any day and expect faith to be there blooming. So, tulips are a metaphor for faith—believe, go to work early and then wait patiently. Endure the cold winters of adversity to get strength. "You have no witness until after the trial of your faith." Then show gratitude for the sweet blooms that reach for the "Son". The blooms [fruit] of the spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. (Galations 5:22)

Next year it won’t be so hard to believe the tulips will grow. That is how faith is. Once you have experienced the fruit it is easier to be patient the next time you need to exercise it. And I won’t need to replant the tulip bulbs for a few years. They are in the ground rooted as I hope my faith is rooted in my soul ready for when I need it.