Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Pity Parties are held on a daily basis in my home, we invite no one and only those who live in this home can celebrate our pitiful lives in the right style. It's been a long year and we are still not out of the woods yet. Going back to school after a job loss was our only option unless we decided to move. Mr. Jewels has gone to school before, but going to school when one is newly married living in a basement apartment with only one small child and working part-time with their whole lives ahead of them is easy compared to 3 children, a house payment, serving in the Bishopric and life passing them by.
BUT, we have wonderful friends and family who give us wonderful words of encourage and small secret acts of kindness, letting us know that we can carry on. My favorites: There's always a rainbow after the rain, this too shall pass, keep calm and carry on, life is full of sheep so just knit with it. I am in love with all kinds of words of encouragement. Life isn't easy for any one all of the time and every one faces different and difficult challenges. I do know Heavenly Father loves me and knows that this is hard for me to bear. I have learned many things this past year but one lesson I will never forget is that I will never ignore the promptings to do something, for example, I had the desire to get a food storage going and to pay off car loans and save for a really rainy day, and as a family we did those things and I am so grateful we did. I know we would be in a terrible position financially now if I had not listened to the promptings. So if I can remind myself to listen and obey I know my family will be okay, I will be a good and supportive wife and good and patient mother. Just listen to the promptings. And when these dog days are over I am stocking up on some really really really good toilet paper!

Help in the Kitchen

It's been quite some time since making bread that I forgot about the type of help I receive in the kitchen when I do so.

A little break time snack. Note to self: it doesn't taste good when covered in flour.

...and the cleanup. Thanks Sam! The trail of flour that went from the kitchen to the bathroom to the front room was not pictured.

The Clean Up

When I was little my room must have been very messy, I don't remember it being messy, but my mother sure does. She sent me to live to downstairs in the basement because of it. She must have been really tired of seeing the mess everyday as she passed it to get to her room. I do remember my father helping me clean my room one time by putting everything that was on the floor into a big garbage sack and throwing it all away. That taught me something...I didn't keep a messy room after that. Now that I have my own daughter I see what sorts of messiness she can create. I walk past her room several times a day and in so doing have seen it progress from bad to worse, I should say regress. Yesterday, I was done looking at it, it was time to clean up and clean out. We went through every bag, backpack, purse, every drawer, every box and were able to fill two trash bags and two give away bags. We rearranged the room to give it a new look. She did most of the work herself and she did so without complaint. These are the before and after pictures of a job well done.

To Mother

To my mom, who was always yelling at us to either stay in or stay out!

Infallible Logic
A little boy, caught in mischief, was asked by his mother: "How do you expect to get to Heaven?" He thought a minute, and then said: "Well, I'll just run in and out and in and out and keep slamming the door till they say: 'For heaven's sake come in or stay out.' Then I'll go in."