Halloween guessing game

What are you going to be on Halloween night,
A witch or a goblin or a ghoul?
What are you going to be, well don't tell me,
Wait 'til Halloween and let me guess.**

My friend and her daughter are playing a halloween guessing game. I thought I would play along.

So guess what I am going dressed as.

It is a woman
she lived in an ancient place
people bowed down before her
She had what is considered one of the great loves of all time
snakes
pyramids

Can you guess?


**Halloween by Janeen Brady, from I Have a Song For You Volume 2: About Seasons and Holidays

update

A quick update. My sister and family were able to go home last week. Their apartment was fine, if not covered in a thin layer of soot and ash and I am sure smelling yucky. But baby did fine but was happy to be home to familiar space.

Trevor was back in barracks by Th. night. He called to let me know that all was fine, but that they were still having to wear the surgical masks still since the air was too yucky to breathe. They could still see the fire and it was blowing up live rounds out in the fields, but they were safe. He called again on Friday and they were able to take off the masks.

He said that if my sister and family are going to my parents for Thanksgiving, then he will come home as he has a 4 day leave. That made me happy as he will be gone for the next 2-3 on mission etc.

Evacuation!!!!!

***
You all know what is going on in S. CA. with the fires. It is awful and scary. How does one prepare for a fire, when it is the wind carrying sparks that is the problem?
We hear these things on the news and pray for the people and are privately thankful that we aren't affected and then get on with our lives. But I can bet that each and every one of us know someone affected by this. I know I do.

My sister, her husband and baby were evacuated yesterday. They think that they might get to go home tomorrow. The neighborhood across the freeway from them is gone. She says that the fire went around them. They took what was necessary and took pictures of the rest for insurance. Scary stuff. And this far away, we watch and pray.

This afternoon Trevor called while I was at school. Camp Pendleton was in the process of being evacuated and they were put on a bus and leaving- He didn't know to where or when he would be able to call again. I went back into my classroom and tried to not let anyone see the tears roll down my cheeks, then I had to compose myself and get back to work. Again, scary stuff, watch and pray.

***I snagged this picture from: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/23/wildfire.ca/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Another Happy Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday. She is the most awsome woman on the planet. My whole life I wanted to grow up to be like her. She knows everything or how to find out if she is not sure of the answer. She has one weakness, though. It is that she has no idea how strong or smart or wonderful she really is. So, Happy Birthday Mom! I love you.


Here she is with my older sister, my dad and I (I am the baby)




Left to right: My niece, Ashley, Her mom, my sister, Dawna, My wonderful parents and my daughter Jessica is on the other couch.
This picture was taken in April at a family party. And isn't my sister, Sharon's house beautiful? Her husband painted the art on the wall!

I am Certified!

I was asked to become CPR certified as well as first aid trained so as to be a first responder to emergencies at school. For some reason or another, I have always put off CPR training- too afraid of failure??? I don't know. But today, I did it. Spent the morning doing this:



So, should you suddenly stop breathing in my prescence- I have a little card that says I know what to do.

But I do have to say this, when it came to the first aid- I could have passed the test without the teaching part. There was nothing that I, as a mom, had not already had to deal with, except electrocution. I have dealt with broken bones, fingers cut off, head trauma, burns needing major care, stitches, passing out, bee stings, anaphalactic reactions, using an epi pen, someone with low blood sugar (well, that one wasn't in capacity of mom, but I was a mom when it happened and the person was able to tell me what they needed). So there you have it.

What have you put off in life that turned out to be no big deal when you finally did it?

Happy Birthday

Today is Jessica's birthday. She is no longer a kid, or even a teen. 20 years old!! When did that happen?
Some things about Jess,

20. She enjoys her sleep
19. She has good taste
18. She know what she wants and won't settle for something less
17. She loves shopping (so not like me at all)
16. She is a natural blonde
15. She was born on her due date
14. She knows how to persevere through the hard things and come out on top
13. She has cooked by herself while camping
12. She has gone camping without any males around and did just fine
11. She can drive a stick shift
10. I love her No Bake cookies
9. She gets Brandi to school every day for me
8. Kids love her
7. She packs for trips like me- too much stuff, but what if you need it and don't have it? Then what?
6. She has an amazing testimony of the gospel and has had since she was tiny
5. She has a great sense of humor- want to laugh, call Jess
4. What a great sense of direction- my navigator on trips. She'll get you where you want to go, you just may not take the route you thought you would
3. Check out her photography. I need a digital picture frame to hang all of her great work
2. Flip Flop queen of the world
1. The best daughter a mom could ever want- how did I get so lucky?

Harvest and Planting

As conference was ending today, I listened to the closing prayer. (I am not sure who gave it) The apostle that was praying spoke of how it is a time of harvest in part of the world and a time of planting in other parts of the world. He then asked for a blessing that we can use harvest and planting for balance in our lives.

I thought about this and wondered how to use it in my personal life. Of course there is the literal meaning- plant a garden and then harvest it to use. Or to take the harvest that others have planted and store them up in my storage. That is easy to do with so many case lot sales going on.

However, I felt that there was a deeper meaning to my life. What if I need to plant more gospel truths and acts? What is lacking in the balance of my spiritual life that I need to find the seeds and plant there? Is there something in the lives of my children that I have forgotten to sow in their young and tender spiritual gardens? Do I pray about that often enough and then take the seeds given me and plant them?

Then to harvesting, what is there that is ready to go from me. Harvesting is not complete only at death. To balance our lives is what he said. Well, if I am going to plant something, wouldn't I have to take something out in order to make room for that which I am going to plant? Harvests are also oftimes abundant. If I have an abundant harvest, shouldn't I share it with others?

But I could also have a harvest of weeds and unwanted plantings. Things that I have allowed to grow and fester unchecked. Things that maybe I didn't plant or plan on planting, but things I allowed to grow once the winds of life blew them in. Shouldn't these be harvested out as well?

And so I begin this harvest season planning not only what I will physically plant in my earthly vegetable and flower gardens next spring, I am pondering what it is that I need to harvest- good and bad- from my spiritual garden, how to either share the good or dispose of the bad, making room for more beautiful spiritual plantings.

And the winner is....

The winner of the Urban Botanic Home collection is Kris of Gardens by the Lake

So Kris, if you will e-mail me with your snail mail address and which three oils you would like in your collection, I will get it sent to you. You can see the different oils at my website. (e-mail, sandra@urbanbotanic.com)

For everyone else, UB corporate has decided to extend the introductory special through the end of October:


The UB Home Collection includes an Oil Warming Plate and three fragrance oils of your choice. That's enough to fragrance your home for over 2000 hours... all for the price of just two large candles elsewhere. You save $10.50 when you purchase the collection.

During the month of October, receive a UB Oil Warming Plate FREE with the purchase of a Signature Fragrance Collection. That's an extra $20 value! Now you can use your Signature Fragrance to not only create one-of-a-kind perfume, lotion, shower gel, and bubble bath, but also fragrance your home to your mood. Today: Apple + Cinnamon, Tomorrow: Brown Sugar + Fig... the possibilities are endless!

Visit my website and click SHOP to order. Your FREE Oil Warming Plate will be added automatically to the shipment of your Signature Fragrance Collection.

Or you can hostess a home workshop and earn your warming plate and oils!
This would make a great gift for the upcoming holidays!

Well, I am off to do the first of my holiday season open house workshops!