Loving Fall and Trusting in the Lord

Life has been really wonderful lately. It's funny that I'm saying that but it's true. Financially it's been the hardest time we've ever been through, but the incredible experiences we've had by learning to daily trust in the Lord have actually made life peaceful and hopeful in the journey.

We've been making every effort to get out of debt. I cut up my credit card and hid my husbands and it's been almost four months now without charging a thing. Even though there's times where we wonder how we're going to make it - we do. Instead of panicking and beleiving we have to use credit, I say a prayer and wait. We've had so many experiences where we see the Lord come through for us. It makes life very exciting to know that He really is there and is taking care of us. Some day I'll go into more detail, but for example today we're out of milk, which is always the point where we almost panic. But, two nights ago a friend asked if I could babysit this morning. I realized it was just in time where we would need some more food.

It may sound scary, but I've found it to be an exciting adventure - waiting to see what comes next. Part of this test is because we decided to faithfully pay tithing even though we didn't know how we would make it. It seemed impossible. But taking that step of faith in the dark is leading to many blessings. Bob, got a second job at Costco. They had told him if he didn't hear back in a couple weeks he didn't get it. We paid our tithing and a month later he was called back for a second interview. Then a third and now he's going to be starting in a week or so.

One of my dreams is to find an original painting at a steal and sell it for more. Last week that dream came true. I was given money for my birthday and within an hour I had a gorgeous painting in my hands for the same amount. I'm hoping to sell it for much more. Heavenly Father is so good. He's waiting to bless us. We were told to expect miracles when we faithfully pay tithing.

In Malachi 3:10 after saying that we are robbing God when we don't pay our tithing (which means 10% of our income) it states, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it".

I know this is true. I've had a testimony of tithing my whole life. I'm so thankful to see the rest of my family gain trust in the Lord and His promises. He has so many blessings he wants to give us. I know that someday when we look back on this time in our life it will be a holy time - we will see even more clearly the hand of the Lord and how life will become better than ever by trusting in Him.

We need to focus - not fear

The other day I was feeling overwhelmed as usual. So many things I wish I was doing and so little time to get it done. I realize this feeling of divine discontent, wishing everything was perfect, is a feeling which pushes us onward and upward. But I realize I need to focus, not fear.

I also realized the things that improve our lives and move us forward are the little things done repeatedly not big moments of glory. For instance, chosing a healthy snack, flossing your teeth, making a call or sending a letter, sharing something yummy with a friend, taking a walk, saying I love you, giving a hug, painting for 15 minutes, reading scriptures for a few minutes before bed. All these things don't take a lot of effort or time but done repeatedly make a big difference.

FOCUS! Focus on what's important to you and write it down. This is what I've been lacking. I get so caught up in the whirlwind of life that I don't remember the little daily steps I need to be taking to move toward my goals - and so I don't move forward and when things slow down I realize I'm not at all where I want to be.

I went to a Releif Society Retreat (women's group) at a cabin up in the mountains of Heber and a great woman, Eileen Lindsky, spoke about the importance of having goals and working a little every day on them. Write down something you want to improve on and decide what steps it will take to get there. Mine was to clear out of my home and life clutter that I don't need. To create more order and peace at home. I started to work on it daily and because I didn't have a reminder about it totally forgot about the goal. I think I need to create a goal board to look at daily.

I'm always a little jealous at women who seem to have it all together and I always feel so disorganized. One Sunday at church I needed a diaper to change Jared and I thought I had one but I didn't. A Sister joked and said, "No diaper in the diaper bag?" and it really made me realize how unprepared and disorganized I am. I need to work on that.

The other day I was trying to can pizza sauce and do something with all the tomatoes from my garden. I was talking to my mom and told her what I was doing and about a job I was thinking of trying and she said, "Right now, just finish canning your tomatoes and then work on the other things". I said, "Spoken like a woman who knows me". She replied, "Yes and a woman who is finally starting to know herself". I'm so thankful for a wise mother who knows me and encourages me to try to slow down and FOCUS.

So try to really think about what you want to do. And remember a goal unwritten is only a wish.

Gorgeous Days!

I love this time of year with the beautiful and cooler sunny days. These are the best days that slip by too quickly. My kids are loving school. I'm loving our new days with a schedule and a need to get the children in bed at a decent time. I think I really need schedules as well. Life feels more in order. The days are shorter, but not too short. Life is simply wonderful!

I've been painting and considering baking cupcakes to sell. I wish there were three of me or that I could be in three places at one time. I'd be the full-time mother - helping kids with homework, reading, working and playing together. A full-time artist - painting en plein air in the fields of the local towns, and portraits of all my friends and family. A full time baker - baking cupcakes, cookies, breads, scandinavian desserts and selling them to friends and families in the area. Maybe in heaven there are no time limitations. Maybe there you can do everything you want. I know here I still wish I could do everything and have a real hard time narrowing down what to do in my spare hour of each day.

My Mom always tells me how I've always wanted to do too much. I have too many ideas. But I'm happy. I'm never bored! I can never understand when people say they are bored. Speaking of never being bored. The kids are coming home now. Gotta go.

Gallery Stroll in Park City

Friday night my husband an I finally got a chance to go out together. We went to the Gallery stroll in Park City. It was raining, but warm so it was great. I love going from gallery to gallery. I love Scott Richardson's art at the . I found out he had just left two minutes earlier. His demo was still wet.

At the last gallery I was excited to find the painting I showed on my blog from the Springville Spring Salon. The artist is Douglas Aagard from Pason, Utah. His work is so amazing and vibrant. I got a chance to talk to him and his wife and was so encouraged to know that the only art education he had was about a year of watercolor classes. There's hope! He encouraged me to just keep painting. I felt so excited for the rest of the night. No more excuses. If he can do it why can't I? Thanks for the inspiration Douglas.

Take a look at one of his masterpieces. You can also see the rest of his work on his website

Restoring Honor

Yesterday was Glen Beck's Rally in Washington DC. It's theme was Restoring Honor. I hope to get another chance to hear the whole thing but I love so much of what was said and was so excited to hear so much talk of inviting people to believe in Christ. I wish I could have been there.

Something that I loved that Glen Beck said was that we need to be honest in all that we do and to have charity - especially in our homes. I think our home are the most difficult place to show charity sometimes, but it's also the most important place to do it. It's were our children learn if we're just talking about charity or really showing charity. Do we really want them to do what we're doing or just what we're telling them to do?

Even the smallest child can detect a hypocryte. Do we treat them with respect? Do we help them to love themselves? Do we keep our promises to them? Do we put on a church face on Sunday and take it off the minute we come home?

I know I'm guilty of these things at times and I want to be better. I want to be a true follower of Christ - no matter what the circumstance. I want to always speak softly and lovingly. To help others see the greatness in them and to see the greatness in myself.

A sister spoke in church today and she said that all of Heavenly Father's creations were perfect. He doesn't make mistakes. He created us just the way he wanted us to be, including our weaknesses. We know from the scriptures that He gives us weaknesses so that we will turn to Him for help and He will help us make them our strengths. We need Him and He wants to help us. I'm thankful that He loves me as I am. I know he planted in all of us dreams and desires to be more, to be better, not to be satisfied with our weaknesses. This desire pushes us forward and on to better things and a happier life - that is if Satan's tools: fear, laziness, pride and discouragement don't prevent us.

Loving Art

Painting oil paintings and having a toddler can be a bit of a challenge. The other day when I used a q-tip to remove a little paint that I didn't want he grabbed his own and began is own paint removal. I leave everything out in the open and have been pretty lucky at him leaving them alone.

I'm really enjoying Jared's appreciation of my art. He's only 2 and tells me pretty and the names of the people in the paintings. That's been great but he likes my current painting I'm working on so much that he's started to give them kisses. That's very sweet, but scary since it's an oil based paint and some of the colors have a health warning. After explaining that he can't kiss a wet painting, I showed him that he can blow kisses at it. So my sweet little Jared is loving my art and I feel wonderful.

Still waiting on my camera to show you my most recent paintings.

I Love School!

This week has been very exciting! The kids met their teachers on Monday and started school on Wednesday. No more sleeping in, but the structure is worth it.

The kids were so excited to start on Wednesday. I was glad to get quite a bit done early in the morning and then Jared and I went for a walk. It was such a beautiful morning and as we were walking a guy in his truck started to back up as we were walking but then noticed us. As soon as we crossed he backed out really fast and took off. What he didn't notice was that he hit a cat - I think it may have been sleeping under his truck. It was so awful. I wanted to see if I could help the cat but then I don't even want to describe what happened. It was so horrible. I turned the stroller around so that Jared wouldn't see, but he kept turning around to see.

I finally left and went back the other way. I told some neighbors a cat was hit and they thought they knew who the owners were. I started to cry. It ruined my first day of school mood. I realized that some kids were probably coming home from their first day of school to find out their cat was killed. All day Jared kept saying, "Kitty, ouie, nightnight". I felt even worse knowing he saw that.

I wondered why did that have to happen right in front of us. If we had been there 10 seconds earlier we wouldn't have seen anything. It's almost like we were meant to be there at that moment. But why? This has disturbed me since then.

Yesterday, I decided it would be good for us to just walk the same route again and see that everything is ok. When we reached the house where it happened their dog came after me, lunging and barking. This happened one time before and he doesn't give up easily. What the heck? I wondered if there's something evil about that house. Maybe I sound superstitious, but isn't that strange. Next time I'm bringing a stick - or mace would be nice.

But last night was great. It was 98 degrees yesterday. We went over to the creek and swam in the icey water. It was wonderful! That's our place to cool off and have fun for free. We've been going there a lot this summer. Next week is going to be cooling off, so it may be our last time this summer, but I love fall even more that summer, so I'm never sad when it's over. I love cool nights and bright colorful days. I'm so thankful for seasons. I think the Heavenly Father knew we needed change and different seasons to look forward to. To me it would be depressing to live somewhere where it's always the same weather. I get really tired of sun here in Utah. I love rain and clouds. Today we'll have a great thunder storm though. That's always exciting - especially if the power goes out.
Jared walks around saying, "boom! boom!" and his mouth drops open when he hears one. We all laugh!

Have a great stormy day. I have to paint a little before Jared wakes up.