Canning

Last year I didn't can peaches, and my family sorely missed having them.  So this year I determined to do it, no matter if I had to make a special trip to Brigham City for the produce. 
So, this week my sister and I canned 80 quarts of these babies:

We were pretty stoked by day's end.

And today I made up 16 pints of salsa:

These are not pic's of my stuff, just illustrations.  I'm a bit disappointed in the salsa, though.  I was so excited to save money on this stuff, and I don't think I even like it very much.  Maybe it will be good in other things, though, like taco soup?  Let's hope it wasn't a waste.  I'm plum tuckered!

Unexpected Outcomes

Children are naturally egocentric.  I know this.  But lately my children have seemed especially so, and so I wanted to give a Family Home Evening lesson on Selfishness.

Here was the plan:

Sing "I'm trying to be like Jesus"
Start with a concentration game.  4 pictures of the Savior doing something unselfish, 4 scripture references, and they would match them up. 
Then a role play.  Dad and I acting out a conversation in which one of us is constantly turning the discussion back to himself. tee hee.
Then a discussion on selfishness/wanting the limelight.  Go back to the pictures/stories of Jesus and ask, "selfish or unselfish?" with each one. 
Challenge children to think of others.

Here was the reality:

I obviously planned too long a lesson for children 10 and under.  After the game, which they were pretty attentive during,  they were poking each other and giggling, Saxton was tearing up a tissue he had recently used, Nathan was sitting like he was in meditation, eyes closed, saying "Ohmmmmmm",   "Ketchuuuuup", (who knows where that came from!), Brinley was tying herself in knots. 
Ellie was anxious to finish sentences and explain things.

So I waaaay overshot the mark on that one.

I take comfort in the following quote from Elder Bednar:

"As our sons were growing up, our family did what you have done and what you now do. We had regular family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. Now, I am sure what I am about to describe has never occurred in your home, but it did in ours.     UAdd a Note 

Sometimes Sister Bednar and I wondered if our efforts to do these spiritually essential things were worthwhile. Now and then verses of scripture were read amid outbursts such as “He’s touching me!” “Make him stop looking at me!” “Mom, he’s breathing my air!” Sincere prayers occasionally were interrupted with giggling and poking. And with active, rambunctious boys, family home evening lessons did not always produce high levels of edification. At times Sister Bednar and I were exasperated because the righteous habits we worked so hard to foster did not seem to yield immediately the spiritual results we wanted and expected.     UAdd a Note 

Today if you could ask our adult sons what they remember about family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening, I believe I know how they would answer. They likely would not identify a particular prayer or a specific instance of scripture study or an especially meaningful family home evening lesson as the defining moment in their spiritual development. What they would say they remember is that as a family we were consistent."     UAdd a Note 

November 2009 Ensign

We'll try again next week, with more realistic expectations!

What's for dinner?

I thought I'd make a list of things I normally make for dinner, 
along with Cory's rating of the item.  He has expensive tastes.
(5 is the best)

Chicken

4 Chicken Alfredo
3 Sweet & Sour Chicken Stir Fry
3 Chicken Tetrazinni
4 BBQ Chicken (Marinated)
3 Chicken Pillows
3 Hawaiian Haystacks
5 Chicken Enchiladas
4 Chicken Cordon Bleu
3 Buttermilk Chicken

Ground Beef

2 Meat Loaf
2 Spaghetti
2 Stroganoff
2 Taco Soup
1 Tater tot casserole
5 Hamburgers
5 Navajo Tacos
4 Regular Tacos

Beef

4 Roast
2 Stew
5 French Dip Sandwiches

Pork

5 Pork Chops
4 Roast
3 Country Style Ribs

Veggie

5 Chef Salad
2 Potato Bar
1 Nacho Bar

Ham

1 Ham & Bean Soup
4 Stromboli
4 Pizza
3 Ham Wraps

Soups

4 Chicken Noodle
3 Creamy Chicken Noodle
2 Chili
1 Broccoli
3 Mushroom
4 Clam Chowder
3 Chicken & Dumplings
2 Potato Soup

Pasta

2 Macaroni & Cheese
5 Lasagne

Turkey

5 Marinated Turkey
3 Turkey Sandwiches
5 Turkey and potatoes
    Seafood
2 Trout
3 Salmon
4 Halibut
5 Shrimp & Crab
2 Tuna Casserole
2 Tuna Braid
2 Creamed Tuna on Toast

Why I was called to the Tacoma, Washington mission in 1996

I have wondered how missionaries receive their calls.  I assumed that the leaders of our church were given stacks of paper with missionary information, that they prayed over that stack, and then sent the whole group to the same mission.  I don't know why I thought it worked that way, but I was wrong.
The Savior's ministry is about individual people.  The other day I was listening to an interview with Elder Bednar, and he spoke of the fact that the Apostles do not consider themselves to be "over" a "large corporation".  Their call is to minister to the one.  As he travels the world on assignment, he tries to find the one person whom he is to minister to in each place. 
Isn't that beautiful? 
And so continues the story of calling missionaries.  Here is a quote from a recent General Conference at which Ronald A. Rasband spoke to the subject:

With the encouragement and permission of President Henry B. Eyring, I would like to relate to you an experience, very special to me, which I had with him several years ago when he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Each Apostle holds the keys of the kingdom and exercises them at the direction and assignment of the President of the Church. Elder Eyring was assigning missionaries to their fields of labor, and as part of my training, I was invited to observe.     UAdd a Note 

I joined Elder Eyring early one morning in a room where several large computer screens had been prepared for the session. There was also a staff member from the Missionary Department who had been assigned to assist us that day.     UAdd a Note 

First, we knelt together in prayer. I remember Elder Eyring using very sincere words, asking the Lord to bless him to know “perfectly” where the missionaries should be assigned. The word “perfectly” said much about the faith that Elder Eyring exhibited that day. 

As the process began, a picture of the missionary to be assigned would come up on one of the computer screens. As each picture appeared, to me it was as if the missionary were in the room with us. Elder Eyring would then greet the missionary with his kind and endearing voice: “Good morning, Elder Reier or Sister Yang. How are you today?” 

He told me that in his own mind he liked to think of where the missionaries would conclude their mission. This would aid him to know where they were to be assigned. Elder Eyring would then study the comments from the bishops and stake presidents, medical notes, and other issues relating to each missionary.

He then referred to another screen which displayed areas and missions across the world. Finally, as he was prompted by the Spirit, he would assign the missionary to his or her field of labor.

From others of the Twelve, I have learned that this general method is typical each week as Apostles of the Lord assign scores of missionaries to serve throughout the world.

Having served as a missionary in my own country in the Eastern States Mission a number of years ago, I was deeply moved by this experience. Also, having served as a mission president, I was grateful for a further witness in my heart that the missionaries I had received in New York City were sent to me by revelation.

After assigning a few missionaries, Elder Eyring turned to me as he pondered one particular missionary and said, “So, Brother Rasband, where do you think this missionary should go?” I was startled! I quietly suggested to Elder Eyring that I did not know and that I did not know I could know! He looked at me directly and simply said, “Brother Rasband, pay closer attention and you too can know!” With that, I pulled my chair a little closer to Elder Eyring and the computer screen, and I did pay much closer attention!

A couple of other times as the process moved along, Elder Eyring would turn to me and say, “Well, Brother Rasband, where do you feel this missionary should go?” I would name a particular mission, and Elder Eyring would look at me thoughtfully and say, “No, that’s not it!” He would then continue to assign the missionaries where he had felt prompted.

As we were nearing the completion of that assignment meeting, a picture of a certain missionary appeared on the screen. I had the strongest prompting, the strongest of the morning, that the missionary we had before us was to be assigned to Japan. I did not know that Elder Eyring was going to ask me on this one, but amazingly he did. I rather tentatively and humbly said to him, “Japan?” Elder Eyring responded immediately, “Yes, let’s go there.” And up on the computer screen the missions of Japan appeared. I instantly knew that the missionary was to go to the Japan Sapporo Mission.

Elder Eyring did not ask me the exact name of the mission, but he did assign that missionary to the Japan Sapporo Mission.

Privately in my heart I was deeply touched and sincerely grateful to the Lord for allowing me to experience the prompting to know where that missionary should go.

At the end of the meeting Elder Eyring bore his witness to me of the love of the Savior, which He has for each missionary assigned to go out into the world and preach the restored gospel. He said that it is by the great love of the Savior that His servants know where these wonderful young men and women, senior missionaries, and senior couple missionaries are to serve. I had a further witness that morning that every missionary called in this Church, and assigned or reassigned to a particular mission, is called by revelation from the Lord God Almighty through one of these, His servants."  Ensign, May 2010

I can't tell you, as a returned missionary, how fascinating and awesome that was for me to read.  Mission calls are definitely given one at a time, with the Savior presiding over the whole process.

When I received my call, I was a little disappointed.  Tacoma, Washington was a days' drive from my home in Idaho.  I was prepared for something exotic, like Brazil!  (I really wanted to learn Spanish on my mission, so I could double major in it when I came home.  The Lord taught me you do not serve a mission to pick up a double major!)  

I think my mother's prayers trumped mine.  She didn't want me to go anywhere where I could get a tapeworm or some other disease, she wanted me to be safe, and she wanted to be able to easily send mail back and forth.  

Tacoma, Washington was the most beautiful area I could have imagined, and I met some of the most wonderful people in the world, including, of course, my eternal companion.  He was an enthusiastic and record-setting missionary whom I didn't look at in a romantic way (!) until after he came to Utah State and I set him up on a date with a friend and got a little jealous that she was spending time with him and not me.

But that is another story for another time.

Just thought I'd let you know about that cool mission calling experience, in case you hadn't learned about it.

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A Constant Turning

Turning and turning goes the wheel of my days
I seem to see the same scenes often,
Dishes and toys and constant picking up,
Cycling around like the clothes in the washing machine...
But through the cycles the faces change and grow and thin,
My children not stopping for me--
I want them to not grow!
I must stop for them--
to listen
to sing
to pray
to support
As they cycle ever upward...

Raspberries

I love raspberries.  Partly because of their delicious flavor.  I love the way they taste with sugar and cream, in a shake, in a smoothie, in jam.  They taste like summer.
I also love them for sentimental reasons.  They make me think of my Grandma Satterthwaite.  When we would visit her home, we would have a big meal at lunch time (dinner) and then a simple meal in the evening (supper).  Often this simple meal would include a dish of raspberries Grandma had canned.  When I was in Jr. High, I spent a week at Grandma's so I could earn a little money picking berries at Hildt's berry farm.  Grandma would wake me early (5:30) and she would have homemade toast (so good!) with butter and cocoa ready for me.  She would give me a can to pick berries into, along with a strap she had made from pantyhose so that it would be soft around my waist.  She had attached a clip to the strap so I could clip it to my bucket handle and then unclip it to pour my berries into the flat.  She told me I needed to "pick clean", which meant I shouldn't leave any berries on the bush, and "pick fast", because we earned money depending on how many flats we filled.  She also warned me to avoid the temptation to eat the berries, because they were "like gold".
Then she would send me out into the still dark morning, where my ride was waiting to take me to the farm.  On some days she would go with me, but for the most part it was quiet work for me because I didn't know the other pickers well and I would just stay to my row, thinking "pick fast, pick clean, don't eat the berries".  Of course I snitched a few, because I wasn't strong enough to eat none, but her admonitions helped me to do my best.  She told me some people would fill the bottoms of their flats with dirt so they could make money faster.  That made us both sad.  I'm sure it wasn't very common.
One distinct memory I have is picking across from a girl (we were both picking from the same bush, she was on the other side, and I could see her through the leaves).  My stomach growled SO LOUD  it sounded like a bear!  I was so embarrassed.  I wondered if she thought I growled at her.  Of course I didn't know her, and so I didn't say anything.  Fortunately she was moving one way and I was moving another, so we weren't across from each other long.  I don't think I picked that particular part very clean, but I did fast!
So, a few weeks ago a friend from church offered our family the chance to come and pick in her very beautiful berry patch.  I have been so busy that I kept thinking I'd do it later.  Our business, the children's activities, my church work, etc. have all been pretty encompassing for me.  Last week I had the thought, "you should go and pick berries today, just for a little while".  I pushed that thought away with what seemed to be very pressing projects and goals, and I couldn't see bringing the children out there-- it just didn't seem feasible.
Today I finally took the children out.  I was so excited and brought three buckets with me.  When I got to the patch I looked at the bushes and almost cried because I could tell there had been a LOT  of beautiful berries on them.  They were shriveled and dark purple.  THOUSANDS of berries that had been beautiful and were now past their prime.  We picked about 1 1/2 cups of berries today, but if we had come last week before the cold snaps hit the area, we would have filled the buckets without a problem.  BOO HOO I really did shed a tear or two over this experience.
So the spiritual analogy?  Don't put off a prompting.  There is a time when things are ripe, and it doesn't last long.

Amanda's Yummy Cornbread

My sister loves to cook.  She finds great joy in serving her family in the kitchen and preparing yummy things.  Here is a recipe I enjoy of hers.  We eat half of it with a dinner and the other half in the morning with butter and syrup!

1 c. butter melted
1 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 t. soda
2 c. butter milk (may substitute milk with 2 T vinegar)
2 c. flour
2 c. cornmeal
1 t. salt

Combine milk and soda, set aside.  Mix butter and sugar, then add eggs and beat well.  Add milk mixture.  Combine flour, cornmeal, & salt.  Add dry ing. to wet.  Blend.  Bake in a 9X13 pan at 375 for 32 minutes.  Yummy!