Clam Chowder

Well, over the holidays, it seemed nothing could go right, no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to have a wonderful, loving, Christmas spirit in my home, and it seemed my girls were at each other more than ever, fighting. I had so much on my mind, little things kept happening that caused all sorts of frustration and stress. Just one example: we went to my sisters for Christmas Eve and were early enough that many cousins were out sledding behind their 4 wheeler. My girls, of course, wanted to jump in, but Eden didn't bring her coat, only a jacket. I hurriedly gave her my own coat so she wouldn't freeze since she wanted to go so bad. This all happened before we even walked inside, so it wasn't until AFTER that I realized I had my ONLY set of keys in my pocket!! They were going all over an open field near their home, and well, they were NOwhere to be found! Fun, fun!

There was one that took the cake, however. Many heard about our famous, double batch of Clam Chowder spilling in the car on the way to the Clark-Gardner Christmas party. (Yup, the whole pot, minus about an inch left at the bottom.) After all that effort, expense, and time, it was so frustrating to not be able to even share the fruits of my efforts in making it. But, as I cleaned up with Scott for an hour, in the cold, crying the whole time, I realized there were some good lessons to be learned. First, the very thing I was cursing, spilling a WHOLE POT of clam chowder all over the back seats of our car and through every seat belt buckle, nut, and bolt under our seats, was actually the thing that helped Scott and I reconnect and talk through things and me to feel the closeness I felt lacking a bit. I gained appreciation for the man who would scoop clams, and all it's chowder, out of every nook and cranny in our back seat, happily! I was grateful for his support, positive attitude, understanding, and help, and my heart was softened as we worked through it.
As I went home, I kept thinking the Lord MUST have wanted me to learn something through that experience and this is what I came up with:

• When someone hears someone else is an hour late to a party, they may be a bit frustrated or put out and wonder why that person just didn't plan better or think through their time better. When someone hears they were an hour late because they were out in the cold cleaning up clam chowder all over their car through the tears, perspective instantly changes! Compassion, understanding, and empathy immediate replace judgment and callousness. I think we all have "clam chowder" type experiences that we hide and hope no one ever finds out. There are unknown heartaches, sorrows, and trials, that every child of God faces. If we could just give each other the benefit of the doubt, knowing they may be acting a certain way because of an unknown burden, we'd judge less, love more, and become less uptight about all the things around us that may cause us stress!
• Next, a guy in our ward council made an awesome analogy concerning Nephi and his brothers getting the brass plates. We all know the story, but I hadn't ever thought of it quite so concretely as he explained. After listening to it, I took what he said, and added my own understanding and insights. He said that sometimes, when we think we're following the Lord and even on His errand, sometimes the results are so disasterous and don't work to such a degree, that we may begin to question if we are following His will at all! He spoke of the commandment for Nephi and his brothers to go get the plates. (You'd think, that the effort in just making the trip alone would be trial enough for the Lord to just help them get the plates, as commanded, and back on their way.) But after the first attempt fails, Nephi, maybe feeling he is inspired with another solution, has the idea of buying them with all the gold and silver from their previous home. This, too, fails, and they not only are robbed of their gold, but he also ends up getting beaten with a stick! Again, seeming evidence that they must NOT be doing "right" or the Lord's will at all, or it would be "working out". But interestingly enough, the very thing that looked like a total failure, losing all their gold and silver to such a wicked man and being threatened with their lives, became the thing that ultimately helped them accomplish their goal. Laban lusted after such worldly wealth. When he saw the treasure, he wanted it and coveted it. Once he took it, he must have been so happy. How would a man like Laban celebrate such a thing? By getting drunk. That act, becoming so drunk that he passes out in the street, becomes the very thing that leads to Nephi actually being able to obtain the plates! I think the Adversary tempts us to start doubting when things don't go our way. He tries to make us question if we really DID get an answer, or if we were following the Spirit, or start to wonder if our cares are important enough for the Lord to even be concerned about them. If Satan can get us to doubt this in the moment, then God's power, the power of faith, loses all force! And sometimes, when it looks the most bleak, something may happen that actually helps us accomplish the Lord's will for us, even when it looked impossible before.

I don't know if any of that made sense, but I have been thinking about it a lot and thought I'd share! I am just grateful for the knowledge that, even when life isn't giving us the "reward" of what we feel to be our efforts, and we lose all our "gold", that His purposes for our lives can be revealed in that same act of losing that "gold" and turn it into something much, much better.
So, here's to jumping into challenges with all faith, and NOT giving into the temptation to doubt God's love for us, or that He has a specific purpose for our lives! Love you all, Cheltz
PS...and NO, miraculously, our car DOESN'T stink of spoiled milk or clams! Genious!

Oh yeah, Halloween and Reflections...

Before I publish my next post I just HAD to upload the Halloween and Reflections photos! All my girls entered Reflections this year, which was fun! Eden did a drawing of Garfield (I know, not kosher with the rules we found out), Rilee composed a song and took a picture, and Shailee made up a dance. The theme was "Beauty is...". They all tied this in differently and did a great job. Shailee got to perform her gymnastics routine in front of the school, which was great, and Rilee, her song on the piano. They did awesome! The photograph you see here. Scott taught Rilee how to use the Sports setting on the camera and they took quite a few photos of Avery being thrown in the air. (Scary, I know, but Scott says he could "never" drop her, and they both love it...I'm out voted.) Rilee's comment on the back of her photo was, "Beauty is hearing my sister laugh, and this is her favorite thing which makes her laugh the most" or something like that. Too cute! Rilee got 3rd Overall, Shai 1st (not much competition, love that!), and Eden still got recognized for entering which was all she cared about! Love her.

For Halloween, two things of note happened that holiday: First, we got to spend the weekend at my parent's Marriott at Mountainside in Park City, which was a blast! You will notice that before the camera battery died inconveniently as we began, I managed to capture a priceless moment, that I assume when Avery is of dating age, will cause quite a stir of embarrassment/emotion if shown! But for now, hilarious and priceless! Avery just LOVES nature; she loves to be at one with nature; i.e. she can't get enough of her birthday suit, so free and non-restrictive! She is shown here, in such a suit, trying to yell at her sisters down below who are swimming!! Ahhh, you can't help but love kids!

Second, before we came down from Park City to "hit the streets" for the yearly Halloween candy spree, Shailee thought she'd make it even MORE eventful. She broke her nose!!! Maybe it was just her wanting to "get into character", and REALLY look scary?? That would've been a good excuse had she not chosen to be a cheerleader this year!! (Yes, in my old green and white's!) It wasn't even a good story either; all she did was decide it would be cool if she put her pillow on the windowsill and lean from the bed to the window to watch her show. The pillow overhung a bit and it flipped forward as she put weight on it, and she went face first, straight to the ground and came up with an instant Egor-swollen nose! So sad! Not that this would stop her...all she kept saying is, "I can still go, right Mom?! From the photos, you can tell she did! Bless the small lot sizes here! It sure was efficient Trick-or-Treating!

When Things Just Don't Add Up...

If you are wondering "why the lack of blog entries lately, Chelsea?", believe me, I'm wondering myself! It seems I did much more than what is showing on my blog, yet somehow, I don't know what could be missing, so it must just be that months passed like days lately!

To catch up, first off, life has been great yet trying, fun yet nerve-racking, and blessed yet difficult. Don't know if that even makes sense or is possible all at once, but that's how I'd describe the last few months! As RS President, it seems I have said to people over and over as they tell me about their trials and REALLY difficult times, that "it's only when it truly looks impossible, when it really doesn't add up on paper, that God can do the miracle." Meaning, sometimes in a trial, when we are at our wit's end and feel we can do no more, and fully have to rely on the Lord for things to work out, that God creates a miracle. What's more, is it was so beyond ourselves to get through, that we can't doubt that it was the Lord who carried us; we KNOW it was His power, not ours that made it possible.

Well, that is all well and good and is certainly 100% true, I believe, but BOY is it harder to put into action when you are in the midst of your own trial!! It was a full 9 months of Scott giving up his dream of being a pro-golfer and coming back to Utah doing what was "best" for our family, and looking for a job...with NO success!! Even though it got hard, I felt the Lord's hand guiding us; I felt He gave me/us more patience than I ever would have had on my own; I know He blessed me with peace and faith; I have no doubt His power kept Scott and I close, despite the stress. Then came the holidays of Thanksgiving through Christmas, STILL with no job, the "end" of finances in sight, and no concrete job despite great interviews and promising leads. I found myself, despite the months of being faith-ful and knowing the Lord was carrying me, now doubting. Why do we do this, even when we have a knowledge that the Lord is aware of us and blessing us (though not usually how WE would choose to be blessed!)? Why give into the temptation to question His love for us, His power in our lives, and our ability to hear His Spirit and wonder if it was our own thoughts, or His answer, that we are following?!

Well, to shorten a very LONG ordeal, Scott DID find a job, the blessings of which are still being manifest, and definitely not all financial! Our schedules, energy, interactions with ourselves/children are so much more positive. We are in a "groove", and both have the "we're in this together" attitude. It still will be a bit until his checks start matching his effort/hours, but we're heading in the right direction! And, somehow, miraculously, although it doesn't seem to add up logically, we are getting by and things are just working out! Miracle. No doubt! (For more detail on the doubting/craziness of the season, see the "Clam Chowder" entry!)