Joy to the World in the Storm

I am reading two books slowly and simultaneously that don't seem to be related, but their themes have intersected more than I have expected. The first, The Book of Joy is an account of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama discussing how people find deep and enduring joy despite the challenges of life. The second book, Indistractable, is about how to choose what you do instead of letting other people who vie for your time dictate what happens in your life.

At the same time, we are getting ready for Christmas as the northern hemisphere is sinking into the darkest days of the year and our country is preparing articles of impeachment for our president. We are celebrating the true Light of the World as the world is in such desperate need of both literal light and  understanding. It helps to continually remind ourselves that Jesus Christ gives peace in a different way the the world gives, because the world is kind of a mess right now.

So anyway, these are the things that are informing my thoughts as we muddle through our dark days and challenges.  We search for points of light that help us see our lives in a true light, and search for pieces that help us find a peace that can't be challenged by mere events. One thing that has really helped me this week is to daily record three things I am grateful for and three things I am excited about. The change of focus has been needful. Everyone says that, but this is the first time I have tried to do it in a sustained way. It helps.

Here is some of our joy and some of our challenge this week:

-Sick kids home right before Christmas break.  Evie has had a fever for about four days, Griff for three. It has been a challenge to sit down at the computer. They need to help me every time. Also Evie's room has been a hairy mess since before her birthday and she needed serious help to clean it up. We spent a LOT of time in her room. And a lot of time watching movies and not leaving the house enough. It gives me time to remind them over and over how much I love them, and often the thing they really need from me is lots of time. It gives me chances to see what I need to teach them, and chances to try to teach.

Ultraviolet. Thrilled to be part of the fun.

I did make it out of the house by sunset yesterday--alone even!  What a prize!

Elf on the shelf!

Of course, the other elf needed to jump into that action too.

  

 -Still preparing our hearts and home for Christmas. We took all of us to dinner at BRGR and to see a children's production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" with the help of some Tylenol.  Griff and Eve and I loved it, since we had just read it again this week while they were home from school. It is so much fun to read that book aloud! And hopefully they will go to school for a few days next week so I can wrap some presents.

Note Wyatt and how thrilled he is to be part of the fun. I think he fell asleep.

-A serious actual storm. For some reason, storms tend to hit our area on Saturday night and into Sunday morning, leaving the bishop with the dilemma about what to do about church services. This morning our stake cancelled services except for one sacrament meeting at three different buildings at 9am. The snow started just before 8. We dutifully jumped into Alan's little all wheel drive SUV and made it to the building closest to us as the bishopric from the 9am ward was headed out because their stake cancelled everything. A few people showed up--maybe 20 from three different wards--to listen to me play a barely adequate organ and Wyatt and another priest from KC third ward bless the sacrament, while Alan sat with Griffin and Eve in the pews. I sat down with the family after the sacrament and was called immediately back up to play the closing hymn. We were so very thankful for 4 wheel drive as we passed many cars struggling to make it up the hills and spinning off the road as we came home.

About 8 inches so far and it hasn't stopped yet!

Eve's tooth came out as we watched The Christmas Candle and Alan had a phone bishopric meeting!

Griffin took my phone into his own hands. His photographic eye reminds me of Willa.