The Pumpkin Patch Tradition

Here I am with the kids on the tractor

Here is Kris with Jack on the tractor--Kris was chewing gum and the tractor was bumpy but the battery was close to dead so I couldn't retake the picture.

Here are the kids at the entrance of the corn maze

Thanks to really lousy weather this month and my little trip to KC one of the weekends, we were really pressed to get in our traditional trip to the pumpkin patch. So we decided that last night, for Family Home Evening, we would make it work. Instead of going to Timberpine this year (which technically isn't much of a pumpkin patch at all but a nursery and garden center that throws a few pumpkins out in a field in the fall and drives people on the back of a big tractor out to the field to get at them), we decided to check out a real farm--complete with pumpkin patch, corn maze, farm animals and much more.

I got online and checked the whole thing out before hand to make sure it would work for us. It looked really fun and authentic and all that, so we decided it was a go. The only problem was it closed at 6:00 pm so we had to do some planning. After talking over Kris's day, he and I decided that maybe he wasn't going to be able to join us. Some deadlines at work right now are making it hard to sneak away a little early for such outings. So the plan was for me to take the kids after school, do our pumpkin patch thing, and then join Dad for a fun dinner afterward, maybe with a game or two. But when the kids got home, they did not like the idea of leaving Dad out of the fun. Josh especially (which was a surprise to us) complained that he couldn't miss this family tradition. (I guess they mean something after all.)

So as we headed out the door (close to 5 o'clock already) we called Dad to see if he could make it work. He said he thought it could, so we raced over to pick him up straight from work. But here was the part we hadn't counted on. Des Moines, which typically doesn't have much traffic, had traffic. (I guess I am usually not on the road during "rush hour" around here. We hit every light possible, and with my impatient driving, took a way longer route than was probably necessary to get to the interstate so we could actually get on our way.)

By the time we were headed out of town, it was 5:35 and we knew we would only have a few minutes before it closed. Kris was strongly encouraging us to bag the trip out there in favor of a nice dinner (he had skipped lunch with his crazy schedule) but I dug in my heels. I knew with our schedule this week, it was then or never this year. Kris graciously allowed it, as he always does, and just kept giving me goofy smiles at how much time it was taking to even reach our destination. Even though I sped out there at top speed, it was further than I thought.

Finally we arrived--only to find the sign at the entrance that read: OPEN DAILY 9-5. Are you kidding me? After all that, the closing time was an hour earlier than their own website listed. I couldn't believe it. We did see a couple people still wandering around there, though, so Kris went in to ask about the discrepancy. Apparently they run a pretty loose schedule, thank goodness. The last tractor ride of the night was pulling out to head to the festivities as we were pulling in. So they graciously let us jump on without paying (we could catch it when we returned) to get our tradition in.

In the end, though the farm itself was beautiful and we will go back next year, the pumpkin patch was too picked over to find any good pumpkins for our kids. We spent 15 minutes walking around the corn maze, and Kris questioned the wisdom of spending money for that. But I reminded him that sometimes we pay a little just so the kids can have the memory of the activity, even if it only lasts 15 minutes. And on the way home, when Emmie said, "That was so much fun" I knew it was worth the crazy effort. Never mind that we picked our pumpkins out at the grocery store today after school so we can carve them for Halloween. Traditions are great!

Mom Needed a Time Out!

This past weekend I headed to Kansas City with some friends for Time Out For Women! We had a fun time together and the speakers were really great. The theme for the conference was "Sweet Assurance" and it focused on finding the things in our lives that we really "know" and can depend on when times get uncertain. Here is what I "know." I know that my life is very blessed with a lot of "knowing." How grateful I am for that. But I came away with a new resolve as well--a new "know" that I am going to work hard to develop. I am not going to reveal it here as it is a work in progress. But hopefully someday you will see it for yourselves.

Until then, here are some fun pictures from the trip. There are a couple of me with the girls and one of my little family in wood. Katie talked me into getting these little children to go along with the dancing couple I already had on my dresser. (Just kidding--I totally copied her idea. She fell in love with them first and then I followed her lead. Don't you love them?)

Opus Honor Choir

One of the opportunities for 5th-9th graders in Iowa is the chance to audition for Iowa's Opus Honor Choir. There are actually a few different choirs available--a 5th-6th grade children's choir, 7th-8th grade girls and boys choirs, and a 9th grade mixed choir.

So Emmie, entering the grand world of 5th grade, decided to audition for the first choir. She worked very hard preparing for her audition. She got up early at least three times a week for the first several weeks of school to rehearse with a group of interested 5th graders. And the required audition music was hard, I thought. (I even discussed it with a friend of mine who is involved in the organization and she admitted that the music was intentionally difficult to weed out competition that sometimes reaches 3,200 applicants.) But Emmie worked hard and nervously awaited the day when she had to meet with her music teacher to record her audition a cappella to be sent in to the judges.

Of course, all along I kept reminding Emmie that with the judges only being able to pick 180 singers from all of 5th and 6th graders from schools throughout Iowa, just trying for it was what mattered--all the lessons about the effort being worth the experience, and it not mattering if she made it or not, I was still so proud of her for trying and all that. So imagine our surprise and excitement when she got a call from her music teacher personally to tell her that she had been selected to join the choir, one of three 5th and 6th graders from our entire school district.

Now she will prepare for an all-day clinic at Iowa State on November 19, where she will rehearse with a guest director in preparation for a special concert offered on campus that afternoon. We are so happy for her and proud of her effort as she worked hard to accomplish something important to her.

WOW EMMIE! WAY TO GO!

[If you want to see the official results click here and look under the name Jennifer Ghelf (her music teacher) to see her name.]

The Rumor Going Around

The night before last Josh came into our room at 3:20 a.m.

Here was our conversation:

Josh: Mom and Dad?

Mom and Dad: What Son?

Josh: There's a rumor going around that you two are robots?

Mom (becoming more awake): No.

Josh: Do you have a robot tab that you have to take care of?

Mom (now having a little fun): Yes.

Josh (turning around to return to his room): I'm going to have to do something about that!

Mom and Dad laughed silently in bed over what was obviously a little fever-induced delirium. Or maybe he knows something we don't know. How fun it is to have kids!

Three White Dresses

During our trip home this summer, we had the privilege of witnessing a baby blessing, a baptism, and a temple marriage all in our family. It made us all think about the poem "My Three White Dresses" and we knew we needed to get a picture of the three girls in their dresses. However, at picture time, I was so caught up in how beautiful the setting was that I forgot to take the picture (duh!). So I just got this copy of the shot from a family member and wanted to share it here.

My Three White Dresses

My mom bought me a white dress,

Not red or pink or blue.

She said it was a special dress

Like very other few,

There has been just one before,

A dress now put away,

That I wore some time ago

Upon my blessing day.

As a little baby clothed In my first white dress,

My dad held me in his arms,

There to name and bless.

So pure and clean was I just then,

With time to grow and learn

About the Father's plan for me.

My glory I must earn.

Now I've reached the age to judge

The wrong road from the right,

And I am here to be baptized

In this dress of white.

So once again I'm free from sin.

The path is clear to me.

I'll grasp the rod and hold on tight, I vow with certainty.

Just as mud would stain my dress,

Sin would stain my soul.

The key is to repent or bleach,

For whiteness is my goal.

And if I try my very best,

Then richly blessed I'll be,

Wearing inside God's holy house

White dress number three,

So today I make this pledge:

I'll strive to choose the right,

Through this sacred baptism ordinance

In my second dress of white.

(Linda Gay Perry Nelson, 1993)

Room Enough to Receive It

Every two weeks, like clock work, I go grocery shopping. I call it the "big shop" and I have been doing it for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching my mom go on her big shopping trip every other week while I was a kid; and when I got married, I figured that must be the way it's done. So that's what I do. When Kris gets paid, I do the bills on Friday morning and Saturday, some time during the day (unfortunately my mom's custom of doing it at 7:00 a.m. "before the crowds" didn't find its way into my tradition), I get my big shopping done. I head to the grocery store for 1-2 hours of uninterrupted shopping pleasure. I really do like it. I don't shop coupons (I know I should) and I don't make lists (a creature of habit, I usually stock up on the same stuff); I just hit the store and go isle by isle filling my cart to the brim. When they ask me at the check out if I found everything I needed, I usually reply, "I sure hope so" as if to say, "don't I have enough here to cover it?"

This morning, I knew I was going to have to hit the store early so I could get my shopping done before settling in for a day of general conference watching. So I sacrificed my lazy Saturday morning for an early trip to the grocery store to make sure we were good for the next two weeks. When I pulled into the parking lot, I was surprised to see it packed. Subconsciously I figured that was normal for a Saturday morning. But when I got inside, I found out the store was holding a huge 6-hour sale--one I would have missed on a regular big shop day (blessing for planning my day around conference). And I kid you not when I say the atmosphere was akin to the day-after-Thanksgiving madhouse. It was crazy. But I joined right in. And at the end of the trip, I actually came in a little under budget and made a hall on things like ground beef, bread, buns and ice cream for $0.99 (to name a few of the deals).

When I got home, I started to unload all the groceries. I put things away in the kitchen and the food storage downstairs and headed out to put stuff away in the freezer. Now let me say, this freezer is a relatively new addition to our household. For years my mom wondered how on earth I survived without a freezer in the garage (avid food shopper herself, remember) so one year for Christmas that's what she and my dad gave us. I remember thinking when we got it, "How will we ever fill this thing?" Well, today the question was, "Will I get it all in?" And as I asked myself that question, I immediately heard in my head the end of the following scripture: "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" (Malachi 3:10). I was struck with a forceful reminder that the Lord is watching over our family, even during hard economic times, because we have tried to be faithful tithe payers. He absolutely honors his promises. We don't make tons of money, and we don't have everything there is out there to have. But we have always had enough and we have always been richly blessed for honoring God with tithing. I know absolutely the source of all our blessings, and it's not of our own doing. I am so thankful for a Father in Heaven who takes care of us with more that we have room to receive, even when what we have to offer is so small in return.