23 January 2007
Since this is my first day posting, I'm trying to decide what would be a good format. I've been fascinated with blogs since I first saw one on CSI Miami. Lately, I've been reading quite a few knitting blogs, and decided it was time to jump in.
Not that what I do is that interesting, mind you. But I do feel an obligation to keep a journal and failing miserably at a hand written account has led me to other alternative. How much better would I do at this? Well, no harm done, right?
There really are a lot of things going on in my life for which I would like to have a written account. For example, there's our great homeschool program, Deseret Academy. We registered with the State of Florida in 1994 as a private school where students do their work at home, but we have been homeschooling since 1976. Of course, our own children have all graduated from homeschool and college, but we continue working with other people's kids as they attempt to become educated in an alternative fashion. Our own children are working with us in the school now as we attempt to back away so that we can "retire" and serve missions for our church.
We joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1976 (that was a big year for us), and have thought of serving a mission ever since. We are very active in our church, and presently are serving an at-home mission which means we commute from our home to serve at the Home Storage Center in Jacksonville, Florida. Being more prepared in the face of adversity will always be one of our passions. Besides our mission, Roger, my sweetheart of almost 35 years, serves as young men's president, and I am currently the Relief Society President. We are members of the Crescent City Branch in the Jacksonville Florida West Stake. It was formed in November of 2002. I'm sure you'll hear more of our shinanigans as we go along.
Our children are the light of our life. We have always enjoyed being parents and have been blessed with 3 wonderful boys: Dorian, Darius, and Orion. They are all married now as of last year to great daughter-in-laws: Bonnie, Alicia, and Jac respectively. Dorian and Bonnie have three children: Kayla (11), Wyatt (8), and Angelina (5). You can only imagine how much we love them. Darius and Alicia are expecting; they have put in their papers to adopt a baby, so it is exciting to think that is coming up soon.
As far as interests in our lives, Roger and I both enjoy gardening. Living in NE Florida gives us the opportunity to garden year round. Currently we are growing lettuce and cabbage. We still have peppers growing from our 2006 spring garden. The plants are quite large and able to withstand what little cold weather we've had. Our cauliflower and broccoli have gone to seed as it is way too warm this year for them to thrive. Either that, or it wasn't a very good variety. I bought them at a nursery. I picked up some herb plants at the fruit stand last week that I am hoping to get in the ground: sage, thyme, and parsley. I think I bought a few more cabbage plants too. I can never grow too much cabbage as I like to can a cabbage slaw that we eat all year long. I make sauerkraut occasionally too, but we don't eat that as often as the slaw. I have been reading about drying cabbage in my yahoo group on food drying, so I may try that this year as well. Supposed to be good in soup.
Which leads me to my other passion: canning. Last week I put up 25 pounds of dried pea beans in the form of baked beans. I think it was close to 96 pints. I did 8 with hotdogs to make a beenie weenee, and I think it was a hit with Roger. He ate a pint last night before going to bed. I am anxious to put more beans up, as we are a lot more likely to eat them if they are fast and easy. I also like to can meats. This is the only way I will put meat in my food storage as I don't trust the freezer for large amounts and don't like meat dried. We had some pork loin I canned in Sept of 2004 for our dinner today (Sweet and Sour Pork), and it was still delicious.
I don't have an electronic camera, but I will try to get my hands on one soon, so I can add photos to my blog. I can't imagine how boring this would be to read without pictures.
Another passion, sewing. I own 4 sewing machines! Unfortunately, I have not sewn for a while as I have not organized a sewing area, so that is one of my goals this year.
I also love to knit. I used to crochet before a bad car accident in 2001, but damage to my wrist prevents the twisting that crocheting requires. Knitting fits the bill perfectly and is even more interesting I have found. Previous to my car accident, I had not knit very much though I had completed a sweater. I wasn't very good. I decided to start knitting socks, and all that has changed. You can't knit socks without getting better! I knit my DDIL Jac a shrug for Christmas and Dorian got a cap, Angelina got a cap and matching cape, Wyatt some fingerless gloves. My Mom got socks for her birthday. All in all, I've knit about 50 pairs, I think. I'm not sure why those of us who knit socks love them so much, but we do. They truly become a passion if one is so inclined.
We had our monthly Trunk family FHE on setting goals Sunday at Darius and Alicia's house. One of the points brought up is that we seem to do better when we share our goals with others. I am a terrible goal maker as I am an awful chicken when it comes to failing. My goals this year include the following:
1. Memorize the Articles of Faith in Spanish. I continue to struggle to learn Spanish so that Roger and I might be able to serve a mission in Mexico. Since Darius' stint there and our subsequent visits (2 times), we are totally in love with the Mexican people. My two counselors in RS are Spanish and my secretary is fluent in both English and Spanish, so they all help me a lot. (Thank you Maria, Graciela, and Kitsy).
2. Read the _Articles of Faith_ by Talmage.
3. Eat better. We continually struggle with this one and have reached a point in our lives when we realize it is a necessity if we wish to have a good quality of life. To accomplish this goal, I would like to do the following:
1. Eat more fresh vegetables from the garden and kitchen (sprouts).
2. Eat more homemade bread and grain products. I have made noodles a few time, but am still relying heavily on purchased pasta products. We are eating a homemade whole grain cereal product every morning.
3. Eat legumes daily (sprouted and home canned).
4. Only eat homemade sweets. We figured if we had to bake them, we might not eat them as often. We need to cut down on our sugar consumption.
4. In our missionary calling, we are going to start doing "date nights" in the areas served by our HSC. We would also like to visit wards on Sunday to spread the word about services offered there. Many members have not participated in this aspect of preparedness.
5. Attend the temple at least monthly for a session besides our work assignment there. (We are ordinance workers at the Orlando Temple.
I know these are pretty wimpy goals, but I already told you I was a wimp! I will be very happy if I can accomplish even these limited things.
That is about all there is about my life and passions except I should mention sports. I can't describe that as a passion, but it certainly is a large part of my life since marrying Roger. In fact, we started dating because of a football game, and sports has been a part of my life ever since. The 2 older boys are also pretty passionate about sports, so we do spend time watching the various teams play. None of us are too much on the participation end, unfortunately. The super bowl is coming up soon, and Jac and Orion are hosting the family that day for FHE first, snacks, and football. It should be fun. If it's a long game, I'll get a whole sock done! I actually won the adult pool last week when the playoffs were going on with the Bears and the Colts! That was a first, believe me. I have a horrible record when it comes to guessing the winner. Angelina and Kayla both won for the children, so that was exciting too.
