Pieces

Pieces of a pen, including the spring

Parts of a flashlight, a phone that won’t ring

Bits of a bagel you ate yesterday,

A toy’s in the cd drive and now it won’t play.

All around me are pieces of things I once knew

Including my sanity; I’m missing that too.

I guess that’s just life when you have a two-year-old

It never is boring– these times are like gold!

For other Poetry submissions, please click here.

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The things I enjoy most include: people, history, traveling, hiking, exploring, discovery, science, reading, backpacking, and basically anything outdoorsy. My major in college and my career go along with my interests — I hike through the wilderness conducting environmental surveys. I am a proud archaeologist!

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but my belief in it didn’t just come at one time. It has been gradually building. I notice that the times my testimony takes the biggest step is when I’m outside. At one time, I was digging out on the Arizona Strip (just north of the Grand Canyon) and every day before work I would stand on a ledge and look at the world around me. I would think about the beauty that I am surrounded by and the fact that it is here because of God’s grace. It is here for me, it is here for me to love, enjoy, and protect. He created this gorgeous world for us because he loves us.

Recently, I was recently hiking in Arches National Park (Moab, UT) and I went on a night hike to Delicate Arch. It was a full moon and as I came over the rise, and saw that majestic arch standing still in the moon light, I had the same thought come to me: God loves me. I knew I couldn’t  look at something like that and not think that there was a higher power out there.

I love being a Mormon Woman because I know I can still be myself and believe in the restored gospel. I believe that the church has given me stability, hope, and self-worth. When my life is spinning out of control I know that there is one constant that I can hold onto. I believe and know that I am a child of God. How can I not have self worth if I believe that? As long as I know that I am a child of God then there is nothing that can bring me down!

For more Portraits of Mormon Women, please click here.

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Dinner time can be stressful, especially when you have swim team, soccer and PTA all on the same day.  One day, our friend Merica suggested we start a frozen dinner swap. We have been eating better foods, and with much less stress ever since. Here is how you to can start a frozen dinner swap group.

Step 1: Find 4 friends or neighbors who have families in similar size to yours.
Step 2: Pick a regular day to do your swap. We do every other Friday.
Step 3: Find a book at the library on frozen meals to get you started on what freezes well and what doesn’t. Casseroles freeze really well and so do things that marinade.
Step 4: Purchase gallon size freezer bags and quart freezer bags, and a lot of aluminum foil.  Having aluminum disposable casserole dishes around is good too.
Step 5: Make 4 -5 meals at once. This can take a long time but you can choose a time that is good for you.
Step 6: Find a side dish or dessert that matches up with your meal. Frozen bread, vegetables or ice cream sandwiches are fun. (Some groups omit this step and just do main dishes.)
Step 7: Swap till you drop!

These dinners are also excellent things to premake for a friend who is having a baby, or surgery, or health struggles. Here is one recipe we’d like to share with you.

Lindsay’s and Emily’s Excellent Empanadas

Place a 2-3 lb pork roast (boneless) in a crockpot. Add one can of diced tomatoes (juice and all), and one can of diced green chilis in with the meat. Sprinkle cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper all over the top of the meat. Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 6-8. When cooked, REMOVE meat from crockpot (so it won’t be too soggy) and place in a bowl to shred. You can add more cumin or s & p if desired. We also like to add one more can of diced tomatoes, drained, while shredding the meat.

For the dough: (this makes 8 empanadas. If you need to make more empanadas to use up the meat, do the
dough in batches–don’t double or triple the recipe.)
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 c. cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 c. cold water
Combine dry ingredients, then cut in the cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Add just enough cold water so dough comes together. Divide the dough ball in 1/2 and knead each half 2-3 times. Cut each 1/2 into 4 equal pieces. Cover. Let stand to rise for 20 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece of dough into a THIN 8-inch round.  Place meat and a small amount of monterey jack cheese (optional) onto one half of the circle (don’t add too much or it won’t seal). Fold over the other half, brush edge with water and crimp with a fork. Seal well, or it will burst open in the oven. You can individually wrap these now, and freeze them.
When ready to eat, thaw for a few minutes while the oven preheats and bake as below. Brush tops with butter or an egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water). Bake empanadas at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden brown.

FYI-If you have leftover meat (and don’t want to make more dough), you can freeze the meat and then thaw later and re-heat in a frying pan for tacos/burritos. It’s still yummy.

Dinner is an important time of the day. It is a great time to reconnect with family members and talk about what happened that day. Frozen Dinner Swap has made our dinner prep time stress free. And our families love it!

[You can find more recipes like the one featured above at www.frozendinnerswap.wordpress.com]

~Lindsay

For more First Person submissions, please click here.

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A few weeks ago for a Relief Society activity, we had Lynda Wilson come speak to us (she is the author of The Innkeeper’s Wife). She shared with us about how for a long time she compared herself to everyone around her — especially the women in her ward [church congregation].

For example, the women around her crocheted, so she wanted to learn how to crochet. She tried making a blanket for her baby that ended up being a trapezoid; her stitches were really tight at first, and then got looser and looser as she learned more. She decided crocheting really wasn’t really for her. She took a quilting class and tried to learn how to quilt. (She showed us the strips of her unfinished quilt as a visual aide.)

On and on she went, trying to find a domestic talent. She always compared herself to others and felt bad that she couldn’t do the things others could.

She had always loved reading and writing. Finally one day she realized that it was okay that writing was her gift. That she could use that talent to bless others, and that it was enough. She talked about how just because someone else can do something well (organize, cook, sew, cut hair, whatever…) doesn’t mean that we need to be able to do those things as well to be validated. Whatever our gifts are, it is enough, and that we can use them to bless others. It was such a wonderful message!

As she went around the room randomly asking people to share what their gifts are, I was scared. I didn’t want her to ask me what my gift was. I was feeling pretty depressed that night, and not feeling gifted at all. I honestly probably would have burst into tears and said that I possessed no gifts, for that was truly how I was feeling. I was racking my brain trying to think of something to say just in case she asked me. As I thought of things, my feelings of inadequacy just got worse. I thought, “I am a pretty patient person, I could say patience,” but I remembered how many times I had raised my voice at my children that day during the stress of trying to get ready for that night. I thought, “I am a good listener,” but then I remembered how I had not done a good job of listening to my husband the other day. I was feeling like there are a lot of things I used to be good at, but I had somehow let them all slip away.

I came home that night and read my scriptures. The next morning I read and prayed. The day after that I read and prayed. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what my gifts were. I had to have some, right?

Well, after a lot of thought, I came up with a few. I think I am a good listener and I am a patient person. Lack of sleep makes me not as good at those things, but in a normal (whatever that is) time of life, I am good at those things. I am also artistic. I love photography, and I am kind of good at it. I like to sew, and in the past couple of weeks I made a darling skirt and diaper cover for my daughter using only her other clothes as a pattern. It turned out almost exactly as I had imagined it!  (I couldn’t find what I wanted in the stores so I decided to make it.) I also made her a Christmas stocking using my stocking as a pattern. I think these are my gifts, and I think I can use them to bless the lives of those around me. And that is enough.  And that feels good.

Now it’s your turn. What are your gifts?

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Elect Lady

Elect Lady and Daughter of God
Yours are the hands that hold to the rod.
You care for the sick and ease their pain
Wipe away tears–no, it’s not in vain.

You lift up the lonely and faint of heart
Easing their burdens, gently doing your part.
You’re always there in time of need
Bringing love and cheer and whatever’s decreed.

You set the example–you pave the way
Doing kind acts of service ev’ry day.
Elect Lady and Daughter of God
We think you’re wonderful and you we applaud.

~Gloria Carter

*A Relief Society President is a woman who is called to serve the other women in her congregation by leading them spiritually and overseeing their temporal needs as well. This “calling” (an assignment in the local congregation) takes hours and hours of service weekly. Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Satins learn to love and appreciate Relief Society presidents for their tireless service in their behalf. The calling to be a Relief Society President typically lasts 2 to 5 years and brings with it a spirit of humility and love for the sisters of the congregation.

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President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a powerful talk at the worldwide meeting for women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last fall (October 2008). It was one that many women talked about, rejoiced over, pondered, and reflected on again and again.

Below enjoy a video that the Church recently put together with some of the words of his talk.  How does it make you feel?

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