My Children's Book, Ashel's Christmas, is coming out in November, next month!  I'm so excited.  I talked to the publisher today, and it is on track to be out well before Christmas.  Here's the promo or sneak peek about the book:
Little Ashel, who has recently lost his father, has a special Christmas wish.  Meeting a cowboy at the local general store is the beginning of a cowboy friendship.  Nestled in the deep south, in the 1930's, a tale of cowboys, horses, and cattle provide the backdrop of  Ashel's Christmas. 

Although the book is fiction, I wrote this children's book in memory of my dad, a real cowboy.  His life story gave me the inspiration to write, Ashel's Christmas.  Special thanks to Tessa Guze, a young, talented illustrator who did the illustrations for my book.  You are amazing, Tessa!  Thanks for bringing my words to life with your illustrations!  Here's a sneak peek of one of the illustrations from the book:

Tips on Herbs

     A couple of nights ago, we had our monthly Women's mtg. at church where we share with one another information on topics that have to do with home and family.  This night, we learned about herbs. My friend, Flor, was our teacher (Isn't she cute! Looks like she just won the Miss Mexico Pageant, holding her flowers, but in this case her flowers are actually her chili peppers and basil).  Love you, Flor! She gave us some of the following tips on preserving herbs:

     There are several ways to preserve herbs.  The first way is just to pick the herbs and put them in water to use in the next few days, like the sweet basil that Flor is holding in her right hand in the photo above. Another way is to preserve them is the Kosher/Sea salt or Sugar Method.  Wash the herbs, and pat them dry with paper towels on top and bottom.  Then layer them in a pint or quart size mason jar with the kosher salt, sea salt or sugar in between the herbs.  These will keep for 6-9 months. You can layer the herbs with either sugar or kosher salt, topping off the jar with the sugar or kosher or sea salt.  Leave about 1/2 inch of head space. Screw on the lid and allow about 2 weeks for the sugar or kosher salt to absorb the flavor.  Awesome! I thought the main way to preserve herbs is with a dehydrator. I like this easy way. This is pictured on the left here.  For demo purposes, she just did a couple of layers of herbs with sugar. *Note - The Sugar Method works great for lavender, lemon balm, sage, lemongrass, lemon verbena, thyme, rosemary & mint.  The Kosher/Sea Salt Method works great for rosemary, thyme, eucalyptus, bay,m oregano, sage, garlic, marjoram, chives, savory basil, and tarragon.

     She also demonstrated a couple of ways to freeze herbs.  Ice cube Method  - After washing your herbs and patting them dry with paper towels, you can put them in a small chopper (add about a Tablespoon of olive oil, if you are chopping sweet basil. Add water for all other herbs).  Then, chop them for a few seconds. Next, empty the chopped herbs into ice cube trays and freeze them.  After freezing the cubes, remove from the ice tray and place cubes in a Ziploc bag, store in the freezer and thaw out as needed.  Then just take them out of your freezer as needed & wahla! you have the herbs you need, without having to buy fresh ones

Ice Cube Method to the left.

Vacuum Seal Method to the right.  Dry the herbs, just like before & place them in a vacuum seal bag, as pictured on the right.  Use the small Ziploc vacuum sealer which looks sort of like a large syringe.  Place the tip of the vacuum sealer on the circle in the right hand corner of the bag, as shown above with the scissors pointing to the circle.  Then suction out the air.  The bag will look like all the air is out.  This inexpensive vacuum sealer, (about $4-5 from Wal-Mart) seems to work as well as the more expensive, fancy, smanchy  ones. Then you can freeze the bags of herbs and use them, as needed.  You can do this same method with regular freezer bags, also.  Just try to get as much of the air out as possible by flattening the bag of herbs & laying your herbs flat in the bag.

      Also, for the Oven Method, wash and dry the fresh herb sprigs as before, pick out the discolored leaves and woody stems.  Preheat your oven to lowest temperature setting.  Strip the leaves off of the woody stems and chip or clip herbs into 1/4" pieces or so onto parchment lined cookie sheet.  Place in oven on top rack for 2-4 hours or until the leaves crumble easily between your fingers.  Drying times may vary according climate conditions and relative humidity.  Gather up the parchment paper into a funnel and place smallest end over the mouth of a clean, completely dry jar and seal tightly. Place jar in a dry, dark place such as your kitchen cabinet, pantry or even your freezer.

     Last is the Classic Method, where you tie sprigs of herbs into a bunch and hang them in a cool, dark place with good ventilation.  Once dried, seal tightly and store away from heat and light.  These will keep for about a year.

 Now that I have this info. maybe I can preserve some of my herbs that are trying to TAKE OVER!

Faith in Jesus Christ and my Bike Ride

     A few days ago I had an experience that reminded me of something so very important.  I went out to ride my new Trek bike for the 2nd time since I bought it a few days before that. The sky was clear and I decided while no one else was home, I would ride about 12 miles.  I was excited and loved riding down highway 90 that runs in front of our property.  Highway 90 has a 4 foot shoulder and bikers love this road.  It's also relatively level with few hills. Many bikers come through here during the year.  I enjoyed the sunshine, unusual cool breeze, and the feel of my bike.  I had forgotten how much I loved biking!  I easily shifted into higher and lower gears, as I meandered along the road.  After biking 3 miles east on hwy 90 I turned south on Sapp Rd, another paved road not far from our home.  Sapp road doesn't have the wide shoulders for bikers, but it is not as busy as hwy 90 and I have always enjoyed biking or running down this country road past the farms and country homes.  Along my way I passed a man with his little grand-daughter,hand-in-hand taking a walk.  I smiled and spoke to them as I passed them, noticing the little girl's braids bobbing as she walked.  Later on down the road I came to where the road goes over the interstate.  I knew I had now traveled about 6 miles and it was time for me to turn around.

     I turned around and started the jaunt back to my house.  I knew my 16 year old daughter would be coming home soon from an outing with a friend.  I also knew my husband had called an electrician friend of ours to do some work at our house, so I had timed my ride so I would return about the time the electrician  would arrive.  As I biked north on Sapp road back to hwy 90 I exchanged greetings with a young woman who was watching her dog run around in her yard.  It was a beautiful day! What a great day for a bike ride with a sweet breeze in the air!  Then suddenly I heard thunder and looked to the east and the beautiful blue southern sky had melted into black clouds.  I rode faster.  I was still about 5 miles away from my house.  In a few minutes it began to sprinkle.  By that time I was about 4 miles away from my home.  Another mile back to hwy 90 and then 3.1 miles to my house from there.  

     Lightening accompanied with thunder began to pop around the area, and I biked faster.  By the time I arrived at hwy 90, it was pouring down.  As an after thought, I had grabbed a baseball  cap and sunglasses to wear while biking.  I was beginning to be very grateful for the cap and sun glasses because they allowed me to see through the rain.  Had I not been wearing a cap and sunglasses to shield the rain, I'm pretty sure I would have wrecked.  I turned onto hwy 90 heading west toward our home and peddled as fast as I could.  I prayed constantly that my Heavenly Father would hold off the lightening away from me, assuring Him that I surely didn't mind the rain, but I did not want to die.  Now I was biking through an inch of  or more of rain and it poured harder.  My clothes and Saucony running shoes were soaked and getting more soaked.  I had not brought my cell phone with me and no one was home anyway at my house.  My husband was working out of town with a silage crew cutting silage for farmers in Georgia & it wasn't quite time for Kenzey, our 16 year old daughter to be home around 6 pm.

     At this time, I began counting the pick-up trucks  that rode past me, trucks that could have stopped and 

given me a ride just 3 miles down the road where we lived.  More lightening and thunder cracking all around me.  What did this mean?  Was there a lesson for me to learn here?  I continued to pray and be grateful for my protection, so far on my wet journey.  It was now obvious that no one was going to stop, that it was me and my faith in Jesus Christ that would save me in this storm.  I prayed for the enabling power of the atonement of my Savior to allow me to bike like I never had before.  I was soon amazed at how fast I was going with so little training before this ride.  I lost count of the trucks and concentrated on my faith and my prayers directed to my Heavenly Father.  I just kept moving in the right direction and kept praying.  Soon, I was only a mile from home, then a 1/2 mile from home.  I could see our mailbox, I was doing all I could to get there.  A little more strenuous peddling and I was at our mailbox. Finally, I got off my bike  at our mailbox because I didn't want to ride uphill on our 1/4 mile driveway in the mud. (Our driveway is not paved)  I discovered my legs were a little shaky, but I had made it.  I walked up our driveway with my bike in the pouring rain and thunder feeling grateful that I was alive and had made it home with the Lord's help.  

     Since that day last week, I have reflected on this experience a great deal.  This is what I learned from that experience (besides letting someone know when I bike that far, in case of a Florida thunder storm!).  I have thought how my biking experience that day is a great deal like our lives.  One day we're moving through life with great joy and even recreation and relaxation.  But then, out of know where we are caught in a storm, maybe not a thunderstorm, but a storm of difficulty, or temptation, or grief and despair.  Things just out of our control that we had nothing to do with, but we find ourselves in the middle of it, all the same.  I know without a doubt that the storms of life surely come.  And sometimes, there is no one around to help us, sometimes we just feel all alone in this horrific storm.  But, I also know without a doubt that help and relief is just a prayer away.  Our Father in Heaven loves us and His son, Jesus Christ, loves us and they are watching over us.  We must put our trust in Jesus Christ, for he has endured everything in our behalf.  He is my Savior and Redeemer and has rescued me many times.  All we have to do is pray in his name and keep moving in the right direction.  He will do the rest.

Missionary Work

     Our son, Kacey, has been on his mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) for 10 months serving the wonderful people in Nicaragua.  He absolutely loves being on a mission and teaching others about Jesus Christ and his gospel.  First, I'll explain some about our missionary work: Our young missionaries leave their families, friends, social life, academic pursuits, and jobs behind for 2 years (for young men) & 18 months (for young women) to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.  This is not a requirement for our young people.  They are only encouraged to consider this option in their lives.  After they make it a matter of prayer and thoughtful consideration they can choose to go or not to go. (Right now our church has 65, 000 missionaries serving around the world.) If they choose to go, they fill out their mission application online at our church website (lds.org).

     Our church leaders then receive their application ( in Salt Lake City, Utah) and prayerfully decide which area of the world each missionary should be sent to.  In about 3 weeks a young missionary receives his/her mission call to an area of the world where they are most needed. Our son was called to the Managua North Nicaragua mission. They are given a date that they need to report to one of our Mission Training Centers around the world.  Our son reported to the Mission Training Center in Utah on August 23, 2012.  There he and about 2,000 -3,000 other missionaries were trained in different languages they will need for their mission, along with some religious training in how to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in different cultures around the world.  Missionaries being called to the U.S. who are from the U.S. usually have 2 weeks of training.  Missionaries who are called to foreign missions, or that need to learn a different language, are usually there 6 weeks for language training.  Kacey was taught Spanish & continues to learn Spanish.  Our missionaries not only teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, they perform service every week to those in their area.    Below is a photo our our son (with the orange cap) and his companion with a family.  (Missionaries always have a another missionary companion with them).  They have just helped put a roof on the house for this family's home.  As you can see from the photo, Nicaragua  has a great deal of poverty.


The photo below is the family's home before the roof was put on.  Kacey's companion (Elder Diption) is standing in the family's home.



This photo below is of a sweet Nicaraguan family, where the son (dressed in white) is going to be baptized. Elder Mendez (on the left) was Kacey's first native companion. Elder Aukema is dressed in white. Our Elders have the proper priesthood authority to not only teach the gospel, but baptize those who choose to follow Jesus' example and be baptized, as well.
     

The photo below is right before the boy's parents were baptized.



A taste of the contrasting Nicaraguan landscape is shown in the two photos below.  Elder Aukema has been serving near the West Coast of Nicaragua.




Here, Elder Aukema is holding two iguanas.  Ans yes, they eat the iguanas in Nicaragua.  Many of the men who do not have jobs hunt iguanas and sell them to help feed their families.  Kacey told us that iguanas taste sort of like fish.



Elder Aukema is about to board a small plane, below, that will take him and other missionaries to the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua  (across the country) where he and others were transferred to serve in June.  Missionaries are transferred to other areas in their mission several times in order to teach more people.


Did I mention that we are proud of him?  We are so very happy that he chose to spend two years of his life serving the Lord full time, before continuing his education and social life.  Way to be a good example, son!

The photo below is what Puerto Cabanzeas ( his new area) looks like in June.  It is the rainy season and most of the houses are up on stilts due to flooding.  He is excited about the new area of the country and says this below about the people: "well the people here are sooo humble it is crazy and these humble people are going to change me a lot, the accept us immediately as representatives of Jesus Christ and trust us with their salvation, I couldn't think of a greater responsibility and I hope that with God, I can help a lot of these beautiful wonderfully humble people find the salvation they need in a world of despair, and find the hope that brings the true gospel to their trusting humble souls.

     

Family Matters Most

     I have hesitated  to share about our sweet family on this blog, because they are most precious to me. But, I have now decided that sharing the most important part of our lives may help or inspire someone else in some small way. Where do I start?  How do I tell others that my faith & my family mean everything to me?  I believe that families are forever and that forming happy families is the most important work on Earth.  I believe that investing the time and energy in our families makes happy families, good communities, and a great nation.  So, I will begin right where we are:

     In the past week, our son, Kacey has graduated from high school (Summa Cum Laude) in our little town of Chipley, FL, graduated from Early Morning Seminary (4 years of high school religion class which meets an hour before school begins each week day), and today he received his mission call from our church.  He will be serving in the Managua North, Nicaraguan mission for two years.  We are all so excited for him! He will be sharing with others about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He will be a great missionary! He begins his mission on  August 22nd.  We are so very thankful for all five of our beautiful children, Mandi, Mitzi, Lacey, Kacey & Kenzey.

     Also, all three of our married daughters are having baby boys this year.  Mandi & her husband, Ryan had baby boy Reed on Feb. 21st.  He is so very sweet.  He joins his  very awesome older sister and brother, Randi Jo & Rhett. Mitzi & Lacey are both due in early August. We can hardly wait for the next two little boys to join our family!  Mitzi & Adam's little boy will join his big sister, Eden who is sweetheart!  Lacey & Nate's little guy will be their first bundle of joy.  Our daughters below are from R-L, Mandi, Mitzi, Lacey & Kenzey.

Out of the Best Books

"And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."  D & C 88:118

The best books bring out the best of the human spirit.  They teach us life lessons that we can relate to in our day.  I strongly recommend the following books.  They are just awesome!  My husband & I can't wait for the 4th book! Great books that leave you with the warmth of hope, love, grace, redemption, and faith in the human spirit.  You must read these!




"My name is Alan Christoffersen. You don’t know me. ‘Just another book in the library,’ my father would say. ‘Unopened and unread.’ You have no idea how far I’ve come or what I’ve lost. More important, you have no idea what I’ve found." —Prologue What would you do if you lost everything—your job, your home, and the love of your life—all at the same time? When it happens to Seattle ad executive Alan Christoffersen, he’s tempted by his darkest thoughts. A bottle of pills in his hand and nothing left to live for, he plans to end his misery. Instead, he decides to take a walk. But not any ordinary walk. Taking with him only the barest of essentials, Al leaves behind all that he’s known and heads for the farthest point on his map: Key West, Florida. The people he encounters along the way, and the lessons they share with him, will save his life—and inspire yours. Richard Paul Evans’s extraordinary New York Times bestsellers have made him one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. A life-changing journey, both physical and spiritual, The Walk is the first of an unforgettable series of books about one man’s search for hope.



Miles to Go is the 2nd in this series.
Alan Christoffersen, a once-successful advertising executive, wakes one morning to find himself injured, alone, and confined to a hospital bed in Spokane, Washington. Sixteen days earlier, reeling from the sudden loss of his wife, his home, and his business, Alan left everything he knew behind and set off on an extraordinary cross-country journey. Carrying only a backpack, he planned to walk to Key West, the farthest destination on his map. But a vicious roadside stabbing has interrupted Alan's trek and robbed him of his one source of solace: the ability to walk.Homeless and facing months of difficult recovery, Alan has nowhere to turn—until a mysterious woman enters his life and invites him into her home. Generous and kind, Angel seems almost too good to be true, but all is not as it appears. Alan soon realizes that before he can return to his own journey, he must first help Angel with hers.From one of America's most beloved and bestselling storytellers comes an astonishing tale of life and death, love and second chances, and why sometimes the best way to heal your own suffering is by helping to heal someone else's.Inspiring, moving, and full of wisdom, Miles to Go picks up where the bestseller The Walk left off, continuing the unforgettable series about one man's unrelenting search for hope.



The Road to Grace is the third installment of Richard’s bestselling series, The Walk, the ongoing story of one man’s unrelenting search for hope. Reeling from the sudden loss of his wife, his home, and his business, Alan Christoffersen, a once successful advertising executive, has left everything he knew behind and set off on an extraordinary cross-country journey. Carrying only a backpack, he plans to walk to Key West, the farthest destination on his map.

Now nearly halfway through his trek, The Road to Grace takes him from South Dakota to St. Louis, Missouri. Alan covers more than 800 miles on foot, but it’s the people he meets along the way who give the journey its true meaning.

Full of wisdom and hard-won truth, this is a moving standalone story as well as the continuation of the unforgettable series about hope, healing, and the meaning of life

No Other Work

"No other work reaches so close to divinity as nurturing the sons and daughters of God."
                                                                                 Gordon B. Hinckley

     This week in my Marriage & Family Therapy class, I was once again reminded of the most important work here on Earth, that of strengthening families and nurturing children.  I know that parents who take the time to love and nurture their children will have joy in family relationships and in their children's development.  As we discussed difficulties in families, I thought how most of these difficulties could be lessened or completely abolished if parents were true to each other and put their family first.  Children who seldom experience the loving investment of their parents are less likely to contribute positively to their communities, and more likely to develop problems with relationships with others.

      A young married student who has chosen, so far, not to have children, mentioned in one of my graduate classes that she didn't want to have children.  She said that it just seemed too hard to have to worry about someone else when it was all she could handle to get herself to work and to school, etc. I thought that was so sad when I know the greatest of all joys of life is that of happy parenthood. There is nothing to compare to the instant joy felt on an ordinary day when you're child spontaneously says,"I love you, mama" or "I love you daddy."  I have learned that it is through loving and sacrificing for a child that enables adults to learn the value of patience and the importance of a child's developing his own inner strength and character.

      I am so very grateful for my family and the good choices they make everyday.  Our three older married daughters are expecting babies this year and we are thrilled, thrilled with their decision to have a family and thrilled that we will have three new little people joining our family this year.  We are truly blessed!  Mandi is due by Feb. 21st and both Mitzi and Lacey are due in August.  We can't wait to welcome these sweet spirits to our family!