Books and Pasplore

I want to say how fun it is to know people who are awesome!  There are so many people who I am surrounded by who do amazing things.  This post is probably embarrassing for all of them but they will just have to deal with it.  (There are, of course, many other awesome people that I am surrounded by that aren’t mentioned in this post.)

I go to church with (at least two) authors who have self-published full-length novels!  I loved creative writing in High School but the dedication to craft an entire story and then edit, re-edit, re-edit (and, oh yeah, write it) is something I have never wanted to do.  But here are two books that two of my friends have written:

The Plasma Master, by Brian Rushton.  It is a sci-fi adventure about a teenage boy who escapes post-H.S. doldrums and saves a significant part of the galaxy (but not by playing video games).  Available for $.99 for your Kindle or Kindle App

Awakenings, ‘Neath Ancient Ruins Lie, Book One, by Mabel D. F. Cowie.  It’s a fantasy about a Scottish servant girl who deals with some unexpected guests in the dungeon.  Available in paperback for $10.95 or $.99 Kindle or Kindle App.  

OK, if that wasn’t enough, I came across this totally hilarious satire about Christmas stories, also.  The idea from the trio of authors is that there are so many stories about Christmas that are so formulaic that pretty much any topic could masquerade as a heart-felt Christmas story.  They were so daring and brave in their assertion that they found a way to somewhat randomly select titles for their stories BEFORE the stories were written.  So authors Brian Rushton, Amy Rushton and Kevin Rushton each penned a silly story (or picture book) titled, respectively, “The Christmas File”, “The Christmas Hamburger” and “The Christmas Head”. 

I read them last night, and then showed my wife the Hamburger one before church today.  We were forced to read all of them to the kids tonight after dinner and everyone laughed in all the right places.  (I am quite confident there is some social commentary going on in the Head story that I didn’t pick up, but see if you can find some humor and irony in Kevin’s choices of character names and “heads”).  This one is a FREE book that is downloadable in many eReader formats and it will only take you 10 minutes to get through the stories.  Once you read them, you might be tempted to start your own stories, like my wife and daughters did tonight.

Oh, and lastly, lest I not forget, my friend Wes Dyer has co-founded a website with his brother-in-law Chris Crittenden at www.pasplore.com. 

They created a tool that will automatically find recipes on web sites you visit.  At the touch of a button, the recipe is gathered up into digital recipe cards that Pasplore will keep handy (and organized!) for you.  I have started cooking with my laptop on the counter instead of a recipe printout.  They are still on beta, but if you like to cook or if you ever search the web for recipes, then this is a tool worth having.  I am excited that I can start my journey away from the huge binder of printed recipes we keep in the cupboard.

God’s Little Miracles are Sometimes the Best Miracles

by Matt

Sometimes I think that in LDS vernacular or tradition (or maybe anyone’s tradition) that Miracles are held in our minds to be difficult to attain, very rare and/or large-scale things that are viewable on large, grandiose scales.  I have come to disagree with that notion and I have a few thoughts about it I’ve wanted to share for a while.  (One of the stories involves some of our friends and I’ve held off posting because parts of the story could be embarrassing, but it’s been long enough now that I’m posting it anyway.  And I won’t use any names to make sure the innocent are protected.  )

One old experience, first.  I remember in 1999 I was a zone leader for the Bonnie Doon district in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  It was a really large district (it mirrored the stake) and it stretched north into what felt like the “far reaches” of Northern Alberta – an oil town named Ft. McMurray, AB was the northernmost town in our district that had missionaries in it.  After being in the zone for two months, it was my turn to travel around the zone for a week and spend time with each of the companionships.  We drove for a long time and after several days I wanted to stop and stretch my legs in the upcoming town, Lac La Biche.  There was a nice lake near the town and we walked along the walkway enjoying the fresh Spring greenery.  I was sad that there was no branch in Lac La Biche, but we stopped anyway.  About five minutes out of the car a woman approached us and asked if we were missionaries for the church.  “Yes,” came the reply.   She replied  that someone in her family wanted to be baptized but they didn’t know how to contact the missionaries.  Needless to say, we were able to help her out and several weeks later, the person was baptized.  I am convinced that there were many ways that she could have been led to contact the missionaries and she would have certainly found a way without us being there, but to me, it was a miracle.  I think the reason the Lord let it happen in this way was to show His missionaries that He is aware of His Children and that He will guild them to the truth. 

Recently in our home, you might have noticed, we started raising backyard chickens.  If you’re not sure, there are multiple posts about it here, here, here, and…. here, for just a few examples.  Anyway, when they were young and very much a novelty, some friends were over and we were playing with the baby chicks in the garage.  We had had the chicks for several weeks and connections were being formed, field trips to the next door dirt pile for dust baths and roosting lessons were part of the regular activity.  Anyway, through an accident, one of the children hurt one of the baby chicks, Wynona.  Here she is (I think):

She was hurt pretty bad and I was convinced she was going to die.  I was okay with that, chicks are really cheap and getting a new Wyandotte chick would be a pretty easy feat (I think our guest was hatching plans already to buy us another one, actually, if you would pardon the pun).  Anyway, Rebecca and Brianna were very torn up and sat in the garage trying to deal with the sadness of the seemingly inevitable death of poor, little Wynona.  

It was such a terrible event for so many reasons!  Rebecca and Brianna were obviously sad; Poor Wynona was going to die; our poor guests were trying to deal with the fact that their child had caused this sadness.  Even with all this difficulty, I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t really a very big deal – chickens die every day so we can eat them.  Clearly, the loss of an innocent chick is sad, but in the scheme of all the travails on planet earth, this was microscopic.  But to the children in our family it was big.

So my wife comes in from the garage, with Brianna and Wynona.  She comes to me and says that she thinks we should all pray for Wynona and that Heavenly Father will bless her to make her better.  I must confess, at this point I was not happy with the situation.  I mean, c’mon, this is a little chick, we can buy a new one, and she’s lying in your hands convulsing.  I think she’s going to die and I’m Okay with that fact.  But I say, “Ok, we can pray.”  (There isn’t really another answer I can give to that question).  Rebecca amps it up one more level, though, and asks if I would offer the prayer.  Right now. 

So, house guests, kids and all, we kneel down and I say a quick prayer.  To be honest, I was embarrassed.  I didn’t want to pray about this with or in front of our guests, but I tried really hard to make the prayer as sincere as I could.  Our guests soon went home, promising to pray for Wynona as well.  I am sure that their kids offered prayers that night.  Rebecca and ours did and I probably did as well. 

Rebecca made a little bed for Wynona and she slept next to Rebecca on the night stand.  When Rebecca woke up the next morning and eagerly checked on our chick, she was as good as new and chirped a good morning reply to Rebecca. 

Amazing!  It was such a relief, but the Spirit flooded in to me as I realized it truly was the hand of God in our chick’s rescue.  I thought about it more and more and I finally decided that even though chickens die every day, pet chicks that kids have a special relationship with don’t die every day (or nearly as often, anyway).  I was convinced that God didn’t really care much for the chick, but he cared for our kids and wanted to show them that He hears and answers prayers, even if it wasn’t a “big” miracle, it was still a miracle, and our kids’ faith in prayer has been strong ever since.   

Christmas Eve

by Matt

On Christmas Eve we went sledding and our friends the DuRee’s joined us up on the mountain.  It ended up being the perfect activity for the day before Christmas.  Asia and Brianna fell asleep without a hitch that night.  Here are some pictures from the day:

 

		Asia sledding VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

		Rebecca Sledding VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

		Jess and Kaleb VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

 

This one w/ Jessica and Kaleb is just so funny! Jessica is totally worried about running in to some trees and Kaleb just keeps grinning like, “bring it on, Mom!!”  In Jessica’s defense, there was a scary turn on this route that made it look like you were going to smash right into some trees on the left side. 

That night for dinner we had build-your-own Christmas Tree pizza and floating candles::

(The cheese does look kind of gross here, but we mixed Mozzarella and green food coloring so the trees would be green)

We also “acted” out the Nativity using some of our stuffed animals for the enactment.  My favorite Character was Rexina the Alligator playing the part of the donkey.

 

We finished the night by watching How the Grinch Stole Christams and went to bed.

I didn’t get any pictures of Christmas day but we had a great time opening the presents, eating candy and playing.  We went to a local nursing home and put on a 30 minute program of Christmas Carols for the residents – Brianna sang a solo of Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer.  The residents joined in for Jingle Bells (and they were all very excited when Rebecca let them keep their bells).  Rebecca sang Sleigh Ride and Breath of Heaven which were wonderful.  The Caroling was one of the highlights of the entire Christmas season for me.

We attended Sacrament Meeting and enjoyed some Christmas narration and many wonderful pieces of music.  While I was leading the Choir, Asia snuck into Mom’s purse and sent me a text message from her phone. It said “Matt you are sille wen you tes me ASia”   Honestly, I had no clue she could figure out how to send one all by herself but she managed to make it happen.

We ate dinner with Mom and Kenny afterwards and enjoyed a great time cooking, playing music, and looking at my Mom’s new computer and accompanying electronic art pad. 

Merry Christmas Everyone!  May the love of the Savior shine down on you.