The Bird

Dale here.

Cheryl had a stressful afternoon yesterday for a few reasons. (I think she handled the day gracefully.) But ask her about the bird. Who knows, she may already be planning on blogging about it. Nothing too funny or too strange - just humorous.

The Third Day

Easter is my favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about it.  I love the promise of spring (even if it isn't necessarily here by Easter).  I love the beautiful crocus blooms and tulips in my yard that is otherwise still kind of "winter ugly."  I love color coming back into everything around me.  I love seeing my kids' and husband's creativity when we decorate eggs.  Mine are always so boring, but they show their amazing creativity and it makes me smile.  I love Easter hymns.  I love being close to the end of the school year.

But most of all, I love all that Easter means when I think of a resurrected Christ.  It seems that all other holidays exist just for the sake of this one.  He was born for the purpose of setting an example for us then dying for us.  He was resurrected so that we might have joy.

I've been reading a book by John Ortberg that describes at length the stories in the Bible that are three day stories.  The list includes the 3 days Esther fasted before going before the king, the three days Jonah was in the big fish, the three days it took for the pagan god Dagon to be destroyed, the three days it took for Jesus to be resurrected, etc.

In each case, the first day was a dark day.  Something happened that was bad, undesirable, etc.  It was a deflating, hope-crushing day.  On the second day, things still seemed to be going badly.  There was no sudden rescue, change of events, etc. just more of the same.  But, when the third day came, that's when our God, who is a third day God, works mighty miracles.  Here's a quote:
"The third day is God's day.  The third day is the day when the people come to the mountains and the mountains shake and rivers are parted and people go into the Promised Land.  The third day is the day when harem girls like Esther face down powerful kings.
"The third day is the day when prophets like Jonah are dropped off at seaside ports by giant fish.  The third day is the day when idols like Dagon come tumbling down and God starts coming home to his people.  The third day is the day stones are rolled away.
"The third day is the day a crucified carpenter came back to life.
"You never know what God is going to do, because God is 'God of the third day.'

He then expounds a lot about all that has happened because Christ was resurrected.

"From that third day on, the world has never been the same.  Jesus' followers, who used to observe the Sabbath, began instead to observe on Sunday -- on the third day -- what they began to call, in the New Testament, the 'Lord's Day.'  The third day is the Lord's Day, because, they said, 'we're third-day people now.  We're betting the farm on this one.'  They said that the kingdom they all had longed for turned out to be real.
"You never know what might happen on the third day.  I cling to that.  I put all my hope in a third-day God.
"But I live in a second day world."

Something about those passages really struck me.  I love the idea that joy cometh after some dark and troubling times.  I love the idea that maybe this life is the 'second day' and joy will come next.  That kind of hope is what makes me love Easter.  It gives me more hope to hang on.

As this Easter day comes to a close, I wish you all a glorious, fabulous spring and all the hope that this life affords.  Happy Easter!

It Works!!

This is what I learned today.  If someone in your house calls 911 and hangs up (you know, just to see if someone will answer), then the dispatchers do call back.  Following a call from dispatch, they really do send out officers.  They might even send two officers who park away from you house (so it looks like it's really a problem at the neighbors' house) and walk cautiously toward the door from two different directions - just in case.  And then the officers are really nice when they come to the door and talk to the family.

Just wanted you to know in case you ever wondered if it works.......

A new favorite spot

Call us weird, but Dale and I discovered a fun little restaurant today.  We had lunch at the Serving Time Cafe.  It's a small restaurant in front of the prison at the point of the mountain.  It's one of several industries that is there to give inmates job experience.  I had no idea they did so many things, but the restaurant is just one of their self-supporting businesses.

The food was good, plentiful, and cheap!  And the staff was great.  They serve breakfast all day (Daniel was thrilled to hear of the possibilities), sandwiches, soups, and salads.  I love the premise of giving the inmates something productive to do that allows them to learn job skills.  I love the small, simple atmosphere.  And how can you go wrong with good, inexpensive food?

So, if anyone wants to serve a little time with me sometime, let me know and we can go say hi to my new buddies!

Aforementioned Fire Experiment

Apparently a mixture of powdered sugar and cornstarch is the best.  And there is now a much more developed delivery device.  Either way, it's kind of cool to see a big ball of flame fly across your yard. 

Note:  For those of you who think we're crazy for letting him do things like this, we've found that he's satisfied when we let him do most of what he wants and we're in the loop.  If we disallowed it all, I fear he'd be trying things without our involvement.  And most of these fairly safe experiments are pretty fun too!

In the Name of Science

A gathering with our friends, the Lindleys.

A mention by Daniel of something his Physics teachers taught them about how you can use a large garbage bag and a vacuum, and it makes you feel like you are being crushed...... Did we need anything more than that?????

Cheyenne looked like a bat!!!

As a side note to the garbage trick, a sweet little Lindley girl mentioned that she's always wanted to be totally wrapped up in saran wrap.... Did we need anything more than that????

Who knew that once wrapped in saran wrap (or Kirkland wrap from the mother ship), you can slide down the stairs much faster? We didn't - but we do now. Experimentation is such a great source of knowledge.

It's Blogger Time!!

Wasn't there an old commercial that said, "It's Miller Time!" Well, that ad seemed to imply that it was party time. I'm claiming that It's Blogger Time because it's finally time to write something about my life to all my blogger friends! It's kind of like having a party, right?

Let's start with my hair. Yesterday marked the two week mark since I had it done. As far as I can tell, everyone has liked the change. It's been super fun for me! First, no one has ever seen my hair this straight (because it's never been this straight!). For two weeks now, I've been able to blow it dry and have it not take an hour to do it, and blowing it dry pretty much covers it. I haven't had to follow that with hours of straightening. It's been awesome. It's soft, healthy, and so fun to do something different for a while.  So, here it is two weeks after the fact.

Then there's the purple streak. Pretty much, everything has been more fun with purple hair! I love having that little bit of happy streak in my hair. And, frankly, it's been so shocking to people because very few people expected ultra-conservative Cheryl to throw in a little color. Dale is sure it's because I never rebelled as a teenager. However, the truth is that you hardly notice it at all unless you're close to me and my hair is turned just right. In some ways, that's even more fun 'cause it's my little secret happy streak!

Beyond the hair, I'm pretty sure that February and March have been two of the busiest months of my life. Ah, I guess you've heard that before, eh? Some day I'll come to accept that my life is just always busy! In addition to doing the regular things with my kids and doing lots and lots of math, I've squeezed in some other awesome experiences and fun times. Since I clearly have missed my chance to blog about them all separately, let's hit some highlights:

- Trip to Disneyland with only adults (more to come on that later)

- Trip to New York City with a group of Wilde Women (more to come on that one too)

- Trip to Beaver Dam, Arizona to see my mother-in-law and get warm (it was in the 40's and raining the whole weekend)

- Valentine's Day

- Brief stint as a DECA judge for the state high school DECA competition. I got to role play as the owner of a travel agency. It was awesome and I met a few more people in the world.

- Scientific experiments involving flame, vacuums, and saran wrap. Hmmmm... Okay, so those things were used in multiple experiments, not the same one!

- Cross country skiing

- Lunches with friends

- Lots of visits with longtime friends from high school and mission

- A couple of NCAA games to watch BYU get to the sweet 16

- A couple of lunches with my party group of sisters and nieces who make me happy

- Book Club (and all the reading that goes with that!)

- A visit from my mom for a couple of days

- Filing my taxes (bleh, bleh and double bleh!!!)

- And the list goes on....

But, here I am in the second half of March with my health and my family in tact.  We have a job, we have food to eat, and I have way more to be happy about than not.  And to top it off, spring officially started today!!!

Finally, I have to send a shout out to all my friends who have been lurking on my blog.  Thanks for showing yourselves over the hair comments.  It makes me really happy that you are still a part of my life!!!