Stay Family Yearbook 2013

Testing, testing... This may or may not work, but I'm attempting to post our 2013 yearbook here. Um, yes, it is a bit late. Also, don't feel obligated to look through it. It is a bit long. :)

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Who's Who?

Here's your comparison quiz for the evening. Which child is which?

The Stay Women Have Their Moments in the Spotlight

We discovered both of these this week:

This is a class catalog for our local arts center. See that cute tap-dancing girl? Yep, that’s our Coriel! She took a tap/ballet dance class last semester. She was fabulous and quite the ballerina/tapperina(?). :)

This video has a picture of me and Addra helping with a food drive. Since the photo was taken, it was used in a display at the Washington, D.C., Visitors’ Center and now in this video (at minute 1:11ish)!

Had I known it was going to be used so widely, I may have . . . I dunno . . . taken a shower that morning? Done my hair? Not let Addra wear a swim cover-up instead of real clothing? But oh well, it’s cute. And I’m sure no one else sees those things when they look at it. All they see is that enchanting little girl with a box of pasta.

After the Fire

From lds.org. Also, I know it's not the portrayal
of the events I discuss, but it's all I've got. :)

After Addra was born, I really struggled emotionally for quite a long while. Looking back, I was probably (definitely) bordering on PPD (if not officially over the border)—but I hid it well enough that I was sort of getting by. In the wake of a new baby, I have felt like I need to do all I can to be better off this time than last. So I’ve been perhaps more receptive than usual to new interpretations of scriptures. It is in this state that I reread the story of Elijah and the still, small voice last week. While the part that we usually read is still beautiful and powerful, I was struck by the verses before and after the famous story (in 1 Kings 19, if you’re reading along). I don’t think this is any definitive interpretation of the story; it’s just the one that makes sense to me right now. I think that’s the great thing about stories and scripture stories in particular—they can reveal different things at different times

In this time period, Elijah is struggling, depressed. He is in hiding, his preaching has only earned him enemies, and he is watching the people he loves destroy themselves by wickedness. So I suspect that when he lies down and asks for death, he doesn’t do it lightly.

An angel comes and tells him to “arise and eat.” And sitting before him, without any effort of his own, is food and drink. This is especially poignant to me right now because after Koa was born, we were so blessed for many days in a row to find food appearing repeatedly on our doorstep, over and over, until our fridge could barely handle the leftovers. Friends and ward members fed my family during a time when what we needed most was rest and sustenance. We did nothing to receive it; it was a tiny but beautiful miracle to us.

Elijah eats, drinks, and rests. Then the angel gives him food and drink again because the journey set out before him is “too great.” And Elijah eats and drinks and goes “in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights” until he gets to Horeb, to commune with God.

I love the beauty of this—Elijah is sustained in his long journey, his struggle. Doesn’t the journey sometimes seem very, very long? But are we not sometimes sustained in that journey by gifts freely given?

So when Elijah arrives at a cave at Horeb, the Lord asks him what he’s doing there, and this is Elijah’s response:

“I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” (v. 10)

To me, this feels exhausted, lonely, perhaps questioning his mission: “What’s the point? Nothing I’ve done has made a difference.”

And then he experiences all those powerful events—a wind, an earthquake, a fire. Then the voice, still and small, the only thing that the Lord was in. I can’t help feeling like all of this was just another piece to a process that had already begun with the moment he wished for death. Elijah had been supported, strengthened, and now shown that powerful manifestations aren’t necessary to feeling the help and love of the Lord.

But this is not the end of the story. The scripture explains that Elijah gets up after he hears the voice, and he goes to stand in the entrance to the cave. When a voice asks him again what he’s doing, he answers almost exactly the same thing as he’d said before. In other words, Elijah recognizes that his physical circumstances remain unchanged. The manifestations from the Spirit do not suddenly soften the hearts of those who hunt him; they do not resurrect dead prophets and friends; they do not convert the children of Israel.

What did all of this do, then? It strengthened him, it changed his heart. The Lord gives him instructions on what to do next, and here’s what the scripture says, simply, about his reaction: “So he departed thence.”

I hope that simple statement of obedience can someday be said of me.

Fortune Cookie (and Other Oddments)

It’s that time again, that time when I write a whole bunch of random bits that have no relationship to one another. They also correlate with the size of my current attention span for blog topics—which is to say, short.

A while back, I got this fortune from a fortune cookie. I really like getting fortunes like these because they just feel like the universe laughing and I think probably the universe deserves a good chuckle once in a while.

Addra drew this portrait of me, and I think it’s the best picture of me EVER. Please note my awesome high heels. You only wish you could have high heels as cool as mine. (The drawing to the left was her first effort, which she was not happy with.)

 

 

I am officially due to have a baby next month. I am kind of all-around freaking out, but oh my goodness I will be so glad to not have all this wretched soreness. I mean, I’m happy to have a healthy baby and all that jazz, but I also kind of enjoy walking painlessly occasionally. Also, recently I’ve been going through some old family photos and I really look forward to having a (semi)visible waistline again someday.

As of today, 1 June, I am taking part in a 100 words for 100 days challenge. This is good because I haven’t been writing a lot lately and I could use a kick in the pants. I am, however, going to give myself a pass for the baby’s birthday.

Also speaking of the baby, we still have no name for him. I’m still going with He Who Shall Not Be Named, partially because now Coriel has caught onto that and loves calling him that.

Addra has a whole beautiful closet and several drawers full of wonderful, cute clothing. . . . She will only wear three outfits. She often wears at least two of them in one day, with her sister wearing the third one. When she does not get to wear one of these outfits every single day, suffering ensues. I am usually the one suffering. I am sincerely hoping this phase passes soon before one of us explodes. 

Add a skirt to either of these leotards (only two possible skirts,
though), and you have all of Addra's choices for outfits except one, her
"Hawaiian ninja" dress--which is really a sailor dress. Technically
I suppose that's more than three outfits.

Also, as always, I occasionally post at MMW and CalloohCallay Callay, but I don’t really bother to mention it here. So if you’re interested, go follow those blogs too. :)

And that’s it for now.

 

February Recap

Well, it turns out that Blogger hates me today. I had just finished putting captions on everything and getting the pictures somewhat arranged (well, loosely sort of arranged, anyway), when it decided to freeze on me. So . . . maybe I'll add pretty captions and formatting and all that jazz someday. But let's be honest, probably not. So you'll just have to sift. :)

I recommend reading the text way at the bottom first and then looking at the pictures. I think they will make a little more sense that way.

Necklace made from purple noodle beads

In case you were wondering, Princess Aurora is standing in for
Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The cat and horse are . . . horses.

Addra eating the plate at her fancy tea party
in the middle of the hallway

That day the girls decided to be matching as much as possible

Here are a few highlights from our February, complete with even some pictures!

Coriel continues to love taking photos and videos. She would document everything if she could some days (no matter whether Jeanna showered or not). There was one day where the girls took turns dancing on our coffee table and taking pictures of each other—at least fifty pics or so, just on and on.

We played a round of Iron Chef (see previous blog post).

We had some massive snow days. Most particularly, there was one day that Brice built the girls a little snow fort to play in. Mostly, though, on snow days, Jeanna stayed inside and shivered, waiting for the girls to come in shivering too. Then Brice stayed outside for a whole long time afterward, either playing or shoveling.

For Valentine’s Day, Brice wrote a silly story about two birds of paradise, and he had the girls illustrate it. It was adorable. Brice also made a yummy brownie/whipped cream/raspberry dessert.

We visited Brice’s sister and her family in Arizona. It was WARM! And fun! Because her family is awesome! And also because I got to go a writers conference! And because, despite knowing that this is far too many exclamation points, I’m going to use them anyway!!! (I will have to write more about this one in a different post, though, because there’s lots to say.)

My sweet friend Sariah sent me and the girls a couple of delightful board books: the Pride and Prejudice Counting Primer and a shortened version of “The Jabberwocky,” with very cute illustrations. Also with P&P came a set of little play figures to tell the story. It was awesome. I have told Coriel most of the story of P&P now, using those figures and some of our various figurines and toys to fill in the other characters (like Dopey as Mr. Collins, which felt appropriate). A few days after our latest installment of the story, I was telling Coriel a story about a rich man and she replied, “Richer than Mr. Darcy?” I was so proud.

Fun homeschool projects from February month:

*Making naan. This turned out surprisingly easy and yummy, even though it didn’t taste exactly as expected.

Also, if you go to a glass blowing demo,
you'll get to see a guy in these really dreamy
super-short leather apron outfits. Bonus!

*Making pretend stained glass to emulate the ancient Phoenicians, who were famous for their glass and seem to have been majorly involved in the invention of glass blowing. (As a side note, we attended a short demonstration of glass blowing a few months ago at a Renaissance Festival, and it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. So incredible to watch how quickly the fellow turned a glob of goo into a beautiful, colorful vase. I could go on and on about it forever, but I’ll just say this: if you ever get the chance to watch someone blow glass, do it.)

*Dying purple cloth (and some beads made from noodles). The Phoenicians were also famous for this. Apparently it took seven days for a batch, they used snails, and the process was so stinky that it was a common insult to tell someone they smelled like they were from Tyre (one of the main factories where the purple dye was produced). We, however, did not to any of these things. We used boiled blueberries. It was still pretty darn cool. (Also, this was technically the end of January, but that’s close enough.)

Twenty-Six Minutes in the Life . . .

Coriel has recently taken to documenting our lives excessively. I thought you might enjoy seeing the world the way that she sees it, through all her gazillions of photos (what blessing to have digital cameras!). Over the course of a 26-minute period a few days back, she took 61 pictures. Here are a little less than half of them.

Day: 3 February

Time: 10:55–11:19 a.m.

Subject: Everything

Look at me multitasking! Taking care of dinosaurs and ponies while writing a novel. (Try not to notice that I'm still in my pajamas.)

Said novel.

Ponies need glamor shots too.

And so do these ponies.

Addra's very favorite red blankie.

I have no idea.

Me checking out my friend's new fashion blog.

Selfie!

Hydration. Very important.

And now for a musical interlude.

Needing a close-up.

Addra's toy lamb.

The rocking unicorn. Added bonus: mess in background.

And now back to me.

Animal nose.

Friends.

And more friends.

Our wall of random school stuff. Some of which has been up for months.

"Hi horse! You can win!..."

Upside down Addra.

Happy.

Silly.

The space of time between this picture, fully dressed, and the previous unclad one is four minutes. And I had no part in getting her dressed. It was all Coriel and Addra's work.

Now fancy. We must capture Addra in all her moods, you know.

I long for the day they stop sticking stickers on everything. Added bonus: huge red bag of library books in the background.

Addra tells us about the stickers.

Even more fancy.

And there you have it. Twenty-six minutes in the life of Coriel.