GRRRRRRRRR!

I have been sick for a week. Life has been busy and none of us have really been "on our game". Tonight was regroup time. Why hasn't the spirit been as abundant in our lives? Why has there been more contention at home? What can we do to increase the peace and joy in our lives? Well, we decided as a family that we are going to recommit to kinder words, softer voices, more thoughtful communication.

Every day we are given an infinite number of opportunities to really mess things up. With each breath we can offend, hurt, misstep, overstep, step in it, so many steps backward. Mercifully, God has also provided so many ways to repent and be healed. We can recommit, confess, renew and commune. We can bear witness of Him, testify of Him, fast to be like Him, take His word in us, bear His name, serve Him, pray to Him, and know Him more fully.

I praise the Holy One who saved me and my family from the pitfalls of our existence and gave us a way out of ANY place we find ourselves. I accept Christ's atonement as THE WAY, the way I choose to follow and I will live my life to shine God love on everyone I meet. I pray that I will be of use to the Master, especially in my little family.

I am putting my foot down on THE ROCK and saying to all who oppose Him to get out of THE WAY. I am sure of my foundation and I will build my mansion despite the storms that persist because I know that I have a COVERING of protection and mercy. My fear is swallowed up in MY CONQUERER and my life is a song composed by THE VIRTUOSO.

I am waxing. Not actually "waxing", but rambling on. This whole thing started with a return to kindness in our home. So we are memorizing Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Here is to more turning away and a lot less stirring!

Word for today

M proposed our scripture of the week at family home evening tonight. She said she had the verse that we needed and it was also one of Grandma's favorites as well. She proposed:

John 15:7
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Any questions? Let me know when the miracles happen in your life, because they are comin'. Our Father is so good to us, let us praise Him before the blessing because it is WAY more fun than worryin'.

Love ya'll

Kalahari 2011

We have been so blessed to have the opportunity to meet, as a Brey family, at the Wisconsin Dells for 5 years. Our first two years we stayed at Treasure Island, it is now some Greek or Roman name. The last three years we have stayed at the Kalahari Resort. This year we stayed in the Kondos. They were fabulous. We had 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, family room, pool table, and home theater with 6 recliners. It was pretty much perfect! Here are a few pictures...


Each time we get together we have some sort of family night. We play games (Do you love your neighbor? is a favorite), share testimonies, sing songs, and share talents. This year we were blessed to have a Skype visit with our Mitchell at BYU. It was so wonderful to be together and feel of the love and support that our family offers one another.

"Talents" shared: H, E, and C interpretive dance to Voice Male's Once There Was a Snowman; Josh juggled with glow in the dark balls; C wrestled me to the floor; Mindy shared poetry; Spencer and his amazing tongue!

H brought music for a sing along, including her own pre-recorded accompaniment. We sang "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need", a song from EFY, In Christ Alone. Also, on a musical note there were a few moments when we had to break out with praise and worship just to get the blood flowing. God is good and it is a blast to lift Him up in song.

We also shared testimony and scriptures that have been written on our hearts. Later, in the pool we girls had a minute to discuss more scriptures we are memorizing. It is a miracle for all of us to be memorizing God's word together. We are really tapping in to the Spirit in a new way. Hallelujah! I feel so blessed to have a family that began with two people committed enough to work things out on a day to day basis.

As we were walking to the waterpark we saw this little sign, "A Kalahari Moment". We had to take a picture.

I just can't believe that we have been able to figure out ways for all of us to be together. When we first start trying to figure it out it can seem difficult, expensive, and overwhelming, but when we all are together it is magical. There is no other way to describe it...wait, yes there is - ETERNAL. After the festivities are over and everyone is settled back into their day to day lives I think back on the memories of our time and seems like a perfect dream. I guess that is what we have to look forward to in heaven - every day is a perfect dream. Won't that be a blast!

Scratchin' the Record

For some more "mature" people the idea of scratching a record is probably horrifying. I remember learning how to avoid scratching a record and protecting the turntable from harm. It will become obvious to all that I am not talking about gouging an LP beyond playability, when I say "I love scratchin' the record".

Let me explain. Some time ago I was talking with a wise sister about trying to erase images that I have burned in my brain and continue to haunt my conscious and subconscious. She explained that we cannot erase an image, but we can forever alter an image just like scratching a record.

I will illustrate the concept. C came downstairs last night describing an image of a mummy that was troubling him and keeping him from sleep. He was clearly troubled by this pesky mummy so I asked him to describe some details to me. We decided that rather than a menacing face on the mummy, he now had googly eyes and a silly grin. His eyes were so googly that he became very dizzy. He fell down and hooked some of his bandages on a nail. He was trying to get back up when he began to roll and unroll down a hill. As he unrolled we could see that the mummy was nothing more than bandages wrapped around thousands of bouncy balls. So many bouncy balls, all different sizes, all different colors, and all for C to gather up and play with. In fact, some of the balls were so large that C could ride on them and bounce up to the sky. We were able to change THIS











TO THIS! And a little boy went to bed with a smile. Little boys going to bed can put a big smile on a Momma's face too.

I had this scratchin' method work for me on several occasions. The first time it REALLY saved my life was after a very "bad mommy" moment. I thought I was being a Good Mommy by taking my children to the free "children's movie" a couple of summers ago. I figured since the movie was for children that I didn't need to read all the reviews and background prior to taking my children to see the movie. I WAS WRONG! About 10 minutes into the movie, my two youngest children had curled up on my lap and were ready to leave. For heaven sakes, I was scared too. B insisted she wanted to stay so I took the other kiddos and wandered around Target until the movie was over and the rest of our group was ready to go.

That very night, while trying to go to sleep, all three of my children had visions running through their heads and they weren't sugar plums. This is what they had printed on their brains:
I had to take this creature and "scratch" it into a sweet dream...




So, I glitterized this fella and all of his friends in these:




and in my new story the trolls were not trying to kill the three children home alone. Rather, they were thrilled and so very anxious to prance over to the fabulous and oh-so-important...







TEA PARTY! Oh, the cookies were going to be marvelous! The little cucumber sandwiches were world famous and delicious. Every troll for miles around was dressed in their festive tutus and tiaras and headed straight to the tea party hosted by the three children!

Huzzah! What a glorious party they had and there was plenty to eat for everyone.

This Spiderwick scratch taught me a lot. The more vivid and profound the bad image is, the more vivid and profound the scratch must be. We invented this new story for the hideous trolls in about 40 minutes. We really had to put in a lot of details to properly squash the darkness out of those images. But even now, I can't look at those trolls without picturing them in their tutus, tiaras and glitter wands, prancing to the best tea party ever invented for a sweet dream.

Note to self. Avoid garbage images at all costs. Clearing out the trash requires more imagination than this old brain can handle and I am not sure I have enough glitter to go around.

Highs and Lows!

I have had a few fabulous mornings in a row. I have been able to exercise and spend time in my personal worship. My previous post expressed some of the HIGHness I have had, but when I have felt so great I have a long distance to "fall". Day one, I left the house ready to take on the world. After arriving at work, I succumbed to a bad attitude infection that several educators suffer from (eye rolling, sarcasm, etc.). Day two, tried again to keep my high while at work, again I "fell" to the educator's frustrationitis. On day two, I finally realized that I was being affected by my surroundings and not standing on my sure and happy foundation from the morning. Day three, today I was trying to resist again and I did a little better at school, but I JUST YELLED AT MY KIDS!

Come on Lorie! I am so prideful and yet completely unable to stand on my own. The other day I had a fabulous experience with a 5th grade class and their teacher. I felt so blessed to witness God's love in a simple act at school. I started feeling really good about myself. I had come up with this great idea and I was forming good relationships. I even impacted a teacher that has lost a bit of "vision" in his calling as an educator. Wow! I was impressed with myself. Then I realized that I was taking the glory for the miracle.

"Don't be prideful Lorie. This was God's work."

Whew! For a second I thought I was really heading toward a "fall". I felt so relieved that I had let go of the glory and left it at God's throne...but, then I was feeling so good about myself that I had heard the spirit and followed it. Good for me! I am in tune! I am SO in touch with the spirit that I can make miracles happen.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

What is wrong with me? I am so glad that I have a better understanding of Grace than I did years ago. I know my Lord and SAVIOR is right beside me helping me along despite my stupidity and prideful heart. If I didn't have this knowledge I would truly be depressed. Since I do know my God, I am just thankful for His sense of humor and patience with me. Hallelujah!

P.S. God, if you need me for any more miracles just get a hold of my people and I will try and work it out.

High on the MOST HIGH!

I have had a couple days in a row where I have had time to worship in the morning before I leave the house. I love my scripture memorization, my new marking scripture system, and my music. I am flying high and with the sunny skies there is literally NOTHING that could get me down. We chose a new scripture for our family this week. We will be working on

Psalms 118:24
This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

This scripture was one of Grandpa Omer's favorite scriptures. He quoted it often and every card we got from him had this passage. He truly was a man of God and looked for God's hand in all things. Dave was explaining all of this to us and he shared with us a song he sang as a child to learn this scripture. My man of God, Dave, taught the song to his family and bore testimony of this passage. How can I NOT count myself richly blessed.

My personal scripture to memorize this week is

D&C 84:88
I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

Wherever you are in your life make sure to look around every day. You will see the hand of God and angels bearing you up. Settle in for the ride and count your blessings, there are always some laying around. Look out world, this woman is on fire for God and I am about to leave my house!

Gorgeous Day!

Here in Minnesota we have been held in the icy grip of winter for weeks. Last week we had three days in a row where the kids were unable to be outside due to frostbite warnings. Our current warm up began on Friday and has continued through the weekend. We have little streams running down roads in search of buried storm drains, cleared sidewalks, and our parking lots are slowly gaining more spots.

When I first moved here from Utah I was thrilled to see that there were occasional bright and sunny days during our frigid winters. It didn't take me long to realize that sun and winter in Minnesota usually mean that your nose freezes shut if you inhale through it. Not so today! We had sun, melting snow, very little wind, and we had a great view of our nesting eagle pair on the way to church. We are lucky enough to drive along the Zumbro river on our way to church each week and we have a nesting pair close enough to the road that we can see them feeding their eaglets. I would love to tell you that this picture is "our" nesting pair and that I took it with my camera, but I cannot tell a lie.
I don't believe that any one can appreciate a day like today unless you have lived in winter like we do. Everything seems lighter, all things seem possible, and Spring seems just around the corner. I truly relish days like these because I know that a gray day will come again soon, Spring is definitely NOT around the corner (this is MN after all), but ALL things ARE possible no matter what the weather is because of Jesus Christ and that makes me smile EVERY day. Have a great day wherever you are and live it to the fullest. "This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be GLAD in it".