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".

5:00 a.m.?!

I think you all know me well enough to realize that I don't get up at 5:00 a.m. for anything except a flight to somewhere fabulous. Not so today! The Lord woke me at 5:00 a.m. and I surrendered to Him about 8 minutes later.

Dave leaves by 6:15 and he has been waking me each morning. I usually lay in my bed with one eye open, check my email, daily news, facebook, etc. It takes me a good hour to get up on most days. I have really been struggling to get up and see my Bean leave for school. She is up by 6:00 and leaves at 6:47. I have managed to get up, hug her, pray over her, and wish her well just before she leaves on most days. Actually, I need to do that now...I'm back.

I have been praying to have an easier time to get up and the Lord has been helping me. I actually have had alert times around 6:00 a.m. on most days, but I usually ignore them and go back to sleep. So why do I ask for help if I really don't want it? I will have to ruminate on that for a while...asking for something righteous (early study, family, exercise) and not REALLY wanting it. Sleep is a stronghold for me I guess. I need to have God explain this all to me.

Anyway, I did get up today and went right to get my scriptures, that's how awake I was. Miraculous. I did a little highlighting and realized I need to redo some of my indexing. Here are the topics I am working with right now. I have really just started on this aspect of my studies. I have about 20 scriptures marked, my scriptures are still a bit too pristine.

1 Agency/Choose/Will

2 Apostasy/Pride/Apathy

3 Atonement/Repentance

4 Born Again/ New/Baptism

5 Character of God/Names

6 Doubt/Fear

7 Faith/Courage/Action

8 Humility

9 Joy/Cheer/Happiness

10 Love/Charity/Service

11

12 Mercy/Grace/Rescue

13 Miracles

14 Peace/Comfort/Hope

15 Praise/Gratitude

16 Prayer/Cry Out to God

17

18 Sacrament/Sabbath

19 Revelation/His Word to Me

20 Rock/Foundation

21 Suffering/Adversity/Trial

22

23 Speak/Tongue/Mouth

24

25 Talents/Gifts of Spirit

26 Teaching/Testimony

27 Temples/Covenants

28 Trusting God/Patience

I have loved memorizing scripture. The selection I am working on now is pretty difficult for me, but I will persevere. Our family scripture goal has changed for this year and so far we are seeing great blessings. Our previous goals have consisted of trying to read a chapter a day or something similar. We have had mixed success, but little understanding of the word was found in our children. As I prayed about making the scriptures "live" in me I was led to memorization. Why not use the same process for my family? As a family, we have begun memorizing a scripture a week. Once we choose a scripture, we write it on our bathroom mirrors and we discuss it all week. It has given us opportunity to dig into the meatier scriptures and write God's word on our hearts. I also discuss with the family other scriptures I am studying or memorizing. It's just been a short time, but I feel very blessed and guided.
It is almost 7:00 p.m. and I have survived the whole day. I am amazed. My day has been blessed and I attribute it to our scripture study. In my home, I have found greater peace and my children are being drawn to know God better. It is my greatest hope to think that my children will learn to love God and seek Him each and every day.

#11 Our First Summer of Baseball

We had our first experience with summer baseball. C was on a Kindergarten T-ball team called the Steel Birds. He was #11 and really enjoyed playing his games. Two days a week we would head to a park where the team would practice for a half hour and then they would play a one hour game. It was so much fun to cheer for the boys. They didn't really keep score and everybody felt like they were winners.

We were really pleased with his coach, Jim. We focused on fundamentals and FUN. C had a few of his kindergarten classmates on his team and then he was able to make new friends as well. I must admit the first couple of games were comical in their entirety, but then they started playing baseball. This venture into baseball also got C excited about collecting cards. Each week his coach would give the boys a baseball card. He has now branched out to basketball, as well as Pokemon and YuGiOh. As fun as baseball was, C has notified us that his "real talents" are in basketball. We'll see about that.

My most grateful moment of the baseball season came at the after season party at the coach's house. C and a couple of his teammates were playing baseball with the parents. Two of his teammates began fighting over who was next "at bat". It ended up with punching and rolling around on the ground. C just sat down at first base and looked bored. I asked him about it later and he said, that the fighting was so dumb and it ruined the game. I was pleased that he didn't get involved and saw the fighting as a waste of time.