Life's Blessings

I have been sitting here this morning being grateful for my blessings, one of which will be that dad and I will be able to finally refinance our home in August. As you all know, dad and I have had years of very difficult financial times. It has not been easy for us but we have survived the challenges thrown at us. I wanted to share some of the things that we have done through these lean and difficult years that have helped us survive and gotten us to this point.

We always paid our tithing. We always paid fast offerings. I have shared with most of you the story of Grandpa Fowler and fast offerings and we have heard a lot of talks about fast offerings. We decided to put paying fast offerings to the test. We had heard that paying fast offerings should be a sacrifice but not a burden. When we first got married we were paying $10 a month for fast offerings. As you kids came along we paid $50.00 a month. Some where along the line we started paying $150 a month and last December we upped it to $250.00, a sacrifice….yes. A burden….NO. Blessings….Yes. We have been guided and directed along the way for the last 6 months on how to repair our credit score and are now in a position to be able to refinance soon and be on our way to financial recovery. Has it been easy….no. Will it be worth it….Yes!!! I believe by paying fast offerings we also have the ability to choose between wants and needs and the desire to go out and spend money needlessly is curbed. We have the ability to think things through, plan and not do a lot of impulse buying. We have more control over our money and it has less control over us.

I am very grateful for the opportunity of paying tithing and fast offerings and the blessings we receive from being obedient to what the Lord has asked us to do.

Dad and I also try to go to the temple at least 2 times a month and sometimes 4. I am finally starting to enjoy going every week and it does not seem like a sacrifice, it feels like a privilege. Going to the temple gives us great peace and helps us to make better decisions in our lives and blesses us. Each time we go, I make sure that I put everyone of your names on the prayer roll. That includes Charlie, Amber, Elysha and Emily. I know that life can be a real challenge. I know that Heavenly Father loves each one of you and he will bless you in your lives. If you want to make things better in your lives, you will reach out to him and pick one thing that he has asked you to do and turn into a habit of love. You will gain blessings from it.

I am proud of each one of you and love you all very much. I looked forward to the opportunities dad and I will have to spend with each of you in the coming months. Keep doing your best. You are all wonderful people in your own way and you have so much to offer the world and your families. Charlie and Sidney you are doing a great job raising those three children and we are proud of you and love the kids very much. They are awesome. To Brandon and Elysha, Brad and Amber, Quincy and Emily….when the time is right….we will be so excited to get to know your children and love them as we do the other 3 grandchildren. We are such a blessed family. I love all of you so much and know how much your experiences in life are helping you to grow mentally and spiritually.

Brad and Amber, I am really looking forward to seeing you in Aug. and am very excited about you moving to California so you are closer. What an experience you both will be having. Wish you well as you prepare for some new adventures.

Love you all. Mom.

Pictures

If any of ya'll are interested, I've posted pics on facebook of various areas here. It's easier to post them on facebook due to the slow and limited upload here on the blog. We went to the aquarium, the zoo and the beach at point defiance.

Adult Relationships

One of the things I have talked about is developing an adult relationship with our siblings. This is one thing that I have not done with my brother Paul. (don't anyone tell him I said that!). Here is what I have suggested, you first begin by developing an Adult relationship with your parents, then work on expanding that to your Spouse, then your siblings. You do not have to have an adult relationship with non adults in the family. It is Ok to act like a kid when you are around kids, just don't be an example of what not to do!

Here is a short list of behaviors that I think are included in Adult relationships:
You will treat everyone with:

Respect, their time, their thoughts and their property
Compassion, what they think and how they feel
Only express YOUR opinion when asked, or if it is appropriate
Do not MANIPULATE anyone! (this especially applies to kids)
show CHARITY, that is Love everytime you talk to someone.
take the time to listen to others who have a need.

This is a short list, and can go on and on.

Set your own stardards of behavior, then judge every encounter you have by that standard. You should ask yourself the question after every encounter where you think that the other person was not treated as he should have been. Was my behavior the best it could have been, and was I true to my own behavior standards?

"Life was made to have fun and be enjoyable, only you can make that come true!"

Grow Boxes

We have some strawberries coming up. Radishes, onions, garlic also growing, and I saw a lettuce coming up the other day. Soon it will be time to plant some more. It will be fun to have our own garden growing, I just hope it all works well.

Square foot gardening with mom and dad

Now you may think that dad did all the work on this little project, but I assure you...he did not! I bought some boards and had Lowe's cut them for him. I went and bought all the fertilizers and mixed most of it myself. Dad put the boxes together and we filled them. We now have spinach, strawberries, onions, and garlic planted. I am so excited about the garden. We will have garden benches in it as you can see by the pictures. We are still getting things organized for it. I hope for a good harvest and we will be planting more later.











If you live in Utah, this may be helpful. It is a planting guide Grandpa Bond found in the newspaper.

ASK LARRY SAGERS
The KSL Radio Greenhouse Show with Larry Sagers airs each Saturday from 8am-11am. Call 801-575-8255 with your gardening questions.

Hardy Vegetables
Plant: March 14-May 1
Asparagus
Rhubarb
Broccoli
Cabbage
Kohirabi
Onions
Peas
Radishes
Spinach
Turnips

Semi-hardy vegetables
Plant: tow weeks after hardy to mid-May
Beets
Carrots
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Potatoes
Chard

Tender Vegetables
Plant: May 1
Beans
Celery
Corn
Cucumbers
Spinach
Summer Squash

Very Tender vegetables
Plant: May 20 to June 10
Cantaloupes
Watermelons
Watermelons
Winter Squash
Tomatoes
Eggplants
Peppers

Hope this helps.

Hey all,

Things are going better for me. I have moved into Sid's house for the time being and am enjoying my new job. I have been there for about three weeks. I'm just kind of saving money to move to an apartment when I can find one. I looked at one in Provo before Sid and Charlie offered me their house, so I will probably look at that one again as it was reasonably priced. Also, Steve and I have been hard at work on the business plan and we are close to getting done, then we are going to have it looked at by some people at the Small Business Development Center at UVU and if they think it is good, we will submit it to banks to apply for a Small Business Administration loan. Things are moving in an exciting direction with that. I'm still madly in love with Emily. She is working at Shoe Carnival and mostly enjoys it. She got a raise, so she has been pretty excited about that. Other than that, I am just trying to get back to enjoying life and looking for the positive. Thanks for all your love and support.

Charlie is so proud of his little girl!! He taught her how to change the brakes on the car. He didn't need to do anything except add a little muscle. We are so proud of her.