Tag, Your It!

I got tagged by my friend Elise, and since I have not written a whole lot about myself I'll do that now.

JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE:
1. Moved sprinkler pipe for my uncle when I was 12
2. Wendy's
3. Dispatcher for a delivery service
4. Photographer in a family type studio


NICKNAMES I'VE BEEN GIVEN:
1. Nenny Bug became Jenny Bug as I got older
2. Belle not sure where this on got started
3. Instead of saying Auntie Jen, my brothers teach their kids to say 'autigen' or no sir, Jen becomes 'no surgeon' They have a ton of those nicknames.
4. My hubby calls me Jenny, in the Forrest Gump voice along with the we's like peas and carrots line.
EXTRA: In 13 years of marriage, my husband has called me by my name, Jennifer, maybe 5 times. So although I have a fairly common name it has never been common between us. He literally can stop me in my tracks when he says it. He's made a common name Special.

MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1. While you were sleeping
2. Love comes softly
3. Little Women
4. A more romantic and less provacative version of The Notebook

PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. Heidelberg, Germany
2. Hawaii
3. Texas
4. Washington
Extra: Born and raised in Idaho and Utah

TV SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH:
1. I
2. Don't
3. Watch
4. T.V.

PLACES I HAVE BEEN ON VACATION:
1. All over Europe, and London
2. Mexico
3. Across the USA stopping at LDS Church history sites
4. Grand Canyon and many other National Parks in the West

THINGS I COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT:
1. My Father in Heaven, and His Son, Jesus Christ, my Savior
*I could live without these other things, but I would not want to*
2. My family
3. My friends
4. My testimony

MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Popcorn (Microwave)
2. Anything I don't have to clean up after cooking
3. Anything that all my kids will say Wow! I'm so excited that we are having that for dinner
4. Everything my Grandmother fixes us when we visit - there's always bread baking in the oven when we arrive!

PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. Relaxing in a hot tub with a lavender or jasmine scent in the air
2. At my 20 year reunion after having lost 100 lbs and figured out how to do my makeup and my hair, and have sold 10 best selling novels
3. In bed reading the ever mounting stack of great books I'm eager to read, while eating chocolate and popcorn, and not gaining an ounce.
4. At the family ranch house in the mountains of Idaho. Sitting on the porch reading to my kids as the breeze blows the smell of sagebrush through the air. No phones, no electricity, so we have to light a candle to finish that last paragraph of the book, just after the sun goes down.

FRIENDS WHO I TAGGED THAT I THINK WILL RESPOND:
1. Lynda
2. Trisha
3. Sara
4. Amy

Type 1, Type 2 there really is a difference

When people find out my 6 year old has Juvenile Diabetes, often after the first reaction of 'are you serious'? The next comment is well she's not heavy. And then comes the kicker - What did you feed her to cause her to get diabetes at such a young age?

Since I'm a little tired of the explanations I'll just put the facts here and forever more direct those curious people here.

My daughter was diagnosed when she was 2 1/2 years old, on Mother's day. A day that hopefully someday will be joyful for her and not a reminder of the disease she has to endure and keep on top of every single day. Type 1 diabetes means that her body just decided to stop making insulin. It's not something we could have prevented and not something we caused - unless you want to get technical and get into genes discussion and then well yes there is something in either my genes or my husbands or our genes mixed together to form autoimmune diseases in our kids. I say that because another daughter is hypothyroid and has vitiligo. Both of those are autoimmune also, I'm sure I'll discuss those at another time.

In the beginning she was given anywhere between 3 and 5 shots a day. And we had to count the carbohydrates that she ate. Come on let me tell you how easy it is to count up everything a toddler puts in her mouth. Or you give the shot and then she turns up her nose and won't take a bite. That was a mess in itself. We soon moved to a pump that we have to move the actual site where the insulin goes into her body about every 3 days, but other than that this pump has been wonderful. Now she can eat if she wants when she wants and we just program some numbers into her pump and it delivers the needed insulin. Now if we could just find a way to test her blood sugar level with out the finger pokes.

As if this was not enough she is being tested for celiac, and the tests are looking positive. Celiac is a sensitivity or allergy to Gluten, which is in almost everything imaginable. I'll have to keep you posted on that one. Until then it's time to go check her blood sugar yet again.

Our Journey Around the World

I love to Travel, I love to see new places, new ways of life. I can't say that my kids do, but they tolerate my love for it. Usually because you just can not go somewhere new and not buy a souvenir or two, or three; and of course they get to buy things too. I won't tell you how many places we've been and gotten 'pretty rocks' from. In fact I bet the rock collector can not even tell you which rocks came from which place.

Partially thanks to the Army, we have enjoyed exploring Germany, Hawaii, Texas, and Washington. I say partially because I have many military friends who have lived in the same places and did not set foot outside the base.

Because we've lived in Heidelberg, Germany it made it easy to travel to London, France, Belgium, and other places to the west of Germany plus many different parts of Germany itself. Traveling by bus, train and car. Learning bits and pieces of the language, devouring the best chocolate around, and immersing ourselves in the differences between our cultures. Not to mention having my youngest two children born there, that will always be a part of their life.

Hawaii was wonderful. If you don't leave Waikiki you really don't see Hawaii. Since my circulation isn't great I loved the warm weather year round. We lived on the dry side so it didn't rain everyday like it does in other parts, and the beaches were so close and so wonderful. We packed up and went to the beach on Christmas Day and then called our family back home in Idaho and bragged about swimming, and then rubbed it in by asking if there was 3 feet of snow outside or 5 feet. I have 4 girls and they all took hula lessons and learned a little of the native language there. We got to take the time to understand their culture, that's not something you get in a week long vacation. I like to think we gave a little back to the Hawaiians, because we did foster care while we were stationed there. That was a wonderful opportunity for us, and hopefully for the children we took into our home.

Texas I wasn't excited about in the beginning. But it opened up the chance to drive from Idaho to Texas (taking the long way according to my kids) stopping at several National Parks along the way. Zion's, Grand Canyon, a Petrified Tree NP, and the Carlsbad Cavern's. While living in Texas we made two trips down into Mexico.

Another neat trip was last summer when the Army sent my hubby to school for 6 weeks in Virginia. I of course was not going to stay home so we drove to Virginia - again the long way. We first headed through Yellowstone (not a big deal we go there every year) then to Mt. Rushmore. We then made several stops at church history sites that are significant to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, including Nauvoo, Kirtland, and Palmyra. Niagara Falls was thrown in there too. As we reached the east we dropped down to Virginia. However since I had traveled that far I could not let the chance pass to drive 4 more hours into North Carolina to meet up with a friend I had not seen since we both had lived in Germany.

This summer I will have to be content to small trips to visit family or such things as that. But next year; next year I'll be planning something big. . .

Thoughts of a Not so Typical Army Wife

I get asked the same question over and over from what we call civilians.

Do I support this war in Iraq?

It's a loaded question for me.

I don't support war in the way that I think we should all be encouraged toward fighting and hatred.

I do support the helping of others that have been suppressed by angry hateful people.

I don't enjoy sending my husband so far away for a year at a time, hoping and praying for his safe return. All the while keeping our household running here,and taking on the role of a single Mom for our children.

I am however very proud of his efforts. His willingness to see anothers need and share his good fortune of a free life with those who are less fortunate.

As a Christian family, we believe it is our duty to help all of God's children in their times of need. Being a military family helps us fulfill that. I am proud to be a part of this great nation, the land of the free. And I am proud to be married to a soldier . . .

The Healing Power and Answers to Prayers

I taught a lesson today in primary, about the Savior and his power to heal. Although the lesson I gave talked mostly about the power that Jesus had to heal, and how priesthood blessings can also help us heal. There was a point made about the times when we may have the faith to be healed but we are not. I'd like to focus my comments today on that issue.

Doctrine and Covenants 42:48 says, And again, it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed.

It is my belief that we have a loving Father in Heaven, who watches over us, just as a loving parent watches over a young child in their care. A part of the bargain for life was that at some point, our life would end. Another part is that we would have to endure all that may come our way. Take the good times, and also the bad.

Apparently in our pre-mortal memories receiving a body was very important for us to have agreed to the trials and hardships here.

As I read that scripture through a few times it stuck out that if we have enough faith to be healed, we will be, to the extent that our Father sees fit. Until our appointed time to leave this life and return to our heavenly home, regardless how early or late that time comes.

I think our earthly thoughts and feelings blind us so as to make us forget that we can not receive a yes answer for every request. On a daily basis I'm asked hundreds of questions by my children. I don't always say yes. Whenever I answer no the child usually does not walk off happy, they are sad or upset that their request was denied. Do we as adults turn and walk away sad and upset when the answer from our Father in Heaven is no? Often we do. Many times we walk away so angry that our belief in God is shaken. Why do we expect a yes answer for every plea? Because we earned it? Because it's only fair? Because we have lived the commandments of God to the best of our ability? Have you ever had to tell a child no, even after they had done all you asked? I have. Usually it's just not something I have felt I could say yes to. Just as a young child needs to understand that we as adults see a bigger picture and that we may sometimes say no to their plea. We need to remember that our Heavenly Father sees a bigger picture than we do. And it is in our best interest for him to sometimes say no. Even when, after doing everything we possibly can to live righteously, and our plea is to heal a loved one of their illness, or to let them continue to live here with us.

We also need to remember that a no answer may be to strengthen our own lives, our spirits, or to remind us of our dependence on the Lord, through faith and constant prayer.

Search this out in your own heart? Remember if done in faith and a true desire to know you can have your own witness and know the truth of all things. James 1:5

I am a writer

There I said it. I'm not sure why it's difficult to say. Maybe because the first question I get asked back is; "Oh really, what have you written?"

I've been writing poems, stories, songs, articles, speaches, talks, and other ingenious creations for years. However these musings are all still invading my thoughts, scribbled in notebooks, and saved on hard drives - half done. What kind of answer is that!

Nobody wants to hear about those. No; when someone asks the question, "What have you written?" They want to hear titles of books that have my name gracing the cover, or well known magazines that have been begging me to write an inspirational piece for them.

Currently though I am latent writer. But in time, on a day much like today, I will no longer hide my work. I will break free from my concealed passion. I will proclaim from the mountain tops: I love to sculpt thoughts, and place abstract words on blank pages to create masterpieces for all to enjoy. Even if all is represented by my immediate family, who are by default members of my fan club. They have to love my work, it is an unwritten rule of family life.

So there you have it I am a writer. As far as I can see the only question remaining is: Am I a great writer?