Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope this finds you well, and enjoying another beautiful Christmas season. We have been blessed with another wonderful year, full of excitement and joy.

Megan - 7 years old - She is in the second grade. Her reading skills have blossomed and she enjoys it more than ever. She loves math, and she had her first horseback ride this summer!

Michael - 9 years old - He is in the fourth grade. He is always asking mom to teach him new things in math (cubing numbers, multiplying fractions and the distributive property). He earned his Bear Scout award and is really hoping for a pocketknife for Christmas so he can practice the skills he learned at scouts. .

Nathan - 11 years old - He loves being an official boy scout, has been on two campouts and has earned two ranks and three merit badges. He is in the sixth grade and is already talking about junior high next year.

Liz - 12 years old - It has been a big year for Liz. She is now in the Young Women's program at church. She attended girls' camp in the mountains of Utah and helped pull a handcart on a 28 mile pioneer trek this summer. She started junior high, joined the band (flute) and has started some babysitting.

Not much has change for Jen and Brian. Jen continues to help with literacy at the school and tutor math at home. She is still working with the 12 and 13 year old young women at church and went to camp and on trek with Liz. Brian is still in the BYU Registrars' office, has many new responsibilities and opportunities and works with great people. He also attended the Pioneer trek and has been on Nathan's scout campouts too.

We have had many opportunities this year to spend time with extended family, and we look forward to more of these opportunities throughout this holiday season. We are grateful for our friends and family who bless our family in countless ways.

We are grateful for the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are grateful that no matter our circumstances, whether a time of relative ease, or challenges that make each day feel a little bit hard, we can feel joy, and peace, and hope. We are grateful for this Christmas season, for this time to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is his life, and his Atoning sacrifice for us that bring us that joy, peace and hope.

Merry Christmas!

Love, the Chantrys

Megan and Santa

Megan's first Christmas (she was about nine months old) she met Santa for the first time. She had on a cute red velvet jumper and looked darling as she stared at Santa's beard and tried to eat her gift. The next year she screamed. The closer we got to Santa the louder she cried. (we felt a little sad because it was Great Grandpa wearing the Santa suit, but we didn't push it.)

The next year we didn't want her to be afraid of Great Grandpa, so her Grandpa (who also dresses as Santa at times and has a beautiful costume) took her downstairs and showed her everything. She tried on the boots and the hat. She saw the beard and mustache and coat. The next day she stood right next to Santa and even gave him a hug. Each year she was less hesitant to visit with Santa as long as she knew exactly who was in the suit. One year Megan told me, "I am not scared of the REAL Santa, just the fake ones." That is irony at its best.

Last year Megan learned the Santa secret. She seemed almost relieved. She isn't scared to sit on Santa's lap anymore, but still likes to know who it really is.

WEll, this year she wrote a letter to Santa. She folded it and asked me to put it on Santa's desk.

Dear Santa Claus, How are your rein dear?Do you have four elvs? How is Miss. Claus? I love stuft animils a cat plese. Mady (Maybe) I will like something that will help my legs I have growing panss (pains). Love, Megan

p.s. I know how (who) you are

Brian wasn't sure if the postscript was just a statement, or something more sinister.

Pinterest come to life

I have been rather pensive lately, and my blog posts seem to reflect that. I enjoy having this place that I can get some thoughts down and come back to them frequently and easily. 

But here is a blog post just for fun. I saw these cookies on Pinterest TWO YEARS ago, and I finally got around to making them. October was nuts, so truthfully these cute mummies didn't get made until the day after Halloween, but I made them and we all enjoyed eating them.

 And one last Halloween picture. Megan grew this pumpkin (among others). The others became pumpkin puree, but this one was reserved for carving because "the pack of seeds had a jack-o-lantern on it".

Run and not be weary

Last Sunday our lesson with the Beehives (12 and 13 year old girls) at church was entitled "Why does the Lord want me to be healthy?"  We had some great discussions with these young women about caring for their bodies by following the Lord's law of health. We not only talked about avoiding things like tea, coffee, alcohol and tobacco as mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 89, but also talked about eating healthy foods as mentioned in the same section of scripture. We discussed the counsel to keep our bodies free of drugs, the benefits of exercise and the importance of getting enough rest. The best part however, was talking about our bodies as special gifts from our Heavenly Father, how we knew we needed to come to earth and receive a mortal body so that we could progress and learn and eventually become like Him.

We also talked about the promises contained at the end of Doctrine and Covenants 89, promises given to those who follow this counsel. 

 18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

 19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

 20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

 21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

I posed the question to these girls. "Does obeying the Word of Wisdom mean we will never have any health problems?" Knowing that the answer to this question is no, it was interesting to hear what the girls said. They talked about how we would definitely avoid some challenges. As I listened to them talk I thought about the spiritual side to these blessings. In some of the promises it is certainly easy to see the spiritual blessing, but verse 19 has always seemed more of a physical promise to me. But on Sunday another scripture popped into my head. Hebrews 12:1

 1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Paul is certainly talking of our spiritual race, not a physical one. And he is talking about running. The promises in Doctrine and Covenants suddenly meant even more. The Lord will bless us with the spiritual stamina to endure with patience all of the trials we face in this race of life. And where does this stamina come from? It comes through the enabling power of the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

One last scripture has come to mind this week as well. Doctrine and Covenants 64:33.

33 Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

I have been reminded in several ways this week that we are each part of a great work. What we do matters to the Lord. HE does not us to be weary. As we keep His commandments and seek his help we can be strengthened in mind, body and spirit, and this can help us in all that we do.

Michael's Technology Project

Happy

The last few weeks have been fairly chaotic. We remodeled our kitchen, which means our cooking and eating was completely displaced. Nathan has been working like crazy on three merit badges, Michael has had school projects, Halloween brought extra parties and costume planning, the kids were preparing duets for piano festival and we this was on top of normal, busy life. All of it is good and wonderful stuff, but piled together I will admit I began to feel a bit overwhelmed.

Today I sat in church and I felt peace. Life is still super busy, projects still need to be finished and more projects are on the way, but I felt so happy. I was particularly touched today as I sang about and pondered the many blessings that come through our Savior Jesus Christ. I felt so grateful.

I have started listening to Christmas music, not the cutesy fun stuff (which I love and will get my fill of later this year) but the heart felt, spirit lifting, worshipful kind. I have decided that there is nothing wrong with letting myself listen to this kind all year long.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie

How Firm a Foundation has been one of my favorite hymns since I was a teenager. I loved the third verse.

"Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand."

These words gave me hope, strength and courage as I journeyed through my teenage years and faced the challenges that come with that time of life, especially challenges related to my visual impairment. I was pretty confident in my school years, but when things felt hard I remembered these words and remembered that the Lord was with me, and it eased my burdens.

Well, lately another verse of this hymn has been such a help to me. Verse five isn't sung often, but I sure wish it was. 

"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine."

I don't know why, but when a bump in the road hits, I feel like I hit a bit of a wall. Things feel hard, and I tend to worry. I am grateful though, that when I choose to turn to the Lord He helps me gain some perspective (things could be worse) and also helps me to feel peace. He helps my faith overcome my fear.

And when the same challenge seems to get worse, or harder, and I feel like I am hitting a wall again, The Lord helps me remember the earlier lessons. He helps me to see the blessings that have come through the challenges and also reminds me that He is aware of me.

Challenges come because the Lord uses challenges to help us become who he needs us to be. He is polishing us, refining us and preparing us to do his work and to return to Him someday. He wants us to become like Him, because He knows that is how we will feel the greatest joy.

Today, I reread some of the scriptures that go with this hymn (Isaiah 43.2-5). Let's never forget what the Lord is telling each of us in verse four. 

"Thou wast precious in my sight."

He loves us. We are his children and He will help ease our burdens if we turn to Him.

Remembering

Lots of years ago I found a quotation by President Ezra Taft Benson. "Take your children to the temple grounds and let them touch the walls of the temple, then teach them how the temple can touch their lives." We started a temple touching tradition when we took our kids to the Mount Timpanogos Temple of May 2005. Looking back, I can't believe how little they were (not to mention the fact that Megan wasn't even born yet.)

I have blogged about most of our trips to temples (Click on the links and it will take you to the various posts) at some point, but here I have included pictures of the trips I didn't post about. This blog post is mostly for me. It is one place where I can look at these special memories all at once.

Mount Timpanogos - June 2007

Mount Timpanogos - May 2009

Boston - August 2010

Manti - October 2010

Newport Beach - August 2011

Los Angeles - August 2011

Brigham City - September 2012

Provo - November 2012

Mount Timpanogos - April 2013

Logan - July 2013

It has been fun to see lots of temples and to have these records of the kids growing. It has also been wonderful to have pictures hanging in our hall with the quotation by President Benson. One time, a couple of years ago, Megan asked me to read her the quotation. I pulled the frame off the wall and we sat on the stairs and read it together. Then she said, "Does this mean you are supposed to take us to the temple and let us touch it so we can think about Jesus in our hearts?" Yes, Megan. That is exactly what it means. 

Pioneer Trek

We had our post-trek activity last week. It is always sad to see something this amazing come to an end. Everyone loved the big long video. It reminded us all of the fun, hard and amazing experiences we had. It made us laugh, and it made us cry. Hopefully the memories stay fresh in our minds for a long time. 

Here are a few more pictures of us on trek.

  

I loves this one. It looks like Liz is really laughing. I wish I knew why. I also like how filthy everyone is looking by this point.

I am so grateful for this picture. It is neat to me how the Lord puts people in our paths, and even when you know them for a short time, they impact your life in such a big way.

The other day I put on some sneakers I wore during parts of trek. They are stained by the reddish dirt that we walked through, and that color will never go away. As I was walking I thought of how my heart has been forever marked by the events of trek. I hope that the thoughts, feelings and lessons of trek never fade.