Sometimes even wise men (and women) get lost

Last year when I was packing up the Christmas decorations, I could not find two wise men.  I looked under the couch, in the newspaper basket, between the couch cushions and in the toy baskets.  I finally gave up and figured they would eventually show up or be lost forever.


To my surprise, I found them a couple of months later hiding behind the dollhouse furniture.  They quickly joined the rest of the Fisher Price nativity set in the basement until time to decorate for Christmas this year.
 
As I pulled them out of the box for my nursery lesson/Christmas decorating, I realized there was a lesson to be learned from their adventure.  I've reflected on my own life and realized that Satan doesn't have to get me to sin to render me ineffective - he just has to distract me.


Particularly in this season of hustle and bustle, it can be challenging to keep the 'one needful thing' at the top of our lists.  It is no coincidence that the gospel is 'the iron rod' - straight, strong and unwavering.  That there are specific reminders and warnings to the rich and learned.  That Christ's birth carries great power in its' simplicity.  And that each Christmas season we are given an opportunity to praise and give thanks for our Savior's birth, life, resurrection and Atonement.

Baby Aidan - December 2006

I hope that I will always be wise enough to look to Him and, when I stumble, find balance as I cling to the iron rod.


I think being wise is not about knowing it all but rather being willing to stop and ask God for direction (and turning around if necessary).


My wise men have rejoined their fellow wise man and are quietly watching over the manger.  I think I will join them.

Bezzant Nativity - 2006

An angel & a wise man - 2006

My Dad's Christmas Message

The Bezzant Christmas Party - December 13, 2010

* A note to my family - This message is tender and personal.

We are blessed to still have Dad for this Christmas season -

a season that Mom loved so dearly.

Facebook did not seem the appropriate place

for such a personal video and the file was too big

to send via email but I wanted to share this

with our whole family, particularly those

who couldn't attend the family party.

We are blessed to 'have it all' -

love, family and the restored gospel!

Have a very 'Grandma Mary' Christmas -

hopes it's fancy! *

(The video was shot with my little point and shoot camera and so, while the message is great, the image quality not so much.  I accidently paused the recording in the middle but immediately started recording again and so nothing was lost - I like to think of it as a bit of an intermission.)

Remembering Sarah

Sometimes angels

have green wings.

Life's Storms

Alpine Loop - October 17, 2010

There are things you
can learn best in calm,

and some in storm.
- Wila Cather -

I Am A Child Of God

I found this pattern in the book I Know The Scriptures Are True by Christena Nelson and Brenda Braun.  I photo copied the faces on to white card stock.  Our Nursery has A LOT more boys than girls so I made a master copy with two boys faces on it.  I did this by copying Boy 1 twice, cutting out just the boys and gluing them to a piece of copy paper.  I could copy two boys on one sheet of paper.  That way I didn't end up with a lot of extra girls.

The picture doesn't show the mirror very clearly.  I used a 3 inch mirror for each face.  I found them in packages of five at Michael's.  I'm sure any craft/Joann's/Walmart would carry them.

I cut out the faces ahead of time.  We had the children color the faces BEFORE we folded them in half and glued the craft stick BETWEEN the front and back of the face.  We then added the mirror.  I used a lot of Aleene's Tacky Glue because I was concerned that the mirror might be too heavy for regular glue.  Obviously, the adults did the assembly.  We finished by writing the children's names on the stick.

the circle is the 3 inch mirror

I wish I had a picture of their faces when they looked in their mirrors and saw a beautiful child of God.  The moment they realized they were looking at themselves, their faces lit up and their smiles were ear to ear.

A Night At The Museum

the lobby

this guy greeted us right outside our motel room!

Another one for the Bucket List. I had never considered the possibility of sleeping over at the Bean Museum.  It just happened to be my there were no over motels with vacancies at 11 p.m. in Cody, Wyoming with my dad was well past his bedtime - who knew that tourist season for Yellowstone Park goes through the end of October lucky day (night).

We not only got a room but an opportunity to stay in a hunter's/taxidermist's dream motel.  Unfortunately for us, the motel we stopped at before this one had no vacancies (our fifth try).  Their lobby was filled with just about every kind of African animal (full sized rhino, male lion, gazelle, etc.)  I did not see a giraffe and elephant but then I was in a bit of a hurry.  I wish I had my camera for that one.

The pictures hardly do this place justice.

for Ryan

Did I mention that, due to the lack of available motel rooms, Mr. W. and I shared a room with my dad and Bonnie.  I told Dad that we had come full circle - it was like when I was little and shared a motel room with my dad and mom (and six siblings).

Breakfast is served!

Years ago our family stayed in a motel right on the highway in Evanston, Wyoming.  As kids, we were so excited to find that, for just a quarter, the bed would vibrate.  How great is that! (we thought).  A motel room with beds to entertain children.  All seven of us piled on the bed, put in a quarter and went for a ride on the bed.  It's amazing that we didn't break the bed.  We were so innocent . . . I realized a few years ago that the bed wasn't intended for children.  Oh well, we got our money's worth - 25 cents divided by 7 children - definitely cheaper than Disneyland!

Leaf Tour 2004 - South Fork in Provo Canyon

I LOVE autumn!  Our annual fall leaf viewing, drive around the 'Loop', stop at Purple Turtle for a shake FHE inspired me.

American Fork Canyon 2009

I went to my trusty Joann's fabric store, bought 4 packages of 

Autumn Inspirations maple leaves ($1.99 minus 40% for a package of 35 leaves - the oak leaves were in uninspiring shades of brown 

so I stuck with the maple leaves), came home and 

emptied them into a Ziploc bag.

I plan to use them to teach this Primary song.

It’s Autumntime

 Children’s Songbook, Nature and Seasons, It’s Autumntime, 246

1. It’s autumntime. It’s autumntime.
The leaves are falling down.
It’s autumntime. It’s autumntime.
It’s all around the town.

2. It’s autumntime. It’s autumntime.
There’s yellow, red, and brown.
It’s autumntime. It’s autumntime.
Bright colors can be found.

Words: Rita Mae Olsen, b. 1932. © 1966 IRI
Music: Rita Mae Olsen, b. 1932; arr. by Vanja Y. Watkins, b. 1938. © 1966, 1989 IRI

I will give each Nursery child a handful of leaves and when we get to 'The leaves are falling down' and 'There's yellow, red, and brown', we'll toss our leaves up in the air.  At the end of the song, we'll 'rake' them up and sing our song again and again and again until they tire of it.  I must say the 'crickets' held their attention for quite a while and I have high hopes for our leaves.

Curves & Wrinkles

I joined

so that one day

I can do this.

A New Low

Today I walked over to say 'hi' to our newest nursery member and to let her pet Pumpkin.  Her family is temporarily staying at Grandma's house while her dad looks for a job and she, for some unknown reason to me, LOVES our anxiety-ridden, hair-pulling, twitchy cat, Pumpkin.  This little piece of information came in very handy yesterday when she started to miss her mom during nursery.  All I had to do was start talking about Pumpkin and she was fine.

As I visited with her dad this morning about how well she had done in nursery, he shared what she had said when they arrived home after church yesterday.  She said, "Dad, Pumpkin's mom is my new teacher!"

I'd feel that way too if I spent
all day pulling out my hair!

Excuse me, I have the urge to go pull some hair out.

I Can Be A Pioneer Too!

I have been released as Relief Society president and I'm now serving in our ward's nursery.  We currently have 17 boys (that is not a typo) and 4 girls.  We have successfully removed the 'picnic tables' (perfect swine flu habitat) and compromised on the 'Shenanigan Shack with Shutters' (more about that in a future post) by leaving it for the other ward but dismantling it and moving it out to the hall during our nursery's class.  It is humbling, inspiring, tender and tiring serving in the nursery and our boy/girl ratio lends itself to A LOT OF ENERGY!  I have a testimony of serving and so I lace on my Nikes (I'm still nursing a very sore foot), sit down on the floor and give it my all.

The last week in July, I taught a Pioneer lesson.  I shared the story of the 'Miracle of the Gulls' and we talked about what it meant to be a pioneer.  I had bandannas for the boys (I cut store bought bandannas in half diagonally and hemmed the edge - two for the price of one!) and lunch sack bonnets for the girls.  Then we stood up and pretended we were seagulls.  I had bought two bags of 50 count 1/2 inch black pompoms and poured them in a Ziploc bag.  These were are 'crickets'.  I tossed all of the pompoms around the room and then our 'seagulls' gobbled up our 'crickets' with their 'beaks' (hands), brought them back to me and 'spit' them out in the bag.  We did this several times with remarkable success.  There were enough 'crickets' that everyone had a chance to gobble to their hearts' content.

I think it made an impression because several weeks later after our 
'I Am A Child Of God' lesson, a mom told us that when she asked her son what his 'I Am A Child Of God' sunbeam necklace meant he said, "I no longer a pioneer, I's a child of God!"

Our 'former' pioneer and current Child of God
(and one of 21 reasons
why I started taking vitamins again . . .
and a nap . . . )

Lessons from the Ark

Maybe they should have left the woodpecker home . . .

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark:
   
      10. Don't miss the boat.
   
      9. Remember that we are all in the same boat.
   
      8. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
   
      7. Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
   
      6. Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
   
      5. Build your future on high ground.
   
      4. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
   
      3. When you're stressed, float a while.
   
      2. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
   
      1. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

(Thought posted at Curves)

Riding In A Rickshaw

Another item for my Bucket List.

Ride in a rickshaw!

Our driver

Mr. W, Bonnie and I went to 

the Rockies/Diamondback baseball game.  

You could hitch a ride on a bicycle rickshaw 

from the parking lot to the stadium 

(and back if you wanted to) for a small fee.  

Considering that I am still limping along with a sore foot, 

we went for it.

Bonnie & the rickshaw - loved the lights

Let's just say that our driver earned his money!  

Three for the price of one.

Worth every dollar!