Upside down reading

I remember when I was younger we went to my uncle's house for dinner on a Sunday afternoon.  All of us kids were running around making terrors of ourselves chasing each other from one room to the other and then outside chasing the cows and the dogs and hiding in the hay bails.  At one point in time I ran by my uncles Jeep and happened to glance in.  I saw my cousin (maybe 5 or 6 at the time) sitting in there with the Book of Mormon open...(upside down) reading it.  She was so focused on reading it that she didn't notice us zooming around outside laughing and playing.  I remember thinking, "wow, should I be doing that?"  It passed and I ran away.  I have never forgot about my little cousin sitting in the Jeep reading when she could have been playing.  I have always felt that I wanted to one day see my kids voluntarily read the Book of Mormon or other scriptures because they wanted to.
Fast forward to last night.  It happened.  Annie came in with several books that she wanted to read while she fell asleep.  (This has been saving us from having crying fits at night.  She gets to choose two books to read and most often falls asleep before they are even done.)  As I went in to turn off the light last night I found the two books she chose of to the side and the Book of Mormon we had just finished reading as a family open at her side (upside down) and she was conked out.  I don't know if she finally got smart and realized that if she reads the Book of Mormon she will go to sleep faster...or that she sees us reading it and wanted to follow suite...  At any rate, I feel blessed to have such wonderful children and that puts so much more pressure on us to keep trying to do what is right to set the example for them.

Forget yourself

So I have been attempting to do an experiment that I picked up from the example of a friend a few years ago... It's called... serving to get friends... Well maybe that is not the good way to think about it or go about it but it always seemed to work for her and it is working for me I feel.

I have a friend that would bend over backwards for anyone. I didn't even realize that she considered me a friend until she gave me a baby shower and than did so many nice things for me over the course of having bad days and having babies and just needing someone to talk to. I must have been pretty blind because she had to work really hard for me to really see that she was working really hard to serve me. The difference is that I don't think she did it to gain a friend but that she really wanted to be like Christ and follow His example.

This past year I have decided that if I want to be happy and feel needed and wanted than I had better step it up and serve the people that I think need it and those that I would like to get to know better. I have been amazed at the friends that I have developed and grown to love. But, mostly I have been completely blown away at the fact that they want to serve me back. I am truly blessed to have so many good friends that care for my family and I.

Now don't get me wrong. It is not easy and although it seems I want to give give give...(or maybe it doesn't) it requires some sacrifice but I feel that I don't have as many problems or worries when I am thinking about what I can do for the next person. President Hinckley said,
"Forget yourself and get to work." I lived by that motto on my mission and I am remembering why I loved it so much then.

So if you get a call from me or I offer to help you out... please don't think I am trying to bribe your friendship... but that I truly want to make your life easier and be of any help that I can be. And if for some reason I don't call you up and ask to help you out... I want to still help you out, but I am just a little on the dense side sometimes and don't see what needs seen. Feel free to give me a punch in the shoulder and tell me what needs done!

The parable of the floating christmas tree

So this is an interesting story that I really don't know how or what to make of it... We decided to be entrepreneurial this week and drive around Bozeman and pick up Christmas trees. We have friends that have done it in the past and they were able to make pretty good money at it. So the four of us loaded up in the truck and headed out in search of the trees planted in people's snow hills that they so carefully placed to make it look like they have a real tree growing in their yard. (Surprisingly, lots of people do this.) It was almost like garage saling and almost got the same high of finding a pink or bright orange sign as I did finding these transplanted trees floating in the snow. Well the first little old lady that answered the door was so pleased that we had come to collect her tree until she heard that we wanted to also collect $5 to haul it away. She mysteriously turned into a very capable and willing person to manhandle her own tree into her car and haul it across town and rid herself of it herself. Kind of aggravated by the change in tone, I took her tree anyway. An empty trailer doesn't look good. Trees in the trailer would lead others to think that it is the cool thing to do. Everyone should send their tree with us. As we made the next few stops, I had some successful attempts at collecting the $5 dollars, but it was very awkward as they all were delighted at first to find that some good soul was taking pity on them and collecting their Christmas tree. However, more than not we left the house with the tree still transplanted in the snow bank. I was beginning to feel like this business venture was a complete waste of time. I decided to just take their tree even if they didn't want to pay for it. The next house a middle aged contractor type man answered the door ecstatic that we wanted to haul off his tree. I awkwardly stood there waiting for him to make the first move about how much it would cost to haul it off. Turns out he suggested that he "donate" money to the cause. HAHA! Perfect! I didn't have to charge him, he would just donate his hard earned money. And would you know it? He donated $10! This idea stuck for the rest of the afternoon. I no longer charged anyone and if they asked I told them donations would be accepted to the Poor Stewart family college fund. HAHA. I only got a couple of weird looks and only one person maybe me promise to donate some of the proceeds to scouting... The funny thing is that those that donated gave an average of $10. Those that didn't feel it needful to donate were still blessed with the absence of their floating tree. All in all we made way less than minimum wage today, but I think we may have brightened a few people's day and they to us also.
It just really goes to show that when we forget ourselves and serve others (even though we were accepting donations) we are blessed. I know that the Lord wants us to be happy. But, sometimes we just have to not do things how they make sense to us and do them how He would have us do them. We shall see how the rest of the week goes! And if anyone would like a trailer load of Christmas trees to transplant in your snow banks... you know who to call.