PHIL'S (TIRED) FAMILY PRAYER

"Dear Heavenly Father,

"We're thankful for this day and for all the stuff I said in the dinner prayer."

I snorted.

Maybe Heavenly Father did too.

MRS BIRD WANTS TO KNOW WHO DAPHNE IS

This is Mrs. Bird and her husband, Guy Smiley, sitting on the lawn swings, telling us funny stories.
Mrs Bird and Guy Smiley are night owls. Perhaps Mrs. Bird is more of an owl than Guy Smiley because the other night, at 1:30 am, she had to wake him up so they could go to bed. (They watch TV late, catching up on the news and Dr. Oz and other things Mrs Bird records.) So, she woke him up and they got ready for bed. It was Guy Smile's turn to say the family prayer because it was an odd day. (I pray on the odd days too. It's not because I'm odd or anything, it's because my birthday is on an odd day.) Anyway, Guy Smiley prays for everyone (just like me--it must be an odd-day-phenomenon) so his prayers are long. Right in the middle of it he says, "Bless Mrs. Bird that she will come to accept Daphne."

Mrs Bird wanted to poke him right then and there and say, "Who's Daphne?" but since he was praying she waited. The second he said "Amen" she did poke him.

"Who's Daphne?" she said.

"Daphne who?" he said,

"That's what I'd like to know," she said.

"I don't know any Daphne's," he said.

"Yes you do. You prayed that I would accept her." she said. And now she was getting a little peeved. After all Daphne was in his prayer and she was supposed to accept her. Was this some kind of mind game he was playing?

Guy Smiley started to laugh. He's had conversations like this before with Mrs Bird.

"Stop laughing and tell me who Daphne is." Mrs Bird was now glaring at him.

"I don't know, honest I don't." he said throwing his hands in the air while trying to quit laughing. The more he tried the harder it was. There was a good snort building up and it was going to come out any minute.

"Guy Smiley!" she said, "You tell me this instant who Daphne is!"

"Okay," he said, "What exactly did I say?"

"You said, 'Bless Mrs. Bird to accept Daphne."

This sent Guy Smiley into a fit of laughter. "I said, 'Bless Mrs. Bird to accept her bad knee."

This sent Mrs. Bird into a fit of laughter and she couldn't stop. Guy Smiley decided to sleep downstairs because her giggling showed no sign of stopping.

She laughed and laughed and finally at 2:30 she took a sleeping pill and could hardly wake up the next morning.

The moral of this story is: Don't pray for your partner's body parts if they sound like a woman's name. You will have to sleep downstairs and your wife will be so groggy in the morning that you will have to fix breakfast.

A BUCKET OF WEEDS

Last night our home teacher came and gave us our lesson on the lawn swings. Soon neighbors started joining us and we visited for a long time.

One neighbor gave me a great mental image to use in my life. She mentioned that at the end of the day her dad always asked, "Did you get your bucket of weeds today?" This became a habit and she still does this, she pulls a bucket of weeds and her yard is never overrun, it is always tidy, the roses have room to bloom as do her other flowers, not to mention her wonderful garden.

Last night, before we had family prayer, I mentioned to Phil that pulling just one bucket of weeds was pretty simple. Day in, day out, simple but the rewards are huge. Then I started thinking, we should do that with all aspects of our lives.

Spiritual Bucket. We try to read the scriptures in the morning before our day starts but it doesn't always get done. So simple, a few minutes prepares us for the day and yet, some days our spiritual bucket is empty. We go to church every week and Phil is serving at a BYU ward but what about reading the scriptures every morning? I think I will start reading an Ensign article with Phil before bed, too.

My housekeeping bucket is neglected often. A little work each day and then there are no gigantic cleaning projects to tackle. I got into the habit of every time I used a paper towel I then used it to wipe up part of the kitchen floor. Soon the floor around the sink and stove was clean and I was wiping up the floor by the table and back door. When I neglected this simple task the floor needed major cleaning.

Food storage bucket. I learned from my mother so it's second nature for me to have food storage. Most Mormon's do, as we have been counseled by our Prophet and church leaders on this subject for what seems like forever.

One year, as we were bottling yet another bushel of peaches, I innocently asked why my mother we had so much food storage--much more than we could eat in a year. She laughed and said, "Why, Lynne, it's for the Californians. When they have to leave California"--I don't know what she thought was going to happen--some catastrophe maybe--"they will be hungry and we will have the food to feed them?" That was that. She stored food and extra for others.

I would rather shop in my basement than have to run to the store for a forgotten item I need for dinner. I'm not perfect but I have a plan that I got from Liesa Card, who I met in Costco, peddling her book, I DARE YOU TO EAT IT. I like her blog, she has some cool ideas and it's not just all about storage but about her family as well. (Today's blog is "Frozen Hot Chocolate.") When I get my storage up to date I'll blog about it. I'm so excited to put her simple idea into a working plan. Already it has made my life easier.

Speaking of food storage plans I found another blog this morning that I'm excited to read. This girl even knows how to store cheese...for a long time. Article here. Her blog is Preparedness Pro There are lots and lots of blogs like this. What are your favorites?

Family bucket. This is a picture of two of my granddaughters having a two-and-a-half hour water fight out of a clean kitty litter bucket. (I'm eventually going to blog about this.) It took some convincing to get Hillary to drop off her girls because she was busy that day, but four of the grandchildren eventually ended up at my house--for eleven hours--and it was fun for them and fun for me too. I hope they will always remember that day with their cousins and grandma. This is an area I really need to work on. I don't have the kids here often enough.

Just plain Fun Bucket. We need more of this. The other day I said to Phil, "I want to do something fun." He asked what, and I honestly couldn't think of anything we could afford. Two days later some friends brought us a vacation package. A night's stay in Salt Lake City at a cool hotel that brings you a goldfish so you can have a pet for the night, a dinner gift card for the Roof restaurant at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and a gift card for a fantastic breakfast!

This is a picture of the Salt Lake Temple from the Roof restaurant. We were flabbergasted. We were, and are excited. They have filled my fun bucket with anticipation. We haven't decided when to go but looking forward to it is half the fun. Can you imagine? They are like Santa Claus and the Good Fairy, all rolled up into one. And no, I'm not going to tell you who it was. You can look at all my friends and imagine they are the ones. Won't that be fun?

What buckets do you fill on a regular basis?

FAMILY PRAYER

Last night it was Phil's turn to say Family Prayer but I could tell he was tired. I asked him if he wanted me to say it. He merely nodded.

While praying I must have been extra grateful for all our blessing, and I must have asked for quite a few blessings for people in my ward who are sick, and for family members, and a friend who is in California and will be driving back to Utah alone, and other friends who I have been thinking of and loving. I must have prayed for a while. When I said "Amen." I looked up to see Phil crumpled against the wall.

"Are you all right?"

"I should have prayed," he said. "I could have been in bed and asleep by now."