In the Bleak midwinter

Frosty wind made moan...yes, I sang that song many a time in junior high.  Yes, we are in the bleak midwinter right now. Yes, it has snowed almost every day for the last week.  It's been a wierd snow though mixed with sleet and rain and ice and getting up our driveway has been quite the challenge this year.  Especially with a trailer.  Yes, we played bumper cars with our new suburban and truck on New Years eve trying to get the snowmobile trailer up the driveway.  Lucky for me, it was Brad's bright idea that day to try and get the trailer out.  And yes, our cars suffered some minor (it could have been much worse) damage.  And yes, Brad has some major tools now to get us unstuck from our driveway.  He didn't enjoy that in the least.  And of course, the night was so tense when it happened I neglected to take a picture.  I wisely stayed out of Brad's way while he was getting everything unstuck.

This is what our table looks like in the bleak midwinter when Jordan and Kenzie are absent due to bleak midwinter activities.

 We miss those older kiddos.

In the bleak midwinter we would normally ski.  Unfortunately, Brad's hardware in his leg is making it too difficult to have a ski boot on.  He is looking forward to having it removed this coming spring.

In the bleak midwinter we also spend a lot of time in gyms at wrestling tournaments.

Since you are unable to be there with us, (yes I know you are sad about missing those long days in sweaty gyms) you can see Jordan's latest dual match here and here.  Yesterday he was in a tournament in Arvada which due to the distance, 7 hours of travel time, we did not attend.  His record now is 10 wins, 11 losses for the season, much better than last year but not quite where he wants to be.  Jordan has this "pin or lose" thing going on.  He is not good at just getting points when the opponent is equal to him.  He is getting better though.  He is good enough to be winning more.

While Jordan was in Aravada yesterday, and since he can't ski, Brad decided to take the little boys out snowmobiling to make the bleak midwinter a little less bleak.  While out he met up with the snowmobile king of our area and was taught a lot of good lessons.  I guess he'll be snowmobiling more...as if he didn't have enough activities to do.

On bleak midwinter days, with the boys absent, Kenzie and I have some good time to talk.  Yesterday we talked about a lot of things but had a special opportunity to talk about Heavenly Father's love for her.  One of the things that struck me most was she said she feels like Heavenly Father is a punishing father, a mean father, an unfair father.  This may have to do with a little exercise that happened in her seminary class where the teacher decided to divide the class into the three separate divisions of the afterlife (the celestial, telestial and outer darkness) for the remainder of the year saying you could only sit in the celestial room if....and had a long list of ifs here.  Those who chose the telestial room thought it would be nice to live with god, but it wasn't their top priority.  iN outer darkness the curtain was drawn closed and you could do with that what you like because you didn't care at all about going to heaven.  My kids both came home appalled at the divisions and I told them...don't worry about it.  Sister blank (I won't mention her name here) means well and is doing her best.  Go to whatever kingdom you like.  You are present and that is what matters.  Now, most parents would also go to the teacher and complain...and I thought about it...but I have a wise husband who said, "Chelsey let it be.  Our kids need lessons like this in life.  Let it be."  And I did let it be. Anyway, let's bring this back to what Kenzie said.  I think it is so important to not present that idea of God being a harsh God to our teenagers and youth.  I asked her, do you ever hear the prophets and apostles of the church telling you that you are not good enough?  Can you think of one talk from President Monson where he said that? Elder Uchtdorf?  Elder Eyring?
Her answer, no.  I had a good discussion with her on weaknesses and how the Lord expects us to overcome them.  This also led to a great discussion with her on our stance on homosexuality and same gender attraction.  I was able to follow this up with the new videos that the church has put out entitled Mormon and Gay.  You can find them on lds.org.  I loved the time I spent talking with her yesterday.  That one on one interaction is SO needed with teeanagers.

Something that brightened my bleak midwinter blues was Kenzie's one act musical this weekend where she and three others performed.  They totally blew it our of the water!  The kids were AMAZING!  I loved every second of the play.  You can watch some you tube clips of it here, here, here and here.  They are not the best visual recording but the sound is great!  She is doing wonderfully which makes all the heartache with Shea and DPAC (her former theater club) worth it all.  Oh, I haven't told you about Shea and DPAC?  Well, let me summarize.  Kenzie and her friends in the theater club.  Friends get moved up and Kenzie get left behind.  Several emails from me to the director, Shea, with no response.   Finally, after bugging the director, director says to me Kenzie is not as good as the others (In 7th grade, really you can tell who the stars are?)  Kenzie wants to quit.  I say no...stick it out.  You are too talented to quit.  The beginning of her 8th grade year I sign her up for voice with Jill.  Following year, same thing happens.   Same wanting to quit.  I say no, stick it out.  Jill says no...stick it out.  You are too talented to quit.  This is how the real world works.  Kenzie sticks it out and continues to improve and this year, it's paying off.  New directors...and they love her. It is so cool to see your kids excel at something they have worked at for so long.  There is no better feeling.  It makes this bleak midwinter a little brighter.