I am honored to be call WOMAN

Hi all,
I am blogging on this quote i read because it explains perfectly why I am honored to be called Woman and what I am working to live up to. If you ever thought that your role as a wife, mother, daughter, sister or woman was not significant.... please read the following quote and remember that God has created you for a specific and wonderful purpose! Love ya, chanel.
Gems on the Family
The Divinity of Womanhood
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"I wonder if you sisters fully understand the greatness of your gifts and talents and how all of you can achieve the 'highest place of honor' in the Church and in the world. One of your unique, precious, and sublime gifts is your femininity, with its natural grace, goodness, and divinity. Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty.

"One of your particular gifts is your feminine intuition.
Do not limit yourselves. As you seek to know the will of our Heavenly Father in your life and become more spiritual, you will be far more attractive, even irresistible. You can use your smiling loveliness to bless those you love and all you meet, and spread great joy. Femininity is part of the God-given divinity within each of you. It is your incomparable power and influence to do good. You can, through your supernal gifts, bless the lives of children, women, and men. Be proud of your womanhood. Enhance it. Use it to serve others."

(James E. Faust "Womanhood: The Highest Place of Honor," Ensign, May 2000, 96)

I love LDS Gems

I have really enjoyed getting the LDS Gems each day. Sometimes I dont read them for like a week, but I really enjoy having these little quotes and uplifting tidbits to read when I feel bad or get annoyed at the world. They also help to jog my memory of scriptures I have read in the past or things I learned in Sunday School. Its like a quick little lesson to give me a boost when I need it. Well, I am doing fine and will be going to the Womens broadcast tomorrow, so see ya later. Here is the newest quote that really made me stop and think about my life and if I am recognizing the signs and preparing to see Jesus again! Love ya, chanel.

Daily Gems
Our Time and His Coming
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"Before that sacred night in Bethlehem, the events of history and the words of the prophets of all dispensations prepared the way for the first coming of the Lord and His Atonement. Similarly, history and prophecy laid the groundwork for the Restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Do we have eyes to see that the events and prophecies of our time are preparing us for the Savior's Second Coming?"



Topics:
restoration, Second Coming of Jesus Christ, Atonement

(Robert D. Hales, "Preparations for the Restoration and the Second Coming," Ensign, Nov. 2005, 92)

family update link

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A working mother's life with baby #4

I know, I know! It sounds bad calling Ephraim "baby #4". So what... I know I love him!

Well, I know I seemed a little down in the last blog but that was cuz... I was! Having a baby, packing, moving across the country, working, preschool(now) and all the motherly duties(which darin does help with) have taken their toll on me and that stupid Postpartum depression crap has snuck up on me. So............ I am trying to deal and function in a positive way till it blows over. I am not always unhappy or depressed, but sometimes it just hits me and i feel like running from the house screaming. So.................. I don't, which then causes me to be a grumpy person to everyone(which has not been fun for others). So.................I am working on being more productive and happy. I went to the temple(even though darin had to be with the youth) and I have started trying to read the gospel doctrine scriptures better. I am doing preschool with Jadin and simeon on Tuesdays and Thursdays(thanks to stuff Jenny showed me). I have started walking/jogging on the treadmill(also like Jenny inspired me to do) at least 3 times a week. Last week I did it 3 (maybe 4) times and this week will be the same. It has helped me feel better with all the endorphines I get and just doing something for me. Well, this is all for now, but I will keep ya posted. Love ya, chanel.

Disgruntled... I guess.

Well today has been one that I would have liked to skip.
It was a rainy and foggy day.
I worked, took ephraim and jadin to get shots, grocery shopped, came home, took care of a screaming baby(due to shots), moped about the house(not sure why), did laundry, dishes, more baby duty, had dinner(which darin cooked) and dessert, had family prayer, put baby to bed and now I am blogging and review a few work details.
To say that today was neccessary and productive is the best i can say.
I know that tomorrow is another day, which will hopefully be better then today.
see ya.

LDS GEMS

I loved this quote I got from lds gems. It is so accurate to how life is these days. I see so much corruption in this world and it seems impossible to avoid it all the time, but I know it can be done with God's help. Keep the faith and have courage! chanel.


"[The Lord's] sweet assurance . . . can guide you and me--in our time, in our day, in our lives. Of course, we will face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition. Let us have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God's approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully, but also as a determination to live decently.
A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he thinks is right because others will disapprove or laugh. Remember that all men have their fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well."

Enjoying the bounties of WA.

This is the view from my back sliding glass door. Nice and mountainy!


Hi all,
We have of course been busy since we got here with unpacking, working, kids and having fun. Now we have added school for Tristram and seasonal canning of peaches, pears and jam. We also got to freeze some corn. Yummy!
Tris is loving school and we are glad he has more to do. Canning has been tiring and rewarding. We will have yummy fruit for the winter.
My parents have been able to come and help can and to spend time together on the weekend.
Yesterday darin went to the temple in spokane for Youth baptisms and my parents watched the boys so I could go too.
It has been forever ago that I was able to go to the temple at all, so even though Darin and I were not together I decided to go. I was able to relax, meditate and absorb the spirit that can only be found there. It felt like being given water after a long journey through the desert... a welcome relief to my parched soul. I had a hard time focusing at first, but it was wonderful and I know that the more I go, the more I will be able to learn and absorb. I miss the temple and I am glad that it is only 2hrs away now.
Well, I will post more later with more pics, but i wanted to give a few updates for now.
PS- we see deer in herds out here and I commented that the "they are like cockroaches, the fields are infested with deer". hahaha. well see ya later, chanel

Life with a 6 (going on 16) year old boy!

I read my friend Jenny's blog about her "independent" son and it has reminded me of my "independent" son who has been "maturing" overnight from 6 years old to 16!
It must be the transition to age 7 and going to 1st grade, but Tristram has been very "grownup" lately. He doesn't feel the need to associate with his family most of the day, he doesn't ask permission to run around the farm or go with grandpa unless we hound him and he likes to debate the validity of every punishment and our parenting rights / skills. AAAACCCCKKKK!
Needless to say we have equiped him with a firefly cell phone which allows us to reach him on the farm when he is with grandpa or on his 4wheeler. We also do a lot of "laying down the law" with him and restricting his activities if he chooses to have a "bad day" or whine about the rules. He is very grownup and helpful most of the time, but has gotten the idea that he is too old to follow the "baby" rules. Well, I guess growing up has ups and downs. It will get better soon (i hope).
chanel.

Life in Colville, WA so far.

Hi all,

It has been fun running around the area doing things that we haven't done before.

We still work during the week, but have had relatives visit and that creates time to go play.

When my sis, michelle was still in Medeline I went w/ the kids to the Ione parade and had a picnic at the campsite of the Huberts and swam in Sullivan lake too. It was great!The next weekend we went back w/ darin this time and swam in the lake some more before michelle and family had to leave for Indiana.

Kids at the parade in Ione.

View of lake and mountains from beach we went to.

Kids and michelle looking at the Huberts Yaks.

We have done a little site seeing of the countryside on our own and possible land we could buy. It is so pretty here. Then there was a colville rendezvous here that had food, music and vendors. Got a few more charms for my bracelet at it.

Darin's sis, Jenny and her girls came to visit grandparents and us. We played on the 4wheelers.

One day we got to go to the river in Kettle, which is about 15min west of here. We swam and layed in the sand on the bank. I even floated on a tube in the river with my niece, who is 14 and so fun. Got peaches and apricots. Then we went to eat icecream on the way home. We also got to spend time chatting w/ Jenny and the girls to catch up on their lives. Good times.

Next David and Rachel and their 3 girls (who are close to our kids age) came and the kids played together lots. They all tried to fish. Dave helped grandpa with stuff and us ladies visited a little. Rachel got to rest more so that is was a real vacation. We did all help build a mini dam (using stones) to divert the river flow, so that it wouldn't erroad the ground around the bridge. It was kinda fun. We all helped pick more peaches. We also pick a little corn for dinner the last night. Yummy! More good times.

Then of course the kids have played outside on the 4wheelers and on the swingset, whenever they can. Great fun and they will hate it when school takes up most of the day. Oh well, summer is great.

Me and Ephraim. He is 10.6lbs and 22.5in now. Such a little cutie.

Stevens Moving On...

Hi all,
We finally did what we have talked about since we got married almost 9 years ago. We have relocated to Darin's childhood hometown.... colville, Wa. We are unpacked with what fits in this rental and have announced our presence in the ward. We blessed Ephraim the sunday after we got here and I am trying to get the office work done that i have been putting on hold. I miss my friends and family that are not here. I know it will be a while before I feel at home here. Send me emails or post a blog comment so I know you are out there. I will miss all of you that have made our time in Kaw River Ward a good time. Our kids will miss everyone too. We especially will miss the contact with the Elders and all the meals we had with them. Lots of love to all,
Chanel.

I AM ALIVE

I thought about what to say and decided to talk about what is happening in the Stevens house.
First, we are all alive and well. Tristram is in kindergarten (since 8/3) and Jadin(3.5) & Simeon (10m0) hang out here at home. Jadin is content to watch cartoons and run errands with me. Simeon likes to be with Darin when he can and is attached to me the rest of the time.
Darin is the President of our company, Wifiable, and I am the office manager.
At church, Darin is in YM presidency and I am in the primary presidency. The boys are in primary and Simeon goes to class w/ darin. Things are busy for us!
News: Recently we were burglarized and lost a few expense and more sentimental items. I was so frustrated that we couldn't prevent this and won't get much compensation for some of the things stolen. It is sad that someone decided to take what we have worked for. Tristram's bday is the 6th of Sept. We are gonna be planning that. Life will go on and I am working on enjoying it. Well, I have to go. Have a great day, chanel.

Life is good...no wait, it sucks...no its good?

If you are wondering about my title read on. It is my usual internal dialogue that seems to show through a tad too often for my liking. I will enlighten you by giving a specific example of it.
We have had really good things happen at the same time as really bad things. On the one hand, we have our own schedule, have gotten to spend more time with our kids, can work on our house more often, have several great friends, and got to go on a long vacation (things that wouldn't be possible with a regular job). On the other hand, we don't have business capital, we have had a few customers wait forever to pay (or still haven't), haven't had work from those that do pay (for way too long), have had to figure out most business stuff ourselves, have had people gossip about us or "misrepresent" what we say to other (creating bad feelings towards us) and have to multi-task to the point of insanity sometimes-kids, phone, customers, employees, house repairs, dishes, wash, etc.
Whew! So needless to say I feel as blessed as I do dumped on. Well, now for the funny part:
(Simultaneous to the above stuff) I had been searching for PT jobs and revamping my resume so that I could get a part-time job while we were waiting for the work to pickup or for customers to pay or both. This seemed like the logical solution to our cash flow problem. Darin, needed to stay available to run the company and I was going insane hoping for things to get better. This of course was a topic that Darin and I seemed to disagree on. He thought I shouldn't stress and I thought he wasn't stressed enough!
So I sent my resume to a few job listings that I liked and then I waited.
Well, what do ya think happened?
Nothing. AAACCCKKKK! I was really frustrated at that point, but I knew that this was God's way of keeping my faith and patience in check. So, I just took a deep breath.... and got depressed (thought I was gonna say endured well, huh).
Ok, so that wasn't gonna help but I did my best to get over it and to keep on being a good- wife, mom, church member and person. Well, about a day after I felt like nothing was gonna fix our mess, two things happened. First, something happened that distracted and frustrated me so much that it took my focus off no money and on to that. Second, we got a email from a big customer saying that they had lots of work for us to do, starting ASAP.
Here is where the life lesson happens:
I sat there crying after Darin told me the good news about the new work and thought to myself-
"Oh yee of little faith" and much littler patience! I guess I keep having to learn the same lesson over and over.
Life is not easy, but it is worth it! When everything is going good and life is "easy" we become lazy and don't grow much. When we struggle it makes us appreciate what we have and learn how to be better. I know that if I ever want to be like my heavenly father, I am going to have to endure and learn from many, many, many trials.
So...............
The gospel is true, God lives, the prophet is called of God and I cannot deny my testimony or my covenants with God. I am so grateful for the things that keep me in check and remind me of what I cherish most- My relationship with God, my family and my eternal goals.
To all those that read this- thanks for being my friend even though I'm not a quick learner sometimes.
Chanel.

Here's "The Word"!

The word is:
Chores - the stuff you do to keep the house running ( and use as excuse when spouse complains that you didn't do something else)
Lovin'- the time that you spend with your spouse to renew your affection for them (and soak up the fact they are all yours!)
Punishment- what your kids get when they disobey the rules ( and what we do when we can't figure out how to prevent it with Love and Logic, aakk.)
Pay check- what someone gets paid for the hours they work (what we get if the customer pays on time)
Date night- the night each week/month that you and spouse go out alone to have time together (the night we go out with the kids so we can go somewhere!)
Relatives- the people you are related to (the people you dont know well and dont see much, but think that they know so much about you and what you should be doing)
Words- letters strung together that are used to communicate our thoughts and feelings ( and idiotic opionions).
With that I say, this is a great way to rant! Just one human's opinion in a world full of them. Adios amigos,
chanel.

Sister, Oh Sister where art thou!

I was chatting with my sister, michelle tonight. It was great to catch up a little and to hear from her (finally-love her anyway). She is the one that gave me the idea for my blog title too.
We like to talk about what we have done that is amazing to us and what we want to do/ should do but aren't really going to do any time soon. It is refreshing to chat with my sister and know that we are never gonna be shocked or dissapointed in each other, cuz we know how we are and we accept that (and the fact that we can't change each other). It is cool to hear about her life and how things are going with her. It takes my mind off my life and what I don't like about it. She is my own personal soap opera (but a good one).
I think I can be really boring or generic on the phone sometimes, so I appreciate her talking with me anyway. I think that I was a little distracted tonight. I have worried about money, house repairs, scheduling issues and family fueds so much that my brain is on overload. I am trying hard to take a step back and just breathe! Then I remind myself that my life is good and my family is great. That helps. Then, I go clean or do laundry to stay distracted. I like that saying " God give me the courage to change the things I can, the patiences to overcome those I can't and the wisdom to know the difference". Now if I can just apply that all the time. I know that the more things I can master in life, the more responsibilities the lord will see fit to give me. This is the first step to eternal progression- whew!
See ya later,
chanel.

Hi,
Well we are back from Washington and boy are we tired. We were just commenting on how great it is to be back so we can relax a little. HaHa. I guess we needed a vacation, so we could see just how good we got it at home.
Well I am so mad- I gained 5 lbs on our trip. I had plans to keep walking on the trip, but there was usually something else to do ( feed kids, clean, weed, sleep) oh well. I did get lots of time to think and chat with Darin's mom about life and personality types. She is studying the Enneagram-its a book we used in business and shared with her. It has helped to understand myself and others. How well I use it is another story.
We got to go to Canada one day and brought back my sis's coveted Kinder Bueno chocolate. It is good. We got some shirts and some hats for the boys. We also, went to the local rodeo for fathers day. A few times we got out by ourselves to look around at land and go to different park areas to enjoy nature. It truly is gorgeous up there. Its easy to forget about the rest of the world when you are there. We do plan to live there someday, but life has to go in the proper order. Who knows where we will be needed, only the lord. Well, I do hope it is near friends.
Now that we are back, I feel the need to get stuff done and get organized again. So, I will be enjoying the Rush to get back to normal. We are gonna be working on various house repair projects, yeah. Oh, I did get some lilac and rhubarb starts from his mom. I planted them tonight and I hope they do well. The garden was over grown with weeds, but we are weeding it. It will do good now that we are here to weed and fertilize it.
I made egg rolls today and they were good. I have tried to try new recipes, but I want to do better at what i eat. Wish me luck. Well, night for now. See ya on the treadmill!

Enjoying the RUSH!

This week I have been rushing around to get all the various things we do wrapped up, so we can go to Washington for a few weeks. I forgot how much there is to think about when you have to leave it all for awhile. Well, tomorrow is a my day to pack and clean, yeah. Tonight Tristram was throwing a fit and trying to argue with me about getting a treat. It was hard not to debate with him as to why he didn't get one, but I didn't let him keep arguing with me. So he had to go to bed without making his point. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
On a more interesting note, I have been able to ponder on various situations happening in different areas of my life and have learned a few things about myself. I had always wondered why my Patriarchal blessing said I would be a peacemaker in my family? I never thought I would be good at this. Well, I have definitely been able to practice being one. I seem to get stuck in the middle of "issues" between others alot. This has allowed me to be more understanding of others and their faults. It is easy to think that I am right, but it is not easy to get along with others if I always think that. I am trying to stop myself and think "how are they seeing this" before I pass judgement or assume something.
I have also learned that I can only take so many "issues" before I want to stick my head in the sand. Going to Washington will help me to clear my mind of any nagging problems and regroup my priorities and goals. I hope to write more again, but till then, keep on smiling!
chanel stevens