"Send some rain"

My family has always loved the rain. Living in the desert we are often left wishing for more rain to soak the earth and clean the air. Today I think all of my family would tell you that though we still love the rain and hope for it to come soon, we will be grateful for the sun that warms our faces.

Send some rain, would You send some rain?
'Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade
Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid
But maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways
And if that's the case ...

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You
How to bless the very sun that warms our face
If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread
Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight
Wrap us up and warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time
Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways
And if that's the case ...

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view
If no roof is overhead
And if we never taste that bread

Oh, the differences that often are between
Everything we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
Between alibis and enemies tonight
Or maybe not, not today
Peace might be another world away
And if that's the case ...

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need
And if You never grant us peace ...

But, Jesus, would You please ...

In a world full of loss, I give thanks for divine providence often brought in unexpected ways and for the lessons it teaches to willing students. And that still each day can be concluded with a hopeful pleading of "But Jesus, would You please..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waYUzxK8TYA

BYU, My Dad, and Grandpas

When my age had barely crossed into double-digits there was a scrawny little Texan that had moved to Provo, UT, and taken over my world.

Every Saturday morning my Dad and I would make a trip to the local grocery store for chips, salsa, and Shasta. Then we'd hunker down in front of the TV for another day of Ty Detmer slinging the ball all around the field. BYU football ruled the fall months, and to some degree defined my relationship with my Dad during those years. We both loved it, looked forward to it, talked about it constantly...we shared each other through it...

High school, mission, college, and growing up meant our mutual love for all things BYU carried on, but separately rather than on the same couch in the family room on 335 E. Main Street. I didn't really ever imagine being able to make those same types of memories together with Dad again. Then I moved back to Grantsville and a kid from upstate New York moved across the country and started throwing the ball in the basketball hoop from about as far away as Detmer could throw the football...

Jimmer and BYU started a magical run this season and it meant Dad coming over to our house to watch all of the games. It was great again to watch games when you believed BYU was going to win every one and that Fredette would be thrilling to watch nearly every time he stepped on the court. Dad and I talked about how there were games we wouldn't ever delete off our DVRs because we would want to watch Fredette over and over again. It has been a great ride starting to reach its peak last week with the start of the NCAA tournament. Dad joined us to watch BYU's first round win over Wofford. The next game was to be difficult, a tough match-up, a game that might be Jimmer's last...

I was nervous when the game was starting, as I usually am before a game. We waited to start our viewing a little late so Jim and his boys could get there. I called Dad to make sure he was coming over, even though there was an unspoken standing invite for all things BYU between us, but he didn't answer. I figured he must have gone with Mom to Provo with our English visitors or he would have already been at my house. So we turned the game on...

A few hours later we were standing in the hospital. The euphoria over a huge win, wondering when Dad would be home so he could watch the replay, had evaporated and left behind feelings of concern, worry, guilt, and fear. Dad hadn't been in Provo. He'd been home when he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. We were wanting the best, wishing away the worst...

Two days later, Dad is still with us. I won't delete that game from my DVR, because we'll watch it together one day. There is a long and winding road laid before us, and not one we would have chosen to travel, but one that we'll gladly and thankfully accept. Because Dad gets to go along with us. And not just Dad, but Grandpa, too...

I have few working memories of my Grandpa Orgill or Grandpa Lisenbee. I met my Granddad Simmonds on only two different occasions, but those visits with him brought a level of fulfillment to my life that few other interactions have. He was witty and fun. He was both interesting and interested. I loved hearing his stories of the service, old sport, and the French. Meeting him left me wishing for more, but yet grateful and accepting that I had known Commander Simmonds...

Afton and Mya and their cousins will get to build up their memories with Grandpa Orgill..."And that has made all the difference."

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, your thoughts and concerns, and for loving our Dad and Grandpa.

Where is Tigey?

Trouble in the Orgill household this morning. Afton woke up and couldn't find one of her stuffed animals. Not a big problem? You don't know Afton and her pets/friends. Her care for these animals and her memory relating to them is unbelievable. This is an example of a oft-repeated nighttime routine for us:

Parents: "Good night, Afton" as she gets tucked into bed.

Afton: "Mom/Dad, I can't find Tigey."

Parents: "Well, you've got Teddy, Buster, Stripey, Pandlee, and a few other pets here, so you'll be okay."

Afton: "No, I've got to have Tigey. If he doesn't sleep with me he'll get lonely. I have to have him."

Parents: (after finding Tigey) "OK, here he is. Good night."

Afton: (15 minutes later) "Mom/Dad, I can't find Spotty. Can you help me find Spotty?"

She will literally take an inventory of her regular sleep pets each night that she gets into bed. And there have been multiple occasions where she comes out of bed long after we've left her room because she's noticed some tiny little stuffed animal isn't where it is supposed to be. Another example of those odd parenting dynamics where something is both incredibly cute and frustrating at the same time. This morning she couldn't find Tigey, a pet that she took to church on Sunday. Stefanie asked if she took Tigey to Grandma's house that night and Afton answered definitively, "No. I took Fluffy to Grandma's house, not Tigey." And she was right. She is almost always right when remembering things about her stuffed pets.

Came home for lunch one day and Afton and Mya had lined all of their pets up on the couch. Afton had recently gotten a new dog, Fluffy, from Build-A-Bear. So I took photos of her with all of her different animals and she wanted to hold Fluffy in each picture "so she can get to know all of her new friends."

Her favorites. Pandlee, Bunny-ears dog, Tigey, Buster, Hippo the Cow, and Crystal. (Left to right). These are the pets, along with her Build-A-Bear friends, that have to be with her in her bed almost every single night. She will climb into bed and do pet check to make sure they are all there.

These are the pets that she and Mya have gotten from Build-A-Bear: Meow-meow, Spotty, Fluffy, Brand New Bear, and Monkey. Yes, she called the first one she got from the store Brand New Bear. Now she refers to it just as Teddy sometimes.

These were different Julius Monkeys that I got from Hoopes Vision as part of an office promotion.

The pillow pets the girls got for Christmas: First Brown Dog in the World and Bee.

All of her smaller pets. She'll rotate these around once in a while, picking one to tote around the house. But they generally don't leave the house with her, that honor is reserved for her favorites.

The mechanical pets: Kitty and First Real Dog in the World (are we seeing a theme in how Mya names her pets and how Afton names hers?)

The Care Bears. The Cheer Bear was one of Afton's first stuffed animals. She used to love to squeeze the tummy and listen to it singing the ABC song when she was little.

These animals were all given to her as gifts from cousins. Afton calls the pig "Cranky-Cranky" because of the oinking sound it makes when you squeeze it.

Her Yo Gabba Gabba dolls. We couldn't find Brobee, but at this point Afton was so excited about doing the pictures that she said, "It's okay, we can just find him later." Talk about a first.

These were animals that Afton inherited from Stefanie.

Pony-pone.

This is the new game of late. One girl sits down in the crib or on the bed or floor and the other throws all of the stuffed animals on top.

My First Nephis

1 Nephi 1:1 - I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents...

I've read 1 Nephi before. And I've read it a lot. I likely should be able to recite the first few chapters from memory. 2 Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, and Omni? Not nearly as often. Someone picking up the BofM, opening to 1st Nephi, and reading those words for the 100th time signifies something deeper than just what is written on the pages. It usually signals someone committing to be better, to accomplish a task that has been put off, and/or to be more consistent at something that they consider to be important. Turning 33 years old seemed as good of a time as any to send some attention to the different First Nephis in my life.

This Blog - Little girls say and do a lot of cute things. Afton and Mya have been watching a lot of videos of themselves. It is fun to watch them react to old memories or to things that happened before they could remember. And it makes this parent wish he had written down more of those memories. So we'll try to fire this puppy up again. Maybe we'll see more reality TV show critiques to help spur on this uncreative mind to more creative and frequent entries.

Losing Weight/Getting in Shape - 33 years old last week. No more excuses and no more guilt. My solution? No more trying to stop with Dr. Pepper and no more guilt about it. How does that play in to the master plan of losing weight and getting in shape? It doesn't. But oh well, right? At least my feelings of guilt will be gone.

1st Nephi - What is the new solution to make regular scripture reading a success in the Orgill home? Starting in Matthew instead of 1st Nephi. We resumed family scripture study last night in the book of Matthew of the New Testament. Afton was excited that we were learning about Jesus being a baby. She is remarkably attentive when we read through the scriptures. Last night she stopped Stefanie and asked, "Mom, what does flee mean?". Mya tried to hush our reading so she could take a turn reading to us from her own books.

So no more lying down while life whisks us away. I'm gonna see if I can't push through my own First Nephis. If 1st Nephi represents a new commitment, what does 2nd Nephi mean? Not sure yet. I'll let ya know when I get there.

Jimmered

Jimmer Fredette, the BYU Bomber.  Wearing my new shirt at the last BYU bball game.  Got all sorts of stares as we walked to our seats.

"I make cakes. Yep, that's what I do." *

Every once in a while I'll get an itch to start a new hobby, cultivate a new talent, or just find something interesting to occupy my time. That usually leads me to reading a book, thinking a lot about what new endeavor I might want to undertake, and a lot of wishing and wanting. Does Stef ever get a similar itch? Yeah, and then she actually does become a totally awesome cake artist.

This was actually one of Stefanie's very first cakes (#3 if my memory is right). Unreal. The third time I tried to play the guitar I was still griping about my fingers hurting and then I gave up. Stefanie was presenting bakery show pieces.

Stef told my family that she needed practice making cakes and invited them to put in orders. My Dad requested a pumpkin and ghost cake for our family Halloween party. Stefanie finished it in time to take to our ward talent show and most people looking at it had no idea it was a cake because it looked so authentic. I love the Happy Halloween sign and how real and wood-like it appeared; still might be my favorite cake that she's done.


These were some cupcake treats she made for Halloween as well. The graves were surprise cupcakes, my favorite treat my mom makes, filled with cream cheese and chocolate chips.

My sister Susan placed this order and found a picture online for Stefanie to try to duplicate, which she did, and then some.

This was Susan's b-day cake. Everything was perfect except the number...not sure how Stefanie got mixed up and put 40 on the cake instead of 35, but the rest looked beautiful. Who knew that painting cherry blossoms on our bedroom wall would come in handy down the road?!


A cake to celebrate a friend's new baby boy. Loved the blanket and the little baby bump underneath the blanket. Cute as a button!

Our nephew Andrew and niece Lauren shared a birthday party and roller skate/blade cakes matched the location.

For those of you unfamiliar with Word World it is a cartoon where the characters' bodies and almost everything else in the show is made up of the letters that spell out what they are, just like the d-o-g, f-r-o-g, and p-i-g on this cake. Loved the fondant candle and the characters spelling out Luke's name out of the pile of letters, just like they do on the show.

The first topsy-turvy (maybe my next itch will be to work on knowing how to spell cake decorating phrases) cake that Stef made. This was for our niece Emily, but you know our Dora-obsessed Mya loved watching Mom put this one together.

Yep, Mya is obsessed with Dora. This was just one of those, you know, quick, throw-it-together cakes where all Stefanie did was match perfectly one of the dresses that Dora wears.

When it was Afton's turn to pick out her bday cake she actually drew a picture of what she wanted: a princess castle, with a bridge. I kind of laughed and just figured Stefanie was going to talk Afton out of it and into a different cake idea. I have been sufficiently chastised for my lack of belief.

At this point it is pretty much just not fair anymore. Collegiate athlete, college graduate, great teacher, coach, fabulous taste in men, crochets, wonderful mother, and cake designer/decorator/doer.

Very creative and looks great, especially for her first time doing a round cake and on a design as difficult as duplicating the geometric shapes on the soccer ball.

Stef made this cake for a Blue and Gold Banquet our nephews were participating in. Making the Bobcat, Wolf, and Bear faces? Easy for Stef. Remembering which order the individual cakes went in? That meant checking a picture online several times while arranging the cakes.

Congrats to Stefanie for doing so well at her new hobby and for her continued excellence in quite literally everything she does.

*Jimmer fans: the title was for you.

Jimmermania

Stef and I were part of the 22,700 at the Marriott Centers last night. It was a remarkable atmosphere. The stands were almost full 45 minutes before tip-off. And the game didn't disappoint. Jimmer Fredette is all over the national news, including Tweets from all over the country. There were some that were funny enough that I had to jot them down to try to remember them.

"Voldemort refers to Jimmer as You Know Who"

"Blame the weather on El Jimmer...he's raining 3's all over"

"Jimmer invented Al Gore"

"Two Nephites were at the game last night; the 3rd one scored 43 points"

"You're only going to stop Jimmer...when the game ends"

"MC Hammer can't touch Jimmer."

"Jimmer is the best scorer in the world" - from Kevin Durant, the leading scorer in the NBA

Serious...Smile...Serious...Smile

The girls were in one of their "I'm being so cute right now I could probably ask for a real dog and I'd get one" moods the other night. They were giggling at just about anything, and then Mya started her game where she puts on a serious face, and then cracks up laughing, and then somehow composes herself well enough to immediately look serious again, but then can't hold it very long because she thinks it is hilarious.