According to David A. Bednar, tender mercies are blessings that are real, they don't happen randomly or by coincidence, their timing helps us discern them, and they are very personal blessings that are sent to help us when we need strength, protection, assurance, guidance, loving kindness, consolation, support and spiritual gifts. Those blessings I mentioned before fit Elder Bednar's points to a "T", and am overwhelmed to consider that my Heavenly Father would be so mindful of me.
Speaking of blessings, not necessarily tender mercies, we have spent a goodly amount of time lately playing this year's new "funnest game of the season" BLOKUS!! A good game of Blokus, some popcorn made with the Whirlypop, and some cherry cordial M&M's and you have all the makings of a fun night with the boys :)
Here it is, the darn snow that stands between me and my family. This is the reason we aren't in St. George today celebrating the New Year with the married half of the Cozzens. And, although it looks pretty from inside the house, the tree is now gone, it's light outside, and the boys have spent two days clearing the stuff off driveways around town. So it may look all Christmasy and pretty, but it's not. 
It did allow me to wake up to this, however. The boys asleep in the family room after coming home from New Year's Eve activities still hyper and not ready to put the festivities to bed yet. This scene tugged at my heart. These 20 something, college aged boys asleep on my floor reminded me for just a minutes of those cute little boys whose lives I used to be able to control a little bit, to manipulate, and to relish in. They're only home for one more week, and Dave is already gearing up for the tears and the sadness and the mopey me that comes when they leave.
And that may be why he spent his day yesterday, when he wasn't clearing driveways of snow, building this for me. A new addition to our family room. Lovely, isn't it?
But what' more lovely is that it opens into THIS!! A nice little sewing cabinet where I can work on whatever project suits my fancy right in the middle of my family, where I love to be (if they would only forget about college, families of their own, and their lives elsewhere and come home!)
E ANATOMY OF PEACE ~ This book, written by The Arbinger Institute, of whom James Farrell, author of The Peacegiver is a member, should be read by every member of the human race. At least once a year. It is interestingly told in story format, so as it teaches, it also entertains. The insights and principles are like turning on a light bulb. I really loved this book, and plan on reading it again. At least once a year :)
THE SILENCE OF GOD ~ by Gale Sears is about a family, the only members of the Church in Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution and is seen through the eyes of nineteen-year-old Agnes Lindlof and her lifelong friend, Natasha, in a powerful, extraordinary story of devotion and loyalty. It was a book I couldn't leave alone until I was finished
AM I NOT A MAN ~ by Utah's own Mark Shirtleff is the story of Dred Scott, a black slave who took his issue of freedom before the supreme court and won . . . and then lost. His case became the catalyst for the election of President Abraham Lincoln. This is another book I couldn't put down, and although I knew the ending, because it's history, after all, I found myself rooting for a better ending right up to the ending that had to be.
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY ~ by Mary Ann Shaffer. Jill didn't care for this book but I loved it. Another book about World War II has to be pretty good to hold my attention anymore, but this is one of two about that time period that I fell in love with this year. A very charming story that one of my friends placed right up there with To Kill a Mockingbird!
THE GREEN GLASS SEA ~ by Ellen Klages is a book you will find in the children's literature section of your bookstore or library, but it held this adult's attention very well! Although not one of the two books I loved this year about the World War II era, this one takes place during that time period. It is about the building of the atomic bomb seen through the eyes of children whose parents were part of the team working on it. A great story for children or adults.
SEVEN MIRACLES THAT SAVED AMERICA ~ by Chris Stewart. After reading his Great and Terrible series, I'll read anything Chris Stewart wrote, but this book was very well thought out and written, about seven miraculous events that saved our country in the past, and in the end, it gave me hope that there are still miracles out there for our country if we live worthy for them to occur.
MY NAME IS ASHER LEV ~ by Chiam Potok. I used to wish I was an artist. Now I just wish I could see the world the way Asher Lev sees it, through an artist's eyes. This book was poignantly sad but at the same time full of all the greatness and beauty of the world. I hope in the end Asher Lev, a Jewish boy and gifted artist, finally found peace and acceptance in his life. He deserves it.
THIS JUST IN ~ by Kerry Blair is a book that probably will never make anyone's literary books list, but it gets to be on mine because it made me laugh. It is a story of unlikely LDS heroine who happens into a kidnapping because the boy who was taken was in her primary class. Oh, and she's a news reporter. A little mystery, a little romance, and a lot of smiling at the cute humor in this book will make for some light but enjoyable reading.
MRS. MIKE ~ by Benedict Freedman. I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit that I've not read this book before. It's been around forever, apparently, but I finally read it this year. The story was great, I felt myself living within it, experiencing the incredible life this young wife experienced. Even the sad parts left you with hope instead of just that feeling of sadness that so many books written to try and manipulate your emotions do. It was a feel good book, I thought.
THE PEACEGIVERS ~ by James L. Ferrell. This was my second time reading this book, and it got me through a pretty hard time in my life. I love the ideas in this book and the way they are presented in story format so it's easy to parallel those ideas to your own life. I will always love this book for the healing and peace it gave me.
THE UNBROKEN ~ by Laura Hillenbrand. This is the true story of Louie Zamperini, an Olympic track star before the war, but once the war started, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Louie lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. How he endured those trials as he was driven to the limits of endurance will leave you shaking your head in unbelief. Told in Laura Hillenbrand's great writing style reminiscent of Seabiscuit, this book is just too good to keep quietly on a list for a whole year!
The beautiful desert you only get to see if you are brave . . . or stupid. We're not sure which :) There is a slight rainbow, which is why I took this picture, but it doesn't show up, really. Just the beauty that surrounds you if you can unhook your shaking hand from door frame, look out and enjoy.
And that bush behind Aiden isn't on fire. It's a trick of photography. Don't ask me what trick because it was an accidental trick. But pretty cool, don't you think? Camping in the desert.
Right off let me just say that we didn't make it to the Hole in the Rock, but we DID make it further than that park ranger we saw on the way in said we would. So THERE park ranger. Don't tell us we can't. To Dave, that's just a challenge. 
Here Dave drives across one of the washed out parts of the road that the aforementioned park ranger said we would NEVER get across in the vehicles we were driving. Not as exciting in photographs as it was to watch in person. It was a Landcruiser rodeo!
We DID make it as far as Grey Mesa, which means we got to hike up the "road" the pioneers built down off it. For those of you not buffed up on your Hole in the Rock history, when the pioneers came across Grey Mesa and started looking for a way down, well, they couldn't find one.
They were exhausted, hungry, and some more than a little bit pregnant! So it was imperative they find a way down from here. While searching they spotting a mountain sheep. Dave thought it showed pretty good restraint on their part that they didn't just kill and eat the mountain sheep since they were out of food, but instead they followed it and then built a road down off the mesa on the trail the mountain sheep had showed them.
Kimbrey and I walked the road those pioneers made down off the mesa. How they got wagons down there . . . well, as my friend at work says, I hope when we get to heaven there is a rewind button and we can go back and watch stuff like that happen.
Because that is going to be a show that will put today's reality TV to shame!
As bad as some of the stuff we drove on was, the road went around this part of the trail. So, much of it is untouched, such as these hatch marks that were carved in the rock for the wagon wheel to fall into to slow them down as they came down this steep incline. 
Here Kyle comes down a steep part of the trail. Look scary coming down? You should be in there when it's time to go back up!
And this, for your pioneer information, is how little pioneer boys . . . well, get rid of their water on the trail. Just so you know. And an appropriate time to say, The End.
Reading The Undaunted is what brought it all back, the memories of walking where faith filled people have walked before. And we are going to do it again. We are driving the old Hole in the Rock trail next week!!! We've done it before, once in our Landcruiser with ME, myself driving the thing while Dave rode his motorcycle. We went with some friends, and most of the other women were out walking while I drove those technical hard spots, of which there were many. This time I'm just along for the ride.
But my control neurosis wouldn't let us just go out there and wing it. No, we had to do a prerun, because if we're the guides, we really should know where we're going, right? Right. Because this isn't a nice dirt road with signs showing you right where to go. Sometimes the trail is apparent . . .
And sometimes the only thing you have to go by are little faint paint marks on the rock.
Because see, the road we came into the Hole in the Rock trail on before is gone. That's right, gone. Vanished. Washed away by flood and you can't here from there anymore, so this is the new route. This, right here is what you have to drive on before you even GET to the Hole in the Rock trail. Notice the far back tire up in the air. Just so you know, we couldn't get our truck back UP this spot on the way out. We had to find a different way to go. But don't be scared!!
We made it to the trail.
And then we camped. Just like pioneers, only in a tent . . . with an air mattress to sleep on.
And this is how Dave had planned to blow up our air mattress. An elaborate system of jumper cables hooked to the truck . . .
Then hooked into a converter that turns the truck power into air pump power . . . .
Then an extension cord running from the converter to the air mattress in our tent. In theory, it should have worked. Only it didn't, and we ended up blowing the air mattress up by mouth. Which wasn't as easy as it sounds, if it sounds easy to you. There was a valve on the air mattress that the air pump was supposed to push down out of the way so the air could go in, but not come back out. And since there WAS no air pump, my thumb had to push the valve out of the way while my mouth tried to fit around the quarter sized opening on the air mattress AND my thumb while still allowing air to get into the mattress. But I was not going to attempt to sleep on the hard ground. I was motivated, let me tell you!!! I figured it out.
It was beautiful out there.
And there is a wonderfully peaceful feeling that comes with knowing you are one of only a few who ever get to see this part of the world.
And then a storm moved in and that's when we felt like real pioneers. Sitting in our tent with the great expanse of desert around us, at the mercy of the elements, knowing those pioneers did this every day. For six months. There was no going home tomorrow for them. My heart swelled with love and I felt a kind of kinship to them.
So pack up your gear guys, and pack it well, because this is not for the faint of heart. But it promises great adventure and wonderful picture taking opportunities. You know us, we don't do Disneyland, and we're out of our element in Europe, but out here, where only the brave have trod, we are home.
