Neil Young

Neil Young is probably one of my favorite artists. Not because of his polished sound or his good looks. His words and folksy music really struck a chord (sorry) with me from the first time that my beloved played his music for me. It's the grit, the shaky voice, the raw human imperfection that sinks deep into me. When Owen and I were on the last date before he purposed, he played Such a Woman for me. I'll admit that the song really meant something rather different at the time but it was the soul that came through this man's voice that has continued to draw me to Mr. Young's music. I just happened to hear a live performance tonight, and was reminded of what I feel when I hear him sing and what a sense of loss I will feel when he is no longer here on this earth. I'm melodramatic I know, but as I thought these things about a man that I don't know and have never met, I thought further about the people in my life that I do or have known . Every soul that I have had a relationship with always has and will continue to leave a profound void for me when they are gone. Anyway, if you are reading this and are close with me, I want you to know how much I regard and love you. How much I deeply care for you on a constant basis and always hope and pray for your happiness and well being. So, I invite you to take a moment and click on the hyperlink above on Such a Woman, and think about how awesome you are while you listen.

Last Post for a While

Tomorrow we will be packing up the computers until we're in SK. I may try to blog whi

Yummmm!

I came across a long lost bread recipe that I concocted a few years ago to utilize all of the wheat that I have in store. The poor and beloved thing was stuck to the bottom of one of my bread pans! I was aghast at how close I got to losing it (it took me countless tries to get the recipe right) so I thought that I would share it online so that I can always find it (unlike the recipe card I have it written on.) when I feel a strong desire to grind wheat and make bread...

Becky's Perfected 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups warm (100-115 degrees) *potato water, divided
1 tsp sugar
2 TBS yeast
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
1 TBS salt
2 cups wheat flour
4-8 cups whole wheat flour ( amounts can vary depending on the humidity of the air, and water content of the wheat. If you are grinding the wheat right before you use it, you will need to use much more flour.)
2, 9x4x4 inch bread pans (you may find that you have more dough than expected. If that happens, make some rolls with the leftovers and bake them in a cake pan.
Method:
Boil some potatoes and set potatoes aside for another use. Use the leftover water for the above potato water. If you don't quite have 3 cups, just add water to the potato water to make the proper amount. You can also use plain water with only slightly inferior results.
Stir yeast in sugar and 1/2 cup of the water and let set for 10 minutes or until quite frothy.
Whisk remaining 2 1/2 cups water, oil, honey, salt and 2 cups flour till smooth. Whisk yeast mixture in with it until incorporated.
With a wooden spoon, mix in remaining flour one cup at a time until dough forms a ball and is smooth and only very slightly sticky. Knead dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes adding flour as needed to make a smooth but not stiff dough.
Place dough in an oiled bowl turning once. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-3 hours (depending on ambient temps) or until doubled in size.
Gently deflate the dough and let rest for 5 minutes. Separate dough into two halves then roll each dough half until it's roughly a 9x12 inch rectangle and 1/2 inch thick. (this is when to guage if you have too much dough. If you do, cut the dough to the above dimentions and set asside remaining for rolls!)
Roll the dough jellyroll style into a cylinder shaped loaf and place into bread pan.
Using a very sharp knife, make 2 or 3 diagonal slits into the top of the loaves. cover with a damp cloth and rise again 1-2 hours or until doubled in size. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or till a beautiful light golden color.

Moving

So we're moving to South Korea! The path to this decision was hedged by many and various hardships that prepared our hearts to accept this change. We are excited! This week we've been moving our things into a storage unit, giving away items that won't do well in long term storage, and working hard to learn how to read and write Korean. Luckily, it's a fairly simple language to learn how to read and write. Speaking will be something entirely different but we'll deal with that when we get to Korea. Never in any crevice of my mind did I ever think that we'd be moving to some place so different than where we are now. I hoped for a few differences but really this is going to be such a cool experience for our family! Of course I will be blogging about it incessantly as we move along so be prepared.

Hopeful

I've been thinking a lot about the big three: Faith, Hope, and Charity. Really I don't believe that any of these attributes can truly exists without the others; however, hope is the one that I have a hard time surrendering to. I think that most times it's because from my flawed and limited vantage point, I simply refuse to hope for things that I can't see or understand. Anyway, I wanted to pass along a poem that's been running through my head as I've been musing; I really like the metaphor.

Hope is the Thing With Feathers
By: Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me

Gratitude

I'm always late on the Holiday things. I was just thinking about all of my blessings and thought I should express gratitude for some of them now.

Family
People who love you despite the lame things you do and say... or as an old friend said: people who know everything about you and love you anyway. Mostly the people who are there to help shoulder the burden even when it's a burden that causes those you love most difficulty themselves. It's humbling to be loved in that way. It's painful. I hope to be able to measure up to what has been given us sometime. In the mean time, I work hard to do right by these people.

Friends
Or the people who can make you laugh and see the color in life. I love my friends!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ
I'm usually not one to do this so publicly but I want to share my testimony.
I know that God lives, created the heavens and the earth and loves each of his children in a way that is only possible from an omnipotent and omniscient being. I know that Jesus Christ walked the earth, humbly lived his life by the will of the Father and sacrificed all for each of us. I am so grateful for that sacrifice. I have a testimony that the boy Joseph Smith truly saw the Father and the Son, that he acted on the inspiration of Deity and did receive the keys of the priesthood. That these keys are on the earth today and we have access to a living Prophet of God. I also have a testimony that through this power of the priesthood, we all can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to bare testimony of the truth of all things.

The Temple
How blessed I am to have the sealing powers of the House of the Lord! It is here that I have been sealed to my beloved family for all eternity and have experienced a peace and a feeling of being loved in such a deep and profound way that words fail me. It is here that I have been involved in service that can only be described as transcendent.

Nature
I'm a nature girl to my core. I'm most content being in the wilderness surrounded by the various beauties that this earth provides. I find deep comfort and joy in the sounds, smells and visual beauty that cannot be imitated. I love to feel the earth in my hands when I garden; I love to observe and interact with animals and experience with thanksgiving what they provide us in their various capacities.

Music
I cannot describe the experience of making music. It is the ultimate. I am rendered speechless to explain it. It is like a prayer- a sincere and joyful expression of love. It is such a part of me that I don't have a single period of life where music wasn't an integral part of who I am.

I could go on and on... In short, I am one blessed woman!

The Winds of Change are a Blowin

Life is an enigmatic thing for us OB1's. We make careful plans only to be vigilantly guided as far away from what we thought was best to something better. It's never static or boring. I hesitate to say what's up with us because we are only beginning the process but I will say... we are practicing hiragana, brushing up on our international etiquette, and beginning the process of storing/giving/arranging. Scary? Well, sort of. Peaceful when you wouldn't think. Keep checking in, I'll reveal the layers as they come.