What I learned in 2008

Last night I went to a fun party themed "what I learned in 2008". We each had to bring a couple of things. 1. A list of 10 things we learned in 2008. 2. A recipe we found in 2008 and if possible bring the food item to share with the group. 3. A basket (or for us New Yorkers a Bag) of 3 or 4 things or places that we found in 2008. We then drew names and we each took home a different basket of Finds. We had a good turnout, even though it was the coldest night we have had in the last couple of years. It was wonderful to hear what everyone learned over the last year. Many people got really personal and it made me wonder if perhaps I am so reserved that I cannot share with friends things I have learned that have made me a better person. I kept my list pretty empty of all those things and it was more a list of things I learned how to do. However I thought I would share with everyone a few things I learned in 2008.

I learned:

• To sew an "Original Hem". This was a very exciting thing to learn because it is hemming your pants while keeping the original hem that came with the pants. This is great for most jeans nowadays with the slightly worn hem or for designer jeans that have very specific looking hems. You really can't tell at all that the pants were hemmed. Totally Fabulous
• About Natural and Home Birth. Seeing as I am pregnant we jumped on the "let's learn all we can" bandwagon early. We have completed our Bradley childbirth classes (I think they are a wonderful childbirth educators. They are very thorough in teaching you what you need to know whether you birth in a hospital naturally or with medication and the implications for you and your baby or whether you choose to birth in a birthing center or at home.) and we made some important decisions to have a home birth with a midwife. Corey was a little skeptical but supportive at first and is now a very strong advocate for a natural drug free birth. He is really excited as he learns more of how to coach me through the birth and support me and not just be a bystander waiting anxiously. The more we learn how my body is going to labor and birth and how I can most effectively help it along with being relaxed and without fear the more confident we are that we are going to have a wonderful experience. I have been reading some pretty amazing books that have really assisted me in having a positive attitude about childbirth and becoming a mother. I am very excited.
• Much to my husband's delight, I have been learning football rules and jargon. I now know what an interception, an incomplete pass, roughing the kicker, and holding are, what happens in a touchback, and sometimes I can even follow the ball through a pass and a tackle. Yes, I am getting the hang of it. I am practicing because I know my son will follow in the footsteps of his father and I am going to need to keep up.
• I have learned some new things about nutrition. I have eliminated from my kitchen any vegetable, corn, canola, or really processed way overused cheap oils. I now use only coconut oil for my main cooking, and depending on the food I'm making I will use sesame oil, peanut oil, walnut oil or other gourmet oils which are much healthier for you. And they don't leave a yucky horrible film on my pans anymore. I also learned that I can substitute most white processed flour with oat flour in most anything, and have had fabulous results. With my new coffee grinder I am able to make small quantities of different grain flours to use in making our food healthier and more nutritious, and with no noticable difference in texture or taste.
• I have learned some very personal things as well, such as how to have hope and faith in the face of challenges. I was laid off earlier this year and had applied for some jobs here in the city, to no avail. We had decided before the layoff to add on to our family and after much talking decided that even without a job it was still the right thing to do. So in August we found out we were expecting. With Corey's art business not quite booming as we would like and me without a job we have much to be stressed about. However, we had prepared ourselves as best as we could over the last couple of years financially and having learned how to trade the stock market we felt confident that we could make things work. We had just signed another lease before all this happened so we knew we would continue to stay in NY. It can be such a stressful thing to not know where the money will come from in the next 6 months and with the financial market crashing here in NY and seeing so many people move away because of lost jobs, and many people losing their retirement in the market it was definately a conscious effort on our part to not get suckered into worrying about the future or worrying if we could make our trading support us. However, we continued to see wonderful blessing come into our lives and knew that we are in the right place. All this just promoted the feeling that if we are in the right place and doing all we could to follow the commandment and help those in need, that the Lord would not let us fall into ruin, and so what need is there of despairing and worring about the whole situation. We still don't know what the future holds for us but we are consciously being grateful for the wonderful things we have and letting the rest take care of itself. Sometimes I wonder why I haven't done this my whole life. It is much more pleasant than always worrying and freaking out when things change in life or became unstable or uncertain. I keep thinking about a letter my dad sent me on my mission reminding me that the Lord will remember us in our time of need, refering to Mathew 6:28-34.

I realized this is getting to be way too long and will end this post. I definately learned many more things but these are some of the really important ones. Corey and I were talking about making a list every year so we can go back and reminisce about how we learned to use a cd player or walkman, or learned to play nintendo's original mario brother and duck hunt. :) It could be quite fun in years to come to see what we have learned in years past.