What Are Your Blessings?

by Rachel Rager

LIFE ~ What a crazy thing. Everything seems to happen all at once! (Such as moving out of state, going on a blog tour and attend a book signing all at the same time!)
This week we closed on a new house in Provo, UT. Nearly my entire life I have lived in Casper, WY. My husband is also from Casper, so for us to make this move has been difficult. In fact, if we hadn't made the decisions we did and lived with my parents for three months, I'm not certain we would have been as eager to make this move.
Is this my dream home that I have moved into? No. Certainly not. But it's mine and I have definately learned (or rather remembered) how wonderful it is to have family, friends and ward families. The help and support we have recieved has been wonderful. I have learned to find blessings in the little things. Blessings appear in so many different shapes and sizes. I'd like to share just one with you today. When we were preparing to make this move, my four-year-old noticed my tears one day. She asked why I was crying.
"Honey, Mommy's just a little scared. That's all."
"Do you know what Nana told me?"
"What?"
"If you're scared, we should stick together. We can do anything if we stick together."
What wonderful advice. As you can see, I'm truly blessed. I hope you will take the time to look around you today and list your blessings, big and small.

It's My Turn Again. Any Ideas?

By Rachel Rager

I often run into trouble when thinking about what it is I want to write for a blog. This is not necessarily the place you go to post all your family reunion pictures. It's not the place where you tell all your deepest and darkest secrets either. (No, I don't have any. I have kids! And they certainly don't let me leave the house without my pants on.) But it is a place to learn and grow and find friends.


So what do you tell all these friends?


I'm still not always certain. Last time, I was out of town and posted a short story I'd written at the spur of the moment several months before. That works and kind of shows you a little bit about who I am and what I do. But what about the next time? I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to how to promote a book, how to write a book, or even how to find an idea. But I'm reading lots and learning.


I do know that I keep notebooks EVERYWHERE and am writing a little here and a little there. Sometimes I start a story at the beginning and go to the end. Sometimes I write different scenes and lace them together. So you see, there is no method to my madness. (Maybe it's inherited?)


I did just post a teaser, for a book I'm working on, on my personal blog. Check it out. I need some help and there might be a prize for whoever can help me! So for now, I will leave you with my jumbled thoughts. May your day be sunny and cheerful and full of yummy kisses!

The Phone Call

The phone rang the other morning with the obnoxious ring that all phones have. Racing to answer it before the person hung up, I answered, slightly out of breath.
“Rachel? I just wanted to call and give you a heads up that you might need to get a substitute pianist for the choir on Sunday,” Sister Jones said on the other end. She sounded a little frantic. “Sister Baker’s daughter is on her way to the children’s hospital in Salt Lake and doesn’t know when they’ll be back.”
“Oh, no! What happened?”
“Emma fell off their horse a while back and they thought she just had the flu. But apparently she has some major internal problems with her organs and they took her to Salt Lake this morning.”
Now, I’m the choir director in my ward and we’re singing today. Fortunately the second councilor in the bishopric’s wife said she’d play and does a masterful job. But honestly, my first thought was not for my choir or the predicament I was in but for the Baker family.
The Bakers don’t have very much money and they have eight children. Sister Baker just had a bout of cancer and one of the boys has had cancer too. So this is not a family unaccustomed to trials. Still, my heart went out to poor little Emma who is not yet even four! I can only imagine how scared she must be – and her parents too.
About two weeks before this, my husband and I were getting ready for bed late on night when we heard the piercing sirens of an ambulance as it stopped across the street from our home. Knowing the 83 year-old grandmother who lived there had a severe heart attack the month before and had problems with fluid collecting on her lungs, we rushed out to see what was wrong. The medics wheeled her out on a stretcher and her sister and her worried children filed into the street. We feared the worst but her daughter said she would probably be okay. She wasn’t eating and had more fluid on her lungs. In fact, over the course of the last month, they have pumped about 48 pints of fluid from off her lungs. But she has signed the papers saying they aren’t allowed to do anything more to her to keep her alive. So it’s only a matter of time. And while the medics and firemen arrived and then helped her into the ambulance, we sat across the street, helplessly watching as they carried away the sweet lady who has been like a grandmother to us.
Now, I don’t tell you these stories to put you down, but I have been thinking a lot about the precariousness of life. It is so easy to take our health and family for granted. I wonder what I might miss if someone special were to suddenly not be here tomorrow. Would they have felt my love for them? Would they have understood the importance they were in my life? And would I always regret not doing things differently? It is amazing how little things can put my mind into certain thoughts. I hope these things make me a better person! And I hope we all will strive to let those closest to us know of our love for them!