Friday, August 7, 2009

My Sister and Hidden Treasures


The other day I was talking to Peggy, my older sister. I'm always telling her she needs to write down the happenings in her life. They are not ordinary. At least in relation to hardly anyone else I know...
Her life is like no one I know. Her world is fascinating to me.
The whole reason for posting is the story she told me yesterday...very cool.
She was heading out to pick up some free produce someone had offered her, when the door bell rang. Her boy came and said there was a man who wanted to talk to her. At the door she found a 90 year old man who asked if she was who he was looking for and she asked what he wanted.
He had been looking for someone who still "canned". She said she did. He then told her he and many of his elderly neighbors had a lot of fruit trees that were ready for harvest and everything was just falling to the ground.
He told her he would like to see someone use it but couldn't find anyone who canned anymore!
Of course Peggy was really excited...free fruit! Then he asked, "Would you be willing to can some for me and I'd pay you for it?" Are you kidding me! Definitely, except for the paying you part. She was just delighted to have someone search her out and make such a great offer. He's bringing her his jars!
Okay, so maybe this is just an ordinary story, but its not to me. Here's what I see.

A couple months ago I picked up my Ensign and read Elder D. Todd Christoffersons conference talk on "The Power of Keeping Covenants". Something he addressed was very powerful to me.
He talked about the Word of Wisdom and that as we live this commandment we will blessed with "great knowledge and treasures, yea even hidden treasures."
I think I've tried hard to live this one. As a kid I thought "oh, new scrolls will be found with new revealing scriptures or something" but as soon as I remembered theses thoughts the idea came that, "No, this knowledge is referring to the blessing of finding allergy ellimination for my family through NAET." My kids rarely get sick anymore. I'm not scared of disease or ill-health. Though this is one blessing...
I wasn't done learning, yet.
A few days later I went out to our neighborhood garage sales. I found this Champion Juicer. Jakes parents have one and would make Jabren "strawberry/banana Ice cream" back when he was allergic to milk. He still prefers this kind of ice cream. Anyways, I asked really non-challantely "how much do you want for this?"
They were selling it for a friend and said two bucks!
Are seriously kidding me! I was really calm and said "If it works, I'll take it."
This is a $250 mahine! Older people buy them when they find out they have cancer and juice veggies to fight it. Plus, I had just spent about that much on my blender for similar reasons.
I want my kids growing up with this healthy stuff so they never know anything but good health.

Back to the hidden treasures thing. Total hidden treasure! Two bucks. I've been learning how much is hidden in this packed scripture referring to knowledge and hidden treasures.

My mom, Jakes mom and my sister have taught me or lead me to everything I've learned about raising a healthy family. Oh, we have a long ways to go, but we're trying.
But, thats just it. If you're trying it seems the Lord just brings things right to you. Like to your door step.
This man was offering her free food. She's preserving it. She's as "GREEN" as it gets. She lives off her land, has chickens, has a compost pile, prepares and eats nearly every meal from her home-just like they did way back when.

And others have found her so she can live off theirs, too!

9 comments:

Leslie said...

beautiful and thoughtful post. Thanks.

Kendall and Lee'sa said...

That's awesome! I would love to live like that some day. Thanks for pointing out that little things we take for granted are actually treasures and blessings. And thanks for all your blessings and help to me.

Lori said...

Oh how I miss your deep insights! You are seriously amamzing! I need you around everyday to point out all the stuff that I am too "duh" to see! You have a way of seeing blessings in EVERYTHING.....just like we all should. Thanks, this really hit home. Love you.

Tannie Datwyler said...

I love the picture with your sister - I love my sisters.

I guess I never made it to that jam enrichment. That would have been perfect.... I think I am totally converting to Ball though, it tastes really good and it is more fruit than sugar (which I like a lot).

Nancy Niederer said...

neat stories, thanks for sharing! its amazing when little things become much greater than we ever imagined! glad to hear your families allergies are under control.

Bonnie said...

We really are given "hidden treasures" aren't we. Thanks for reminding me again and also for writing Peggy's story. It is a great story! Reminds me of all the times Grandma Youngberg took me with her to her friends so we could harvest their extra produce. Of course she shared lots of extra produce from both the garden and the fields with her family and many friends. She couldn't stand to see food go to waste. She constantly reminded us that when she was young they it was a matter of survival.

tonandboys said...

I love this! I can really relate to this. I feel like our famiy has learned to eat healthier, because of my son's Celiac Disease. We have learned to love fresh fruits & veggies and buy very little processed food. Wow! I can't believe no one is canning in Logan. All those yummy logan-berries are delicious. Canning is a tradition still going strong in our little pioneer community. Sometimes canning season is overwhelming, but we enjoy it all year long.

Melanie said...

AWESOME post. We so need to live healthier! Seriosuly. I have good intentions, but have a hard time keeping up with it. Maybe I need to find a champion juicer for $2 bucks. ;)

AMIT said...

Adorable post and thanks for sharing the picture.

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