Introducing Perfection – The Middle Child

I’ll admit, I used to call Perfection “The Needy Daughter”. Not that she was always in trouble or anything. It was just that for a while, she needed her Mom on a pretty regular basis. “MooOOOoooM” was a pretty common call through our house. Honestly, Hurricane is probably more needy, nowadays, though when Perfection needs her Mom, she still comes a hollering.

Perfection as a nickname seems kind of conceited, but in her defense, it was her husband who coined the term. Aside from his personal opinions regarding her attributes, she also lives up to the name in an interesting way. Perhaps she would be more aptly titled “Perfectionist”, but it just doesn’t have the same ring. She’s the kind of girl who spreads her peanut butter to every corner and edge of the bread. Who will throw out or re-do something a dozen times until it is exactly how she envisioned it. Put short, she’s fussy, and not afraid to rock the boat till it ends up how she wants it.

Growing up “Perfect”

Like Hurricane, Perfection grew up in a relatively rural area of Washington state. She hauled water up hills, helped build her own bedroom, and wire her own electricity (which, naturally, ran off batteries, not any silly power grid). She’s well accustomed to good old fashioned hard work and is one of the toughest ladies I know. Despite suffering from chronic migraines that can oft-times be quite debilitating, she rarely lets them stop her. Perfection is kind of a brute – she has both kicked someone in the head while they were standing behind her (super cool) and wrestled, till tap-out, her 6′ 2″ 250+lb brother. She’s 5′ 2″. Nuff said?

Likewise, Perfection isn’t always the perfect little girly girl. That isn’t to say she can’t be, but that she’s just as comfortable under the hood of an old fixer-upper than she is in high heels and a dress. Her daughters are not going to grow up thinking that there is anything they can’t do. Because there’s nothing she won’t do herself. From fixing a car to shooting a rifle, she’s a tomboy kind of girl, with class.

The Gospel and Perfection

Perfection followed Lala into the gospel, finding her testimony thanks to the sweet promptings of her baby daughter, Hungry. That little girl has a lot to answer for… In a good way. Perfection, like her Lala, is not one to join half-heartedly, and so she put herself into the church by doing all that was asked of her. Admittedly, getting her to talk was a challenge for our bishopric. She did not want to go to the temple, however.

As a single Mom, at the time, she couldn’t be sealed to her daughter, and so didn’t see the point. Obediently, she went to her temple prep class when the bishopric requested it of her, however. Eventually, she decided that if she went to the temple, she could help others, and so off she went.

I’ll let her or Handyman tell you the rest of the story, some day. To summarize for them, though, she made her decision to go to the temple the day he was introduced to the gospel, and her reward for righteously going was a doting husband and the ability to be sealed to her family for time and eternity. It doesn’t get much more fairy tale awesome than that.

Perfection on the Homestead

Perfection is in charge of a lot on the homestead. She homeschools her three children and provides a lot of support to Sleepy and Grouchy with their kids, too. She is our primary animal husbandry (wifery?) expert for both goats and chickens. On top of all that, she is the main family cook! To say she has a lot on her plate (particularly with her migraines) is a bit of an understatement, at times. She loves to tinker with food, and I think food is how she primarily shows her love, so you better accept what she gives you!

You will learn about her need to perfect her recipes as you look around here at Zion Family Homestead because she can’t help but tinker with things until they look and taste exactly how she wants them to. She’s relentless at taking the time to make tiny changes to tweak and adjust recipes until they are “Perfection in the Kitchen”.

Perfection and Papa

We’ve butted heads more than I’d like. I can’t deny that. But the day that Perfection was sealed in the temple to her husband and their three children, was also the day she chose to be sealed to Lala and I. Kneeling there, I looked up, and saw my bishop’s wife mouth the words “You’re a Dad!” with tears in her eyes. It hadn’t occurred to me what it meant, until just then, that this daughter of God chose to be sealed to her Mom, knowing it meant she would be likewise sealed to me for time and eternity. I bawled. It means so much to me, to know that, though I won’t have any children of my own in this life, I have inherited a family that includes a daughter that has chosen me for eternity. I can’t imagine a bigger compliment, or a more blessed gift, that she could give me. I love her dearly and am proud to call her my daughter.