The Lord Is My Strength

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I'm capable of doing. You see, I got a new calling in my ward, a big, scary, overwhelming calling.  I can't help wondering what the bishop was thinking when he asked me to do it. I know callings are given after prayer and inspiration and I know that Heavenly Father has his hands in our lives, even the very details. I also know that The Lord has promised that he won't give us more than we can handle. However, I have struggled to wrap my mind around this next chapter in my life, and by struggled I mean I have cried almost every single day for the last four weeks.

The first few days I cried because I couldn't believe this was what I was supposed to do. After that, I got smart and went to the temple.  Truthfully, there's no better place in the world to feel peace and to feel the love of The Lord.  I sat in the celestial room next to my incredibly patient husband and cried.  (Shocking, I know.) I prayed and told Heavenly Father that there was no way I could do this calling. I told him all the reasons I couldn't do it. Believe me when I tell you that I had a long list of reasons for why I could not possibly pull this off. It was a little like when our kids tell Jared that they can't do a job he has given them.  They tell him it's too hard or they don't know how, whatever the reason, the point is the same. They just can't do it.  I'm sure that was exactly what I sounded like. And then, after laying out all my reasons, in something akin to defeat, I stopped and listened.

It's amazing what can happen when we stop and listen and feel.  The Holy Ghost can reveal incredible things when we are in a place where we are willing to hear.  In that moment, I felt the most immense amount of love for me from Heavenly Father. Along with that came the assurance that I was, indeed, supposed to be serving in this way and at this time.  It wouldn't always be easy, but I was most certainly capable of doing it.  In short, I felt peace.  Pure, simple, complete and total peace. The kind of peace you can only feel from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  The kind of peace I was desperate for that day.

I have clung to that feeling and that memory the last three weeks.  My crying has changed to begging The Lord to continue to show me the way, as I struggle to fulfill a new and scary assignment.  The tears have come as I have been filled with an overwhelming amount of love for the sisters in my ward and as I've prayed  to be an effective instrument in the Lord's hands.  A long time ago President Kimball taught is, "God does notice us and he watches over us.  But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.  Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom."  It's my turn to be the other person who meets the needs of these sisters with The Lord.

I was mopping my kitchen floor the other day and thinking. (I do my best thinking when I clean.)  You see, I was home from work and had just 45 minutes until I needed to pick up kids from school. I had a long list of things to do around the house, the kids would have homework, soccer practice, etc. and I had church stuff to do. I couldn't help feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. This led me to thinking about this concept of The Lord not giving us more than we can handle. I actually said out loud, "Really, Heavenly Father, you're sure I can handle this?"  Immediately I thought of a dear friend of mine. She has four little boys and is quite possibly the best mother I have seen. I could go on and on about how amazing I think she is and about all the things she does that are wonderful.  She is a woman who, in my opinion, is a perfect example of motherhood and womanhood. And then came the thought, "Do you think she believes she's as amazing as you know she is?"  I can honestly say that I don't know if she sees herself the way I see her.  She's a woman and we are, by our very nature, hard on ourselves.  We see more readily our perceived shortcomings and failings and rarely give ourselves credit for all the good we do. It took me a few minutes of scrubbing to finally make the connection. Heavenly Father sees the whole picture!  He knows what I can do even when I don't know. He sees my eternal potential, whereas I only see what I think I can do now.   And then it hit me, the thoughts of doubt, discouragement and frustration were not from my loving Heavenly Father!  These thoughts were from Satan. Satan who desires to make everyone miserable like he is. He wants me to doubt my abilities, be frustrated with the task ahead, shrivel up and give up! 

I have been keeping these thoughts with me through this busy week.  My love for the sisters in my ward is great. The task ahead of me is great. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are great. I have everything I need to do this calling. I have a fabulous, supportive husband, great kids and I have The Lord. Through Him, all things are possible. If I keep The Lord involved in this process, then I know we can do amazing things.  In D&C 84:88 it says that The Lord will be on my right hand and on my left hand and his Spirit will be all around me to bear me up. He is my strength.  He will turn my weaknesses into strengths and He will guide me through  this process.  My testimony of Him is most precious to me and something I will forever be grateful for.  I know there will still be difficult times ahead, but I also know that The Lord always keeps his promises and He will be there to help me every single step of the way.  With God, nothing is impossible.

Milestones

As a parent, I've always noted milestones. When our oldest was born we were always anxious for her to do the next thing.  Whether it was rolling over, cooing, crawling or walking we were always excited to see it and then couldn't wait until the next milestone.

When we had our last child, Sadie (AKA Sadie Lady, Lulu, Goobsie, Goobs, Goober Smootch or anything else that pops into our heads!) I had finally learned to just enjoy my children. I was much less anxious to see her "do" everything and much more concerned with enjoying the journey. Nonetheless, the crazy mom in me still has watched and noted the milestones, though I'm not nearly as anxious for whatever comes next.

Well, something came next. My little Sadie Lady turned 8 last week. That's a pretty huge milestone in our world. She has been thrilled to finally have her birthday.  Her wish list hung on my fridge for three months constantly having things added to it. (In case you're wondering she did NOT get "an actual, real life puppy" or a "soft and furry kitten".) Being eight means no more riding in a car seat in Utah, this will be the first time we haven't had a car seat in our vehicle in 15 years!

It also means she can be baptized, she's giddy about it.  Every single day she asks how many more days until she gets baptized. 

Sadie has kept us on our toes from the moment of her arrival. She is the sweetest, sassiest and silliest Sadie that I know!  When Sadie was born, I always wondered inside how she would mesh with the other girls.  They are so much older than her, I worried that they wouldn't all be able to forge a close relationship with one another.  Then, I took all three of them shopping to find Sadie a baptism dress.  I sat back and watched as they took her from rack to rack piling on all the things she "had to try on".  As she came out of the dressing room with each new dress on they would tell her to twirl and give her advice on why it did or did not work for her.  As I sat watching, I knew in that moment, that the years would melt away and they would be just fine.  I suppose it should come as no surprise that in the past year she has watched her older sisters and learned many new things to try. She's put on her own makeup, tweezed her own eyebrows (that wasn't pretty),

tried on more pairs of six inch high heels than I can count, tried to convince me to buy said high heels

and last, but certainly not least, shaved her own legs! I honestly don't remember the last time I laughed so hard as when I found out she shaved her legs.  See what I mean about keeping us on our toes!!!

Nonetheless, Monday began with tons of fanfare and happiness on the part of this little girl.
She opened her gifts, went to lunch with mom and dad, went school supply shopping, played with her gifts, had steak, without potatoes, for dinner ("It's my birthday, I don't want to eat potatoes.") and then had cousins over for cake. She finished the evening by painting her toenails by herself for the first time and "singing herself to sleep" with her new Frozen CD. (I'm sure some of you heard her singing at the top of her lungs.) It was a whirlwind day, but according to her, "The best day EVER!"

We love having this sassy lassy in our family.  She always has a smile to share and funny little quip to keep us all in stitches.  It's interesting to watch your youngest child as she watches the older children.  Her take on the things they say and do is fascinating.  Nonetheless, she has a heart of gold.  She is always there to give a warm hug and kiss.  Her determination and her spunk are two things that I'm convinced she will need to make it through life in the world we live in now.  We love her to pieces and can't imagine our family without her.  And regardless of how she feels about it, she'll always be my baby.  I just wish I could convince her to slow down with the whole growing up thing.  :(

Abby Gabby Goo

I have been incredibly slow writing about Abby turning 13.    I could say that I've been too busy, but I truly believe you find time to do the things you want to do.  Truthfully, it hasn't been because I haven't wanted to write.  Mostly it's been because having another birthday pass for this amazing daughter of mine is a little sad for me.  I'm sure some of you will disagree, but I can't help feeling a wee bit sad on my children's birthdays.  Each year they grow and get closer to moving on from our home.  While this is a good and natural thing, it still makes me a little sad.

Nevertheless, we had a great day with this adorable girl.  She was so excited to turn 13.  Nobody loves birthdays more than Abby.  She is only a little more excited when it's her birthday, she really loves any reason to celebrate!  She kept telling me over and over that I was going to have two teenagers in the house now.  I told her that I love my "teenagers" and so her turning 13 didn't scare me one bit. 

Abby is, by far, the happiest child in our home...if you don't count the first 20 minutes of each morning..  ;)  She has a smile for everyone.  She's the ultimate "helper".  She can walk into any situation and see what needs done and she will jump in and do it,  She can and will play dolls with Sadie, soccer with Ethan and help Jenna organize her room.  She truly exemplifies Jesus Christ by being willing to "strengthen the feeble knees and lift the hands that hang down."  She constantly nurtures the loving and giving heart that she was blessed with. 

Along with her other many wonderful traits, Abby has been blessed with more determination that I can begin to believe.  If she decides she's doing something, you might as well help her or get out of her way, because she's doing it with or without you.  A perfect example of this came in February of this year.  We learned that our stake would have a member of the General Young Women's Presidency join us for one evening at Girl's Camp.  As part of their visit, they would be having a special dinner with those young women who had earned their Young Woman Recognition Award.  While Abby had worked towards earning this goal, she still had the majority of it.  The girls cannot start working on it until they're 12, so she had only been working on hers for about six months.  You should know that this award takes hours upon hours of work to achieve.  We're talking no less than 100 hours and usually more than that.  Once Abby heard about the dinner though, it was all over.  She came to me and said, "Mom, I have to be at that dinner.  I will be so disappointed in myself for the rest of my life if I'm not there.  Will you help me make a schedule for how I can do it?"   Well, how could I say no to that?!?  We sat down and spent two hours mapping out how she could achieve her goal.  I was so overwhelmed for her, this would be no small task.  I told her it wouldn't be easy, but she didn't care, she wanted it and she was going to do it.  I walked into her room two days after we made "the plan".  She was on her bed working on her personal progress.  I noticed she had written a quote by Pres. Hinckley on her magnetic board.  It said, "You have not failed, until you have quit trying."  I mentioned to her how much I liked it and she said, "Oh!  That's my motivation, mom.  I read it everyday so I can remember what my goal is and how much I want it."  And do you know what, she did it!  I watched her miss doing things with friends, I watched her spend hours reading and studying gospel principles, I watched her set goals and become an even better person than she already was, I watched her serve and love so many of Heavenly Father's children, I watched her grow closer to the Lord and lastly I watched her learn that she can do hard and amazing things with help from her Heavenly Father.  I can't think of a single time when I've been more proud of her than I was as I watched her achieve this amazing goal.  It is said that we often learn our greatest lessons from our children, I can honestly say that I learned an amazing lesson from this daughter of mine during these past six months.  This Wednesday, when we have dinner with Sis. Marriott, I know Abby will have a wonderful time and be so glad again that she achieved this goal that she set out to achieve. 

Abby, you make me so happy.  Your heart and determination are going to help you so much in this life.  Always remember that Heavenly Father loves you and you can do anything with His help.  I'm so proud of the daughter that you are and I love you more than words can say.  P.S.  Don't be too anxious to grow up, I love having you around!  :)

Love, True Love...

Jared and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary yesterday.  It's hard to believe we've been married that long.  In some ways it seems like we have been married forever and in other ways it seems like we are still young marrieds embarking on a new journey that we know nothing about.  I was 23 when we got married.  I had worked, gone to school, lived on my own and honestly, felt like I had a pretty good grasp on reality.  We had been told by several people that the first year of marriage is terrible.  Learning to live with each other, it seemed, would be one of the hardest experiences of our lives.  It turns out that all the naysayers were wrong about us.  The first year of our marriage was awesome.  I worked full time and Jared went to school each day, worked part time and studied in the evenings.  We had didn't have money troubles, kids, demanding callings, health struggles or so many other trials that some have to deal with.  Truthfully, I spent the first couple of months waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did.  At the risk of sounding ridiculously cheesy, we really were blissfully happy.  I have often thought back to that first year and wondered why some couples struggle so much.  I don't really know, I suppose everybody is just different and therefore our experiences will be different.  All I know, is that I look back on our first year with a great deal of happiness. 

While Jared and I have always been in love and committed to our marriage, things didn't stay easy and blissful.  We eventually began to have money struggles, kids, demanding callings and some health issues that needed to be addressed.  Life was hectic and crazy and like so many others, we struggled to make our marriage a priority.  It wasn't that all those other things were more important than our marriage, those other things just seemed to be more in our faces.  We had littles that needed us for everything, jobs to do, church responsibilities, laundry, meals, sickness and any number of other exhausting things.  By the end of the day it seemed there was little left to give.  However, somewhere along the way, we figured out that if we wanted to always be in love and fully committed to each other, we had to put forth the effort to stay that way.

I spent most of yesterday thinking about our life together.  I thought about the hard times, the good times and everything in between.  When Jared and I went to dinner last night I asked him what he thought was the secret to a happy marriage. "Spending time together.  In spending time together we communicate and make sure we have time for each other."   I wholeheartedly agreed.  Take time for your spouses.  This is the person you have chosen to spend eternity with.  While there are millions of good things to fill your time with, make sure you are making time for your spouse.  We have four children, I know it can be hard to put your spouse first when littles need you for so much.  But remember, before long all the littles aren't so little anymore and they move away to have lives of their own.  You don't want to find out then that you're married to a stranger. 

Just before Abby was born, we moved into a tiny apartment in South Provo.  I can't tell you how much we loved the ward we attended.  I also can't tell you how difficult those two years were for us.  I can't speak for Jared, but looking back, I think they were two of the hardest years of my life.   I won't bore you with all the details, but there were many days I wondered if we were going to make it.  One of the many Sundays I stayed home from church with a sick Abby, Jared came home and told me of a challenge that our bishop had issued.  He had challenged the couples in our ward to read the scriptures together every single day.  He said even if you only read one verse, read together every single day.  Jared had decided that we were going to do it.  I don't remember anymore what Abby was sick with that day, it seemed she was always sick with something.  I just remember that my discouragement seemed insurmountable.  The thought of adding one more thing to my day was almost more than I could take, nevertheless, I begrudgingly agreed. 

I didn't notice a difference right away.  In all honesty, I didn't notice a difference for a long, long, long, long time.  Then one day, not too long ago it hit me.  In twelve years, we have not missed one single night of reading our scriptures together.  It isn't always a full chapter, sometimes it really is only one verse.  In fact, the night Ethan was born we were at the hospital and Jared was getting ready to go home to be with our little girls.  Just before he left, he reminded me that we hadn't read our scriptures.  After nine hours of labor and a traumatic delivery that almost didn't end well, I said, "I think Heavenly Father will forgive us if we miss one night, Jared."  He came back with, "Yes, that's true, but do we really want this to be the night we miss?"  He proceeded to recite a scripture verse he had memorized so that wouldn't be the night we missed.   Now, I don't tell you this to boast.  In fact, that is the last thing I would want to do.  I will tell you though, that I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God and I know the prophets speak truth when they tell me that I will be blessed by reading and studying the words contained in that book.  As we stay close to our Heavenly Father through scripture study, prayer and temple attendance we are led by the Holy Ghost in the ways we should live.  I know that one of the main reasons we have such a happy marriage is because of this.  I know we have both been led on how to best handle situations and care for one another because we took this challenge so many years ago. 

Please don't interpret this to mean that our lives have been perfect.  They are far from perfect.  I don't think our marriage is perfect either.  We still have disagreements and we still undoubtedly irritate each other from time to time.  I'm sure many on the outside looking in would have lots of things to say about how we do things.  However, at the end of the day, I'm so grateful for the gift our marriage is to me.  I'm thankful for a husband who loves and honors me.  I read a thought about marriage recently credited to F. Burton Howard that sums up my feelings perfectly.  He said,

"If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently.  You shield it and protect it, you never abuse it.  You don't expose it to the elements.  You don't make it common or ordinary.  If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new.  It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by."

I will forever be thankful for the beautiful and precious marriage Heavenly Father has given to me.

Double Digits

Today was the day Ethan hit double digits.  What is it about double digits that kids always get so excited about?  I suppose it's the growing up part, they always seem so anxious to grow up and we always wish they would slow down.  Regardless, my favorite, and only son turned 10 today.  Yesterday when I was thinking about it, I might have bawled my eyes out, though I can neither confirm or deny this. 

Here he is with his excited birthday glow.

He really wanted an airsoft gun for his birthday.  We found a set that had a pistol and a rifle.  Seeing as how his father was going to "need" to play with him, that's what we chose.  There was all kinds of screaming and cheering this morning when he opened it.  Jared told him he couldn't play with it until he read the owner's manual cover to cover.  He sat right down and got to work.  After school, he decided to take Sadie out and "show her how it works".  A few minutes later I look outside and see this.

They were busy fighting some invisible foe and saving the world.  I kept hearing him call her "Soldier!" all afternoon.  It was seriously hysterical.  I loved how they played so happily all afternoon.  Once Jared was home and dinner and cake were done he and Ethan went outside to try out the guns.  It wasn't long before they were shooting each other with them.  I don't remember when I've laughed so hard, those two were so funny.  The fact that they were both laughing their heads off didn't hurt either.  Don't worry parents, we have discussed safety and he won't be shooting any other people. 

Ethan is a sweet little boy that makes my heart melt.  He is always the first to ask if he can help me with anything and he's always so kind to me.  I love his laughter and his ability to bring humor into almost any situation.  His teasing and laughter put a smile on my face on a daily basis.  He loves his family and his Heavenly Father.  I honestly couldn't ask for a better son that him.  As he went to bed tonight he said, "Thanks mom.  I think this has been the best day of my life."  See, best son EVER!

So This Is What Fifteen Looks Like...

Fifteen years ago I became a mother for the first time.  Looking back I still can't believe those crazies at the hospital let us bring her home without any supervision.  I mean, she had Jared and I, but let's be honest, that really wasn't much considering we had NO idea what we were doing.  They told us to wake her up every two hours and feed her.  We set an alarm and got up faithfully that first night.  By the second night, she wouldn't wake up and neither could I.  By the third morning of her sleeping all night long, I took her to the pediatrician.  I was pretty sure she was broken, after all, what newborn sleeps ALL NIGHT LONG???  I remember the moment when I realized I had no idea what I was doing.  The doctor was looking at her and in a most casual voice said, "So, is this your first child?"  That's when it hit me that I really was a lunatic.  It turns out she wasn't broken, she was just a sleepyhead.  I learned that day that newborns can sleep all night long if they want.  Who knew???  And that's what she did.  She slept all night long from the first night, she was by far our best sleeper.  Now, she stays up all hours of the night, who knows, maybe she got her fill when she was a baby.

Anyway, this beautiful girl turned 15 today.  Yep folks, this is what fifteen looks like.

 

 

I can't tell you how much we love this girl.  She is so amazing.  She loves with her whole heart.  She is fiercely loyal to her friends and family.  She loves the gospel, her Heavenly Father and her older brother, Jesus Christ.  She knows what is right and she chooses the right, quietly without any fanfare.  She loves everyone she meets.  She never criticizes anyone, she defends all of Heavenly Father's children.  And, as her mom, I'm not ashamed to say that I think she is beautiful, inside and out.  She has her head on straight and knows what she wants out of life.  I don't doubt for a minute that she'll achieve all her goals because she does whatever she sets her mind to.  We love you Jenna and we couldn't be more proud of the incredible young woman you are becoming.



Teenagers vs. Youth

I'm not sure when it started, but it's been going on for a couple of months now.  One evening Jared and I were sitting on our bed reading.  The door was open and we could hear the kids engaged in various activities.  Jenna appeared at the door and asked if she could talk to us.  We set our books aside as she came in and shut the door.  We chatted for a few minutes and then asked her what she had wanted to talk about.  "Nothing in particular, I just wanted to talk to you" was her reply.  Soon, the others joined us and it became a fun evening of talking, laughing and tickling. 

It's continued since then, though it's morphed into something slightly different.  We get Sadie down to bed for the night then the big girls, Jenna and Abby, meet me in my bedroom.  Jared disappears with Ethan to do whatever it is boys do when girls aren't around.  Then, me and my teenage daughter and almost teenage daughter lay on my bed and we "chat".  (Their word, not mine.)  We have discussed current events, boys, things about our church, boys, friends at school, boys, dreams of theirs, boys and a variety of other things.  Oh wait, did I mention boys?!

While this doesn't happen every night, I find that it happens a couple of times each week.  I have been loving this time with my "teenage" daughters.  I love hearing all they have to say, laughing with them and hearing about their goals and dreams.  I love that the three of us have this time together.  This has been a great way for us to connect.  Now, please don't be disillusioned, they are still normal kids.  There is still eye rolling, there are disagreements and there are many moments when they think I'm the meanest mom in the world.  But a couple of nights each week we get to set all of it aside and just enjoy each other. 

My uncle once told me to enjoy my teenagers, that raising teenagers was only as bad as you made it.  I always wanted to remember that piece of advice.  I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a dear friend of mine regarding teenagers.  She was telling me how interesting she found it that the world refers to our children at this age as teenagers and it's usually used as a derogatory term.  How often do you hear people refer to teenagers in a negative way.  So often!  It's always with frustration or anger that we comment on ours or other people's teenagers.  However, in the LDS church, you never hear them referred to as "teenagers"  they are "youth".  Our leaders speak highly of their abilities, talents and enthusiasm.  I wonder how many of us are missing out on seeing all the good that these youth bring into the world by choosing to call them, refer to them and therefore see them as only "teenagers".

I have served with the youth in the LDS church for some time now.  They are an amazing group of young people.  Their desire to do right and their enthusiasm for all that is good in the world is so inspiring.  They truly believe as Sis. Dalton taught that if they desire to make a difference in the world they must be different from the world.  And so they make a difference in the world by doing good, choosing the right, living their standards and letting the light of Christ shine through their faces.  So, I hope you'll forgive me if I don't jump on the "teenagers are horrible" bandwagon. 

Someday these girls will be all grown and leave my little house.  I'm not crazy, I know that time is coming towards us with lightning speed regardless of how much I may be in denial.  There won't be anymore nights laying on mom's bed chatting.   I don't know if they'll remember these evenings or not.  I do hope they will know that I love them fiercely with all that I have in me and that being their mom is by far the coolest thing I ever did.

 

   

Childhood Memories and Heavenly Promptings

When I was in junior high and high school there were a few times when going to school was not going to happen.  It was usually after a particularly difficult week with classes and assignments that I would hit a wall.   Because of my mom's poor health it was always my dad who got us all up and going in the mornings.  My mom would handle things with us after school.  But, my dad would wake me up for school, take one look at me and he just knew that I would be staying home.  Now, keep in mind, this happened very rarely, in fact, I can probably count the number of times this happened on one hand.  I'm sure that's the only reason I got away with it.  It seemed I would sleep until 10:30 or 11:00 and then my mom would wake me up and tell me to get ready to go.  Then she would take me to lunch or to shop together.  Looking back, I'm guessing she knew what I really needed and took advantage of the time we had to be together, just the two of us. 

Fast forward more years than I care to count, to this past Thursday.  Ethan was up getting ready for school and I immediately recognized that look in his face that I used to have.  Before he even opened his mouth, I knew he wouldn't be going to school.  The only problem was that I HAD to be at work that day and so did Jared.  So, I set him up in his room with a cell phone, some books and a remote control helicopter.  Whether we liked it or not, this little guy was going to have to stay home by himself for three hours.  Now, please don't judge me for leaving him home alone.  I have enough of my own guilt because of this for all of us, so let's leave that for another day and another blog post.

He slept the first hour and a half that I was gone and then he began texting me.  At first, he was trying to trick me into thinking he was Abby, then he was telling me jokes.  I found out later he was texting Jared as well.  The kid really is funny.  He never ceases to make me laugh.

About 45 minutes before I was scheduled to leave to come home, I remembered those days when I would stay home from school.  I thought about Ethan and his great need for a mental health day and knew what I needed to do.  I called Ethan on my way home and told him to get ready to go.  Then we headed to our favorite spot, Rita's,

We talked all the way to Rita's, while we ate our delicious frozen custard and then on the way home.  I learned so many things about him and his new found interests.  For example, I always knew he wanted to be a Major League soccer player, but on Thursday I learned that if that doesn't work out he would like to be a comedian.  Get this, in his own words, "I think being a comedian might be hard on a family since comedians work at night, so if that doesn't work out I would like to be a doctor, a pilot or a car designer."  He also told me about all the places he would like to go on his mission.  He told me some more jokes and we had such fun laughing together.  When we got home he gave me a big hug and said, "Thanks, Mom.  We haven't been able to do something just the two of us in a long time.  That was really fun."  I couldn't agree more. 

I don't know if it's just me or if it's because he's my only son or if all moms of little boys feel this way, but there is a special place in my heart for only this little guy.  He is so sweet, kind mischievous, funny and caring.  He has such a big heart and it makes me melt inside.   It's incredibly amazing and wonderful to me that we have a loving Heavenly Father that is so involved in the details of our lives.  I'm so grateful for the prompting he sent me to spend some extra time with my little man and so grateful that I chose to listen.

There Is No Better Friend Than A Sister

When I was a child, we spent a lot of time visiting my mom's family in Las Vegas.  We also had lots of times when her family would visit us in Utah.  It was always fun to see our aunt, uncles and cousins.  We especially loved it when Ron and Carol would come.  They had kids our ages and it seemed we never tired of playing together.  Many of my favorite childhood memories are of experiences we shared.  (I'll refrain from sharing them here, as I don't want to give my children any ideas.)  One thing I always loved was watching my mom and my Aunt Carol together.

My mom is sitting to the right of my grandmother, Carol is directly behind her.  As sisters, they were one and the same.  It seemed they had the same opinions and taste in everything.  For example, they both bought the exact same piano, while living in different states and without speaking to the other about it.  It's freaky how many times things like this happened with them.  All that aside though, they shared an incredible bond as sisters that would be difficult to rival.  When they were together, there was never a lull in the conversation, their voices sounded exactly the same, their opinions rarely differed and they loved each other fiercely.  They spent hours shopping when they were together and hours talking on the phone when they were apart.  This is the example of sisterhood that I grew up with.

I was blessed with one sister.  Though we don't sound exactly the same and our taste is different, we both love shopping for hours and chatting for hours. (Though, since we only live a mile apart it's rarely on the phone.)  She has been my partner in crime, has helped me out of numerous scrapes, we have laughed together, she has listened when I've been frustrated or angry, and been a shoulder to cry on more times than I can count.  Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he sent her to our family.  He knew I would need her for my sister, and for this I'm truly grateful.

When Jenna was born we were so ecstatic, as I'm sure all new parents are.  But, when Abby came I was thrilled to know that Jenna had a sister.  Jenna was just as thrilled.  From the moment she laid eyes on that chubby bundle she was smitten.  She loved everything about her new little sister.  She would lay in the crib next to Abby and talk to her every morning, she would tell Abby every move she was making, she wanted to feed her, change her and play with her non-stop.  As Abby grew they became inseparable.  You never saw two sisters who loved each other more than they did.  That didn't change when Sadie joined their twosome.  It seemed there was room for one more sister and together they lovingly doted on her every need and whim. 

Have you seen the movie, Frozen?  If you haven't, please go see it.  I promise, you won't be disappointed.  I know it will come as no surprise to those of you who know me, but I cried through about half of that movie.  It's all about two sisters who desperately love each other, but circumstances have kept them apart.  Is there anything more awesome than when they are standing in the ice castle and Anna sings, "For the first time in forever, I finally understand.  For the first time in forever, we can fix this hand in hand.  Because for the first time in forever, I will be right here."  I love this declaration!  She's saying, I'm your sister, I love you, we can do anything together!

But even more than that, I love the ending.  When one act of true love was needed, we didn't turn to the handsome guy.  Ultimately, Anna's love for her sister Elsa produced the one act of true love that would save them all.  Elsa exclaims, "You sacrificed yourself for me?"  And Anna replies, "I love you."  Hand in hand, they were able to fix it.  I love this bond between sisters, this love that can give us the strength to face seemingly anything.  So, there I sat in that dark theater, crying my eyes out. 

I confess I haven't been able to get this touching movie out of my mind.  I find that I'm more grateful than before for the example of great sisterhood that my mom and aunt unknowingly showed me and for the sister I have been blessed with.  Truthfully though, I've spent a lot of time hoping and praying that my girls will share that same wonderful bond as sisters.  You see, Jenna is 14 now and Abby is 12 and Sadie is 7. 

While I know they love each other, there are times in these adorable girl's lives when they bicker and fight.  And while I realize this is normal for girls this age, I pray with my whole heart that they will develop a relationship and a love for each other that will span the ages.  A relationship that they can rejoice in throughout the eternities.  I pray that someday I will be blessed to see them shop together for hours, talk on the phone for hours, laugh together, cry together and take care of each other like only a sister can.  Because the fact is, there is no better friend than a sister.