Monday Musings

One day, years ago, I attended a devotional. The speaker was our institute director. Out of the hundreds of devotionals and firesides I attended during my college years, this one has stuck with me. Brother Palmer had a favorite topic. Maybe it wasn't his favorite, but he talked about it often, and he never missed a scripture referring to it.  The topic was joy. He loved to speak about real, lasting, eternal joy, and he took pains to explain the difference between fleeting pleasure and the joy that Heavenly Father wants us to have. He reminded us of our younger years when we thought that one more year to our age would make us "happy". I'll be happy when I can date. I'll be happy when I can drive. I'll be happy when I graduate and move out on my own. I'll be happy when I get this job. I'll be happy when I'm married. I'll be happy when....
The fact is, I'll never be happy if this is the way I live my life.
I've posted about this a few times, because it's something that I have to remind myself of often. My "happy when" list has changed. Now it's when the kids are a little older. When I have a bigger house.  When I'm back in my skinny clothes. When my time is my own. When we're making a little more money. When I have that rug I want. It's a never ending pursuit of happiness. Chasing a rainbow. Hunting a snipe. These things do not bring happiness and I know it well. So what does bring joy? I know that too, and it has nothing to do with material wealth. It has nothing to do with the absence of reponsability. It has nothing to do with the absence of adversity and pain. Joy is in work, in service, in teaching. There is joy in personal righteousness, and physical health. Joy is in making a peaceful home with clean clothes, clean dishes, and healthy meals. Joy is in strong relationships where everyone feels safe and loved and excepted. Joy is in learning and improving everyday. Joy is repenting and being forgiven. It is having faith instead of fear.

More Crafty Stuff!

I am a fan of cute flower clips and bows for my girls, but I'm not a fan of paying five bucks for something I know costs pennies to make. I'm always tempted to buy them, and sometimes I do, but today I decided  that it's high time to make my own and improve them. My girls are always losing their bows so I made these with barrettes instead of the little clips. No more sending May to school with expensive bows only to have her come home empty headed. (No double meaning intended.) It was fun and very easy, and they only cost a few cents a piece! Yay for saving money and making cute crafty stuff!

Weekend Weakness

1. I need to get out, Mathan needs to stay in, and we want to be together.
2. The housekeeper (Eva) takes the weekend off. Chaos ensues.
3. I made a resolution to not eat sugar except on the weekend. I eat more sugar on the weekend than I would have if I had eaten a little each day.
4.The weekend is supposed to be a day off and a day of rest, but parenting is 24/7/365.
5. Mathan works hard all week and comes home to more work. If it's not on our projects it's someone else's project. As I type he is helping a neighbor with some tractor work, and tomorrow he agreed to help fix an irrigation leak.
6. Yes, I signed up for all of this when I married a wonderful, selfless person and had children, but I was heavily twitterpated at the time. Still am, actually :)

What is this thing that men call death?

 What is this thing that men call death
This quiet passing in the night?
’Tis not the end but genesis
Of better worlds and greater light.

 O God, touch Thou my aching heart
And calm my troubled, haunting fears.
Let hope and faith, transcendent, pure,
Give strength and peace beyond my tears.

 There is no death, but only change,
With recompense for vict’ry won.
The gift of Him who loved all men,
The Son of God, the Holy One.

GBH

Loving and missing you Grandad!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 I'm on a roll! I used to take May's picture every Sunday, but then Sundays got crazy and there just wasn't time. It's nice to have a little more time to spend curling hair and stuff like that. Look at these beauties!

 And don't forget this dapper little gentleman!

Here he is after a long day at church. He knows the power of this face. Suddenly he has undivided attention. Oh poor Thomas! Thomas is sad! Look at that lower lip! If he doesn't hear these exclamations he will take little sidelong glances to make sure you are noticing his cute sadness.

This is May's Valentine box. The girl's and I had fun filling out all the cards for her class and decorating her box.

Ellen was full of questions. She wanted to know what we were doing. I told her we were doing things that only happen for the oldest child.

Poor Ellen.

Just kidding. I'll try hard to help Ellen with cute Valentine boxes too!

 While we were in the crafty mood we made valentines for the Grandparents. The girls had fun cutting and punching holes.

 I wanted to surprise Mathan with a nice dinner for two. Poor babies had leftover spaghetti and sliced bananas for dinner. We had grilled chicken with lemon basil pasta, green salad, and a mint chocolate chip brownie with whipped cream and crushed candy cane on top. Oh it was lovely! Dinner time at our house usually consists of at least one meltdown, one spill, and a lot of coaxing children to eat. It was fun to use my nice china and tablecloth. We put the kids to bed first so it was late for dinner but so nice and peaceful!

So, do you want to know what happens when I spend the day dressing up my kids, making valentines, and putting on an elaborate (for me) dinner for my husband?

                                              Um, no dishes get done. That's for sure!

Family Friday

Ellen is growing out of nap time, but every now and then she will fall asleep in random places. She is a good mommy to her toys. She loves to take my dish towels and use them as blankets to tuck them in. Lately she has been using Thomas' diapers on her dolls. It was cute for a while but it's nicer to use fresh, crisp diapers and not crumpled leftover doll diapers. Ellen is such a friendly little girl. We were in the store and she made it a point to wave to everyone we passed. She made quite a few people brighten up and smile. She will randomly come up and tell me, "Mom, you're the best!" The other day she came and told me I was beautiful...then she asked for a treat. We love our sweet Ellen.

 Thomas is growing up! He just started nursery and is enjoying it so far. He is starting to walk quite well too, but crawling is still faster and more efficient for him. I think he is suffering from cabin fever. It has been so cold and the kids have been coughing so they don't get out much. It finally hit 50 degrees so I pulled out the stroller and Thomas got so excited and climbed in all by himself. When May gets home from school I go out to welcome her and Thomas makes an escape. He crawls out on the porch and down the ramp as fast as he can and cries when I pull him back inside. Lately he has been saying "uh oh!" when he drops something, and "whoa!" when we drive around corners in the car. He is also fascinated with the vacuum. He plays a kind of tag with it while I'm pushing it around. He's either chasing or running away form it.

 May is loving school and doing really well. She can count to 100 and read quite a few words now. She made the honor roll at school and we are proud of her. I LOVE having her home on the weekends! It's been hard for me to send her off everyday and not really know what is going on in her little world at school. I always sit down with her and ask how things are going and what happened at school, but I never get a real clear picture. Its easy to find out what she's learning but not so much how things are going with her interactions with other kids. She hasn't really mastered to skill of retelling events. There is the on purpose vs. on accident factor and the imagination vs. reality factor that make it really hard to tell what really happened. We're trying to teach her about telling the truth and how telling a story is different from telling the truth. I really wish that I could go and just be a fly on the wall for a whole day, but that's not likely to happen with Ellen and Thomas to take care of.  I guess it's just part of letting them grow up and fight some of their own battles. It's hard to not have control over everything.

Best friends! They get along really well most of the time.

Thomas squishing his sisters. They love him a lot.

Memories Monday

                                I don't actually remember this... but I love it!