Ty and Kaden get so upset when they have to quit a video game without saving their progress. I guess I understand a little how they feel. I'm constantly busy doing fun and exciting things, which should keep me happy in and of themselves, right? But I feel incomplete if I don't write about them. It's like all that progress, the cute things kids said, and the fun times to remember are . . . lost! So even though I should be cleaning, and I don't have pictures on the computer yet, I'm going to steal a few minutes and record my blessings, because the Lord is soooo good to me!
Whew! Life has picked up it's pace. May 23rd - 30th, Nephi, Ben, Daniel and I were able to fly up to Alaska and have Ty and Kaden stay with us at a nice bed and breakfast. There was a trampoline outside that we played on everyday. On May 27, Ty received the Aaronic Priesthood! Jared stayed with Kim and Caleb in Idaho Falls and Abish stayed with Stephanie and Josh in Salt Lake. I'm so grateful for Stephanie and Kim helping me out like that, and now Jared and Abish have a special bond with their Aunts and cousins.
We've been home a week now and it's quite an adjustment having all six children together. It's super busy and crazy sometimes, but I love it. It's a great blessing to have Ty and Kaden home again. They are such good boys! We made a new schedule and outlined some family rules that we all agreed on. It keeps us organized and really lightens my load.
It looks like this:
Morning Habits: personal prayer, personal scripture reading, get dressed/put away pajamas, make bed, wash face, brush teeth, comb hair
Family Breakfast: everyone cleans up
Family Prayer and Scripture Study (Kaden likes to play the piano for the opening song. :)
Ben gets hugs and kisses from everyone before heading off to his daily work where he provides so very well for us. On good days I even pack him a lunch.
The children work on their 2 jobs, and when everyone is done the house looks pretty good. It's soooo much easier than me trying to do it all myself. Probably the biggest motivator, is the 30 minutes of screen time the children earn after completing their habits and jobs. So far they've chosen to use that on the wii every time. But with their free time, they can also have friends over, play outside and at the park, read, play any of our family games, etc. They come to me and ask for extra jobs all the time so they can earn more wii time. They'll weed, do laundry, make lunch, play with Jared, read to Abish, or do whatever else I need done at the moment. It's wonderful!
I've overheard Kaden helping Abish say her morning prayer, and helping her make her bed. Ty reads his scriptures out loud for Nephi. Everyone holds Daniel and plays with Jared. The sibling bonding is priceless. I hope that Ty and Kaden will never leave us for more than a few weeks.
Night time Habits: shower/bath as needed, clean bedroom, write in journal, pajamas on, brush teeth, personal prayer.
Our motto is: I'll form good habits in my youth. For the past two days we've all had our personal and family scripture study. Abish and Jared watch the Scripture Stories on DVD on my laptop. It really holds their attention. Family Scripture Study is great, when the kids aren't playing, they actually have really good questions and insights.
I'm so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ to guide and bless our family. When problems arise, and feelings are hurt, I've been able to talk with the children individually and help them learn from each situation.
Abish bore her testimony on Sunday in Sacrament. She was calm and confident. “I want to share my testimony. My name is Abish. I know Jesus is true. He showed us to be kind. I love my family. I like to be with my mommy all the days and never be apart and be with my family forever. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." She's awesome.
Yesterday was Nephi's birthday. I wondered how in the world I would be able to accomplish everything I wanted to do. Aside from the usual activities: laundry, meals, taking care of Daniel and Jared, fixing Abish's hair, (what? fix mine? Yes, that would be nice, but I didn't get around to that!)
I wanted to make Nephi's birthday special. How was that accomplished? Ty and Kaden. Ty was more than happy to bake a cake and make the frosting. Nephi said he wanted a dragon cake, so Ty mixed up several different colors of frosting as well. He also made 7 fun clues for Nephi's treasure hunt. Kaden filled his lock box with jelly beans and pokemon cards and buried it in the backyard. I decorated the cake. Nephi made a list of friends he wanted to play with, and I invited them over. Brett and Cassie came over for a couple hours. Ty, Kaden, and Nephi played up at the Barnard's with the Fales' girls a game of kickball. Anna brought Nephi a bag of gummy bears.
Ben bought a new wii game for Nephi's birthday called MarioKart. I made dinner. Daniel wanted to be held a lot. He's so good and patient, I try to hold him when he desires it.
Ty went to the temple with the Deacons and Teachers from our ward to do baptisms. His first time in the temple!
I prayed earnestly before taking a few minutes to make phone calls for Kimber Academy. I know that this will only succeed if it is the Lord's work and His will. Lynette and Tracy agreed to hold open houses. We have verbal commitments to enroll from 4 families. It feels kind of like Relief Society.
Jared has been saying so many new words, and likes to put two or three words together: "watch. train." or "water. ducks. swim." My new favorite is "Loveyou. Mom. Heart." Which means "I love you with all my heart" an expression Nephi and Abish use when saying goodbye to Papa every morning. I've felt so loved and special the last few times Jared has said it to me. This morning the garbage truck came and dumped our garbage. Jared always watches that process with fascination. As the garbage man drove away, Jared called out, "Bye! Loveyou! Heart!"
Tomorrow we leave for MT, for the Baker Family Reunion. I'm excited to have another week with Ben!
Okay, progress saved. back to work! :)
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
just a typical day, blessed to be a mother
I love these kiddos! Today Daniel is sick with a little fever and deep cough, the same symptoms Abish has had for several days. I wonder how he picked it up?
Oh. Hmmm, maybe. He sure is good at putting Abish to sleep though. He's still sleeping and nursing well, so even though it's sad to see him sick, I'm not too worried. We keep the humidifier going at night and rub garlic oil on his feet, and Dr. Christopher's lung formula on his chest. I can tell he has a sore throat by his poor little cry. He doesn't cry very much though. He seems to take everything life has handed him so far with a cheerful heart. He's started to smile a lot in the last week.
Nephi and Abish play so well together. They're constantly building forts and engaging in imaginative play. I hear them describing their characters and roles as they go along. Usually it's family oriented, with moms and dads and children, pet animals, etc. but there's a fair amount of heads getting chopped off too. (Don't raise your eyebrows at me, the worst I do is spank!)
When they're not playing together or on their leapsters, or with neighbor friends, Nephi and Abish sometimes do something we call school work. Nephi is actually very consistant about doing his math everyday. We like the Singapore math books. It's reading that he balks at. Oh, he'll sit and listen to me read all day, which is probably why he has a great vocabulary, but he doesn't like to have to sound words out himself. (Which is understandable, since he's learning English.)
Jared: "bo-bo"
Good job!
Holding up the letter I: "Jared, say 'igloo'"
Jared: "Ew!"
Good job!
L, say "lion"
Jared: Raarrrrrgh!
ha, ha, ha good job, lions say Raarrrgh
C - what's this, Jared?
Jared: Tat!
Yep, that's a kitty cat, good job!
A - Oh, here's an angel. Jared, can you say "angel"?
Jared: Doo - do - dooooooo!
Huh? Oh, yeah, that's the sound angel Moroni makes with his trumpet! Good job!
Next was O and he called the orange a "bapo" but I said, "no, this is not an apple, this is an orange, you have to peel it." He said, "oh." (I'm not sure if he meant, "Oh, I get it." or "O" as in short for "orange".)
Yep, no doubt about it, I am very blessed to be the mother of these children!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Family History, I am doing it!
I've been feeling a strong desire to get involved in doing my Family History for several months. Along with feeling like I didn't have time, I didn't know how or where to start. But I've felt assured repeatedly that if I will get started and make it a priority, that I'll have added help in other areas of my life (especially regarding Ty and Kaden, and our other children).
We had Stake Conference last weekend and there were some good talks given about redemption of the dead. I asked Sister Gashler to email me a quote she used her in talk. On Wednesday she came by and brought me this quote along with a picture of people in the Spirit World waiting for their work to be done: President Wilford Woodruff said: “Oh, I wish many times that the veil were lifted off the face of the Latter-Day Saints. I wish we could see and know the things of God as they do who are laboring for the salvation of the human family who are in the spirit world; for if this were so, this whole people, with very few, if any, exceptions, would lose all interest in the riches of the world, and instead thereof their whole desires and labors would be directed to redeem their dead.”
Wednesday night (2-15-12) I wrote in my journal: I decided to direct my time and effort toward my family history and temple work and let the Lord bless as He will regarding Ben's pay at Bluehost.
Thursday Mom came over to spend a few hours helping me with whatever I would like help with. I asked for help getting started on family history. She was surprised, but delighted, and we spent about an hour looking at names on Family Search. She remembered that Clara and Auggie, needed to have their temple work done, but first she needed permission from their closest living relative. She gave me the assignment of calling Clara and Auggie's daughter, Nancy Hansen, to request permission to do their temple work. I was so excited to begin doing my family history!!! We didn't have a phone number for Nancy, so I thought I'd work on getting that the next day, but prayed for inspiration to know how to explain why I felt it was important to do this temple work for her parents.
We ate lunch, then Mom helped me clean my laundry room and family room, then she went home around 5:00pm. At 6:00 pm, as I was reading family history stories from the life of Alice Ovanda Cheney Ricks (Donae's Grandmother), I got a call from Ryan Lewis (Ben's older brother)who was driving through from Colorado on his way to Ogden and asked if he could stop by. I knew Ben would want to visit with him and hoped he would stay long enough for that to happen. (Ben was in Pheonix with Jay on a work assignment, but would be coming home late that evening.) As I began to prepare dinner, I decided to call Ty, since I had talked to Kaden the night before. Ty was happy to talk to me and told me that the timing couldn't have been more perfect, (another blessing) since he had just come in from playing outside and had 15 minutes before they would leave for his volleyball game. We had a nice visit. He told me about scouts and his friends Brandon and Jacob.
Ryan Lewis arrived around 8:00. He ate dinner with us, and we called Joseph and Heidi and Sarah and Carlos and invited them over and they came right away. We all visited and played Catch Phrase and had strawberry smoothies. It was great. Jay brought Ben home around 10:30 and Ben visited with Ryan for a couple of hours before we all went to sleep.
Was this unexpected visit from Ryan and the impromptu game night with Joseph and Sarah a blessing from focusing on Family History?
Today I did our usual things, breakfast, family scripture reading, baths for all the children, math with Nephi, and Abish got to have a friend over, and the friend's golden retriever, Honey, came too. Between 3:00-4:00 I had some quiet time and was able to find a phone number online for Suzanne Leese. I called her and she gave me her mother, Nancy Hansen's, phone number! Wow! That was easy! Now to call Nancy. My heart was pounding. I sat down to collect my thoughts and decided to write out a little script. I considered how it would be easiest to explain the restoration of the Priesthood. Hmmm. How about: Christ organized the church, men changed it, Jesus restored it through the Prophet Joseph Smith? Or maybe: Jesus set the example for us to be baptized . . . Then I remembered that it would be a good idea to pray for help.
As I formed the words of my prayer, I received a clear impression to focus my efforts on getting to know Nancy and her mother, and her grandparents. I realized that here was an opportunity for me to really learn some important FAMILY HISTORY, not just request for temple work to be done, but to learn about my ancestors! To come to know them as individuals and learn their stories. I hope and believe that this will be the beginning of many phone conversations with Nancy and the building of a lasting friendship.
I wrote down several questions to ask Nancy, but then Daniel woke up and it was time for Abish's friend to go home. I realized that I would have to wait until tomorrow to call her. About an hour later though, as I sat nursing Daniel on the couch, I again had some quiet time while Jared continued to nap and Nephi and Abish played happily, so I called Ben's parents. They were on the phone with me for over an hour, giving me names and birth dates to update my information on Family Search. Now I have all the connections to show me what temple work has been done and where names and dates still need to be collected. Richard and Donae also told me some interesting stories about their grandparents as we talked about each of them.
I was floating on air, so excited to be learning all this wonderful information about Ben's and my ancestors! I need to write it down before I forget. But there's more. I started making dinner (my favorite chicken, vegetable, and bean enchiladas) and mom called. She just wanted to ask me a quick question about rectangles vs. squares for a jean quilt, but I was excited to talk some more about family history, so I asked her some more questions about her grandparents. She began recalling many childhood memories about both grandparents, sweet stories I had never heard before, and that she had not even remembered herself! She said she would go write them down before she forgot.
The most important thing I gained today, along with all these wonderful stories, is a clear direction on how to begin working on my family history. There are many individuals who are alive and lucid that have personal memories to share of their grandparents. I can talk to Nancy, Mildred, & Grandma McFarland. Ben's parent's, my parents, Ben's Aunt Pearl, and many others. I'm really excited to make time each week to learn more and more of my family history and write it up, to be saved under individual names and shared.
Now, here's something amazing. Ben got home tonight at 8:30pm. Over dinner we discussed our day and he related an intricate series of events (I'll record them in my journal, but they're too much to add her) which ultimately led to his boss coming in to his office today and telling him that he would be getting a raise in the very near future. A coincidence for this blessing to come as soon as I begin to earnestly focus on doing family history work? I know it's not, and I marvel at the generosity of my Heavenly Father!
We had Stake Conference last weekend and there were some good talks given about redemption of the dead. I asked Sister Gashler to email me a quote she used her in talk. On Wednesday she came by and brought me this quote along with a picture of people in the Spirit World waiting for their work to be done: President Wilford Woodruff said: “Oh, I wish many times that the veil were lifted off the face of the Latter-Day Saints. I wish we could see and know the things of God as they do who are laboring for the salvation of the human family who are in the spirit world; for if this were so, this whole people, with very few, if any, exceptions, would lose all interest in the riches of the world, and instead thereof their whole desires and labors would be directed to redeem their dead.”
Wednesday night (2-15-12) I wrote in my journal: I decided to direct my time and effort toward my family history and temple work and let the Lord bless as He will regarding Ben's pay at Bluehost.
Thursday Mom came over to spend a few hours helping me with whatever I would like help with. I asked for help getting started on family history. She was surprised, but delighted, and we spent about an hour looking at names on Family Search. She remembered that Clara and Auggie, needed to have their temple work done, but first she needed permission from their closest living relative. She gave me the assignment of calling Clara and Auggie's daughter, Nancy Hansen, to request permission to do their temple work. I was so excited to begin doing my family history!!! We didn't have a phone number for Nancy, so I thought I'd work on getting that the next day, but prayed for inspiration to know how to explain why I felt it was important to do this temple work for her parents.
We ate lunch, then Mom helped me clean my laundry room and family room, then she went home around 5:00pm. At 6:00 pm, as I was reading family history stories from the life of Alice Ovanda Cheney Ricks (Donae's Grandmother), I got a call from Ryan Lewis (Ben's older brother)who was driving through from Colorado on his way to Ogden and asked if he could stop by. I knew Ben would want to visit with him and hoped he would stay long enough for that to happen. (Ben was in Pheonix with Jay on a work assignment, but would be coming home late that evening.) As I began to prepare dinner, I decided to call Ty, since I had talked to Kaden the night before. Ty was happy to talk to me and told me that the timing couldn't have been more perfect, (another blessing) since he had just come in from playing outside and had 15 minutes before they would leave for his volleyball game. We had a nice visit. He told me about scouts and his friends Brandon and Jacob.
Ryan Lewis arrived around 8:00. He ate dinner with us, and we called Joseph and Heidi and Sarah and Carlos and invited them over and they came right away. We all visited and played Catch Phrase and had strawberry smoothies. It was great. Jay brought Ben home around 10:30 and Ben visited with Ryan for a couple of hours before we all went to sleep.
Was this unexpected visit from Ryan and the impromptu game night with Joseph and Sarah a blessing from focusing on Family History?
Today I did our usual things, breakfast, family scripture reading, baths for all the children, math with Nephi, and Abish got to have a friend over, and the friend's golden retriever, Honey, came too. Between 3:00-4:00 I had some quiet time and was able to find a phone number online for Suzanne Leese. I called her and she gave me her mother, Nancy Hansen's, phone number! Wow! That was easy! Now to call Nancy. My heart was pounding. I sat down to collect my thoughts and decided to write out a little script. I considered how it would be easiest to explain the restoration of the Priesthood. Hmmm. How about: Christ organized the church, men changed it, Jesus restored it through the Prophet Joseph Smith? Or maybe: Jesus set the example for us to be baptized . . . Then I remembered that it would be a good idea to pray for help.
As I formed the words of my prayer, I received a clear impression to focus my efforts on getting to know Nancy and her mother, and her grandparents. I realized that here was an opportunity for me to really learn some important FAMILY HISTORY, not just request for temple work to be done, but to learn about my ancestors! To come to know them as individuals and learn their stories. I hope and believe that this will be the beginning of many phone conversations with Nancy and the building of a lasting friendship.
I wrote down several questions to ask Nancy, but then Daniel woke up and it was time for Abish's friend to go home. I realized that I would have to wait until tomorrow to call her. About an hour later though, as I sat nursing Daniel on the couch, I again had some quiet time while Jared continued to nap and Nephi and Abish played happily, so I called Ben's parents. They were on the phone with me for over an hour, giving me names and birth dates to update my information on Family Search. Now I have all the connections to show me what temple work has been done and where names and dates still need to be collected. Richard and Donae also told me some interesting stories about their grandparents as we talked about each of them.
I was floating on air, so excited to be learning all this wonderful information about Ben's and my ancestors! I need to write it down before I forget. But there's more. I started making dinner (my favorite chicken, vegetable, and bean enchiladas) and mom called. She just wanted to ask me a quick question about rectangles vs. squares for a jean quilt, but I was excited to talk some more about family history, so I asked her some more questions about her grandparents. She began recalling many childhood memories about both grandparents, sweet stories I had never heard before, and that she had not even remembered herself! She said she would go write them down before she forgot.
The most important thing I gained today, along with all these wonderful stories, is a clear direction on how to begin working on my family history. There are many individuals who are alive and lucid that have personal memories to share of their grandparents. I can talk to Nancy, Mildred, & Grandma McFarland. Ben's parent's, my parents, Ben's Aunt Pearl, and many others. I'm really excited to make time each week to learn more and more of my family history and write it up, to be saved under individual names and shared.
Now, here's something amazing. Ben got home tonight at 8:30pm. Over dinner we discussed our day and he related an intricate series of events (I'll record them in my journal, but they're too much to add her) which ultimately led to his boss coming in to his office today and telling him that he would be getting a raise in the very near future. A coincidence for this blessing to come as soon as I begin to earnestly focus on doing family history work? I know it's not, and I marvel at the generosity of my Heavenly Father!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
A Happy Valentine's Day
When I did finally get up and started breakfast, I noticed that Ben had cleaned the dinner dishes from last night off the table and put a sweet note next to a bouquet of roses that said, "Happy Valentine's Day! I love you all!"
As I went about preparing cinnamon toast and hash-browns, I also noticed that the garbage had been taken out and the dishwasher filled. I thought back to last night when Ben had gotten home from class close to 10:00 pm. He had picked up some milk and fruit at the grocery store, the very things we were out of. I made him a plate of vegetable curry, then gave Daniel a bath in hopes of inducing a nice long period of sleep. Abish and Jared hopped in too, even though I'd already gotten them into pajamas and brushed their teeth. I got kind of snappy with Jared for dumping cupfuls of water out of the tub, even though he did it with a sweet smile and probably had a good reason for it (in his mind) but I couldn't decipher it from his "uh, uh, uh's". Ben had come in then and got Abish and Jared out of the tub while I dressed and fed Daniel. After family prayer he spent some one on one time with Abish and Jared before putting them to bed. What an amazing husband and father he is! So in tune with the his family's needs and so quick to help out, even though he hadn't had time to eat lunch that day, and still hadn't eaten dinner!
I'm so thankful to have him as my eternal Valentine!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Children bring Joy!
A couple of days ago I was feeling down and wanting to cry. I felt it had been a very unproductive day. The laundry room and library were still needing to be cleaned organized. Then Nephi enthusiastically exclaimed, "What a great day this has been!" It cheered me right up and I began to sing as I finished loading the dishwasher: "Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done!"
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Big Sister, Little Mama
Ben's Temple Cake
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