The True Meaning of Christmas

This Christmastime has been wonderful. We are really trying to simplify and focus on the Lord, and it has made such a difference so far.

Our Primary had a lovely pancake breakfast and a visit from Santa. We brought items for the Ronald McDonald house and put them all together for the families there. Our Primary Presidency is made up of such a neat group of ladies.

Here's Alia on Santa's lap:



And Gracie:



And Ethan:

And I did have some better pictures of Spencer, but this one is classic:

Since we have a little toddler this year, we all agreed that a tiny little tree to go on top of the piano would be just right. We priced them at a couple of places and then decided to go chop down our own. Spencer was certainly excited!

I found a row of trees that were just the right size, but Ethan and Alia were a little upset about it.

So we ended up getting a nice, full-sized tree, and everyone felt much happier.

Trees are wonderful, Santa is fun, service projects add a lot to the season, but my favorite things this year are the following:

First, Alia drew this poster and taped it to her door. Every time I go near her room, I see this and think of how much I love our Savior.

Second, we set up our Nativity (that Eric bought in Bethlehem back in 1999). I keep arranging the pieces so it looks "proper." The Baby Jesus in the middle, Mary and Joseph next to him, the wise men to the right, facing the Baby, the shepherd to the left, also facing the baby. The girls like to play "Manger," and this is how they keep putting the scene:

They have Baby Jesus at the back, and He is completely surrounded by all the others. This morning on the way to church, I asked Alia and Grace, "Do you like to have all the people in the Nativity clumped together in a circle?" Alia said, "Yes! Why would they want to be facing outward like they're posing for a picture...when they could be looking at Jesus?"

That is my new motto for this season. "Look at Jesus." When I do, everything else falls into place!

Scripture Study Notes--Click the Icon to the Right

For the past couple of years, I have been keeping my scripture study notes in a three-ring binder and sorting them by book and topic. However, it's kind of hard to look through them and find exactly what I want. So...I have now created a blog to keep all my study notes in order. I can sort by category now, and it is much simpler to cut and paste quotes and/or scriptures.

If you click on the picture of the scriptures to your right, it will take you to my "Gospel Principles Index," and if you have any thoughts you would like to add, please feel free to do so. Basically, I am just highlighting the messages that stand out to me during my study and setting goals relating to those topics. I would love to use this as a forum for discussing and sharing the truths that are most precious to us.

Thanks!

Our Time is Dedicated to Them

These past six weeks have seemed particularly all-consuming for me, and I have wondered what I have actually been doing. As I looked through our recent photos, I realized that I have been raising children and building a marriage! It might not seem noteworthy to some, but Eric and I have been talking a lot lately about the kind of people we want to be and the kind of family we want to have, and here is how we're trying to build our dreams.

First, we discovered that our children are old enough now to sit still for family scripture study. Each morning at 7:30, we gather at our little kitchen table, open our copies of The Book of Mormon, select a scripture marker, and take turns reading from, marking, and discussing this precious book. I get teary-eyed just writing about this because it has been such a sweet experience. Up to this point, we have read to them a little before bed, used the Gospel Art Kit, etc., but now it feels like we have a Perry Seminary each day. The questions and comments that come out of these little ones remind me that even though this requires time and discipline, it is absolutely worth it.

Second, we're trying to turn our children into Cougars. Eric decided to make blue pancakes the day of the BYU football game. We invited a couple of children from our neighborhood to join us.

Eric did the face-painting (even adding some glitter). I'm sure glad he has the energy for this kind of stuff because there is no way I would have gone through that much effort.

Gosh, it seems like all these pictures are of Eric. I'm sure I've done something fun....well, maybe not. Anyway, if the children help pick up the house in the evening, Eric gives them rides in the laundry basket. He swings them back and forth and even does a loop-de-loop. They love it! Oh, that's the fun thing I did--I put curlers in Grace's hair for her. She was so excited!

For Family Night, Grace, Ethan, and Alia wanted to put on a play about cats and dogs, so we got them all painted up again, and we had a little backyard theater.

And we've been trying to help Grace learn to tie her shoes. Success!

Our school had a Grandparents' Day, so my mom and dad came out, and they all had a wonderful time! Afterwards, they came to our home and we videotaped them telling stories from their youth. I am so glad to have such sweet parents.

Our home seems to be filled with excitement every day. In this shot, Eric and a couple of children from our neighborhood are trying to catch a hummingbird that flew in our door and kept bonking itself against the windows. I am happy to report that the little birdie is now flying around somewhere else. Eric is my hero!

And then, of course, there was Halloween. We all kind of grabbed a costume from somewhere around the house. Since I'm the "mother" of the ward, I thought I would go as a grandma...because I feel like I'm about 90 right now. Actually, we did have a great time at our Trunk or Treat, and it's just fun to dress up and be out with friends.

We got to have cousins come visit us! Cami came from Denver and brought Jordan and Braden. Hooray! It was great to get to see them for a little while.

And then I had to include this video because this was by far the best laugh I have had in a long time.

Isn't he a cutie? Oh, I'm still cracking up. We'll save that tie forever.

So that's about all I've got to report. This is only a tiny fraction of what has been going on here, but it pretty much sums up our life. We are trying to raise up a family to the Lord. Sometimes I get exhausted from things like reminding everyone to be nice, cleaning up the effects of the stomach flu, rubbing Icy Hot on legs with growing pains, rubbing teething gel on Spencer's red gums, waking up with Spencer every morning between 4:30 and 5:30, preparing the meals, doing the laundry, etc., etc, but I'm often reminded of the advice I received long ago from a trusted friend: Never give up.

Yesterday I almost gave up. Sundays, Eric is gone pretty much all day at church, and we had a rough time. One of our cars (that we left unlocked) was the victim of theft (some pretty expensive stuff), I had some health problems, so I was barely able to move around the house to get the children ready for church, Spencer got into the ashes from our backyard campfire the other night, and Spencer climbed up the ladder we forgot to take down, and Spencer emptied about 10 drawers and cupboards, and Spencer threw his food all over the kitchen.... Anyway, it had been a rough morning, but I finally got all my children in the car at 12:50 to drive to church, and our car battery had died.

I wanted to cry and just go back to bed, but my neighbor helped me jump-start our engine, and we had a lovely day at church (me walking the halls with Spencer). Eric sneaks out of his meetings and classes periodically to give me a kiss and tell me I'm doing great. At the end of the day, I sat and thought about my life, thought about my family, thought about how much I love the Lord, and I realized that I grow a lot each day. Whether I like my trials or not, I am slowly but surely becoming a little better at being a disciple of Jesus Christ. That's really all He asks of us. Sometimes things are hard, but I feel Him blessing us each day, and I know He is our Lord and Savior.

Spencer Update for Grandma

Dear Grandma,

I hope you are doing great! I miss you, and since we're not going to see each other this holiday season, I wanted to make sure you saw a few pictures of me. This is my friend Jeff. We like to make mischief together.




This handsome fellow is my dad (your son). He is the best. Good work raising him, by the way.




Here are my older sisters. They take care of me every morning when I wake up at 5:30. My mom isn't ready to play yet, so these fun girls give me the royal treatment!

If you came to my house, this is what you would see me do at least twelve times a day.

And guess what! I can walk!!! Did you know that? This is when I could only take a few steps, but I am ALL OVER THE PLACE now, which explains why my mom is a little stressed out. She really loves me, though.

I hope to see you soon! We all love you so much.

Love,

Spencer

Cambridge Reunion

What a GREAT day this was! Thanks to Alisha Gale, our fearless reunion organizer, we got to get together with all these wonderful people!


Here are several of the children gathered around an interesting worm/caterpillar.
Then everyone at the park wanted to come and see it.
This is what it looked like. We'd never seen anything quite like it.
Here's Anne, feeding baby food to her sweet little guy.

This was supposed to be a picture of Sarah and Mike, but Mike was talking to someone else, and I didn't want to miss this shot.
Several of the children spent the afternoon in the creek. Grace wants to bring her swimming suit next time.
Isn't it fun to be a child?
Traffic jam.

Megan and Erin with their little boys...cute cousins!

Me and Alisha (with Nate and Mike in the background).
Eric, Nate, and Mike...enjoying the swings!
Anne, Cecily, and Erin enjoying the sunshine.
Ellie and Nate, ready for the picnic!
And here's a whole lot of fun on the slide. I wish I'd taken this shot before half our group left! If anyone else has some pictures from the day, please send them to me, and I'll put them up. I was too busy chatting and watching Spencer--I didn't get nearly enough photos! It was a great day, though. Grace said, "I want to have another day just like this one." I agree.

I Just Don't Want to Forget!

My children are getting testimonies...in spite of how inadequate I sometimes feel. There were some really sweet experiences in our home today, and I just don't want to forget them!

First, this morning Grace and Ethan were laying in my bed, and Ethan saw my colorful scripture-marking crayons on my desk. He asked, "Mom, where's my Book of Mormon? Can I mark my scriptures?" I told him he could, so he spent the next 20 minutes carefully turning the pages and marking...though I don't think he really knew what he was reading. Grace didn't feel like getting her scriptures out, but she said, "Ethan, do you want me to find a good verse for you to mark?" They sat there together and just pored over those scriptures. I was trying not to laugh because they're just five and six, but they were so serious about it, and I started to get a little teary.

Then, tonight, the oldest three wanted to help me hot-glue-gun some little walnut turkeys together (pictured above). After we were done, Grace said, "It's like the gospel. First you start with the simple stuff at the bottom, and then it keeps growing until you have a testimony." What do I say to that? I just hugged her and said, "Yep, that's right."

Finally, on the way to bed, Ethan was scribbling on some little heart post-its he brought home from Primary. He said, "My teacher told me to do nice things, then write what I did on these hearts, and then put them in the place where I did the nice thing." He had written on one heart, "I played with my brother." He wanted to stick it on Spencer, but I told him the toy basket would probably be better. Then he wrote on another heart, "I cleaned my room." and he put it on his carpet--right in the middle of the bedroom. Finally, he had one that said, "I helped make the hens." That one went right next to all eight of the little walnut turkeys we made.

I love these children. I have had to discipline them off and on all day because they were being kind of wild, and I barely heard anything during Sacrament Meeting because they kept arguing over who got to sit by me or who untied Ethan's shoe, or who made a mean face, but then when they do sweet things like this, I wonder what I'll ever do without them.

80's Date Night

We started doing some local date nights with friends--this was number three. The idea behind the date nights is that we do something local, free, simple, and "expandable," meaning anyone can come. It's an alternative to the same old "dinner and a movie," and I LOVE it!! I need to do a better job publicizing these events, though, as I understand many didn't know about it, but a 90's party is on the horizon, and that will be great!!!

This date night was an 80's Dance. Instructions--arrive at 8, be ready to dance, dress up if you want, but just come and have fun! Here are Scott and Amy:

AJ and Kim:
Our whole group--thanks, Carolyn, for letting us dance at your home!

All the gals:
All the dudes:
Amos and Eric lookin' spiffy:

Troy and Kelly:
Dan and Nicole:
Me and Eric:
As a sidenote, I went into the grocery store dressed like this (to pick something up from the party), and NOBODY even looked twice. Not that I wanted a ton of attention, but COME ON!!! Did they think I was SERIOUS?

Here's Flory and Joe:
We played a couple of trivia games and musical chairs and then had our dance--my favorite part was slow-dancing with my husband. It was a great night overall. Thanks for coming, everyone!

Sweetness

A few years ago, I wanted to roll my eyes whenver someone told me to "enjoy these years because they will go by so quickly." But now, I'm really glad I've received that advice...over and over and over. I think I am finally learning to do it.

Of course, not every day is great. Ethan was whining because "ALIA SAYS I HAVE GIRL NAILS!" Spencer is into absolutely everything--he repeatedly empties every drawer and cupboard (because we haven't installed child locks again). The girls bicker on and off throughout each day and come to me to solve it, and I get tired sometimes and just want to hide in my room with a good book.

But there is this sweetness that permeates everything. Yesterday, Grace and Ethan played library. They put books all over the front room and made "libery" cards (pictured below). It's sweet to see little papers and pencils and toys all stacked up around the house after the children are asleep and the house is quiet.



Our one-year-old Spence is more energetic than Eric and I put together. While I was doing laundry today, he climbed right up on the door to the dryer and took everything out for me...and put it on the floor.

But still, there is a sweetness about that, is there not? I am trying to learn to see things for how they really are. Yes, Spencer's "help" requires more work on my part, and yes, I'm a little nervous that the dryer door is going to pop right off and I'll have to get a brand new dryer (but wait, would that be so bad? My washer and dryer are getting a little old. Hmmmmm.)

It is the process of learning to breathe and enjoy these years that is so hard, but it's possible. I'm not good at it every day, but I'm learning. One day when I was pregnant with Spencer, the other children were wreaking havoc on the house. I was jumping from mess to mess, and when I walked into the downstairs bathroom and found toys and toilet paper everywhere, I groaned, "My CHIL-dren!!!" Ethan was sitting there watching me react, and without missing a beat, he asked, "We are so sweet?"

I paused for a minute, looked at his hopeful smile, thought about his question, and then replied softly, "Yes, you are so sweet." He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "OH, I thought you were going to say we are NOT so sweet." That made me laugh. I gave him a hug, and we cleaned up the mess together.

Children are sweet. They're trouble, and they're a lot of work, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.