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.