The Best Job EVER!

His tiny little fingers wrapped around my fingers as he gazes up into my eyes. 

He eagerly drinks his bottle and makes the cutest little grunting noises. 

As the bottle runs low his eyes begin to droop, his breathing becomes more steady, and in perfect timing as he drinks the last drop, he relaxes in my arms, and is asleep. 

A tear runs down my cheek.

Monday I had a baby.

Oh... not in the way you are thinking.  I didn't HAVE a baby.  I HAD a baby in my home... he isn't technically mine.  As of Monday I started watching the sweetest little 4 month old baby boy... I think I'll call him Wilson (my own inside joke).  His Mom is a resident at the hospital with my husband.  She needed someone to watch her little boy and I eagerly jumped at the chance. 

I've been suffering with a bit of baby hunger for a while now, but with my medical history Doc thinks it will be too dangerous for us to have a 4th.  At first that was a little hard to accept, but then I think about how many girls I know that have struggled so hard to just have 1 baby, and I realize that I can't complain.  I'm so grateful for the 3 beautiful, healthy children that I have... and I'm grateful for the many children throughout the years that I've have the opportunity to watch.

Wilson is a dream baby.  He is the easiest baby in the world... just like my Little Princess was.  He only fusses when hungry or wet, and he easily settles down when comforted.  He has the cutest smile!  He loves playing "peek-a-boo" and hearing me sing "horsey, horsey on your way". 

I love holding him.

I have to admit, that I'm not quite on top of my house like I could be... heaven knows he naps enough to make it easy to put him down and go clean up a few things... but it's not that easy to put him down.

It's a good thing that I still have Little Princess and my Little Charge here or I'd be inclined to just sit on the couch all day and play with the baby.  So, when he falls asleep I do force myself to lay him down and go play with Little Princess and my cute Little Charge.

I'm so grateful for these little days.  For the days I get to just stay in my p.j.'s and play with children.  I know that this faze in life will go by quickly and I will miss this someday. 

I love what I do.  I'm so blessed to have a job where I can sing silly songs, and jump up and down and play "Simeon Says" and make creative lunches, and push giggling children on the swing set.  The only true demands I hear all day is "I need to go pee!" or "Give me fruit snacks!"  of course they have to say "please" first. 

I'm so grateful I get to do what I do.

Well... speaking of which Mr. Wilson was just dropped off, so I better post this and get to work.

Hope you all have a good day!

I will!

A Day of Remembrance

Many of you probably heard about the Virginia Tech shootings that occurred 4 years ago today.  I will never forget that day.  My sweet Doc was in his second year of medical school attending VCOM which is on the Virginia Tech campus.  I wanted to share with you all an e-mail that I wrote 2 years ago to my closest friends and family.

A Day of Remembrance
For those who don't know, I live in Christiansburg Virginia, just minutes from Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech is located, where my husband's medical school is located.

Two year ago my world was rocked. I was pregnant with Alyssa at the time, and it was literally one of the worst "morning sickness" days that I've EVER had. (I throw up 17 times that day).

That morning I was laying in bed feeling terrible when the phone rang around 9:30am and it was Nate, the first thing he said was, "I'm okay". A chill ran through me. He said his school was on lock down, that they heard there was a shooting at one of the dorms, and that the shooter was was on the loose, and there was rumors that there was another shooting on campus.

I went into the the T.V. room and turned on the news. The news anchor was talking about the shootings and that as far as they knew 3 people were confirmed dead. Moments later someone walked on camera and handed her a note. I've never scene that happen before. She visibly went pale and said, "We have have confirmation that 7 are dead." I was shocked. I got up to call my Mom because at this point I knew it was about to become national news and just as I stood up, the power went out.

That day was terrible on so many levels. It was bitterly cold, and the wind was gusting at around 60 mph. There was snow flurries that morning. Somehow the wind knocked down a power line near my house. I didn't know what to do, but I knew that Nate was okay, so after visiting the bathroom again I layed down and took a short nap.

Nate didn't come home until 3pm. The power was still off, so we decided to turn on the radio and see if there was any other news. The first thing we hear was that Katie Curick just landed, Brian Williams was on his way, and the President of the United States would be here in the morning! We looked at each other terrified and both said, "What on earth happened." Then the announcer said, "30 are now confirmed dead.... it's the biggest massacre to ever occur on American soil." I can't tell you how grateful I was that Nate was okay. The shootings took place across campus from him.

Our power didn't come back on until 11:00 that night. We had 20 worried messages on our machine... many called several times, and their messages more and more frantic... I'm so sorry that they had to go all day without knowing if Nate was okay.

This all happened 2 years ago yesterday, but my feelings are still very raw. We attended the Day of Remembrance ceremony and I wanted to share my memories with you. West Ambler Johnston was where the first shootings took place. Two died here. He then walked to a near by post office, dropped of a package to NBC news, and then walked to Norris hall for his final assault. When he entered he chained the doors shut from the inside, so no one could come in, or go out.

Our Stake President Scott Hendricks, who is also the father in law of one of my good friends and my visiting teacher Toni was in the building when it happened. He bore his testimony at stake conference, it is something that I will never forget.

A couple days after the shooting we took the kids to sign the memorial wall. I can't believe how much they've grown in just 2 years.

The day after the shootings Pres. Bush came and gave a great speak, but was overshadowed by the amazing "We will prevail" speech by one of VT's professors... can't remember her name of the top of my head.

The basketball stadium where the service was held was full to capacity so it all over flowed to the football stadium.

Andrew was only 6 years old at the time. He was in kindergarten, but he was deeply effected by it.

Here are some quick pictures of the memorial wall we signed. There were thousands of signatures and messages on many walls.

Sorry, I didn't mean to post 2 of the same picture.

After the shootings a spontaneous memorial was created at the foot of Burress hall. Just to the right of this picture is Norris hall.

This is Burress Hall. Our campus is stunningly gorgeous.

After our visit to VT that day Andrew drew a picture and taped it to our wall. It's easy to see through the spelling to his message.

That night I wrote this letter to my family.

Dear Family,

There is so much on my mind today. Today we went over to Virginia Tech to sign the memorial there. I’ll go into that experience in a minute. There is so much on my mind. I feel like I need to get this out of me. This is probably going to be pretty long, but I need to write down my feelings so I can start to move on, and so I will never forget. Thank you so much Mom Evan’s for keeping these e-mails for me, this is going to be my journal entry for the week.

For mutual on Wednesday we met at the Bishop's house and had a long talk with all the kids about what happened. We talked a lot about our feelings, and who knew who. We also focused a lot about forgiveness, and not casting blame. Bishop said that he heard that Cho's parents have both tried to commit suicide. How traumatic would it be to have a child die... how much harder would it be knowing that he would forever be only known as the man responsible for the worst massacre that's happened on American soil. We all wrote letters to who ever we wanted to. Some wrote to the victims that are still in the hospital, some to the parents that lost a child, and some to Cho's parents telling them that we don't blame them, and that we are sorry for their loss too. We all felt so heartbroken for the loss of life, but a sense of forgiveness was very apparent. We are all working on uplifting the families, not casting blame or fault finding. It was however so hard to see one of my girls so heartbroken over this. Traci is 16 years old and knew two girls that were killed and is best friends with someone who lives two doors down from the shooter. She was so upset at the thought of, “what if he decided to shoot up that dorm?” It’s terrible to have your sense of security taken from you… it’s so much harder when you are so young.

Yesterday I had a Heritage Makers celebration with my new consultant Kelly. One of the girls that came is an ER nurse at Montgomery Regional Hospital where many still are recovering. It was amazing, and heart breaking, and inspiring to hear some of the stories. I was surprised at how much she was telling us, but then I realized that she has been working long hours and hasn't been able yet to see a counselor... I think that she really needed to get a lot off of her chest. She said that every patient that she saw was shot multiple times. One boy was shot through the bicep and it exited threw his right right tricep, and was also shot threw the left hand, he had one wound from each gun used. The boy said that he was shot once, and then the shooter left the room, and came back later and shot him again. She told us quite a bit that I don’t need to write, but that gives you an idea of how details can hurt to hear.

Every where you go you see people going about there business, but with something missing about them. A friend, a family member, hope, a sense of security. So many I've talked to are having nightmares. I have had nightmares every night sense this happened. Not just about the shooting, but I think it all comes from a sense of insecurity. I can't begin to convey how this shaken our community.

I went to Radford yesterday for my doctor’s appointment, and cried to see the marquees at restaurants saying, "God bless VT" "Our prayers are with VT". At Radford University there are huge banners hanging off of dorm room balconies saying, "We are all Hokies!" I think it's true. It doesn't matter how close you were to this, or how far you live from here. If this has affected you, touched you, hurt you, or made you cry, you too are a Hokie. We are a "Hokie Nation". It's becoming a symbol of unity. Like after 9/11 how everyone flew an American flag to show support, unity, and pride for our nation, the colors orange and maroon are going to be a symbol of unity... but I wonder, for how long? Like 9/11 slowly politics became too involved. Slowly we forgot the pain of that day, and the lesson that we learned. Slowly we all became un-unified. So many have to find someone to take out our pain on., they have to find someone to blame. How tragic does a day have to be for us to stay unified? How destroyed, damaged, terrorized or enslaved to we have to become before we truly become one and stay? Before we come unto Christ to stay? Already the psycho’s are coming out threatening other areas like California some guy threatened that he was, "going to make what happened at Virginia Tech look mild." I'm so devastated by the evil in this world. How cold do you have to be to do such a thing? If you are going to kill yourself, do it! And leave the rest of us alone! What makes someone so evil?

I know that this is long and rambling, but I really need to express what I'm feeling inside. I don't know what is coming in our future. How many times I am going to have to hold a devastated 16 year old in my arms because she just lost a friend, and doesn't know why.

My faith is strong, and I know that these are the last days and that there is just as much good as evil in the world, but I don't want to see the evil. Last night after watching a movie about Anne Frank, an 80-90 year old Meap .... (I don't remember her last name... she was the girl that primarily took care of the Frank's while they were in hiding.) said, "I am not a hero. I did what I did, because it was the right thing to do." I realize that all the amazing people in the world were not born to be hero's, they just did what was right when they had too. My ancestors crossed the plains, faced hardships, and buried children along the way, not because they wanted to be heroes, but because it was the right thing to do, and they became hero's because they endured it well. I'm just afraid that in these last days many of us will have to face things like this. Many of us may have to rise to different occasions and become “hero’s” ourselves. I will rise to any occasion… but I would rather live a quite peaceful life and never have to know a “hero’s” trail.

I'm scared for the last days to be here. I'm scared for my children. I feel the levity of needing to raise them well right now, while they are young and teachable. I hope that they never have to face a “hero’s” fate. I know that I can overcome anything in this world… but I don’t want too.
Today I dressed up the boys in Virginia Tech shirts and baseball caps. Nate and I put on our VCOM shirts and we went over to Tech to sign the message boards at the memorials at Tech. How do I begin to describe stepping foot on the drill field and seeing so many wearing our proud colors, on their knees crying. There is a wall in front of Burress Hall which is the main administration building (the castle looking building), which is just to the left of Norris Hall, which is surrounded in police tape. There is a half circle of 32 mini-memorials with VT symbols and the names of all the victims there, with flowers and baskets placed on top of Hokie stones. Those stones are what built our school. They are strong and they do not crumble. The symbolism cannot be lost there. It’s a beautiful place. It’s a terribly sad place. While we were there a boy that I had seen on TV came walking up with either his sister, or some kind of a girl friend. He was wearing a blue sling, because he was shot in the arm that day. He walked up to the memorial and looked around. Trying not to stare at him, you could see so much emotion in him, so much on his mind at that moment. A few moments later, he broke down and started to cry. He walked away with his friend, totally devastated. I will never forget the look on his face. I wanted so much to give him a hug. I can only imagine what he must be going through.

While we were there a student came over and told us that they were making ribbons to give to everyone, and he invited us to sign a guest book, and he thanked us for coming and showing our support. Everyone in our community has really pulled together to help and show support to the victims, the families, and the school. Today the VT marching band went over to the hospital and was playing a bunch of up beat songs including our famous “Hokie Poky” One of the girls that was shot that day came to her window and waved to every one and stayed for a while and listened and smiled at everyone. One boy who was shot said of that moment that, “I saw God and the Devil at the same moment.” That’s how I feel. I’ve seen what the devil can do, and what he tries to do, and I’ve seen how God helps us heal and find peace. There is so much more good than bad in this world, sometimes it takes a terrible thing to truly see all the good in the world.

I came home today with so many emotions in my heart. I think that today is the first day that everything is really hitting me. I’ve just been crying all day it seems. Nate went out to mow the lawn and I just sat on the couch so upset. Rachell Massey and I have been playing phone tag all week and I just kept thinking that I needed to call her, so I picked up the phone, and there she was. We’ve been going back and forth for 4 days now, and when I really needed her, she was there. It felt so good to be able to just vent so much off of my chest, and just to cry to someone who knows what’s happening, but just isn’t quite as close as others. I’m so grateful for my many good friends. I miss you all so much. I can’t tell you how much I miss you all.

I keep thinking that there is a message, or a lesson or many lessons to be taken from all of this. I keep thinking that if I can just put all of this in words then it will somehow make sense to me. I keep thinking that if I could pinpoint exactly what emotion that I feel inside then I could begin to heal myself, and help others more. My feelings are so complicated. I feel so completely devastated, on my knees with the wind knocked out of me, in shock, in horror, so scared, and unsure about the terrible events that happened so close to me. I feel so proud. So proud to live in such a strong community, where everyone pulls together to love and support each other through this time. So proud to be a Hokie right now and be able to witness the amazing strength and spirit of this Hokie Nation. I cheer, “LET’S GO HOKIES” while tears of pride and devastation stream down my face. Wishing that we didn’t need this cheer, and proud that I have strength enough to cheer. I’m devastated for my school, yet I’ve never been prouder to be a Hokie. So complicated, yet so simple. I know one thing. When you think of Virginia Tech, you will not think of “The Massacre” you will think of strength, pride and community. We will overcome this… but we will always remember this.
Please take care of yourselves. We love you all,
Becky

P.s. I really don’t like what the national networks are saying about us. If you would like to see a little more of the good that has come from this, how we are supporting each other and that sort of thing, please go to www.wsls.com that is one of our local stations that I’m happy with the way they are covering all this. You can go to some of their video there and see some great local stories about what is really happening here. Someone wrote a song for Virginia Tech that they put together with a photo montage. I think it’s amazing. If I find a link to it I will forward it on to you. Thank you so much for wearing our colors today. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers.
P.P.S. I’m attaching some pictures of Tech. I’ll probably have to send them in several e-mails.

Today I feel like I've scene so much more of God in all of this than the evil. I have realized first hand that we truly do have a prophet on the earth today that knows our needs. 6 months prior to this Pres. Bednar, a member of the 12 apostles was assigned to come to Blacksburg for our Stake Conference, which was to take place the Sunday after this terrible event. Could the timing have been any more remarkable? As you can tell from my letter home that first week was terrible, but after Pres. Bednar came here, and walked the grounds of VT with our stake president, the general feeling around campus shifted from pain, and determination to overcome, to unity, forgiveness and healing. Instead of feeling scared, in general the community has a feeling of hope, and peace. Our campus has never been the same, but it's not the eerie feeling like some thought it would be, it a feeling of love, friendship, and unity that is rare to find.

Here are some pictures of the 2nd Anniversary Day of Remembrance.

The spontaneous memorial is now a beautifully landscaped memorial with the the original hokie stones still there.

Can you see the huge semi-circle of bushes around the cadets standing there? There is a bush planted behind each hokie stone. 32 is a big number.

There were police on top of Burress hall with binoculars scanning the crowd for security.

Me and my little Lissa Girl.

As dusk came, so did the crowd. Can you see all the maroon and orange?

This was the best picture I could get in the darkness of the candle light visual.

This video was made about the tragity and I think the song is awesome... I can't figure out how to link it so please take a minute and copy this link and watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksd8-zIuYXs&feature=related

Thank you so much for reading my long blog entry, and remembering this day with me.

All in the Eye of the Beholder

As I walked down the rows and rows of various pieces of art I marveled at the talent that I was viewing.  There were contemporary pieces with geometric shapes seemingly in random positions, and bright colors splattered all over the paper, but if you looked at it just right you could see the artists name depicted in through those shapes and colors.

There were hilarious characatcher’s with elongated faces and very small bodies sketched out on construction paper.

There were stunning portraits.  One was a clean sketch of a beautiful young woman with long hair cascading in front of her shoulders, and her eyes were stunning with the light sparkling in them.

There was a harder sketch of a middle aged man with his face half hidden behind his long unkempt hair and his shaggy beard.  He looked like a rocker who just got off stage after performing one of his best shows… he looked hard around the edges, but if you looked close you could see satisfaction and contentment in his eyes.

There were even some sculptures there. 

I’m sure you are wondering where “there” is.  The art show was held at the local high school.  Our school district held an art exhibit and all the schools art teachers picked out some of their favorite pieces that their children had created during the year and brought them to the high school for the show.

One of the pieces that was chosen was one of Droid’s small pottery pieces. 


It was wonderful to see the progression of art from Kindergarten all the way up to the high school level.  Droid has developed quite a talent for art, and has even photocopied and sold a few of his drawings of characters from the video game “Halo”. 

He was so impressed to see what some of the seniors in high school could do, and I told him that will be that good too if he continued to practice and learn the technique. 

It was wonderful taking my children to the art show and let them appreciate the beautiful things that people can create from their imagination. 

I love art.  Especially my children's art... It makes my heart dance.

Peer Pressure

So, after being locked up all winter the time has come to brush off my neglected running shoes and hit the track.  Jewel met me there and after we made sure that my Little Princess and Little Charge were secure in their strollers we left them with by the bleachers with coloring books, toy cars, snacks and great view of the track where they can watch us… and we can watch them and we took off to see how out of shape we are.

I’ll tell yeah… after the first 200 meters my ankles were hurting and I thought I was going to have to wuss out and walk a little, but Jewel was still going, so I pumped up my mp3 player to Dixie chicks “Ready To Run” and sucked it up.

After the first couple of laps my legs loosened up and my ankles stoped hurting so I decided to shoot to finish at least a mile. 

The last lap was harder.  My lungs were burning (my body doesn’t like running in cold weather, and yes, 49 degrees is still fairly cold to me) and my calves were threatening to explode… but I gritted my teeth and finished the lap. 

 

I love positive peer pressure.  I know that if Jewel wasn’t running by my side I wouldn’t have finished the run.  And I was relieved to hear her say the same to me. 

I’m so grateful for friends who push me to achieve my goals, like finishing a mile, and pressure me to go a step further.  Along with re-starting our workout routine we’ve made a commitment to each other to eat healthy.  My fridge is now full of fruits and veggies, and I have a menu on the front of my fridge so I don't have to think about how to throw it all together.

My goal is to run the Girls Tri Too Triathlon in September here in Akron.  I did it last year with some other friends (also a result of peer pressure) and my goal then was just to finish the race... and not be in last place.  I finished it... and I wasn't last!  This year my goal is to beat my previous time... and to learn how to swim so I don't end up doggy paddling and back stroking through the swimming leg of the race. 

If we stick with this, in a few months we should be some healthy, toned and hot momma’s!  And I know we will stick with it, because Jewel is going to be right by my side the whole time… and if she can do it… so can I.

Pretty Big... No Huge, HUGE Mistake!!

As I mentioned before, I am a member of the Relief Society.  This year the relief society is focusing on the history of the program, and how we can learn and be strengthened from the early women of the Relief Society. 

In May there is going to be a big Stake (which is like a regional) Relief Society Conference in our area.  In preparation for this meeting the Stake Relief Society President called and asked if she could interview me.  She is putting together a video of women telling some stories of their experiences in the relief society, and some (like me) telling stories about early sisters in the R.S. and how they have influenced our lives today.

                In preparation for this interview I went back over Florence’s Autobiography to make sure I remembered the details right and discovered that I have make a HUGE mistake!

                The Autobiography of Florence Pearl Cross starts out telling the story of her MOTHER Louise Goldbranssen!  Louise is the one who danced her way across the plains!

                Holly Cow!  How could I have made such an error?! 

Florence did live an amazing life… I think tomorrow I’m going to have to copy more of the autobiography here so you can actually learn more about Florence, but it is LOUISE who has inspired my dance blog.  If you go back and re-read my first post you will see that it really was Louise in the story… I really don’t know how I get it mixed up in my head… I for some reason thought that Florence was the mother, and Louise the daughter… I must be getting old.  J

                I hope you can all forgive me my HUGE error… and hopefully Louise and Florence will as well. 

                I guess part of life is learning to laugh at our mistakes… even when they are really embarrassing.  I’m laughing at myself… you can too… just not too hard.

Determination

When Doc was a little boy, he was full of energy..,. hyper would be a good word to describe him.  His Mom and Dad were becoming very frustrated and exhausted from chasing him around, trying (unsuccessfully) to keep him under control. 

One day they came up with an idea.  His Dad took an old and dull saw out and sawed it into a log in their yard just enough so that it would be able to be pulled out, and he told Doc to go out and saw that log until it was cut in two.

This little 3 year old boy excitedly ran outside and went to town sawing back and forth on that log with so much focus and determination that an Olympic athlete would be envious. 

His Mom and Dad watched from the window enjoying the quite in the house that they were confident would be very short lived.  They were sure that he would get burned out, or frustrated with his lack of progress. 

They were wrong.

That little boy worked on that log for days on end until he had cut that log in two!

It was then that his parents realized that when Doc decided to do something, he was going to work and work no matter how hard the task, or how long it took, he wouldn’t quit until he reached his goal.

I guess there are attributes that we are truly born with, because nothing has changed in the 30 years sense the day he sawed that log in two.

He is still sawing on logs.  Not literal logs, but the metaphorical ones. 

He now has a chain saw for the literal logs.

But as for all the other hard and long tasks in his life he is still just as diligent and determined to accomplish the task that is placed before him. 

For the entire 11 years that we have been married he has been in school, and once he decided that he wanted to go to medical school he has been doing nothing but working toward that goal of becoming a doctor. 

He has wanted to quite many times, but he knows that 10 years are going to come and go one way or another… the question is… where do you want to be at the end of those 10 years?  As hard as this is, as exhausted as we both are, as stressful as this field is, he has kept his eye on his goal, and is determined to saw this log in two.

He is a great example to me and our children.  Shoot… I have a hard time finishing the dishes many nights!  But Doc is always so good at finishing every task he starts, whether it’s cleaning a room, fixing a car, painting a project, or getting a doctorate degree I know that if he puts his mind to doing something, he will get it done.

I’m amazed at his determination.  And I’m grateful to be married to such a man.

Preparing for Easter

I was reading today in a church magazine called The Ensign, and the first article caught my eye and touched my heart.  With Eater coming up I'm trying to focus myself, and my children on the life and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, and a little less on the Easter bunny... although I'm sure he'll still be hiding some eggs around the house again this year. 

Anyway, I wanted to share with you an article written by Thomas S. Monson the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

I'm so grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus made for me, I hope to live more worthy of it.

 

He Is Not Here, but Is Risen

By President Thomas S. Monson

---

 

Today only ruins remain of Capernaum, that city by the lakeshore, heart of the Savior’s Galilean ministry. Here He preached in the synagogue, taught by the seaside, and healed in the homes.

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus took a text from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1; see also Luke 4:18)—a clear pronouncement of a divine plan to rescue the sons and daughters of God.

But Jesus’s preaching in Galilee had been merely prelude. The Son of Man had always had a dread rendezvous to keep on a hill called Golgotha.

Arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper, deserted by His disciples, spat upon, tried, and humiliated, Jesus staggered under His great cross toward Calvary. He progressed from triumph to betrayal, torture, and death on the cross.

In the words of the song “The Holy City”:

The scene was changed. …

The morn was cold and chill,

As the shadow of a cross arose

Upon a lonely hill.

 

For us our Heavenly Father gave His Son. For us our Elder Brother gave His life.

At the last moment the Master could have turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things that He might save all things: the human race, the earth, and all the life that ever inhabited it.

No words in Christendom mean more to me than those spoken by the angel to the weeping Mary Magdalene and the other Mary as they approached the tomb to care for the body of their Lord: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5–6).

With this pronouncement, those who have lived and died, those who now live and one day will die, and those yet to be born and yet to die had just been rescued.

As the result of Christ’s victory over the grave, we shall all be resurrected. This is the redemption of the soul. Paul wrote:  “There are … celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

“There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

“So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:40–42).

It is the celestial glory that we seek. It is in the presence of God that we desire to dwell. It is a forever family in which we want membership.

Of Him who delivered each of us from endless death, I testify He is a teacher of truth—but He is more than a teacher. He is the exemplar of the perfect life—but He is more than an exemplar. He is the great physician—but He is more than a physician. He is the literal Savior of the world, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One of Israel, even the risen Lord, who declared, “I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father” (D&C 110:4).

“Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: ‘I know that my Redeemer lives!’” ²

Of this I testify.

Past the Biscuits

I wish I knew who wrote this, but I really like it and thought that you might like to read it too. 

Enjoy your biscuits!

When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage, and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his Biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school.

I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."

 

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your momma put in a long hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides... A burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"

 

You know, life is full of imperfect things... And imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences, is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

 

So...please pass me a biscuit. And yes, the burned one will do just fine!

The Best Years of my Life

And we’re back!

It’s interesting how you really don’t appreciate things until they are gone.  I really didn’t realize how much I relied on the internet until mine went down. 

No e-mail.

No Yahoo… (I decided I need an emergency encyclopedia) 

No Entertainment (yes, I watch way too much you tube.)

 

And worse yet… no blogging!

 

I’ve missed my blog!!!

Hopefully my faithful readers missed me too…

Well… let’s get too it.

It’s Spring Break! 

 

I want to make a joke about how I want a break from my spring break but… honestly so far it’s all going good. 

We aren’t going anywhere exciting… no Disneyworld or Yellowstone, we aren’t even going to the park right now with all the rain we’ve been getting. 

We are chilling around the house playing video games, watching movies. 

 Droid is working on school projects, and Cub Scout badges.  Oz is helping Droid with painting the school projects and joining in on all the cub scout activities that he can, and Little princess is along for the ride… occasionally fighting with her brothers for her right to watch Dora or Blue’s Clues.

The best news is that this week is Doc’s last week working the night float rotation… YEAH!  Once Friday night hits he is MINE again. 12 hour shifts aren’t too bad at all if I can have him every evening at 5:30pm.

But I have to be careful.  Often I find myself looking forward too much thinking, “life will be better in a day or two, or a month or two… or a year or two.”  It’s easy to think that I need to just bide my time and “endure” the hard times and look forward to a time when I think life will be easier.  Right now my biggest stress is finances, so even though we are in debt up to our eyeballs, I find myself constantly thinking, “just 2 ½ more years.” 

But I’ve heard time and time again from my parents, and many others that their fondest memories are from the days when they were young parents, their kids were a little wild and unrulely (not me of course…) and they were struggling through school… they say that those were the best days. 

I have no idea if they are just saying that so I will stop calling and whining about how hard it is to be a “single mom”, but… so far in my life they have seemed to know what they were talking about so… I’ll have to trust them and take their word for it.

So… although I’ve washed innumerable amounts of laundry,

made more PB & J sandwiches than I can stomach,

sang the ABC’s more times than I count

and cleaned the same house only to witness my hard work get destroyed only hours later

enough times to send me to send me to the nut house, but…

I know that in the grand scheme of things, this phase of my life is going to be short, and precious. 

The work that I’m doing right now is the hardest of my life, but it’s also the most important.

I’m raising three beautiful children, teaching them how to care for others, how to care for themselves, and how to love everyone… but beat up anyone who messes with Little Princess.  J  I hope that someday they will be ready to leave my home and ready to start one of their own.  I hope that they will have the confidence to stay true to who they are, and be an example to those around them.  I’m raising them so someday they will leave me… it’s hard to think of it that way, but ultimately… that’s what parenting is all about. 

I think I see what my parents said now… these are going to be the best years of my life.