The Lord's Tender Mercies

Lately I have been thinking about the tender mercies of the Lord, how he really does know each of us individually, how he understands our needs, and how he always hears and answers our prayers. I have especially been impressed bythe help and guidance he sends through the Holy Ghost. I have had pregnancy brain really badly this time around - I can't think of words, people's names, and have a hard time completing my thoughts or even remembering what I was doing or thinking about five minutes ago. During this time I have really come to realize how often promptings from the Spirit come into my daily life, over even small things. I know they come from the Holy Ghost because in the midst of my muddled preggo brain I will suddenly have such clarity of thought as an idea comes into my mind that I know it is not coming from me. And it's been over such small things that have helped me to find better ways to use my time or complete my many responsibilities so that I am better able to take care of my family when everyone comes back home. This experience has been such a testimony builder that the Lord cares about even the menial things going on in my life. He cares about me and my family and wants us to succeed and make it back to him.

Another of the Lord's tender mercies came during General Conference this past weekend. I am so grateful for all of the talks that were geared towards the importance of teaching, nurturing, and rearing your children in righteousness so that they can develop their own testimonies and become instruments for good in the world. It reminded me of some inspiration I received a few months ago when I was feeling anxious about bringing another little person into our family and if I would be able to meet everybody's needs being the mother of four as I already felt stretched as the mother of three. The thought came to me that instead of trying to be everything for everybody (an impossible task, as an imperfect person), I should rather teach them to to go to their Heavenly Father, who has all the answers, can heal every hurt, and gives the strength needed for any challenge.

I am so grateful to be the mother of four beautiful daughters. I have not lost my identity as I have become a mother, but rather my children are helping to redefine who I am, helping me to reach my full potential, and helping me become a better person as we learn and grow together.
I am so grateful for my precious daughters who love to laugh, giggle, dance, sing, and play. They bring so much joy to my life and I am so grateful for all they continue to teach me, even as I strumble trying to lead and guide them.

And finally, I'm grateful for the Lord's patience and gentleness in teaching me. After Saturday's sessions of conference I was completely revved up and ready to be supermom with the ultra spiritual home and my children literally glowing from the testimonies that I would kindle inside of them. Instead, Saturday evening was filled with a lot of bickering and contention and me losing my temper. Before the session started on Sunday morning I was a bit discouraged, needless to say. I had all of these great plans, and I couldn't even hold it together for a few hours! Thankfully, inspiration flowed once again during the Sunday morning session. I was impressed with the need to humble myself and ask for Heavenly Father's help as I stive to improve and overcome weaknesses, rather than trusting in my own strength. (Didn't I mention that I need to stop trying to do and be everything for everybody?) For when I am weak, then I am strong. The strength of the Lord sustains me.

I am so grateful for the Lord's Tender Mercies.

Part of Your World

Well, ha, ha, I was so on top of things when my parents were here (probably because they were doing 2/3 of my job!) but I have quickly lapsed back into being behind now that they are gone. We miss them, but are looking forward to my sister and her family coming out next week! In the meantime, here's what we've been up to . . . This was a Sunday project of Aly and Analise's during "quiet time". We've also been able to go to the park and take a few walks, as it seem that the rainy season is FINALLY coming to an end. I can feel my spirits lifting as my vitamin D levels increase with each sunny day. :)

So, I have come to realize that I am reliving my childhood through my daughters . . . and I LOVE IT! We just rented "Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer" from netflix last week and it was awesome!!! I had it on for the kids during my primary presidency meeting, and all of the adults were watching it. Rad-i-cool. :)

While my parents were here we took them to the aquarium. Here are each of the girls posing as Ariel . . .

Aly recently joined "just run" and has been running everywhere to "train" for a 3K run (~2 mile) she and Chris are going to do in April. She even had me drop her off at the teen center on the way home from a doctor's appointment so that she could run the rest of the way home. Oh yeah, let's put those long legs to some good use! :) Aly loves helping her teacher after school and playing school at home. She's also recently discovered that she has some mad hula-hooping skills.

I was also able to go the aquarium with Lise's kindergarten class last week (I've seen a lot of fish lately.) It was fun to be with Lise, although I spent the majority of the time chasing and tracking down children. Analise has been having a ton of fun stuff going on in school; they had the Kindergarten olympics (more on that later), a shamrock treasure hunt for St. Patrick's Day, and we made a starfish out of empty toilet paper rolls for their aquatic life unit of study. Analise's teacher says that all of the kids in her class like her and that she always tries to make everyone else feel happy.

Kate's favorite thing to do these days is "go to the gym" because she gets to play with her friends while I work out and often gets a playdate afterward. She is a little social bug and always wants to be going somewhere. (And I'm happy, because I get some exercise - yay endorphins!) Today we spent from 9-4 at the school helping a scout in our ward with his eagle project and Kate was in heaven. There were friends, playgrounds, and sand and dirt galore. What could be better?

A favorite treat to do with Grandma and Grandpa when they were here was to go out for icecream - thanks guys! We miss you tons and the girls are constantly talking about when they get to come out to your house this summer. Oh, and thanks for helping me get out all my maternity clothes, Mom! I'm feeling much more comfortable now. :) And thanks for fixing all the broken stuff in our house and for mowing the lawn, Dad. We're putting our garden in next week.

Here's some pictures of Analise at her Kindergarten Olympics. Above is the creative ice skating, and Lise has got some moves, let me tell ya! Below is the ski jump. Fun stuff.

Now, just look at this picture. How can you resist that sweet innocent face with an "I love my daddy" shirt? (Which she ended up spilling spaghettio sauce on later, all over his face, by the way.) Well, last week, we discovered that Kate can replace a roll of toilet paper all by herself. Chris and I were pretty impressed by it and gave her some praise for it. So then, a couple of days later, Kate presents me with another empty toilet paper roll, so proud of herself for changing the roll. Unfortunately, to get to that point, she had unrolled 1/3 of the roll into the toilet. I know she was trying to be helpful. *sigh* Also, while Lise was cleaning the bathroom last Saturday, Kate got into the Softscrub and decided to lather up her whole body - fully clothed. What goes through her head? Her curiousity is amazing, and I know she isn't trying to be bad; it just makes such big messes, ya know?

And last, but certainly not least, there's Christopher. The past few weeks have been extremely brutal on that guy. He had a teacher who kept adding to/changing his syllabus at the last minute, a talk to give as the keynote speaker at youth conference, a paper due, and one less hour of sleep for daylight savings - all in the same weekend. That's not to mention all of the other papers, projects, and reading he had going on for his other classes. Hopefully next quarter will be better. He is super sleep deprived, but is slowly making it back up, now that it's over. And hooray! - I love having my husband back. Since his last project was turned in he has been taking super good care of me and helping out a ton with the kids. He's let me take naps, taken the girls to school, we've gone to lunch, he's bought me flowers, and he even made me the cheesecake I've been craving but have been too busy/exhausted to make. I love you hubby-bubby! You're a definite keeper. (And no, I don't really call my husband hubby-bubby seriously. I'm not that gooey.)