Rain and Wheelchair, A Memory

As we drove home from the temple, we were suddently assaulted by rain. Huge, drowning droplets splattering over windsheild and car. It brought to mind a memory I have of BYU.
Sarahann would give me a ride on her wheelchair; a lot. One day I remember a similar rain happening, and although I was mostly getting the benefit of this wheelchair relation, I finally provided a good excuse to have me squishing the life out of Sarahann's legs. At least I kept most of her sheilded from the onslaught!

Three Girls

 
Those of Apt 1 days (aka As Apartment One Turns), will remember a fantastic term: snoove or snooving. I've taken that with me and have applied it in our family, too. Well, Hannah wants to join the fun, so the three of us girls ended up on the floor "snooving". Of course, it wasn't exactly comfortable. Both of these kids love to wiggle and squirm and fight over positions next to Mommy. Nonetheless, it does define snooving.

I Love to See the Temple

Why is it that you just never have energy in the morning when you need it? We had a Youth Temple Trip today and I had to wake up early. Okay, so I just actually had to wake up b/c I had someplace to go.
Somehow I mustered up the energy to get ready in record time and pick up a couple of our Beehives. As soon as we got to the Temple, I was rejuvenated. I even forgot why it was so hard to get out of bed.
It was a really great trip, especially as it was the first trip for five of our youth!! It was fantastic.
I really love the temple. We have to do better at getting up there to do service.

Where'd Ya Get Those Peepers

Caleb came over yesterday ready for a mud mess. He and Em splashed around in the mud and water from the pool while Stef became photographer. She got some great pictures and has posted a bunch on her blog. I didn't realize how amazingly blue Em's eyes were until looking at her blog. Apparently, Eric and I like the color of her eyes because nearly a year ago when we built Hannah's dog house, we painted it the same color. I just had to share this picture!

Understanding Weakness

I "know" the Lord is guiding me daily, but most of the time I don't recognize it until someone puts up the neon sign saying "Did you notice...?"
Last night as I was driving home from mutual, the thought came to my mind to call my friend and ask her to babysit while I do a photo shoot in a couple of weeks. Now, most of the time, I don't even remember that I need to do that until last minute (come on, I only got a sitter for this Saturday yesterday afternoon and mostly b/c Stef offered to keep her for me). So, not recognizing my forward planning as of yet, I called her. Unknown to me, just calling her was an answer to her prayer. We talked about a lot of different things and I tried to be a good friend.
Then, this morning, I read/typed the rest of Ether 12. Due to my conversation last night and a question Sarah left on my answering machine last week regarding humility, I got so much more out of this reading. Of course, I should also note that I began doing this chapter yesterday but felt like I needed to quit where I was (like, verse 2 or 3). Now I get it. I needed the conversation last night to bring other items to light for my understanding of this scripture. Thus, in answering someone else's prayer, she answered mine.
There are a few basic things to consider before reading this chapter. First, this is a chapter inserted by Moroni while recording the Book of Ether. This inserted chapter is a beautiful sermon on faith and charity. I find it interesting that this is such an amazing chapter (as are other writings originated by Moroni's hand, see Moroni 10, for example) as he cites another individual as having more power in writing than he does. He sets up Mahonri Moriancumer as the epitome of scriptural writing. I'm sure we all do this with our current situations of whom is better than us at such and such a skill. However, recognizing this, he is then able to teach us about humility and charity. Humility in recognizing his own weakness and yet this leads to his charity towards man as he prays that "the Gentiles" will not mock his words.
Everyone probably recognizes the Ether 12:27 reference. However, I think in memorizing this scripture, we forget to attach the remainder of what the Lord says to Moroni in verse 37. The Lord states, after Moroni prays for men not to mock his writing skills, "If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." I must be faithful in the commandments the Lord has given me. I cannot stop because I fear man or the judgments of man. Instead, I do my best and pray for others. Independent of whatever those other men choose, however, I do my best and I will receive what I desire: to live with my Savior and my God again.

A Few Essentials

I've read other people's blogs and they post some of their essential items. Here are mine for Emily:
Sheepie aka Up-She
Washable crayons and an abundance of paper
Bubble blower machine
Harmonica
Stickers

Sheepie is the cuddle-thing. She adores this stuffed animal, although it is looking more and more ragged. Sadly, it is only barely over a year old, too!!
Emily is quite the artist. She will sit and color things for hours. Of course, I have to check to make sure she hasn't gotten bored of the paper and has begun coloring other smooth surfaces. BUT, when she does, at least most things come clean with a soapy wash (I've noticed that even after that, there is some kind of grease residue on certain surfaces and you can see it when the light hits it right).
I'm not sure if Emily or Hannah (our dog) loves the bubbles more. At least when the machine blows them, I'm not battling Emily over who gets to hold the container and wand.
We just purchased Em her "song". It's a harmonica. She plays it all the time and it is quite hilarious. If I knew how to do it, I'd post the video we took of Em dancing to the harmonica. Funny, funny girl.
Stickers? Besides being fun to put on your skin and pull them off again until they no longer have stick, they are also the best reward system we've come up with for Em's potty training. Of course, we shot ourselves in the foot when we started with candy, so basically she is earning about 6-8 stickers and 6-8 pieces of candy every day. But, it's working.

Tybee Island

We went on an adventure with Stefanie, Caleb, and Stef's mom (visiting from UT). We drove down to Savannah and Tybee Island (where you can actually get down to the beach). It was a lot of fun. Stef and I looked like Japanese tourists with our cameras and taking tons of photos.
Em was afraid of the water at first (remember, there is foam or "bath bubbles" from the waves on the beach and the noise. However, the ocean was quite calm here and after seeing Caleb playing in the water, Em decided perhaps it wasn't that bad after all. She eventually got too brave and I had to make sure she didn't go out too far. Ah, what competition with your best friend can do for you!