On a serious side - Mother's Day

My boys just can't do it.  They can't be very thoughtful.  They love me, but the are, boys.  They can't stop fighting or teasing in honor of mothers day.  They can't apparently listen in Sacrament Meeting.  There dutiful letters made in Young Mens were more like year book messages "You're the Best" etc.
But I know they love me!  They are learning slowly from there dad, how to adore their mother and we all really do think each other are "the best".  James wont go to sleep without one or two kisses good night.  Seth constantly compliments my looks, telling how pretty or fit I am, ha ha.  And Peter is my protector, sometimes overly fierce but loyal all the same.  

For all daughters of the same Heavenly Father and for the birth-mothers of my children:
Many, many, years ago, which I can say now, because I lived for more than 40!, I was having a typically busy December.   But each year it doesn't feel typical.  Each year in itself feels too busy and I always feel sad that I allow myself to get caught up in the business and don't cherish the season more.
I also typically struggle to keep those scriptures studied every day.  And I always regret that, and notice the lack in my life.
So I remember this December years ago, committing to NOT miss my scripture study even with the busyness of the year.  I so wanted to feel the spirit that comes when we focus on the Savior so I recommitted to my daily habit.
One particularly exhausting evening, with a house full of babies and endless work, I was thinking I was just to tired to read one night.  Sleep was going to be my inspiration.  It was just one night.  How much would I get out of one moment of reading and what would I really miss.  But I do believe obedience itself brings blessings, so I sat down in the living room, accross from the Christmas tree and opened the bible.  Regretfully I can't remember now why I was reading in the Psalms.  I often like to read prophecies or other topics related to the Savior during December so I must have been doing so that year as well.
The short 9 verses for the night were from Psalm 113.
And oh what a blessing I received that year for my brief moment of obedience.
Verse nine poured over my weary soul like sunlight through the warmest window.  I felt the love of my Father and had one of the most reverent reminders of the gifts I've been given on this earth:
It reads

"He" did just that.  Through our Savior Jesus Christ the pain of our infertility was made endurable.  Through the light of Christ and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, three of his most selfless daughters brought these spirits to earth and gave them to us to raise.  Through the restoration of His gospel, they are now sealed to us for all eternity.
And it can be joyful.  When I remember.
Lately I have heard adoption stories from several families in our neighborhood.  All with children younger than mine.  It brought back vividly our own story, that started over 20 years ago.  I get so caught up in the drama and trauma of trying to raise these crazy teenagers that I had forgotten how precious their beginnings were.

And I was thankful for the nostalgia that is more than emotion but a remembrance of prayers answered and sacrifices made.  I realized I needed to stop and remember, be grateful, and say again Thank You to our beautiful Ange, Ira, and Mandy.  Without them I would not have the purpose in my life I dreamt of as long as I can remember.  Happy Mother's Day to the women who made it possible for me to be a mother.

And I believe that no matter what your sorrow, whether a barren woman, heartbroken, single, sick, or weary, He can make from you and for you, something to be joyful about.
Praise Ye the Lord.

on a lighter note: Mothers Day

True love is when the man who adores you waits in line for 20 minutes and buys you a delicious box of chocolates and a tenderly sweet card. 

The endearingly funny part is that the box of my "favorite" chocolates had mostly ones I've never tried and the card featured a lovely African American couple.
I have to say, and I know that I am extremely lucky to have this be true, but my husband truly showers me with praise and adoration on a daily basis and on Mother's Day, he would do anything in his power for me.
I know not all wives get quite this devoted of a hubby but just think of it this way, I am so hard to live with Heavenly Father knew I had to have a next to perfect husband in order to survive. :)

Dave does not however have the power however to bring my boys into total conformity for Mothers Day. 
My boys just can't do it.  They can't be very thoughtful.  They love me, but the are, boys.  They can't stop fighting or teasing in honor of mothers day.  They can't apparently listen in Sacrament Meeting.  Their dutiful letters made in Young Mens were more like year-book messages, ie: "You're the Best" etc.
But I know they love me!  They are learning slowly from there dad, how to adore their mother and we all really do think each other are "the best".  James wont go to sleep without one or two kisses good night.  Seth constantly compliments my looks, telling how pretty or fit I am, ha ha.  And Peter is my protector, sometimes overly fierce, but loyal all the same.

Later tonight I will hide out of ear shot and let them conform to job of chef while they learn to serve by serving me dinner.  I will have to report back the results.

One Big Pile

 OF ROCKS -
One week we don't have a yard and then in one day the landscape company we hired rolls and by evening we have a yard.  We are excited, grateful and in awe.  We didn't do any of it, except . . . . .
for all of the rocks in the backyard.  And its a lot of them.

We wanted our boys to have to work.  Work grows good boys.  I, I know it sounds crazy, but I was against having a landscaper come in because I wanted to boys to work hard, and see the fruits of their labors. Dave was a little more "this is so great to live in Arizona where our yard is tiny,  takes very little maintenance and is mostly covered in rocks" minded.  Since he would be the one doing all the work, he won.  But we both agreed.  Boys and Dads will shovel rocks.

And man was it one big pile.
This picture is only half of the pile.  We had a tractor to at least get the rocks into the wheelbarrows part of the way but it took all day.  From 6 am. until 8 pm.  Our boys stepped up.  They were steady workers most of the day!  We were very grateful when the missionaries came at the end and helped lift stir our spirits and propel us for the last hour or so.

We now have a lawn small enough we are thinking of selling the power mower and buying a manual powered one!




Most of you have not yet been to see our desert oasis.  Come on down.  See how pretty the rocks grow :)

 

Seth driving the tractor - video!

Boys to Men, Volume 5 - the way to a adolescent boys heart is through his stomach

The way to keep the mom from detesting the adolescent boys is to keep them distracted.

And so I took them to a pizza joint
They got to eat and have fun enough to only tease or bother each other a very little.
I could actually enjoy being with them!

Dave was out of town this week on a business trip.  The hardest part about that these days, is driving the boys to and from there sports and scouts.  Thursday night I was on the road from 5:30 until 9:00 pm.  Back and forth.  Thankfully I had an audio book on my ipod to ease the pain.  I put tape over the gas gauge.  Okay not really.  It would help ease the pain though and since I never look at the gas gauge as a signal to fill the tank, it wouldn't make much of a difference in that regard.

So Friday night, we all went to watch James' basketball game.  We were far from home and I so wanted to have a fun evening with my boys, that didn't include the status quo watching of a movie.  Lame.  So, instead we took our first trip to Organ Stop pizza.  Had I asked the boys if they wanted to go as a family to eat pizza and watch an old man play an celaborate organ, I'm fairly cerain I know what their response would be.  So instead I just pulled in, warned them not to complain, and experienced it together.

It was a BLAST!!!!  Okay at first Peter and Seth were a bit out of control but when the threats finally sunk in by the 3rd or 4th one, they settled down and we had a good time together.

The pizza was actually good and the organ was amazing.  It was rigged to gimmicks covering the front of the large open room, and up to the ceiling.  Its really too hard to explain.  But the Organ version of "We are the Champions, Starts and Stripes for Ever, and Disney medley, and more, are true entertainment.  It took about an hour from start to finish to order, eat, enjoy, and leave before anything went wrong.
The boys even talked about it later.

I am always grateful for the glimpses I get of my boys getting along as a group.  They are rare.  I will cherish this one for some time.