What?!

I just had to post this. Picture this scene with me. I'm coming home from work and pulling into my garage and I can see Aine through our sliding glass door in the kitchen. Spencer is sleeping and I know that she must have just woken up from her nap.

I open the door from the garage into my house and the first thing I see lying in front of me is the Swiffer Mop with the refill box next to it. There is a failed attempt of attaching one of the clothes to the mop right next to it.

The next thing I see is the vacuum, edging it's way into the kitchen from the front room.

Then my eyes see the mess. There are little reds things all over the kitchen floor. It looks like spilled paprika only darker and larger. And I'm thinking, what the? What is that?

Then Aine reappears poking her head in from around the vacuum. This is how the conversation went:

Me: "What is that Aine? What is all over the floor?"
Aine: "I don't know"
Me: "What is that? Did you spill something?"
Aine: "Yes"
Me: "What is it?"
Aine: "It the fish stuff. I can't clean it up."

Beta fish food all over my kitchen floor and my smart little Aine tried to figure out how to clean it up. Sigh.

Then I'm thinking, am I mad because she made a mess? Am I proud that she tried to clean it up? She was smart enough to know the mop and vacuum are used for cleaning up messes.

And then the thought rushes into my mind, how in the heck did she have time to do all of this? Next words out of my mouth are, "Go to bed! You didn't take a nap!" And I'm thinking how did Spencer sleep through this?

Ah! What am I going to do with her?

The Leaps of Faith We Take

Photo taken by my co-worker Dawn at Liberty Park. (Thanks for letting me use it...again)

For me this picture represents the leap of faith I am taking by quiting my job to become a full time mom. See those rocks down there. Those are all my concerns. I don't know how we are going to make it. I get scared. But every time I pray about it to tell Heavenly Father about my fears I get an overwhelming feeling of peace. No answers on how it is all going to work out, but an overwhelming sense of peace and a prompting that everything is going to be all right. Guess what, these little goslings were just fine. :)

Today has also made me think about the leap of faith it took to get married. It was scary. Especially with how well relationships seem to end up in our world. I didn't know Spencer for that long and once I was married for several years and into the family life good and deep I honestly had a lot of feelings I felt I probably shouldn't be having. There have been a lot of moments that I have really hated it. I landed on those blasted rocks and they hurt. They were tough to get out of. But today has been an incredible example of why it is so right and so good.

Spencer gave a wonderful family night on the love of a husband and wife. He reminded us of why we are in families and the spirit witness to me the truth of what he was saying. We went and had ice cream and then came home and played as we got the kids ready for bed. Let me just say there was a lot of laughing go on. You should have heard Tanner. When he laughs he doesn't just give a little giggle. No, when he laughs, he laughs hard and it comes from the belly. His laugh is contagious.

While helping Aine take her shirt off Spencer pulled it onto the top of his head "by accident". He played it up that he couldn't see her. Then he found her and pulled her close, trying to get the shirt off his head. When he got it off he plopped it right back onto her with a "Now, how did that get back on you?" We all laughed.

These are the moments when a Heavenly Father gives me a little glimpse into why leaps of faith work out for our better.

Sunday Afternoon

Today I am thankful for:

• Understanding, love and support from my husband


• Scrapbook pages to share with Aine


• Spending time with Aine and helping her feel comfortable


• Singing primary children


• Simple lessons on faith in Jesus Christ


• Happy Tanner, obviously touched by the spirit at church


• Beautiful weather


• Sleeping family


• First solitude moment spent on my new front porch


• Sound of wind blowing through the trees


• View of the mountains


• Time to reflect

Special Moment with Aine

We have taken on a challange given to us by Pam. Everyday this week we show the kids a picture of Christ and what he was doing on that day of the last week of his life. Then we talk about what He did and read some scriptures on it. Yesterday was an extra special topic, the Last Supper and The Garden of Gethsemane.

Aine and I had a little one on one time in the morning and I wanted to prep her for the topic that night. I wanted to impress on her the importance of what Jesus did. I told her that while He was in the Garden He suffered for our sins. But He also suffered for the things that would be hard in our lives.

She's had a hard time going to bed lately. She cries from her room down to us, "It's hard to go to bed". So, I used that as an example. Jesus even suffered so He could help with how hard it is to go to bed. I told her all she needed to do was pray and ask Heavenly Father in Jesus' name to help her with going to bed.

Then she said, "Yea, and Jesus can come to my house and read me a story." That is the faith of a child. At that moment the spirit taught me what to say to her. I told her that Jesus may not be able to come to our house right now because He has a lot to do, but He did give her a mommy and daddy that could be here for her when He could not.

I don't know if she understood. She probably thought it was something I said to cover up, but it wasn't. I thought about it a lot yesterday. Jesus wants to be here with our kids. He loves children. I'm sure He would love to spend every moment with them, but He can't. Instead He gave them Moms and Dads. He gave Aine and Tanner me and Spencer.

It humbled me and gave me a fresh perspective on my motherhood. I want to do with Aine and Tanner what Jesus would do. I want to do what He wants for them. It's sweet to think that sometimes that means dropping everything and reading Aine another Curious George story.

I can't say it enough, but I love being a mom. I know that it is a divine calling and gift from our Heavenly Father and I am thankful.

He Lives

As Easter draws near again, I am trying to again re-focus my life of Christ. I add my testimony to that of these brethren that I know that Christ lives. I am grateful that when things seem in chaos even in my heart, in my home, in my neighborhood, in our country and in our world that Christ lives. That He is Peace and Safety. I am grateful for living Apostles and Prophets who testify of Him and preach His word. I commit to the challenge given by our dear Elder Seth Clark "to take sometime in this next month to read from the Ensign the teachings of the prophets. To read, then ponder, and then pray. Doing this will teach us what our Heavenly Father wants us to do in our lives next."

Kids, Blessed Kids

I am sitting here at work finally catching up on all the blogs I like to follow. An amazing number of them are of kids; cute, beautiful, messy kids. A little ironic as I'm sitting at work. I have the men walking by, who have sworn off all association with kids, seeing me looking at these pictures of all these kids. These are the men who will look at this with a look in their face that says you poor, stupid girl. It just makes me wonder, how did we get to this point? How did we get to the point where there is such a cavern between how we feel about kids? Where is this cavern going to lead us?

It is times like these that I sure am grateful that I can get hard-headed and stubborn when I want something that's important to me. Otherwise I would have been bullied right out of the best stuff in life. Being a mom and spending time with my family. I don't care that it's the hardest thing in the world to do. I don't care that it is the ultimate sacrifice of all the fun stuff in the world. I am grateful for all of it.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost

By The Evening Fire by Sarah Stilwell

I am grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It gives me strength while making difficult decision. It gives me the strength to know what is right and to stand by what is right. When questions come it gives me peace and comfort. I may not know every answer but He gives me the strength to do what He prompts through His Spirit.