My Mother-of-the-Year Nomination's in the bag!!

I got woken up to Gabe begging me to stay home today.  His argument?  Snow.  Six beautiful inches of it in our backyard!  At first I furrowed my brow and just said, "whatever".  but he begged even harder saying that if we waited until after school, it would probably be melted.  I got that!  Every bit of snow that we've received this winter, which really isn't much, has been gone by the latter part of the day for the most part.    Part of the deal (Gabe's idea) was that they would do some major cleaning.  Without too much more pleading, I caved!  I think the idea of clean bedrooms for the weekend sweetened the deal for me.  I can't lie!!!

I posted my deed on Facebook and as more and more people commented, I realized that these are the things remembered!  The exception.  The one thing that never happens.  It's these types of moments that are the memories that our children remember best!

I went to a funeral this week that made me realize that these are the times that will be the happy memories of my children.  Todd's uncle Denny died after battling Parkinson's disease for 35 years!  Each of his children had wonderful moments, simple moments, that were the thing that they spoke of fondly as they remembered their father.  Most of the children only knew their dad with this debilitating disease.  But even so, he somehow remained the fun-loving father that all of us want to be.  It was a lesson to me.

Now if I could have only been the fun mother that was out there in it.....well, who said I was perfect?  Poco a poco!!

My Peace Project

Today is January 10 and I am still trying to figure out my personal plan for 2012.  I guess resolution planning should be thought about BEFORE the new year in order to execute well.  But I guess I get too caught up in the whole January 1st thing instead of really planning out some good, attainable goals.  If I really cared to improve myself, it shouldn't matter when I plan to execute, but more that I execute.  I guess that's why it seems that so many people fail within the first few weeks of the new year.  They are more caught up in the "when" instead of the "why".  But I don't like when people say that they don't believe in New Years Resolutions and that their reasoning is that they are blown within the first two weeks of the year.  Ok.  So don't start on January 1, then, start on March19, or June 7 or whenever, it doesn't really matter!

I have been reading a book called "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin that I am really enjoying.  It's a sort-of self-help, non-fiction book, but I am really liking her delivery and how she has broken down her goals.  She has also set some commandments to live by that I really like that are really things I think would help me personally.  They are mainly things that would help her live more peacefully and also make it easier to attain her goals.  Some of them are:

Do what ought to be done
Do it now
Lighten Up
Identify the problem
Act the way I want to feel
Let it go
Be polite and be fair
Enjoy the process

Then she made another list which are her "Secrets of Adulthood".  Which are funny-but-true discoveries that she actually wrote down that help her just be happier:

People don't notice your mistakes as much as you think
It's okay to ask for help
It's important to be nice to everyone
Bring a sweater
By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished

are just a few.  I really like the premise of this and she executes her goals in 12 month bites.  I like the idea of this approach in order to really master the goal.  Making a list of 10 or 12 things that I want to accomplish gets a bit overwhelming if you're looking at making all the changes all at once.  But taking one thing at a time not only seems more attainable, but it seems that the focus can be more intense on that particular thing.

Anyway, I am starting my own "project"not because I don't feel happiness, but because I want to feel more peace.  Maybe I should call it my "Peace Project"!  I'll report as I get things laid out. But I'm sure there will be some serious organization in the works!  What do you think?  How do you execute your resolutions or goals?  I'm open to anything!

Insomnia, Faith and The Brother of Jared

Over the past few months my ten-year-old son Gabriel has had a very difficult time staying asleep.  He will usually go to sleep without too much problem, but he will only stay asleep for three or four hours before he wakes up.  I think he freaks himself out a little and makes himself scared instead of turning over and going back to sleep.  At that point he goes into his little brother's room and gets into his little twin bed with him and will either go to sleep, or turn on a movie and watch it while Jake is trying to sleep.  Needless to say, Jake's very annoyed at Gabe for interrupting his sleep!  We've tried pretty much everything we can think of, short of drugging him--Which, admittedly, we did try Nyquil one night, but to no avail!!  We are all very frustrated and at our wits end!

A few days ago we were starting reading the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon where it talks about the Brother of Jared seeing the finger of Christ and then later seeing Christ.  It, then, describes his tremendous faith.  Gabe was so impressed by this story and asked his dad if he (Gabe) had faith like the Brother of Jared, would he be able to sleep?  We were so amazed at this boy's understanding a practical application of this very basic but fundamental principle!  These are those pay-off moments that parents wait for!  Wow!  Todd reaffirmed this to him and as he said prayers with him and tucked him in that night, he prayed with so much intensity and asked to be blessed with that amount of faith that he needed to sleep and stay in his own bed.

The next morning he came into our room and told us that he slept in his bed the whole night!  He slept pretty well, but did wake up during the night.  Instead of getting up and going into Jake's bed, though, he said a prayer that he would stay in his own bed and not be scared.  He stayed in his bed!

How grateful I am tonight.  I'm overwhelmed with love and gratitude to God for giving me so many precious gifts; my family, my faith, and the scriptures.  I can't and don't want to imagine my life without any one of these things.  I feel so very blessed to have a gospel centered home and to know where I can go for answers to anything or any problems that cross my path.  I love my Gabe...

I Really Needed this Exercise in Gratitude!

These past few weeks as I have been keeping my thankful thoughts fresh in the forefront of my mind, I've come to realize how I've been blessed in looking outside of my own self to really see the many ways I've been blessed.  I don't mean it by illustrating how much I have in relation to what others have not, but in the way I've seen how the Lord blesses us with trials to make us the refined individuals he wants us to become.  I've noticed that He isn't concerned with equality, only making us our best selves.

Yesterday I had a visit with a lady that is the mom of five children and a husband that has been unemployed for eight months.  She was telling me of the struggle that she has been having with her husband and the deep depression he's in because of his struggle in finding work.  My heart hurt for her as she vented her frustration and worry for her husband.  She hates feeling like a burden to family as the holidays are approaching.  I felt blessed to be the person she felt she could share her feelings with.  I know it takes a lot of humility to share.

Tonight I ran by the grocery store to grab a few last minute items for Thanksgiving dinner.  As I was walking in, there were 10 or 15 firemen all standing outside trying to collect donations for one of their fellow firefighters who had a catastrophic stroke while he was on duty earlier in the month.  His wife is pregnant with their first baby.  I couldn't help but feel sadness thinking of his family and how hard it's going to be for his family no matter what the outcome...

So here we are...in our little trial.  I don't know what the outcome is going to be.  We don't know what our future holds and the uncertainty, at times, is excruciating, but I feel that I'm being shown how very much I have and how very strong I am.  Isn't that a tender mercy?  Recently a video just came out by a Christian artist that is also a Mormon songwriter with a new song that really touched my heart.  The video features a woman who had over 80% of her body burned in a plane crash with her husband.  Miraculously they both survived, but with years of pain and healing.   At the end there are many women that are holding up signs describing the trials that have burdened their lives.  I just felt very comforted in knowing that maybe these things are the "Beautiful Heartbreaks" we all suffer through in order to become the strong beings He's molding us into.  Here is the video:  Beautiful heartbreak