Feeling crummy? Grab some GRATITUDE!

"When you are physically sick, tired, or in despair, steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them in gratitude and love toward God." F. Enzio Busche

http://www.amazon.com/Yearning-Living-God-Reflections-Busche/dp/1570089841/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219715625&sr=8-1

It's so easy for me to feel sorry for myself. Like, I can start to feel pity and it'll quickly become a slippery slope {of doom! --Aiden would say}

    My morning could start off wrong and I feel crummy, and then something else will happen and something else and I'll start to look for the bad! instead of seeking to see the good.

And any shred of light, any positive attitude I had left is just thrown out the window. 

And I start sulking. Feeling bad for myself. 

Everything sucks, my life's too hard... And there's no relief.

You can spend tons of money and it won't change anything.

You can binge on food and it won't change anything.

You can cry and cry and RUNAWAY and it won't change anything. 

There is no relief, but there is a cure: Gratitude.

Gratitude changes the way you see everything! It brings bright sunshine into your heart and warm sunshine into your soul! With a grateful heart you are full on less, and happy! 

It causes your cup to runneth over.

It fills you. 

Life is enough. 

Less becomes more.

   The cure is having gratitude. And when you do, you'll realize you're glad there isn't relief from self pity. If there was a Band Aid for self pity, we would never get better. We would never feel gratitude- because we would never seek for it.

    My MIL gave me a magnet like 4-5 years ago {when Logan was diagnosed} that has a quotes from Spencer W. Kimball:

"Sometimes the solution is not to change our circumstance, but to change our ATTITUDE about that circumstance."

...steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them in gratitude....

Here's to hoping my "Attitude of Gratitude" stays for a long, long time...

(Like longer than just two weeks!)

Be Still... especially when it hurts.

     I'm lying in bed after yet another - painful but necessary- surgery to reconstruct my mouth. Waiting in an ever increasingly painful limbo, for the Vicodin to kick in before the Novocain completely fades...

    What a love/hate relationship I have with pain killers! I love that they are readily available when needed, but I SO wish I didn't need to take them. I wish the pain wasn't too much to bear. And while I'm making wishes... I wish I didn't need the surgeries that causes the pain in the first place! I wish I hadn't lost my footing and fallen down and knocked my three front teeth out.

But the trick is to enjoy my life, not wish it away.

I had an accident. It happens to greatly affect my mouth (and our wallets) even sixteen years later. Right now I am in a lot of pain. I have to take time to rest; to heal. 

    But I can't change it. And if I have learned anything from it- I shouldn't want to change it.

   This is an ongoing experience, and it's for my benefit. Right now it's hard to have to lie in bed and listen to life go on without me, but I can be grateful. This too shall pass, and I can be grateful that I have help. I can be grateful to those who help it to pass smoothly. I can be grateful for what I have. My sweet blessings.

    

    I'm lying in bed listening to my family. I can hear the typical, playful sounds of a 21 month old as she moves around the room from toy to toy. I can hear the sounds my boys make, I can hear their voices. I can hear my husbands voice. I can hear his efforts as he reminds, helps, cleans, prepares, and fathers. 

I love him. I love him SO much more than I show.

He is so good to me. 

And to our babies. 

I am so grateful for him.

     I hate to say this but I can remember so much more when I take time to be still. (Or in this case, when I have no choice but to be still.)

I can remember all the sweet sacrifices my husband makes. All the sweet, playful, funny, romantic efforts he has made on my behalf.

What a great guy I have!!

I'm a humbled when I stop and think of him. 

Really stop and remember.

I am so blessed to have him.

Everything Christ taught us, He taught through example. And many times, He would take time to Be Still. We need it. We need it for our physical bodies, our mental minds, our tender hearts, our eternal souls, our ever-growing testimonies, and our need to commune with our Heavenly Creator.

Take time to Be Still.

Take time to pray.

In fact, pray always!

     Memory lane, it has been a pleasure.

I'm sad we had to meet this way- me all swollen and miserable. But I'm grateful for the reminders... 😉

This boy is S E V E N!!

I cannot believe this boy of mine is seven!

Sometimes, I look at baby pictures and it seems like just yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital to meet his big (one year old) brother Aiden! But then I start to remember all the phone calls, therapists, doctors, appointments, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork etc.. And think: "it's only been seven years?!"

It's been a hard road. In some ways life is easier and yet, in some ways it's harder. I'm learning that if I wait for life to get "easier" or for the day to come that I actually FEEL like I've got this "mothering" thing down... I will be waiting the rest of my life. And never be satisfied.

Life only gets different. 

Adventure: An adventure is an exciting or unusual experience. It may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome.

Life with Logan is an adventure. We're only seven years in, so the best is yet to be...

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Logan!

Aiden's baptism

On October 18th, this guy- our firstborn- was baptized and confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

We are {SO} proud of his choice!!

... and a little child shall lead them.

I absolutely can testify of this. Granted I did not have the greatest of childhoods, and my upbringing was seriously limited. But Heavenly Father compensates; and the children He has sent to me are truly valiant spirits who teach me more about God's love and the power of faith than I ever could have learned from my parents.

I wish I had understood this truth when I was younger. And unfortunately, you can't go back to the past and pass your knowledge and experience on to your younger self...

 But you can pass your knowledge on to your children; help them to know what you wish you had known, teach them what you wish someone had taken the time to teach you.

The greatest thing I can be is a loving mother to my children. To teach them about Heavenly Father, His Plan for us, to teach them of their worth so they know that they are divine children of God.

This is my perfect, sweet, reverent almost-eighteen-month-old baby girl.

I am so proud of my children; what an honor it is to be a mother here on Earth.

My dog ate it. ...oh wait!

"My dog ate my homework.

Well, not "ate it" exactly, but rather "peed on it."

No wait, we don't have a dog. 

Oh that's right, my baby sister peed on it. Sorry"

I can see it now. The awkward, apologetic look on poor Logan's face as he hands over the now dried up, crumpled paper that had once been his math homework.

I guess in his case, Logan fortunately does not need to endure that humiliation as he will most likely walk over and simply place his finished homework sheet in the bin and collect his reward, without so much as uttering a word. Much less an explanation for it's new antiquely vintage look and feel.

The unintended occurrence:

I was sitting in our semi-newly acquired, cushy office chair that we recieved when Dan's parents were clearing out and distributing their furniture in preparation to leave for their mission.

I love this chair almost as much as my Logan does. It's his throne. The first place he runs to when he walks through the door.

Right now was my turn in the beloved cushy office chair, located awkwardly right between our living room and kitchen. I was sitting there reading a book when Emery decided she was feeling left out. So I picked her up and let her draw pictures for me up on the table I was seated at- which also happened to be right where the boys do their homework.

    Being the ever-thoughtful mother that I am, I saw the homework sheet and purposely placed it behind her so as to avoid her scribbling on it in a scribble-monster frenzy.

But what I failed to observe was her overflowing diaper and sneaky urine-  which cleverly spilled through the side of her diaper leaking all over the table- until after the damage was done.

Wow. I must be bored. Or just pretending to be...I rambled on this long about Emery peeing on Logan's homework. Ha!

Welcome to my life as a mother!