... 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!

My favorite things.

I love "The Sound Of Music." I love old movies. I love how emotionally passionate and expressive they are. The characters are so passionately happy, passionately angry, and passionately afraid. 

I was thinking about "The Sound Of Music" the other day and the song "My Favorite Things" became stuck in my head. I know you've heard of it. everyone in the English speaking world has heard the song... ;)

I always wondered how Maria came up with a list of her favorite things so quickly. I'd have to think about mine for a while. I change my mind a lot. My favorite things....

So I decided to think and compile a list of my own Favorite things:

Wanna hear it?

I love old movies. And chubby babies. And chocolate. And Fall. I love green- deep, dark, forest-y green. I love romance. And chivalry. And a certain smile my husband makes when I make him laugh. I love the way his face lights up, it makes me fall in love all over again. I love having hope. I love nail polish and the smell of salons. I love pictures. I love memories. I love soft hair. I love pine trees. and camping. I love music. and singing. I love babies being born. I love baby hands. I love first words. I love cloudy days. I love the smell of rain. I love good books. I love inspiring movies, ones that leave you wanting to be a better person. I love family. I love cookie dough. I love laughing. 

I could go on forever!!

And I totally get it, now. Maria sang the song to cheer the children up during the storm, but I never thought about how compiling the list made her feel!

Listing your favorite things makes you feel so good. It reminds you of the good things in life, things to remember, things to be grateful for, things to look for.

I am so grateful for my life, and the opportunities I've been blessed with everyday to experience all of my favorite things.

My favorite, favorite things are my own husband, and our own children. They make everything worth it. They make my heart so happy and leave me wanting to be a better person.

Go! Write down your favorite things. Call it Sound Of Music Therapy! ;)

Mothering

"There is nothing more important in this world than participating so directly in the work and glory of God, in bringing to pass the mortality and earthly life of His daughters and sons."

 Elder Jeffery R. Holland

Sometimes I mother well, and sometimes I do it poorly. Sometimes I meet my children’s needs with grace and humility, and other times I don't. But I think I'm finally learning that I don't need to beat myself up for what I wasn't yesterday, I just need to focus on what I can do today. 

We always have today to become more. Be more loving, be more attentive, be more patient, to show our children that we are here, to show them who they are and who they can become.  We can always start today by loving them. 

We are mothers.  We are blessed with vision and love.  Our children our part of our very soul and we are part of them eternally.  I have heard that "there are no finish lines so we cannot fail or succeed. We can only continue to try." Try being a little better today that we were yesterday.  Becoming a mother is an eternal journey.

***

  What a blessing it is to bring life into this world. And what a divine role it is to guide young children through this life. So many women in my life cannot bear children physically, and yet they are the ones that have been the most influential  "mothers" I know. Their role and example has been so important in my life, and has blessed the lives of the children around them. 

  Growing up I was so fortunate to have had leaders that cared enough and loved me enough to encourage and support me in so many different ways. One of those "mothers" is now my mother-in-law! I know I am the woman and mother that I am today because of the many, many "mothers" I had been blessed to have.

 Even before becoming a mother myself I already understood, and I truly believe, that caring- not just bearing children- makes you a mother.

So Happy Mothers Day, to the many mothers in my life, to my own mother who is an angel in Heaven now, and to you mommies out there reading this! 

"Our influence comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning. In the pre-mortal world, when our Father described our role, I wonder if we didn’t stand in wide-eyed wonder that He would bless us with a sacred trust so central to His plan and that He would endow us with gifts so vital to the loving and leading of His children. I wonder if we shouted for joy at least in part because of the ennobling stature He gave us in His kingdom. The world won’t tell you that, but the Spirit will."

--Sister Sheri Dew

***

Random, but completely the thing on my mind lately. Maybe that is how I found this quote:

"... the scriptures and the prophets have not been explicit about things such as numbers (of children), timing and so forth. This is because not only are these things intensely personal in terms of decisions, they are absolutely unique in terms of our customized, individual circumstances.” --Elder Cecil O. Samuelson

I love that there is wisdom and truth revealed to us by the Prophets and Elders of our church, for our benefit, to assist in enduring the trials and questions we are given in this life.

 

Patriarchal Blessing...

I made the decision 10 years ago today to receive my Patriarchal blessing. I am grateful that Heavenly Father entrusts us with such a powerful tool, and a divine, sacred, uniquely-ours blessing to guide us through this life.

Through the trials we endure in this life, we can turn to our blessing as a guide and a reminder of our purpose here on earth.

What a treasure! How different this world would be if everyone had enough Faith...

A patriarchal blessing is the most important blessing available to worthy members of the Church. They are such a unique and remarkable privilege! 

 Patriarchal blessings verify the divinity of Christ, the truthfulness of the Church, strengthen your personal testimony, and are a powerful witness of the mission of Jesus Christ. 

I Can Do Hard Things

"If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing."

***

Today was Fast Sunday, and it was great. I woke up with one of those "Today is going to be a great day" attitudes. I was so optimistic!

I got out of bed, prayed, and happily went about getting my three children ready for church while Dan was at Ward Council.

Sacrament meeting was a little crazy, Logan was a little more restless than usual, but we had missed two doses of his medication the past few days with him being sick with the stomach flu.

I was still able to listen to so many great testimonies, and they touched my heart.

Then Daniel and I volunteered to substitute in the 13 year old Sunday School class.

The lesson we chose was on "Bearing Your Testimony."

Ha! Nothing bugs us more on Fast Sundays than to hear a bunch of people ramble about their personal lives and call it a testimony. 

Emmy was fussy the rest of the hour and as I took her to change her diaper, a mom holding her little girl came into the bathroom and the poor girl threw-up all over the floor. 

So, holding Emery, I ran straight for the janitor closet and grabbed the bucket and mop, and headed back.

Little did I know that this was only the first of many messes I was going to clean today....

A few hours after church, Daniel and Aiden left for Ward Choir practice- for the Mothers Day program next Sunday!

I took Emery upstairs for a nap and when I started downstairs the aroma of poop became stronger and stronger...

Logan had smeared poop all over the kitchen floor.

All. Over. The. Floor. 

He was literally standing in a 3 foot radius of caked-on poop.

So I took a deep breath, very carefully lifted him off the ground, and carried that poop-covered, 55 pound six year old upstairs to scrub him down. I scrubbed, and rinsed, and scrubbed, and rinsed, over and over until he was FINALLY clean. Then I filled the tub with clear, soapy water and left him there to soak.

I took another deep breath, and proceeded downstairs to tackle the poop-caked floor. 

As I stood there staring at it I thought, "How? How? Where do I even start?"

I decided to "soak" the floor and dumped a few gallons of hot, soapy, bleach water on the now very-caked-on mess.

I grabbed somewhere around 100-150 paper towels and "mopped" up the mess. Once every trace of poop was gone, I grabbed the mop and began to fill my bucket with Clorox water to mop the entire kitchen. For safe measure.

Little did I know, or even consider,  that sweet little six year had climbed out of his bath... because he wasn't quite finished.

He pooped on the last five stairs, and the landing at the bottom.

I finished mopping and thought, "Heavenly Father, I did it! I totally handled that! You threw quite a curve ball {or wrench} in my way, but I took it and handled it. Please be proud of me, I know I am!"

As I put the mop away I thought, "Man! It still smells AWFUL...."

I slowly followed my nose to the new source, the new horror, the next "wrench."

 My first thought was to duck tape a diaper to that kids butt, and my second thought was "Carpet is so much harder to clean!"

I grabbed a diaper and did just that. And then I grabbed the soaps, the rags, and the bucket and began.

Only when the carpet was clean enough to use the shampooer, did Aiden and Daniel come walking through the door.

I grabbed the Nutella, a spoon and my phone and headed upstairs.

My loving husband followed me, apologized for the messes I had to clean, told me he loved me, and locked the bedroom door from the inside behind him so I could have uninterrupted quiet time. And here I am blogging about it!

***

President Spencer W. Kimball had asked that God give him mountains to climb. He said: “There are great challenges ahead of us, giant opportunities to be met. I welcome that exciting prospect and feel to say to The Lord humbly, ‘Give me this mountain,’ give me these challenges.”

As messy- and frankly disgusting- as this "trial" was today, I am much better for it. And I'm grateful to know (thanks to my mothering years of experience) that Heavenly Father is molding me. Refining me. Perfecting me. He is testing my faith with these challenges because He knows I will thank Him for it later. I will grow from it and become closer to reaching my potential.

So thank you, Heavenly Father. I know that as a tender parent, you were with me today.... as I served my family.

"...All these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good." D&C 122: 7