Say what??

Last week I went to my six week postpartum check-up.

I was lying on the table, holding onto my beloved sheet, when Dr. Heath started coming at me with the "duck bill" tool.

As he got closer he said, "Do you mind if we take a picture today?"

I must have had a puzzled look because there was a moment of silence before he continued "...of you, me, and the baby?"

And I replied, in a relieved voice, "I wasn't sure what you wanted a picture of!"

I received a copy of the picture in the mail today:

As I look at it I can't help but be grateful for technology. For my thyroid medicine that I think may have prevented another miscarriage. For a vehicle that allowed me to travel 2 1/2 hours away to deliver with an OB/GYN. For the blood tests that monitored my platelet count. For the knowledge that a low-fat diet would ease my gall bladder trouble. For the ultrasound that showed me that faint heartbeat at six weeks along. For the epidural that allowed me to rest so I didn't have to begin this new journey completely exhausted. And for a webcam, a laptop, and wireless internet that allowed us to introduce our boys to their new baby brother from miles away.

An elderly couple in my ward recently saw me with Justin and asked, "What have you got there?"

And I replied, "I've got a miracle."

And I truly believe it.

Carrie's shower

On Saturday, I got to attend a baby shower for my sis-in-law, Carrie. This baby has been a long time coming and we are thrilled to welcome him or her to the family in early November.

I feel blessed to have such wonderful, talented sisters.

They are great examples to me.

My sister, Charlotte, was in charge of the activity. She designed logos/sayings and printed them on T-shirt transfers to iron onto onesies. I wish I had pictures of all of them because they turned out SO cute! Both Carrie and my brother Ben have degree's in music, so the onesies all had a musical theme.

And here are our husbands...who went shooting after the shower.

U vs Y

My cousin Landen got married last week.

He is a U of U fan, and his wife cheers for BYU.

Holy...Matrimony.

I usually do a quilt for my cousins' weddings, but with a new baby it just wasn't possible. I saw this picture of them on my talented cousin Adri's photography blog and had an idea...

Reversible placemats with coordinating napkins:

...and then I walked into the grocery store and happened upon

football shaped OREO's and Red and Blue chips.

All I can say is that if Landen wants to score, he'd better set the table with the blue side up :o)

You can see their cute pre-wedding pics here. I love all the yellow and blue accents.

One Month Old

My baby goes to school

Dillon has been the youngest for so long that I'm having a hard time not calling him "my baby" or "my youngest". Now he's "my third" which reminds me of the "nerdy thirdy".

(When he was young, Todd wrote a family award winning* paper for school about his younger brother, entitled "The Nerdy Thirdy")

Anyway, my Dilly Rob started kindergarten today and I'm trying to figure out when he got so big! He is in afternoon kindergarten, but that didn't stop him from putting on his backpack on at 8 AM and wearing it until school started.

Here's his new outfit, with big boy Nike shoes that I'll have to teach him how to tie.
And the thing he was most excited about...
Walking home with his boys!

*family award winning: a term used to describe "legendary" family stories.

The doctrine of the Family

At the beginning of the summer, we went to Cache Valley to visit our family. My kids were playing with their cousins, and when I went to check on them, they were playing what we used to call "House", but they were calling it, "Family".

I had forgotten all about it until this morning, when I heard Dillon ask his brothers if they wanted to play "Family".

I was thrilled to hear this, because I've spent my week reading and re-reading a talk that Sister Julie B. Beck gave to seminary and institute teachers last year. My bishop is a seminary teacher, and gave out copies of this talk at a ward correlation meeting that Todd attended, just after it was given. I read it then, and liked it so much that I put it in my basket of magazines next to my rocking chair. It gradually made it's way to the bottom of the pile and was forgotten, until I dug it out this week.

In her talk, Sister Beck talks about the doctrine of the family, and how important it is that we, as well as our children understand it. I would highly recommend reading it if you haven't. In one of my favorite paragraphs, she says that if we teach so that our [children] know all the rivers in the Book of Mormon, if they can name all the prophets of the Old Testament, if they can describe to you the pioneer trek and the history of the Latter-day Saints in the restored times but they don't understand the promises made to the fathers and their part in it, it is "utterly wasted."

A year ago, probably after reading this talk, I realized something that rocked me to my core.

My boys are going to grow up.

And not only are they going to grow up, but someday they will get married, and I will no longer have influence in how they live...their wives will. What if my future daughter-in-law's don't understand the doctrine of the family? What if they want a career over children? There won't be much that I can do at that time. My time is now.

It occurred to me that the only thing I could do, was to magnify my calling as a mother, teach my boys the doctrine of the family, make my home a place of refuge from the world, and do it in a way so that my sons will WANT to choose a wife that has those values.

Sister Beck talks about the story of Isaac and Rebekah, which is pivotal. "Everything depended on a man and a woman who understood their place in the plan and their responsibilities to form an eternal family, to bear children, and to teach them. So what I submit to you as one of your responsibilities...is to send Isaac and Rebekah forth from every classroom."

"Next, I would have you live in your homes, in your families, in your marriages so your students have the hope of eternal life from watching you. Your objective is to live in the kind of a home life that your students want to have--have that kind of a family. They won't get that message from many other places. Live it and teach it with so much clarity that what you teach will cut through all the noise they are hearing and pierce their hearts and touch them. You don't need to compete in the number of words; you just need to be very clear in your examples. Live in your home so that you're brilliant in the basics, so that you're intentional about your roles and responsibilities in the family."

Sister Beck talks about when she and her husband got married. They had three dollars. They entered that relationship as a faith-based work. She says, "We knew that we had made a covenant with the Lord and that He would bless us. It didn't take money; it took faith. Those are the messages they need to have and get confidence in because of you."

"This generation will be called upon to defend the doctrine of the family as never before in the history of the world. If they don't know it, they can't defend it...If you don't know that they are meant to be fathers and mothers, then they won't know that they are meant to be fathers and mothers. Your effort will be wasted. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us."

This morning, I found some staggering statistics here:

In 2007 40% of all babies born in the US were born to unwed mothers.

The number of people cohabitating in the US increased by 90% between 1990 and 2007.
50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce.
Throughout the world countries such as Sweden, Nepal, Norway, Belgium, South Africa, Spain and others have legalized same-sex marriage.

In the US every action to redefine marriage has occurred after 1995.

I find that last line significant because this year marks the 15th anniversary since President Hinckley introduced "The Family: A Proclamation to the World". It is obvious that the adversary is waging a war against the family, and I am so grateful for the "warning" of the proclamation.

As hard as it is, both emotionally and financially, to be a stay-at-home mom, I know how important it is. It truly is a "faith-based work". I only hope that I can overcome my weaknesses and be a better mother, so that my time with my kids will not be wasted...so that they understand their place in the plan, and the importance of eternal families.

I am grateful to my own mother, as well as my Aunt Joyce, who have been two especially wonderful examples to me. I've mentioned before how my mom taught by example the importance of prayer and scripture study. Aunt Joyce was amazing at Family Home Evening, and I watched her make sacrifices her entire life so that she could be at home with her children. They were "brilliant in the basics" and I hope that I can be like them in so many ways.

Oh, and I applaud whichever of my cousins taught their children to play "Family" instead of "House" because that is how it should be.

Tender Mercies

The other day, I was walking past my dining room window, and noticed this little "spot" of a rainbow in the sky. I'm not sure why, but at that moment I felt an instant peace, and knew that Heavenly Father was watching out for me and my family.

My camera was sitting on the hutch, so I hurried and took this picture because I wanted to remember the feeling I had.

I had two more experiences this week, both will probably seem insignificant, but I had the same feeling.

I was trying to hurry and put together a menu for the week, so that I could make a shopping list and get to the store before my boys got home from school.

I debated whether or not to add Henny Penny's to my menu because it would require me to buy three ingredients that I didn't necessarily need right now, and I knew I could make a different dinner for less. (Henny Penny's are a chicken sandwich, on a bun, from the restaurant where I worked in college). When I got to the store and got to the hamburger buns, they were on sale for 99 cents. I know it sounds silly, but as I pulled them off of the top shelf, I knew that Heavenly Father was watching out for us.

It happened again, on the other side of the store. I put a head of iceberg lettuce (1.89) in my cart. I don't even really like iceberg lettuce all that much, but I wanted to make a salad I'd seen in a magazine and it called for iceberg lettuce. Before I made my list, I debated using the spinach and green leaf lettuce that I already had in my fridge (because I like them better anyway) but it just seemed like this salad needed iceberg lettuce. Then I noticed that I could get a bag of salad (the iceberg kind) for 99 cents, which would make my meal even faster to prepare. I put the head of lettuce back, grabbed the bag of salad, and once again I had that feeling that I was being watched over.

Things are tight right now (babies aren't cheap), but we aren't so bad off that I couldn't have bought the head of lettuce, or the buns at regular price. It probably only saved me $2, and I didn't even have to use iceberg lettuce, or make Henny Penny's, I just wanted to.

I don't know why the experience was so significant, but it was.

And then today the blessings continued. I got home from a dentist appt. this morning, and found two of my friends in my living room, folding the pile of laundry on my couch. They knew I had a busy day yesterday with soccer games, back-to-school night, and a going away party for our friend who is moving. After the laundry was folded, they made me sit and feed the baby while they diced and froze the zucchini that THEY GAVE ME, because they know I love to put zucchini in my spaghetti sauce year round, and they knew my garden had only yielded one squash so far.

How grateful I am for the Holy Ghost, which brings comfort both in times of need, and in times when we least expect it.