I Get It

My kids owe me.  Big time.  There are the little things like dinner and folded clothes and rides to and from everywhere.  Then the bigger things like midnight drinks of water, a safe home, hugs and kisses and kind words.  Add braces and ballet slippers and combing tangly hair and playing Monopoly on a Friday night and you can see how deeply they're in debt.

But they just can't pay it back.  It's not possible.  They don't have the capacity or even the comprehension of what it takes to raise a family.  They just don't get it.

And that's okay.  See I don't need the money back that I've spent feeding and clothing and protecting these babies.  I don't want it.  Here is what I do want.  I want them to have happy and obedient hearts.  I want them to see a sibling in need and offer to help.  I want them to love their brothers and sisters and their parents.

I'm in debt also, to a God above that has provided everything for me and continues to bless me. He sent His Son here to this earth for me and you and everyone else who will ever call this place home.  I'm oblivious and unaware of what it takes to sustain my life here on this earth.  I have no comprehension of the magnitude of His blessings.  I just can't grasp it, it's beyond my understanding.

And that's okay.  See, all He asks of me is to have a happy and obedient heart.  He wants me to notice when someone near me is in need and He wants me to help.  He expects me to be kind to my brothers and sisters even if (and maybe especially if) they are different from me.  It doesn't matter what we look like or how we see the world, we're all children of the same loving Father in Heaven.

I can never pay Him back but I can try to do my part, my small part.

No Photoshop Necessary

I'm thinking Christmas card.  After all this is what our family really looks like.  Scraggly hair, interesting pants/ shorts combos and fearless rail surfing.

At least no one is screaming...

love the miles

Aunt Sandra

She's coming home today!  My baby sister, who's totally not even a baby anymore, is coming home from a year and a half in Russia.

She's been teaching the people in Russia about Christ and how families can be together forever.

I've missed her pretty face.

Surviving Sunday

We had a special church meeting today.  Three hours long.  Normally you can find us Mormons in church every Sunday for three hours, that's not the out of the ordinary part.  Usually that looooong stretch of time is divided into 3 different parts.  That means moving around and changes of scenery and different teachers who usually aren't your parents.  You know, things to make life better.

Can you imagine her saying "no more church please, you're killing me!"  Or maybe I'm projecting...

Today it was three hours.  In the same room.  With the same boring parents and the same boring (to the short people) broadcast.

But the husband and I aren't rookies so we had a plan.

Sort of.

It involved lots of paper, pencils, blank address labels and some bribery in the form of food.  We also took a walk around the building around the first hour and made several trips to the drinking fountain.  Oh and don't forget the "pick your battles" talk the grownups memorized.  It goes something like this.

Yes Grant is sitting in the windowsill.  That's okay, it's not like there's a line for it.  Oh and look at Anna, she's helping Nathan fill in the address labels and then sticking them on his shirt.  At least they're not putting them on the walls.  Jennie has had about a pound of cranberries and still wants more.  They're supposed to be good for your bladder right?

I'm pretty sure that all parents who make it through long meetings with their offspring are getting a fast pass to heaven.

We deserve it.