The Kitchen Is Closed

Last night we were over at Todd and Amy's. It was starting to get late but Oliver was giving signs that he wanted to eat something. He went in the kitchen and opened the fridge door. Amy went and closed the fridge door. She said, "The kitchen is closed." I laughed and said, "Your kitchen gets closed?" Amy said, "I promised myself I would never say that."

The thing I promised myself as a kid I would never say as a parent was, "We cannot afford that." Now, tell me, did I ever say that as a parent?

Grateful for prompting

Yesterday morning, I went to the temple with an Elder from the North Star Ward who was receiving his own endowment. When I came home, I parked on the street rather than deal with the dog and the gate, got the mail and came in the house. I decided to call one of my daughters. I looked for my phone. It was in my purse which wasn't with the mail or the temple bag. I went back and looked for it in the car. We don't want to leave anything valuable in the car on the street as there have been some recent break-ins in our neighborhood, four on our street alone which I am aware of. It wasn't in the car. I double checked in the house and still didn't find it. I tried to think back over every step because I was baffled about what had happened to it. I went back outside and looked by the mailbox. It was in the gutter by the mailbox and not easily seen except from the street. It would have been a disaster if someone nefarious would have found it. Not only did it have my ID in it but also my credit cards and worse of all, the keys to both cars and the house. I felt very grateful that I started to search for my phone the second I was in the house or I might not have missed it until it was too late.

Triumphant Evening

Next Sunday ends our service as Inner City Missionaries. Tonight we got to attend an event which, though only peripherally involved, gives us great satisfaction.

Last year as we began our mission, we learned that a family was seeking help as a sub for Santa. Mandie's ward was their sub. Someone told me that the parents were not members but they attended church as a family regularly. The story is thus: the mother had been previously married in Mexico. She had two children in that marriage. They are now teenagers. She was living with the father of her youngest child but they were not married because she was not divorced from her first husband so they could not be baptized.

The father also has an interesting history. He grew up in California and had been involved in gangs and has served time in prison for his activities. He has a kind of hooded eye look that makes you think of a stereotypical gang member in the movies but he is actually very nice. After meeting his future wife, he decided he didn't want that life for her kids (and eventually their kids), so they came to Utah about five years ago.

The wife had a sister who was a member of the church. She was dying. The wife promised to take her three kids and raise them as her own. The sister asked her to promise to take her kids to church. She did and she became converted over the years. Her own children were baptized and a year ago, her partner began attending church. He also become converted. Enter some senior missionaries who ended their service before we began. They got some legal help for the family and the divorce became possible.

Tonight, they were married and then they were baptized. It was wonderful to see this happen.

motherhood

Motherhood is sacred. I know that. This isn't the first time I've become a mother. But I think it is because I have older children that I can kinda see where this whole motherhood thing is going. It seems like I'm taking a little more time to enjoy this precious new life than I have either of the others. Maybe I'm just getting old. Or maybe with age comes understanding and with that understanding comes different choices. I understand a lot better now that the Lord's really in charge. I've known that all my life, this really hasn't changed, but its like each new life lesson reaffirms it in new ways. I also understand that my body is a lot more precious than I had previously realized and requires a more careful assessment of how I treat it. Garbage in Garbage out - its really true. I had my newest little one without the use of pain drugs. Maybe this is why my motherhood feels different. I have a friend that shared with me that she feels in order to bring a new life here, we must pass close to the veil and pick that precious one up. She thinks it is why our body is so uncomfortable when we are in the transition and final stages of labor. Perhaps that is why my motherhood feels so much more. Not more of any one thing, just more. And most of all I feel more love from the Lord.

Tribute to Vet

The city of Midland does a cool thing when a vet returns from the war zone. They greet him at the airport with flags and hand clappers and then escort him into the city with a motorcycle brigade flying flags and a police export. They take wounded vets on a fishing trip. I got involved in greeting a vet at the airport while I was waiting for my plane.

Here is the vet, a marine, at the bottom of the escalator. The citizens, mostly dressed in red, white, and blue, each have a flag and clappers on each side of the aisle he will walk down.

This is the other end he is walking towards with a "We Support Our Troops" at the end.

The Vet hugged each woman on both sides and shook hands with each man. It was really special to be part of it.

Family Lessons

Family is sooo important to me. I love creating, feeding, fostering, and enjoying my family relationships. This makes it difficult when families are torn, divided, or otherwise injured, making me feel injured in the process. I'm not saying they should make their decisions with me in mind, but rather that I hurt along with them. It is hard when they understand some things so well, making careful choices of what to allow into their lives, but don't know that they push away so many helpful things that they're really loosing out from what their missing. I struggle...

Dedicating our home

I started to compose a post about dedicating our home on May 9 but did not finish the post and publish it until later. It published as if the date were May 9. I invite you to go back and read it.