Idaho!

We had so much fun out west last month. Here are the girls in Idaho riding Uncle John's horses to the end of his driveway/road to pick up Porter, their cousin, from the bus.

Just go, you'll be grateful you did.

Our Stake (the local region of the LDS church here in Grand Blanc, MI) hosted famous author, Anita Stansfield for a series of lectures this past weekend. I had the chance to go listen to her for 3 hours on Saturday. I almost didn't go. Adam is out of town and I had to find a babysitter. Something inside me said, "GO." So I did what I had to do and I did.

Since this is practically my journal, I want to write a few things here that meant a lot for me to hear. Things that she said, inspiration and encouragement that she gave. And I want to share it with you, that you may be uplifted as I was.

Her first lecture/presentation/talk was about how "God's Love is Absolute and Unconditional." A few bullets:

- We cannot base our worth on circumstances out of our control. This hit home.

For instance: A woman bases her worth on how immaculate her home always is. This is what she does. She cleans and organizes and is known for it. Then she gets ill or someone close to her has a crisis or she becomes a single mother and just can't clean like she used to. She feels worthless.

Another example: A woman (or man) bases her/his worth on how good or righteous their children "turn out." Not to say that we, as parents, should not do everything in our power to raise good, polite, obedient, righteous children, because we should, but we know that these little creatures come to this earth with personalities and wills carved as deep into their beings as the Grand Canyon is into Arizona. Or deeper. An example to the example: The Book of Mormon prophet, Lehi, and his wife, Sariah. They raised Nephi and they raised Laman. Same parenting, same rules, same love and affection. Those boys were like oil and water. One good, the other rotten.

So, don't base your self worth of circumstances out of yourself or out of your control. It's dangerous. It isn't right. So what do we base our self-worth on? That we are daughters (and sons) of our Heavenly Father. We are everything to Him. As my niece just posted about on her blog, we are "spirit daughters of the most creative being in the universe." That should mean a lot to us.

- This famous, accomplished woman told us that, up to a certain point in her life, she had never had a conversation with any woman, young or old, where she didn't feel inadequate in some way. Wow. Do I feel like this? Am I always comparing myself to others? She called it a plague among women. And it is. When we wake up on our worst Tuesday and look at ourselves in the mirror, we feel fat, ugly, unkept, irresponsible, like a slob... and we do something awful. We think how bad we look now compared to how everyone else looked on Sunday in Sacrament meeting. Our Tuesday Worst vs. Their Sunday Best. It's unfair. Then Sis. Stansfield hit the nail on the head and said, "How does that make our creator feel?" When we are so harsh on ourselves, I am sure it is hurtful to the One who loves us so much and created us after His own image.

- "The errand of angels is given to women," she said. And she shared some stories that really touched my heart. Here's one:

Her son was on a mission and had just hit rock bottom. She read it through the lines of an email he had written her earlier that day. He had just been transferred to a new area and was placed with a very difficult companion. It was Labor day weekend, which to her children was a bigger deal than Christmas itself. Her heart was heavy, life was stressful in more ways than one. She wanted to reach out to her struggling son somehow but couldn't. She could email him back, but it wouldn't reach him for a week, since he could only access a computer once per week. She felt prompted just then to check her other email account, the one with all her fan mail and stuff like that. She had already took care of all that the night before and didn't want to check it again, just as they were about to leave for their family trip they took each year. But she felt like she should. There was an email from a woman, it began with praise about her books, as they usually do. She skimmed it and went on. But she felt like she should read the email. She did. This woman mentioned that an Elder Stansfield was just transferred into her stake. Anita's struggling son. So she emailed this woman back with some words of encouragement for her son, which were delivered and which truly brightened his day. This woman and her husband continued to look after him, helping he and his companion out when they could, having them over for dinner at their home. It was truly a blessing. If this woman didn't write her email that morning when she was prompted to do so and if Sis. Stansfield wouldn't have followed the prompting to check it, these people's hearts would have remained miserably heavy. We need to listen for these spiritual promptings and act immediately.

The second lecture was about Emma Smith and the work she has been doing on her behalf. Wow. This is another blog post in itself and will come after I read Anita's new book: Emma, Woman of Faith.

The third was about Balancing our Lives.

Here is the exercise:

Make 3 lists.

The first - List all the roles you have in your life. This should be a pretty long list.

The second - Your top 5 time-takers.

The third - You top 5 priorities in life.

Do lists 2 & 3 coincide? They should. If they don't, you have some work ahead of you.

The prophet, Brigham Young said when we leave this life and stand before our creator we will be asked these two questions: What did you do with your relationships? What did you do with your talents? Nothing else really matters.

And just as I was wishing that I could have so many wonderful, spiritual experiences in my life like she has, she reminded us to pray each morning for revelation. Pray that we will be guided to know what we should be doing every moment of our day, so that we may enhance our relationships and develop our talents.

I think I will.

Our Latest Project

Yup, we built ourselves a bed!

Yep, we actually were young once...

I know, I know... we are still quite young.

Thinking back at how naive and inexperienced we were then and all we have been through since makes me feel just a little bit seasoned though. More mature. A little more wrinkly. And soft around the edges. Even not so blond. I need to get out in the sun more.

Enjoy the "dating pics."

Ice Skating

We have some good friends here that happen to have a pond in the front yard, so we took advantage. My mom was so excited to skate again (it had been years for her, never for Adalin) that I thought she would bust at the seams. Adalin did very well (so did Mom, for an old lady... j/k) :) Adalin was actually skating by herself the second time we went.

Winter in MI can actually be fun... someday, if we settle where there is snow, I want a little pond for skating and some trails for snowshoeing and snowmobiling. Oh, and a good hill for sledding. Winter-y, fun things like this make the season so much more enjoyable (or tolerable, should I say?)!

Little firefighters

I love this picture

This was taken on her birthday, before she went to school. She was so excited to wear her dress of choice that morning.

Isn't she a beauty?

I just love her eyes, the shape of her face, the color of her skin, her naturally pink lips and her beautiful blond hair.

The Match Party

2-8-10 was the day Adam's spot in the Orthopedic residency program here was officially official. Let me tell you, it felt good to see it on paper. A binding contract. It has been a roller coaster full of anxiety, stress. A faith builder.

So, we had a party.

Elina, our good friend celebrated with us too. It was a day, and news, worth celebrating.

A St. Louis ooey gooey butter cake, made by Elina. Fitting, since their med school is in MO. #1 for getting their first choice of programs. And, I won't tell you what the 6 other candles are for. You can think about it.

Jet's Pizza. Gotta have it.

The twin chairs

This is one of those pictures that I took just to document a tidbit of a typical day at home. My jacket hanging on the back of a dining room chair from taking Adalin out to the bus (still hanging there after she is home from school), socks and shoes on the floor, drapes and shades open to let the sunlight in, dog toys on the floor.

Welcome to our home.

These two girls frequently choose these chairs in our living room to veg, snack, and watch movies in. They are really 2 peas in a pod and play together everyday, all the time. I just hope that they are always as close as they are now.

Yes, she is 5.

I remember looking at couples who had 5 year-old children and thinking that was kind of old. Old... on the parents' part or the kids'? Don't know. Brand new, little families don't have 5-year-olds. I don't feel old at all and 5 really isn't that old for a little girl.

5 just isn't toddler age anymore.

It is a "hey can you answer that phone for me" or "can you hold the baby for me" or "see you after school at 4pm" kind of age.

I am a bit behind on my blog posts which is why these pics from her latest birthday taken a month ago and are just now being posted. Nevertheless.... Here she is!

Yes, the above picture is of Adalin IN THE HOSPITAL right after she was born! You can see all 9 lbs. 9 oz. of her in the cheeks, can't you? Porker.

At ~4 months... thinned out a little, you see.

And now. Beautiful, sweet, helpful, intelligent, nurturing, lovely, grown-up Adalin.

Also known as "Buzz."

Sadly, after singing to her Adam gave her 5 spankin's and was about to give her a "pinch to grow and inch" and she freaked out. "DON'T PINCH ME!" she said.

Okay, okay. This used to be my favorite part about my birthdays. The yearly pinch. Well, not really. She had just never heard of that before.

The good thing- she rebounded quickly and was a happy birthday girl for the rest of the evening.

She got a new bike this year. The little 12" princess bike was way too small (and has since been passed on to Kira.) She has a 16-incher now and is still getting used to the jump up. She will get it though. I wouldn't be surprised if she grows another inch by the end of summer. The girl is growing like a weed. The school clothes I bought her in September are all almost too small now!

Love you Buzz-a-roo!