It Was All Yellow

The boys finished the pre-martial arts class they've been taking for the last five weeks. The focus was on discipline and self-control, not so much on punching and kicking. The class was for four and six year-olds, so you can imagine that the level of mastery wasn't great, but it was fun to watch. The boys were pleased that they went from a white belt to a yellow belt on their last day. I'm kind of sad that we won't be in Wisconsin long enough to do another session.

The One

Our Wisconsin Ward lost no time in putting us to work. Bryan was called to be the Sunday School teacher for the 12-year-olds (and he'll be taking the 13-year-olds for the next few weeks as well) and I'm serving as the Laurel Adviser. The Young Women in this Ward are fantastic and I'm really enjoying the calling.

The boys have been serving as well. Cooper has given a talk in Primary and both boys have shared a time when they chose the right.

And I spoke in church yesterday.

When the Bishop asked if I would speak, I had the briefest moment where I thought "I just spoke in May! And I'm crazy busy! And I'm teaching Young Women!", but I said yes anyway. My topic was the worth of souls and I was the last speaker. I had to do a bit of rewriting as the two speakers before me gave bits and pieces of my talk, but apparently Bryan and I were the only ones that noticed the overlap.

For posterity and because it's tradition, I'm going to include my talk as today's post. It's five-minutes shorter than my last talk, just in case you're on the fence about reading it.

And thanks go to my brother Jordan. He called to talk while I was working on it and helped me brainstorm.

The One

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

 6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Have you ever lost anything? I have. Lots of things. In high school I was notorious for going to seminary wearing a jacket and coming home without one, having no idea of course where the coat disappeared to.

Since then I’ve gotten better about keeping track of my belongings, but I still lose things. Most recently, the things I’ve lost haven’t been things at all. And they haven’t had anything to do with my ditziness. No, I’ve recently had a few experiences where I lost one or two of my children. They don’t know they’re lost, they think they’re playing a fun run and hide or run and chase game. But these are not games that I enjoy playing. And during the minutes that I’m searching for them, I am praying constantly, “Please help me find them. Please help them to be safe.” As a parent it is truly terrifying knowing that your children are lost.

Every night I sing the song I Am a Child of God to my daughter before she goes to sleep. Think about the words of the second verse, “I am a Child of God and so my needs are great, help me to understand his words before it grows too late.” While I am actively concerned for the physical well-being of my children, and I am equally, if not more-so, concerned for their spiritual well-being. And I know that I’m not the only one. The first words of this inspired hymn are I am a Child of God. That means that Heavenly Father as a Heavenly parent is just as concerned as I am.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke of our Father in Heaven’s concern for his children in last October’s  General Conference. His talk, You Matter to Him, began:

“Moses, one of the greatest prophets the world has ever known, was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter and spent the first 40 years of his life in the royal halls of Egypt. He knew firsthand the glory and grandeur of that ancient kingdom.

Years later, on the top of a distant mountain, far removed from the splendor and magnificence of mighty Egypt, Moses stood in the presence of God and spoke to Him face to face as a man speaks with his friend. During the course of that visitation, God showed Moses the workmanship of His hands, granting him a glimpse of His work and glory. When the vision ended, Moses fell to the earth for the space of many hours. When his strength finally returned, he realized something that, in all his years in Pharaoh’s court, had never occurred to him before.

“I know,” he said, “that man is nothing.””

President Uchtdorf goes on to say “This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God.” He references Moses chapter 1 verse 39 which reads:

39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

That’s our immortality and our eternal life.

I began my talk by quoting Luke chapter 15. Jesus is teaching his disciples the parable of the ninety-and-nine. Let’s replace a few words in verse 4.

 4 What man of you, having children, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the others in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

Now think of that verse from Heavenly Father’s perspective. Everyone who has ever lived and everyone who ever will live is his child. He loves us. He wants us to be safe and whole. Just as I don’t want to lose my children, He doesn’t want to lose us.

But sometimes we wander off. Sometimes we get distracted. Sometimes, like my children, we take off running after something that looks interesting, ignoring the calls and pleas to come back. And we don’t realize that we are lost until we look behind us and see that there are no familiar faces smiling and waving at us to return.

Sometimes we are not the ones who wander at all. We might be holding fast to the gospel, reading our scriptures daily, attending our meetings, paying our tithing. And then we look around and we see that the family that used to sit by us in Sacrament meeting has stopped coming. Or the sister you visit teach has decided to stay home on Sunday.

Let’s rewrite Luke 15: 4 again:

4 What man of you, having an hundred friends and acquaintances, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

We know that we must go after our children, but do we really need to go after someone we might only know in passing? Or someone that we don’t know at all?

In the July 2009 Ensign President Monson shared a story that he had heard from Marvin O. Ashton, a former Presiding Bishop of the church.

"Picture with me, if you will, a farmer driving a large open-bed truck filled with sugar beets en route to the sugar refinery. As the farmer drives along a bumpy dirt road, some of the sugar beets bounce from the truck and are strewn along the roadside. When he realizes he has lost some of the beets, he instructs his helpers, “There’s just as much sugar in those which have slipped off. Let’s go back and get them!” …Those that have fallen out of the truck represent men and women, youth and children who, for whatever reason, have fallen from the path of activity. Paraphrasing the farmer’s comments concerning the sugar beets, I say of these souls, precious to our Father and our Master: “There’s just as much value in those who have slipped off. Let’s go back and get them!”"

Whether they’ve slipped off or run off, it is up to us to go find them. President Monson described the souls of those that are missing from our midst as “precious.”

Doctrine and Covenants section 18 verse 10 says:

10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

So President Uchtdorf, President Monson and the Doctrine and Covenants have all told us that the worth of each of us is great to God. And because each of us is important to Heavenly Father, shouldn’t we be important to each other?

Reading a few verses down in section 18:

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

One soul. Remember Luke 15? Jesus taught them to leave then 99 and go after the one. I’ve done this with my children. We went to a park in Oshkosh during our first week in Wisconsin. It had been a good day and I was just talking to the kids about heading home. Suddenly Cooper, my four-year-old, bolted. I grabbed the stroller and took off after him, calling for my six-year-old to follow. I was running as fast as I could, but I knew that I’d never catch him while I had the stroller. I told my oldest to stay with his sister and I ran. I was a few feet away when Cooper turned and ran into the street. Heart pounding and asthma raging, I closed the gap and grabbed him before an approaching car reached him. I can tell you that when I had Cooper in my arms again, my joy was indeed great.

Section 18 verse 16 says

 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

It’s up to us to bring back those that have wandered. But how?

In an Ensign article from 1983, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin gave us some important keys to bringing our fellow saints back into activity.

1. 1.      We must prepare ourselves to teach and have a humble and prayerful attitude and understand the importance of our work.
2. 2.      We must build real friendships with those we want to teach.
3. 3.      We must understand that our timing might not be the timing that the Lord has in mind,
4. 4.      And so we must have patience.
5. 5.      We must involve them in other ways, give them a responsibility.
6. 6.     We must follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost because each person, each situation is different.

Remember that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. I think of the joy I felt when I pulled Cooper out of the street. And then I try to imagine the joy that Heavenly Father will feel when we return to him. I wonder if he will hold us in his arms the way I held my son, thankful that we have come home.

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

I leave you with my testimony that these things are true. We are children of God. He loves us. He wants us to return to him. I know that it is our responsibility, our duty to go find those that have wandered, to be their friend, and to invite them back. As we do this, our joy will be great. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Uncle Paul

We had a visitor this week! Uncle Paul (Bryan's brother) was in the area and he made the extra drive to come have dinner with us on Tuesday. We were all thrilled, especially the kids. Can't you tell from the look on Phoebe's face?

Thanks for the visit Paul!

Teeny Tiny

Living in a place with five people and one bedroom requires... juggling. I mentioned it briefly here.

Every night at bedtime we put the kids in their pajamas, brush teeth, read scriptures, say prayers, and sing songs. (Add in lots of whining and complaining and fighting and maybe some screaming from the small people and you have an accurate picture.) Then I snuggle Phoebe and lay her down in the hotel-provided pack and play in the corner of the bedroom. We tuck the boys in on either side of the King-size bed and Bryan (or me if Bryan is working late) lies down between them until one or both boys are asleep. And sometimes that takes a while. Then, after Bryan and I are done with whatever we wanted to do in the living room, we unfold the bed from the couch, carry Cooper out to the living room, send Peter to the bathroom, then tuck the boys into their new bed. And we pray that everyone stays asleep/goes back to sleep quickly.

The last piece to the bedtime puzzle is making sure everyone is warm enough. Our room is either freezing or muggy. I would gladly take muggy any day, but Bryan isn't such a fan of humidity, so we walk a fine line between too cold and too warm. At night we bundle up (an odd feeling for the middle of July) and make sure the children have enough blankets.

A few nights ago Cooper was whimpering to himself as he tried to find a comfortable position on his side of the King. We asked him what was wrong.

Cooper: This bed is so big and I'm just so tiny and all I want to do is snuggle!

So while a King is good for holding all of us, I guess it's not so conducive to cuddling. Bryan solved the problem by scooting our mini-Cooper next to him and snuggling.

Sleepy Eyes

In order to get the boys to swim lessons (and me to my daily exercise session) we have to wake up early. Our kids are usually early risers, but occasionally they sleep late. Yesterday was one of these mornings. When I woke up I realized we were running late, so while I got dressed, Bryan woke up the kids. Apparently Peter wasn't quite ready.

Peter: Daddy you woke me up too early
Bryan: What do you mean Peter?
Peter: I don't like to get up when it's still blurry.

Putting On My Face

I've been playing around with darkening my eyebrows now and then over the last few months. My eyebrows are blond and it turns out I look slightly more human when they're visible. Go fig.

I was throwing on a little make-up before church yesterday when Phoebe walked in. She looked at me, looked at my hand, then let me know where she stood on the matter.

Phoebe: No Mommy! Don't draw on your forehead!

A Child's Prayer

Phoebe has been saying her own prayers. On Tuesday night she began her prayer and then said, "Please help me understand his words before it grows too late. Lead me, guide me, walk beside me. Help me find the way."

I then prompted her to finish her prayers.

It makes my heart sing to know that the doctrines in her bedtime song are leaving their mark.

Learn About the USA

Happy Independence Day!

Movie Day

Bryan was sick on Sunday and I got it today. That means that the kids and I spent the day in pajamas, watching movies. I must say, I'm glad we made it until Bryan got home.

Peter was pretty calm (Nana Shari sent some fun packages yesterday and Peter was focused on his new book of mazes), but there were a few times (and by a few, I mean several) that I had to hold Cooper down so he wouldn't jump off the couch. He insisted he wasn't jumping, he was "flying." And then I had to keep separating Cooper and Phoebe from wrestling. It was not the most relaxing day, but it did not involve going anywhere. Or getting anyone dressed, so that's something.

Thank goodness Bryan doesn't have to work tomorrow.

Thirty-Two

I turned thirty-two last week. We did a few special things to mark the day. The kids and I went to a new park that had a forest behind it. That's one thing that surprised me about Wisconsin; there are little islands of woods all over the place. This one had clearly marked trails and it was lovely and cool.

I handed Peter my phone and told him to take pictures. And the next day my phone died. I don't think there's a connection.

Peter liked taking pictures of trees

and leaves.

I insisted that he take a picture of us

and one of himself.

We found out later that sometimes bears show up in the woods around the Fox Cities, so we may not go hiking again for a while. It was fun though, and no one ran off, so that made the jaunt through the woods that much better.

Then we went to a friend's house for a birthday lunch. Along with delicious food and wonderful company, they stuck a candle into some watermelon and sang Happy Birthday to me. It was perfect.

Bryan surprised me with roses and a pair of cross-trainers to make my gym visits nicer for my feet. We ended the night with a baseball game. What was that? A baseball game sounds like an odd way for me to celebrate my birthday? True. It was an event for the interns at Bryan's work and we got the opportunity to tag along. We stayed a few hours, let the kids run and play on the playground until they were dripping with sweat (which wasn't hard considering how hot it was that day), then went home.

We actually kept celebrating throughout the week. Bryan and I got to have a date on Friday (we discovered a really good Italian food place), we had a family date (our annual trip to see Pixar's latest offering) and a few more gifts arrived via Amazon.

Thanks to all of you that sent me birthday wishes. I loved reading them throughout the day. I was glad that my phone lived long enough to read your birthday texts. It made me realize I need to be better about sending birthday wishes.

It was a good day.

P.S. Bryan worked his tech magic and I have a phone again. He ported my number to his phone which now gets calls for both of our numbers.