Own It

A few mornings ago, during the rush to get ready for school, Sophie sat at the end of my bed and looked at a picture of herself. "Mom," she asked, "do I need to get rid of my birthmark when I'm bigger?"

"No, not if you don't want to, it's your face."

She ran off to do something else at that point and I thought the conversation was over.

Several hours later, while we drove in the car, Sophie made an announcement. "I don't ever want to get rid of my birthmark! I want to keep it, even when I'm a mom!"

I told her I thought that was great. And I really do.

Squishy Baby

One highlight of the wedding weekend was meeting my newest niece, six-month-old Emma. Her mom, my sister Paige, is in the background of these pictures. Emma is a sweet girl who loves laughing and being around lots of people. She also loves all of her grandparents. As you can see from these pictures, she loves Grandma Bonnie.

Jordan and Leah

Look! Bryan took a few more wedding pictures on Saturday!

While I attended the sealing in the Washington D.C. Temple, Bryan and the kids explored the Visitor's Center.

Then they came and waited for the bride and groom to come out of the Temple.

And then they joined us!

We seized the chance to take a family picture at the Temple. Thanks for being the photographer Falisha! Also, it was not a warm day.

And then there was dancing.

Lots of dancing.

And Jordan and Leah walked down a sparkling pathway to their car.

Celebrate!

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating my brother Jordan and his bride Leah! They were married in the Washington D.C. Temple on Saturday. It was a sweet and spiritual sealing and then a fun reception afterward. And with all that excitement, I took almost no pictures. I pulled my camera out while Bryan danced with the girls at the reception...and that's it. So, until I can borrow some photos from other people, enjoy these few. Bonus, you can see my sister-in-law Falisha dancing with Cooper and Sophie as well as my brother-in-law Eugene dancing with his baby girl Emma. Oh! And I just noticed that the bride and groom are visible in the back left corner of the pictures. Well, I guess these pictures captured more than I thought they would.

Congratulations Jordan and Leah! We're so happy that you're married and that we could be there with you on Saturday!

Circle of Life

After the races were done at the Pinewood Derby on Wednesday night, the Cubmaster gathered the kids together on a blanket for a discussion to prepare for an Arrow of Light ceremony for one of the boys. This is the exchange that followed.

Leader: What happens to every cub scout eventually?

Phoebe: (after raising her hand and being called on) They grow up.

Leader: That's right! They grow up.

Sophie: (without raising her hand) And then they become mommies and daddies!

Leader: Well, that's true.

Sophie: And then grandmas and grandpas!

Leader: Yes, after a long time.

Sophie: And then they die.

(cue gasps of laughter from most of the adults in the room)

Sophie: And then they're resurrected!

Leader: Well, you've got that whole circle of life down.

I guess all the lessons about the Plan of Salvation have really taken hold.

Cars

Cooper had his third Pinewood Derby last night. He did well, but did not earn one of the top three prizes. He did, however, receive the Most Unique Design Award. He had fun, no matter that he didn't place.

Post-Library Peace

The Process

I'm trying to help a child take ownership of his homework. I'm sitting near him, encouraging him, refocusing him, discussing with him, growing increasingly frustrated, preparing to send him to bed before he finishes.

It's not going well.

Facing a Fear

Peter gave his first talk in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. He was completely terrified. Peter is my only child with stage fright and apparently he got a dose large enough that it could have been shared among all the children. Bryan and I insisted that Peter write his own talk, though we were available for questions and edits. The process was torturous. He took ten hours to write a three-minute talk. He even asked if there was a backup talk if he didn't finish his in time. Nope, I told him, no backup.

When it came time for him to practice saying the talk on Saturday night, he wouldn't. It took at least five minutes of back and forth for him to even start reading it aloud, and I was the only other person in the room. On Sunday morning before church I found him reading a book. I plucked the book from his hands and told him he should be reading his talk instead.

After the Sacrament was passed in church yesterday, it came time for Peter's talk. I discovered, as I watched him climb the steps to sit on the stand, that I was incredibly nervous, probably more nervous than when I am the speaker. I had been praying that he would be brave and articulate.

He did a wonderful job. He looked up several times while he spoke and didn't stare at his pages as I feared he might. His voice sounded lower than it had before. He had one small snag near the end when his pages got shuffled, but he recovered nicely.

Here's the talk. We were happy that he was able to make it as long as it is since he wanted to stop writing at the one-minute mark.

The Covenants We Make at Baptism and Blessings They Bring

When we are baptized, we make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father. We can find these covenants in Doctrine and Covenants, Section twenty, verse thirty-seven: “And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.”  

We covenanted to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ, to be called after his name, to serve God and keep His commandments, to serve each other and bear each other’s burdens, and to be witnesses for Christ and His Church.

The blessings of these baptismal covenants are that if we keep our covenants, then the Lord promises that we can have everlasting life in Heaven, that we can be forgiven of our sins, and we can have the Holy Ghost .

In Robert D. Hales’ talk in the October 2000 General Conference, he says: “ At baptism we make a covenant with our Heavenly Father that we are willing to come into His kingdom and keep His commandments from that time forward, even though we still live in the world. We are reminded from the Book of Mormon that our baptism is a covenant to “stand as witnesses of God [and His kingdom] at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life” (Mosiah 18:9).”  

Just over four years ago, on January 19th, 2014, I was baptized. When I was eight, I didn’t know how special it was to be baptized. Sure, I knew it was special, but I didn’t fully know why. I now have a better understanding that baptism lets us make covenants that allow us to return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

If we keep our covenants, Heavenly Father promises that we’ll have the Holy Ghost with us to comfort and direct us. There have been times where other people around me have been goofing off and I’ve really wanted to join them, but then I’ve had a prompting that I should walk away and do something calm. I’ve followed the promptings and left the room and a few minutes later the friends that were goofing off would get in trouble. If I hadn’t listened to the Holy Ghost, I would have gotten in trouble too. This is one small blessing of keeping my baptismal covenants.

I bear my testimony that I know that if we keep our baptismal covenants, we can have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion to comfort us and guide us and  we can return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Aggressively Affectionate

We loved having my Grandma Bonnie visit us during November 2016. While she was here, Sophie would happily climb up and down from her lap. grab her hands and arms a little too roughly, and generally treat Grandma like she was the best jungle gym ever. It got to the point that Grandma would announce, "Here comes Tough Love" when Sophie would enter the room.

We're excitedly preparing for another visit from my Grandma. We talked about it while in the car this week. This was Sophie's response.

Sophie: I LOVE Grandma Bonnie! And this time, no...hmm...no love puff! Wait, what was it?

Me: Do you mean tough love?

Sophie: Yes! No tough love. (after a moment) What is tough love?

We talked about the need to be gentle with Grandma, and Sophie is now a mature four-year-old rather than a two-year-old, but I don't think we'll know how much of the lesson sunk in until the visit actually begins.