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.

Don't Shy Away From the Tough Stuff

A few weeks ago a friend shared a news story on her Facebook page about the Tide Pod challenge. I showed it to Peter and he was shocked that anyone would do anything as stupid as eat poison intentionally. We talked about teenagers and their proven lack of good judgement and Peter expressed his own worry about becoming a teenager. I told him to remember that feeling and keep trusting his parents while he's in those crazy teenage years.

A week later he came home from a Young Men activity and reported that two of the boys had been boasting that they tried the challenge. He was genuinely concerned for them. I know these boys and I know their moms and I suspect that they were all talk and no action. Nevertheless, we talked about the experience with Peter. We told him that sometimes kids will say they've done something to seem cool, whether it's wise or not, whether they've done it or not. He concurred with us that nothing about this internet fad is truly cool.

Then a letter came home from the Principal at the boys' school warning parents about this same challenge. We talked with all the kids about it and everyone agreed that it was a dumb thing for anyone to do. Sophie even talked through what she would do if someone offered her soap to eat.

We've had these same talks about alcohol and pornography and drugs, both prescription and otherwise.

I hope that as my kids get older, we can continue having open discussions with them about scary and important things. Not that we want to worry our kids unnecessarily, but we also don't want to send them out into the world unprepared. We want them to be ready if they come face to face with these situations.

Bipedal

Good news: I can walk again! After spending most of Thursday and Friday off my injured foot, it felt much better. I was concerned about my big driving/walking adventure on Saturday, but my heel didn't seem any worse for wear. It was feeling good enough that I attempted a slow walk on the treadmill last night. It took me thirty minutes to do a mile, but I didn't re-injure myself, so it was worth the slow pace.

Hooray for being mobile again!

Organic Cosmetics

"Does this look like lipstick?" Sophie, asking if the grape jam she had just smeared onto her lips could pass for makeup.

Saturday at the Temple

Saturday was an important day for two members of our family. Our ward had a planned Temple trip for that day to the Philadelphia Temple for the Young Men and Young Women. This was Peter's first opportunity to attend and do baptisms for the dead. He was nervous and excited beforehand. He drove down with a friend, had lots of help in understanding where he needed to go and what he needed to do, and had a wonderful experience.

While Peter was on his way to the Philadelphia Temple, I was driving down to Washington D.C. I made the drive to attend my almost-sister-in-law's bridal shower in the late morning, then I had the lovely experience of being with her when she went to the Temple for the first time. It was a blessing being in the Washington D.C. Temple with Leah, my brother Jordan, Leah's mom, and two of Leah's friends.

Yesterday, after sleeping on my brother's couch in Maryland and making the drive back to attend morning church, Peter and I talked about the Temple. We discussed the feeling of peace, calm, and love that fills the Temple. And I was able to connect that feeling back to what we want for our home. Peter understood in a way that he hadn't before. He's been to several Temple Open Houses, but once the Temple is dedicated, it feels different. He now has first hand knowledge of that feeling.

I love that he and I both were able to attend the Temple on Saturday. We're both eager to go back soon.

Future Cousins

My brother Jordan will be getting married in a few weeks. Sophie and I were discussing his upcoming nuptials over lunch today and the following information was shared.

Sophie: I'm going to name their children you know.

Me: You're going to name Jordan and Leah's future children?

Sophie: Yes, I am.

Me: What will you name them?

Sophie: Rose and Joy. No. The boys will be Hav and Dav. And the girls will be Rose. And Cute Baby Soph. (cue sneaky grin) No, Flower. How about Charlotte?

So there you go Jordan and Leah, Sophie is offering her services to help you with future major life choices.

Sit Down, Put Your Feet Up

I've worked to stay active and exercise during this pregnancy. I haven't been able to do as much as usual, but I still like to walk a mile or two at least four days per week.

Last week I decided to push myself a little and increase my speed. This worked well the first day. I felt more energized afterward and liked finishing in a shorter amount of time. The second day, however, didn't go as well. I noticed that my left foot was getting really sore while I walked. I finally slowed down my pace (which didn't ever get very fast) and the discomfort passed.

Later that day that same discomfort came back, but this time as pain in my heel. I had trouble putting weight on my left foot and limped around the rest of the night. The pain would increase and decrease based on activity, but, as long as I put pressure on my heel, it hurt. It's continued to hurt all week.

Last night after scouts and several hours on my feet doing my normal mom stuff, I decided I needed to do something about my foot. After a Google search (yes, I took a medical concern to Google) I suspected that I had badly bruised the pad of my heel, or possibly the bone. This can be a precursor to a stress fracture, so I made the choice to stay off my foot as much as possible today.

I told the kids that I would need to spend most of the day sitting with my foot up. They rolled with it pretty well and were helpful when I asked them to fetch me things. And good news, the few times I've walked today, I haven't been in as much pain.

When I was pregnant with Peter I had to spend the last three weeks on bed-rest. I had no children to chase or taxi, so it was a pretty relaxing deal. This self-imposed bed rest of sorts is not quite as restful, but hopefully it'll do the job.