What a cutie! When his hair is short it always reminds me of pictures of my Dad when he was little.
I was asked to give a talk last Sunday. I was asked to speak on a paragraph in the proclamation on the family about raising your children. I found this incredible article by Jeffrey R. Holland and I love it so much I thought I would share a few bits of it here.
"One young mother wrote to me recently that her anxiety tended to come on three fronts. One was that whenever she heard talks on LDS motherhood, she worried because she felt she didn’t measure up or somehow wasn’t going to be equal to the task. Secondly, she felt like the world expected her to teach her children reading, writing, interior design, Latin, calculus, and the Internet—all before the baby said something terribly ordinary, like “goo goo.” Thirdly, she often felt people were sometimes patronizing, almost always without meaning to be, because the advice she got or even the compliments she received seemed to reflect nothing of the mental investment, the spiritual and emotional exertion, the long-night, long-day, stretched-to-the-limit demands that sometimes are required in trying to be and wanting to be the mother God hopes she will be.
But one thing, she said, keeps her going: “Through the thick and the thin of this, and through the occasional tears of it all, I know deep down inside I am doing God’s work. I know that in my motherhood I am in an eternal partnership with Him. I am deeply moved that God finds His ultimate purpose and meaning in being a parent, even if some of His children make Him weep.
“It is this realization,” she says, “that I try to recall on those inevitably difficult days when all of this can be a bit overwhelming. Maybe it is precisely our inability and anxiousness that urge us to reach out to Him and enhance His ability to reach back to us. Maybe He secretly hopes we will be anxious,” she said, “and will plead for His help. Then, I believe, He can teach these children directly, through us, but with no resistance offered. I like that idea,” she concludes. “It gives me hope. If I can be right before my Father in Heaven, perhaps His guidance to our children can be unimpeded. Maybe then it can be His work and His glory in a very literal sense.”
"You can’t possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you—He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlastingly for the return of the prodigal son. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be."
Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.” 11 You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even—no, especially—when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master’s garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibility as mothers, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” 12 And it will make your children whole as well"
I really needed to hear this at this time in my life. I really feel that I was asked to give this talk because Heavenly Father wanted me to hear these words from him. I am so very grateful to be a mother and to have Him watching over us and giving us what we need, even when we didn't know we needed it.
It is day two of my picture blog and I find myself asking the question, "Do I blog the bad with the good?" I guess the answer is yes. Maybe I'll be able to appreciate it in the long run. Maybe someday everyone will understand why I ended up having a nervous breakdown.
Today we went as a family to tour the new Draper Temple. Now I'm sure you are all much smarter than I am and wouldn't have taken the 3 year old much less the 18 month old. But, what is the point in going to the openhouse if we don't take our kids? Burke and I can go to the temple on our own after it is officially open. Anyway. That was our big mistake. The second mistake was my expectations. I thought this was going to be a fun family event that might border on spiritual with maybe a flash of peace. And honestly, it probably would have been if we had only taken Mason. I also had expectations that we would simply walk through the temple. But it was not to be.
We started off at the church where we had to sit on chairs in the gym waiting to watch a film. The minute I heard the word 'film' I knew we were in trouble. Tess was already running circles around the gym and squeeling with delight. There was no way I was going to keep her still while watching a movie about temples. I was right. We were ushered into the primary room to watch the film and before it even started, I had had it with her kicking and screaming, trying to keep her still, and was out roaming the halls with her while Burke and Mason finished the movie. Then it was on to the bus. I was hoping the worst was over.
Mason enjoyed the ride. He loves buses.
You can tell by Burke's expression that the worst is not over. He is already losing patience quickly.
So... I am feeling the need to capture each memory. I feel like my kids have grown so fast that I won't remember all of their little quirks. This might be really really boring for anyone reading my blog, but... I'm doing this for me, not for you. This is my little blog journal. One of the people I blog stalk, (Amy, I'm copying you) is starting to keep a daily photo journal. I loved it and I think I will do the same. I just want to take a picture each day that sums up how I'm feeling or what I'm spending my time on.
Today as usual, it will be my kids. They eat up at least 23 hrs and 45 minutes of each of my days.
Tess jumped on Mason's Elmo bike today like she's been riding for years. She was so pleased with herself for being able to ride it she just smiled at all of us waiting for us to praise her. She didn't have to wait long.
And Mason ate his dinner. The few times that this has actually happened, it has definately made my day. However, after four, yes... four, accidents today in his big boy pants, I finally broke down and bought another case of diapers. I guess we'll wait a month or two and try again.
Bringing in the New Year with some friends. We love you guys!
Burke was the photographer for this little shot just a couple hours before 2009.
Talk about lashes....
So Fun!
