We're Back!

I am so glad to be home despite the mountainous loads of laundry, my bare cupboards and a tired body! It feels so good to hold my kids again and hear the tales of what happened to them while we were gone. Our trip was amazing, but not as wonderful as the looks on my kids faces when they picked us up at the airport!!

Once it becomes more of a priority I will sit down and write the longest blog post of my life (at least I'm expecting it to be) so you can see all of the adventures we had. Thanks so much to all of my family members who took care of the kids, made sure we got taken to and picked up at airports and made it possible for us to go on our trip! We love you so much and owe you each more than we could say!!

Little Stressed

So, this morning as I lay in bed a stark realization came over me that because of Keith's family's reunion and our New York trip I will only be at home for 7 of the next 21 days and those days aren't even sequential. Four of them will be this week and 3 next week. It was at that precise moment that my mind and body were overtaken by that mind numbing, stomach cramping and head aching emotion known as stress. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

OK, I feel a little better now. I'm already expecting a few moments of freaking out during the next few days. There's just so much to do. Still, I know things will get done and my children will be well taken care of. I'm hoping the days at the family reunion will be a nice interim before getting ready to leave my kids and home for 10 days. I don't remember the last time I did that. Wait a minute, it has never happened before!

All right, I'm calming down now. Do you have any suggestions of any good books that I might take with my to occupy the time I will spend in airports and on airplanes? I really don't want to make a last minute purchase at some overpriced bookstore in the airport terminals. Also I would appreciate any last minute tips you might have on NY and or church history sites in and around Palmyra.

Hopefully this won't be my last post until Father's Day. That would be way to much catching up for me to have to do. Thanks for letting me vent you all!

Kindergarten Graduation

This afternoon was Dustin's kindergarten graduation. I love the programs that are short, sweet and so cute. All four classes sang four songs; "Two Heads are Better than One," "Down on Grandpa's Farm," "This Little Light of Mine," and "God Bless the USA." Then they read each child's name out loud and we went outside for refreshments and picture taking!

Dustin has had a great teacher, Mrs. Vitters who is also in our ward. Dustin has mentioned how fun it has been to see his teacher 6 days a week. Next year he gets to go to school all day and he sure is ready. I think he's been a little bit bored lately with only Hillary and Claire at home to play with.

Congratulations, Buddy! I love you!

Hero Night

Last night Rachael's 2nd grade class put on a performance called Hero Night. Each child in the class got to choose their hero to honor during the presentation. There were a few stipulations. Your hero couldn't be anyone in your family and someone who has made a significant difference in your life. I'm guessing they really wanted the children to think outside the box for people they normally wouldn't consider a hero.

Rachael chose her 1st grade teacher, Ms. Brock. I was pretty convinced that she wouldn't come last night because the only way we knew to get in touch with her was through her email and sending Rachael's letter to her at her current school. I reminded Rachael of this many times so that she wouldn't be disappointed if she didn't come.

I think I might have been more excited when she walked through the door to the auditorium than Rachael was. That oldest daughter of mine has such a tender heart and I didn't want her to feel bad. Not only did Ms. Brock come (to my surprise), she brought Rachael some flowers.

The program was short and sweet. The kids sang two songs about, you guessed it, Heroes and then each child read their letter out loud to their personal Hero. It was a fun night . I'm so glad that my children have been blessed to have such caring and wonderful teachers!

All Our Doings

Every night for our family scripture study we use The Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families. Not only does it give definitions to words my children don't understand and extra explanations during difficult sections, it has one feature that I love. It is divided into smaller sections than the normal Book of Mormon chapters. They begin and end in spots that are natural and help break the scriptures down not only for kids, but for moms like me. We began reading this particular book with our kids in January 2008 and read one "section" a night. Just to let you know, we are just halfway through Alma. It's slow going but Rachael and Dustin have sure picked up the scriptures stories in better detail and remember them better than I did at their age. We're just lucky if Hillary and Claire can remain quiet and still long enough to make it through while we read.

All of this is to preface the experience I had last night. I had decided to re-read the section from the night before. I had a feeling that it was important enough to visit again, especially since the night before no one had been listening very well, including myself. Alma 37:33-37 picks up as the prophet Alma is teaching his son Heleman. We broke it down verse by verse and discussed what each one meant. At the beginning of verse 37 it says "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good;" I tried to emphasize that the Lord cares about everything in our lives, from the everyday mundane things to the things and events that are more grandiose. What's important to us is important to Him.

This brief conversation brought me to the realization that I rarely councel with my Heavenly Father on the small things. There are so many happenings that you deal with on a daily basis when you are a mom. Motherhood is hard and it's easy for the BIG problems, trials and hardships to dominate our thoughts and time. It's the small things that I need to be talking to my Heavenly Father about more. It really does matter to him that I need help getting up some mornings, or that it's a frustrating sometimes to sit down and organize a meal plan and grocery list. He cares about those things just as much as patching up a fight with your husband or having more patience with your children.

After pondering on my thoughts, I turned back to Alma 36:3 and my heart was at peace. I'll let you look it up to discover what I read. It's one of my favorites.

Girls Night Out

My little sister, Devin is moving to San Diego this week. What a perfect reason to have a fun night out with my mom, and my sisters. We headed to Olive Garden to pig out and share some laughs. We had the greatest waitress ever who made Jobie's night with a surprise beverage and providing my niece, Maddie with an endless supply of olives! I'm so sad to see my sister leave but am excited for what awaits her in sunny CA. It also means I get to take a few vacations there to visit as well! Thanks for the fun night gals!

Jobie, Miquelle, Devin

Michelle, Me, Miquelle

Debbie, Mom, Jobie

Jobie and her "Dewsky"

The whole Gang

Wit's End

As I'm sure you all do, I sometimes frequent a place called Wit's End. Isn't it amazing how, while being a mother, you can go from feeling as if you can conquer the world one day to wishing you could curl up in the corner and cry your eyes out the next? There are some days when the "to do list" I've been given seems to be more than I can take. I can only count on the hope that tomorrow will be better, it has to be. And it almost always is.

Maybe tomorrow Dustin will do something hilarious to get me laughing. Or Claire will want to sit, snuggle and read a book. Out of the blue, Hillary might give me a huge hug and tell me how much she loves me. And a day won't go by that Rachael doesn't flash me her toothless grin :)

I was so touched by this quote from Victor Hugo. "Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake." It puts my spirit at ease to know that at the end of a long day and after doing the best that I can possibly do, there is someone watching over me and my family, someone all powerful who is willing to fill in the gaps that I leave undone.

Yes, we as mothers often visit that place dubbed Wit's End. But I believe that all the time I spend visiting there makes the times when I am "home" much more sweet and wonderful.