My Children = My Purpose

Tonight I was looking for Christmas activities to do with the kids. I'm always looking for something new, but today I realized that none of the activities centered around the spirit of Christmas. Everything I had planned was around decorations a.k.a keeping the kids busy, so that they wouldn't fight with each other as much. This isn't a bad thing, but I felt strongly tonight that I wasn't fully embracing the Christmas season with them. 

This time of year is the best time of year to teach about our savior, our values, service, love, and to feel the spirit in our homes. I feel as though around Christmas more hearts are open to the spirit and there is more kindness in the world. The layaway angels that popped up this year around the country have truly impressed me. I can't imagine being unable to provide Christmas presents for my children and am grateful that there are people out there who have taken that burden off of those parents, so they could enjoy the holidays with their kids. 

In deciding that we needed more activities with a moral, a value, a lesson, etc. I turned to lds.org. There I searched for Christmas activities for children and read a few articles before Teach the Children spoke to me, but not in the way I expected it to. Today I was looking for jobs for Jason on the Utah jobs website, going county by county to see all the new job openings for today, just to be sure I didn't miss one by typing in a wrong key word and came across one that I almost applied for, for me. I opened my email copied the lady's email address and went to attach my resume when something stopped me, a thought. Hello, I'm a stay at home mom with 2.5 children...why on earth would I want to leave this blessing? So many women would do almost anything to be able to stay at home with their kids and here I am applying for a job to go to 40+ hours per week....I must be nuts! I truly love working and love what I did, but I have a much more important job here at home. This quote from the article by President David O. McKay sums it up:
 “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”
It is so true. No matter how much I may love working and how successful I may feel when working in my career field, I am unable to successfully raise my children the way I want them raised. 
I feel so blessed that I was lead again to an article that pulled me back down to earth and made me realize where I'm supposed to be in life and what my true calling is. Since I was about 5 I have always known that I wanted to be a mom, I tossed around being a kindergarten teacher for a while, but I have always wanted to be a mom, not a doctor or lawyer, a mom. Being a mom is my purpose and I am going to do my best to raise my children in the gospel, to have a relationship with their Heavenly Father, to know right from wrong and act accordingly, to serve others, and to become successful adults.

Another Day....Another Message

Today we didn't make it to church, as usual. Jason didn't get off work until after it had started and I just haven't been able to find the strength in myself to fight the kids, mainly Ike, to get up and get ready and out the door by 8:30. I struggled with this decision to not go after as I have noticed in myself and the kids lately that we aren't as grateful as we should be. 

I think that a lot of my being overwhelmed yesterday has to do with not being grateful or not fully realizing all of my blessings. In myself not noticing my blessings, my children aren't noticing theirs. With Christmas approaching quickly as ever I have noticed the increased number of I wants from the kids, more use of "NO" from Jason and I and a little more tension as just one use of the word no tends to invite negativity into our home. So following yesterday's post about looking up to the lord when we are struggling I did. 

After a temper tantrum or two from Ike today, one that particularly made me angry, but now makes me laugh, I decided to look up. As I looked back at the table I saw the Friend and had an idea. I called everyone to the couch, shut off the TV and started with asking everyone to go around and tell each person that they loved them and one reason why, including themselves. It seemed to calm things down a bit and bring a more positive light to our home. After that we went through and read a few messages from the Friend before making dinner, a count down to Christmas chain, reading about eighty Christmas books, then heading to bed. 

I got the kids tucked in, but still felt I need to do more in my home to keep the positive energy up and since I haven't read this months Ensign yet, I headed there for some guidance. When I clicked on the Ensign the first article was The Choice to Be Grateful, it couldn't have been more fitting. It reminded me that we need to count our blessings and be truly thankful for them. At the end of the article there is a challenge for youth that I plan on challenging myself and Jason to do, and well you too! After Jason and I have done it I want to share it with Hailey and Ike to give them a better understanding of blessings. As a new part of our nightly routine, possibly mornings if anyone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed I am going to have them share the blessing they are most thankful for that day and a new reason why they love everyone else. 

I am hoping that this helps bring the Spirit closer and helps us all to have a little happier glow about us from now on. And quickly I will share with you that today I am thankful for the members of the Elder's Quorum that came out to check up on us and make us feel a part of the ward. I am also very excited that church will be starting at 11 next year and that hopefully Jason will be off work on time to make it there with us. 

The Perfect Message at the Perfect Time

Today I was feeling overwhelmed as I was updating our calendar with Hailey's days off school, Jason's drill and work schedule, and listing out the number of weeks pregnant I would be each Monday. I had a minor crying spell and feeling of panic as I realized how soon Scarlett will be here, how small our apartment is, that both kids are out of school for over two weeks, and that Jason is working 12 hour shifts for the next week while the kids are home from school. It all seems rather trivial and silly now, but in that 20 minute period I didn't know what to do, where to start, or how I would get everything I needed to get done done. So to calm myself I turned to Pinterest to look for activities to do with the kids and found this: Construction Paper Wreath Instructions, after reading this I wanted to see what other fun things there were and found this much needed entry. 


The lord works in mysterious ways and I am very thankful for all he does. At that moment in time I needed the reminder to look up not down and it was there. It was there in the least expected way and I am truly grateful for it. I hope you all remember when you are having a hard time to look up to the lord and trust in him.
Love you all!

It's a...........

GIRL!!!!!

We found out Friday that we are expecting a girl. I couldn't be more excited. However I would have been excited either way. I just had a gut instinct that it was a little Scarlett Elizabeth, so it would have been odd for the ultrasound lady to say she was a boy. Hailey and Ike are really happy however they have their own name ideas...Ike likes Rapunzel or Rosie Posie and Hailey likes Rosie Posie, Penelope, Scarlett Sweetness, it changes moment to moment. I am just glad they are embracing it since Ike really wanted a baby brother.