Things That Wiggle Make Me Giggle

It was a rainy day today and daddy found a giant worm outside for Jeremiah to see. Jeremiah was so excited by the small wiggly animal that his daddy held in his hand that he had to hold it himself. He sat out on the back deck and played (tortured) the worm for quite a while.

Rainy days mean cookies in our house. So, we made some yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have posted the recipe on my Recipes page.

Thank You

This morning on my way home from driving Chris to his meeting I stopped to let a girl cross the street. The girl happily smiled, waved and mouthed a "thank you" as she crossed. I was so touched by this small gesture of appreciation. I didn't realize that a simple "thank you" could change or set the mood for the day.

In 2003 Elder Oaks gave a talk called "Give Thanks in All Things." In his talk Elder Oaks outlines some of the things that we should be grateful for and why it's important that we give thanks.
As I read this talk I realized that showing gratitude not only lifts the receiver but also blesses the life of the giver. When I give thanks to others and to God I am more positive and see potential/present problems in a brighter light. It's often hard to be grateful for our trials especially while we are in the middle of them. However, Elder Oaks assures us that we will be blessed as we search for things to be thankful for and show our gratitude for those things.

I challenge each of you today to thank at least 5 people ,including God, for something. As you make yourself more aware of the good that you are being blessed with it will become more easy for you to see them each day. You will find that there are so many things to be thankful for that you wont know how to give thanks for all of them. HOW GREAT IS THAT?!?

Some of the things I am grateful for today are: the nice weather, the food in my refrigerator, my husband, my baby boy, dish sponges, my ability to hear and see, work, and the internet.

This morning Jeremiah was crawling around with a flavored stick that he got from the doctor's office. I thought that this picture might make you smile and hopefully make you grateful for children, laughter, humor, smiles, wealth enough to have a device that has internet capabilities and your ability to see this picture that has traveled through space so that you can view it miles and miles away.   :)

I want to tell you all that I am so thankful for you and for all that you do. My life is beautiful because you are a part of it!!!

Elder Oaks "Give Thanks in All Things" 2003

Traces of Love

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautiful tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt form making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my nails from helping weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheek and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived. "
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Sister Hinckley knew what life was all about and so does my husband! Chris is such a hard worker. He wakes up at 5 every morning, plays with the baby, feeds him, gets ready for the day, puts the baby back to sleep and then goes to work. He usually comes home during lunch to eat but, most of the time he comes home to help a neighbor move, fix a car, fix a leak, give a blessing or to just spend more time with Jeremiah and I. He usually gets home around 4 or 5 and from the time he gets home until he goes to bed at night he is serving everyone around him. We all have choices to make and Chris chooses every day to show his Love for God and for others by working hard, serving willingly and giving freely.

While I was mending/cleaning Chris' work jeans this past week I found myself with tears streaming down my face. As I held his well worn pants in my hands I saw physical evidence of Chris' love for me. I know it sounds silly. I know that Chris loves me but, I was so touched when I looked at his tattered pants.

Here on this earth we are surrounded by traces of love in all forms. The Lord has left traces of his love for us here on the earth. What are the traces of your love?

Back in the Swing of Things

It's been over 2 weeks since we've returned from China and we are still trying to kick our life back into gear. It's been tough getting back onto a normal schedule again.
Jeremiah has finally seemed to let go of his fear of us leaving him again; he now lets us enter another room without shrieks of terror. If there's one thing I've learned about babies it's been how forgiving they are. I can bonk his head, accidentally leave him in his crib for an hour after he's woken up from a nap, or forget to change his poopy diaper and he still loves me and greets me with a big "I love you mommy"-smile. There is something to be learned from these babes. They are truly a sweet little gift and they have so much to teach us.

Shortly after we had been home we realized that our house was not very "baby-proof". Our apartment floors were falling apart and since we have such an interesting landlord (bless his heart) there was no way we would ever get it fixed unless we did it ourselves.
So, here's what we did the week after we got home. TADA!!!
Now Jeremiah can cruise all he wants and I don't have to worry about what nasty pieces of old flooring he can put in his mouth.

Before                                                                             After

Chris recently celebrated his 28th Birthday. Boy am I glad he was born! Where would I be without him?
We had a simple stay at home celebration which was all he wanted after his hard day's work. But, that didn't sit well with my family so, we celebrated a tad bit more with them later in the week.

Jeremiah is cruisin' around all over the place now. He goes from room to room faster than I can turn around to see where he's going. He now stands up and walks from one piece of furniture to the next. Every once and a while he'll get daring and let go for a few seconds but then slowly lowers himself to the ground and realizes that for now he can get around faster by crawling. He babbles non-stop and tells us all kinds of stories...if only we could understand them. One of his new favorite things to do is hold onto the front of the entertainment center and dance (stomp) and sing (Bah bah La La Ba Wa) with whatever is playing on the TV. Jeremiah has developed such a sweet relationship with Chris. Whenever Chris gets home from work or comes through the front door Jeremiah jets straight toward him greeting him with smiles, giggles and high pitches squeels. Daddy then usually spends about an hour tickling and playing with Jeremiah. They are so fun to watch.

Here is a picture of happy Jeremiah just after I watched him finish eating a potato bug. He puts whatever he can find into his mouth and locks it shut whenever I try to take things out of it.

Jeremiah also enjoys the taste of fresh soil...mmm...Yummy!