Blessings

I've had a busy life with my kids the last few months while Jeff has been busy with school. I have been thinking recently of how everything has been going and I am left with a huge amount of gratitude. I'm going to try to share some of my thoughts.

So I couldn't help including some of my favorite pictures that were taken long before my blog began. This is also leading me into some of my blessings :). I just love my kids and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Isn't Sandra in the wildflowers beautiful!

When Jeff was in school for his bachelor's degree I had a lot of time alone with kids then too. I just love the way my two boys love each other! I can't say it was an easy time in my life. Being alone (without a car for 1 1/2 years as well) with two small kids was very hard. I don't know if it was just my attitude or if it was the seclusion.

I must say that things are going better now than they were then. I am finding more joy in being a mother and loving seeing my children learn and grow. I know they are going to grow out of this time too fast and I don't want to miss these memories!

Seeing Jeff with our two boys was always a treat. They loved him so much. I must say that with all this amazing husband of mine has to do, I'm so grateful that he still gets to spend some time with his boys. He takes them to school every morning. What a blessing to me that I don't have to do that, and also for Jeff to have some alone time with the boys. He loves to teach them and wants the very best for our family. I love that about him. I know that school will be long and hard, but the end result of having a better job to support the family and be able to teach principles of work to the kids will be well worth this sacrifice now.

I've been so blessed to have more time with my girls recently. I was grateful to have the chance to help bring in a little money with babysitting. Our little friend has moved on to a new home closer to their new home so I'm down to just my two girls. I love seeing Sandra love books and help with Mhari. She thinks she is so big and just loves to be around me. It's amazing to see her thinking and trying to understand new things. She is a great big sister and great helper at home! (yes she still looks like a boy, but it's getting better)


Then there is my little Mhari. I love this picture because she has a car in each hand while in her nice church clothes. She is loving learning and exploring. She has recently been working on mastering the stairs so that has been fun. I think she's teething though, but other than that she is definitely showing some independence. Having a baby again has been a wonderful blessing to our family. She is a sweetie!

Since I'm down to two kids again I've gotten to go on walks with the girls. I walk for almost an hour and have been trying to deliver little goodies to some friends nearby. It makes it even better to be out doing good! I really love that time alone with the girls getting some fresh air and exercise.

I must add some other blessings I've noticed. I have had more patience with the kids. I'm sure this is a blessing :). Not every night and I know there is room for improvement, but I'm so grateful that I'm trying to enjoy the kids and not just been annoyed at them. While thinking of all of these things this week it did come to an end last night with every child crying at some point. It is still better than it could be though :).

I'm also so blessed to have friends here to help me out. One of them put herself in charge of badgering my husband so I can find an hour or so to escape during the month. She succeeded and we got out last night. Her hubby is also in school so she's helping with my sanity I think :). There are so many great women here that I can't list them all, but I hope you know who you are!

I've also gotten to start attending our ward Institute class weekly with a volunteer babysitter and everything. That has been a nice boost to my week and gives me more opportunity to study the gospel. It's amazing what is in the Old Testament!

I'm happy to have my calling. I don't know that I would ever ask to teach adults, but I've learned a lot and I'm still learning. It's a great reason for me to be studying and reading my scriptures each week. That motivation brings the spirit when I otherwise would not bother reading. I could not ask for a better blessing in my life than to have the spirit in my home. I just need to be better for it to stay longer.
This is getting long, but there are so many things every day that I've just been so blessed with. I'm glad that Talmage is 6 and likes to be a big helper, even when the little kids don't help. We clean the house on Friday or Saturday as a family so that Sunday it's still pretty clean. That has made a huge difference on how my Sunday goes. Having family that loves us and keeps in contact is great too. The kids love all the relatives and can't wait to see most of them at Christmas.

I'm going to end with the statement that "Life is Good". I need to remember that. We have opposition to understand and learn and grow. I wouldn't ever appreciate the truly great things I have if I didn't go through some hard times too. It's not easy to remember, but the feeling is real, even when it's been a long hard day. Life is only moving forward and I don't want to look back and regret not enjoying these days, even though they are hard!