One Day At a Time

This one's for Kestrel, and any other moms who struggle with challenging kids!

So, a month or two ago I attended a lecture by Richard Eyre, as I have previously mentioned. In his presentation, he told a story that I loved, because it gave me a new perspective on raising kids who are a challenge.

He said that one summer, on a family vacation in Idaho, they were attending church services, and in their Sunday School class, there was another visitor who had all the answers to everything. For every question that the teacher asked, this gentleman raised his hand and told how his valedictorian son had done this, or his straight "A," prom queen daughter had done that, and how he and his wife had figured out how to raise perfect kids, and this and that. It got to be really irritating to the entire class. Finally, towards the end of the lesson, one old farmer-type fellow quietly stood up, turned around to face this obnoxious person, and remarked, "Well the Lord must not have thought too much of you as parents to send you all them easy kids."

Well said!

I remember my dear friend Karen often saying that people who had easy kids would have hard teenagers, and people who have hard kids would have easy teenagers! For Moms with hard little ones, let's hope that's true! (-;

I don't claim to have really difficult kids--in fact, I am lucky in that they are pretty easy--most days! But there are always those days that the only thing I can do is just repeat over and over in my mind the words of an old hymn I remember hearing at the nursing home where I worked as a teenager: "One day at a time, sweet Jesus, that is all I am asking of you..."

Just take it one day at a time--this too shall pass!

Of New Beginnings

 

 

 

 

 

Of Birthday Surprises

So, Curtis was out of town on my birthday, so I expected a quiet evening at home with my kiddoes. To my astonishment, five minutes after I returned home from the park with my little ones, several of my girlfriends showed up at the door, whisked me into a formal gown, and out the door, while Ben stayed with my kids. As we went outside, there was a limousine parked in the parking lot. "How cool, someone is renting a limo!" I thought. I then suddenly realized that it was for me! So yeah, my sweet homegirls rented a limo and took me out to a nice restaurant by the ocean for my birthday. I was so not expecting it, but what a wonderful birthday surprise!

The bottom photo is of my favorite present I got from my beautiful little family--a jar full of reasons they love me! (-: What a sweet thing to get on a birthday! I am so grateful for the wonderful relationships I am blessed to enjoy that make life so meaningful and delightful!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Leila!

 

 

 

 

Of Sweeeeet Honey

Along with my lovely sister-in-law, Kayla, I am taking up a new hobby--bee keeping! We ordered our first beehive, which arrived in the mail, and got it set up. Now we just have to wait for the bees we ordered, which will presumably be here on April 6th. Ironically, neither Kayla nor myself care for honey much, but we have other motives. (Although I have to say, fresh, raw honey--not the stuff you buy from the supermarket--is definitely growing on me!) I thought it would be great for a science project for the kids, and Kayla is doing it to have her garden and many fruit trees get pollinated well.
Should be an interesting adventure!

 

 

Of SoCal Pioneers

So for the second year in a row, our little family participated in a multi stake activity in San Diego's historic district. This year I volunteered us to help out with one of the booths, so we all went in costume.

There were lots of fun activities for the kids to participate in, including rope making, biscuit on a stick making, making rag dolls, singing, quill pen writing, quilt square making, and lots of other things. We all had a good time!