The last two weeks have past in a blur as we have been either running off to dance, or weighed down with the sickie ickies! My birthday brought me some valuable quiet time as the girls were watching a movie and so I spent the morning rearranging and organizing the playroom/schoolroom. It was nice to feel lighter as things started to come together and I didn't feel such utter chaos in our house all the time. February really just became a month of survival as we kept getting hit with sickness after sickness after sickness. Yet God is so good to us. We had moments of immense joy amidst the chaos and I have realized how grateful I am for my girls and their health! We had been a part of a mother child song group but with being sick we missed the past three weeks, and to be honest I have been grateful to just have time at home to be quiet and allow the girls the freedom to play and explore and develop their own play instead of always running off to here there and the other places we have to always go.
My friend Jenny constantly inspires me to be better as she is always reading and so I started to glean information and knowledge from the same books she found success with. I had started reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and was excited to find valuable tips to apply in my own life that have indeed made me happier. My reading got put at a standstill as the girls got sick but I am happy to get up and started again to see what other practical advice I can learn and apply in our home. In trying to pay down my student loan from university we utilize the library a lot for the books I have been reading and it is fun to check out a ton of different books and find such great information. The little girls have also come to love the library despite our busy schedule and we go quite often whether it be the two little girls when Jessa is in dance or if we crash the place afterwards! It is fun to go and have the girls pick out books and movies that they are interested in and see them pick out subjects that I never would have imagined that they would pick out. Today Adaya picked a book out on Fire Engines and Jessa picked one on fishing. It is fun to see their little personalities develop in such different ways then sometimes I expect and I am grateful that they are mine.
I love seeing that most days there are books strewn all over the house as the girls are constantly reading and devouring the stories that they see. There is something truly so magical about being able to escape into another world and be an onlooker in an adventure that you would only dare to imagine. So cheers to all the fellow books nerds out there; I have converted another three :)
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Marine Life
Jonathan for the last two months had been wanting to go to West Edmonton Mall to watch the Sea lion show. So finally we ended up going today for the 2:00 show. We got to the mall around 1:00 and spent an hour wandering around the Marine Life aquarium underground learning about the animals there. I was proud of Jessa as she touched some of the sea anemone and then asked me to read her the signs. She is such a sweet little girl and I loved her enthusiasm about being able to watch the show and then asking if we could have a baby sea lion come live with us. Her proposed plan of action was to have the sea lion live in her bedroom and take swims in the bath tub! If only our house didn't smell like fish and the bath tub wasn't too small baby girl! How I love the curiosity she brings.
Adaya enjoyed the show and was intent to look at things from a far. She is another girl who really loves her penguins and giggled with delight when they came and swam right at the window in front of her. Her grin is so infectious I just love it!
All in all we had a good day being able to look at the amazing creatures that God has designed and put here for us on earth.
Adaya enjoyed the show and was intent to look at things from a far. She is another girl who really loves her penguins and giggled with delight when they came and swam right at the window in front of her. Her grin is so infectious I just love it!
All in all we had a good day being able to look at the amazing creatures that God has designed and put here for us on earth.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
God's NOT dead
Last week was one that I wouldn't have wished on my worst enemy. It all started out as a normal day when my washing machine decided to die. At first I couldn't decide if I should have it repaired or get a new one. We had enough clothes for the next few days or so I thought. It was two days after that, that poor Jessa woke up with the poor stomach flu; you know the one that isn't just one day or two days but the dreaded 72 hour flu? That's what that poor girl had and it was bad.
I was going to sum up that as my story but then I realized that I forgot to mention the best part! Jonathan decided during this stomach flu fiasco that he should change our toilet... and so he set off one day on doing just that. Can you imagine being without a toilet when there is stomach flu in your house?? There seems to be a trend developing of worst timing ever here... as Jonathan now had changed our dishwasher in my last hours of labour, and then changed a toilet with the stomach flu going on... I am curious to see what he will change next.
Anyways, when it finally ended I expected to have my sassy girl back but instead I was faced with a little girl who complained that her legs hurt and she would just lay down on the floor because she just didn't have the energy to get up and move. It was devastating to watch her feel so sick and I just didn't know what to do. So I went to Google of course and started to look up what I should do or if it was now time to let the big guys deal with it and take her into the hospital.
I came to learn that weak legs with pain after a stomach flu are usually from dehydration and so I started to pump her with fluids. I gave her sippy cup after sippy cup of juice and constantly asked her to keep drinking and drinking. It was during these last days that Jonathan had the missionaries come over to help bring in our new washing machine. So I decided to jump in on that opportunity and ask the Elders to give big girl a blessing. It was an amazing blessing given because there were phrases uttered in her blessing that this missionary would have had no clue about unless they were given directly from a loving Heavenly Father who truly was aware of his precious child.
Jessa was given a blessing that told her she had a sweet heart and advised her to recognize that she had an important role as a big sister who had younger sisters watching. That the choices she made and the habits she developed would be ones her little sister would have as well and that her example would help her sisters one day return to Heavenly Father. It was amazing to feel and hear those words from someone who knew Jessa but not that we had been focusing on kindness or being peacemakers. It amazes me each time the opportunity comes to be in direct communication with God how real He is and how much He knows us. I am so grateful for the priesthood that allows us to access intimate knowledge that can be shared as we turn to Him.
I was going to sum up that as my story but then I realized that I forgot to mention the best part! Jonathan decided during this stomach flu fiasco that he should change our toilet... and so he set off one day on doing just that. Can you imagine being without a toilet when there is stomach flu in your house?? There seems to be a trend developing of worst timing ever here... as Jonathan now had changed our dishwasher in my last hours of labour, and then changed a toilet with the stomach flu going on... I am curious to see what he will change next.
Anyways, when it finally ended I expected to have my sassy girl back but instead I was faced with a little girl who complained that her legs hurt and she would just lay down on the floor because she just didn't have the energy to get up and move. It was devastating to watch her feel so sick and I just didn't know what to do. So I went to Google of course and started to look up what I should do or if it was now time to let the big guys deal with it and take her into the hospital.
I came to learn that weak legs with pain after a stomach flu are usually from dehydration and so I started to pump her with fluids. I gave her sippy cup after sippy cup of juice and constantly asked her to keep drinking and drinking. It was during these last days that Jonathan had the missionaries come over to help bring in our new washing machine. So I decided to jump in on that opportunity and ask the Elders to give big girl a blessing. It was an amazing blessing given because there were phrases uttered in her blessing that this missionary would have had no clue about unless they were given directly from a loving Heavenly Father who truly was aware of his precious child.
Jessa was given a blessing that told her she had a sweet heart and advised her to recognize that she had an important role as a big sister who had younger sisters watching. That the choices she made and the habits she developed would be ones her little sister would have as well and that her example would help her sisters one day return to Heavenly Father. It was amazing to feel and hear those words from someone who knew Jessa but not that we had been focusing on kindness or being peacemakers. It amazes me each time the opportunity comes to be in direct communication with God how real He is and how much He knows us. I am so grateful for the priesthood that allows us to access intimate knowledge that can be shared as we turn to Him.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Bumps and Bruises
I feel like this post deserves to be all on its own. Adaya my poor poor Adaya has really hit a rough time in nursery. One where she didn't want to go and so I tried tough love to let her cry for a bit and found that just didn't seem to work with her and so I was back to square one of going in with her to nursery and letting her transition with my support as an onlooker in her class.
Unfortunately though, the times I left her she seems to come out with some bumps. The first week when she was helping clean up a table fell on her leaving a nice bruise on her cheek and then the week after she fell back on her chair during snack, threw up everywhere and ended up with a minor concussion.
The nursery leader was so kind to come and get me and so calm about telling me that Adaya had fallen back and then gotten sick all over. She then encouraged me to take Adaya to emergency and so we grabbed the rest of the fam and headed on over to the local hospital. While actually we stopped at Walmart as Adaya was in just a diaper from being sick on her clothes and to grab some buns for the others to eat as we waited to be seen. I came to recognize gratitude for doctors and for prayers and for faith and that Walmart was open on a Sunday!
It is a scary thing to see your child go through a minor traumatic incident and come out unscathed but I was grateful that we have an amazing medical system that we don't have to pay for those times that we just need reassurance that our child is okay.
The week after it happened I could tell that Adaya had suffered a bit from the concussion as she was a bit weepier and more sensitive than normal. I am happy to report that she is now back to her normal happy bouncy self and I hope that we can come out of nursery unscathed for the next little while!
Unfortunately though, the times I left her she seems to come out with some bumps. The first week when she was helping clean up a table fell on her leaving a nice bruise on her cheek and then the week after she fell back on her chair during snack, threw up everywhere and ended up with a minor concussion.
The nursery leader was so kind to come and get me and so calm about telling me that Adaya had fallen back and then gotten sick all over. She then encouraged me to take Adaya to emergency and so we grabbed the rest of the fam and headed on over to the local hospital. While actually we stopped at Walmart as Adaya was in just a diaper from being sick on her clothes and to grab some buns for the others to eat as we waited to be seen. I came to recognize gratitude for doctors and for prayers and for faith and that Walmart was open on a Sunday!
It is a scary thing to see your child go through a minor traumatic incident and come out unscathed but I was grateful that we have an amazing medical system that we don't have to pay for those times that we just need reassurance that our child is okay.
The week after it happened I could tell that Adaya had suffered a bit from the concussion as she was a bit weepier and more sensitive than normal. I am happy to report that she is now back to her normal happy bouncy self and I hope that we can come out of nursery unscathed for the next little while!
Saturday, February 18, 2017
New Years Goals
New Years brings with it a feeling of hope and another push to start again and try harder for those goals that you hope make you a better person... while that's what New Years does for me anyways! So when a friend said that she had a family theme for the year I decided to get myself in gear and try again to implement the same type of idea in our house.
The girls had been fighting quite a bit and we had been dealing a lot with bossiness in our house so almost daily I was singing over and over and OVER again. "Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love others will love you!" And the girls would grumble and say not again! or cover their ears... I am thinking that this wasn't as effective as I was hoping and so when I started to think that this could be our theme for the year I was ecstatic! So like all good planners I went to pinterest to locate a cute sign I could print for our home. On my search I came up with an even better theme: Treat every person you meet as a child of God. It was from a talk by President. Eyring titled Daughters in the Covenant! This was even better because I came to realize if my girls (lets be honest, and maybe me too!) could view not only themselves but others as children of God we would all be a lot kinder! It was amazing how things fell quickly into place and we spent the month of January talking about kindness. About how Jesus acted towards others. February we spent the month talking about being peacemakers. And the friend had this cool chalk board poster of ways to be a peace maker! I am grateful that we had this experience so far and am excited to see what more I can glean as this year continues on!
In setting my own goals I came up with my own theme for the year, Reach Up and Not Across. It was a talk given by Robert D Hales "Meetings the Challenges of Today's World". I have struggled a lot since becoming a grown up in facing what I feared were insurmountable challenges and trials. So finding a confidant and friend to rely on who I could be more like to help me be more like the person I am sure both I myself wanted to be like and how Heavenly Father saw me became really important. I am happy to report that I have taken a few crucial steps in trying to become my best self and I am excited to see what the future holds as I try to better myself!
The girls had been fighting quite a bit and we had been dealing a lot with bossiness in our house so almost daily I was singing over and over and OVER again. "Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love others will love you!" And the girls would grumble and say not again! or cover their ears... I am thinking that this wasn't as effective as I was hoping and so when I started to think that this could be our theme for the year I was ecstatic! So like all good planners I went to pinterest to locate a cute sign I could print for our home. On my search I came up with an even better theme: Treat every person you meet as a child of God. It was from a talk by President. Eyring titled Daughters in the Covenant! This was even better because I came to realize if my girls (lets be honest, and maybe me too!) could view not only themselves but others as children of God we would all be a lot kinder! It was amazing how things fell quickly into place and we spent the month of January talking about kindness. About how Jesus acted towards others. February we spent the month talking about being peacemakers. And the friend had this cool chalk board poster of ways to be a peace maker! I am grateful that we had this experience so far and am excited to see what more I can glean as this year continues on!
In setting my own goals I came up with my own theme for the year, Reach Up and Not Across. It was a talk given by Robert D Hales "Meetings the Challenges of Today's World". I have struggled a lot since becoming a grown up in facing what I feared were insurmountable challenges and trials. So finding a confidant and friend to rely on who I could be more like to help me be more like the person I am sure both I myself wanted to be like and how Heavenly Father saw me became really important. I am happy to report that I have taken a few crucial steps in trying to become my best self and I am excited to see what the future holds as I try to better myself!