Silver Lining

Doctrine and Covenants 122:7
And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee;...know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.


Since this blog is more or less centered around the blessings in my life I'd like to dedicate this post to the blessings that are sometimes disguised as trials at first. The "billowing surge" is hardly conspiring against us, but sometimes it feels like that, doesn't it? This is about that good old silver lining. A few of the highlights this month:

Gabe waiting to till after we got home from the baby sitter's house to throw up all over the floor. Much better than at someone else's house, and much better than the carpet.

My mother has been sick for the past two months and in her bed much of the time. She has had a variety of symptoms that no one would envy but one of them has been little to no appetite at all. As a consequence she has lost 10lb with little effort on her part.

Last week I woke up at 3:00am, not due to my infant son, but as a consequence of chills and a raging fever. Not to be confused with the almost chronic illness as my mother; this only lasted 24 hours. It came on the perfect day. The day AFTER Gabe got over his stomach bug and the day BEFORE we were to leave to visit the Schenewarks in West Virginia. Thankfully I don't think I passed it on to anyone.

The trip up to Amy Jo's started at around 10 am and ended at 4 pm. If anyone has driven with two small children they can attest it is a lot of work to keep them content for that long, much less in a cramped space like a car. The silver lining was that it took place in our new minivan where I could sit in the back seat and see the kids in the middle, hand them snacks etc. The van has already been a huge blessing in our lives. (The visit was fantastic too by the way, a definite repeat. It was fun for our boys to have other boys to play with for a change. No trial there, just blessing)

With all this sickness going around in our house I'm also grateful Zach, our bread winner, and David Hyrum, my angel baby, have not as yet been effected. Hopefully they will not be. I can honestly say that I'm grateful for these small trials in my life including some others that have not been mentioned. It seems easier to see the hand of God in my life.

Piles of togetherness

Monday was one of "those days" in our house. Two sick children, the baby with a double ear infection, a sick mother, shopping, cooking for the family and my grandma, and laundry that was full to overflowing. After working myself bone weary Zach offered to help me fold the mountain of laundry and even cheerfully said (as the 7th load came out of the dryer) "Oh good another pile of togetherness time". It made me smile so I share it with you and all you helpful husbands out there looking to serve your wives.

Zach and I- like warm cookies and milk

"And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh;...Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh."

Genesis 2:23-24

Zach and I recently had the opportunity to be part of a discussion panel for the youth in our church geared towards helping the kids want to strive for an eternal marriage. To make it fun, it was set up like the newly wed game where they asked the couples questions about their spouses to see how well they new each other. Zach and I represented the mid-range couple having been married 4 years with small children and we were batting at about 80% I believe concerning important questions such as "how many pairs of shoes does your spouse have". The real newly weds who were married last month and the couple that had teenagers were both about the same. Then it was open to question and answer and one of the kids asked how we knew we were supposed to marry our spouse. That was fun to hear other people's experience and then recount my own. Not many people have heard me tell it, but I felt I received a pretty clear message in a dream to break up with the guy I was currently dating and then unbeknownst to me, Zach came home from his mission the very next day. I prayed about marrying Zach and the Lord told me that if I married him I'd be happy. Four and a half happy years later, here we are.
I've always thought Zach and I balanced each other out like peanut butter and jelly, a little sweet and a little salty. As we have spent more time together our personalities have naturally become more similar but he is still the calm to my stress and I am still the comfort to his long day. When I told Zach about this blog he suggested I use the analogy of Cookies and milk instead. I teased him about being the milk- tall and white and me being the cookie- golden brown, small and sweet. He took it good naturedly. I am very grateful to have someone to spend eternity with that has a good sense of humor. I've heard it said that God created man and woman differently not to compete but to complement eachother. I believe that our stregnths and weaknesses really do help eachother to grow. In the 7 or so years I've known Zach he's definatly help me grow and change for the better. He has said the same about me in the past. Zach is my blessing I'm remembering for the day- but definatly more than just bite sized.


(Notice in the scripture how the woman doesn't have to leave her parents, that's why we live with my folks instead of Zach's :o)

Pedeothermaphobia:

Pedeothermaphobia: An unnatural fear of your children being too hot or too cold, especially at night. Fear of them kicking off the covers or sweating underneath them. A common symptom is the urge to go check the children at least before you go to bed if not multiple times a night.

I would be the pedothermiac- any other sufferers out there?

(P.S. This is a made up word- Zach teases me about it but its not an actual diagnosable condition.)

Cute things they do and say : Second Installment

Psalms 127:3-5 "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord...happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."


From time to time I jot down things that are cute and I've been wanting to post them on my blog. Since Gabe is both more verbal and mobile there was more to write about him. For a time I was waiting to get more things about David Hyrum so that he too could get fair representation but my husband let me know that that was silly and a very mom thing to do. No one would think that I loved Gabe more if I put more things about him up. Upon taking his advice here we go:

Gabe loves to be with mom, when given a choice of who should give him a hug, or a bath, a story and especially a punishment he always chooses mom. (I'm such a pushover) Mom however has nothing on play time. Gabe covets Zach's attention when they are outside playing together. About six months ago, as soon as he could put complex sentences together, when I tried to follow them outside Gabe (20 months) told me, "Go back in the kitchen and make dinner mommy." It was too funny for me to be too offended. I felt like those TV wives where the husband says "woman, go make me a pie." I obliged that time, but sometimes I just stay and usurp dad's attention.

Since my mother is a big part of Gabe's life she has taught him words like "rapscallion" and "lazybones". When Gabe's younger cousin Owen was here to stay Gabe would take him by the hand and say "Come on you rapscallion" or "lets go you lazybones" and lead him off to the next activity. Owen would gladdly comply.

David Hyrum often gets up before his older brother and so we have some one on one time together. One morning while I was reading the scriptures David Hyrum got ahold of an Ensign and ate one of the corners. I looked up and laughed at his big smilely face and told him we were both "feasting on the word." He's a quick learner that David Hyrum.

My father in law, Ken Hutchins aka Pop Pop, enjoys a good game of scrable- or rather trouncing on other weaker scrable players. Not myself mind you, he has pity on my inferior vocabulary and scrable skills so often helps me when we play. That aside, Gabe found a scable pice in our home (in north carolina) and brought it to me and said, "This is Pop pops, you should give it to him." Scable and Pop pop are inextricably linked in Gabe's mind.

David loves Gabe. Zach and I are pretty sure its his favorite person. Zach and I can make David Hyrum smile if we catch his eye or tickle him etc. but all Gabe has to do is be alive and its funny. David will follow Gabe around the room with his eyes for long periods of time just watching him play and laugh at who knows what. Its just fun to see his hero in action.

In this time of rapid learning Gabe makes millions of mental connections that we aren't even aware of. Sometimes they come to the surface and are quite interesting. When he was about 16 months he saw a manual can opener lying on the counter in the spread out position and he said air plane. I looked at it and sure enough it had two wings and a propeller. He has also asked to sit on my triangle (my lap when my ankle is on my knee) and told me the food goes down his tunnel. Its fun to see him learn and say things in a non conventional way.

DH has become my little pisbury dough boy. He is very tickleish in the middle and his eyes light up when you "nuzzle him" in his tummy or chest. I'm ticklish myself but unlike David Hyrum, I don't care to be tickled. Zach and Gabe just aren't that ticklish.

Its easy to have joy when it runs around you and through your legs or sits upon you lap and laughs.

Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do next week

This is a principle that I'm definitely having to grow into. It takes time, money, planning, and a commitment to rotate as opposed to many of the commandments that you can obey immediately. I understand the prophets have been urging us to store food for many decades now but when you are a kid your parents do it for you. I'm sure anyone who has their food storage in place is grateful they were obedient when food costs were lower, now that prices are on the rise.
So far we have gotten our two week supply of water for our family under our bed that has been put on risers for just such storage. We recently changed out the water when we moved but it was time to do it anyway. The food part is not so simple though. Since we moved in with my mother I've had to do an inventory of what she has and compare it to what we need. As far as long term storage items (wheat, milk, sugar, salt, beans, pasta etc.) she still has much of the 4 person supply of food storage that she had when I lived here before so that is wonderfully convenient. She also has many quick-use canned items under the beds which include tuna, soups, peanut butter and canned vegetables. To my understanding we are to have 3 month's supply of items that we use on a regular basis such as the canned goods, cereals, and baking mixes. My mom also has a supply of toilet paper and paper towels and we have extra diapers under the crib/ Gabe's bed. I can't forget the 20 quarts of salsa I canned that is vitally important to our health and well being. Its good, especially during this hurricane season, to feel prepared. In a pinch we could get by and even help our neighbor.

Three's company

This week while my sister Amber and her husband Robbie took a much needed short trip to Bush Garden's we kept their almost 2 year old, Owen for 3 days. It was quite an adventure. Since Gabe is only about 5 months older they had a blast together. When Gabe was awake and Owen was not he would want to go in and get him up to play with. For me however it was an exercise in patience and endurance. I knew there was a reason the Lord has not blessed me with twins yet. Owen has a very happy disposition but is a willful little bug and comes with more energy than the energizer bunny. Mostly though I think I just wasn't used to having 3 little boys all at once for any great length of time. My mom helped out, and Zach helped after work but it sort of opened my eyes up to what I can expect after our third little blessing comes (and no, that is not an announcement. There is no bun in this oven yet.) Toothpaste tubes squished out, shared colds/runny noses, lots of squealing, three sets of diapers and clothes to change,and mud puddles that met their match with Gabe and Owen together. It was fun to have him here but I have a new respect for women with twins. Oh the blessings of motherhood/aunthood.