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.