Monday Musings – Vacation

I need  a vacation.

Badly.

Thankfully we found this house to live in down in Arizona and we’ll be staying close to post. We’ll get to see Russ a little, and have a backyard, and there are some fun things to do in Arizona. I have declared September as the month of perpetual vacation.

We’ll also be closing on our house in September, which will be the crowning glory of this summer (along with Russ’ graduation).

It’s been a long summer and I’m just glad it’s almost over.

Looking back, I’m trying to figure out what good things came out of this summer. A lot of things, I’m sure. I learned a lot. I mean a lot. It has been really good for me. I don’t know that I grew a lot this summer, but I think this summer has planted the seeds for growth for the next several years.

I have met a lot of really neat people, and I have been on the receiving end of some really great service and blessings.

I have become stronger – I can run nearly 6 miles without a problem, and I could probably do more than that, but I’ve put running on the back burner right now.

I wish I could say that my testimony has been strengthened, but I think it has been mostly stagnant. I think I will spend the next few days working on that. Throw myself into prayer and the scriptures. Figure out what Heavenly Father wants me to be doing right now (rather than just “waiting” for the summer to end). That kind of thing. I’ll definitely let you know how it goes.

By the way, if you haven’t yet, go here and create your Mormon.org profile – and share the mormon.org website with anyone and everyone!

PofE – Line Upon Line

I think that maybe I was expecting too much of myself when I made my first Pursuit of Excellence Goal.

Mosiah 4:27 says:

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

The phrases “line upon line” and “precept upon precept” are found countless times through the scriptures. It’s as if Heavenly Father is trying to tell us something!

Now, first of all, most of my “goals” are not really goals – they are habit changes. There will be no “end” – I won’t exactly “acheive” something – it’s more like I’ll be getting to a point where I have changed my habits for the better.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Simple Mom, and she wrote about the kaizen method of habit change. It has that “line upon line” feel to it, and I think I will give it a try.

So, since I keep failing miserably in achieving my goal of writing in my journal daily, I am going to make a goal that by the end of September (by September 30) I will be writing in my journal daily.

My steps will be this:

1. The week of August 29-Sept 4, I will write in my journal two days.

2. The week of Sept 5-11, I will write in my journal four days.

3. The week of Sept 12-18, I will write in my journal five days.

4. The week of Sept 19-25, I will write in my journal six days.

5. The week of Sept 26-Oct 2, I will write in my journal seven days.

So, by the end of September I will be writing in my journal daily. This feels like a more manageable way to change my habits and develop newer, better habits – by moving “line upon line.”

Change of Plans

Remember this list?

Well, this happened, and that list basically went right out the window.

 

So instead of all those goals, I basically have one for the rest of the summer (and September, in case you don’t still count that as summer):

survive

That’s it. I’ll worry about thriving when I get to Arizona and I’m with my sweet supporter and confidant.

I may try to run a half marathon in Arizona, but it’s more likely that I wait until October and run the Provo Halloween Half Marathon.

For the next two weeks while I’m still here in Arkansas, I will take it easy, run if I can, not run if I can’t, continue my yoga practice, maybe play some more violin, and enjoy spending time with my kids and those sweet puppies (did I mention how sweet and good those puppies are? Well, they are).

Maybe I’ll even get started on Joseline’s quilt. I’ll definitely work out the design for Vincente’s quilt.

I’ve been a little frustrated at the need to change my plans (I am a serious planner... like, probably OCD about having plans. Ask my husband, I wouldn’t even consider marrying him until he had a 10 year plan). I think I married the right guy, though, because Russ is always talking about how you shouldn’t plan stuff because you never know what’s going to happen and life may change. I say you should plan stuff, because otherwise you’re like Alice in Wonderland.

So Russ and I have been great for each other – since we’ve been married, he’s been a better planner, and I’ve been more flexible. Which means although I was a little frustrated, I moved on without too much hesitation.

And now here I am – with new plans for the future.

It’s Official!

Our offer was approved on the house!! We close on September 23!!

We’ll be having a housewarming party in October after we move in. Probably the weekend after we move in (Oct 9). We’re going to be planting stuff, and we want to do it before it gets too cold.

If you’re going to be in Utah that weekend, you should come! Our house will be open all day to visitors, so just make you way over, come as early as you want, stay as late as you want, feel free to leave and come back, whatever! We just want to see everyone! (and show off our new house, of course!)

Pending the military letting Russ leave after graduation, we plan on driving back to Utah on October 1 or 2. We’re doing the POD thing, and we’ll probably have it for the entire month of October, so we’ll be in no rush to unpack – but anyone who feels the urge to come help, you’re completely welcome to come help on Saturday.

We are excited to be back in Utah soon!

Wednesday Wanderings – Theo Chocolate

When we were in Seattle this past weekend, we spent some time as a family on Monday visiting various places in Seattle – getting out to bond and try to forget the sad event that got us all together – at least for a few hours.

My favorite place we went was Theo Chocolate, a chocolate factory in Seattle.

Yum.

Picture this:

You walk into Theo Chocolate from a downtown street in Seattle. As you walk in the door, you see little pedestals with chunks of chocolate for taste-testing, and the bars conveniently placed next to the samples for easy access once you become addicted to their chocolate.

The chocolate is organic, sustainable, and most of it is dark chocolate. 70% to be exact. They also have a 91% chocolate bar (very bitter!) and a few milk chocolate bar.

But my favorite?

The cacao nibs. Basically they are cacao beans that have been roasted and crushed. YUM. It’s like a big burst of caffeine and antioxidants! Talk about a rush! I wonder what would happen if you brewed them like coffee....

So far I have eaten them plain (they have a nutty chocolaty taste) and my favorite – over hot oatmeal with a little brown sugar and walnuts and almonds. Talk about breakfast of champions! I had to buy the 1 lb bag because ... well, they are that good. And I don’t really want to have to buy and ship from their website if I can help it (although some health food stores carry their chocolate, I don’t know about the nibs... yum nibs).

You can read about their story here.

What I like the most about Theo Chocolate is that they are concerned about sustainability, health, and chocolate! Basically the best combination I could ever think of.

Your job: Go to their store locator, find a place near you that sells their chocolate, and go get some. Yum. You won’t be disappointed (seriously – even their dark chocolate is delish. Super delish).

Now for the ratings:

Ratings:

Value -

The chocolate is a little pricey (at $4 for a 3oz bar), but it is very good, organic, and sustainable – so that has to count for something! I’m just taking into consideration that most people wouldn’t pay $4 for that little amount of chocolate. But it does help you savor it (I haven’t even broken into my bars from the trip! I guess I got my fill taste-testing... yum...)

Location -

  Five stars because it’s downtown Seattle – and there is SO much stuff to do in Seattle that you’re not driving forever out of your way just to get some good chocolate (although it totally would be worth it!)

Fun Factor -

Three stars because – I mean, seriously... how much fun can you have tasting chocolate? But the tour would probably have been more entertaining, but we just taste-tested chocolate and bought more chocolate than we should (oh, and did I mention we got a F&F discount!? It pays to know Darla! – my cousin. Also a Doula – who I am going to fly to wherever I live when I have my next child).

In The Lead

What Vincente was found doing during choir practice a few Sundays ago:

If you hadn’t noticed – life has kind of imploded for me this summer. But it hasn’t been all bad.

I’ve met a lot of way cute ladies new to the ward I grew up in (who will probably move out after a few years – they are wives of residents at the hospitals, law students at UALR, and various other long-term temporary engagements). But that’s okay, because I’m moving out before any of them! (a lot earlier... but that’s a post for another day)

  We bought two of the most adorable puppies EVER (and they are already pretty well behaved – they (mostly) potty outside, and not in their crate, although sometimes they have accidents in the morning because... well, they really just can’t hold it. They are learning to not pull on the leash  - also hard for them to because they are puppies, and puppies like to smell, chew, pee, and run around. Not really conducive to staying on a leash. The biggest achievement is that they will STAY!!  Seriously! I can open a door, tell them to “fica” (although it’s probably a different form of the verb, since technically I’m talking to you(pl). I’m sure Russ will correct me on that eventually), and they STAY. Not for very long, but they do it! I can get them to stay in their crate with the door open, too. Amazing! They are super smart (and super stupid sometimes – like today when they tied themselves to a tree. Ha ha it was hilarious)! I love them! And apparently they love me. But maybe that’s just because I feed them, let them go potty outside, throw their toys, and give them loving pets (even though I can’t stand the “dog” smell, or the shedding).

I am beyond ready to be back with Russ. Soon. Real soon.

Monday Musings – The Living Room Floor

On Saturday I posted as my status update on Facebook that I felt like lying on the living room floor all day. I tied the puppies outside to the garbage can and left them with a bowl of water (don’t worry, it was in the shade) I got my pillow and my blanket and my cell phone (in case Russ called) and did just that. Laid on the living room floor. Joseline played around me, Vince played upstairs and occasionally came down to show me something.

In the meantime, I tried to sleep and forget about the aching heart in my chest.

It didn’t work, but I did sleep a little – and then realized I was dehydrated, which was probably the second largest contributor to my desire to lay on the floor all day.

I fed the kids lunch, sort of cleaned up (i.e. put all the dishes in the sink and put the leftovers in the fridge), fed the puppies, and then went straight back to the floor.

Fortunately Joseline eventually went down for a nap, and I decided I should probably see if the puppies needed to do #2, since they were on the concrete and only had access to about a foot of dirt/grass/garden space. While we were out with the puppies, Vince decided he wanted to ride his bike.

Which is huge. Because he hates riding his bike.

He pedaled. A lot. Really fast. And uphill! Okay, he needed a little help with the uphill part.

We probably spent an hour out in the hot hot air (the sun was mostly behind the clouds) riding his bike. He rode his bike. I mostly watched. And eventually got a bike to ride as well, because he wanted me to ride with him. The only time he wanted to get off his bike was to get a drink because he was working so hard. He would say “When you got really strong feet, the rollers will go!”  I would tell him to have “strong feet” when he was pushing the pedals, because sometimes it’s kind of hard. He did a great job, and didn’t want to stop, but we had to come inside because Joseline was awake. He has been asking to go back out on his bike ever since. Thankfully it’s cooling down (the high later this week is in the low 90s!! AAAH!!) so we’ll probably get out more often. And we have a nice flat driveway in West Jordan when we move back to UT, so he’ll be able to ride there (and a concrete patio area in the back where he can ride while I’m up observing from the kitchen window!)

Back to the living room floor. 

I’ve been having a hard time with this grieving thing. If you read my post about my brother, you know that I like to Google things. So, in true form, I Googled “How to Grieve” and came upon this website.

I particularly liked what it had to say about “getting over it” :

Myth #3: Grief is something you "get over."

Most people never stop grieving a death; they learn to live with it. Grief is a response, not a straight line with an endpoint. Many psychologists bristle at words such as "acceptance" or "resolution" or "healed" as a final stage of grief. The real stages of grief involve tasks of processing and adjustment that one returns to all through life.

That struck me, because all this time I have been thinking that I will “get over” the death of my brother. But I won’t. I do know that the Savior’s atonement can help heal my heart and teach me how to live with and adjust to the fact that my brother is no longer here. It’s going to be hard, and probably a long road (one that will no doubt stretch until my own passing), but I will learn to live with it. The loss will become part of me. The Savior will absorb the hurt for me and help me adjust to my new normal of living without my brother.

And I’m getting help. So don’t worry – there will be no more days of me lying around on the living room floor all.day.long.

When Your Gut Screams ‘No!’ but Your Mouth Says ‘Of course, I’d be glad to.’

My mom had a sign on her mirror for a long time that said this: Stress is when your gut screams ‘No!’ but your mouth says ‘Of course, I’d be glad to.’

I feel like this is saying “We create our own stress by not being okay with our limits.” Sure, we can push and test our limits sometimes – and our limits should certainly always be expanding - but if we’re not ready to expand our limits (and we need to be ready) we should just do what we can do, and don’t do what we can’t do.

For example, we can’t redeem ourselves, but we can do a lot of righteous things, and we can believe in Christ and let Him redeem us. We do what we can do, and Christ does what we can’t do.

I know this is doctrine, because it says so in 2 Nephi:

“...for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”

This week has been really long for me. Most of you probably know that. If you don’t, read my previous post. Then you’ll know part of what I mean.

On top of that, for some reason beyond my understanding, I agreed to watch my twin nieces the same week I was bringing home two 8 week old puppies. Of course, I wasn’t anticipating my brother to pass away the day after I brought the puppies home. And I wasn’t expecting to switch my flight and get on an airplane in all of 24 hours. And I certainly wasn’t expecting to be as depressed as I have been.

Even though when I found out I would be alone watching the twins, my two kids, and the new puppies, and my gut screamed “No!” a little bit, I thought that was just my own selfishness, and that I should just work through that and do it anyway – after all, my help was needed, and I was willing to give (although I have recently learned that willing ≠ able). So I gave. But I really didn’t have anything to give.

So this week has been long. I have been stressed. And it’s not over yet. I can’t see the blue skies yet, even though I know they are there.

And next time my gut screams “No!” I’m going to take its advice.

 

PS – things are actually going pretty well with the puppies.

And the kids, for that matter.

I can’t wait to have our fenced backyard, though :-6

My Bags are Packed

Ross Richard Werner passed away Saturday, August 14, 2010 in the presence of his wife Jane, father, sister Christy, brother-in-law Adam, and other friends and family. His passing leaves a very large hole in my heart, and I am aching with the desire to say more, do more, and be more to and for him.

I am actually writing this on Friday, August 6, 2010.

Two weeks before it will post.

I’m not ready to face what is coming, and so... like anyone else, I’m denying it will happen, and pretending it won’t, until it’s too late.

Yesterday we talked with my oldest brother, Ross, on Skype.

He beat brain tumors and swelling from a fall, and is getting stronger every day in rehab.

Meanwhile, the tumors in his chest are growing and growing.

The doctors have given him a timeline – weeks, maybe a few months.

Probably more like weeks.

They gave him a choice to do some more chemo, but it won’t help, they say.

 

So, I’ve booked a flight to Seattle to see my brother. Probably for the last time.

I would like to tell you my story about my brother.

 

Ross

from my perspective

Growing up, I loved my brother. I wanted to be just like him. I wanted his stuff. I wanted his friends. I wanted his talents (he is so talented!). In fact, when I started junior high – I wanted to even dress just like him. Big baggy pants and big baggy shirts (what was I thinking? I got a little smarter the next year, and realized that I could be like my brother without sacrificing fashion).

Ross played the violin. Really well. I wanted to play the violin just as well as him. So I practiced every day until my fingers were raw. I even tried to get into the BYU Music School. No one made me love music more than Ross (except maybe my mother – but he got it from her, too). Ross played the piano. Really well. I wanted to play the piano really well, too. I didn’t practice all the time. Piano and I have never really gotten along, as far as practicing-to-get-good goes. But I do enjoy playing. Then Ross learned how to play the guitar and got good. I wanted to play the guitar, too. So I practiced every now and then.

Ross was great with computers. He even taught me about RAM once when I was in high school, or maybe college. He showed me how to install new RAM in a computer. I developed a new level of admiration for my brother. He is so smart! My interest in computers at all is because of Ross. I wanted to learn some programming languages. I wanted to learn how to build my own websites. I wanted to learn how to fix computers and mess with them and stuff. I even wanted to learn how to use Linux (which I did, sort of, for a while... but then I got lazy... er, had kids).

Ross loves to read. He loves music. He loves to learn. He loves to play games (my love of European board games? From Ross). My love of reading? Ross. My intense desire to Google anything that I don’t understand? Ross.

Probably the only things Ross didn’t inspire me to do is read my scriptures, pray regularly, run, and eat healthy. That was Janie (his wife).

I hold him on this pedestal (and Janie goes right beside him on it). And I don’t think he knows that. Really, all I want to be I want to be because of my brother. Because he is such a great example of hard work, honesty, learning, knowledge, having fun, and being a good person.

I plan on telling him all these things (and more) when I get to see him in person.

I hope it doesn’t sound too cliché – making amends with him as he’s dying. I would have said these things before, but I never knew the right words to say, and I worried that he wouldn’t want to hear it. But now it doesn’t matter if he wants to hear it. There are no bridges to be burned. There won’t be another chance. If I want him to hear it, I need to tell him now.

That is my story about how much I love my brother.

Our House in the Middle of Our Street

On June 23, after viewing nearly 40 homes in 4 days of looking, we submitted an offer on a house in West Jordan. Then we kind of “forgot about it” (not really) since ours was the second offer (or “back-up” offer, as they call it in the real estate business).

I say we didn’t really forget about it because we prayed about that house. We even fasted in July that all would work out. Seriously. We felt that good about this house.

I prayed nearly every day that the other offer would fall through, that the buyers would back out, that something would happen so we could get that house. It is the perfect house.

We’ve been in contact with our Realtor, who has been in contact with the seller’s agent, and has been forwarding us information and updates. I’ve tried to be patient and not harass anyone (I think I’ve done a pretty good job! Only one or two emails each week... I think).

I watched the offer get pushed through like madness. I mean, I couldn’t believe how fast this short sale was going! It was like magic! (or like someone upstairs had their finger in the mix).

The other offer was submitted shortly before we submitted our offer (maybe a few days before).

Today, their offer was accepted, but they had bought another house!! So, they backed out, but their offer (which was lower than ours – but had the buyer paying closing. Ours is a little higher, but has seller paying closing costs – customary for a VA Loan, but we may end up scrounging up some closing money) had already been accepted! That means they just have to get our offer approved, and then we’re in!

Of course, then there is the inspection, more inspections, the VA red tape, etc etc etc.

But we’re still REALLY excited! Hopefully things will work out and everything will go quickly and smoothly, and we’ll get to move in when we get back to UT, instead of having to find some place to be in the meantime. I hate “in the meantime” – seems like we’ve been doing a lot of that lately.

Keep your eyes out for an invitation for our Housewarming party! It’s going to be fabulous! Seriously – lots of fun and good food. Come. I mean it. (well, when I tell you when it will be...)

“Es-kah-pey” (funny, it’s spelled just like ‘Escape’)

Name that movie.

Last night, after putting the babies to bed, I heard Vincente and Joseline... Joseline? ... coming up the stairs. Wait a minute.... Joseline was in her crib. My first thought, “Maybe Vincente helped her out.”

Put her back in bed and found her pack and play full of pillows and blankets (from Vince’s bed). Okay, she climbed up all the pillows and got out. Fine.

Fast forward to this morning.

Julia dropped off her twins, and we came upstairs because Vince and Joseline were still sleeping.

I hear someone at the bottom of the stairs. Vince, surely, has heard the girls, and has come to play with them.

Joseline?! What!?

So now I’m curious to see how she gets out of her bed. I go back to put her in her bed, and Vince is still asleep. Okay, fine, no accomplice. She’s a malandra all by herself.

I coaxed her to get out so I could get some pictures. Halfway through, she got stuck, but fortunately all her fussing woke Vincente up, who willingly obliged.

Here’s to hoping my not even 17-month-old malandra doesn’t make this a habit.

*me making a grumpy face*

Monday Musings - A Jack of All Trades

There is a saying - “A jack of all trades is a master of none.”

While I am a firm believer that it is a good thing to be well rounded, I would like to have something that I am a “master” of. When I was younger (ha ha, like I’m old or something) – I was a master of music. I played for hours every day. I breathed music.

I still love music, but I am not nearly as good at it now as I was then. It’s not my passion for music that I’ve lost. It’s just the time and ability (kids, you know, they take time – time and love).

Teaching – yeah, I’m passionate about that. But not teaching like having-a-classroom-teaching type.

I like being a mother.

But I’m not particularly great at it – definitely not a master. And I don’t know nearly all there is to know about being a mother. And for heaven’s sake, my parenting style is whacked (partly because Russ and I don’t really have similar parenting styles – something we discovered with the introduction of children into our lives, and something we are striving to overcome – we’re getting there – unity in parenthood. We’ll be there soon, hopefully).

But yeah, I think being a mother, and learning how to be a better mother, is the thing that is mine. The thing I’m passionate about.

I’ve told Russ I think that I want to be a “professional mother.” Ha ha. But no, really – if there could be a “job” that was “mother” I would pick that. And obviously, there is...

 

But I want to go beyond the scope of just my own children. I want to be a mother to everyone who needs one (and that’s, well, everyone!)

Already Russ and I have committed to applying for foster care. Because those kids in foster care need moms just as much as anyone else. And adoption. We want to have 100 kids. No, seriously (I used to laugh when Russ would say this – but really, I think he’s right).

I read these girls’ blogs about all sorts of various stuff – crafting, home decorating, being cute, etc (basically all of them are moms), and I keep feeling the urge to write about the stuff we do...  but what is it that we do?

Yeah. Being a mother is my calling in life. That’s my profession. You can call it “Child Development Professional” if you want. Because probably in the “professional” world, that’s what it would be called.

But here, we just call it “mother.”

And the winner is...

(click play for the drum roll)

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Christy

@ The Blog She Will Eventually Create

Okay, so she doesn’t have a blog – yet. But she wants one, so I’ll help her with that. And I promise I didn’t pick her because she’s my sister! Vince really did draw a name (out of an IKEA pot, no less). And he picked Christy. So there you have it, folks, the winner of my first ever giveaway!

I had so much fun thinking about all the people who entered and what I wanted to do for each of them that I am sure I will have another giveaway soon. Maybe when we move into our new house. Maybe in conjunction with moving to our new domain name (maybe both!)

So there you have it – Christy, we’ll be in contact to get that blogger header done for you! And I’ll post it here on my blog for all you to see (and drool over).

Love to all!

And if I drop off the face of the blogging planet for a while, here’s why. I will do my darndest to keep posting (because it’s good to be distracted) but I’m facing this problem where I feel unreal if I talk but don’t talk about what’s happening, and I don’t really want to talk about what’s happening, so I just don’t talk.

Makes for a pretty silent Becca. You should have seen me dodging people at church today. Mostly what I need is good big hugs. No words. Just hugs. So if you see me and wonder what to say, don’t say anything. Just hug me. Maybe let me cry for a minute.

PofE – Try, Try Again

So, Goal #1 was a total fail.

It’s been a long week.

Full of emotion and stuff. Probably the perfect time to be journaling. But, you know... I’d rather be talking to my hubby.

In order to make Goal #1 not a complete failure (and to redeem myself), I will repeat Goal #1 this week. Even if my life is horrible and the sky is falling, I will write in my journal this week. Will will will.

And start my personal history.

 

The prologue will start like this:

“There was a mother who felt like a complete and utter failure. Every day of her life.”

Hopefully the ending will be happy.

 

PS – Remember to enter the GIVEAWAY!!

PPS – I love when you comment on my blog. Really. Feel free to comment whenever you like!

I read all of them, and try to respond most of the time!!

So please, tell me what you think of me – and don’t sugar coat it ;)

What a Wonderful World

Raising two of the world’s most perfect children (and I am totally being objective here) has really been helping me enjoy the simple pleasures in life.

Things like....

...climbing the stairs...

...dressing up like a princess...

 

...diapering a baby (although diapering a baby doll

is a little more pleasant

than diapering an actual baby ;) )...

 

...patting a baby doll to soothe it – or watching your baby pat her baby doll...

 

...brushing your teeth...

 

...driving...

 

 

...going down huge-mongo slides...

 

...taking rides on Grandpa...

 

...and wearing your brother’s clothes...

...all things we’ve been doing around here lately! What a wonderful world!

Wednesday Wanderings – DeGray Lake State Park, and some other places

Many of you may already know that on Saturday I ran That Dam Night Run 5K in Arkadelphia, AR at DeGray Lake State Park.

Well, for the record, I finished 68/821 with a time of 26:08.41. Not quite my goal of 25min, but I’m going to run another 5K on Aug 21 – and I WILL do it! I’m SO close! And I’ll try to get more than 4 hrs of sleep the night before, and wear socks. Oh, and not roll my ankle two weeks before.

The run started kind of late, so it was mostly dark by the time we got to the dam. but the view was really pretty anyway. A bunch of people had parked(?) their boats below the dam and cheered us as we ran across the dam. It was kind of neat.

Before the run, my mom and I took Joseline and Vince to swim in the lake. They have a nice day use area with two different “beaches” (sand that has been trucked in to the lake and dumped on the side of the lake to make a “beach”). The water is pretty warm, since it has been nearly 100 degrees for the past several weeks. And if you go out into the deep water, the top 6” – 1’ of water is warm, and then everything under that is refreshingly cold. The lake is murky, of course... since it’s a lake. On the bright side, no sharks to worry about. No waves, either (or undertow). So a pretty safe place to play with the kiddos.

Vincente and Joseline loved the water, of course. You do have to pay to get in to the day use area - $1/person (adults) up to $4/car. We paid $2. We swam, and then mom dropped me off at the race, and took the kids back to the beach to eat fresh fruit we bought on the way out from one of the many produce stands dotting the highways of Arkansas.

Afterward, we drove up to Hot Springs and filled up about seven 5 gallon jugs full of hot spring water (that’s what we drink around here and I LOVE it! We don’t drink it hot, of course, we put it in the water dispenser/cooler thing). The city of Hot Springs has little “water stations” throughout the downtown district where anyone can just come fill up their containers full of hot water. It’s pretty awesome. And can you say free water?

On our way to fill up the water we stopped by Dairy Queen. We got food and shakes and Blizzards. It was fabulous, since I was starving, having not eaten since looong before the race!

In all it was a nice little trip, and Lake DeGray was fabulous as usual.

Ratings:

Value -

Well, since the water at Hot Springs is free, and the Lake only cost $2, I have to say this was a pretty decent value.

Location -

Four stars because is is far away from Little Rock (well, only about an hour) – but it is a gorgeous location. We actually had our JTSmith family reunion here one summer years and years ago. So, there are camping facilities, too (and boat docks/marinas/etc – you can rent barges and other boats).

Fun Factor -

Four stars because I love being at the lake, but I realize not everyone feels the same way I do. You kind of make your own fun when you’re out “in the wild.” The company probably makes it the most fun.

Tight Squeeze

Joseline is a squealer. I mean – all the time. “Eeeee, arreeee, waaaaeeeeeeeee!” Squealing squealing squealing. It’s because she doesn’t talk yet, and I was lazy about teaching her signs because Vince talked so early – I just figured she would follow suit. Not so.

(I promise I’m repenting and attempting to teach her more signs and being serious about her using signs instead of squealing)

Most of the times, she’s squealing because she wants something, or because Vincente is bugging her. Other times she squeals because she’s having a hard time getting her way.

Or because she’s stuck. Like this:

The child gets stuck in the most random places (as seen above, inside the Little Tike play kitchen’s oven... er, hopefully she never does this with a real oven... – or as seen below, she has flipped this IKEA stool upside down and sits down all tangled up in the legs. On purpose! and then squeals at me until I release her from her self-inflicted imprisonment. Hello.)

 

Sometimes she gets stuck trying to climb up on the bench at the kitchen table when the bench is pushed under the table. Just the other day she climbed all the way on top of the Little Tikes kitchen. Oi. She gets “stuck” climbing down from things, too, because she doesn’t know the floor is 1/8” below her feet. *rolling eyes*

Monday Musings -- “Os pequeninos deixai vir a mim”

“Pois, é teu Pai e muito te-ama”

This is a line from the Portuguese translation of the song, “My Heavenly Father Loves Me” from the LDS Children’s Songbook,

(in English)

(em Português)

I have always loved this song – in English, of course – and it was one of the first songs from the Children’s Songbook that I learned to play. When we made the decision to raise our children bilingual, we realized that we were going to need the resources to teach them the gospel both in English and in Portuguese. So we bought scriptures (including the Book of Mormon stories, and recently the Old Testament stories), manuals, and the Children’s Songbook (and CDs!) in Portuguese. We read the scriptures as a family in Portuguese, and we have family home evening, and family prayer, and sing songs as a family all in Portuguese.

I absolutely love the Children’s Songs. I was raised to have a deep love for music, and for the gospel, and the music in the Children’s Songbook are just ingrained in me! They come to mind all the time when I am studying the principles of the gospel. They are a perfect simple introduction to the gospel, and the music is so sweet and beautiful, I just feel warm all over when I play and sing these songs.

When music is translated into another language, the basic underlying meaning of the music is preserved (as much as possible), but the words and expressions can be vastly different.

For example, this words of this song (My Heavenly Father Loves Me) read:

Pray, He is there, Speak, He is listening,

You are His child, His love now surrounds you.

He hears your prayers, He loves the children.

Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of Heaven.

Whereas the Portuguese translation reads:

Sim, perto está. Sim, Ele te ovre.

(Yes, He is near. Yes, He is listening to you).

Pois, é teu Pai e muito te-ama

(For he is your Father and he loves you very much.)

Com terno amor, ama as crianças,

(With tender love, He loves the children)

Pois delas é o reino, o reino do céu.

(For such is the kingdom, the kingdom of Heaven)

I think the Portuguese expression is much more beautiful than the English translation that I just wrote there, but I just love that the words in the Portuguese translation say “He loves you very much.” The words “His love now surrounds you” are very poetic and beautiful – but I am a fan of simple and direct. You can’t get more simple than “He loves you very much.” This is the testimony that I have – that Heavenly Father loves me very much and it is the testimony I want to share with everyone, especially my own children: é muito te-ama.

Please let that piece of truth touch your heart. Because it is true:

é muito te-ama.

(if you’re wondering – I use Windows Live Writer to write my blog,

and downloaded this MP3 Player Plugin for Writer to embed the mp3’s in this post)