One Step Report #23

One Step

Hello from Newport Beach California!  After 11 hours on the road yesterday, we are loving the salty air and cool breezes of the beach.  This is our one week out of the year when we truly change gears.  We live entirely by our needs, not by the clock or the world’s expectations.  I love it.


It took a crazy week to get us here, and we’re happy to have lived through it.  Getting ready for a trip is almost like moving.  It takes SO much stuff, so much cleaning, so much planning and arranging before you leave.  Every time we go on a trip I promise myself that it won’t be like this next time, but it always is.  And you live through it.

So here we are with another week’s report.  23 weeks, and I haven’t missed a single one.  Pretty cool.  This week I recorded 73 steps.  Included in those steps were some big things:  purchasing a new vehicle for our family, celebrating my husband’s birthday and driving to California.   In addition to this, I have a few other highlights.

1.  Upon arriving at the beach house, we were amazed to discover that we can park the space shuttle in my Grandpa’s little driveway.  After conferring with him and with his neighbor, it looks like we’ve got ourselves a parking space for the week.  If you know me and how I sometimes worry about dumb things, you’ll know that this is a huge relief.


2.  At 8:00 p.m. on Friday night (when I should have been packing and cleaning) I finished a quilt.  It was commissioned by my sister in law for her Dad’s 60th birthday.  It wasn’t the wisest commitment to make at this time of year, but at least I kept it.  By some miracle, it is completed and is now on its way to her.  Pictures to come in the next few days.

3.  I started another book.  I know.  I have this strange habit of reading 5 or 6 books at a time, but somehow I always finish them.  I packed several books with me to read this week while the kids are falling asleep at night and my husband is working remotely.

4.  I took my son to what we believe was his final doctor’s appointment for his broken finger.  After a little more than 2 months, it appears the adventure is over and he has a functional finger.  He’s managed to get his range of motion good enough that the doctor sees no need for therapy, and we just have a few warning signs to watch for.  Slowly but surely it’s beginning to look like a normal finger again.

5.  I tried a new recipe.

6.  I got a haircut.  This is a bigger deal than you might think.  The last one I had was before my baby was born, ten months ago.  The only haircut I’ve had since then was one I did myself.

7.  I keep learning the same lessons about being a mom over and over again.   Stay calm.  Be patient.  Speak softly.   If you want something from your children, give them a way to hand it to you cheerfully.  Smile more.  Hug them more.  This was one of those weeks that made me wish that I had learned more fully, wonder if I’ll ever really get good at this.   I hope I’m slowly getting better.

8.  I learned that when my two year old starts screaming (the kind of screams that make you pause to see if the electrical circuits in the house are going to explode like in the movie Monsters, Inc.) I can calm her down by holding her and whispering to her.  If I’m patient and persistent, she stops screaming.

Just for fun, I’m going to share one specific goal I have for the coming week.  I am going to buy 4 bowls for my Grandpa’s house.  Last year he had exactly 8 bowls in the house.  This year we can only find 6, which means that two have been broken.  After washing dishes in the middle of breakfast this morning so the rest of the family could eat, we’re just going to restock his cupboard and hope he’ll keep them around till next year.

One more thing.  If you want some entertainment this week, just wander the streets of Newport Beach CA after dark.  If you can find a house that has a cacophony of sounds pouring out of its windows, it’s probably us trying to get 8 children to sleep in one room.  It’s a real adventure, let me tell you.   Every year I wonder if we have a little crowd gathering on the street outside, covering their mouths to stifle the sounds of their laughter.  The thought of it makes me laugh, too, which is better than yelling.

That about sums it up.  This week I’ll be disconnected from the electronic world for the most part, so I’ve scheduled some posts for the week that will re-cap our recent trip to Denver.  In the meantime, we’ll be soaking up the sun, playing in the sand, surfing the waves and just being together.  I’ll check in as soon as I’m able, and share pictures soon.

Have a great week!

Jennifer

2 comments

Space Shuttle

Musings on Life and Beauty

Most of the time being a big family is a lot of fun.  It’s also a lot of work.  I believe that in the end it’s totally worth it, and remind myself often that the blessing of posterity is one of God’s greatest gifts.  Occasionally it’s incredibly humbling.

Like when you have to buy a space shuttle to drive.


This 15 passenger van is now ours.  We’ve nicknamed it the space shuttle.  I came up with the name when we were test driving some of these vans because it was the nicest thing I could think of to say about them when I really felt like crying.  I was hoping for any color other than white, but there were none to be found.   After driving some of them, we gained a real appreciation for carpet on the floor and power windows.  Honestly, I didn’t even know they still made windows that you “roll” up and down!  The car I’ve been driving is a Toyota Sequoia which is now 10 years old.  I wasn’t sure I’d like it when we bought it, but it turned out to be the car of my dreams, which only served to make this transition harder.  The used vans we were able to look at really didn’t seem like they were meant for a family.  They were more like the bed of a truck with seats in it.

As we were on the freeway a couple of days ago I was thinking about how hard this purchase was to me.  I feel like it represents leaving a comfortable place and entering a world of big and ugly. I felt embarrassed to think that I’ll be driving something so ugly.   Suddenly I was reminded of Mary, the mother of Jesus, walking into a stable to give birth to the son of God and I felt ashamed of myself.  I realized how much I still have to learn about being humble and letting my Heavenly Father meet our needs in HIS way.  Sometimes we’re tempted to handle life (and prayer) like we’re at a drive through window placing orders, like a burger without onions.  I was reminded that prayers and needs often aren’t answered in that way.  They’re GIFTS.  Gifts are chosen by the giver of the gift with special consideration for the recipient.

Just this week I was pondering this very thought as I read my scriptures:

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
Matthew 7: 7-11 As I looked out my window at that moment in the car, I felt grateful that I can trust God to be the great giver of good gifts, and I decided to change my heart and trust him.

Sure enough, we found a van.  A van with carpet and power windows.  A van with a cd  and DVD player.  A van that’s been owned by a christian family with 12 children (in 14 years, I might add).  A van owned by a man who lives about 2.5 hours away from us but who just happened to be driving down to Salt Lake City for a meeting.  A van that feels like it’s meant for a family to drive.  A van that looks pretty decent.  A van that’s been well-maintained.  A van at just the right price.  A van that our children are ecstatic about.


So it’s ours, and instead of being a grudging owner of a space shuttle, I’m the grateful owner of one.  I’m a little nervous about learning to drive something so big, nervous about how it will handle in snow and not looking forward to taking children to the grocery store and parking at the back of the lot.  My kind husband even agreed to keep the Sequoia.  I think that the blessings will outweigh the drawbacks, and last night we discovered that it will fit in our garage.  Relief!  In the middle of the night, as we pulled it in and it fit, my husband turned to me and said, “Does this make you realize that Heavenly Father’s been thinking of us all along?”

Yes, we’ve received another good gift.

Hopeful Homemaker

2 comments

Ten Months

Musings on Life and Beauty

Today my baby is 10 months old.   She is in one of my favorite stages, so full of joy and excitement.  This morning she woke up earlier than the others and my husband and I snuggled with her for a while.  After she ate, she gave us the cutest smile of all time:  sleepy, full, content.  I hope I never forget what it looked like.  It was a smile of utter happiness.


She’s climbing up on everything, walking along the edge of the couch, standing on her own when she feels brave.  I keep telling myself that she’s still little, but when I walked around the corner and saw this, I had to admit she’s growing.


She could hear all the big kids playing on the porch and wanted so much to see what they were doing.


This week she learned how to sit in grass with her legs up.  She doesn’t like how prickly it is, so she figured out how to balance with only her diaper touching the ground.


I love her enthusiasm for food.  She now has two teeth and can chomp on much of what the family eats.


I also love watching her when she’s full and getting tired, but she doesn’t want to stop eating.  She lays her head down and takes a few more bites.


I love this little girl so much.  I love the way she’s so flexible that she just folds up into a little ball when you hold her.  I love the way she snuggles with me.  I love her smile, and I love her eyes.  I’m so glad she’s here and she’s ours.


Hopeful Homemaker

One comment
1 … 405 406 407 408 409 … 514