Tag: life

I love this picture, taken Sunday afternoon, of my husband napping in the living room.  It makes me smile for many reasons.  I love that he loves his naps, and almost always gets one on Sundays, no matter what else is going on.  I love the sight of him all bundled up in his black hoodie under one of my favorite quilts.  I love the memory of him sleeping with his arm over his face to block the sunlight filtering through the all-white room and also to mute the sound of our 14 year old son playing the piano a few feet away.  And yes, he was playing because he wanted to wake up his Dad and play a game of ping pong.

Of the ten of us, all except for that funny 14 year old boy has had a day or two like this on the couch.  We’ve had a fast-moving flu bug going through the family and yesterday was my turn.  I always feel bad for my children when they’re sick, but this one seemed to be quick and fairly light because several of the children threw up once, slept a little, and were fine.  Not so for me!  There’s nothing like suffering it yourself to increase your compassion for your children who have already been through it.  And there’s nothing like being completely sick to make you incredibly grateful for the competent help of a 13 year-old daughter who ran the house and took care of the children all day.

Gratefully, I’m mostly back to the land of the living today, and we only have one child home from school.  I’m really hoping that it’s about run it’s course and that we’ll be back in the swing of things by the end of the week… just in time for spring break!  My goal for the week (before so many of us got sick) was to get the house clean and organized so that spring break could feature less work and more play.  I feel more buried than ever but I’ll do my best to catch up!

I feel a little anxious about Easter.  There was so much I planned to do that I haven’t touched because we’ve been playing sick again.  More than anything I want my children to feel the spirit of Easter and have their hearts rejoice in Christ.  Creating those moments takes time and planning and my week has certainly been short on both thus far.  We have been doing one thing every night which has brought a wonderful spirit into our home at the close of each day.  We’ve been watching some of these videos before bedtime.  They’re a great way to review highlights of the Savior’s life and teachings in anticipation of watching the videos of his suffering, crucifixion and resurrection.  I highly recommend them!

So I’m off to pick up the trail of two-year-old clutter all over the house, figure out how to catch four students up on their homework before the break, and pull our house and lives back together… now that it’s Wednesday afternoon!  What do you do when you’re crazy behind?

HH

When I walked into the Conference Center on Saturday and saw this sight, my heart clenched with gratitude and wonder as tears pricked my eyes.   My daughter is a part of this! How is it that we are so blessed?


She’s on the front row (above) in the middle, wearing an orange cardigan.  We all loved watching them sing, watching them respond so warmly to the choir director who has totally won their hearts in the past five weeks.  The smiles on their faces, the light in their eyes, the power of their voices brought tears to my eyes over and over again.  It was a joy to be there with our family.  The last hour was a recording session for one song, and for the rest of the day I heard my four year old daughter singing to herself, “Arise!  Arise!” and it made me smile.


This whole experience has been marvelous to watch, and even more remarkable to ponder as various people have shared experiences and thoughts with the choir over the past month.  I am amazed at how much is being invested in these young women, how every detail of this production has been so carefully planned with an international audience in mind.  It has certainly opened my own understanding concerning the scope of vision and the consistent labor that brings it to life.  I think vision came to life on Saturday, and it was marvelous.  I have learned so much from this experience.


I also feel incredibly grateful to my parents, who flew into town just for this event.  I am grateful for the message of love they conveyed to my daughter.  I hope she gets how much she means to them.

I guess one of the golden threads throughout this experience has been the consistent message of the worth of  a soul.  The potential we each have to impact others for good is without measure.


She is one lucky girl!  We are proud of her and love her so much.