Dear Elijah,
You are a strong headed little kid. I think that is all I have to say about that.
But you are also HILARIOUS. You are going to be one of those people that are just funny. You say things that are so funny and your comedic timing is already amazing. You are coordinated as well.
I am so grateful you are past the screaming stages. I thought for a few years that you were going to put me in the crazy bin because of how much you screamed over EVERYTHING. When you were happy, you screamed. When you were sad, you screamed. When you wanted something, you screamed. I am just so grateful we are past all of THAT.
You are very strong willed. You want to do everything by yourself. But the cool part about it is that you are also VERY capable. You are very coordinated and so you can do a lot of things by yourself. But it's funny the things you don't want to do by yourself, one of them being potty trained. You want NOTHING to do with it. So we are going to wait another couple months and see how you are doing with it. Your dad is ready for you to be potty trained, but I don't want a major fight with you about it, so we are going to wait a couple months. No rush.
You also want to be the leader wherever we go. You want to open all the doors and be the one helping with everything. You and your sister but heads with EVERYTHING. You are either playing like best friends, or you are tearing each other's hair out, there is no in between.
Your talking is getting better and better. We still have to practice quite a few sounds and things, but you will get there.
I love you,
Your Mom
Monday, February 15, 2016
Thoughts on Gabe
Dear Gabriel,
Your mind is amazing to me lately. This last 6 months and for the next 6 months I am witnessing one of the most fascinating developments... getting to the accountability age.
Your understanding of right and wrong has sky-rocketed. Your ability to help me has done the same thing. Your ability to read, to understand, your mind working... they have all just sky-rocketed. It's all part of reaching the accountability age.
I have wanted to witness this since having children and I am soaking it up. Your ability to control your emotions, so understand how to handle situations, to see when there needs to be help. your ability to work... all of it.
It's amazing to see. The last 2 months you have insisted on wearing a suit to church, and you don't want a church bag anymore because you are "too old for it." You only want to bring a book of scripture to read and that's it. You are focusing on the scripture stories like crazy and you are just gobbling them up.
Your patience with your siblings has increased. Your awareness of how you can help me has doubled. This is a magic period of your life, and I hope you soak it in like crazy... and I want to do that same.
We are going to be getting to those ages that are going to be hard in the next 10 years. I just pray and hope that I can give you the foundations you need, with your dad, and then you can take it from there with the Lord's help.
I love you,
Your Mom
Your mind is amazing to me lately. This last 6 months and for the next 6 months I am witnessing one of the most fascinating developments... getting to the accountability age.
Your understanding of right and wrong has sky-rocketed. Your ability to help me has done the same thing. Your ability to read, to understand, your mind working... they have all just sky-rocketed. It's all part of reaching the accountability age.
I have wanted to witness this since having children and I am soaking it up. Your ability to control your emotions, so understand how to handle situations, to see when there needs to be help. your ability to work... all of it.
It's amazing to see. The last 2 months you have insisted on wearing a suit to church, and you don't want a church bag anymore because you are "too old for it." You only want to bring a book of scripture to read and that's it. You are focusing on the scripture stories like crazy and you are just gobbling them up.
Your patience with your siblings has increased. Your awareness of how you can help me has doubled. This is a magic period of your life, and I hope you soak it in like crazy... and I want to do that same.
We are going to be getting to those ages that are going to be hard in the next 10 years. I just pray and hope that I can give you the foundations you need, with your dad, and then you can take it from there with the Lord's help.
I love you,
Your Mom
Thoughts on Talia
Dear Natalia,
You have been pretty hard lately. You have been sneaking stuff and lying more than is okay.
It has really concerned me a lot. A LOT.
But after having a break away from my daily interactions with you I can see that one reason for this is because you are afraid of my reactions and so you are doing things in order to get the best reaction from me.
I need to apologize to you for this, and I hope that I can help to change this pattern. You have a very demanding personality. VERY demanding. You want what you want from me RIGHT NOW all the time, every time. I really try hard to make sure I am not putting you off, but I have to set my boundaries often with you that you have to wait. You must learn how to be patient and wait.
The part I have to work on is making sure to separate your worth from your performance while you are doing "actions" that are pretty hard to get a long with. Your worth is perfect, I want to make sure you feel that from me. You can get me more riled up in my heart faster than anyone else right now, and it's because I am wrapping my emotions around you and how you reaction and what you want and getting involved in your arguments.
I am working on it and I love you through it, with patience and the spirit.
I love you fiercely, I hope you know that always. We will get this figured out, then move onto something else that will refine both of us.
I love you,
Your Mom
You have been pretty hard lately. You have been sneaking stuff and lying more than is okay.
It has really concerned me a lot. A LOT.
But after having a break away from my daily interactions with you I can see that one reason for this is because you are afraid of my reactions and so you are doing things in order to get the best reaction from me.
I need to apologize to you for this, and I hope that I can help to change this pattern. You have a very demanding personality. VERY demanding. You want what you want from me RIGHT NOW all the time, every time. I really try hard to make sure I am not putting you off, but I have to set my boundaries often with you that you have to wait. You must learn how to be patient and wait.
The part I have to work on is making sure to separate your worth from your performance while you are doing "actions" that are pretty hard to get a long with. Your worth is perfect, I want to make sure you feel that from me. You can get me more riled up in my heart faster than anyone else right now, and it's because I am wrapping my emotions around you and how you reaction and what you want and getting involved in your arguments.
I am working on it and I love you through it, with patience and the spirit.
I love you fiercely, I hope you know that always. We will get this figured out, then move onto something else that will refine both of us.
I love you,
Your Mom
Faith In My Kids
Dear Kids,
There is so much going on in the world right now. And all of it reminds me of the last portion of the Book of Mormon when the Gadianton Robbers are controlling the land through murder, lying and secret combinations. I can't even really watch anything that is happening in DC any more because energetically and spiritually I can pinpoint exactly what is happening. There are so many secret combinations it is unbelievable. We put the Nephites to shame that is for sure.
BUT, I have to remind myself that this is all following the Lord's plan. HE is in charge, not the deceivers and liars in the government. HE is in charge. Ultimately everything is helping the world be ready for Christ's Second Coming. And so I focus on Zion. I focus on the gospel. I focus on spreading the light of Christ, because that is the only answer.
And I think to myself, "The only thing I have control over is myself, my attitudes and my reactions to life. I have control over raising my family and teaching my kids as much as I possibly can while I have them, then turn them over to the Lord."
Sometimes I am very afraid for you, my children, how you are going to stand it, how you are going to withstand everything that will be thrown at you. I am reminded of when we were pregnant with Gabe and I was thinking, "How are our kids going to handle this world?". Your dad and I went out to dinner with a couple in our ward that were rock solid in the gospel and they raised kids that were just amazing. I told them my concerns, and my fears. Then this woman looked me straight in the eye and said, "You know, there are times when I feel the same way. But then I have to remember that they chose to come at this time, and the Lord had faith in them to come at this time, so why shouldn't I? Have faith that the Lord has faith in your kids. He prepared them, just turn them over to Him."
I love that and I remember it often. He had faith in you to send you at this time, so why shouldn't I?
I love you, I have faith in you. I pray that you are getting the foundation that you need with the missions you have to fulfill.
I love you,
Love,
Your Mom
There is so much going on in the world right now. And all of it reminds me of the last portion of the Book of Mormon when the Gadianton Robbers are controlling the land through murder, lying and secret combinations. I can't even really watch anything that is happening in DC any more because energetically and spiritually I can pinpoint exactly what is happening. There are so many secret combinations it is unbelievable. We put the Nephites to shame that is for sure.
BUT, I have to remind myself that this is all following the Lord's plan. HE is in charge, not the deceivers and liars in the government. HE is in charge. Ultimately everything is helping the world be ready for Christ's Second Coming. And so I focus on Zion. I focus on the gospel. I focus on spreading the light of Christ, because that is the only answer.
And I think to myself, "The only thing I have control over is myself, my attitudes and my reactions to life. I have control over raising my family and teaching my kids as much as I possibly can while I have them, then turn them over to the Lord."
Sometimes I am very afraid for you, my children, how you are going to stand it, how you are going to withstand everything that will be thrown at you. I am reminded of when we were pregnant with Gabe and I was thinking, "How are our kids going to handle this world?". Your dad and I went out to dinner with a couple in our ward that were rock solid in the gospel and they raised kids that were just amazing. I told them my concerns, and my fears. Then this woman looked me straight in the eye and said, "You know, there are times when I feel the same way. But then I have to remember that they chose to come at this time, and the Lord had faith in them to come at this time, so why shouldn't I? Have faith that the Lord has faith in your kids. He prepared them, just turn them over to Him."
I love that and I remember it often. He had faith in you to send you at this time, so why shouldn't I?
I love you, I have faith in you. I pray that you are getting the foundation that you need with the missions you have to fulfill.
I love you,
Love,
Your Mom
Mom and Dad Traveling Together
Dear Kids,
We just got back from a cruise. Mom and Dad... we went on a cruise and were gone by ourselves for FIVE WHOLE DAYS all by ourselves.
Can I just tell you how amazing it was to be able to rejuvenate our relationship like that? I advocate it for every couple. I had one of my church leaders tell me once that the key to keeping a spark in your relationship (so you don't forget you are crazy about each other and forever lovers) is to have one night a week together, one day a month and one week a year.
I BELIEVE this so much. Your dad and I have gone on over-nighters a few times, but being able to be gone together for so many days in a row was just magical. I remembered why I fell in love with him! I knew why and remembered why BEFORE we went of course, but when we are able to be together like that and have no distractions from each other, it is just amazing and truly magical how it helps.
It also really helped me in my energy with you. I missed you guys like crazy and I just kept thinking about how grateful I am for each of you. I am so grateful for your part in our family and how much you teach me all the time. I am so grateful that I am your mother.
We made a goal that we are going to be rejuvenating our relationship more on a regular basis. This is something that I didn't see my parents doing when I was growing up. I know there are lots of reasons why, especially financial. We haven't been able to do this because financially we are just at the point where we had some extra bonus money to be able to go. But I am so grateful that we went. I thought for a long time about if we should use the money for something with preparedness, or something with our home, or debt... there are plenty of things we could have applied the money to. BUT, looking back I am so grateful that we created the memories together instead of using the money for something else. Memories like this are priceless and I want to be making memories together!
We also decided we want to do "Family Money Making Projects" to earn money to go on family vacations together more often. Up to this point we have used Idaho as our family get aways, but it's time to branch out and do more than that. We have talked about a few options of projects, but haven't decided quite what to do first.
We are also going to be moving soon. We need to go to a different house because the house we are in is going to be put back on the market. Which is good because it is going to push us to move to a better home and expand our stewardships a bit.
I love you so much. I am so grateful for our family.
Love,
Your Mom
We just got back from a cruise. Mom and Dad... we went on a cruise and were gone by ourselves for FIVE WHOLE DAYS all by ourselves.
Can I just tell you how amazing it was to be able to rejuvenate our relationship like that? I advocate it for every couple. I had one of my church leaders tell me once that the key to keeping a spark in your relationship (so you don't forget you are crazy about each other and forever lovers) is to have one night a week together, one day a month and one week a year.
I BELIEVE this so much. Your dad and I have gone on over-nighters a few times, but being able to be gone together for so many days in a row was just magical. I remembered why I fell in love with him! I knew why and remembered why BEFORE we went of course, but when we are able to be together like that and have no distractions from each other, it is just amazing and truly magical how it helps.
It also really helped me in my energy with you. I missed you guys like crazy and I just kept thinking about how grateful I am for each of you. I am so grateful for your part in our family and how much you teach me all the time. I am so grateful that I am your mother.
We made a goal that we are going to be rejuvenating our relationship more on a regular basis. This is something that I didn't see my parents doing when I was growing up. I know there are lots of reasons why, especially financial. We haven't been able to do this because financially we are just at the point where we had some extra bonus money to be able to go. But I am so grateful that we went. I thought for a long time about if we should use the money for something with preparedness, or something with our home, or debt... there are plenty of things we could have applied the money to. BUT, looking back I am so grateful that we created the memories together instead of using the money for something else. Memories like this are priceless and I want to be making memories together!
We also decided we want to do "Family Money Making Projects" to earn money to go on family vacations together more often. Up to this point we have used Idaho as our family get aways, but it's time to branch out and do more than that. We have talked about a few options of projects, but haven't decided quite what to do first.
We are also going to be moving soon. We need to go to a different house because the house we are in is going to be put back on the market. Which is good because it is going to push us to move to a better home and expand our stewardships a bit.
I love you so much. I am so grateful for our family.
Love,
Your Mom
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Being An American
Dear Kids,
Recently there was an event in the news that really troubled me. A man named LaVoy Finicum was peacefully protesting with some other ranchers up in Oregon. They had all experienced the over reaching of our government on their lands and their rights. They had tried for years to stay within the bounds of the law, but decided that it was time to get more attention on the matter. So they decided to go and take over a bird refuge in Oregon in order to be able to start negotiations with the BLM to get their land back.
There is A LOT to this story, and only time will tell how the world is going to view it in 20 years, if they remember it at all. But basically what happened in the end is that LaVoy was shot and killed by the FBI. There were many falsehoods told about him in the media, calling him a terrorist and other horrible things, but they were all not true.
How do I know they weren't true? Because I did some digging, I met his family, I really took some time to get to know this issue. There are many "Gadianton Robbers" in the head of our government, and there have been for years. Many secret combinations that are running the world. But after reading, researching and meeting his family, I know the falsehoods that have been told. I haven't trusted the main media for YEARS... This just once again reaffirmed those feelings.
After he was killed, I felt a HUGE loss for our country. I spent about 48 hours in mourning over where we are as a country. This isn't America!! This isn't the country our founding fathers had in mind! But yet, here we are with tyranny all around us, and the majority of America not even realizing it.
I read in my scriptures in 2 Nephi 33:3 about how Nephi says that he prays, "continually for them (his people) by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night because of them". For the first time in my life I started to understand the depth of those emotions that Nephi, and so many other prophets, felt. My heart was so heavy with mourning over my people and over my country.
But I went to a candlelight vigil for LaVoy on Monday night. I am so glad that I did. His family talked and told everyone that they feel no malice or anger. They reminded us that Jesus forgave those who crucified him on the cross and LaVoy would want everyone to do the same. They asked us to pray for the trial, that those who seek to bring about truth and justice will be upheld by the angels of heaven. They told us to not be mad at America. Yes, there are those in secret places planning for America's destruction, BUT that is not America. They reminded us that everyone at the gathering remembering LaVoy, THIS is America. WE ARE AMERICA. We love each other, we trust each other, we uphold the right and the true.
They asked everyone to read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They asked everyone to educate themselves and be smart about their feelings of patriotism. The death of an amazing man won't be in vain if we do that.
It was so good for me to remember about what America really is about... and not just America, but what the gospel is about. The gospel promotes freedom. The gospel promotes truth. The end game of the world is afoot. The end game of the Lord is the most important and it is leading us to the Second Coming of our Savior. That is the most important thing to keep in mind. Be Christlike. Stand for truth boldly, nobly and freely. Don't give up.
I am so glad I went to that gathering. The world is changing all around me. I am seeing such a significant change from when I was young to now. I don't know what it is going to look like when you are all grown and having families of your own. But I hope I can instill in you the principles of the gospel and the principles of freedom. I will teach you. I will train you and pray that you will go in the right ways with angels around you helping you on your errand here on the earth.
I love the gospel. I love America. I love freedom and liberty. I love my Father in Heaven and I KNOW HIS WAYS will prevail. I know it and I have faith in the path of the world.
I love you,
Your Mom
Recently there was an event in the news that really troubled me. A man named LaVoy Finicum was peacefully protesting with some other ranchers up in Oregon. They had all experienced the over reaching of our government on their lands and their rights. They had tried for years to stay within the bounds of the law, but decided that it was time to get more attention on the matter. So they decided to go and take over a bird refuge in Oregon in order to be able to start negotiations with the BLM to get their land back.
There is A LOT to this story, and only time will tell how the world is going to view it in 20 years, if they remember it at all. But basically what happened in the end is that LaVoy was shot and killed by the FBI. There were many falsehoods told about him in the media, calling him a terrorist and other horrible things, but they were all not true.
How do I know they weren't true? Because I did some digging, I met his family, I really took some time to get to know this issue. There are many "Gadianton Robbers" in the head of our government, and there have been for years. Many secret combinations that are running the world. But after reading, researching and meeting his family, I know the falsehoods that have been told. I haven't trusted the main media for YEARS... This just once again reaffirmed those feelings.
After he was killed, I felt a HUGE loss for our country. I spent about 48 hours in mourning over where we are as a country. This isn't America!! This isn't the country our founding fathers had in mind! But yet, here we are with tyranny all around us, and the majority of America not even realizing it.
I read in my scriptures in 2 Nephi 33:3 about how Nephi says that he prays, "continually for them (his people) by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night because of them". For the first time in my life I started to understand the depth of those emotions that Nephi, and so many other prophets, felt. My heart was so heavy with mourning over my people and over my country.
But I went to a candlelight vigil for LaVoy on Monday night. I am so glad that I did. His family talked and told everyone that they feel no malice or anger. They reminded us that Jesus forgave those who crucified him on the cross and LaVoy would want everyone to do the same. They asked us to pray for the trial, that those who seek to bring about truth and justice will be upheld by the angels of heaven. They told us to not be mad at America. Yes, there are those in secret places planning for America's destruction, BUT that is not America. They reminded us that everyone at the gathering remembering LaVoy, THIS is America. WE ARE AMERICA. We love each other, we trust each other, we uphold the right and the true.
They asked everyone to read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They asked everyone to educate themselves and be smart about their feelings of patriotism. The death of an amazing man won't be in vain if we do that.
It was so good for me to remember about what America really is about... and not just America, but what the gospel is about. The gospel promotes freedom. The gospel promotes truth. The end game of the world is afoot. The end game of the Lord is the most important and it is leading us to the Second Coming of our Savior. That is the most important thing to keep in mind. Be Christlike. Stand for truth boldly, nobly and freely. Don't give up.
I am so glad I went to that gathering. The world is changing all around me. I am seeing such a significant change from when I was young to now. I don't know what it is going to look like when you are all grown and having families of your own. But I hope I can instill in you the principles of the gospel and the principles of freedom. I will teach you. I will train you and pray that you will go in the right ways with angels around you helping you on your errand here on the earth.
I love the gospel. I love America. I love freedom and liberty. I love my Father in Heaven and I KNOW HIS WAYS will prevail. I know it and I have faith in the path of the world.
I love you,
Your Mom
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