Tender Mercies

Funny. I never thought about tender mercies so much until Elder Bednar spoke of them a few years back when he was called as a member of the 12. Now I think of them daily and wonder to whom did I attribute those times when God’s hand was clearly guiding my path. I just want to make mention of the top 5 from the last few weeks…

5. I was really worried- I mean really worried- about my kids’ teachers this year. We had such dynamite teachers last year, and I thought that I could never recreate that year again. Funny. It seems like we may have a repeat of fantastic! It seems like Greyson’s anxieties, although not all together eliminated, may truly be smoothed over this year with his sweet, extremely kind, FUN second grade teacher. A tender mercy!

4. Gage truly wants to become less angry. He truly wants to get along with that brother of his (Jace- in all his yellowness) that gets under his skin. I have been praying and truly, his heart is changing. I do not think he even wanted it to change, but in all its mercy, it is happening.

3. We seem to be able to have all our needs met and still have some left over to despite having my tutoring students cancelling left and right for the last two weeks.

2. Baseball teams may not seem very important to some, but I truly wanted some good experiences for my boys. I really prayed that we would have some coaches who were kind and truly loved my boys. Not only can I make the practices with our busy schedule, but both the kids have friends on the teams. Mitch is helping out with Aiden’s and even though he is soooooo busy, he is making it work and Aiden loves it. Gage begins tomorrow, but our neighbor is the assistant coach and the practice is at Heckethorn park. Gage could walk to the park. (Incidentally he thinks that is a great idea, but I think, um, nope.) My boys may not be terrific ball players when it is all said and done, but I truly think much good will come out of it. Another tender mercy.

1. Cooper is a wanderer. Yes, his parents have known this for years. It truly is a miracle that we have not lost him as of yet. While we were vacationing in Newport last week, we nearly lost him. Amazingly, my pleads for him to be found safe said 300 times in the 3.5 minutes that he was away from us, were heard. A jogger running the boardwalk of Balboa saw him and clearly knew that he was lost and also knew that he was surely too young to be wandering the island of Balboa alone. It seems that in the split second that I told young Cooper that he could not have the golf ball size gum ball for his own (and why do they make gum balls that are even too large to put in one’s mouth?) and his family turned down Agate, it was enough for him to walk behind another family and be separated from us for those dreadfully long 3.5 minutes. I thank that jogger a million times over for listening to the prompting to stay with him until he was delivered into Backyard Grandma’s arms. Oh and in the midst of me crying, another man who witnessed the events while he was waiting for the ferry also wept a tear for us too when he learned that Cooper had been found. Tender mercies for us all!

I am thankful for tender mercies. They truly fill my hours. For these, I am grateful!

A New Leaf

I am turning over a new leaf this week. I am going to attempt to post once a week because I know this is the ONLY journaling that seems to get done. Mitch is so good to sit down at the computer and post pictures, but alas, I avoid the computer because I call it the time warp! What I think will take 15 minutes of quick email checks and drop a line or two to a friend, turns into TWO HOURS, and what did I accomplish? Regardless, I know how fun it is to read the past posts and remember the funny things in our lives so since it is September FIRST, I will try to post a little more…

Batters Up!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

It began with a tap, tap, tap at four twenty-three a.m.

Mom: Huh?

Greyson: Mom, may I watch TV?

Mom: Um, buddy it is four a.m. You can at five.

At 4:50 the alarm clock buzzes, I slip on my sneakers and brush my teeth (Yes, I slept in my knit capris and T-shirt I slipped into after church-they are good enough to walk in.) I walk by the TV room to find Grey sitting on the loveseat with the remote in hand.

Mom: I take it you couldn’t sleep.

Grey: I am too nervous, Mom.

Mom: You may turn the TV on.

After my walk I come home to all the boys awake and their beds made. Funny that. They tell me they want cereal. I look in the fridge-NO MILK!

Mom: Sorry, guys. You get pancakes.

Boys: OK.

Jace: Are you sure you will not ruin them, Mom. (Hello? I have made pancake 100 times, and once and only once, I put eggs in the waffle batter and ate a little science experiment like breakfast. No harm done, but I will never live it down.)

Morning goes pretty well. Lunches, check. Outfits, check. Backpacks, check. Epi-pen, check. We are off!

Oops. Sorry guys, I forgot the camera. Argh! Alas- no photos for the blog. Sorry. I will improve for next week’s post.

Found our dots. Found our friends. Life is good. Jitters gone.

Return home to the three. ( Thank you to Backyard Grandma who helps me by watching them while I walk to school. Who’s idea was it again for Backyard Grandma to live in our backyard? - GENIOUS!)

Trip to Target and Costco- ouch. Refer back to comment about NO MILK. Costco was a bank breaker this go-around. Return home with hot dogs and soda.

Jace: I am glad we go to Costco. I have missed hot dogs and soda.

Cooper: I like soda. I don’t like food. (This is true. He prefers drinks to food. He is so his father’s son.)

Brooke crashed on the way home. The house was soooooo quiet. Gage really fills up the space with noise. Bubs (Jace) played Legos with Cooper for an hour. Cooper reluctantly takes a nap. Jace and I read books, play cards, and do laundry.

3:15 go back and get the boys. Yikes! There is a reason I do not pick them up in the afternoon—that school is a zoo! We found all 7! Yes, my three, and four neighbors.

Oh, the paperwork. In between the paperwork, I made cookies for family night (Ya, I should have done that during the Lego playtime/reading/nap time), and then we went to Café Rio with Grandma.

That night we played baseball in the park. Fulfilling and Grey was soooooo tired! He fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. Aiden has decided that despite being a lefty, he will throw with his right hand!

First Day of School- A HIT! We are still running towards first base, but it appears like we will survive and maybe even score a few runs.

California is the place you ought to be

Having just returned from a glorious week in California, I share with you these photos of our splendid time at SeaWorld, the Beach, the most delicious strawberries in the world (thanks again for the tip, Mr. Stoddard) and Old Town. I already miss the cool breezes, the waves and spending time with our family. Until next time (which I hope is just about a month away!)

Last will and testament

Dear World,

I'm about to embark into the wilderness of Alamo, NV, with five little boys for the annual Father/Son-barely-sleep-freeze-your-booty-off-get-filthy-see-how-many-times-you-can-fall-into-the-water camp out. My wife on the other hand will go out to dinner with her mom and the perfect, angel baby, sleep in a nice comfy bed and stay oh so very clean.

If for some reason I don't return. Or I only return with say 3-4 of the little ones, please have mercy on me. Send out a rescue party or send me to the chair in a speedy fashion. Because I hear that being left out in the wilderness to rot or sitting on death row is a lot like, well...Fathers and Sons.

Somebody's Tired

You'd think with six kids, that falling asleep at the dinner table would be an almost daily occurence. It's not like they get any peace when the five boys pile into the barracks for a little shut eye. Surprisingly, the kids rarely doze off at the table. Oh but when they do... I can't help it. Dats funny!

Easter Pics

We took some Easter photos in our Sunday best last week since we have General Conference this week. Aiden took the picture of Kim and me. Not too shabby.

Happy Birthday Little Missy!

One year ago, I had just finished a SNWA board meeting and was in an internal coordination meeting telling my coworkers that in a short while, I might be taking Kim to the hospital to have a baby. It seems like light years ago and yet just yesterday. As we welcomed little Brooke, our sixth child, into the world, we had no idea how the home dynamics would change. Happy Birthday Broccoli!