Another Day at the Playground...

Yesterday, I was at the park when this other Mom struck up a conversation with me. She was a nice woman (a little on the weird side) but she was quite a talker and was sort of making her way around the playground, telling her life story to everyone. I don't particularly mind people like this. Sometimes its refreshing to just listen and not feel like you have to think of something to say.

Anyway, she happened to mention how her little 2-year old only likes the swing for about a minute or two and then he always wants to get down. She didn't understand why he didn't like it more....yada yada yada... she quickly moved to the next subject. As she was telling me this, I looked over at her son who was sitting in the swing at a standstill. She was so busy talking to everyone that she wasn't pushing him at all. I thought that maybe I should tell her why he wasn't enjoying the swing, but I didn't want to sound condescending. Is there really a good way to tell someone that maybe their kid would like the swing if it was moving, without making them feel stupid? Yeah, I don't think so.

I wonder how long this poor kid will have to sit in a non-moving swing while his Mom wonders why he doesn't like it very much.

Found It!

Where was my camera cord? In my junk basket of course, where I place all objects that I don't have the time to deal with at a particular moment. We have to have a junk basket because Andrew has this thing against junk drawers and doesn't believe that anyone actually has a junk drawer (ladies, you know its impossible to keep a house clean without one!).

So this is what we've been up to lately:

Discovering cheeks...

Hanging out on the window seat with a good friend...

And sleeping, of course...

My camera cord is missing

and it is driving me crazy. Partly because it means I can't post pictures but mostly because my camera is completely full and I can't use it until I get the pictures off.

Anyway, I am getting so tired of seeing the same blog post every time I open our Internet, so I am a little desperate to change it. This was the best I could come up with today. Have you ever seen this game? Please don't judge me, but it kind of cracks me up. I tried to play it the other day at Walmart (in my head of course) and I'm pretty sure I got a bingo.

In other news.... we WITNESSED this amazing man last night in a playoff game against the Bulls.

This man will single-handedly give Clevelanders the will to carry on despite living in a dying city. He is perfection on the basketball court.

Happy Mormon Day

One of Andrew's best friends (who isn't a member of our church) emailed him today to wish him a "Happy Mormon Day". That absolutely cracked me up! In fact, I almost forgot that today is in fact a very important day for Mormons. On April 6th, 1830 our church was officially organized (although, this shouldn't be construed to mean that it began on that day because we actually believe it is the same church that was on the Earth in New Testament times ... but I digress ... read here for more info).

In any case, we celebrated by eating some super healthy chocolate chips cookies made with cannenelli beans (no, they are not as good as real chocolate chip cookies, but I felt so good for making them healthier that I ate at least 5 :)). And although I am trying to make it look like we blew out candles and made it official, we didn't quite take it that far.

So Happy Mormon Day to everyone! Hug your favorite Mormon or something to celebrate!

[pics that Andrew's Dad took .... I love this kid]

Happy Easter

Easter is an important holiday to me and I LOVE celebrating it. We were able to spend this Easter at the Stacey's near Cleveland which made it extra special (and there was Conference on top of that which is the perfect way to celebrate the holiday).

We just got home, but I wanted to post some kind of Easter message before the day passed. I am so grateful for my testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ. I don't have many gifts, but I count my testimony as one of the greatest gifts I could ever ask for. I know that He walked the Earth, not as an ordinary man or great teacher, but as the Savior of the World. I know that He suffered and died for our sins and, more importantly, I know that He overcame all and was resurrected. My ultimate joys are made possible through this knowledge.

All of us benefit from the transcendent blessings of the Atonement and the Resurrection, through which the divine healing process can work in our lives. The hurt can be replaced by the joy the Savior promised. To the doubting Thomas, Jesus said, “Be not faithless, but believing.” Through faith and righteousness all of the inequities, injuries, and pains of this life can be fully compensated for and made right. Blessings denied in this life will be fully recompensed in the eternities. Through complete repentance of our sins we can be forgiven and we can enjoy eternal life. Thus our suffering in this life can be as the refining fire, purifying us for a higher purpose. Heartaches can be healed, and we can come to know a soul-satisfying joy and happiness beyond our dreams and expectations.

Elder James E. Faust

As kind of a related side-note, I've been looking up some old general authority talks lately, and really love listening to this one by Elder Maxwell. You can view it here. There is really nothing like listening to an Elder Maxwell talk.

And alas, here are some Easter egg hunt pictures of Luke. Andrew's Dad took some really good ones but I don't have them yet, so I may post more later. I hope you all had a great Easter!

Tubes

(Before)

We just got back from Luke's little surgery this morning (he had tubes put in). He's doing well and will probably be sleeping all morning. Oh, and did the surgeon even come out afterwards to tell us how it went? No, we had to go to a room and call him on the phone! Is that normal?? (Andrew says no) That puts my total interaction time with this doc up to about a minute. Hope he enjoys his check.

learning from the elderly

Every week in Relief Society, a sign up is passed around to go and visit a ward member who lives at a nearby Nursing Home facility. I always avoid signing up because I'm afraid that Luke will be crazy and make it impossible to sit and have a conversation. But this week I decided to be courageous and give it a shot.

This sister lives in a special unit of the nursing home that is reserved for patients who are beginning to suffer from dementia. As I walked in, I realized that most of the residents in that unit are pretty far gone. One lady was shouting out meaningless jabber while another woman was sitting with her wheelchair right by the door so she could try to escape as soon as I opened it. However, the sister I was visiting seems to have her faculties fully intact on the surface. She comes to church every Sunday so physically she is quite well for her age.

I went to her room and we began talking. Shortly after I sat down, she began to tell me about her childhood in Hawaii. She told me how her birth parents had given her away to her Uncle and Aunt because they could not have any more children. She considers it a great blessing because her Uncle and Aunt were members of the church and were able to raise her in the gospel. She quickly went into her conversion story. As she spoke, I often felt like someone was pressing the rewind button and replaying parts of our conversation over and over again. She would repeat sentences verbatim that she had already said only minutes earlier. I know her conversion story well, because nearly every testimony meeting in Relief Society, she stands up and tells it to us. She always describes it the exact same way, and she repeats it over and over again until someone stands up, thanks her, and helps her sit down.

I had an overwhelming feeling today, as I listened to her tell this story that I already almost have committed to memory. It means so much to her...like it is her most valuable possession. She bore her testimony to me with so much emotion that it nearly made me cry. As I tried to talk to her about other subjects, I realized that she didn't remember much else. She couldn't remember how she ended up in Ohio or what the name of her second husband was, or even how long she was married to the third one (although she did mention that she struck out with all three...and kinda chuckled). The only thing that she has a clear memory of is her testimony of the gospel. As one of the healthiest patients in this unit, I think she realizes that her memory is leaving her and so she repeats her conversion story over and over again to anyone who will listen... just so she won't ever forget it.

So in honor of my friend, and so it will never be forgotten, I will share with you the scripture that enlightened her understanding and solidified her testimony:

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."
Proverbs 3:5

p.s. Luke was a perfect gentleman!