It's Your Choice

After receiving a heartfelt e-mail from one of my good friends, I have been studying the gospel principle of agency.

I'm at a point where I'm not sinning in ignorance. I'm fully aware of how I should be living my life. With this vast understanding of right and wrong, all that seems to be left is matter of choice.

My mom had this magnet with this quote on our fridge:

Sow  a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap an eternal destiny.

Ultimately, we choose WHO we follow, what our values are, and essentially what kind of life we live.

Deuteronomy 30:19: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."

Joshua 24:14-15: "...choose you this day whom ye will serve ... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

And in the Book of Mormon, 2nd Nephi 2: 27: "Wherefore men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."
He ends this chapter saying (v. 30),"...And I have none other object save it be the everlasting welfare of your souls. Amen."

Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

Of course, let's not forget John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

After gaining a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have our agency to choose who to follow. We cannot hope for blessings that are specifically promised to faithful Christians when we are not living the standards taught. We reap the blessings for whom we serve.

 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

Want to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Click HERE.
Message from President Uchtdorf is HERE.

Inside Summertime

It has been a hot summer. We got a Zoo pass in the early Spring, and have been going to the zoo about once a week. Both kids love it, and both are old enough that I don't even bring the stroller anymore. We also go swimming and play in the sprinklers frequently. The kids ride their bikes, tote around their dolls, and color with chalk. They essentially only come inside to eat.

Here are our indoor pictures of the Summer. I rarely have our camera with me, so the majority of our pictures are taken with my sub-par camera feature on my used smart phone. Oh well! These kids will still have 1,000 times more pictures of their childhood than I did!

Lillie's preschool. I took this from the observation booth, where I spent a good 25 minutes MWF. Lillie had an exceptional experience.

We found out that Jack wasn't born with enamel on one of his back molars. When we went in for his routine 6 month check-up, they found that about 1/2 of his tooth was a cavity. Because Jack for some reason is slightly freaked out by his awesome pediatric dentist (who Lillie loves), he had to be sedated to do the filling. Turns out the cavity was so large, that when cleaning it out, one of the walls of his tooth broke. Now Jack is sporting an awesome crown! (cha-ching.) I'm thankful for our Pediatrician who told me to take him to the Dentist so young. I had always heard to not take them until they were 3, but apparently now they recommend you taking your kids in when they're 12 months old, or 6 months after they get their first tooth. If I had waited until Jack was three, he would have needed a full-out root canal. Thankfully the rest of his teeth look perfect with no signs of decay. And Lillie is still in the "No Cavity Club!" I sure love that JustForKiDDS place.

I suppose Jack is still 2. He's bound to do naughty things. Like this "mess" he made when eating his grilled cheese and tomato soup. Gee, thanks child.

 Jack is potty-trained all the way! If he stays dry for 6 more hours, he will have gone a full week with no accidents. We did a sticker reward chart this time around. I am still baffled that young children think a tiny smiley-face sticker is worth anything of value. After getting 7 stickers, he will get his "big boy bike." He is quickly outgrowing his red trike, and is pretty darned excited to get his 12" no-name-brand two wheeler with training wheels.

I had to post this picture because I never want to forget how a 4-year-old makes their bed. It absolutely DRIVES ME CRAZY to not fix it. I'm desperately trying to practice all my will-power by establishing some responsibility in her. She's always so proud of herself! I just have to shut the door very fast after I say, "Thank you, Lillie--Looks great!"

Did your heart rate increase after seeing this picture? Kids these days.

Lillie got her "Maggie Doll" from Grandma Diane for Christmas. Lillie and Maggie go everywhere, even on a train to the North Pole to update Santa on her new Christmas list. Lately, Lillie wants a pink power-wheels car. I keep telling her that Santa can't possibly fit that through a chimney.

I can't believe my children are growing up so fast! It's weird to not have any more diapers to change, high chairs to take up space, or strollers to push around. Lillie will be 5 in about 2 weeks, Jack will be 3 in 2 months. When did this happen? We're planning on moving in about 2-4 weeks (depending on when we close) and are putting Jack in a twin-sized bed. He doesn't sleep well on his little toddler bed, and I suppose it's time I realize that he's too big for a crib-sized mattress. I just want him to stay little forever!
Jack weighs 31 pounds now, and is pretty much 50-60% for everything. Lillie is still 95% head, 90% height, and 50% weight (41 pounds). Even at birth those have been her percentages. It sure is fun to have intelligent conversations with my children, teach them about common things, and see them grow up.

One recent conversation:

Lillie let go of a balloon in the sky and watched it float higher and higher.
Lillie: Where is my balloon going to go?
Me: Way up in the sky, maybe even to the moon!
Lillie: No, it's going to heaven.
(pause)
Lillie: Maybe when I get to heaven, Jesus will give me all of my balloons back.

Alright, maybe this doesn't constitute an intelligent conversation, but a conversation none the less.

I'll leave you with a conversation I overheard last Thursday between Lillie and her cousin Alyse:

Lillie: Alyse, do you see those mountains over there?
Alyse: Yes, Lillie. I can see them. I know.
Lillie: Well do you know what? I forgot to tell you something.
Alyse: No?
Lillie: My Daddy rode his bike all the way up that big, big, big mountain!
Alyse: Lillie, my Mommy went up there and put all those windmills on it.
Lillie: Oh. I never knowed that.
Alyse: Oh.
Lillie: And Alli and Tyson and Brycen and baby... Conner, no baby CARTER live over there too.
Alyse: Who are those people, Lillie?
Lillie: Oh my gosh, Alyse! Just... never mind.

100

So, I'll admit that the first time I heard Dustin say that he wanted to train to do a Century Ride, in my head I though, "Umm, okay. Just go out and ride your bike for 100 miles." I don't know if this plays into my inborn female-based lack of spacial reasoning, but 100 miles didn't seem like it would be that hard on a bike. I mean, really? You need to train to do something like this??

BEFORE YOU CLICK "Comment" and terrorize me for thinking such insane thoughts, I need you to understand that I was brought to the depths of humility (sort of) and realized the error in my thinking. To put 100 miles into perspective, I drive to Rexburg from Idaho Falls pretty frequently. This trip takes me about 40 minutes each way, and adds roughly 50-60 miles to our less-than-fancy Accord daily. to complete this century ride, Dustin would have to ride his bike from our house to Rexburg, back, and then AGAIN to Rexburg and back. That would take me over 2 hours even to drive!! He could also have ridden his bike to the Malad pass, or to West Yellowstone.

So, after understanding how far this distance really is (stupid, me), I am nothing short of impressed. Dust has been religiously riding early in the mornings five to six days per week for a couple of months. He's also training for his first marathon September 15th, and fits in some pretty long runs on the days he's not riding. He and his boss are training to do LOTOJA next Fall, and I really think he can do it.
He's a freaking machine.

Here's a pic of him coming in on Saturday. He finished in 5 hours and 52 minutes, and averaged 17 MPH even with hills, water stops, and insane wind speeds. Plus, it was bloody hot outside.

Gee, thanks random "tween" for choosing an awesome spot to find some shade and take a seat.

And one more shout out to this organization who put on the entire event for a more-than-worthy cause. They had a carnival for the kids that lets the younger kids slightly cheat to win, a bouncy house, face painting, catered food from Texas Roadhouse, 105.5 the Hawk and Z103 blasting all the coolest, latest jams of today, and even had snow cones and cotton candy-- all free with entry! We (me and the tikes) participated in the Family Ride (a whole 2 miles) which had Otter pops and name brand fruit snacks at the water station. The kids loved it, and loved getting their trophies at the finish line. We're planning on participating every year.

P.S. after doing spell-check on this post, I realized I've been spelling the word 'awesome' wrong my entire life. Wonderful.

Haggai

In leu of this being my very last week taking Old Testament II, I thought I would post one of my small assignments from this week. Go ahead and read Haggai (page 1166). It's only 2 chapters long, but He has a very significant message that I fould very valuable.

 A.The importance of the temple (Chapter 1): Haggai tries to explain to the people that they are in need of many great blessings. They "have sown much, but bring in little, ye eat, but ye have not enough..." Their wages are being "put into a bag of holes" and they are not receiving, or perhaps they are losing, the great blessings they are entitled to by not rebuilding their temple.

B. The people's response to Haggai's invitation to build a temple: They were fearful (Haggai 1: 12... "and they did fear before the Lord.") Even after this fear, they "came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God." This is a broad scale, but I suppose that on a smaller level, those same blessings could be revoked from my own life if I were to discontinue attending the temple. Or, perhaps, I could be receiving more strength than before.

C.

1. What blessings the people will be granted: Spirit to remain with them, He will give peace, greater dividends, the people will flourish.

2. How the temple is a place of peace: Great peace will come upon the people because they will be protected from other lands, armies, other persecutions, and from famine or any other hindering curses. These same ideas are prevalent today when we attend the temple. We are given a literal protection when we wear the Holy Garments (as well as a daily, constant reminder of those covenants we have entered into), and we are also given a stronger spirit to help us discern between right and wrong. There are many forms of peace, but it would be difficult to describe a temple without using that word: peace.

After our children went to bed tonight, my Dustin and I sat down and had a good 15 minute discussion about this assignment. We read Haggai together again, and spoke about how these blessings and cursings can and are still relevant today. We are both going to commit to attending the temple with better attitudes with a more thorough understanding of the importance of frequent temple attendance.

I have worked as a housekeeper in the Salt Lake and Idaho Falls temples. Both are busy temples, and both have many patrons  that come to do work each day. Even with those busy attendance numbers, I found out that of those temple reccommend holders in the Idaho Falls Temple District, the average CURRENT recommend holder only attends the tmple 2.3 times per year. This number was very alarming and absolutly astounding to me. We can do better than that! I am in awe of how many people are deliberatly neglecting the peace that they could have in attending the temple. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I almost feel addicted to the feeling I feel when I enter the temple... even at 10PM! Even when I'd be vacuuming a basement locker room, I still felt peace. I cannot believe how hard the adversary is working to keep us away from the temple. He must also be aware of the the great blessings and added strength and peace that comes when we attend.

In my most difficult of times in my life, especially the busiest, I have always known the source of my strength to keep me pushing along. It seemed crazy that I was able to find time each week to attend a session with young children, nursing infants, full-time school, and work at night, but those weeks when I slacked (thinking I was spending those two hours doing something more worthwhile) were the weeks that I was left stressed and overwhelmed. Going to the temple is a sacrifice, and it can be very difficult to get to, but I have never heard of someone leaving that wished they hadn't gone to the temple that day.

So if you're feeling stressed, overwhelmed, tired, lonely,  tempted, betrayed, depressed, unloved,  victimized, or discouraged--work hard to get to your temple.

“As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation. The temple provides purpose for our lives. It brings peace to our souls—not the peace provided by men but the peace promised by the Son of God when He said, ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’” --President Monson

Listen to a Prophets voice on this topic here.

Cars Underwear

It was the most unexpected event of my life.

Jack potty-trained himself.

SERIOUSLY?!?!? This 2-year old, while cute and mostly adorable, has figured out how to torture his mother in most every way. He is constantly throwing things, running outside naked, pouring 20-oz water bottles out in the car, dumping cups of juice in our flower pots and killing my petunias and strawberries, swiping his Nerf sword at me and saying, "I kill Mommy!!" (okay, that IS weird... and I should probably seek counsiling or something), flushing important artifacts down the toilet--including articles of clothing, breaking various electronics, frantically scribbling on the walls and furniture when I'm not looking, hiding food under the couch cusions, getting out of bed atleast 13 times per night, throwing full-out-embarassing tantrums at least three times per sacrament meeting, and so much more.

However, last week he took his diaper off, came up to me (while holding himself in an awkward manner) and shouted, "Pop-tee!" (translation: Potty) then ran into the bathroom, hopped up on the pot, and peed. It was a victory for stressed out mothers everywhere.

While I don't expect him to be perfect at this, I must admit, I have not set timers, given reminders, or done anything for that matter and he's only had three accidents in six days. It's a blessed miracle. 

Boy, do I absolutly love and adore that 2-year-old.