31 Days of Praying For Our Husbands-Day 23, 24

So sorry...the days are so busy lately. Here is day 23, and day 24.

I was just-a-checkin' my google reader after my yummy lunch and came across this insight from this blog:

"Perhaps having a good life, one that we are satisfied or joyful in, is not measured by how much subjective good there actually is in our lives, but simply in if we look for satisfaction and joy."

This is Stellan's mom...the one I found via another blog...the Stellan who was not supposed to be born, but had a faithful family who did not give up on the Lord, or on miracles. Stellan was born fine, but has many life-affecting struggles. He just got through another one, and waits for a solution if he can just grow bigger...very fast. Check it out. What is amazing to see is that this sweet woman, who has had to face the possible death of her baby, has the insight to see beyond the moment. She has not let her situation get her down. Read about their family, pray for Stellan, and follow her wise counsel!

31 Days of Praying For Our Husbands-Day 20. 21. 22

So sorry for my neglecting...busy busy weekend with Morgan having a birthday party, church, seminary meetings, etc.
Here are the posts for day 20(now, I know that most of our sweethearts have no problems avoiding this, so just pray to keep clean pure thoughts and actions.), day 21, and day 22.

Taking A Step Back

The last few years have given us a share of challenges. With jobs, or lack thereof, babies born, babies lost, choices that are hard to deal with, but, nevertheless, one must stand by and watch and worry and hope and pray. I have learned about what it means to love someone, no matter what their weaknesses, no matter what their choices, no matter what they do...or don't do, no matter how mad or crazy or just plain tired you feel. Love...no matter what. That is what I have tasted, and what really feels good. It feels good to know that I love no matter what. I have discovered in myself that I seriously cannot think of ANYTHING that would stop my love for my husband, for my children. Choices...actions...though I don't understand them, or agree with them...choices do not make my love for each and every one of them go away...or decrease. I hope they know this...that they feel this.

Anyway, I am learning to just get by with the love I feel. That is why, as I was thinking about things in a solemn moment last week, I realized that some of the things that I had prayed, and prayed, and thought, and even stopped praying for because I felt my prayers were bordering on vain repetitions...that some of those things are, bit by bit by bit, starting to change. Small steps are being taken. Small actions are coming to pass. They are sometimes so minute that I didn't even stop to think. Sometimes, I guess, when we want something so badly, we often don't recognize the answers starting to come. I realized this, and thought..."heck, what did you want to happen? A big, huge boom of a miracle that just takes your breath away. Uh uh...not gonna happen. Line upon line, precept upon precept. Inch by inch. Row by row. Yes, things may be a changing. Now, there may be setbacks...and I am ever so conscious of that. It's like when the Berlin Wall was being torn down so long ago. I watched on television a wall that had been there my entire life. And, I didn't recognize the miracle, the bit by bit, that was happening. While that was monumental, the actions that followed were also tremendous. I just didn't take the time to see the bit by bit. I couldn't believe, and so I didn't watch...just to protect my hopes and my heart for those people. I am not gonna stop and protect. I love my people...no matter where the go, or where they live, or what they believe, or what they drink or eat or read. I am just gonna love...and step back and watch...and, hopefully, marvel at the miracles that are coming...the answers to a mother's prayer. Stop. Look. and be thankful...that is what I need to do. Be thankful for every step, for every change, for every choice, for every sign. Thank you, dearest Father, for listening, and for reminding me that answers do come...in time.

31 Days of Praying For Our Husbands-Day 19

This is today's prayer.

Just Thinking....

Today has been a day of, well, I just haven't been able to get things together and get my mental list accomplished. Maybe it's because I started at 3:07 a.m. exercising, ran a mile at 3:45, finished exercising at 4:35, got Dee's lunch in his box and Nate's lunch out, breakfast muffins ready for those two and got out the door by 4:52 a.m. to go to put my Kellogg's rebate request at the post office and in line at the food bank by 5:20. Now, the line was better, and I got to visit with the sweet ladies there, got my stuff, got Nate's lunch fixings for cheap at Albertson's on the way home, stuff got put away quick. Then, my blog called. So many thoughts today...it being my Dad's birthday. I have been following blogs of a few babies: triplets that are up to 2 pounds, Stellan being able to go home. I have been thinking...thinking too much today. Thinking of those on the other side of the veil. Thinking of my dear sweet grandbaby, Charles. I was so blessed to be here when he came, and then so quickly left this earth. I got to hold his dear, angelic body in my arms...so small, and yet so perfect...up to just above his ears. He needed no more than that almost perfect body. I held an angel that September morning, almost 2 years ago. I wonder...is he there with my dad...with Danyel's dad. Were they there to welcome him? Are they all watching over us... Was he there watching for our sweet cousin Patty when she was taken by skin cancer earlier this year? Or when our dear friend Gregg left this earth so suddenly? Gregg has always been there for everything important in our lives! True friend! Does Charles know his new cousin that will come to the earth later this year? I imagine our loving Heavenly Father making that sweet baby Charles feel loved. I bet he is just as impatient as his daddy, Doran, always was. Doran kept a chart, counting...the days until Christmas...the days until his birthday...the days until a trip to the lake or hunting. I bet Charles has his own counting chart...one that he shares with his grampa and great-grampa...counting the days until we can all be together again! I bet he is there with the sisters and brothers he can be with there, but won't share the earth with. He will miss them when the time is right for them to come to the earth. I am sure he will count the days again until they return to him. I am so glad that families can be forever, that we are blessed with the temple here on earth and its sealing ordinances. I am so glad that someday, we can all be together again, and that it will be forever, eternally. Today, I miss my Daddy. I know that Heavenly Father has blessed him that the veil has been thinned, so that he could share in the marriages of his three children, in the birth of each of his 14 grandchildren, his soon to be 4 great grandchildren. I know he has shared in the triumphs, helped to carry us through the tragedies, and that he cares for the ones who have already been on this earth, and the ones yet to come...

I Cannot Believe It!

I went to Albertsons...great deals on Kelloggs stuff with coupons, store rebate and mail in rebate, but...I digress. I was checking for clearance items down an aisle and what did I find??? These wonderful, soft delicacies! I even cheated and had some this morning...bad me, but oh, what heaven they were. And the best part...it means this stifling, blistering heat will end soon, and Fall is just around the corner!