Song Sung Blue

Leave it to a wedding to make me melancholy. Not that it wasn't a beautiful wedding. The sun was shining, the sealing memorable, the flowers lovely, the entertainment awesome and my brother made a very handsome groom and we are all grateful that such a beautiful, kind, gentle girl said yes to Andy's marriage proposal. Now the wedding is over and I am left with a touch of the blues. This wedding was an opportunity for my family to be reunited after a number of years. Not only have we not seen our extended family for a while but our 'nucleus', as my Father likes to say, has not been together in quite a while. I anticipated being able to visit, laugh, tell stories, catch up and maybe take a few pictures. I don't know why, as an event approaches, I forget what it is like to be a mother of very young children. Not only did very little visiting take place but I have no pictures from the big event. My arms were full of babies, or as I verbalize it, "My babies full of arms", my IQ seems to trickle out with my breast milk, but the latter maybe just as true as the former. Sometimes being a mother is hard, I was a little overwhelmed with my responsibilities this past week. It would have been nice to have the freedom to "hangout" or to take some pictures for my blog and posterity. There are times I feel left out because for the last 4 years I have always had a baby at my breast or on my hip. I'm really not complaining about being a mother, I love my children more than anything, it's just that sometimes... Anyway, to my brothers and sisters, I love and miss you. To my cousins, uncles and aunts, I love and miss you as well. It was wonderful to see you all.
And Brad, I would have loved to have posted some pictures of your singing and guitar playing, sorry, I love you too.

A few of the pictures we did manage to get:



At the bridal shower. Seriously Sarah, this is the only one that I got, and you, the bride, are not looking!





A few pictures from Norah's dance recital





Norah and Lulu at the family picture site



Norah and her cousin Maddy



My appendage, J. Abram and me.



I do love him so.

The Graduate

We use the word graduate very loosely here. Norah 'graduated' from her 1st year of pre-school to whatever comes next for a 4-year-old. The 'commencement excercises' were held at a conference room at Cabelas, so hopefully all of the youngsters will learn to appreciate the necessity of hunting and killing wildlife in order to maintain harmony and balance in our eco-system. After marching up flights of stairs past a wide array of taxidermy (which Martha likes to call 'corpses'), Norah joined the other 4 and 5 year olds with bright hopeful futures. We clapped, we laughed, we cried, we ate cookies. (Mostly, it was Norah who cried about having to wait until the end to get a cookie.) Good job and good luck Norah!



The graduates



Norah



Lulu and momma



Norah and Miss Mikki



Nana and the girls

Reaping the Rewards

Winter 2005-2006 I envisioned an English garden in my front yard, bursting with perfume and vibrancy. Brad and I also desired to have at our fingertips, fresh vegetables and herbs. We decided, come spring, we would revamp the front yard and build raised vegetable gardens in our back yard. When spring arrived we embarked on our garden adventure, this "adventure" challenged our little family and our backs.
I had become pregnant in February so by April I was in the thick of morning, afternoon, evening and night sickness. Brad was busy as usual at Griffiths & Turner. But we were determined and visions of Lupine and Tomatoes danced in our heads. So with the help of family and a good neighbor we tilled 2 truck loads of compost into our future flower garden and constructed 3 tired railroad tie vegetable beds. Brad built a beautiful, meandering granite stairway while I planted flowers, shrubs and thyme all about. The vegetable beds produced only tomatoes last year so this spring we replaced the soil with the square foot gardening mixture and I made the square foot grid and planted a plethora of herbs and vegetables. Brad also was a good dad and turned one of the beds into a sandbox. Here are the beautiful fruits of our labor and those who enjoy it!



The girls love these garden steps



Lulu




This Lupine shot is for you Jodie. I've been trying to channel Cape Breton Island but the dry desert air interferes.




sandbox




The vegetable beds complete with Marigolds in the 4 corners to keep out pests




thyme abloom

A Mom's Life in the Fast Lane

I dreaded returning from a mission. I cried secretly, sometimes not so secretly. Shingles broke out in flames around my midsection from worry. Initially, as a missionary, it took some time to 'forget myself'. By the time 18 months was up, I had found that I loved not thinking about me. I loved knowing that I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I loved that my choices were clear and simple. I could either do a great job, a mediocre job or a bad job of fulfilling my calling. I have to admit, the exciting, lightning bolt experiences were few and far between. Most of my days were spent knocking on doors and praying for an opportunity to teach, but I was happy, the happiest I had been. I had never felt so good about myself and about others, but a mission went by fast.
What worried me about going home was I knew what I had to go back to, me. I had to start thinking about myself again, where to work, when to go to school, who to date and where to live. Instead of 2 pairs of shoes to choose from I'd have 15, instead of worrying about whether an investigator would show up for church, I'd be worrying about money. And although I understood that there are times and seasons and that these worries were a necessary part of life, it felt good to be part of such an important work. I knew that I was a part of "bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".
Now, 11 years later, I'm a stay at home mother to 3 very young children. Over the past 4 years I've found myself asking "What about me?". My choices have seemed to be very limited, 'to change a diaper or to not change a diaper'? I've often wondered if I should be doing something else besides 'just' being a stay at home mom. Maybe I need a way to express myself outside of being a mother. It's true that I rarely feel the excitement that comes from having your work appreciated or admired. It's true that I am unable to spend much time on myself, my feet have not crossed the threshold of a salon for at least 8 months. But time goes so fast. My children's youth will be over before I know it. I will be their sole influence for only so long. Soon I will be crying about having myself all to myself again. Although somewhat muddled in a gray world, I suppose I still have 3 very clear choices. I can do a great job, a mediocre job or a bad job of this calling I've been given, and sometimes when things are still I can see in my children's eyes that I am still about His work and His glory and then I don't worry so much about me.

The work we are about in our fast lives:

Waking up to my man J. Abram



Providing an adequate supply of strawberries




Regulating pacifier and "Dora" time



Washing cold, dirty toes



Placing large, obnoxious bows in daughters' hair



Making sure the man gets an ample amount of sitting position time





Admiring my beautiful children