Another Week Has Gone By

We have had another wonderful week!  There is always a lot to do when there are eight people in the family.  It makes the days go by so quickly.  The highlights for me were listening to LDS General Conference, going to a soccer game, having some friends over while the men (including Thomas for the first time!) went to the Priesthood session, going to a play date at the church on Columbus Day with all of my kids, and watching my elementary school kids bike to school this morning with their dad.  Many days here are overcast, so I am especially happy when the skies are clear and the sun is shining like it is today.  I am so loving the beauty that surrounds us here. 

The front, back and side yard of our home.

Of course, there are still challenges.  Though I really, really enjoyed Conference this last weekend, I did feel homesick I think for the first time.  I am sure I felt that way because I always associate Conference with spending time with family.  Since then, I have been praying for peace and seeking again to know what faith should look like for me at this time in my life.  I received some neat personal answers and have been reminded of true principles.  One of them is to take life one day at a time.  I have been too overwhelmed at times with thinking of all of the things that I want to do for the house and all of the things I want to do/provide for my family, and my lack of energy, resources, etc.  I believe I can credit President Monson with the saying, "By the yard, life is hard.  By the inch, it's a cinch."  There is a lot of truth in that.  I tried to apply that principle better yesterday and was surprised to discover how much I like grocery shopping!  Again, not thinking too far ahead and focusing on the task at hand can do wonders for someone who could be thinking about a lot of things at once!

I also decided to exercise my faith that, in time, I will get my home remodeled.  As I mentioned in my last post, we now have some damage to our ceiling in the living room.  I have been wondering what the best thing to do about it would be.  My son Thomas remarked the other night about how dark the living room feels at night.  That room doesn't have any lighting, other than the two lamps that we placed in there.  It dawned on me that we really do need to put in some recessed lighting to brighten up everything.  I really do love light!  That is something we wouldn't have done if it hadn't been for the water damage.  Last night, my husband told me that he had already called the "ward handyman" to come and look at our living room and see what he could do to help us.  I think things will work out just fine.  

As far as this morning goes, we thought of having the kids bike to school because yesterday was Bike/Walk to School Day.  Dave was going to take all of the kids yesterday, but there was a lot of rain coming down when he took Jonathan to seminary that morning.  He was quite sure the event would be canceled since there was less rain the week before and the event was postponed then.  Surprisingly, everything went forward as planned.  We had already told the kids in our family that they could ride to school today with Dad instead.  However, at the last minute, Thomas decided to bike to school yesterday since there were prizes that the kids could win if they went on Wednesday.  It was a little bit of a crazy morning since I had to follow Thomas to school in order to pick up his bike.  The fun part is, that Thomas actually won something!  He now has a gift certificate for a $65 tune up at a local bike shop.  Another blessing that came from participating is that our neighbor gave Sarah Jane a bike!  Her daughter had outgrown the bike years ago and only has two younger brothers.  We were thrilled to take the bike off her hands since it had recently been brought to my attention that the bike Sarah Jane already had, was too small for her.  She was so excited to ride her bike to school today, that even though it was a little chilly and a long way to go for such a little girl, she refused to ride in the car with me.  She insisted that she could do it. . .and she DID!  She was so very proud of herself.  I am proud of her, too!