to sophie

I have started a couple posts over the last week but not much seems significant. About 10 days ago, Sophie Fellows, the 9 year old daughter of some good friends of ours, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She is at Boston Children's Hospital and today will be going in for a 2nd surgery. The first one was on Friday and they didn't quite get the whole thing, so they are going back in.

Often at Christmas we get caught up in the business of pressure of buying gifts and sending cards and going to parties and giving goodie plates to the neighbors and a million other things. There is nothing wrong with that. We want our children to have wonderful memories of Christmas and the "magic" that seems to hang in the air every December. We want them to remember traditions and feel love and happiness. We want to keep in touch with friends and reach out to those around us. 

What matters most is love. All those little traditions, when done with love, add to the Spirit of the Christmas season. It's when we forget why we do them that we lose that Spirit. I hope the Fellows family feels so much love from across the country this holiday season. They have already seen so many miracles and I will keep praying that they can witness many more miracles this Christmas. Mostly, I hope they feel peace from the Prince of Peace whose birth we are celebrating.

Simon Dewey's Prince of Peace

You can follow Sophie's story HERE.

shout it out with joyful voice

About a year ago, I got a phone call from a good friend who happened to be serving in the bishopric at the time. (The Bishopric is the local leaders of our church, comprised of three men, a Bishop and his counselors, who lead the congregation. For more information about our local organization see HERE or just ask.) He asked me to speak in church on Easter Sunday on how the Resurrection has blessed my life.

Though I have a firm belief in the reality of Christ's resurrection,  I never really applied it to my life now. Studying for the talk deepened my testimony of not only the Resurrection, but also in his Atoning sacrifice. I learned that time after time in the Bible, Christ testified of his mission to heal us spiritually by healing others physically.  "For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?" (Matt 9:5)

A year has passed, and with it experiences that have taught me more about the amazing power of the Resurrection. That same friend and his wife, Christy, lost there little girl in November. I have thought of them so many times this week as I have thought about my Savior. The reality of the Resurrection has become so much more real for them. It means that they get to see their little girl again. Jane will live again and they will see her and hold her! Even though my heart still aches for them and their two little boys, I am so happy for them that they have Hope in Christ. The sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.

For all who have lost, the Hope is the same. Christ lives! Though I have spent my week sewing Katie's Easter dress and dying eggs, the glory of this holiday is the glory of the Lord.


Hallelujah. He is Risen!

keepsakes

Ana, April 2010. I came across it today. It's one of my favorites.

As part of my "40 Bags" challenge (which has really morphed into a 40 areas challenge because I don't really fill a whole bag every day) I pulled out some files out of my filing cabinet tonight labeled "keepsakes." Surprisingly, most of what found its way all the way into the folders were actually things I wanted to keep, (unlike the "to file" drawer of my desk that was 3 years full of random things, only a handful of which were actually keep-worthy) so my throw-out pile was small.

I am not very fast when it comes to these things. I look at every picture. I read every card. (And then I decided to move all my cards to a shoebox to make the folder a little flatter.) I am a collector and I am hopelessly nostalgic. As I was going through these treasures, a few things came to mind.

1.) I really need to be better about writing thank you cards. Those little notes of thanks mean a lot to me. I keep many of them.  I am touched by the sincerity and vulnerability it takes to express such heartfelt thanks for my small, seemingly insignificant contributions. I should do that more often for others.

2.) I have such wonderful people in my life. I have friends and family all over the country. I have been influenced and inspired by friends and neighbors and even acquaintances. I have had times when I have given and times when I have received. I read cards of sympathy during a surgery or miscarriage, cards of congratulations for milestones and baby births, cards of thanks for small things I had done, and cards and letters just to say "hi." I am so incredibly blessed.

3.) My kids are growing up way too fast. Ana is becoming so tall and thin. Katie has a full head of hair now. Jack was younger than Katie when we moved here. Time has flown by. Each picture is just a fleeting moment, but seeing them all together in one place weaves a story of a life. There were even a few pictures mixed in of me and Dave when we were young. Time flies by so quickly. I can't even remember my 4-year-old self at all, and even Ana's 4-year-old self is quickly fading from my memory as life moves on.

Life really is all about relationships. We are all children of God and how we relate to our brothers and sisters here is the most important thing on earth. I found a list of 50 things I want to do in my life tucked away in one of my files. Most of them I still want to accomplish, like "get a master's degree." But even if I do, I hope that it never becomes more precious than a shoebox full of cards, or a love-note from my husband, or a painted hand print of my daughter.

family pictures

There are some people that make you feel cooler just by being around them. We have met so many cool people here. One of those families is the Dahles. Even our kids know they are cool. Ana one time said, "The Dahles can do anything."  Any time something is broken Ana thinks we need to call them because they can fix anything. They are also amazing photographers and they took our family pictures for us this year.

 I had a very specific thing in mind. I wanted to dress up, but I also wanted them to look cozy and warm. And I wanted to take them in my house.  Maybe that is weird, but Heather totally made it work and I love how they turned out.

This is the one we chose for the Christmas card. I love how Ana is leaning on my shoulder and I love Jack's face.

The classic formal shot.

They look like they love each other!

I am totally in love with the genuine smiles and happiness on their faces here. I could eat them up.

This one is the closest to real life. It really shows personality.

I really like doing family pictures every year. I am not quite sure why, but ever since Ana was born I have made sure we have taken a current family photo every year. I like to document the passing of time. I like the snapshot of what our family looks like at different phases. I like to see the change and think about the growth that has happened over the year.  And I think it is important for my kids to see pictures of us as a family and pictures of me and Dave together with them - both formal pictures and informal. I am not a great photographer, but I love that it is so easy to document life by taking pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words, and taking pictures can be a powerful way to send a message to the next generation. I love the pictures I have of me as a child and of my family when we were young. They are treasured possessions. I hope my children feel the same way.

a child of God

Dave got home last Saturday. I was planning a post about how happy I was to have him home. I also have a list of other things I want to write down, but I haven't been able to sit down and write quite yet.

We have met amazing people during our time here. One of those amazing families is the Clark family. For 3 years they lived just down the street. Our kids played together all the time. Over those 3 years, we became like family. In May they moved to California. They are close to family, which is great, but we sure miss them. On Saturday they lost their sweet little baby Jane (13 months old) to meningitis. To say we are heartbroken for them is an understatement.

All the other things I was going to write about seem trivial. There is little that brings peace stronger than the hymns and the scriptures. This is what is running through my mind:

Sweet is the peace the Gospel brings.

Families can be together forever.

I know that my Redeemer Lives.

And this scripture found in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 11:17)

"And I said unto him: I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

Sunday was our annual Primary Program and it was so comforting to hear almost every child declare "I am a child of God." What a powerful knowledge that is.

We will miss sweet baby Jane.

fair days

The afternoon of the first day of school we went to the fair with some of our best friends. It was all sorts of fun. The kids got ride bracelets this year and I made Jack go on the ferris wheel even though he was kicking and crying that he didn't want to. (Literally.) He ended up liking it, so he didn't think twice when I had him go on Wild Mouse next. He said he liked it, but he mostly looked shell-shocked through the whole ride. He wasn't very adventurous after that.  Ana on the other hand, loved all the rides.  It was a bunch of fun. Since Dave missed out, he and I went a few days later for lunch.

This was a kiddy ride. I think she was trying to act cool, but she really loved it.

The nice little train was right about his speed.

For more pictures by my awesome friend Heather, go HERE.

vermont is good for me

When I was younger it was always a dream of mine to visit Vermont in the fall. I imagined driving through the hills full of color for a weekend and then leaving. Now I live here. I have driven through mountains full of color. I have picked blueberries in the summer, visited a maple sugarhouse in the spring and watched the snow fall silently in the winter. I know the streets (mostly) and the lakes and the towns. I know the culture and the atmosphere and the absolute beauty of the place.
 
But mostly, I know the people. The people I have met here, especially the women, are incredible. From the fellow med-student spouses, to the other mothers that find themselves here for other reasons, to "Vermonters" who raised their kids here, I have learned and grown and changed so much because of the women here.

I spent an hour tonight at a Relief Society Activity talking about negative self-talk (and that we, as women, need to STOP IT!)  It was fabulous. Seriously.  On the way home, I got a little caught up in the fact that I live here. I live almost as far from "home" as I can possibly go in the continental US, and yet it is home to me now.  I am so glad that we took the leap of faith it took to come here, when other places made more sense. I am better for having lived here.

My kids have made some awesome friends too. We love it here!

best thanksgiving weekend ever

I've been thinking all day yesterday and today about how I should write the story of Thanksgiving 2012. It seems I have lost my (writing) voice lately, and my foggy brain is having a hard time forming coherent sentences.

But then, how can anyone describe the most awesome vacation/Thanksgiving ever. Along with 4 of our closest couple friends, we spent three glorious days in a mountain vacation home in central Vermont. The food was abundant and delicious. The home was spacious and warm with a big fireplace and an open kitchen. The kids were generally well-behaved. And the company was fantastic. Three whole days of relaxing, chatting, eating, playing pool, soaking in the hot tub, cooking dough-boys over the fire, a little online shopping and staying up way too late.  We have the most generous, kind, talented, fun-loving friends here in Vermont.

 We took a chance to go around the table and share what we were thankful for on Thanksgiving. As I sat there amongst such wonderful people I thought of how grateful I am that my parents encouraged me (and all their children) to spread our wings, to leave home and make friends and memories wherever life takes us. I remember my mom talking of good friends they have all over the country. I am so glad that when I leave this little corner of America,  I will have memories and friends that will last a lifetime.

I only took a few pictures. Hopefully they will be enough to cement this trip into my mind.

besties

My good friend and next door neighbor Sara had a baby yesterday. We are so excited for them. Her husband is a class-mate of Dave's, too, and so when we both moved in last fall we just clicked and have become such great friends.



They have a little two year old boy named Tanner.




These two little boys are best friends. Jack talks about Tanner a lot and how he loves playing with Tanner and how he wants Tanner to come over. We drive past their house and he says he wants to go to Tanner's house. They sure love each other.

Tanner was over this morning so Grandma (who is in town) could go up and see the new baby and mama. Tanner and Jack just played the whole time. They played cars, they played with balls, they played with playdough. They teased Ana. (Who is very dismayed that there aren't any little girls around). Then they marched up and down the hallway "singing" in a parade. And when it was time to go they gave a hugs.

I am so glad we have such great friends here! (Not just the Morey's but so many other wonderful families that we love already.) And it's so much more than someone to borrow milk from and who will watch my kids while I'm at the doctor (though we do that a lot). It's so great to have a "family" here.

moving day

Tomorrow is the big moving day. The day when the our car is loaded, we say our last goodbyes and head out. We'll stay at my parents until Monday morning and then we head east.

Last night we had a bbq with some of our friends from our ward.We ate, laughed, and then a few of us last to leave-ers played Bocce Ball. (I rocked it for a first timer.)

This is the first time I was sad to leave to many great friends. I love these girls:

Ana will miss her friends, too!


Tonight some of Dave's family stayed over til way late talking and chatting. Man, I love his sisters!

Its bittersweet. Its always sad to leave, but its good to move on and to know that good things are still to come.

yellow umbrella

So, I have a friend named Shaela who is awesome and talented and nice and genuine.

She does some amazing work with paper.

She has a craft blog.

I am always amazed at what she can do. She has been on design teams and has even been published in a scrapbooking magazine.

She is doing a giveaway.

Check it out!