Just a word of advice...

If you have a husband or wife whose job it is much of the time to cover fatal car accidents...do not--I repeat: do NOT--open any photo applications on your computer unless you are sure of what the last thing being opened on them was.

I wish there were a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for my brain.

Couldn't she just be 4 forever?

I wish I could always have this little girl twirling around the house, singing from The Phantom of the Opera. Always hear her come up with things from the backseat of the car like, "When I am a teenager I'd like a slug bug, Momma. Do they come in purple?" and always feel her little tug on my leg for some popcorn, some kisses, some help tying the bow on her dress. I asked her the other day if she'd humor me and not grow up. With her typical wisdom, she looked at me soberly and said, "I'm sorry Momma...but growing up is what little kids do."

Dang it.

Specificity...

My sister and I were visiting Saturday and we were talking about the idea that some people are really specific in what they pray for. We had both been reading a woman's blog about her struggle with losing a daughter during childbirth, and she is just really clear about what she prays for, and what she asks other people to pray for should they want to pray for her.

It made me wonder why I am not more specific when I ask for things in my prayers...I tend to be more of the "please bless us all to be healthy and bless those who are suffering..." kind of prayer gal, I guess.

Later that night, our family began a fast for one of my dearest friend's sons. Her sweet little boy, Nate, is currently in Primary Children's Hospital in Utah, very gravely ill with pneumonia. (you can read more about it here )

That night I decided I was going to test this specificity in prayer thing.

My friend, Kim, had been telling me that one of the hardest things to deal with in Nate's current battle was that he hadn't smiled in a week. He has always been a happy and smiley baby, and it just hurt her to see him be so sick that he couldn't smile. Kim said to me, "If he would just smile, then I would know that he was going to be okay."

So, I spent the 24 hours of my fast with the specific prayer on my lips that Nate would smile for his Mom. Whenever Nate or Kim crossed my mind, I just asked Heavenly Father if He would please let Nate smile and in so doing, ease Kim's heart for a moment.

Around 5pm yesterday evening, I text messaged Kim to let her know that we had broken our fast for Nate, and that we were thinking of them and hoping all was well. Several hours later, she sent a picture of her little one that she had taken just moments before--sweet Nate, in his hospital bed, smiling.

God is Great.

Quote of the week...

"I am not one of those girls who have it all figured out. I am the other one."

--Angie Smith

Things you think you'd never have to say to your children, #125:

"Quit licking the washing machine!!! Seriously, STOP IT."

Not that he'd read this, but...

...one of my brothers doesn't like blogs. So, a few things for his benefit:

*it's okay not to like blogs

*I can't "make" anyone start their own blog...although the thought of that kind of power IS appealing...

*so if some others in the family have started blogs, I assure you it has not been by any arm twisting on my part

*if you had a blog, I'd read it everyday...'cause I think you are cool like that

*I am going to continue to blog, just as any self respecting sister would do once she realizes that doing something annoys her brother.

2 1/2 days of folding later...

9 people have been walking around creating laundry during the time it took me to do this. However, we will not dwell on that...no, we will not. We will just sit back and enjoy the pretty pretty laundry room.

Quote of the week...

Based on wading through and folding all that laundry this past weekend:

"If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it."

~Olin Miller

(after pictures when my camera battery is recharged)

Look what I get to do today!

Try really, really hard not to be jealous.

Quote of the week...

“The biggest mistake I made as a parent is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of my three children sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the 'doing' a little more and the 'getting it done' a little less.”

--Anna Quindlen

This is a good one...

I found this columnist's advice to a young Jewish woman who is worried about her Mormon friend very wise:

Carolyn Hax's advice

I'm just saying...

There are days--let's just take today, for example--when I think that whoever thought that my marrying and then giving birth to 7 children was a good idea was either smoking crack or has a REALLY evil sense of humor.

Oh, well. As Miss Scarlett says, "Tommorrow is another day!"

Quote of the week...

"Remember, beneath every cynic there lies a romantic, and probably an injured one."

--Glenn Beck

6 Reasons why I think I will stick with exercising this time...

1. I have already made it longer than any other time I have started. Do not ask me how long that is, because I am too ashamed to admit it.

2. I can already feel the difference. I increased my speed and duration quite a bit within the first week, and that was really motivating.

3. I am doing it with a friend, which is pretty much 45 minutes of free therapy.

4. By doing it with said friend, there is the whole "I can't ditch this morning because Julie is waiting for my sorry butt" factor.

5. I no longer have to feel bad thinking about my sister-in-law (who runs marathons) saying, "I just love how everyone in this family has fitness goals!" Because now I do, too.

6. Children are not allowed anywhere near me during this time. I shouldn't have to explain this reason. In fact, it really should count as 2 reasons. Some days, 3.

Quote of the week...

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."

~John Lubbock