Moments of Faith: the good sister

Recently Faith and I were reading her Book of Mormon stories picture book. They have severely boiled down the stories from the book to say the least. We were reading the very blank synopsis of Jacob's encounter with Sherem, the story went something like this: Jacob was a missionary teaching people about Jesus. A wicked man Sherem said he would not believe in Jesus unless he had a sign from God. Jacob prayed to God to give Sherem a sign. Sherem recieved the sign and got very very sick.
About this point, while looking at a very stricken looking man in the picture near death, Faith coughed. Here eyes widened to full doe capacity and she asked with a bit of fear in her voice "Why am I very very sick?" I reassured her immediately that God had not stricken her, she merely had a bit of phglem in her throat.



Later that evening, after Faith had fallen asleep she cried out for Mommy, Daddy! She was very scared. I was alarmed by her moving into the stage where she is having vivid nightmares. As soon as I got to her side she said "Danny has fallen!" No, I said, Danny was safe in the crib (an unusual punishment for him for having gotten out of his big boy bed so much during the middle of the night and crawling into bed with us, he loves cuddling). "Danny fell out of the crib." The earnestness in her voice nearly convinced me to go and check on him even though I knew he was safe asleep. I then had some tender moments with my little one assuring her that Mommy and Daddy were always close to save her and her brother. Oh I love my little girl.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

descriptions from the interior

these walls are full of air
there's nothing really in there
shiney, bumby, stucco shells
just cover up the empty well

sure wish there was something more substantial
to bolster up this pompous place

but. no.

underneath is nothing more
than the emptiness I said before

Before I actually fall asleep

Darkness
Evening heat settles in
Little voices yell for attention

Numbness
Daily existence wears on
My voice yells back

Hollow
Echoing commands fade around
Yelling back toward me
Haunting

Nothin like a small town parade

Notice both of Faith's cheeks abnormally rounded? Salt water taffy for each.
The girls got their fingernails done pretties with stars and stripes.
Boys got their hair sprayed with red, blue & silver. Punk rocker Danny is a good look for him.

My nephew was in the marching band this year, and he was doing so good that the rodeo clowns wanted to be just like him! (we had gone to the rodeo the night before and the kiddos loved it) They other sprayed hair in the foreground are other nephews.
My favorite part of the parade - my jumprope team! They got grand master's championship this year at nationals! Oh I am so proud.
Danny waited for the candy to come to him.
Our spot staked out at the middle of the parade, old fashioned way, blankets and chairs, and yes, it was 60 degrees that morning for the parade.

Yellowstone

On our trip to Idaho over the Indpendence day weekend we made a northernly dash up through Wyoming and Montana to give our kiddos a taste of the wonderful national parks starting with Yellowstone.
Lunch at Old Faithful, yes, on vacation cheetos counts as lunch.
Josh and I have a picture identical to this from when we were first dating and took a trip to Old Faithful. Proud to say, neither of us looks a day older. ;)

Thank heavens for the guard rails, my kiddos would have loved a hot boiling bath right then.
Beehive gyser, actually way more impressive than Old Faithful, all spit and fire. This was the first time I saw Beehive go off in all the years I have been to Yellowstone.
90 minutes late, back at Old Faithful for a second show from the west side.

Helmet Head

Danny loves Daddy's scooter helmet. Every day before Josh goes to work, instead of the customary kiss good by, Danny has to hit his Dad on the helmet. Funny little guy. Even funnier is the fact that the helmet almost fits his head already!