Day #16 My first child

In the hospital, a few hours young (both of us).

Anna at 4 weeks old.

About 3 months old with Joel in our TVA apartment.

Since Anna had a birthday recently, I thought I would share some gratitude for her, my first child.

I am grateful for Anna's forbearance. Anna has had to bear the brunt of all of our inexperience as parents. For example, when she was a little baby we hated to hear her cry. So we labored to help her to sleep. We did this as long as we could until we could figure out some new trick until she was almost two years old. In our defense, she was a colicky baby and cried A LOT. But we really catered to her because we didn't know any better. Now her younger siblings have the blessing of following Anna and their sleeping habits have all been much better based on our experience. I fear that in most areas we are learning by trial and error with Anna. Not to say that we are bad parents, just that we are still learning.

I am grateful for the sweet way Anna looks after her younger siblings. Here are a few examples: Every day after school, Anna walks through the school to her little sister's class to pick her up and walk her home. She helps push Lily in her wheelchair and keeps her from getting into too much trouble at places like walmart. :) She carries Lily up and down the stairs regularly based on what Lily wants or needs (Lily usually says "up" or "dow"). She helps Joseph reach things he can't reach, or makes him a piece of toast or grabs him a glass of water when he needs it.

I am grateful for her unconditional love. Anna and I butt heads some times, but she is ultimately a very loving child. She is also forgiving and seeks to please.

I am grateful for her patience during this trying year. This past year has been one of the toughest for our whole family because of her sister, Eryn's health problems. Anna had to watch her younger sister come and go from the hospital regularly, visit her sister in the hospital and then watched Eryn deal with all kinds of medical drama at home. She also got to see all of the gifts and attention her sister got as a result as well. Beyond that, she has had to deal with the stress and the worry that comes with all of that. She is a worrier, so I know it wasn't an easy time.

There is a lot more I could say about Anna. We are lucky to have such a wonderful girl as our daughter.

Day #15 Speaking of Mothers. . . My Mother

This picture was taken when they were in the MTC before their first mission to Brazil.

Happy Birthday Mom! I am grateful for my mother today. She is on her second mission with my dad in Texas and we miss her! She always made us (her children and grandchildren) a priority in her weekly planning and helped me a great deal. I have been blessed to have her support in the past. And now that she is living far away, we miss it! But more than her help, we miss her presence in our everyday lives. I am proud of her for going on a mission and grateful for the positive force and great example she is for me in my life.


**I'm sharing gratitude every day on my blog for one full year! Read about The Gratitude Project and join me! It's not too late. :)

Day #14 I am a Mother

I count being a mother as one of my greatest blessings. When I was a teenager a large tumor was discovered growing in one of my ovaries (sorry if this is TMI :) ). At that time doctors were saying that before surgery there was no way to know if it was cancerous, but that they believed it was, because it grew so quickly. They also said that it was possible that it had spread. So, at age 15 I watched my mother sign a paper that gave the surgeon permission to remove anything he saw fit during my operation. This meant I could come out of the operation with a hysterectomy. I could not bear the idea that I might not be able to bare children. In fact this is what bothered me most about going into surgery. Many people fasted and prayed for me going into the day of my surgery. And as a great blessing I only lost one ovary. Everything else remained in tact and the tumor was not cancerous. I have always considered this a miracle in my life! And now here I am a mother of four.

Here are some of the things I enjoy about being a mother (so far):

Reading with my children.
Going to the library and bringing home stacks of books.
Singing together (anything).
Baking cookies.
Sharing a chore around the house.
Hugs and kisses.
The "I love you's" they say spontaneously.
When the children sing with the primary on Mother's Day! (One of my favorites)
Nature walks or hunts when the weather is good.
Walks.
Swimming together.
Joseph climbing in my bed at 1am.
Rocking Lily in the rocking chair before bedtime or naps.
When my children ask me questions about the gospel.
Walking them to school (when we lived in Hawaii)
Playing together on the beach or by any body of water.
Watching them grow and change.
Comforting them and advocating for them in the hospital.
Having their friends over!
Making things together (arts and crafts).
Loose teeth.
Trips to the zoo.
Feeding the ducks.
It goes on and on. . . .

I am sure that there could be an even longer list of things that bug me about being a mother including stretch marks, wider hips, grey hair, vomit etc., but the point is that it is all worth suffering through. Some days I think, "my house would be so clean if it weren't for my kids." But then I make myself really think what my life or my home would be like without children. Do I really want a life without them in it?? NEVER! They are the light and life and spice and meaning to my days. Despite the mess and the noise and the work, I LOVE being a mother and I love that I can be at home with them.

In the Bible many scriptures talk about the importance of feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and clothing the naked. I am blessed to do this for my children. :) It is truly a gift.

Day #13 A Good Neighbor

http://www.nataliedee.com/073108/

I don't mind taking out the trash. In fact I look forward to it, because it means that we will have more space in the can for more trash. :) What I don't like to do is bring it in empty. Call me lazy. I put it off most of the time. Then, like magic. . . it's often been brought up to my house. My next door neighbor brings ours in with hers regularly. The other cool thing is she lets us put some of our stuff in her can (like this time of year, when we have tons of bags of leaves). I am thankful that I have a good neighbor. And yes, today was trash day.

Day #12 A Support System

I just want to say thank you to the sweet bloggers who have joined me in my big goal to express gratitude daily. It is so nice to have your company and support on this year-long journey. I look forward to reading every single one of your grateful posts. Already each one of you has touched me in some way and inspired me.

Take a look at each of them: Kahi, Destiny and Adrienne.

Day #11 The Kindness of Others

Today, I accompanied one of my guests from Guatemala in Young Womens to help her get the gist of what the teacher was saying. Ultimately I left feeling a great deal of gratitude for the kindness of others. The lesson was about how to give of yourself this Christmas. As the lesson went on I began thinking about all of the things people did for us at Christmas time last year.

We took Eryn into the ER and spent a full day there. Then she was put into the hospital for a few days for problems with her kidneys. After that we were dealing with her medical care at home and taking her to other appointments and for testing at the hospital. It was a heavy load for me. And I remember wondering how I was going to manage Christmas. So many people ended up stepping in and giving us support at this time. So during this lesson it gave me a great deal of joy to remember all of the wonderful things people did to help out. Here are a few:

A neighbor shoveled our driveway and walks.
My visiting teacher wrapped all of my kids' Christmas presents.
A friend did some Christmas shopping for me.
A little girl Eryn's age in the ward brought Eryn "secret friend" gifts every night leading up to Christmas.
The Relief Society brought in meals.
Joel's sister stayed with us in the ER almost all day and visited Eryn regularly whenever she was in the hospital.
A member of the bishopbric visited Eryn in the hospital and helped to give her a blessing.
Friends from Joel's work also visited the Hospital and brought stuffed animals.
Other sisters in the ward who are nurses helped me by answering questions and even came over to look at tubing or to help me resolve problems.
My parents pitched in at my house with the children and the cleaning.
Joel's parents took their turn when they visited helping as well.
The Primary made Eryn a pillowcase with all of their little messages written on it. She took this special pillow to the hospital for her surgery the week after Christmas.
The list of kindnesses goes on and on.

I felt so overwhelmed by gratitude during this lesson that I burst into tears. It was not pretty. :) But honestly, it feels so good to have Eryn so healthy a year later. And now we can look back with joy, remembering all of the good things people did for us.

Day #10 Every word of Spanish I can remember!

We have some visitors from Guatemala staying with us for the next few weeks. This is the first time I have ever seen anyone from my mission (aside from missionaries). It feels so good to have them with me and to let them get to know my family. This family is one of the most special families I met on my mission. They took great care of me and gave me many opportunities to share my talents and to share the gospel. They have strong testimonies and understand (and live) the gospel on a deeper level. I feel so grateful to be able to host them. We took them to Temple Square last night to see the lights and they LOVED it. The mother felt like she was living out a dream to be there.

Speaking spanish all day for the next few weeks is going to be interesting. I feel a little like a greenie again. But I am loving it and feel grateful for every single word I can possibly recall.

**I'm sharing gratitude every day on my blog for one full year! Read about The Gratitude Project and join me! It's not too late. :)

Day #9 A Good Hostess

Anna turns nine next week. In an effort to space her birthday from Christmas we held her party today. I rarely do friend parties. In fact the last friend party I did for Anna was when she turned four. She threw a huge fit in the middle of the party and created a lot of unnecessary drama. I have pictures and video to prove it. After all of my hard work, I felt so disappointed. This time around things went much better. She had a great time with all of her friends and there was no drama. Tonight I am grateful for a happy birthday girl who acted gracious the entire party.


Here she is at her 4th birthday party throwing a fit.

Day #8 Kindermusik

These are pictures of Lily in May of this year with both me and her teacher.

I was at Kindermusik today with Lily and felt so much happiness inside. I have always been a fan of Kindermusik. Joel and I took Anna to one sesssion (four months, once a week) of Kindermusik in Honolulu just before Eryn was born. Then I did Kindermusik with Anna and Eryn together when we lived in Provo. That was such a fun time for me to be with my girls, dancing, singing and playing. Now I have been taking both Joseph and Lily separately to their own classes and have loved the bonding time. Lily thrives in the class and gets extremely excited when the car pulls up in front of her teacher's house. Her teacher is amazing and has exposed Lily to so many great things for her brain development and all-around development. I feel sincerely grateful for the opportunity to take my children to these classes and for the one-on-one time we get, doing something I love.

**I'm sharing gratitude every day on my blog for one full year! Read about The Gratitude Project and join me! It's not too late. :)

Day #7 Joel's Job

Joel is on another trip to Colorado right now. When he's gone we miss him a lot. He works out of our home when he isn't traveling, so he is a big part of our everyday lives. Joel does a lot to keep in contact with the kids when he is gone, though. In fact, we video chat just about every day he is gone. He also calls to say goodnight to the kids and I send him lots of pictures and video. On average he has been gone about two or three days a week over the past few months. One day he sent a video to us where he kissed each person one at a time. It just tickled the kids so much. They laughed and kissed the video back. Lily loved it so much that she begged to watch it over and over, kissing him back each time. This is the picture we sent Joel tonight just before the kids went to bed.


Despite the fact that Joel has had to travel quite a bit, his job has been a great blessing to us. What is Joel's job anyway?? Joel facilitates partnerships between Imagine Learning and school districts. Imagine Learning provides language and literacy instruction (teaches English and reading) to children via computers and smart technologies. Schools implement the program during the school day and/or after school. Joel is very good at what he does and he loves his work. The best part about his job is the fact that it ultimately, positively impacts the lives of young children and makes teachers' and administrators' lives easier.

Take a look at the videos of some kids in Colorado whose lives have been affected for the better. My favorite is Khalid.

I am grateful for Joel's job. It is a great blessing to him and to our family.