Mother's Day

Mother's Day is sometimes a day of mixed emotions for me. For the first several years of our marriage, it was a difficult day to celebrate as my arms ached to hold a baby. Now, as I rejoice in the opportunity I have to be the mother to my three beautiful, amazing, and incredible children I have an empathy and understanding for those who struggle on this day for whatever reason.

Mother's Day of 2005 Rich and I were asked to speak in sacrament meeting. What an emotional time this was for us! McGuire's birth mom had told us a couple weeks before that we would be welcoming a little boy into our family and he was due to arrive within the month. We were so excited! Speaking on Mother's Day was a difficult task for me because I knew in our congregation there were childless couples and single women. I wanted them to KNOW they were being honored on this day as well. Here are some of the thoughts I shared that day:

Sheri Dew, who has never married, said “The Lord’s timetable for each of us does not negate our nature. In the Lord’s language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Both God the Father and Adam called Eve “the mother of all living” and they did so before she ever bore a child. Like Eve, our motherhood began before we were born. Just as worthy men were foreordained to hold the priesthood in mortality, righteous women were endowed premortally with the privilege of motherhood. Motherhood is more than bearing children. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us.”

She also said, and keep in mind as she uses the word mother, this includes all women in the gospel, “As mothers in Israel, we are the Lord’s secret weapon. Our influence comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning. In the premortal world, when our Father described our role, I wonder if we didn’t stand in wide-eyed wonder that He would bless us with a sacred trust so central to His plan and that He would endow us with gifts so vital to the loving and leading of His children. I wonder if we shouted for joy at least in part because of the ennobling stature He gave us in His kingdom. The world won’t tell you that, but the Spirit will.”

I know with all my heart that being a mother entails much more than giving birth. I am grateful for the knowledge that as women of God we are all endowed with the gifts and power of motherhood no matter our circumstances. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and as we have faith and trust in Him and His timetable, we will be blessed with much happiness and joy. I am so grateful I have been blessed with the strength and knowledge I have gained regarding motherhood as we have worked to increase our family. I am grateful for the opportunity we have to welcome children into our family through the miracle of adoption…how lucky we are to have these wonderful spirits enter our home through the loving sacrifice of these wonderful birth families who we love and respect so much. I am grateful for the sealing power and the opportunity it provides us to be eternal families. I love our Savior and the blessing of the Atonement in each of our lives.

I pray you will be sensitive to ALL women on this special day and express your gratitude to them! :)

Trip to the ER

Rich and I are not typically panicky parents when it comes to our childrens health.  Our kids are usually pretty healthy by nature which also helps!  So, on Thursday late afternoon I was a little concerned when McGuire woke up from a nap wheezing.  I called our neighbor who is a PA and had him listen to him.  He suggested giving him a breathing treatment and if it didn't get better in 30 minutes to take him to Urgent Care (this was a little after 5:00 pm).  Well, I ended up taking him to urgent care and the doctor said it sounded like asthma so to continue with the breathing treatments.

At 1:30 on Friday morning, he woke up REALLY struggling to breath.  We immediately started a breathing treatment.  Right after the treatment, he threw up and there was blood in the vomit (sorry if this is TMI).  We decided it was time to get him to the ER.  So, Rich stayed home with the other kids while I took him to the ER.  He did such a great job!  They had to draw blood so they used a cloth to sterilize the area and he immediately took his blanket and dried it off!  The nurse chuckled because she had to start the process all over.  He did awesome!  They also took some x-rays which he did a great job listening to the technician.  Everything came back normal, they gave him a steriod to help open up his airway and sent us home with instructions to continue with the breathing treatments and use a humidifier.  He is doing so much better!  We have a follow up appointment with his pediatrician on Monday.

He was so wiped out from the experience he slept from the time we got home (around 4:00 am) until 11:00 am!  He was excited to show Kennedy his bandage and his activity level is back up....so much so he throws a fit when he has to slow down long enough to get a treatment!

No longer private...for the time being

So, it has been more of an inconvenience and frustration for me and others to have our site private.  Therefore, it is now a public site and will be until we deem it necessary to change it.  Thanks for your patience and we look forward to sharing our experiences with you!

Need a good laugh?

While I was in Utah at the end of April, my brother Kenneth showed us all a funny video on YouTube.  We all laughed SO hard.  I just pulled up the video and laughed as hard the second time around as I did with my family! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k8ncR7tNPg

We need to show this video to Zachary since McGuire has bitten Zach's finger twice now.  Not super hard, but enough to startle Zach and make him cry.  McGuire thinks it is funny so I am thinking a good bite from Zach might change that! :) (Though we won't actually encourage it!)

Father and Son Campout May 2008

Let me begin by letting all you "bloggers" know that this is Rich typing... I believe this is the first entry of my blogging life so here it goes..... When I was growing up, some of my favorite times were spent on Father and Son's campouts with my Dad and brothers.  My dad paid carefull attention to create a full day's activities that would be both meaningful and fun.  This was  my first attempt--

This weekend marked a highlight in my life where I was able to experience the annual Father and Son's campout with McGuire...(next year it will be with both McGuire and Zachary)  We had such a great time.  McGuire spent a full week of anticipation to sleep in the tent, sleep in a sleeping bag, and just hang out with his daddy.  From the time we left the driveway, He asked at least 20 times, "where are the mountains" and "when are we going to get there."

after 2 cans of sprite and a wendy's hamburger we finally rolled into our campsite... I promptly let McGuire know that one of the rules to camping with Dad was that he could eat and drink whatever he wanted and that he always came to me prompltly when the candy had finally fun out in his pockets.  

As night fell, Mcguire had a great time playing with the fire, lighting marshmellows on fire (come to think of it, I don't think he ever ate one... just lit alot on fire) -- he finally asked me when we were going to bed... Temperatures had dropped into the 20s so I was nervous about how we would do in the night... sufficient to say that McGuire slept warm and I froze.

Saturday moring brought pancakes, sausage - and would have been eggs if they hadn't have frozen during the night -- and of course we continued with the endless supply of treats, Sprite and whatever we wanted.  That morning McGuire and I played T-ball, golfed in the woods (I brought some old golf clubs and McGuire had his little club), and had races around the campsite.  He was full of energy and excitement for the day. 

After breaking camp, we went to a fish hatchery where McGuire proceeded to catch his first fish.  He was so amazing... I almost broke down in tears of joy watching him jump up and down with enthusiasm as the fish was on the line and he was struggling to bring him in.  He was so proud of himself he simply couldn't contain it!  After landing the fish, McGuire and I posed for some good pictures with Guire carrying the fish around with his finger by the gills as proud as he could be....

Upon returning home he has called his Grandpas and Grandmas and several uncles to tell them that he caught a fish and that he picked it up with his finger.  It was a wonderful campout with a great time for McGuire and I too continue developing the Father & Son relationship I have always wanted.... I can't wait until next year when both Zach and McG will be present! 

It was an awesome weekend....I can't wait to go again!

(Mir will have to post the pictures later!)