This Week at Our House # 19

1. John's contract position extended to the end of May. We are hoping to then get a job closer to my parents, so somewhere in the southeast. 
2. I came home from North Carolina on Tuesday and got right back into the swing of things. I left just 20 minutes before they broke out in a stomach flu, so I count myself lucky. I am proud of myself because I have now done piano lessons and daily practice for 4 weeks straight. Hopefully, that means a habit is forming. I've finally come to terms with the fact that if I want my kids to play piano, I have to be organized enough to be their teacher, and I have to sit with them and help them practice every day. 
3. Ruth had her AP chem test on Monday. More than half the people do not pass, and that's nationally. Ruth felt like there was a lot of stuff on the test that she did not know, so our fingers are crossed, but no big deal if she does not make it. Ruth works very, very hard everyday. She studies for hours. She babysits and cleans houses to make money. I am very proud of Ruth. She's decided that math and science are not her thing, but she is growing into a very good writer. She's really good with French. She loves playing sports and is quite competitive. She reads her scriptures daily and has a strong testimony. I cannot believe she only has one year left before graduation. Go Ruth!
4. Kate had her Calculus AP exam. She thought it was pretty hard, but she has been getting 5's on her practice tests and testing within the top 3 of all of the calc. classes in her high school. She's afraid she got a 4. I hope she gets that 5. 
5. Johnny is looking so teenagery and grown up. He still has a high pitched squeaky voice, though. And he never has homework! Ruth and Kate had hours of homework each night and Johnny has homework when he has a project due and about 20 minutes of math once a week.
6. Adam was fun to come home to. He seemed so happy to see me. I sure love that kid. 
7. Rachel 's sassy! I'm working on it and with it. She can be the sweetest when she chooses. Rachel's grades are really, really good! She's learning how to work hard.
8. Anya's been really good at picking up and doing her chores when she is told. She's doing really great at the piano and will practice by herself when she wants to.
9. Somedays I think Joseph is the funnest, sweetest kid. Other days... nevermind... I think he'll grow up to be a really good guy.
10. My mom bought Josh these crocs (the shoes) that he picked out at the store. When he saw them he said, "I want the robot shoes." He knew exactly what shoes he wanted as soon as he saw them. and he LOVES them. And he will finally put on his own shoes. I think I love these robot shoes too. 
11. As soon as we got off the plane, Arwen said, "Where's my Amber. Where's Grandma." But she was quite happy to see her dad when he pulled up and got out of the car.
12. Suzy, my little doll, is growing so fast. I want her babiness to last longer.

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A Valid Interest in Mother's Day

"One cannot degrade marriage without tarnishing other words as well, such words as boy, girl, manhood, womanhood, husband, wife, father, mother, baby, children, family, home." 

Boyd K Packer

Good people trying not to offend are adding to the break down of the family. It ends up being part of the push to remove the importance of mothers and fathers. It fits so well into the idea that mothers and fathers are not important and are not needed. 

I contemplated skipping church this Mother's Day. I probably won't, but I am sure I will go home with unpleasant feelings.

Our ward has never done much for Mother's Day. Last year was the worst. The topic of mother's didn't even come up. The best we got last year was a "Happy Woman's Day" after some boring talks about something that had nothing to do with family. I have heard tons of complaints over the talks about super moms or someone's wonderful mother that other mother's couldn't possibly measure up to, but at least they recognized that mothers and motherhood exists and is something to be celebrated. 

I'm tired of the complaints, the criticism, and the offense surrounding motherhood and fatherhood. I'm tired of hearing how Mother's Day is painful because one mother doesn't feel like she is good enough, or another person feels like she had a terrible mother or that it's sad because some people want desperately to be a mother and haven't had that opportunity. 

I am tired of hearing how hard it is to be a mother-- how difficult our children are-- how we just need a break from motherhood. I am tired of the sarcastic or angry responses given to mothers with three or more children.

And then to go to Church on Mother's Day and to have no mention of motherhood-- no celebration of mothers, as if the day does not exist or that the Church has no interest in mothers.

But you know what? Motherhood is bigger than someone's feelings, and it is not a competition. Motherhood is much, much more than what we see in mortality, and the Church does have an interest in motherhood-- an exalted and eternal interest. We are all here on Earth contemplating mothers today because we all have a Heavenly Mother who brought life to our Spirits. We are all here on Earth contemplating mothers today because we all have a mortal mother who sacrificed to provide a body for our spirit. And if a woman accepts God's plan of happiness, there are two rewards she will have and that is wife and mother for eternity. It does not matter if she is married during her mortal life. It does not matter if she had children during her mortal life. Every woman that desires it will have a husband and will have children without number in the Eternities. And that is something to celebrate. Honoring motherhood is honoring God. Denying the divinity of motherhood is denying one of God's greatest gifts and crowning blessings.

So last year my ward did not celebrate Mother's Day at Church because we didn't want to offend anyone. Some schools have stopped mentioning Mother's Day because some households do not include a mother. Soon all schools will stop mentioning Mother's Day and Father's Day. It will probably become illegal for a school to do so. Many places have already removed the word "mother" and "father" from birth certificates. Most marriage certificate's don't say "husband" and "wife" anymore. I have no doubt that there will be no Mother's Day at all because someone somewhere is offended for some reason. And even at Church, we are losing sight of the importance and necessity of mother.

This Week at Our House #18 Visiting my Parents

I left on Tuesday, just after the kids got home from school to visit my parents in their new home in North Carolina. I took my 3 youngest kids on a flight all by myself. Josh talked loudly the whole time, and Suzy kept trying to crawl away. The kids were a little couped and anxious, but we had no crying. We all survived!

My parents picked me up. When we got to their new home, Josh cried and said that he had wanted to go to his house. But all 3 kids have had so much fun since we've been here. Suzy has been such a sweetie and has loved everyone holding her and talking to her. She's such a friendly, happy little baby. Josh has had fun playing with Sadie, my sister Monika's daughter.

I have loved talking to my parents and hanging out and doing fun stuff with my sisters.We went to a movie together one night and stayed up late to watch a scary movie the next. Hopefully, we will be able to ditch the kids and take off for a swim before I leave early Tuesday.

The family at home seems to be doing fine. From what I hear from Ruth and Kate, they have been very, very busy trying to keep things in order. Ruth has her AP Chemistry exam on Monday, so she has been studying while doing all the dishes and such.

Joseph had a field trip, so John went with him. I think they both really enjoyed it. As far as I know, work is going very well for John. They are keeping him on the project until the end of the month.

I never knew how easy three little kids are. I thought it was hard and busy all those years ago when I only had 3 little kids. Life is so mellow and almost boring at my parent's house. I am used to being on my feet and going all day long. It's been a nice break, but I look forward to diving back into my life as a mom of many. I am glad that I have John and all 10 of my kids, and I am really glad to get some time in with my parents and sisters and niece and nephew. Life is good.

This Week's Pictures

This Week at Our House # 17

1. John's job extended a bit for him to be the person to complete the web development portion of it. That's good. He had a job interview, but was not called back. I thought that was too bad for them, because John was a uniquely perfect fit for the job. He has two more phone interviews this week. 
2. I had a busy, busy week. I did a lot of writing for Mormon Women Stand and I spent a lot of time trying to prepare for my trip to North Carolina to visit my parents. I have a lot more to do. But I am excited to go. I will be taking my 3 youngest kids. My dad has not seen Susan at all yet. I look forward to showing her off.
3. Ruth's been busy preparing for AP exams. She dragged Kate to a school dance on Friday and they both had fun.
4. Kate's been busy preparing for AP exams too. Kate got dragged to the school dance, but had a lot of fun.
5. I finally got Johnny into the eye doctor. His prescription has doubled. He got his new glasses. He's excited to see and I think they look a lot better. And Johnny is officially my tallest kid. He's surpassed both Ruth and Kate.
6. Adam had common core testing at school, which he thought was boring, but was really glad not to have homework because he spent his whole day taking a test.
7. Rachel had the testing too. She said that it was really boring so she would just ask to go to the bathroom. 
8. Anya had a pretty good week. I have been keeping an eye on her and how she interacts with other kids. I noticed that she plays for a little while, but then goes off and plays by herself. I think I know her problem and how to help.
9. Joseph's doing great. He is writing me notes now. I love when my kids can write,
10. Joshua had a normal week. He's looking forward for his first plane ride.
11. Arwen has been talking more. On Friday, Arwen threw her granola bar wrapper on the floor. John told her to put it where  it belongs, meaning the trash, but Arwen just slid it back on her granola bar. 
12. Suzy's been a bit fussy and eating a ton. I think she is growing. I am a little worried about having her on a plane. Hopefully all will go well.

This Week at Our House # 16

1. John's hurriedly trying to finish off the project he was hired for as his contract ends May 1st. He has a job interview on Monday for a promising position. I'll be praying and fasting for him.
2. I kind of feel like it has been a sad week. Ruth was the only one of her friends that didn't get asked to the prom, and that was sad. And Rachel found Anya crying in her bed on Thursday night because she has no one to play with during recess at school. It's heart breaking to see this happen to your kids. They want to be asked out and to have good friends. Though I had similar problems and survived it quite well.
3. Ruth didn't get asked to the prom, but she and I got our hair cut and styled together and then went out to lunch, and John bought her a manga book that she had been wanting. She still has senior year for prom. I am going to start praying for her now. She really wants to be asked and to get a fancy dress and all.
4. Kate was a little sad when I didn't set up for her to go with Ruth and I until she realized that we had our hair styled. The last time I used a curling iron on Kate, she cried. 
5. Johnny had a normal week with some homework. His biology teacher lost a big project he had turned in so he had to redo that, but really, Johnny has lots and lots of free time.
6. Adam and I finished reading his book and then finished his book report. It was a 500 page (large words) book, but he really seemed to enjoy it. I think there is hope that Adam will enjoy reading someday.
7. Rachel said that she had  little trouble making friends, but then she just started laughing and now she has lots of friends. That was supposed to comfort Anya. I am not sure it did, but I thought it was pretty cute.
8. Anya had her opera. She's was ADORABLE!!!! It was so fun to watch her sing and dance in her little star fish costume. John recorded the whole thing.
9. We had a funny weather week, with a very hot Monday, a big wind storm on Tuesday followed by snow in the evening, snow all day Wednesday, and a cold snow on the ground day Thursday, followed by a warm Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Anyway, Joseph spent as much time as he could out in the weather. He loved the snow.
10. Joshua got kicked out of primary for getting out of his seat and wrestling his teacher too much. I made him apologize and he was better after that. Darn that little boy. He has not ever been easy at church. Sacrament Meeting is getting a little easier, though.
11. Arwen loved to be outside in the snow, cold, wind, and warmth too. John made a fire on Friday night in the fire bowl for the kids. The next day, they used the charred wood to draw pictures all over the back yard. Arwen loved that and has been so cute asking if she can go outside. she says, "Can I have outside, Mom?"
12. Little Suzy is unloading everything from the book shelves to the trash cans. I would have been really upset with Ruth, but with Susan, I just move her away and clean it up. But, like Ruth, Susan sits and looks at the books that she unloads and that is just adorable.

This Week's Pictures