The March for Life

Kate,Sam, and I went to the national March for Life in Washington DC, Friday. It was an incredible and exhausting experience. We left on a train at 2 am, and got back home at 1 am, 23 hours later.

There was a rally with several speakers and a march. The march was a mighty river of people of goodwill and brotherly love. Never have I been in a crowd where the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself was so thoroughly felt and acted upon. The policemen and security guards were gentle and kind. The people there for the march were happy, polite, and kind. The speakers were good and inspiring.

For the first time, in the 44 years of the march, a member of the executive branch attended. Vice President, Mike Pence, spoke. His wife introduced him. His wife was lovely. Mike Pence spoke of hope. I like him. He was there because he believes abortion is wrong. He says it, and he acts on it. His voting record is proof. I am glad that we have a good man as the vice president.

The crowd of youth was impressive. There were at least as many high school and college students as there were adults of all ages. Kate loved that her age group was so very well represented.

At the end of the march. Kate and I went to the national art museum. I loved being there with Kate, Sam and no toddlers. I have always loved going to art museums, but I usually have a toddler along and that is no fun.

At the train station, we had the pleasure of talking to another mother and daughter. They had a family with 9 children and home school. They came from St. Louis.

I will probably go again in the coming years. It just felt wonderful to be in a crowd of a million people who were there for love of their fellowmen and no other reason. There is nothing to gain by speaking against abortion. It is not about self; it is all about saving the lives and the dignity of other people.

This Week at Our House #3

1. John worked and exercised and played games with Johnny and did just what he does every week.
2. Well, I found out that we have to wait and do our 2016 taxes before we can get a loan for a house. So now we are back to wondering if we should rent or buy. We suspect we should buy because it will be significantly cheaper. In the meantime, our landlords are very kindly letting us stay for as long as we need to.
3. Ruth went to Utah to visit her grandparents for the weekend. She's finding that her second semester classes are much easier. She has a lot less homework. She has more time and that is good as she continues to prepare for a mission.
4. Kate and Johnny had friends over Saturday. Kate has become a big reader/ She reads for home school and she reads for almost all of her free time. Her other favorite past time would be talking to Ruth on the phone.
5. Johnny enjoyed having some friends over. He went out Sunday to a stake youth fireside and did not enjoy that. He should have stayed home. Johnny has a very good understanding of the scriptures and his time spent with his Dad is usually more worthwhile for him.
6. Adam started a home school group where he will go one day a week and have gym, writing, sign language, and science. He loved it, especially gym. He also loved the stake fireside. Adam loves home school, but he misses associating with kids his own age. Recently, we have noticed that girls like Adam. As we were leaving the home school group one girl came up to him and told him that she hoped to see him next week.Two girls at church said that they have a crush on him. Adam likes this attention.
7. Rachel began the home school group too. She really enjoyed it and looks forward to it every Wednesday for the rest of the school year. 
8. Anya would like to join the home school group. I will have to see if we have enough money for her to join too. But she is very happy at home. It is rare that she even wants to go out to the store.
9. Joseph also said he would like to join the home school group. Again, money is the issue. Maybe we can swing it for him too. He is so energetic, I think the gym class would be nice for him. 
10. Josh had his birthday. He got two bionicles and a lego set. Several of his siblings pitched in their Christmas money for the bionicles. My kids are all very generous with each other. Now that Josh is 6, I really need to work on getting him to do chores and help around the house more. He has always been very babyish and needy, and I think it is time for him to learn some independence and learn to help.
11. I think Arwen is doing much better. She is learning to obey. For pretty much her whole life, she has quietly done whatever she wanted. Since she was always so quiet and sweet, it didn't really matter. But when she turned four, she got a bit of nasty streak and that woke us up to the need to teach her to obey and choose the right.
12. Suzy loves nursery now. She brightens up Sunday morning when I say she can go to nursery. She goes right in all by herself now. It's cute how she has grown.
13. Sam is growing by leaps and bounds. He has pretty much grown out of all of his three month clothes. He rolls from his stomach to his back and has for the last three weeks, but now he will pretty much flip over soon after he is placed on his stomach. When he does lie on his stomach, he holds his head and chest up high and looks around. A few times he has even pushed his stomach off the floor. He may be our strongest two month old ever. 

Tender Mercies

1. Our kids were playing out in the yard about 2pm on Monday and it was about 55 degrees outside. They did not have coats or shoes on, as they didn't feel cold. Apparently, a neighbor didn't like what she/he saw, called the police and told them that there were kids under dressed playing outside. When the police officer showed up, John was sitting on the couch working, I was sitting on the floor playing skipbo with Kate and Rachel, Susan and Arwen and Anya were at the table having a tea party and the rest of the kids were playing in the yard. The tender mercy in all of this is that the police man saw nothing wrong. He grew up in Vermont and did not think the weather was cold either. He was very kind and said that he would not submit a report to cps. I hope that we will be able to move to a house out in the country where they can play outside without neighbors seeing them. I want my children to be able to play outside to use their imaginations, enjoy nature and get exercise. I am very aware that kids playing outside these days bothers the neighbors and cps can be a real threat. I am thankful we had an understanding police officer. Since then, we have made the kids wear shoes outside. They understand the issues well. I need them to know that if a neighbor does not agree with them being outside, it could be a huge problem.
2. Ruth made it to and from Rexburg to visit her grandparents in safety even though she had to travel in two storms.

Pictures

Happy Birthday Joshua

Joshua turned 6 on Tuesday! He loves legos and things that go. Joshua has never gotten into things like most of the other kids because he simply loves his toys. He is really good at building things. He builds with blocks and legos. He can follow directions and put together lego sets, but he will build detailed things on his own that look like what he says they are. Josh is a good artist too. He will spend hours drawing detailed drawings. Josh is organized. He is always taking ziplock bags to organize legos into colors and types of pieces. Josh loves to hug, hug, hug, but he often hugs too tight. We love our little Joshua and his cute imagination. Oh, and while I call him Josh, he insists on being called Joshua.

More Holiness Give Me

I have noticed that it has become popular in the Church to tell people that they are enough. Pinterest is full of LDS memes that say "You are enough". They will go on to teach that since Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, we do not need to worry-- He has taken care of it.

While it is nice to be told that who you are is enough and that you need not worry about your salvation, this is not scriptural. The scriptures say things more like:

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt 5:48)

"O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him." (Mormon 9:27)

"12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;" (Philippians 2:12-15)

There is work that I still need to do before I am enough. I need to obey more. I need to repent more. I need to perfectly keep all of my covenants. I need to gain knowledge. I need to despise not, doubt not, and hearken more.

Christ did indeed to atone for our sins. He is indeed the author of mercy. But His mercy and His power are not magic. I cannot stop on the path because of a sin that is hard for me to conquer or even because of despair over the requirements and expect Christ's mercy and atonement to magic me to perfection. Like the scriptures say, I need to work out my salvation with fear and trembling.

This does not mean that the grace of God is not real. The grace of God is just misunderstood. One part of grace that I am sure and certain about is that Christ atoned so that we do not have to stay just as we are. He atoned to make possible the commandment, "Be ye therefore perfect." Without the atonement there would be no repentance. The atonement opens up the gate to repentance. We can repent because Christ atoned. The atonement makes it possible for every one to work out their own salvation. So work is what we must do to gain salvation. If we desire all that God has offered to bless us with, we must qualify for those blessings and qualify through our works.

3Nephi 26:4-5 says, "4 And even unto the great and last day, when all people, and all kindreds, and all nations and tongues shall stand before God, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—
5 If they be good, to the resurrection of everlasting life; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of damnation; being on a parallel, the one on the one hand and the other on the other hand, according to the mercy, and the justice, and the holiness which is in Christ, who was before the world began."

We will be judged by our works, and Christ is the judge. He will be the one to say when we are enough. When the day comes that I am worthy to stand in the presence of the Savior and He says, "well done, thou good and faithful servant," then I can know that I am enough. Until that times comes, I hope that I can continually work and seek to be more holy.

In my head, I often compare the phrase, "You are enough" to the hymn More Holiness Give Me.

More holiness give me,

More strivings within,

More patience in suff'ring,

More sorrow for sin,

More faith in my Savior,

More sense of his care,

More joy in his service,

More purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me,

More trust in the Lord,

More pride in his glory,

More hope in his word,

More tears for his sorrows,

More pain at his grief,

More meekness in trial,

More praise for relief.

More purity give me,

More strength to o'ercome,

More freedom from earth-stains,

More longing for home.

More fit for the kingdom,

More used would I be,

More blessed and holy--

More, Savior, like thee.

This Week at Our House #2

1. I have been looking at possible homes to move to, and John hates it. I wish we could agree on this topic a little better. I brought him to see two and he told me that I can't show him more than one a week.
2. The oven broke down. We are attempting to get it repaired, but I use the oven a lot. We make a lot of our food homemade and it's a struggle trying to figure out what to cook with only a stovetop.
3. Ruth is doing well. She likes her new classes and her new roommates. She has been exercising and trying to eat better. She filled out the paper work for her mission work this week. I think she is pretty happy.
4. Kate and I fooled Ruth. Ruth texted Kate and asked what's up. I sent back a fake story about a new guy in the ward (there isn't one) asking Kate out. We didn't think she'd believe the text, but she did. She called and asked for details. Kate made up a story and Ruth still believed it even though there was a lot laughing in the background.
5. Johnny is just so good. He is a rock in this family. 
6. The houses we are looking at are only on an acre or more of property and everyone in the family agrees that it would be perfect for Adam. He is our little outdoors man.
7. Rachel drew some pictures of dresses and then asked every girl which one she likes the best. She was trying to get Kate to like a fancy dress. She then declared that she wanted to be a fashion designer, and later changed her mind to match maker.
8. Anya had her birthday on Monday. She got more legos and loved them and has played with them many hours everyday the rest of the week.
9. I had Joseph read his scriptures to me every school day. It gives me the opportunity to work on his pronunciation as well as helping him to get in a better scripture reading habit.
10. Josh's birthday is coming soon. He is very excited and continually giving us a list of all the things he wants which is basically the whole store.
11. Arwen did well this week. She is learning to be more obedient and work in the house a little more.
12. Susan is either the cutest little girl or the grumpiest little girl. She has no in between.
13. Sam is two months. He'd rolling from his stomach to his back. Sam is all smiles and coos. He's very interpersonal and loves to chat. 

Pictures

Happy Birthday Anya

Anya had her 9th birthday on Monday. It's hard to believe that this little baby is already 9. She is such a beautiful little girl with her light step, her long brown hair, and her large brown eyes. Anya has always been sweet and quiet and a little bit weepy. She loves to play with her siblings, but at times she just likes to play by herself. She loves, loves, loves Baby Sam and can make him smile bigger than anyone else. Anya is good and kind and usually very dependable. She is the middlest child in the family. She has five older siblings and five younger siblings and she fills that role perfectly.

This Week at Our House #1

1. It was a quiet week. We really had nothing very important or interesting going on. John worked and we went on a date and that was about it. 
2. Ruth left on Wednesday morning, so we started school back up as soon as I got home from the airport. The kids got right back into the swing of things with ease, and I enjoyed being more scheduled.
3. Ruth was supposed to fly back on Tuesday, but we noticed that I had really biffed it with booking her flight and we did not feel that her lay over was at all safe for an 18 year girl travelling alone. We paid the fee and sent her home the next morning instead. She got back up to BYUI the same time she would have. She just didn't have the opportunity to see her aunt and uncle and grandparents like we had planned. She started classes again on Thursday. She is changing things up a bit in her schedule and waiting for her financial aid to come through and everything. She has 2 new roommates that she seems quite happy with.
4. Kate was sad to see Ruth go, but got right back into school and school work.
5. Johnny is now preparing to take the ACT. We are considering graduating him a semester early since it is just homeschool and having him start BYUI online next winter. In essence it would still be homeschool, but it would make it so he could probably get 4 semesters of college in before his mission while not really changing anything. He is already doing math, history, english, and science from college text books. Our only hesitation is money since we will have a missionary out.
6. Adam was excited for his first temple trip, but the Temple closed for the snow storm. We will have to reschedule for him. He has been doing family history everyday. 
7. Rachel was sad to see Ruth go. She has really gotten to love her two older sisters in the last year. I think it will be hard on her when Kate goes.
8. Anya did well with school starting back up. She woke up early and got all of her independent work done before 10am. Her 9th birthday is tomorrow and she is really excited about that.
9. Joseph heard me read the Agatha Christie book with Kate on Christmas day and since then he has been very interested in reading Agatha Christie. I think he is too young, so I got him some Encyclopedia Brown books. I hope he likes them.
10. Josh did well getting back into a school schedule. He didn't seem to mind doing his work at all.
11. I've kept Arwen with me and pretty scheduled and think that has been good for her.
12. Susan was mad at Arwen for playing with her tea set, so she picked it up and threw it on the floor. One of the plates broke. She knew immediately that she had done the wrong thing, so she went straight upstairs and put herself to bed. 
13. Sam likes me to jump him. I jump him up and down and sometimes sing a little song to him. When the jumping stops he either lifts his arms or bends his knees because he wants more.