I was feeling sick all week and so am back blogging almost a week late. But I do have this picture from Monday!
We played in the basement after I spent the morning cleaning like crazy. The cleaning people came to clean the house, but we’ve been so sick that I had to tidy every room so they could actually clean the rooms. I had big laundry ambitions Monday, but after all of the tidying, I basically spent the rest of the day collapsed in various rooms while the kids played around me.
I.Love.Sundays.
Lily and I both had a week that was exhausting on all levels, so today provided much needed respite for both of us. We both rolled out of bed around 8:00 after sleeping 10 hours (Lily did get up once for Clarissa) and somehow we managed to almost get to church on time at 9:00.
Clarissa woke up in an over-the-top good mood today. She was so cheerful, and when I got her from her crib and changed her diaper, she blurted out one of her new favorite sayings, “it’s a poo!”. Even later in the day, she woke up from her nap so happy, and just giggled and squealed to herself in her crib, without any toys or anything to entertain her. She was a complete delight today.
I left sacrament meeting early with Clarissa to write down a bunch of thoughts I was was having about baptism and how to teach Lydia for her upcoming baptism. I did that in the clerk’s office while Clarissa busily got into things . During class, I stayed in the clerk’s office with Clarissa to stuff envelopes for year-end donation summaries that I was passing out to members for tax purposes. After church, I cut some expense checks and keyed in the weekly donations, so yeah, I spent a lot of time in the clerk’s office today.
At home I had a pizza and spinach salad lunch (Papa John’s is so good with the butter dipping sauce!) I also had a delicious smoothie that Lily made and had leftover. Then I read scriptures, napped and chatted with Lily about the scriptures. It was a seriously low-key day.
Around 4PM Lily and I got dinner ready. We had salmon, but wanted to mix things up a bit, and chose a recipe from the New York Times grilling cook book Lily gave me as a gift. It was a salmon recipe that included a delicious red-wine sauce with clam, garlic, thyme and more in it. It was delicious!
Then we all went to Lydia’s “Great to be 8” baptism preparation class. Lydia and the other kids turning 8 this year sang a beautiful opening song. Sister Pribyl and the Bishop both spoke and the there was beautiful music and everyone got to see the font and there were treats at the end.
Afterword, Lily drove me around for an hour to drop off the end-of-year donation summaries to ward members.
At home, my dad and Suzanne called Lydia to talk to her about her baptism meeting. It was so sweet to have their support and involvement in her baptism preparations. Then Lily and I relaxed and now I’m blogging.
I guess that’s the blow by blow. Nothing earth-shattering today, just a really really nice Sunday!
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My Testimony:
At the risk of being too personal for general audiences, I have decided to share a piece of my testimony each week in the Sunday blog. I especially want for my children to come into contact with the truths I know and care so deeply about as they review these blogs.
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Entry 1. There is a God.
A year and a half ago, I made the decision to examine both my faith in God and my faith in my church. It was a dark time for me, because among other things, I felt that to do it authentically, I had to be completely open to the possibility that maybe God didn’t exist, that maybe I was just believing in him because I was conditioned to believe in Him. I wanted to stop living based on the assumption that God was real and really consciously think through if I believed it and if so, why. During my pondering, I remembered many experiences from my mission that clearly manifested the reality of God. One experience was particularly powerful, and to this day, I draw from it to remind me of the reality of God. I quote from a journal entry from 2006 on my mission:
“I had a very spiritual experience last week. I was ill and very weak. So weak that I had not the strength to stand up and take a shower and so (because we had no water plug for the bath) I laid down in my feeble, miserable state and just let the water beat upon me. Then, like in the sky, when all is black cloud yet there is one opening where the sun comes beaming through in a glistening ray, so came the thought into my being, “If you rely on me, I will guide you to the end.”
I say the thought came into my being because it was not just received by my mind, but my heart, my lungs, my ears, my arms, my feet, at this moment all harmonized with this inspired tone, and for one moment in time I was in perfect synchronization with the Lord.
Then it left. I continued life as normal. Yet, not the same, for I have that celestial nugget now in my spiritual treasure pile. It’s a treasure that expands every time I look at it, or think about it, or reflect on what it means. Eternal.
When He says, “rely”, does that mean, all the time, in everything? I’ve found the answer to be “yes.” When He says, “to the end” does He mean to the end of this transfer? Does He mean to the end of my mission? Or is it possible that the Lord just blessed me with a piece of knowledge to bless and guide me for the rest of my life?”
(end of journal quote)
I do not fully understand yet how to interpret or apply the wisdom God spoke to me in that occasion. But what I did learn with complete certainty was that God lives, because the way those words came into me was an experience like none I have ever had before or since. I knew God was speaking to me, directly. I felt His voice. My re-examination of my belief in God a year and half ago came to a quick “case closed” as soon as I remembered that experience as well as other experiences from my mission.
I testify that God lives. I testify that He loves us. I testify that He wants to be involved in our lives and to help us through this mortal journey. I also testify that I looked more to Him for help and guidance after the invitation He gave me, and I have always, always, always found it from Him. God is so so so so good. May my children always know that I know with certainty that there is a God and that He does communicate with His children.
I prayed last night that I would be well enough for Abe to go to work today, and I woke up and felt like I could move again! I didn’t feel completely better, but I felt good enough to get the girls to school, take the babies on a bunch of errands, and decorate the house for Valentine’s Day. I even read some of our new Valentine’s Day books to Ammon. That assuaged a little guilt about the MASSIVE amount of screen time he’s gotten recently.
When the kids got home from school, we got homework and the quickest practices ever out of the way, ate some Indian food, and watched the last two Harry Potter movies. The kids stayed up way too late. But we had a lot of fun.
Also Abe went to basketball tonight and then out to dinner with his friends, Nick and Josh. He came home and finished the movie with us.
I basically spent most of the day immobile with the flu or whatever it is, and Abe took another day “off” of work. Well, really he just worked from home even though he is also super sick, but he also took care of the kids. My contribution was lying on the couch watching Clarissa throw tantrums when I wouldn’t open packets of Theraflu for her.
Abe commented that he feels kind of like a bear in hibernation. Oh, the girls got a snow day from school, so we literally didn’t leave the house all day. I am hoping we get well soon, but in the meantime, it has been so great to spend so much time with Abe.
But I will say that I am getting really tired of sticking the kids in front of the TV all day because I literally don’t have any energy to do anything else with them, and I don’t have energy to clean the messes they make if they are not in front of the TV. So that is getting really old. I can’t wait until I can actually read to the kids, take them places, oversee practice, and just have more energy for them again.
On Sunday I bore my testimony in Church. I talked about the grace of Jesus, how much I love my ancestors, how being born to my mom and being married to Abe are the biggest testimonies to me personally that God lives and loves me, how much I love the ward, and how grateful I am for our bishopric. Getting a temple recommend is not a standardized process and kind of like leader roulette, and thankfully I have good, inspired leaders (for now).
Then after church we had the Bogdens over for lunch before collapsing in bed. Abe and I have just been pushing and pushing through feeling very unwell, and Abe especially was feeling really bad on Sunday
On Saturday I grocery shopped and cooked all day. I made chicken tikka masala, a ginger-tumeric-veggie-beef broth, bolognese sauce, and three pizzas. I put out the pizzas around lunch and announced that they were going to be dinner too so if people got hungry they could just graze.
While I was cooking, Mary did an amazing job on her piano competition. Abe was so proud because we have been too tired and sick to practice much, and Mary always manages to do her absolute best during performances. She is really special that way. (At least it seems that way to me. I hated performing and wasn’t always a reliable performer. Abe, on the other hand, thrives in the spotlight. Maybe Mary got his genes!)
Here is a video of her performance!
Here is a video of Clarissa helping Abe to unload the dishwasher.
On Friday I grocery shopped at Target, Sprouts and Trader Joe’s and then came home and cooked some broccoli cheddar soup for both us and our neighbor who has to have an MRI this week. I also made beet and cumin latkes and ginger carrot latkes, and I prepped some chicken for chicken tikka masala. I also went to book club and spent some happy hours chatting with my sweet neighbors.
Clarissa has also started saying “Peese!” for “please!” and, occasionally, “Gagu!” for “thank you!” She actually doesn’t need to speak much because when she wants anything she just brings it to us and makes urgent grunts, and if we don’t open and deliver whatever package she wants opened, she screams and throws herself on the ground. So basically she’s trained us so well that for the most part, she doesn’t need to talk.
I am back blogging while sick and don’t remember anything else from this day except for what the pictures tell me happened.
Abe and I are having a tense time today. I think on our own we both actually had great days. I babysat my neighbor’s daughter, Chloe, and took her and my kids to the library for story time. We had a lovely outing and lots of fun when we came back. (Well, the kids played dress up and had fun while I cleaned and cooked. But those things are fun for me!)
I also had a great visit with my neighbor, Emily, when she picked up Chloe.
Abe had a great day at work. He didn’t feel great, but he got all of his stuff done, which is amazing.
I don’t know why we’re struggling at home. Maybe we are both still sick, generally stressed from life, and tired. I’m sure tomorrow will be better.
Clarissa looked so cute I wanted a picture, and of course Ammon wanted his picture taken, too.
On Wednesday we had our usual Wednesday marathon of homework, practice, dance, and then, for Lydia, activity days. And after I dropped Lydia off for activity days, I went to my friend Blair’s birthday party. It’s hard for me to go to things like that alone, and Abe couldn’t come because all of our sitters were at the youth activity Lydia was attending. But I actually had a decent time talking to Blair’s very nice friends.
Then we came home and worked on our finances. We got our stock payout from the SAP buyout, and that was good (except for the fact that we had overestimated how many shares Abe had, darn it). But it was still good. We linked up to Mint so I can be more involved in finances. Up until now I haven’t really been, but I want to be more involved and I remember Mint from my single days.
This morning Ammon woke up in extreme pain. His knee was hurting so much that he could not walk. I was terrified it was my fault for putting his shoes on in an angle that tweaked his knee on our way to Rodizio’s.
Abe took a sick day to help with the doctor since Ammon couldn’t walk. We ended up going from the doctor to the hospital so that they could get x-rays and also do some blood work. It turns out that the cold virus running through our family settled in Ammon’s knee and we just have to wait it out.
This all happened before 11:30am, which was so great because today is National Puzzle Day! Abe had contemplated taking a personal day today anyway so we could keep the girls home and do puzzles all day. But instead he got to take a legitimate sick day, and after we were done with Ammon’s hospital trip, we picked up the girls early from school, got Cafe Rio, and bought a bunch of puzzles at the Dollar Store. We went home to our house and had the most peaceful afternoon doing puzzles while Clarissa napped.
After we were done with puzzles, we watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which Lydia finished before the puzzling.
Abe stayed up until 11:30 pm studying and hand copying out the Song of Nephi. He has not been feeling the best because work has affected his self esteem and is SO stressful. So he loved the Song of Nephi and spent an hour just drinking it in.
It was a much needed, very peaceful day.
