Saturday, February 27, 2010

Tsunami and Kids

Well, what a day. It started off with no sleep because of a late night in teenager monitoring mode and then a morning phone call that shook our world.
Christian called at 4:30am his time to tell me that there was a tsunami warning because of the 8.8 earthquake in Chile and that they (the college kids at BYUH) were being told to pack up and prepare to evacuate. Christian is on the first floor so he had to move his stuff upstairs. We talked about what he should pack and what his options needed to be for evacuation. I think they were all trying to figure this stuff out on their own and no one had gotten any sleep there.
The sirens started at 6 am in their area and people started to prepare for the worst. The weather buoy's were giving readings of 8 foot swells at 450 mph. This didn't sound good so we were all watching every news channel and weather channel on TV and on the web that we could find.
I have since found out that a little more inland some friends of ours grabbed their 72hour kits and camped out all day at the Stake Center in their area.
I hadn't eaten yet so I continued that all day fasting and praying for Christian and his classmates' safety and wisdom in what they decided to do. I also had previously considered it a good day for a visit to the temple which was solidified with this emergency. So Mark and I kept all of the communications with Christian going until at 12noon, as I was leaving for Louisville, I called Christian and he said that all communication was being shut down. That was a big blow. We were all finding comfort in chatting here and there all morning and now he was on his own and we were on our own to hope for the best.
My visit to the Temple today was very peaceful. The Spirit was so full in my heart. I was constantly praying and thinking about our family. I can't describe how grateful that I was for the blessing of being able to go there and just have complete peace and quiet with my thoughts and concerns. The second that I left (2 hours later), I called Mark. He said that things were looking ok!!! WOW!!
When I got back to the house, Kathryn (3yrs old) came up to me and asked, "Did you go to help Christian?"
Me: "Yes"
K: "Is Jesus going to take care of Christian?"
Me: "Yes"
K: "Is Christian ok?"
Me: "Yes"
What a sweet moment. And I know it's due to the fact that her big babysitter brothers told her where I was and why. What a great testament to wonderful big brothers!
Within 3 hours we had a phone call from Christian again. It was great to hear that he and his roommates and friends were all doing really well and in fact were on the beach!
Christian said, "Well, there was NO tsunami!" (with a begrudging tone)
I said, "Well, that's great! I pulled out all of the Mommy cards on ya. I prayed, fasted AND went to the temple today."
"MOM!!" Christian said laughing a little and kidding with me. "We were so wanting to have a "pool" in the middle of our quad!"
I just smiled and said very happily, "Sorry!"
I was talking to Mark and we thought that this was funny. We are just glad that Christian and the students there are safe, have beds to sleep in and food to eat without trying out their Eagle Scout skills tonight!
So So grateful. And tired. No more drama this week, k?

Thank you for all of your prayers. Obviously they were answered just the way we had hoped they would be. :)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Do Better Than Me!

When I was growing up, our parents would occasionally say to us,
"Try to do better than we've done."
Most of the time this came when we were complaining about a rule or a chore or a financial crunch.
I've always appreciated the freedom that gave me to work away at life, having a little healthy criticism of some things without losing their love or making them feel like I was being disrespectful (I am certain that I was disrespectful as a teen). This has been especially helpful in my adult years while I've tried to work out life's road with my husband and children.
This quote in particular, that I just read, hits home a bit.

"Many of the Savior's harshest rebukes were directed to hypocrites. Jesus warned His disciples concerning the scribes and Pharisees: 'Do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not' (Matthew 23:3). This strong admonition is sobering given the counsel to 'express love—and show it,' to 'bear testimony—and live it,' and to 'be consistent.'"The hypocrisy in our lives is most readily discerned and causes the greatest destruction within our own homes. And children often are the most alert and sensitive when it comes to recognizing hypocrisy."

David A. Bednar, "More Diligent and Concerned at Home," Ensign, Nov. 2009, 20


I know that I am far from perfect.
I know that our children know this (well, Kathryn says that I'm right)
And we've told our children the same thing,
"Do better than us."
I'm just happy that,
as a mother,
I can be real with our children and we can just work through this life together,
all of us working hard and lovin' each other.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Flexible Woman

THOUGHT OF THE DAY - Women are angels

when someone breaks our wings we simply continue to fly... on a broomstick.

We are flexible

Documentary on Ceseley's Bedtimecapades

Ceseley, Don't you WANT to go to bed? Ceseley attempted to keep her parents hoppin until midnight. Mommy and Daddy won








Miss Ceseley had her adventures at bedtime that kept her parents hoppin! Kathryn decided to be the dutiful cousin and document the experience for us.