Burdens

Yesterday, while at an establishment, I overheard the conversation between two men. At first their conversation seemed light enough as they spoke of their children and some of their accomplishments, then as their words turned direction I felt a sense of sadness for them. It seemed that they had both been active members of the LDS church at some point in their lives but were now very inactive and attending other churches. It wasn't that information that necessarily saddened me the most, rather it was what they had said about the church that had more of an impact. They began talking about all of the callings and so-called obligations that they had while they were active members and how burdensome it all had felt. One man continued to say, "I just want to go to church and worship and then be able to go home or go out to eat if I want and enjoy my time and my day without being expected to help out all of the time." Now, I wish that I could say that I never felt burdened by a calling but I cannot. I was and am fortunate enough to be able to realize that the problem is not with the calling nor the church but rather within myself and my own attitude and once I am able to recognize that I know that I have the power to change it. Citing Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-8 and a quote by Elder L. Whitney Clayton:

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

"Our own mistakes and shortcomings produce many of our problems and can place heavy burdens on our own shoulders. The most onerous burden we impose upon ourselves is the burden of sin. We have all known the remorse and pain which inevitably follow our failure to keep the commandments."[he also includes that burdens may be natural products of the conditions of the world, or can be imposed on us by the misconduct of others.]

I could go on and on but I will just say that I hope that those two men will come to the realization that though the churches which they are currently attending may try to spread good messages, they do not have the fullness of the gospel. We can go to school or church every day and listen to the messages that are shared with us but we will never truly learn or understand those principles and practices until we begin to apply them and use them in our lives. I am grateful to those men for helping to remind me of my love of the church and Christ and for helping me strengthen my testimony.

I know that if we keep His commandments that He helps us with our burdens and offers us the strength and ability to overcome all. If we are obedient to Him we will be richly blessed. We can strengthen and grow our faith and testimony by doing His works. I leave these words with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Problem solved

This is a follow-up post to my last entry. Last time I wrote that I was desperately seeking suggestions on what I could do to get fit without the aid of my "precious" gym membership which I begrudgingly parted with when we moved to Arizona. Well, since then, I have rethought that cry for help because it turns out that I got what I asked for and then some as my aching body is now the one making the cry for help.

I have begun walking/jogging nearly five days per week with a superb partner(who will remain unnamed, though I must say he has been a truly wonderful support for the past 10 years ;) ). Then, this past week, I spoke with one of my neighbors who was just getting done working out with another woman from our neighborhood/ward and invited me to join them to work out three days per week. I am very thankful to these amazing women for allowing me to join them and am even more thankful that they don't outwardly laugh at me while I make a fool of myself doing certain exercises. Well, I must go and play Little People with Jake because I was just informed that if I did it "right now" then I could get a hug-and-kiss from him. Soooo.....bye!

Desperately Seeking Suggestions

Ok. So, now that I am finally done nursing I am ready to get back in shape, since I have one of those body types that actually holds on to all fat while nursing.

Well, I've gotta be honest, the desire is there but I'm going to need some help from those of you(if anyone) that reads my blog. Those of you that have known me for a while are probably aware that I'm not exactly in my peak physical shape like I was before Noah. Before our move to Arizona I was pretty good about going to the gym three days a week and getting some light exercise in on other days(I would typically run on average 25 miles and do my kickboxing/tae bo class three days per week) . I LOVED having a gym membership that enabled me to physically and mentally remove myself from my at-home distractions and I found it pretty easy to get some exercise in on other days since we were biking, walking, or running distance to numerous city ammenities(library, zoo, park, farmer's market, Riverwalk, etc....), and having those things so close to home made it so much easier to get out of the house on a consistent basis. Maybe it's just because I'm still not totally used to being in Arizona, maybe it's my attitude, or both, but I just can't find anything appealing around here to make me want to just get out of the house, at least not that isn't a 10-15 minute drive first, not to mention that I have a phobia of snakes. I don't want to feel as though I have to drive somewhere first before I can enjoy the outdoors. I'm pretty comfortable biking to get to where I want to go but there are a lot of busy, fast-moving roads near our home that make me very uneasy. Also, I have initiated a Couch-to-5k plan and mapped my routes, though they are just between our boring old subdivision and the boring old subdivision across the street, but it's just not motivating me. I was always so good about staying self-motivated and self-disciplined before, now I'm more like self-sabotaging. Ho-hum.

I need any advice I can get to get myself motivated around here and I need suggestions on what I can do and where I can go. I would love to have a gym membership again but it's not exactly in the budget right now. So, with that being said; HELP!!!!

Time flies

Not only do we now have a Jake that's 4-years-old(this past Monday) but, as of today, Jason and I have been married for 9 years!

Our Jake is getting so big! He had fun on his big day by getting hourly gifts and taking a trip over to Chuck e. Cheese to play some games then finished up the day back at home having dinner with us and his Grandpa Osborn, Uncle Donny, and Aunts Carrie and Jessica. As usual, he got spoiled. He received numerous new dinosaurs(as if he really needed more!), a VeggieTales dvd, his big Sister's old GameBoy Advance, a Leapster game, Madagascar Sorry, and much more. We sure love that little guy and are glad that we were able to have so much fun for his special day.

Well, it's been a full nine years! Over this time we have : had three kids, moved three times, gained and lost friends and family, started and ended jobs, gained a college degree for Jason, learned many new skills and arts, just essentially grown up together. We are a work-in-progress and will always continue to be. We are ever growing, changing, and learning and are looking forward to being a forever family. I just want Jason to know that I love him very much and hope that he knows that he is my best friend and am so grateful for him.

It's been nearly 16 months since our Noah was born and he's changed so much during that time but seems to have been growing and changing at light speed over the past month. Not only is he eating regular meals and sleeping through the night(thank goodness!), but he is now done nursing and has left his poor old mom in the dust. I had been trying to wean him for several months and was beginning to think that he was never going to be done, but today is THE day. I visualized and practically dreamed of this day for a few months but it's not exactly as it seemed in my mind. I feel a sadness as I think of and realize that my baby doesn't depend on me in the same way anymore. Don't worry though, I am still VERY happy. I feel as though my body is just that; MINE! I can now eat as much broccoli and hot sauce as I want without having to worry about upsetting his tiny tummy, though I do still keep my tummy in mind. Jason and I could actually go away for a night or ten and not have to worry(yippee!). I love that little guy so much and am so happy(maybe a touch sad) about his new independence.

Three's a Crowd

Well, it was something that I had a vague recollection of, and something that I had heard many others seeming to boast about for the past 15 months; but I am now an unofficial member of the "my child sleeps through the night club"! Not only that but, Jason and I have moved Noah out of our bed!!! Early on in our parenting adventures beginning with Leah I had pretty much vowed that I would not have our child/children sleeping in our bed, well, that worked fine and well until Noah came along. Noah has been my longest nurser and is the only one to refuse taking a bottle or pacifier, so that meant that I was his pacifier(yay!). Noah would only sleep for three hours at a time and when he woke we would be fortunate to get him back to sleep right away and usually the only way that I could get some sleep and get him back to sleep would be to bring him into our bed. Anyway, we hadn't really tried the Ferber method(cry it out) before because Noah and Jake were sharing a bedroom, but we decided that when Leah's school ended that we would have Jake sleep in with her so that we could give it a shot. Well, one month into it and he's finally sleeping until 6:30 to 7am and in HIS bed!!! What's better is that he hardly even cries now when we put him in bed! Now that we're all sleeping better I'm working on weaning him and it seems to be going well. He has suddenly taken an interest in eating actual meals and he eats quite well. I'm so thankful for a good night's sleep and thankful that I can move around and sprawl out in the bed without worrying that my movements will wake him. I'm especially thankful that he is finally sleeping well and I think that I've been able to tell a difference in his development over the past few weeks since he's finally getting the rest that he needs. We love our little family and even when faced with challenges we couldn't be more grateful for them.

Update: Two days later, Noah slept for a record 13 hours straight!!!! I guess he's making up for lost sleep, and I don't mind.

The Chicago trip

Chicago, here we come! Fortunately the stomach bug that "bit me" went away the night prior to our adventure. We woke up early Monday morning to make it to South Bend to catch the South Shore train heading into Chicago with my brother and his family. Our train ride was pretty uneventful, though I was very grateful by the time that we made it to Gary, IN that we had gotten on the train when we did so that we were actually able to sit down. Leah even made a friend on the train who was on her way back home to Texas. Hopefully the girls will be great pen pals.

Our plans for the day were to make it to the Field Museum and then to the Willis Tower, followed up by dinner then back to the train. We dodged the raindrops and made it to the Field Museum first. It was AMAZING!!!!!! I can't think of a better museum for my Jake. We saw: Sue(the most complete T-Rex and was named after it's discoverer), the Mammoths, the anamatronic Dinos(the highlight of Jake's day), and watched a 3-D movie about Sue. We left the museum and headed toward the Willis Tower(formerly Sears Tower, and will always be so for me). We got there and they told us that there would be zero visibility at viewing level but we figured that the clouds were starting to lift and we'd hopefully be able to see something soon. We weren't disappointed. The kids loved walking around up there and being in the clouds. We were still able to look down and see some of the city and traffic. The highlight were the Skydecks, which are glass boxes that protrude from the tower for people to stand in.

We left the Willis Tower and headed over to Giordano's Chicago-style Pizzeria for dinner. The service was good and the pizza was excellent, though I do not advise getting the famous Chicago-style pizza when you have 6 antsy children in tow since it has a 45-minute cook-time. After dinner it was time to head for the train. Unfortunately we didn't have room to sit on the train when we boarded. There were a couple of people that were nice enough to squeeze together so that our kids could sit down if they wanted to. The crowd thinned after we got into Indiana and we were all able to relax a bit. At last, we made it back to South Bend with our exhaustion being a true indicator of our fun-filled day. That day is one that will not soon be forgotten and we're so happy to have been able to share it with family. We're thankful for them and all that they did to make our day awesome.

The trip

I haven't made any updates on here in a little while. We've been busy, busy, busy! The kids and I were fortunate enough to be able to make a trip to Indiana to visit with my family(pics to follow later). It's been an adventure, to say the least. I was very apprehensive to travel solo with our three kids, and came to find that my anxiety was justified. Our oldest two did really pretty well during the 3-1/2 hour flight, but Noah is much more mobile and super-stubborn, to top it off. The majority of our luggage were all carry-ons and I had a stroller. In my mind it was an ideal plan: take stroller, use stroller to transport 1-year-old, and utilize the back part of the stroller to transport the carry-on bags. That was a great plan, though it failed miserably. The reality: took stroller, carried 1-year-old when he decided that he absolutely was not going to ride in the stroller, had to push the stroller while carrying said 1-year-old, pushed carry-on bags in stroller until we got to security or to the plane(where I had to break down the stroller, take off shoes[at security], hold baby, carry bags, load carry-ons to conveyor belt or onto plane). That was not a great way to start a long trip; pre-exhausted. We got to Indiana after what seemed like an eternity of travel. We were so very happy to see the excited and smiling faces of family members waiting for us in the terminal. We made it to church the next day and were able to visit with many of our old friends from the South Bend Ward. It seemed as though it was just in the knick of time before most of them leave Notre Dame to pursue new ventures.

Wednesday was my birthday and we celebrated with my Dad, brother, and his family for lunch and then followed up with a trip to the park with everyone where the kids all played for quite a while. Then I finished up the day with a nice dinner back at my Mom's. Thursday was Leah's birthday and that was such a fun-filled day! We started out the day with some amazing friends and Leah was treated with a beautiful birthday cake. We are so grateful for our loving friendship with them! We then rushed over to meet my Dad at a home of one of his friends. Their home was INCREDIBLE! They had a small lake, a swimming pool, hot tub, and numerous farm animals for the kids to play with and ride on. It was sooo much fun! We then finished up the day eating dinner with my mom and made it to McDonald's for McFlurries. Nearly every day has been fun-filled and I can't wait to update when our trip is all said and done. I haven't felt well over the past few days but I'll hopefully be bounced back to enjoy the rest of our time here.