Finding Joy in the Journey

It's been so long since my last post, I don't even know where to start or what to blog about. Having one sick kiddo throws a wrench into anyone's plans, let alone all of them. I appreciate everyone's heartfelt concerns for us while the kids were feeling lousy. I felt trapped at home for a few days, but luckily the kids seemed to bounce back quickly from their illnesses. My treatment plan of lots of orange juice and Motrin seemed to do the trick this time - I highly recommend it. However Andrew seemed to catch something from the kids and poor guy spent the entire Conference weekend sick and not feeling well. Once everyone was better and returned to school and work last Monday, I think I washed all the bedding and towels we own and sanitized every surface I could to finally rid our house of any lingering germs. I'm happy that I never ended up getting sick myself, so that's a blessing. I tried to catch up on my to do list last week and finally feel like things are getting back to normal.

I love General Conference and really enjoyed listening to it last weekend. I seem to get more and more out of it as I get older. I just love the feeling it gives you at the end of the weekend -that hope and determination you need to do better and live better. I remember a while back a friend of mine once said, "Wouldn't it be nice if General Conference was once a month?" To me, the messages are so simple and the spirit quietly speaks to me, especially during President Monson's Sunday morning talk. Wasn't that a great message? One part that stood out more than any other was when he said,

"If you have children who are grown and gone, in all likelihood you have occasionally felt pangs of loss and the recognition that you didn’t appreciate that time of life as much as you should have......... If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly."

Our kids are growing up whether I like it or not and it seems at the end of most days I have the feeling that I'm missing things, not teaching them what they need to know or spending the quality time with each of them that I should. I need to work on slowing down and really enjoying this time I have with them while they are little. I know during my bad days I just want a break from motherhood or a few hours of peace and quiet, but I will look back on this time of my life and realize how rewarding and happy it was to have these little children running around and begging for my attention. I mean just 2 weeks ago my oldest turned nine years old and we realize that in another 9 years she will be graduated from high school and in college (we hope!) Zachary will be getting baptized in February, and my baby turns one years old this week. I got out some of Mason's old clothes for Tanner the other day and remember when Mason wore them and I look at him now and see how big he is and it makes me sad --- these are such precious years and with the little 'push' President Monson's talk gave me, I hope to make them more meaningful.