split lip but beautiful smile

We were at the park Saturday. Gabrielle was just like Michelle at this age. No fear. She climbed up the equipment, slid down the slides by herself, and was having a fabulous time. Then she decided to go for a run. I was chasing her, teasingly, and she tripped and face planted. When I picked her up, her lip was bleeding a little bit. Within about 15 or 20 minutes, it had swollen considerably. I didn't have my camera, and didn't take pictures until a day later, but it is still sore and a little swollen. Fortunately, after the first hour or so, it hasn't seemed to bother her much. She's still flashing her beautiful grin and giggling!




This last picture cracks me up!! Gabrielle is on the treadmill (turned off) and is just pumping her arms and running as fast as her little legs will take her.

Blessings

I have been feeling like I should count my blessings lately. We don't have everything we want, but we certainly have everything we need. We are so blessed.

I have said before how grateful I am for the babysitters we have had. I want to say it again. They are so important to me as a parent, to know that my children are being taken care of while I am at work. And they are important to my children, because they spent a majority of their waking hours with their babysitter. Well, about a month and a half ago, our babysitter's husband had to have surgery. We found a temporary substitute for what we thought would be a week or two. But her husband did not recover very well, and she has had some health concerns. So she told us that she could not continue watching our girls.

So we began talking over what to do and where to look and praying that we could find someone. I felt really strongly that I should ask a friend in my neighborhood. At first, I argued with my feelings, because she has 3 children of her own and she home schools the oldest two. Her youngest is just 6 months older than Gabrielle, so she'd have 5 kids, two of whom are toddlers. That seemed like too much to ask from her. But the feeling persisted, so I asked. And she accepted. And it has been such a wonderful thing for my children. Ella, especially, loves being there. She loves playing with my friend's son who is a year older than her. In fact, she asks if she can play with him every day that we are at home. She tells me regularly that he is her best friend! And Gabrielle adores her oldest daughter. Today in church, Gabrielle walked across the aisle and climbed up into their laps. Thank you Aly! We are so grateful!!

happy week

Our dishwasher has not worked for about 6 months. Somehow, last weekend, Alfredo and his friend Leo got it working again. Happy, happy day! I have been washing all of our dishes by hand (with some help from my family...but mostly I was our dishwasher.) I hadn't realized how much of my time was being spent on that one chore.

In addition, our vacuum has gotten old. Alfredo has done a number of repairs on it and kept it working for at least a year longer than I thought possible. But lately, it just has not been working. So this week, Alfredo bought a new vacuum. It is lighter and it works so well! It's amazing!

What a happy week!

Stake Conference

President Isaac spoke at stake conference today, along with many of the stake's youth. I found his talk so inspiring. He spoke about being valiant...because we must be valiant if we want to inherit the Celestial Kingdom. He talked about 3 groups of people that aren't really valiant. Those who think "How much can I get away with? How far can I go without getting into trouble?" Those who do what they should because they are "s'posed to". Those who try to be good, but just good--and not too good--and who keep putting off becoming truly Christlike until another day. I think I can kind of fit into both the second and third category. I truly do have a testimony, and I desire to do what is right. But I am not valiant in some of the things I should be doing. My scripture study is severely lacking...almost nonexistent right now. And my prayers are not as sincere or faithful as they could be and should be. I am trying hard to teach my children the gospel. But President Isaac said something that really struck me. He talked about Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in Heaven." He said this isn't really about setting a good example...because that is something you do. Letting your light shine is about who you are and whether the light of Christ shines through you. When others look at me, do they see Christ in my countenance? He said, and this is the part that really got to me, "If your children do not see Christ through you, they may never see Him at all." I want my family to be an eternal family. I want my children to be close to the Lord. And they have beautiful sweet testimonies now. But know that this world is a difficult place, filled with much that is evil and degrading. And I know that sometimes we let some of that into our home. Am I doing enough to protect my children? Am I teaching them enough and praying for them enough? And am I living the gospel so that they can see Christ through me? I worry especially because Alfredo is only marginally active and he doesn't worry too much about them being active. He probably would be happy for us all to stop going to church. So they are not getting a lot of gospel teaching from him. Don't get me wrong. He teaches them many things that are good and valuable, and he is a good person, just not that active in the church.
President Isaac also said that at times his kids, when they were making poor choices, would say, "Can't you just love me the way that I am?" He said he didn't know how to respond to that. But now he knows. He said what they are actually saying is, "Can't you just love me the way I am not?" Because we are children of Christ, we have the light of Christ in our lives and so when we are not living the way that we should, we are actually being who we are NOT.

photos

Got photos taken yesterday. Here are a few of my favorites.

Dear Michelle my belle,

You are growing so quickly and turning into such a sweet, smart, beautiful young girl. I am so pleased with your kindness and with your courage. You are not afraid to try new things. You just finished an 8 week karate class. I'm not sure whether I was more excited to see you trying out the karate moves or making friends with several other little girls and jabbering away in Spanish with them. I doubt karate will be something you fall in love with or continue, but I was pleased that you were willing to try out something new and not give up even if it was a little hard.

You are doing very well in school, and you are learning to love reading. I hope that in a few years our books will be just flying off my bookshelves as you devour them...just like I do. I have a long list of chapter books to share with you as you get older, just like I've shared many of my favorite picture books. And just because you are getting older, don't think we will stop reading picture books either. There are so many lovely picture books written for older children too. I hope that our reading together will continue for many more years.

Yesterday I was able to watch you perform with your Ballet Folklorico again. I think it is neat all that you are learning as you practice dancing. You are gaining confidence and dance skills, but you are also learning about hispanic culture, making friends and having amazing opportunities to perform. I think it makes you both nervous and excited, but know that we are so proud of you.




More importantly than these things, I am pleased with what a sweet sister you are (almost all of the time). You are so good at helping with Gabrielle and you play with Ella so well. I love to watch the sweet relationships between you three girls. I am also pleased with your love of the gospel and desire to do what is right. You hate to miss church. You feel upset and sad when people don't live the way that you believe and know to be right. You have a great desire to follow the teachings of the prophets and of our Savior Jesus. You remind me if we don't have Family Home Evening. You are such a good little girl. I am so glad you are part of our family.

Love, Mommy

Found!

Today has been a fun, busy day for us. Except for one very traumatic few minutes at the mall. We'd eaten lunch in the food court and were walking down the mall. Ella was full of energy and so I was letting her dart ahead a few feet and then dash back. She did this over and over, only going a few feet in front of us. Then she was walking beside me. Alfredo wanted to show me something and I turned my back on her for a minute and she literally vanished. I guess she somehow went around one of the little carts in the middle and then couldn't see us. She panicked and started running back the way we had walked...which meant she was running away from us. The man at one of the carts said she was running and pointed which way. I started walking quickly that way but couldn't see her. Several people asked if I was looking for the girl with pigtails and said she was crying and running and pointed me in the right direction... but I couldn't see her and was feeling quite panicked. Thank goodness, someone finally grabbed ahold of her and had found a security guard. She was sobbing. I was so relieved and at the same time, felt absolutely terrible that this happened.

**This post was never published somehow. This was actually written on 3/7/09...but I've already printed my blog for 2009 so I figured I would include this in 2010.

Music Concert/Student of the Month

Yesterday the first grade performed at Jackson's monthly student of the month assembly. They sang songs about the weather and many of the students read parts of a script (in English and Spanish) about what they have learned about the weather. They sang, "Here Comes the Sun", "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", "Let's Go Fly a Kite" and a song in Spanish "Sol, Solecito". Michelle has enjoyed learning these songs and has been singing them at home for several weeks now.


Along with her music concert, Michelle was chosen as the Student of the Month for her class. She was so excited and pleased. (Despite looking a little worried/sick while on the stage...I think she gets nervous?) The teacher announcing the Students of the Month for each class said that these are kids who do everything they are supposed to, plus a little more. Quite a tribute to my little girl. Every time I see her teacher (who I used to work with), she tells me how darling Michelle is. We're so happy that you love school, Michelle, and that you are working so hard and learning so much!