Jesus the Christ

I have been having difficulties loading pictures again. It's frustrating because I have so many pictures that need to be put on this blog. Oh well. I will go ahead and post about something that I have been wanting to post about but have not had the time.

Years ago, Jon Mark recommended that I read the book, Jesus the Christ. The book nearly has 1,000 pages and it is a hefty read. I was a little intimidated by the language and shied away from it on more than one occasion. But, then one day, a cousin of mine posted on Facebook that it had taken her a year to read it, but she declared that she was so glad that she had done so. For some reason, a year deadline stood out to me and I thought to myself that that seemed doable. I would give myself a year to finish it. I started about a month ago and I am already past the first 200 pages. I will finish it much faster than a year. And this is why: I love the book. I cannot put it down. I read it while I exercise and the time flies. I have made a goal to always put the Lord before Facebook time or other leisurely computer time. The result is that I hardly ever get on Facebook anymore. When I go to sit down at the computer, I ask myself if I had read my scriptures yet. If I haven't, I go and I read. Before I know it, my free time is spent and I no longer have time for Facebook.

My kids have noticed my study time. There is value in that. Today, Joshua went and got his scriptures and sat down quietly next to me and began to read. He didn't announce it, he just did it. When Mercedes and Luke came and invited him to go and play, he responded, "Mom and I are reading our scriptures right now." He later expressed to me that he loves reading his scriptures with me and wanted me to read more with him. I also found that he had been reading them on the toilet. He is a good boy, and it was a happy moment for me as a mom. I have always been pretty good about reading my scriptures, but I used to read them on my Kindle. My Kindle recently broke. I think the kids never recognized when I was reading my scriptures before. I think they thought I was just playing on the computer or something. I think that there is value in them seeing me read. It shows them that I love the scriptures and place an importance on studying them. Actions do speak louder than words.

I am far from completing Jesus the Christ, but I have already come to know my Savior so much better. This morning, my kids were playing the song, "I Can Only Imagine", on the CD player on repeat. It probably played about ten or so times. The song is not an LDS song, but it is a song about praising Jesus Christ. There is great rejoicing about our Savior in the lyrics and the music backs up the message triumphantly. I have always loved the song, and I love that my kids love it too. As it played over and over again, I reflected silently about all that I had read about. My chest burned with a sacred emotion as I recalled just how much I love Jesus Christ. I can't really put the emotion into words, and I guess that's why sometimes I cry when I bear my testimony. My heart feels tender and full, and the feeling overflows and the happiness comes out as tears.

I love my Savior. He came to earth growing in wisdom and spirit, coming to know and understand His mission as He grew. He was tempted, but overcame temptation. These two distinctions are important to me. It shows us that He made a choice. There was an action. Everything depended on Him, and He made the choice to save us. He was free of sin, and yet he deliberately sacrificed Himself for us. I've always been told this, and I guess I have always known it, but as I read about it, I felt it on a more powerful level. He saved us not because He was forced to, but because love compelled Him to. He had agency, and He used it so perfectly all the time. That causes me to rejoice.

There is so much that I feel that I wish I could convey, but my best attempts would be lacking. So, I will just conclude with my testimony on the subject. I know my Savior lives and that He loves us. We lived with Him in heaven and we knew Him. He is our brother. He knows us, and He wants us to succeed. He came to earth to show us how to live, and He died so that we could return to His presence and that of our Father and Mother.

 

Caleb's Blessing Outfit

The Boys

Luke and Joshua wanted me to take some pictures of the brothers. In the picture below, Luke is very excited because he thinks Caleb is kissing him.

Joshua thought it was funny that you can see straight up Caleb's nose, but it was hard holding him and taking pictures.

While I had my camera out, Joshua wanted me to take a picture of his drawing. He drew a castle (his castle) and drew a temple next to it because he wants to live by the temple. He told me when he is older, he wants to live by the temple so that when a tornado comes he can pack up his kids and wife and head to the temple because the Lord wouldn't destroy His temple.

Waiting For Mercedes

Jon Mark met me at the kindergarten concert. He came right when it started. As a result, I had to wait for about 15-20 minutes alone with these rascals. Luke had to pee, Caleb needed to be fed, Hannah wanted to be on my lap. It was an eventful 20 minutes. 

Caleb has been so sweet lately. He doesn't cry as much any more and he is sleeping through the night (fingers crossed). I love that he is sleeping through the night, but there is a part of me that has a difficult time laying him down after our final cuddle at 8:00 pm, because I know our next cuddle won't be until about 5 or 6 in the morning. So, I squeeze him extra tight and kiss his cheeks about a hundred times. He smiles at me a lot and really big. It is so cute!

End of the Year Awards

Mercedes is a kindergarten graduate. She had a great year and had a great teacher. Mrs. Schrieber was amazing. Mercedes loved her. There was a boy in Mercedes class, and upon meeting him, I am certain that he had a crush on Mercedes (she kind of had a crush on him too, but she knows that we don't even tease about having a boyfriend--not until she is 18). 

Anyway, she had a concert and looked very cute on the stage. I wish I was closer to get a better shot of her. She is the one wearing white pants. I asked her what she was supposed to wear and she said that she had to wear a red shirt and jeans. Well, when I pulled out her jeans she absolutely refused to wear them and was very upset about it. She has a mind of her own. When she put on her white pants, she changed her words and told me that she didn't know what kind of pants she had to wear and the white ones would be fine. I never got a notice about it, so I went off of her word. Ummm, she was the only one in white. Oh well. She stands out better in the pictures now.

She had a line to say in the program, "the next two songs are an example of all of our hard work". She did well and did not act nervous at all. The audience chuckled a little when she said it. She still has a different way of speaking. She has been in speech therapy for a year but still has a little of an English accent and a lisp. It makes her sound so cute, but we are trying to correct it before she gets too old. 

This morning we went to an award ceremony for her. She can now count and write past 100, and so she made it into the 100's club. She got a t-shirt.

At the same ceremony, we were a bit surprised that Joshua got an award too. He got the citizenship award for his class. He was surprised as well. He is a great kid. He scores very high on the standardized tests, in fact, he scored 100% on the math portion this past semester. We are proud of each of our children and their hard work.

First Smiles

I read somewhere that the oldest child has many scrapbooks/photo albums. The middle children have significantly less. And that the youngest is lucky to have just a few individual shots and has no albums at all. I refuse to let Caleb be that stereotype. I am trying to keep up with his milestones and record them. Here are some of his first social smiles. Jessica was holding him and he kept smiling again and again. 

This last picture shows his favorite position. He gets A LOT of gas. SO So much gas! It is crazy! He sounds like an adult sometimes. He needs a little help pushing them out, and he is much happier when we help him. We call this, milking the farts. Haha! Sorry if that is too crude. It is funny though.

Hannah Is Two!

This baby girl of mine is 2! She is an adorable little human, who really knows how to be funny!

She is very talented at singing and says, "I love this song!" whenever a song comes on the radio that she likes. She easily picks up a tune and sings in a very animated manner with big eyes and big movements. She likes to spin while she sings. She is still obsessed with the song, Let It Go. 

Her cake was a LOT cuter in the picture I found on the internet. We call this cake a Pinterest Fail. BIG TIME! It is supposed to be a monkey eating a banana, because I call Hannah a Banana Cake. It just looks scary. Any other image you may or may not see is purely coincidental.

I'm not sure what I am doing, but Hannah is saying, "cheese!".

We have recently discovered that Hannah is allergic to milk, so I had a pound cake with strawberries on it for her.

She loved opening presents and kept telling herself, Happy Birthday!

We sure do love this spunky little child of ours. Life wouldn't be complete without her.