A Lot of Stuff

It has been a LONG time since I posted anything on my blog. I think I have pretty good excuses, though.

I noticed that the last date I posted was November 4th. Four days after that, I had my appendix out because it was enlarged.

Then, just when I had recovered, it was time for Mitchell's art show and we had family in town (the first week of December).

Mitchell graduated, Christmas came, and then everything was stressful while we tried to find work.

Mid-January, Mitchell got a job in Atlanta, and we had just under two weeks to move out to Georgia. Somehow we got packed fast enough, and we moved. We drove out in just three days. We stayed with Mitchell's dad for two weeks while we found our own place.

Now, we are renting a nice little house in downtown Marietta, Georgia. We are 16 miles from where Mitchell works, so a 20-40 minute drive, depending on traffic. We live a few blocks from historic Marietta and "the Square," which has tons of fun shops and restaurants. We have been here for two weeks now, but it's been a busy two weeks, so we are hardly moved in. We just got internet two days ago, and the gas was turned off for most of this week. It felt great to take a shower today!

Mitchell works long hours, and works pretty late, which may give me the chance to blog more often. I want to help all my family and friends keep up with this big change in our lives.

Annabelle's Princess Party - Arrival and First Presents

When the kids arrived, they each had a crown to decorate. With the help of one of the moms the night before, we made a Sleeping Beauty crown for each girl. Joseph and the other little boy had crowns to decorate that I got at Dollar Tree.

Here she is modeling the crown her crown after decorating it. Doesn't she look so happy? ;) She was so distracted by everything going on.

Each of the girls also had a paper "berry basket" with jewelry, tattoos, and a princess toy in it. We kept the tattoos out of reach for the party, but they were able to get dressed in their jewelry.

 I didn't have a basked for Joseph, but he had a sword and shield instead. He was very precise in decorating his crown and only put jewels in the obvious jewel spots at the top.

He was so excited to be a prince.

Before we could start the tea party, Annabelle needed to open two of her presents. We had bought her a tea and dinner set from IKEA.

Isn't she so pretty?! And I love the Sleeping Beauty dress she picked out at Kid-to-Kid.

I was so worried about her dropping the tea set on the ground.

She was better at letting me support the dinner set.

Annabelle's Princess Party - The Decorations & Food

Annabelle's 3rd birthday was the 22nd of October and I threw her a Sleeping Beauty Princess Tea Party. I stayed up too late too many nights making decorations for her party, but it looked so great!

I made the Happy Birthday out of glitter foam sheets and her name out of felt. When she woke up in the morning, one of the first things she pointed out was this and she said, "Look, Mom! It says "Happy Birthday, Annabelle!"

I wanted the house to look like a castle and I came up with a fun idea to hang the streamers like a roof. I just loved the way it looked.

Also in the upper left corner, you can sort of see her Birthday balloons. One was a foil Princess Crown and then two pink balloons. She was so excited when I brought them to her and she played with them until they couldn't say up on their own anymore.

We used Mitchell's art desk as the food table. I made the stained glass window hanging over it. 

We had Hot Chocolate with toppings, pink lemonade, strawberry cupcakes, tea cakes (pound cake with icing), cucumber sandwiches and cream cheese & jelly sandwiches cut into crowns, lemon cookies, dipped pretzel rods, dipped marshmallows, and berries.

One of the moms brought fresh roses from her garden, and they were so beautiful!

Preschool

The first week of September, we started a preschool co-op with a few families in the ward, as well as homeschool preschool stuff. Tuesdays and Thursdays are our co-op days, and today was at our house. The kids love seeing their friends and getting to do fun things with them. And I like having a chance to spend time with other women.

On Mondays and Fridays we go over a letter at our house and do activities related to the days theme. I matched up each letter with a superhero, Star Wars character, or other such person that Joseph loves, and that's our theme for those days.

On Wednesdays, we go to the library's preschool program. Joseph goes in the Storytime room for a little class, while Annabelle, Charlie, and I sit at the story circle for reading, songs, and a puppet show. We also always end up taking tons of books home. Our house is becoming overrun with library books.

We missed some preschool while we were in Idaho last month, so the kids and I have been catching up on letters so that we are on track with the co-op. We are doing G and Green Lantern tomorrow instead of going to the library, or maybe we'll do both, I haven't decided.

It's fun planning out ideas and working with the kids to help them learn. I've found that I get easily frustrated, though, so I have to take lots of calming breaks, and I've been using a lot of Citrus Bliss, which is an essential oil blend I love. I love watching the kids learn, but they have very short attention spans, and they usually want to do something else, like playing video games or watching TV. But I think it's been good so far, and I know it will get better if I keep trying and keep praying.

Spiritual Duty as a Mother

Something that I've been seeing a lot of lately is the discussion about the role of the Priesthood, and how it affects women. It's been on my mind a lot as I read the opinions and feelings of many different people with many different views.  

I've been reading and studying the Doctrine and Covenants lesson on Priesthood lately, and I feel like it addresses this issue so well. It answers my questions and confirms my testimony.

Over and over again, I've read and understood that I am able to have all the blessings of the Priesthood through my diligent study of the scriptures and participation in the ordinances of the gospel. One passage that I have studied multiple times, and that has helped lead me to this understanding, is in Section 84. I feel like these verses describe my duty as a mother.

19 And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. 

20 Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. 

21 And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;

22 For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.

23 Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God.

As I have studied and prayed about these verses, I've been lead to know that they are my goal as a mother, to prepare my children, and self, through the power of the priesthood to be worthy to behold the face of God. Through my study, I have learned that, in order to do this, I must teach my children to keep the commandments, to study the scriptures diligently, and to participate in gospel ordinances regularly. Through personal righteousness and regular participation in temple ordinances, every member of my family will the able to access the mysteries of the kingdom, the knowledge of God, and the power of godliness; they will be worthy to behold the face of God.

This is a life-long goal, so my prayer is that I will be able to keep it in the forefront of my mind throughout daily life so that I can help my family progress.

Turning to the Lord

On Tuesday, I had the time to read and study from the scriptures before the kids woke up. I was working through the scripture chain in Lesson 8 of the Doctrine and Covenants study manual, which is about the Restoration of the Priesthood and the governing of the Church through the restored keys. However, as I was marking and reading a couple verses in Section 78, I felt prompted to read the surrounding verses to better understand what I was reading. While doing that, I came across two verses that really touched my heart; they seem perfectly suited to things I've been thinking and feeling lately.

Last week, I felt an increase in my anxiety and depression. Those feelings always lead to a lot of negative thinking. Sometimes it's very difficult to break out of the cycle of negative thoughts to realize that most of what I'm thinking isn't real or true. Sometimes, life feels impossible to me. It feels like I'll never make it through the next year, month, week, or day. But I've been learning to turn to the Lord more, and put myself in his hands to help me when I don't think I can make it on my own.

So these verses were exactly what I needed to hear:

17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood 

how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. 

The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

If I keep turning to the Lord in my time of need, as well as during times of strength, He will bless me to keep going, even when it seems impossible. And I someday I will have all the blessings promised to me.

Anxiety

Today was a hard day. The past few days I'd been noticing a little more depression and anxiety; today was like the climax of all the anxiety. I started having one of my anxiety attacks, which was worse than any I've had in several months. I ended up needing to take some Xanax in order to calm myself down. It was hard for me to do that. I was starting to feel proud of myself because I haven't had to take any since May, so I felt like a failure taking it. Mitchell really helped me feel better about it, though. He helped me remember that sometimes we just have bad days or we have setbacks, and that's normal, so I'm not a failure for needing help managing my anxiety sometimes. We went for a nice walk in the canyon after I'd calmed down. Then we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and bought cupcakes at the Sweet Tooth Fairy. I took a long nap with Charlie when we came home. After I woke up, Mitchell and I put candles in our cupcakes and we finally sang Happy Birthday to ourselves. Even though the day started out bad, it did end well, and I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for the support of my husband and for the things I've learned as I've dealt with my depression and anxiety the last several months. I know that I can continue getting better and getting stronger, as long as I rely on the Lord.