Archive for April, 2008
Chris
Posted by Jinny in Our Family on April 17, 2008
This is Chris in the middle of his haircut. It got better, I promise! But this was too good.
Sleeping Babies
Omar left for school early this morning to study for a test. At quarter to seven my first visitor arrived, carrying his red blanket. He climbed in bed with me and quickly fell asleep.
An hour later the second baby woke up and I carried him into the warm blankets to nurse. He quickly fell asleep, too. I thought he was up for the morning, but I was mistaken. So here i was with two sleeping babies in my bed.
I wasn’t going to sleep anymore, so I decided to just leave them there. An hour later I heard Isaiah cooing. When I came in, they were both awake just laying there cuddling.
I was really proud of Helaman being such a sweet big brother!
Helaman’s Favorites
Helaman was listing all of his favorite things for me at Taco Bell yesterday. So preserved for posterity, at 3 1/2, here are his favorite things:
- Song: “We Have Been Born”
- Color: Red
- Shape: Circle
- Number: 3
- Book: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (this surprised me!)
- Story: Charlie Stories (these are stories Omar and I make up about a mouse named Charlie to tell him at bedtime)
And there you have it.
I loved this picture from the photo shoot we did at the Picture People. I couldn’t afford to order one, maybe someday, but it makes me smile every time I look at it. He’s so happy in this picture because the photo lady let him stand on the big box to take a picture. He gets these ideas in his head and just has to do certain things. That morning, the big box was the coolest thing he’d ever seen.
She also told him to put his thumbs out of his pockets, but got a, “No, this is how I do it!” instead. He thinks what he thinks!
Isaiah
I feel awful, Isaiah is over 6 months and I haven’t written about him yet!
Isaiah is a sweet, happy baby. He is very happy, and thinks the world is very funny.
He’s also very busy. He never stops moving. He was really tired last night, so he was being still in Grandma Maggie’s arms and Grandpa thought there must be something wrong with him.
He sits by himself, and is working really hard on standing up right now. He’s not quite crawling, but he does manage to move around my wriggling and twisting. I think he’s getting close though, because he’s getting his tummy up off of the floor.
He’s also started eating Cheerios in the last couple of days. It’s so funny when he gets them too far back in his palm and can’t figure out what happened to them. He has a very determined personality. He works at something for a long time until he gets it. This morning when I was feed him breakfast he was getting disinterested, so I have him some Cheerios to practice on. He wasn’t hungry any more, but he really wanted to practice putting them in his mouth. So he would work and work to pick one up and get it in his mouth, then spit it out once he got it in. He did several times, so I know it wasn’t a fluke. He was cracking me up. He gets so excited when he hears the crinkle of the bag in the Cheerio box. 
Isaiah loves to eat his toes. If you ever want to make him happy, take his socks off. As you can see from the picture, he loves to make a huge mess when he eats too, but I think that’s pretty standard.
If his toes don’t make him happy, sining Row, Row, Row Your Boat usually does. If that doesn’t work, you’re in big trouble. He loves that song!
Isaiah is also a sleep anywhere baby. Helaman usually only slept in his bed, but Isaiah sleeps when he’s tired, no matter where you are or who is holding him. Which has been really nice in our crazy busy life right now.
Isaiah really loves his older brother, too. (If he’s not right in his face…) He watches him like a hawk, and always wants to do whatever Helaman is doing.
I have so many cute pictures I’ve never posted, one of these days when I have more time maybe I’ll just do a couple of picture posts. For now, I think I am going with the FlyLady, you are not behind, just jump in where you are and go from here…
Statements of Disbelief
Posted by Jinny in We Believe on April 16, 2008
We’re Mormon. I was raised Mormon and Omar is a convert. My siblings were also raised Mormon, but a couple of them are struggling with that right now, which is really hard on my family. They say they don’t believe the Church is true, that’s their “Statement of Disbelief”.
I’m not sure, however, that they realize what that necessarily means they are saying they DO believe. It’s really easy to focus on the doubts and questions, and let that cloud what is good and we find to be true.
For example, if you say the Church is not true, you are also saying that you don’t believe in Eternal Families or Eternal Marriage. That doctrine is unique to Mormonism, so if the Church isn’t true, there is no such thing. But there is more to it than that, even.
- If the Church isn’t true you believe either that Joseph Smith was a skilled conman or crazy.
- Okay, that may be easier to believe, it’s far removed, but that also means that Gordon B. HInkley must have been a very talented liar, as well as our current prophet, Thomas S. Monson.
- It also means the Book of Mormon was crazily written in short amount of time with all kinds of details that Joseph Smith had to have guessed, that went against the current knowledge of the time and then have later proved to be true.
- Also, the doctrine that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are distinct individuals is Mormon only doctrine, so that’s out, too.
And maybe they really are ready to make these positive statements of belief, but I doubt it.
I don’t have a perfect knowledge about all things. Do any of us? I have to go on faith a lot of the time. But there is so much I DO believe, that I’m sure enough of that I can’t let go of them. And then helps me through the times I have questions.
I do believe in Eternal Families. I believe that Joseph Smith was a good man, telling the truth, and that he was a Prophet of God. And the same goes for Gordon B. Hinkley and Thomas S. Monson, now. I believe the Book of Mormon is divine, and truly the Word of God. I find the things in that book to be good, and they bring me closer to Christ, they make me a better person, and they bring me peace. That can’t have come from a big scam. I believe the church is truly God’s church. I’ve found that be living my life that way, I find happiness.
And for the record, I’ve always found my questions answered eventually. It’s often after the trial of my faith, but the answers are there. For the more historical or philosophical questions, I’ve found the FAIR wiki to be a wonderful resource. Other answers have come from conference, or the scriptures, even my sweet husband sometimes.
If any of you are not ready to get into the fringe stuff, but just want to know more about these unique Mormon doctrines, please check out mormon.org.
General Conference
Posted by Jinny in We Believe on April 13, 2008
I know that General Conference is always wonderful. I know it’s full of answers and inspiration. I know that. But it isn’t always that way for me. It’s no ones fault but my own. Sometimes I just let myself get too distracted, or sleepy, or busy. Sometimes I’m just not ready to listen. Sometimes it’s just time for a really great nap. But not this time. The Lord has been working hard on humbling me lately, and this conference I was ready to listen.
I love being a mom. I love my boys, and I wouldn’t trade them or my time with them for anything. But lately I’ve felt very overwhelmed. It probably has a lot to do with Isaiah not sleeping much so I’m really tired. And Helaman is getting older and wiser and needs new things from me that I’m just learning. But it’s more than that, too. I’ve been feeling the responsibility of being the one in charge of meeting all their needs, physical & spiritual & emotional… I’ve suddenly recognized the huge job that lies ahead, I’ve measured myself, and found myself lacking. I need to be so many things for them, and I do my best everyday, but sometimes I really struggle feeling equal to the task.
The Lord has been humbling me in other ways as well. We’re getting close to Omar’s graduation and we still haven’t decided what life looks like after the end of May. Every time we think we know what job he is going to take and where we are going to live and all that good stuff, things change, the world gets more confusing, and we still find ourselves unsure. Life is an awfully big adventure. We’ve both been learning to turn stuff over the Lord and stop believing we can control the universe. I really thought I could before…. Anyway, more humbling.
And so, in this time of change and uncertainty about so many things, conference this time found me ready to be inspired. And this is what I got out of conference this April:
- The Lord really does know me. Within the first moments of conference, specific questions we’ve had about how to teach and help our boys were answered. Talk after talk seemed to address the very questions I hadn’t even known how to ask, even in my prayers.
- I’m not doing as bad as I thought. Sunday afternoon the boys were done being quiet and listening to men in suits on the t.v. So Helaman was playing games on my mom’s computer and kept needing my help. Then Isaiah woke up and was feeling needy and then he had a huge (and awful) poop. At this point, you can imagine how much I was listening to the men in suits. Frustrated, and feeling guilty about the not listening, I carried Isaiah’s diaper out to the garbage. As I was thinking about feeling guilty, I received a strong witness not to worry so much. Changing diapers and helping my three year-old was the better part I needed to choose right then. To everything there is a season, and that is the season we are in, and the season the Lord wants us to be in. When I walked in from the garbage it was time for Elder Ballard’s talk. I know a lot of mom’s felt like God was talking straight to them that afternoon, and I was sure one of them.
- There are lots of things I need to do better. Two specifically that stood out strongly to me were that I needed to be at helping find the lost sheep. Both through visiting teaching and missionary work. To this end, I followed Elder Bednar’s advice to take action in my faith and bought a box of Book of Mormon’s to give a way. I also started this blog. (I haven’t given any away yet, and I haven’t written much, but it’s progress). I also felt like I needed to stop being so critical. I’m working on that, too. And someday when I’m 50 and you meet me, hopefully you’ll think I’m a very kind person.
- I really felt the Spirit witness that President Monson is a true and living prophet of God. What a blessing to live in a time when there are prophets on the earth again.
I’m so grateful that the Lord saw fit to get my humble and ready for conference this year. Hopefully by October I can choose to be humble and not need to be compelled!
Opening my mouth
Posted by Jinny in Jinny, We Believe on April 6, 2008
I’ve been feeling prompted to follow Elder Ballard’s invitation to open our mouths. So, here’s my first baby step; I’ve opened my mouth. Now the trick is actually saying something now that I’m standing here catching the wind with my mouth wide open. That will be the next step.
For now, the thing to do is go to sleep I think.
Funny Stories
Helaman has always loved our basket. It used to be his hot air balloon. Then for a couple of months, all the blankets would get thrown out so he could sit in his “nest”. As I would walk by he would say, “Hi, momma bird.” To which I was supposed to respond, “Hi, my baby bird.” He pinched his finger between the basket and the table one day, and that was the end of the nest… and I miss having a baby bird.
Helaman and Isaiah are already becoming friends, and they love to play together. Lately Helaman has wanted to hop in the crib with Isaiah when he wakes up from his nap, and they play together for a while. Helaman is a ham. He loves it when people think he’s being funny, and Isaiah thinks he’s hilarious and the greatest thing since, well, milk, I guess, in his case. They crack me up.
We went to Bremerton, Washington last month because Omar had a second interview at the Naval Ship Yard there. We rode the ferry to Seattle, and Helaman loved it. He couldn’t believe he went on plane and a boat and a train all within those very excited three days.
While we were crossing Puget Sound I was pointing everything out to Helaman, like seals, and sail boats, and buoys. He got a little confused, though. On the way back across that evening he kept asking, “Mom, where’s the abuoy?” I had a hard time explaining that it was a buoy, not an abuoy. He was so funny.
Helaman also loved the space needle. When he got back, he couldn’t stop talking about every detail about our trip up the needle. Will he remember when he grows up that he was there once? Maybe when he sees the pictures! But, we were glad he had a fun trip. Everything is much more fun when your kids are having fun. It’s exciting to see the world through their eyes. (Try to ignore the fact that we’re all a little dirty here, the showers in our hotel broke that morning… if you’re ever going to Bremerton for some unknown reason, ask me where not to stay.)