ey, hope you're surviving that heat!!! I get hot so fast these days that I remember you often ;)! We spent the week getting ready for a Duncan reunion at Downata Hot Springs. Actually, Emily was gone to Lava Hot Springs (this is NOT the weather for hot anything!) w/ some friends, and the YM/YW spent 2 8-hour days reading the entire Book of Mormon, so Spencer (& Emily once she got back) were gone most of the time at that. We left Thursday after Dad got home from work, & shared a pretty tiny cabin & Eric & Analisa's RV to all spend some time together. It was great to be together, even in the heat, and the cousins had a blast swimming all day together. We played games, fried scones, & enjoyed the company--always good to be with family (especially when you're counting down long days waiting for a baby to come!). Before we left, Grandpa gave his boys a blessing, I got one from Dad, and Eric gave a blessing to Grandma, who has just had a slow recovery from things recently.
I finished Pres. Nelson's biography, which I LOVED--his effort to be wise and love & respect others--always asking, "What can we do to help?" as a missionary tool is such a fabulous example. I was so impressed by SO much--how he STILL prioritizes family--taking time to answer texts from grandchildren/great grandchildren, and calling on every birthday, even though there are 220 of them!!--& just CARING about EVERYone! His respect for women, love of the body/creation--always choosing to do things outdoors as much as possible, hunger for knowledge & keeping up with technology!--and sincerely wanting to hear others' input/opinions. I have felt SO close to him as a prophet from having those challenges to follow, so I just ate up all the details of his life. Love him!!
I also had a quick read of a Historical Fiction (for ward bookclub) about the Muddy River Settlement (corner of Nevada south of St George)--it was an interesting chapter of Church History I knew nothing about, but a big theme of the book was agency and aligning our will with God's, which was good timing for me this week. We found out Monday Dad doesn't get to move on for the judge interview, which was fine--I figured it was something of a longshot to get it this first go-round, but maybe b/c I'm so tired & baby-ready--it was still more disappointing than I thought it would be! Dad took it pretty well--at least he's gratefully happy where he's at!--and everyone he talked to said no judge has ever made it in the first interview (still, it would've been nice to at least go to the next round). There is one more judge set to retire within the year, and another judge who DID make it to the next interview, that could open up another spot, so not all hope is lost, but I've been in a pretty big funk over things--I keep thinking of the line from my patriarchal blessing that says, "Avoid discouragement. Discouragement is a tool of the devil." Which it IS!--esp in MY LIFE!! --but it's hard to know how to combat it at times. I know God keeps His promises, but I don't have any promise about financial security, and definitely no promise of life being easy, so just a promise that God is aware of us sometimes leaves me grumpy! I know part of it is this pregnancy--I expected the Lord to really take care of EVERYthing (Dad's health that is still in limbo, finances--that really are great for now despite broken A/C, broken fridge, solar panel payments due, baby bills, etc. but leave us wondering how the next 10 years will possibly pan out) if He wanted this child in our home--Which HE HAS!--we've been so blessed & my health amazes me & so many people have helped with so much--but my own expectations often get in the way of recognizing blessings that are right in front of me. Anyway, as I was TRYING to better align my will with God's plan for me (even if it's just to be a frugal, too poor for any dreams/experiences, happy/crazy mom forever), it was good to read about these faithful Saints who had plenty of their own unexpected life direction changes, and had to decide repeatedly whether they should use their gift of agency to be wise, or obey imperfect, human leaders. In the end, things didn't ALWAYS work out smoothly in a temporal sense, but their spiritual growth brought them to such places of joy, that the rest barely mattered. I'm obviously so far from that kind of faith!!!--but it was good to read about others' similar struggles. I feel a lot better overall, but the other hard thing is even once I start to have a better attitude & feel like I've conquered things, sometimes it hits me again out of nowhere! Ugh!--this life is so good at giving us so much practice at things!!! --& I loved reading in Come Follow Me the quote from Pres. Monson:“When we are on the Lord’s errand,” President Thomas S. Monson promised, “we are entitled to the Lord’s help” (“To Learn, to Do, to Be,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2008, 62). We are not entitled, however, to a smooth road and an endless stream of successes."
We talked lots today in Sunday School about how to do better at testifying of Christ like Paul did (despite SO MUCH adversity!!)
Miss your amazingness, but so proud of all you're doing! Love, Char
ps--unless Brent gets us a Taiwanese middle name pronto, we've decided to name your fetus brother Seth Brian--I can finally take down the pages of names we keep staring at in my bedroom ;).
No comments:
Post a Comment