Happy Birthday Jaeden!

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously
My own.
Never forget
For a single minute:
You didn't grow under my heart
But in it.
© Fleur Conkling Heyliger

Five years and two weeks ago Joel and I found out that our pregnancy had failed at 9 weeks along. We hadn't had much time to get used to the idea that we were pregnant again, but it was long enough to cause us great sorrow at the loss of our hopes and dreams for this little one. (Although I believe greatly, and found comfort, in the promise of modern revelation that our little ones who are lost will be ours again in the millennium, it's unclear if a little one lost so early in pregnancy had a spirit prepared for it. If there was, I believe that we will be reunited with that child again in our eternal family.)

Five years ago, today, Joel and I found out that we were going to be instant parents to a beautiful blond haired, blue eyed 5 pound 4 ounce bundle of pink joy. Jaeden. Jaeden came into our lives quite unexpectedly, and with the perfect timing of a miracle blessing.

Since the day she came home with us she has brought us nothing but joy. Her smile lights up the room. Her giggles play my heartstrings in sweet melody. Her snuggles warm even the deepest parts of my heart. She is cheerful, intelligent, has a great sense of humor, is caring, loving and sharing even to her siblings that are less than deserving of her sweet nature. She is pure joy to us. I feel so deeply blessed and honored that I get the privilege of being her mother. I never feel worthy of that blessing from any of my children and it touches me deeply that God has trusted these little souls to me, to us. I pray that I do a worthy job.

I also pray for all the unwanted babies in the world, that their lives will be spared and they will be given the blessing of being adopted into homes with parents who will love and cherish them.

Oh and Jaeden became a mommy today, on her very special birthday, to about a million of these...

Thanks Aunt Sarah and Uncle Gary.

Congratulations Jaeden! And Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Groovin!

Man I'm just loving my playlist! I wish that the people hosting the music would stop making my list smaller and smaller.



Saturday I got a call from my neighbor Marge. She's a single, elderly lady that lives alone in the trailer next door. We've been pretty good about taking care of her needs as far as yardwork and plowing go. Anyway, she was calling because a niece of hers was on her way up to our city to drop her kids off for a while and go out for the evening with her husband and she wanted to bring Marge a bag of starter stuff for Amish Friendship Bread. Marge doesn't cook/bake so she was asking if I'd be interested in taking it.

I've heard it's really a long process, but I've also heard that it's really good, and if you do it right you'll be baking a loaf every 10 days. If you've ever made it, please leave me a comment on any tips for it, or how you liked it!

Now I have to think of 3 people to give it to and make sure I get it to them.



Okay, I am really late posting this.
My oldest son turned 15 on the 2nd. He's a groundhog baby :)
I can't believe he's that old! Where did my little boy go? I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 15 year old. Thank heaven's I have a 3 year old to make me feel younger! ha!
Jacob has been such a blessing in my life. He came at a time in my life where I was really out of control and not knowing how my life should be, and I wasn't living right. I needed an anchor, a direction and he came just in time.
Life hasn't been easy for either of us. I haven't been a perfect mom, and I've made a lot of mistakes with him. Thankfully he's resiliant and forgiving. I think no matter how many kids you have, they are all so different, you will end up making mistakes anyway. What's good for one, isn't necessarily good for another.
When he was really little he had very blonde hair and golden curls at the ends. His first haircut took care of that! He's always been a fun playful kid. He started in American Karate at the age of 3 or 4, I can't remember. By the time he was 8 he was an advanced Red Belt. He kind of gave up on it when his little brother was born and I wasn't regularly taking him. His next belt would have been a brown belt.
He was seven years old when his dad was baptized into the church, and he was eight when his dad baptized him and we were sealed as a family in the St. Paul temple. Those years he didn't go to primary didn't seem to harm his ability to understand the gospel. He has a strong testimony of his own, thanks to his own studying and experiences. He's going to be a great Stake President someday ;)
I'm convinced he is a very old, wise soul. He "gets it". He gets religion. He gets politics. He gets people. He has such a great head on his shoulders. He's responsible. He's reliable (unless you want the kitchen floor swept every night).
I couldn't have asked for a better first kid. He's made life so much fun and so worth sticking around for. I hope he liked his birthday. Our original plans were to go to Joe's Crab Shack, but they had closed business, so his second choice was Outback Steak House. We had a great dinner other than a few mishaps like Joel getting a drink dumped into his salad and Joyanna all over the place like a wild monkey! She was horrible.
We had family over for a Dairy Queen cake, I took pictures, but haven't emptied my card yet. He made out like a bandit with money and gift cards! Lucky duck. Sunday he had his yearly interview with our bishop and he asked for his first dance card... ahhhhh! I'm not ready for my kid to go to dances yet! However, I would rather he go to church dances than school dances.
Heaven help me next year when he turns 16. *chews on nails*
And my spell check doesn't seem to be working today.