I Got My Vaccine!

 

St. Patrick's Day 2021 was a great "come and get it day" for me--a day when the sun is shining, and it feels like angels are guiding my every step.  And the best step of all was getting my first covid vaccine!

It's basically been exactly one year since our schools closed down for quarantine, so this just felt right.  

I'm feeling lucky, grateful, and blessed to even be able to get the vaccine, since it's not open to many people yet in my state.  I realize how blessed I am to be able to receive this vaccine, and I just want to publicly thank my Heavenly Father for watching over me and my family during the last year especially.

The whole experience was amazing for me.

It's been a long road for us in many ways, but I still trust and know that God is in charge and guiding us through all things.

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Welcome Spring!

 

It's Spring!  Things are going to start coming alive again.  Spring is so joyful to me...with General Conference, Easter, and the chance to celebrate my son Val's arrival in the world.

But before the buds emerge I wanted to share this photo of Lake Erie that I took in February.

It doesn't matter what time of year I visit home (which is right on the shores of Lake Erie outside of Cleveland, Ohio), the Lake is always beautiful.  Stormy or calm, day or night, Summer or Winter, the Lake is all of my family's favorite place to seek solace.  The rhythmic sound of the waves alone is so soothing.  It's a great place to think...and it's right across the street from my parent's home.

It is also one of God's creations that is always there...a constant, but it is never the same place twice.

I am so grateful for the Lake and other spots that God created that feels so personal to me.

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The Ingredients of a Testimony

 

We went to church today, and we actually got to sing the hymns together as a congregation for the first time in a year!  It was a sweet surprise, but today I want to talk about a different sweet thing that happened during our season of at-home church.

The sweet thing was that we got to hear my girls' testimonies quite often and it filled our home with the Holy Ghost.

I recently stumbled on the testimony that my daughter Autumn gave one Sunday as she had written notes to help her say it the way she wanted to.  Here it is:

"Testimonies are like baking cookies.  We practice baking them for our whole lives until they are perfect.

We start our testimonies by gathering all of the ingredients, like going to church and getting baptized.  Then we start mixing the ingredients together, which is like reading scriptures daily and learning in church every Sunday.  And then we put it in the oven and your testimony rises and gets stronger, because you are obeying the commandments and getting personal revelation.  When you are ready, you will have a spiritual and a strong testimony.

And when they are done cooling, you can share them with your friends, so they can have the same experience that you had.  But if you put the wrong ingredients in your cookies, they won't turn out as the cookies you wanted to make...

I know that as we do the right things and be like our Heavenly Father, we will have a strong testimony of Jesus Christ, and we can live with God again.  I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I was really touched by the testimony of our resident baker.  I know that the Lord sent us to earth to learn spiritual lessons in a physical world. Autumn's testimony is just one example of that!

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Our Trip to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History

The kids and I took a trip to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on Monday.  We've had a Carnegie pass for like a year now, but this was our first time visiting this particular museum, and boy am I glad that we did!

We were totally blown away by their dinosaur collection (and their gems and minerals collection which I'll post about later)!

Apparently, this museum is ranked in the top 5 Natural History museums in the U.S. and has the largest collection of Jurassic dinosaurs in the world (!) as well as the first T-Rex specimen.

It was great to get out and discover this treasure for ourselves. I'll post pictures for you to enjoy too.

So here's something quirky about me.  It's hard for me to believe in dinosaurs.  More specifically, the idea of dinosaurs has always unsettled me.  And I wasn't really interested enough in them to actually learn about them, so they just kind of remained a theory to me...a fantastical myth.  It doesn't help that every time we watch shows about dinos, scientists say "at least that's what we *think*" they did or looked like, etc! And since dinosaurs don't exist in our living world, there was no way for me to easily find proof for myself.

I told my friend this one day recently as we were hanging out together.  She reacted as you might expect a very logical and scientific person to react.  Sprinkle in a look of disgust at my attempt to be vulnerable with her and you'll have a pretty good picture of the exchange.  (Good times.)

But as I thought about it, I think my denial of dinosaurs (or at least my disinterest in them) is a lot like people's denial of God.  Sometimes the idea of God is so big, so other-worldly, that its too hard for our mortal minds to wrap around.  So, we're tempted to just let God remain an unexplored myth. 

I'm grateful that God is real to me.  I am grateful that there is proof of God all around us and that I've been willing to explore God in my life.  

Let us not shy away from having a relationship with Him because he seems too big, too perfect, too in the past, or for lack of *easily* attainable evidence.  He is worth the search.  And unlike the dinosaurs, He is alive and willing to reveal himself to us.

I'm happy to report that after encountering the largest collection of Jurassic dinosaurs in the WORLD, I am finally on the dinosaur band-wagon! :) Haha!

Some of us just need more proof than others.  And that's ok too, whether we're talking about God or gigantic reptiles.

If you get a chance to visit this showcase of God's creations, I recommend it!

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Endurance

This summer, I fell in love with this piece of artwork on display in our town's municipal center art show.  

Of course, I loved that the local artist chose to depict the subject of Motherhood, but what really won me over was that she chose to title it "Endurance," showing that the artist really knows what it means to be a Mother.

I passed by this painting a lot this summer, and I thought about it and the title often.

When I look at this picture it reminds me that I am not merely a mom (as some might say), but I am a Woman on a Mission to lead my children safely through this life.  I am a guide, a leader.  I made a covenant before coming to earth that I would lead my family through this life and bring them home safely, No. Matter. What.

I have people depending on me to Endure.  So, Endure, I will.

Now when my children (one in particular!) nag me and try to wear me down to get me to say "yes" to something that I have previously decided is not good for them, I simply smile at them and think my magic word (Endurance!!) and I stand firm.  And I remind myself that I am doing what I said I would do.  I am taking my children through the storm.  They might hate it right now, but there will be time for thank you's  later! 

I had a moment with my oldest this morning where he was doing something without permission online before school (which is against our Family Media Plan). So, although it would be easier to shrug it off, I'm following through. I am enduring.  He didn't like my "enduring," but I assured him as I walked with him to the bus stop that even though his teachers don't care that he does these things, they don't care about him nearly as much as I do.  Because my love for him and my relationship with him will endure FOREVER.  I am his Mother.  I know what it best for him.  I will care about how he turns out and deal with the consequences of how he turns out...forever.  

Later, I received an email from him saying, "I'm sorry, Mom.  I love you."

When I received his email, I just happened to be reading "The Runaway Bunny" to my 2-year old.  I remember discovering this book and how much I loved it's message when Scarlett was in Kindergarten.  In the story, a young child bunny wants to run away, but every time the young bunny elaborates on some way he will run away, his Mother comes up with an answer for how she will orchestrate his return.

For instance, if he runs away, she will run after him (for you are my little bunny), if he becomes a fish and swims away, she will become a fisherman and fish for him.  If he becomes a rock, she will become a mountain-climber and she will climb to where he is.  If he becomes a boat, she will become the wind and blow him where she wants him to go...and on and on.

In short or rather in elaborate ways, she WILL endure.  She will go to where he is and always bring him home.  In particualr, she will always love him enough to go after him.

With this knowledge, the child bunny decides it's useless to try to run away, and stays home in the arms of those who love him.

While I'm not trying to get my children to stay home, I am trying to help them return to their Heavenly Home and hopefully my own love and guidance will be a great help to them in doing that.

That's all the time I have for that...there's much work to be done before my babies come home from school today.  Have a wonderful Monday and remember to ENDURE!

Some day, your children will thank you for it!

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Take No Thought

When we returned from our Labor Day weekend trip to Palmyra, we were greeted by a sweet gesture. Someone had "heart-attacked" us.  Paper heart cut-outs containing encouraging words and scripture references were taped all over our front door and windows.

It was really sweet.

There were a LOT of scripture references, so I decided to sit down at the table and look them all up, and then copy them in to my scripture journal.

Remember our Scripture Study Plan we embarked on a few months ago?  (I outlined it in this post.)  It has been a great way to go deeper and to have personalized time in the scriptures.  We're still doing it, but intermittently.  As we get used to new school schedules, we're figuring out how family scripture study will look now that Guy, our 7th grader, leaves for the bus two hours before the rest of the crew!

One day this week, something funny happened. I knew Guy had slept in and after hurriedly getting dressed and packing his lunch only had a minute before he had to leave for the bus. I also knew he hadn't had any breakfast (which he didn't seem to mind too much.)  I promised Guy that if he stayed one minute more and let me read scriptures to him, he'd read something amazing. So he stayed.

Not knowing what the amazing thing would be, I opened my app and started reading right where we had left off.  I read Alma 31:37-38: 

"37 And after that they did separate themselves one from another, taking no thought for themselves what they should eat, or what they should drink, or what they should put on.

38 And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith."

Both of us found this pretty fun...So, after that Guy "separated" himself from us to go to the bus stop, taking "no thought for what he should eat" (a.k.a. he grabbed an apple).  I told him on his way out that he should follow the example of Alma and pray in faith that he should not hunger and that his afflictions would be swallowed up in the joy of Christ!  (Good thing he had a packed lunch to look forward to!) 

The Scriptures never cease to amaze me!  Even when we only put in the absolute smallest effort to read them, the Lord still shows forth great grace in answering us.  Our tired, human efforts can result in hearing His voice each morning.  And His voice that day said to us "I see you.  I know you. And you just might have more in common with the people in scripture than you might think!"  

I'm humbled by the way the Lord is always making efforts to reach out to us, wherever we are and whatever we're doing.  I want to be more like that...

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To Follow a Prompting

Around the beginning of this year, I kept having this nagging feeling that I needed to get off of social media, which was sort of sad for me, because I enjoy connecting with friends and former co-workers through Facebook, and I also enjoy sharing about our faith and family online and I receive a lot of positive feedback about the things that I share.

Yes, that feeling kept coming back to me time and again.  I needed to let it go.

So this week, I finally took the plunge.  I removed the Facebook app off of my phone.  And contrary to what I thought would happen, it was really quite enjoyable: not being interrupted every few minutes by notifications, not scrolling mindlessly through mildly funny or mildly questionable material of little importance to my day, not thinking so many thoughts that weren't mine, and not filling my head with details not pertinent to caring for my family.

I was nervous to do it because as the Mom of six children, I am the communication hub of the family.  I need to know when school is closed or delayed due to weather. I need to communicate with other Moms about rides or playdates or things happening at school, and having recently relocated, we we are all still developing new friendships, etc.

Eventhough it did scare me a little, I took the leap of faith in following this prompting, and what resulted was more peace in my life this week, more time to look into my children's eyes and hold them and talk to them and play with them and care for them and consider their needs, and make memories with them, more conversations with my husband and time for personal and couples study.

I don't know where this is leading, but I do know that God knows my personal goals for this year. And I believe this is His answer and His way of helping guide me down a path where I can actually find time to realize those righteous desires.  

It is comforting to know that there is a Father in Heaven watching out for me and for you and for all busy parents out there trying to decide how to best live their lives.

Have you taken a leap of faith to follow a prompting recently? I'd love to hear about your experience!

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Solitary trees, grow strong

On Monday, I was yearning to see some fall color to brighten my mood and at some point I had the thought, "Oh, how I wish I could see a picture of the tree that grows in our old church parking lot back home! Maybe I could get someone to send me one..." 

Well a few days later, a friend, totally out of the blue, sent me a picture of the very tree in its orange Fall glory! How did she know? 

I believe that God knows our hearts and can communicate to us and others, through the Holy Spirit, what we need. 

As we listen to that small voice inside each of us, we can meet the needs of others as God would want us to. 

I am so grateful to my friend for listening to and acting on a prompting that touched my heart this week. 

Another thing that happened this week is that our neighborhood developer is putting in these large and lovely street trees.

How I miss the trees that used to surround and protect and beautify my home in Lewisburg!  So seeing trees going in by my new home makes me happy.

I was looking up quotes about trees today, and I read this one:  "Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong," --Winston Churchill.

Sometimes, I feel like a "solitary tree" and the quote definitely made me think of this bright, bold, beautiful tree which grows in the middle of my old chapel's parking lot.  Encased in what appears to be an uninviting bed of blacktop, it still grows strong and vibrant--a beacon for us to enjoy each Fall.

The tree and this quote remind me of what it is to be a Latter-day Saint living in Central Pennsylvania--or anywhere in the world where one feels like "the only one".  If "one" grows at all in that location, he or she certainly grows strong.  That has been my experience, and I am again grateful for it.

Happy Fall, everyone!

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So Many Twists and Turns

After my previous post, I was really thinking we were on the upswing of this whole moving process and that things would just continue to get better, and maybe even easier.  So, imagine my surprise when I realized Friday morning that my children had been locked out of our apartment for nearly two hours in 20 degree weather, because I didn't realize it was a 2-hour emergency delay at school!!!  

Nothing was normal that morning. We were completely out of our routine, and by the time I was ready to leave for our 8:30am appointment to walk-through our newly framed house, my husband had already allowed the children to run down to the bus stop.  Somehow, I did not receive the text or voicemail that I normally get from the school district notifying me of a delay, so while we were touring our, albeit cold, soon-to-be new house, my kids were cold and alone trying to seek shelter in a carboard box house that they had worked together to build and insulate with packing paper on our patio!!!

When I realized the mishap, I was horrified...horrified!!  If there was a school delay, then where were my kids???  I rushed home, calling the school on my way. I ran down to our apartment, and, upon seeing their cardboard hut adorned with backpacks and schoolbooks, I smiled for just a moment at their ingenuity.  

But they were no where to be seen, so I started calling their names.  They came out of the storage area where they had gone to get warmer, and they were crying with relief that I had finally come home. I was so sad for them and all of us collectively, and it just brought all the sad/moving feelings up to the surface all over again!

I really felt awful and beat myself up about my failure of my poor babies, but as I've stepped back from it, I've realized that I think the Lord had a purpose in allowing this situation to transpire.  He could have stopped it from happening.  He could have warned me, as he has done so many times in the past, but he didn't, and in the process, the children learned many important things.  

They learned to survive on their own, to work together in a scary situation that they had not considered previously.  They shared their mittens with each other. Scarlett shared her lunch with the other siblings. Guy watched over and kept everyone calm and gathered materials to build the shelters as Autumn read books.  They prayed together twice for help and peace. As a result they learned compassion for others, as they now want to give their money to help homeless people! Scarlett shared in her testimony today that she knows that when we pray God won't just leave us alone, He will comfort us: another hard-earned piece of wisdom. 

I am so grateful that they were all safe and no one got frost-bite.  And I'm sure this was a wake-up call for me also to fill in some holes in our emergency plans which we obviously never updated upon moving (such as giving all of the children keys to our new residence, etc.)

Another thing that helped settle my mind about this situation was an experience that happened the day prior.  

I had spoken with a new friend of mine who was pretty devastated that a house they hoped to buy was probably going to fall through because they discovered too many repairs that the seller didn't want to fix.  I felt compassion for her.  Her growing family is getting too large for their current rental, she is about to give birth, they already told their rental property they were moving, and now the house they wanted isn't going to work out.

As I went home that afternoon, this woman's name kept coming to mind.  Even as I baked (for my own enjoyment) her name kept coming up.  So I texted her, finally, and offered to take her daughter so she could get some things done (or nap~!)  She declined.  

I found myself accidentally putting too much sugar in my recipe so I had to double it.  I suddenly had more than enough Easter bread to share, so as soon as it came out of the oven, my daughters and I raced across town to deliver some bread to her family. The promptings were even so specific that I was to give her more bread than I was planning.

It wasn't a big deal, but we instantly felt a good feeling when we left her house!  

In church, she bore testimony today that she knew the Lord loved her and knew her, because he prompted three women in the ward to reach out to her, even with just a text asking to take her daughter, and that she was so grateful that these women followed those promptings.  I knew what she said was true because I had experienced it.  

The Lord does know her name.  I know this because he whispered it to me over and over again until I got the message.  He wanted me (and others) to go show His love for this woman.  

Because I know He knows her name, I know that he knows mine.  And because I witnessed him making things happen for one of His daughters, I know that he could have easily notified me of my mistake missing the two-hour delay...but he didn't.  And it's ok that he didn't.  It's just one of those things that happens.  Sometimes the Lord saves us from mishaps, sometimes he allows us to experience the hard things, because He knows the end from the beginning.  There are reasons we experience hard things.  It doesn't mean He loves us any less because he allows us to go through hard, even heartbreaking things.  

Quite the opposite.  It means that He loves us more.

PS - Here's a little look at the inside of our new house.  Two of my sisters were so kind to call and make sure that I was ok after my incident with the kids. My younger sister knew I was upset, but she still took the opportunity to laugh at the irony that while my kids were taking shelter in a little carboard box, we were touring our new home.  Well, it was freezing there too because there is no power yet, but still!  Funny!  So, here's a look at our sun room. I'm excited about the view and look forward to moving in mid-May.

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Many Mansions

Today is a happy day.  This morning, we met with our new home builder to have the "groundbreaking" meeting, which officially starts the build of our new home.  What a relief it is to know that we won't be living in an apartment indefinitely.

But today is also tinged with sadness for me, as we just received news that our former home, which we loved so much, has also sold.  Of course, this is good news financially, and a blessing to have it sell so quickly (and over Christmas!), but it's just making me a little teary this afternoon.

Have I ever told you the story about our old house?  It's a good one, and one that is full of proof that God knows who we are and knows the end from the beginning.

When we first moved to Lewisburg Pennsylvania, about 10 years ago, we bought our first home.  And it was wonderful.  But originally, I didn't want to look at it because it didn't have any trees or any landscaping on the property.  Over the five and a half years that we lived there, my husband and I worked tirelessly to landscape and put in trees.  We like to do things ourselves, so we bought the largest trees we could find and stayed up way past dark digging holes and putting them in the ground.  I spent many hours with my three little children running around, through, and to and from greehouses in our area, bringing home all sorts of plants to try and make our yard more private, lush, beautiful, and fun.

Soon, we were pretty happy and proud of (at least the back yard). Although, not every plant took, because of the poor soil, it was becoming quite lovely.

I remember destinctly one day, I went to a playgroup at a local Mom's house. I parked in her cul-de-sac, which was tucked away in a wooded neighborhood that I didn't even know existed.  I remember stepping out of the car and noticing the house next to hers.  It was only partially exposed, because the vegetation around it was so thick, lush, and green.  It was the strangest feeling, as if someone had taken my face with their hands and turned it toward this mysteriously hidden gem-of-a-house.  I stopped completely in my tracks, and thought, "Someday, we'll live in a house like that."  Then, of course, I immediately stopped myself.  "No, you won't.  Why are you even thinking like that??"  We weren't in the market for a home.  This house wasn't for sale. And there were no other properties that I knew of like this one in our town.

I forgot about that moment completely and a few years passed before I ever thought of it again.

Then about four years ago, right after the birth of my 4th child, I found that my husband had been looking for houses online sort of on the down-low. One day, soon after giving birth, he said to me, "I've found the perfect house for us, do you want to see it?"

I looked at him with disbelief.  Why would he be looking at houses? We loved our neighborhood, dearly loved our friends on our street, we'd made memories here, I had just had a baby and was in no condition to pack up and move, and it was almost Christmas for crying out loud.

But I looked...just to humor him.

He turned his laptop toward me, and in about .5 seconds I saw what I had seen that day in the cul-de-sac outside of my friend's house.  

I said, "I know exactly what house that is. I've seen it...It's amazing."

And so the story goes.  I cried when I left my first home, but I was able to move on to the next place that God had waiting for me, because I had had that spiritual impression years earlier.

When we moved in to what my Dad calls "the sacred grove house" it was nearly spring.  What I was able to see when the trees and bushes bloomed was that trees which I had painstakingly planted at our old house were already in my yard (only there were nine of them, instead of one), the soil was rich and every type of beautiful, flowering, evergreen plant you would want was growing there.

There were like 5-10 different things about that house that were absolutely fulfilling things that were on my wishlist...things that only God could have known would make me personally happy.  And the thing was that those "things" were put there 20-30 years before we ever lived there.

I came to respect the fact that God really does know the end from the beginning, and admire the fact that He loves us so much that He orchestrates so many small details in this world to create a place for us to grow to love Him in...whether He is giving us our dreams or asking us to wait for them...or even only letting us experience them for time...He has it all in His scope.

I also came to understand that we are all just stewards of this life and the things in it.  We landscaped our home for another family to enjoy.  Other people came before me and created something beautiful that our family was able to enjoy.

Now we have passed that beautiful property and all of its blessings on to another family to appreciate (and I hope that they do!)  Either way, our turn is up and we've traded the beauty of the woods for what is, for the moment, a three bedroom apartment and a pile of rocks...that will soon be the foundation of another new home in which we will learn and grow together.

It isn't easy to leave the old and familiar behind for the unknown, but having a past to look to gives me more capacity to hope for an eternal future.  I never thought the Lord could create something so particilar to me, something that I would love so much. It was a masterpiece that took years of foresight to make...and yet, because He proved to me He was capable, I leave open the door to trust that He can do it again....and I can open my imagination--just a little bit--to believe that just like he prepared our last house for us, He prepares Mansions in eternity for us to inhabit some day.

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Work and work and wait and see...

Well, we made it to Pittsburgh.  We moved two days before Christmas.  I picked the kids up right after their last day of school.  They bawled.  It was the saddest sound I've ever heard.  It was the sound of their first broken heart.  

Other details about our move.  My baby threw up in the packed car, but, thankfully, didn't make too much of a mess.  We headed back to say good-bye to our house and clean up the baby.  While there, my 4-year-old started throwing up all over the kitchen.  She threw up all the way to Pittsburgh. I stopped 5 times in four hours to empty the barf bowl and clean it out with snow from the side of the road.  But even that wasn't that bad.

There have been many tender mercies, but still it's been really hard. We're living in an apartment until our house is built.  But we've all been sick over Christmas and New Year's, especially my baby who threw up for a week straight, had a cold, and now is battling a fever. And the kids, who are all sharing a room, never want to go to bed nicely.  Not at all.

I know that the Lord is watching out for us though, as he sent many friends to help me move (My husband was already in Pittsburgh. He came a month earlier.).  He has sent other people to befriend us.  In fact, the first night here, I met a woman in Target at like 10:30pm.  I asked her to be my friend because, well, we kept getting in each other's way, and I was feeling like I just needed a friend, and she agreed. (It turned out her son is my son's age and in his "teaching team" at school.)

One night soon after, I found myself making a late-night Walmart run.  I suddenly realized I didn't know a soul (and at Walmart back home, I usually know many of the people working and shopping!)  I felt really lonely, so I said something about it on facebook.  Wouldn't you know, the friend I met in Target invited me out for pie at like midnight.  She dropped everything for me, a stranger, and came out in the cold at midnight to cheer me up.  Super cool, good woman.

I had to stay home from church today to tend my sick baby.  As he slept, something caught my eye.  There were three deer running past our apartment window...something that happened frequently at my old house.  It might not mean much to someone else, but to me it meant something.  

I know the Lord is watching over me.  I know He sees me struggle and feel sad and miss old friends and old ways and the comfort of a home and my things around me.  But I know He knows what's best for me and for my family, and so I keep going.  One day at a time until I learn the lessons He wants me to learn and arrive at the places He wants to lead me through.

It's a little scary.  It's a lot lonely.  It's very draining.  But I trust in Him.

And for now, we work and work and wait and see...what the Lord has waiting for me.

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Holy Hamburger, Batman!

Our family is in a bit of a tight spot here this summer as my husband's job went away semi-suddenly.  He's been with the same company for nearly a decade, and we've been so blessed during that time. Now he's job hunting, but there is a lot of uncertainty about what this will mean for our family in the coming months.  

Needless to say, with a new baby and the job situation, things are stressful for us.

So, our day to serve in the new Philadelphia Temple open house finally came last weekend.  I was signed up to serve Friday night, which meant leaving my husband to fend for, feed and get our five kids settled in our downtown hotel all on his own.  Let me just say that given the conditions of the downtown area where the temple is located, this was a BIG ASK.  

Anyway, my shift was from 5-10pm, and the last time I had eaten was 2pm, so midway though my volunteer time I started to get hungry. 

While I was standing there waiting for another group to come through my thoughts turned to food.  I found myself wishing I could have a hamburger for dinner...and wishing I could tell my husband to pick one up for me before he came to pick me up (which would be well after 10pm that night.) 

I couldn't text my husband though, because our cell phones and purses were being kept in the meeting house next door.  So, without thinking about the impropriety of my request, I said a prayer in my head, "Heavenly Father, please ask Steve to pick up a hamburger for me before he picks me up from my shift tonight."

I caught myself and thought...um, that seems like an inappropriate request to ask God for a hamburger!  What am I thinking?  But I had already thought the prayer!  So, again in my head, I tried to soften the request with, "A salad would be ok too...but a Burger would really hit the spot."  Man, I thought, God must think I have some nerve!

When my husband picked me up, he told me how difficult it was with all the children and the circumstances at the hotel...then trying to secure dinner for them all.

I asked, "You didn't happen to pick up any food for me, did you?"

Of course, his answer was yes.

It wasn't until we made it to the hotel that I discovered he had indeed bought me a hamburger!!!  (Which is not at all a usual request for me!)

He said he was all set to pick up Panera for the kids.  He had even taken their orders.  But when he walked downstairs to get dinner, he walked by a burger joint and he suddenly thought, "Hmmmm, a burger sounds good."  He scrapped his plans and bought hamburgers for dinner instead.

I don't know why the Lord saw fit to get me a burger that evening.  I am well-aware that the most powerful-being in the Universe does not need, nor should be expected to fulfill such a silly request...and yet He did and He does....all. the. time.  Because He can.  And because He loves us.

Because of the physical demands and changes of having a baby and the stress of not having a job, I have felt spiritually distant lately.  But through this experience, I felt the Lord reaching out to me, pulling me back in, and showing me, once again, that there is nothing He can't do...no request too great or too small...and that if I will just lean on Him a little more, He can help me with anything.

The temple is beautiful.  Life is beautiful...and strange sometimes.

And that burger was DELICIOUS!

(Burger Fi brands their name on their burgers as you can see.  We had never even heard of Burger Fi, but even re-heated, this burger was smashingly good.  So for our ward Linger Longer this week, Steve made his own branded Temple burgers!)

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The Great Effect of The Family Proclamation in My Life by Tyler Hill

The teachings of the Proclamation of the Family has blessed my life immensely from the day I was born. I was born to a single mother who was in her teen years. Her boyfriend at the time was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and he wanted to help raise me and care for me. My mother knew that his intentions were good, but she knew that I would not have been brought up in a stable environment. My mother was a member of the Gospel her entire life and she knew and understood the importance of family. She wanted what was best for me, and she knew that she couldn't provide that for me. The Proclamation to the Family states "Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity." My mother could not provide me with that type of a situation. She acted selflessly as she made the decision to give me up for adoption, so that I could have the opportunity to be raised in this Gospel. She performed this act out of love for me, and I am able to feel that love from her in my life.

I was adopted into a loving family with the best parents anyone could ask for. My parents were unable to have children so they decided to adopt. I was the 4th, and last, child that was adopted. A few years after I was adopted a miracle happened, my parents were able to conceive a child. They went on to add 2 more children to the family. My parents, as well as 3 of my siblings, are Caucasian while 2 of my other siblings are Korean, and I am Tongan. 

Growing up in a diverse family, I never felt like I was different even though half of us looked nothing alike. My parents showed love to all of us and they exemplified the Family Proclamation when it states "Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another.." My parents, especially my mother, always loved me regardless of the choices I was making.

As I grew older, I started falling away from the church. I came home dishonorably from my mission after serving one year. For 5 years I struggled with the church and my testimony deteriorated. Even though I was losing my testimony, I never forgot about the importance of family that I was taught while growing up. I misused my agency countless times during those 5 years and I know that my choices disappointed, saddened, and even hurt my mother as well as other family members. My mother never came out and told me but I could tell. I could also feel the love that she had for me even while I was doing wrong and it didn't make sense to me. I mean how could my mother love me when I was making her experience negative feelings? I will never fully understand the love that my mother has for me, but I do know that it is near to the love that my Heavenly Father has for me.

Because of the love that my mother and the rest of my family showed me, I was able to come back into full activity in the church. A miracle happened and I was able to go back out and finish my mission 5 years later. 

I know the importance of family, because I have experienced the importance of my family in my life. 

My family has been crucial to who I am and who I will continually become. I know The Family: a Proclamation to the World has never been more relevant or needed than in this present dispensation.  

My family is the most important unit that I will be apart of in my life. My family is far from perfect, but as long as we do our best to follow the teachings of "The Proclamation to the Family" we will be able to overcome the trials that come our way. 

I received a letter from my biological mother not long ago, she wrote it for me while she was pregnant with me. I read it for the first time about 5 months ago and I want to share a quick excerpt from it. My biological mother was going through a difficult and scary time in her life and in her own words she wrote, "I can truly say that the only thing that has kept me going is the church and my family. I hope you understand how important both are." 

My mother didn't want me to be adopted by rich parents, or a family that was esteemed in the eyes of the world. My mother wanted me to be raised in a family were I would be taught the gospel. I am grateful that my biological mother loved me enough to give me a chance to experience what a family is all about. 

For me family is about loving the people that God has put in my life regardless of how crazy they might be. I'm excited to live out the rest of mortality with the people that I love most, and I'm looking forward to spending eternity with them. I love my family, and I love this gospel.

My name is Tyler Hill and I'm 27 years old. I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I'm number 4 out of 6 children, and I'm an uncle to 3 nieces and 4 nephews. I will be attending BYU Hawaii this January and will be studying secondary education. I love my family. If you enjoyed this post, thank Tyler, and feel free to share it on Facebook! Be sure to check out the other host blogs today for more wonderful posts and testimonies about family. You can also share your love of family by sharing photos online this month under the hashtag #ILovetheFamilyProclamation. Here are links to the other blogs: CranialHiccups and A Thing Called Love

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