Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I invented... Peanut Butter Crunch Balls!

Ooh they were so good that they didn't last long.
Bought Cap'n Crunch cereal because it was on a good sale and I wanted to taste it. I didn't like it for cereal. Way too sweet and weird texture left in the milk. So I threw them in the peanut butter rice krispie treats recipe.

Melt a bag of marshmallows with a 1/2 cube of butter.
Stir in 1/2 cup peanut butter after the above is melted.
Add 6 cups cap'n crunch.
Spread in buttered pan.
Then mold it into small balls (Gracie size) and set on wax paper.
Drizzle melted chocolate on top to make it pretty.
And poof they will be gone before you know it.

I got rave reviews. And the extra marshmallows had to go for a dive too. They were soo good. The balls that got it all on were a little too rich so stick with a good drizzle. Let me know if you try them!

I have never struggled this much with preparing a talk!

I ended up going to bed at 5:30 AM after finally getting some inspiration that felt good enough to plan an outline around. Thanks to Heavenly Father and me really struggling. I guess my delivery wasn't too bad despite being tired because people still said they really liked my talk.

I really struggled with how to take doing Family Home Evening, Family Prayer, and Family Scripture Study to the next level, and not just doing it because you are supposed to.

Everything I planned to start with and every direction I went, felt like I was forcing it, and not really what I was supposed to say. And apparently, I can't live without feeling good about it. Not that I am surprised.

Luke can whip out a talk in a couple of hours after just sitting down. Me-- I was pondering it all week and did hours of research one day. And then Saturday night sat down at the same time as Luke to write at 9:30 PM. Luke went to bed, after trying to wait for me, at 12:30 am.

All in all, things went well considering getting back up at 7:30 am (2 hours of sleep and 8 months pregnant) to get ready for church and put a roast and potatoes in for my in-laws coming for the talk and lunch. Gave the talk at 9 AM Sacrament meeting. And didn't fall asleep through the rest of church.

This is the summation of my talk :
  • I should be studied to prove that pregnancy does suck your brain out because I couldn't prepare my talk like normal. All pregnant women would agree with me.
  • What are your greatest assets???... Your children- Pres. Hinckley. (Huh--Never thought of them that way!)
  • "You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question fohow yoru children have turned out. It will not be the money you have made. It will not be the cars you have owned. It will not be the large house in which you live. The searing question that will cross your mind again and again will be, How well have my children done?" -President Hinckley
  • Sister Beck said in Stake Conference last week: "You are doing better than you think you are. But you can do better than you are!" How do we do better at FHE, FSS, FP? Do it to:
  1. To show our love for our Heavenly Father
  2. To show our love for our children.
  3. To internalize the gospel in our children.
  • A study by BYU found that the biggest predictor of LDS youth not going astray was internalization of the gospel. Church attendance and social integration in the ward and youth made a difference too, but the biggest was Private Religious Behavior which includes:
  1. A solid belief in God
  2. Personal prayer and scripture study
  3. Personal spiritual experiences
Interesting to note that they found it made no difference where you lived from Highest Religiosity Environment (Utah County) to middle Religiosity (East Coast) to lowest Religiosity (Northwest Pacific States). There is no "Spiritual Shangri La." Zion is the pure in heart not a place.
  • FHE, FSS, FP are taken to the next level when we:
  1. Show our children by example how the gospel is the core of our lives.
  2. Help our children see how gospel principles are used in their daily lives. Use them to "LIKEN ALL SCRIPTURES" to our children and ask questions that will help them find their own answers and applications. Elder Bednar- last conference, talk about scriptures, bear spontaneous testimony more often, encourage them to act.
  3. Encourage them to know truth for themselves.
  4. Provide opportunities for spiritual experiences (trips to the temple, family service projects, family testimony mtgs, fathers blessings, baptisms, etc)
Add a few things: counsel with spouses to be united, use Family Proclamation as our guide, personal earnest and sincere prayer, Holy Ghost to inspire us and keep our focus on things that matter. And the most crucial time is before a child is 8. Elder Eyring said that Satan's use of the mists of darkness to hide the path to return home is blocked until they turn 8 and then he is free to tempt them. 0-8 are called the protected years. That is why the earlier the better. No age is too young.

It's going to take hard work and sacrifice because there are alot of times it is hard to do or it feels pointless. But we have to have faith and wait for those perfect moments when our children show us that it is working and we gain our reward.

Gracie's Overheard Prayer

It is up to us. We have this most Sacred Responsibility to forge the shield of faith at home--Pres. Packer's quote.
Elisha's story and remember we have the same assurance and courage as him, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them."

Saturday, September 18, 2010

First Overheard Prayer

Gracie came and got in bed with me. Of course I had to go to the bathroom. While I was on my way there, Gracie grabbed Luke's journal from his nightstand, I guess to do some light reading.
While I was in the other room, this is what I hear.

"Heavenly Father,
Thank you forrrr...
little guy,
Thank you forrrr...
little books,
(meaning dad's journal which she was reading)
Thank you forrrr...
water,
Thank you forrr...
Alice, (Alice the camel has 3 humps is one of her fav songs right now)
Thank you forrr...
Mom and Dad, (she put us together for the first time,sweet and a higher language skill
Jesus (closing the prayer)
Allelu-u-jah Ba-a-by!" (went into singing allelujah from "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" to her baby)

I LOVE IT!! (I have exactly what she said because I wrote it on the toilet paper next to me. What? It's all I had!)

So this is our perfect moment and lasting reward for fighting her at mealtimes to say a prayer when all she wants to do is eat and it would be easier just to let her and not make her say a prayer with us. And for all the times my pregnant body doesn't want to go upstairs and/or stop what I am doing to say good night prayers with her and dad. She is even pulling the teenager thing and not wanting to say prayers or always chooses one of us to do it.
We have to give talks on Sunday about "Raising a Righteous Family." This is definitely going in there because it is these perfect moments that make doing the right things like FHE, Family Scriptures, and Family Prayer, the sacrifice and work it takes all worth it.
Now I have just got to figure out how to take doing those 3 things (the seminary, rattled off answers for raising a righteous family) to the next level. Not just doing it because you are supposed to. How do you do it at the next level? Got a couple of hours to figure it out, before I sleep and give the talk! I will post some of the things I have learned on here after tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

How old are you Gracie? "I'm TWO!"

This is me saying, "I'm...
...TWO!" I am still trying to get the fingers right.These are my two pigtails... and I love my rocking chair!This is my big "cupcake"/birthday cake that mom made for me. She frosted and decorated it in a big hurry so it is not her best work. But I loved my "cupcake."

Aunt Nancy and Uncle BJ and Baby Star came for the weekend too. Nancy helped mom decorate these mini cupcakes. They were just "little" for me. Nancy invented the Bumblebees and Mom made up the Ladybugs. They tried hard on the Butterflies. :) The 39 Heart cupcake was for Grammy and Papa cause they share their Anniversary with me. Can you believe 39 years?I loved loved loved opening presents...I kept saying, "More Presents!" (Look at my dad's face! I love birthdays almost as much as him.)I had to stand up to open this present.It was hard to say "Please and Thank you" because I was so excited. Like the sticker on my head and the puzzle Grandma gave me?I like my "Kitty Jammies..."
Here's me blowing out my "cupcake..."
After the BBQ that papa cooked, presents, and cake, I was really tired. So I went to my usual, best spot in Grammy's house... laying on top of Grammy on the couch with the pillow place just right on her chest. See. Sometimes I even put my arms up behind my head and really relax. More cartoons Grammy, please. No one else gets this spot but me.
Here's me back at home a few days after being two.
I like my back pack... thanks Nancy and BJ.And I like being TWO!Then the next weekend we got to party again with Aunt Hailey, Uncle Todd, Cousin Sofia, and Cousin Roman. We tried to go fishing but didn't catch anything.That is okay. It wasn't all a bust. I touched worms and I got to hang out with Sofia.
I love being TWO!!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome and Gracie's 2nd Wreck

Gracie is showing signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome and it makes us so sad:

-freaks out about the littlest noises, unknown noises especially in our town home where you hear others around you

-cries and has to be held whenever a car horn, or locking beeps sound on cars around us

-thinks everything is going to hurt you (says "____ hurt you")

-won't go down the stairs without us holding her

-won't be in a room without us there

-very aware of police, fire-trucks, and cars in general

We took her to the doctor because the insurance said it would be a good idea if she had any problems in the future. So I took her even though I know it will just take time for her to recover. She said it was Post-Traumatic Stress syndrome and to point out to her all the times we ride in the car and are safe, we wear our seat belts and we are safe, and we are safe even when we hear noises around us. As we were leaving, I thanked the Dr. and said goodbye and Gracie said, "Goodbye Sweetheart!" and did her little girly hip walk out the door. She will be okay.

And then another accident happened...

Last week in her little toy car. It scared me and, I am sure, her to death.

A neighborhood girl, around age 4-5, asked if she could ride in Gracie's car. We said yes and then Gracie pushed her in the car. I was sitting on the bench at this park working on our Home-Speech-Home business on the laptop, so not paying the best attention, and I looked up to see the girl pushing Gracie in the car around the sidewalk loop on the park. They were doing fine.

Next thing I know, I hear Gracie crying and look up to see the girl standing on the edge of the grassy rock cliff and looking down, but Gracie and the car were not there. I ran over to the edge where the girl was standing and looked down to see Gracie's car tipped over on it's side at the bottom of the rocks.
As I was getting Gracie, I was saying "Oh my Gosh! Oh my Gosh!" in utter shock. It made me feel better when I was holding Gracie and she said, "Oh my Gosh!" too. Just like me.

Then I pointlessly got mad and questioned the girl:
"Why in the world would you do that?"
"Did you do that on purpose?"
"Why didn't you turn?"
"She's only 2 and you can't push her that fast."
"Do you want us to do that to you?"
"She could have gotten hurt really bad."

The girl didn't realize how bad it could have been, of course, and just said, "I didn't see the rocks." And looked at me blankly. Then she ran off.

Oooh! I could have... I don't know what I could have done to the girl, but I wanted her to have some consequence for doing that, especially with Gracie in the fragile, stressed state she is in already.

This picture is of her bringing her car back right after it happened, still upset. And the other pictures are of the park loop and rock cliff when I took Luke back to show him a couple hours later. This is the cliff from the bottom and top! Aaaah!
I am just so grateful she didn't get hurt. And that she stayed inside the tight little car as she tumbled down the rocks. She could have landed on her arms or legs or got her face scraped up but she didn't.
She was actually a lot better after this accident than our first one. Although I think it could have been just as scary. Definitely not comparable in impact, noise, speed, or smell though.

I think I am suffering from PTSD too and everytime Gracie gets hurt I am going to remember all of these feelings and stress from these accidents.I hope we can get me a car soon and settle the medical part after this baby is born and then we can leave this wreck all behind us. I will miss our 4-runner though.
Any suggestions for helping Gracie or what kind of car to get?