By His Grace I Can.

I don't know about you, but I tend to cringe when I hear this phrase.  "She's a good mom" makes me think that there must be one set of criteria that determines what makes a mother a good one.   In reality, God created each of us  distinctly for  unique missions .   How can a bird fulfill the measure of its creation if it's trying to be like a rhinoceros?  Wouldn't an ant's amazing strength go untapped if it was expending all of its energy trying to look like a butterfly?   How will my family rise to our greatest if I am trying to get them to be like someone else's family?   How will each of my children reach their greatest potential if I am trying to mold them in to a stereotypical box? And won't I do better as a mom if I feel like I'm a good mother instead of comparing and doubting and wondering, and put my intent and energy in to the family I've got with the strengths that I've been given? What I'd love to hear is, "she's...

Several hours after I gave birth to our most recent child, I was finally getting out of the hospital bed to get cleaned up.  It had been a rather traumatic birth and I had needed that time to hold my new son and let my body rest. I lifted off the hospital blanket and slowly eased my way to the edge of the bed.  I felt like a deflated balloon with no strength, stiff and sore, my tummy covered with stretch marks, both old and new.  The very first thoughts that came were of shame, weakness and ugliness. BUT I quickly countered them with my own-- how proud I was of my body, nine long months of discomfort and pain, all that it had endured to bring this baby in to the world.  What a miracle and blessing. Yesterday morning while sitting in bed nursing my baby, I caught a glimpse of myself from across the room in our bedroom mirror.  My messy bun had reached a new level of messiness, my two-day old mascara was amplifying the bags under my eyes and my shirt h...

While we were in Europe for five weeks, our sprinkler system was out of commission. Needless to say that with the dry southern Utah Summer, we came home to a very pitiful & practically dead lawn.  For various reasons we decided that we'd re sod next year but got the sprinklers up and running and continued to water the dry scraggly patches.   Several months later, for those who didn't know the story and looked from afar, it would seem like we again have green & thriving grass! But with a closer look you'd quickly realize that it's 20% crab grass, 10% dirt patches and 70% weeds! Recently mowed, but a patch of weeds nonetheless! I wonder how often we glance at each other's lives and quickly ascertain that everything is taken care of and going smoothly. What if we knew the story? What if we took a closer look? I bet we'd actually come to understand the underlying stresses, unseen problems, and unruly areas that cause concern. And also re...

Last Fall when I felt like my life was a mess and didn't know where to start making changes, I attended a Stake Conference at church and came away with 2 distinct promptings: Wake up at 6AM and go on a morning walk. It may sound simple, but I was used to rolling out of bed when my kids needed me in the morning and rarely made exercise a priority.  Over the next 7 months I kept to those two priorities as best as I could.  (Little did I know then that it would help pave the way for other important changes along the way, one of the biggest being the use of a Momentum Tracker starting in November.)  As the temperatures dropped and the Fall turned in to Winter I stayed the course.  Other than icy roads or pouring rain, you'd see me out bundled up in layers walking each morning before the sun came up.  It was empowering and satisfying to take better charge of my health. March came around and so did morning sickness.  As much as I wanted to co...

Father's Day in Paris, France. Earlier in the year an opportunity arose for my husband to teach a 4 week college course in Austria this Summer. I know it probably sounds crazy, but when my husband first suggested that we take our whole family to Europe, I didn't want to do it.  It sounded like a ton of work with reason after reason to be anxious.  The thought of getting us all ready for a 5 week international adventure was daunting alone, without figuring in my fatigue and morning sickness of first trimester.  However, I've come to learn that when my husband feels prompted by God, it's a wise thing to listen and receive my own spiritual confirmation. As I pondered and prayed and opened my heart, an unusual and unfamiliar calmness settled upon me.  I knew that God wanted us to take our whole family on this "mission" and that it would be a great blessing for us.  I knew that God had prompted us to have this baby at THIS time, that He'd also ...

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009 Measuring up. So at Brie's 9 month checkup our PA was going through the list of developmental milestones and asked if she had started clapping and waving. It caught me off guard because Brie has always been "on track" with her previous checkups, but I really couldn't recall ever seeing her doing either. He didn't seem worried and just moved on to the next questions. But what do you think we've been working on ever since? :0) This week she has started to clap and to wave...I'll admit I was a bit relieved to see that she had reached those milestones, but more than that it's SO cute! Isn't it funny how such little things can seem so victorious and exciting? I have to admit that it's so hard for me not to compare Brie with other kids...look he's taller...Brie's so much smaller...he's walking...she's only crawling, etc. The last time we went in for a checkup I was asking how Brie COMPARED. Our PA ass...