By His Grace I Can.

With the worldwide pandemic in swing, I have really struggled with whether or not I'm going to send my kids back to school.   Sometimes when things feel especially overwhelming, my reflex is to pretend them away ,  or perpetually procrastinate  and postpone the decision.   But you can only put things off for so long. A few weeks ago I finally prayed,  "Heavenly Father, you know that I'm afraid of this, you know I don't want to think about it, please just help me to have an open mind and a soft heart so I can know what would be best." One quiet little thought came... Consider each child and their unique situation.   I let that thought simmer for awhile, but my prayer continued, as did my pondering.   I thought of the hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light". "Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene--one step enough for me." Previously, it felt as if I had a been given one small step,  but again was in darkness. ...

When we first moved in, the side yard was primarily sandy clay with a few scattered weeds and patches of tall grass.  I had a vision of creating a quaint rock path surrounded by wild flowers. We got to work putting the flagstone pieces down then prepped the soil for sowing the seeds.  Since April, every morning and evening I've watered the hillside.  Because I have very little experience with gardening and even less with wild flowers, I decided to let any green thing grow. About two months later I asked Gretchen, my green-thumbed friend & gardening guru (say that five times fast), to come take a look and help me figure out what was growing.  With ease she identified the different flowers and weeds.  After she left I took my bucket and pulled up most weeds, but left a few varieties because I thought they were harmless and pretty and were helping to keep the soil from eroding. Last week she was over again helping me in my yard.  She glanced at the...

I haven't posted in awhile because life has been filled with projects, Amazon prime, food, family and the holidays but especially all things baby-- Our little man came the day before Thanksgiving! He was due on 24 November, but with frequent contractions all month I was sure that he would come early.  Every time I thought the contractions would increase in intensity and frequency and that we'd be heading to the hospital, I started to worry about who would be there to help us out during his birth.  For most of the month the majority of my family was out of the country.  In my head, I kept running through "what ifs" and scenarios, trying to figure out "the best" timing.  Finally one day while reading the Book of Mormon, I felt prompted to let it go and trust in God's timing.  It was pressed upon my mind that He had long decided when our baby's birthday would be.  He had already arranged who would be there to support me and He would take care of ev...