By His Grace I Can.

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 ...

I wanted to share one of the reasons that I haven't posted in several months. September 2016, at 10 weeks pregnant, our fifth baby earned its wings. It was a really painful and poignant time for our family, yet through it we saw how God brings sweetness to bitter experiences.   At the time I decided to share some of my thoughts from that day in the hospital-- Well, a little over a year and a half later we are expecting again!  We are overjoyed and feel incredibly grateful.  As I write that, it dawns on me that this little one is due right around Thanksgiving and what appropriate timing.  We are indeed SO very thankful. In part I wanted to share this news here because my mental health has been part of the journey.  We wanted to try sooner for a baby but I felt strongly that I needed to take some time for myself to get my health in better order, especially my mental health.  How far the Lord has brought me this last year!!  I fe...

(See Introduction video here) On my journey for greater overall health, my sister introduced me to Lauren Daigle.  Have you heard her music before??  I fell in LOVE with it, bought her CD and have been listening to it on repeat for almost 2 months!  Her voice is beautiful, her lyrics are so inspired and uplifting and her music is energizing.  I've been buying copies and sharing them with close family and friends (in fact in my intro video I'm holding up a print out of her album because I recently gave my copy away too.) AND decided I want to share the love with one of YOU & one of your friends. SO, the Giveaway WINNER will get 2 copies of the album mailed directly to their house. TEN Ways to Enter the Giveaway: (You can enter as many times as is specified below BUT only comments listed below on this post will be counted) 1) Watch my intro video (linked above) and comment below on what brought you here to the By His Grace I Can Blog B...

TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2013 Letting Go a  Little. I feel like the Lord is tutoring me lately.  It's amazing how the Spirit can soften my heart and help me to change like no one else.  For as long as I can remember I've clung to structure and my way of doing things.  For the last several years I've worked so hard to become more of a scheduled, disciplined, organized person.  I love having my weekly menus planned out, staying within a budget, trying to keep my house in order.  Although these are all important things, I'm starting to realize that they are not the end goal...they are the means to a much larger goal. This week we were fortunate to have cousins over to play.  Their van wasn't starting and a morning play date was running into nap time.  I was trying to be flexible, but I kept thinking that the girls might wake up my sleeping boys...then what?  How would I get dinner fixed?  As these thoughts were running through my head the...

TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2011 Yo-yo. Maybe it's just me, but I sometimes feel like such a yo-yo as a mom...especially with Brie lately. One moment we're laughing and having fun and the next I'm getting after her for doing something and it's time for another time out. The last little while has been especially challenging. It's one of those transitional times in my life (adjusting to life with 2 kids w/o help from family, a new calling, potty-training toddler who is currently the pro of talking back, Bry gearing up for Fall semester) and I'm trying to keep it all together, but today I put Brie down for a premature nap, sat down and cried while I ate lunch. I feel like it's so hard to juggle all the different roles. Some days I feel like I rock at being a house wife but belly flop in the mother department. Other days I feel like an awesome Mom but have still not showered (how many days has it been?) or picked up the house when Bry gets home at 5:30. Or it's...

About 3 years ago I gave this talk in Sacrament Meeting at church.  I loved studying the virtue of meekness (I honestly had never really understood it) and humility.  I feel like both tie in so closely with our journeys of emotional, spiritual and mental health.  Much of it has to do with expectations.  In this video I share a few experiences I had recently, one of which it came down to choosing Pride, Embarrassment and Humiliation or Peace, Edification and Humility. Wherever you are in YOUR journey, I want to applaud you and cheer you on! Keep going, you're doing better than you know!   Hold on to the angels in your life and any spark of good that you can see around you.  Find the source of your true strength and strive to stay connected.  Things will get better, especially when God is a part of the equation.  He loves you dearly and is there to help.  Call out to Him! SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2015 Learning Humility S...

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2010 Feelings vs. Emotion. Did you know there was a difference? I was recently reading in "Living a Covenant Marriage: Practical Advice from Thirteen Experts Who've Walked in Your Shoes." (Edited by Douglas E. Brinley and Daniel K. Judd).  One of the chapter discusses the difference between feelings and emotions. It gave me a lot to think about. I haven't ever been the best at handling stressful and frustrating situations. In such situations I sometimes feel like I've checked out emotionally...like I don't know how to handle it so I put it on autopilot and react the same way every time...grumpy, frustrated, snappy and impatient. I know some of you know what I'm talking about :0) In any case, after having read this I'm excited to get in better touch with how I'm truly feeling and then to learn how to react in a more positive way. If any of you can relate to this, here are a few quotes from the chapter... FEELINGS ...

MONDAY, JULY 8, 2013 The Weight of Every Day. As I've mentioned things have been overwhelming lately and I often find myself losing my temper and frustrated with myself and the kids.  Bry has been trying to help out whenever he can to lighten my load...which currently feels like an emotional load more than anything.  It's not just the responsibility of taking care of three small children, those darn hormones are at play too!! ;0)  In any case, yesterday morning I woke up to Bry standing next to our bed with breakfast for me.  I sat up, put on my glasses and looked at the time... 8:48!  I'd been up with the kids around 6:30--just long enough for Brie to go to the bathroom and to usher them both back into their room to play til 7:05--then I'd gone back to bed.  In the meantime Bry had played with the kids and fed them breakfast so that I could sleep.  That dear man!  As I ate I could hear sweet Elijah contently sucking on his thumb.  What...

SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2010 Humble pie. I feel like--even though there are areas of my life that still need a lot of work and attention--that the Lord is with me and that He is helping to change my heart. The last little while I feel as if I've been in a "workshop" on humility. What a powerful and important lesson to learn. I honestly think that most of my life I have believed that being right trumped all and that admitting my weakness or fault or error would be way too humiliating and was not worth it! BUT it's SO wrong. It is a carefully-crafted lie of the adversary to keep us in his control and to keep us from progression and peace. In any case, I have had a few "labs" the last few weeks where I've been faced with the choice to be humble or to be rigid and right. Even though I was SO afraid of the pain and humiliation of admitting that I was wrong...Each time I chose humility things were resolved so quickly, my heart was light and the pain was taken ...