Is It Naptime Yet

Yesterday was the big day. Lilah went to Primary. She is now a Sunbeam. (Sunbeam is the old name for the three year old class in primary) (For those who don’t know what primary is. It’s class time for children ages 3-11. It includes Sunday school lessons in a small class setting of children of the same age and then time as a group with the other kids to learn about different church and Christ centered topics and they sing songs.) I had a lesson to teach so right after sacrament I took Lilah to the bathroom while Jon got chalk for me. Then we met at the primary room. Lilah gave her daddy a big hug and I brought her into meet her teacher and sit her down. She did great. No worries or tears. One child had their mom there through the large group part because of being nervous. The mom later told me she saw Lilah trying to sing “Follow the prophet” with all the other kids. She knows the chorus but the verses we’re just learning. I had to teach Gospel Doctrine, which starts at the same time, so I only had time to drop her off and then get to class to set up.
Jon had Eden in nursery for the first time yesterday also. She doesn’t officially turn 18 months until the end of January but we figured we could get her use to it. She did just fine and only cried when she fell and hit her head. It was just funny to me. Here we were worrying about our kids when ours were just fine and the other kids were the ones crying or were nervous. (Their was a little girl in nursery who cried every time anyone came in or out. This was especially hard because Jon was checking in on Eden a lot to make sure she was okay and to let her know that we would come back for her.) Lilah got anxiety about a month after being in nursery, so we’ll see if that happens to Eden. Eden is not as shy as Lilah was, but she is becoming more aware of strangers and people invading her space.
After Gospel doctrine (We have a three hour block, Sacrament, Sunday school and then the men and women separate for a class.), I was walking through the hall to go check on Eden and each Primary leader that I saw, about three,  told me that Lilah was doing great. I must have had some worried look on my face. When I was picking Lilah up Sis. Ririe, one of the primary presidency members, said that Lilah acted like a pro. She sang with the songs and participated in the lesson and sat reverently when asked. I was happy that she transitioned so well, but part of me wouldn’t mind having to sit with her in Primary.
Since we’ve talked about primary and dance a lot Lilah got upset after church when we were going home. As we were leaving she yelled to us “We forgot to go to dance!”. So we explained that dance wasn’t for a couple more days. They grow so fast.

So my kids are pros. I hope they both continue to adapt this well to the changes in life.

One last funny note. Those who have seen my kids eat know they stuff a lot of food in their mouth. Jon said at snack time Eden was done long before the other kids because she stuffed all the animal and gold fish crackers in her mouth that she could. I think if they had pie eating contest for little kids mine could kick butt.

So times are a little stressed right now, but to tell the truth not nearly as bad as I expected. ( I have two weeks of school left, one week of classes and one week of finals. Jon also has a term paper to do.) I’m studying so I can get straight A’s this semester. Their I’ve said it so now I have to. (I may have said it before but it was a long time ago so I don’t remember.) It is very doable. I have an 89 in my Journalism class. So I just have to get an A on my test which is Friday the 8th. I believe I can if I get most of the study questions done from the test bank. Just watch, the ones I don’t find will be the ones I get on the test and I’ll fail!! No, I guess I’m just slightly worried about that though. I feel that I’m also just hanging on for my stats class. I have a 92 or so in the class. I have one more assignment worth five points and the exam. I’m hoping that if I study I’ll be prepared enough and will get an A though this is the hardest exam, so I’m slightly worried because I have had a hard time with half the material. My other two classes I’m not worried about at all. When I told my MIL about my plans of getting straight A’s she said that even if I get a B I’ve done well since I have two kids and was going to school full time. I suppose people say that I’ve done well even if I do just average because I’m going to school while taking care of two children. I have a hard job taking care of two kids and going to school full time, but I don’t want them to be my excuse if I don’t do as well as I planned. People ask how I go to school and take care of the girls. Really it’s not that hard unless I have a hard class, in which it would be hard with or without kids. I have neglected things in my life while I go to school, so that’s another way I do it.

My goals for after school are such (because these are things that I’ve neglected while in school or some my whole life):

1. Read the scriptures daily. This goal is now mandatory. I’m at a crossroad where I need to know if I have absolute faith and knowledge in my religion. I’ve been raised LDS and around LDS people my whole life. I think I know the church is true, but I am not positive. I’ve made wrong choices and repented, but I have some decisions coming up in which my absolute faith/ knowledge in the church is necessary. In ways, I have just gone by others and their faith. I’ve made it by through my hope and others surety, but I have doubts and now is the time to resolve them. As life progresses I will expand on the importance of this, but as of now just know that I need your support to help me through this test.

2. Make my house a home. I’ve had hard times because I feel crowded and unhappy in our situation. I wish we had a bigger place, but we do not so my goal is to make it my own. I’ve space bagged a few things and they helped and I believe will help a lot in our situation of baby clothes once I do the rest. I hope to organize my home and decorate it. I have two sets of drapes to do and I want to paint. I want to get ride of boxes and hang pictures. I think I’ll be able to do this if I don’t sit around too much.

3. Be more involved with others around me and my girls. I need to have a twice a month date with my girls and a local park or the library. I need to make friends and go out with other women around me and in general get out of the house. We’ve decided to wait on our next child until things are figured out so maybe by the summer we will have a second car, since we won’t be buying a van and hopefully the car we buy will be less expensive than the van I wanted.

Really those are the area’s of my life I need to work on. I hope I can keep busy after school so I don’t become unhappy as I have other times when I’m not in school. I’m really quite lazy so I hope if I can work hard for a couple of months on the home then I can be lazy once it’s done and it would be a less guilt laziness. 🙂

Jon thinks we may be on the down hill of Lilah’s temper tantrums. We’ll see as the week goes on. She still seems to cry when she gets upset  about Eden taking something rather then using words. She cries for a shorter periods, sometimes, when she’s trying to get something. I suppose I’m seeing a glimpse into the teenage years….crying and outbreaks for apparently no reason.  It’s just frustrating because I feel like she’s trying to manipulate the situation by crying….but then again Eden cries when she gets upset so she may just be mimicking her sister.  It’s just frustrating. I’m hoping they’re getting better.
Lilah also can’t wait for Halloween. My goodness. She wants nothing more to be an Incredible. I told her Anna was making the costume and she went on about Anna and how she’s sewing at her house. Then she wanted Anna to bring the costume over so she could have it. I will be happy once Halloween is over. It’s fun to see her get so excited but it wears thin on a mothers nerve. I think I’ll do something with the calendar. Put some scary sticker or face on Halloween and each day we cross off the days until it’s time, or put a sticker on. Just so it’s not quit as abstract as us telling her it’s a couple of weeks away, or it’s just not time yet. Eden’s going to be a purple Ladybug..essentially what Lilah was two Halloween’s ago. She’ll be our Eden bug.

I was able to give a good Relief Society lesson today. It’s was on Choosing Life or Death. Since most don’t have immediate thoughts or experiences I was able to get through all my quotes and each point that I wanted to make. Plus the women didn’t go off on any tangents. It’s frustrating when you want to interrupt someone or move on, but it’s hard to interrupt or ignore those who want to participate.

School is going well. I’m enjoying the easier classes, and working hard in the difficult ones. I was able to get an A on my first test for my Sex offenders class. Of course he went through each question in a round about way so I was able to focus on those things that I knew were on the test. The next test may be a little more difficult, but he does give us study sheets. It really is a perfect class for me. I love the challenge of learning the terms and understanding the deviant behaviors. I love that’s it’s suppose to be slightly difficult, but it’s interesting enough that it makes it worth it. The professor is also an interesting guy. He talks mostly in a monotone, but I like that he’s laid back but clearly states his expectations. Because of things in my past sex offending is interesting to me, it’s also such a prevalent thing that I feel that I’m also learning ways to protect my children and notice behaviors that sex offenders have, so I can be extra careful.

We had General Conference this weekend. This was probably the first weekend that Lilah was very irreverent… the other ones weren’t bad, this one it seemed the only time I could be truly attentive was while Jon and  Lilah ate their hot dogs outside, and had the radio on to listen. They we’re only out there for the first half hour for the Sunday afternoon session though. Lilah finally got use to the idea of General Conference Sunday afternoon, the last session. She was attentive during songs during each session, and we tried to sing them. She just was, well a three year old during the talks and especially Saturday morning when she realized we couldn’t watch the Incredibles. I wanted to keep her in the living room…playing quietly or looking at books. She wanted to play the computer, which was off limits.  I offered a Friend at one point only to have her say no and try to put it back on the shelf. I put it away to have her throw a tantrum…I waited until she asked for it politely…then she again tried to put it away…I asked for it and she ran so I got it and put it away….she was crying and annoying me…once she calmed down she asked for it once more. I gave it to her and she was calm….It was fun. Eden was mostly okay…she just got upset when Lilah moved in on her cubby hole…an empty self space in the entertainment center. Lilah thought it looked fun and Eden didn’t mind sitting on her sister, but she didn’t like Lilah pushing her off. I was awake for most of the sessions and I was able to ignore the girls a little, so I think it went well about 65% of the time.

My family does a FHE once a month with all the siblings who are here and some adopted family members. This year we’re doing it on The Family: A Proclamation to the World. My mom separated the paragraphs and we got the following one to do.

“We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”

What a heavy paragraph. Well, since it mentioned the word warn I went with warnings and how things around us have warnings Jon brought in instructions…so we decided to right some instructions for parts of the paragraph. We separated it in to powers of procreation, marriage, parental discipline, and family roles. I think some of them turned out funny.

Powers of Procreation

SUGGESTED USE: Apply liberally within the bonds of marriage.

COMMON SIDE EFFECTS: Stronger relationships, trust, smiling couples, and children.

WARNING: Avoid premature exposure and uses outside of marriage. Broken homes may result.

Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, (Gen 1:28, Moses 2:28)

And Adam knew his wife, and she bare unto him sons and daughters, and they began to multiply and to replenish the earth. (Moses 5:2)

Parental Discipline

SUGGESTED USE: Use as directed by the Spirit, sparingly with large doses of persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned.

COMMON SIDE EFFECTS: Happy, orderly homes.

OVERDOSE WARNING: Do not exceed recommended doses or use contrary to the Spirit’s direction—can result in hurt feelings, broken relationships, rebellious children, and crippled lives.

UNDERDOSE WARNING: Too little discipline may lead to chaotic, uncooperative homes, and spoiled brats.

D&C 121:41

Marriage

DIRECTIONS: Mix man and woman equally, include generous doses of communication, humor, respect, trust, love, friendship, and divine guidance. For best results, maintain strong physical attraction.

WARNING: If proportions of man and woman are not mixed equally, negative side effects include unrighteous dominion, diminishing affection, and eventually disintegration of marriage.

D&C 121:39

Family Roles

DIRECTIONS: Where possible fathers should provide righteous priesthood leadership, the necessities of life, and protection for their families. Mothers should nurture their children. Both parents should provide love, guidance, and gospel instruction.

Children under the age of 18 should support parents by respecting them, avoiding contention, setting good examples to other siblings, and fulfilling family responsibilities such as chores.

Extended families should lend support when needed.

WARNING: Failure to follow directions will lead to broken homes. Severe cases may be contagious and lead to the eventual collapse of society and calamities of biblical proportion. (Did we mention the vultures, the dogs, the maggots, etc.?)

All children have claim upon their parents for their maintenance until they are of age. (D&C 83:4)

And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. (D&C 68:25)

And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, (Mosiah 4:14)

Overall I think it went well. There was loudness because of children, but it was short and simple on a heavy topic.

I teach Relief Society once a month. This week our lesson was on Temple Work: Turning Our Hearts to Our Families and the Lord.
Now it went well relatively speaking. It was only a little frustrating. I only had 20 minutes. Which is somewhat normal after we have announcements and song practice. (I usually have 25-30) I wish they would have chosen a shorter song though. It was four verses. Why not a two verse song for song practice?
Well I pretty much just got my introduction in, and parts about family history. Mostly I would make a short comments and people would have something to say or contribute. or they would have something to say in response to another comment. I wish on days like this I was a mind reader, or psychic. Then I could chose the comments that would be relevant and short, and maybe move-on in a polite way past the comments that would be off topic, or less relevant, and edit those which are long to that which is really needed to be said. It was such a good lesson that I wish I could have gotten more in. Just telling the women to read it doesn’t do it, because I know those who have not already read it, probably will not read it. Granted most of what was said was very uplifting, and they were wonderful experiences. Just what I look for. I just wish I would have had more time. 20 minutes is never enough.