light-in-leaves

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Afternoon Session of the April 2013 Conference.

This week I have been thinking and praying about something that troubles me from time to time. It's not that I think my current stage of motherhood is unimportant; I know what I do for my family is important, and I believe in it. But sometimes I just feel so aware of how many trivial and mundane things take up my attention. I start to worry that I’m just being pulled along from deadline to deadline, from task to task, never really feeling free of the mild stress of those things that have to be done, and never really rising to any higher purpose or seeing any higher vision. I worry that "the world is too much with me" and I'm going to somehow miss what God really wants me to be doing.

So I was grateful to read several conference talks which seemed to speak to those thoughts. For example, from Elder Christofferson:

The greatest service we can provide to others in this life, beginning with those of our own family, is to bring them to Christ through faith and repentance so they may experience His Redemption...Much of our redemptive work on earth is to help others grow and achieve their just hopes and aspirations.

And this from Elder Bruce D. Porter:

Trials may come, and we may not understand everything that happens to us or around us. But if we humbly, quietly trust in the Lord, He will give us strength and guidance in every challenge we face. When our only desire is to please Him, we will be blessed with a deep inner peace.

And this from Elder Erich W. Kopischke:

Too often we think that the word sacrifice refers to something big or hard for us to do. In certain situations this may be true, but mostly it refers to living day-to-day as a true disciple of Christ.

And

Other ways to observe our covenants by sacrifice are as simple as accepting a calling in the Church and faithfully serving in that calling or following the invitation of our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, to reach out to those who are standing at the wayside and need to be spiritually rescued. We observe our covenants by sacrifice by giving silent service in our neighborhood or community or by finding the names of our ancestors and doing temple work for them. We observe our covenants by sacrifice by simply striving for righteousness, being open, and listening to the promptings of the Spirit as we live our daily lives. Sometimes observing our covenants means nothing more than standing firmly and faithfully when the storms of life are raging all around us.

Clementine keeps getting bigger whether we like it or not. Right now she's in a cutting and making phase. She makes the funniest, clumsiest, little creations because she has no idea what she's doing. The other idea she came out with little crowns for her and Milky (the bunny) to wear, and it was if she had conceived the idea of a crown ex nihilo. No thought of the usual long strip with points. Just a totally haphazard mixture of shapes she must have somehow envisioned in her head, taped together however she could manage it. And she was so proud. I almost started crying just looking at her proud little face.

A tiny laptop

Matching tutus (Clementine had to add the straps in back for Milky, of course)

Biscuit eating his tiny meal

Caw and Minty eating their tiny meals (there is a lot of this going on lately)

The night Clementine paid Bunny Money to stay up past bedtime and have hot chocolate with us

Cute lists Ziggy wrote of things he's thankful for. Let me translate them:

Goldie is our resident flower cutter and makes sure there are always pretty bouquets on the table and around the house when possible. It's good because I love having flowers inside but I never think about cutting any! This is a good time of year for them.

Sam and me on a walk

Here is the little rock garden grave of Nutmeg and the three babies. It's outside my bedroom window and it looks so pretty right now in the spring. I love the pink flowering cherry tree!

Malachi got ordained to the office of Elder and got the Melchizedek Priesthood! The bishop said maybe he was the first person to do so barefoot.😄

Little friends

Big (and silly) friends

Clementine sleeping on me while I work on my computer

Abe, a million of Abe's friends, Ky, Daisy, and Junie all went to see "Project Hail Mary." So fun.

Rainbow clips for Clementine. "I wish I had a rainbow dress too," she said. A few moments later…

…she had found one.

Another day. Putting the hair things in little color "families."

Gus wrapped up in his blanket like a baby

Blossoms, blossoms, blossoms! I love this time of year. The flowering pears don't last very long.

For a few days, from the living room, you feel like you're surrounded by flowers because every window has a blossom tree in it!

Flowering apricots coming out too

I love them!

Jumping to grab the rope at swimming lessons. Gus got it! …for a second. It looks like he's walking on water here.

Teddy actually swung on it

It slipped just through Ziggy's fingers

So close again, Gus

Clementine was…a little off

Compliment board full of compliments

Swinging with some animals

We went to the Lindon Temple Open House on the same night the entire rest of the population of Lindon decided to go. It was fun, though, because we met Abe and Ky there and got to talk to them while we stood in line (which wound alllll the way around the temple). It was a nice, warm, windy evening.