Learning to Dance in the Rain

Archive for 2011

Our family recently went to Idaho to attend Andrew’s brother’s wedding.  It was so fun to be there with his family, I am truly blessed with the kind of in-laws I have – which I know is rare.  I had spent the last several weeks sewing bowties for the little boys, and skirts for Emily and her cousin, and for me.  That and the other projects I had taken up had made life quite busy.  As we sat there in the sealing room in the temple, listening to the inspired words from their Sealer (the man who performed the marriage) it was the peace my heart needed and a gentle but strong reminder that this is what it’s all about.  As the sun came streaming through the stained glass window and glistened off the crystal chandelier, it was an honor to be there in God’s presence, surrounded by family to witness the joining of two people for eternity.  I am thankful for the glimpse of heaven being in temple gives us and the peace it gives my sometimes troubled soul… 

When we first moved in I remember looking at this bush outside the front door.  It looked out of place, it was nothing special – just a average bush and honestly I thought it was kind of an eyesore.  My mother visited in February and I expressed my desire to rip it out and replace it with a bird bath surrounded by some rocks as a real focal point.  Well, my mother weeded around this odd looking bush and created more of a flower bed, which I reluctantly decided to fill in with some daylilies and some other little flowers.  Over the last few weeks, some usual clumps of flowers have appeared, light mauve, and so pretty and delicate.  Well, come to find out, that I have a lilac bush, a beautiful lilac bush, with sweet blossoms that smell like french perfume.  And to think I almost dumped Round Up on it and ripped it out…  And instead of a top heavy, man made, potentially hazardous bird bath…I have a living example of how if you’re not sure if something or someone is going to work, or turn out right, sometimes you just have to give it a little time.  

To top it off, when I’m too busy to play with my son, that odd looking bush “catches” my son’s soccer ball with it’s wide berth of branches as he giggles in delight.  So, I must say, I’ve grown very found of my bush.  I hope the one out the back that I did dump Round Up on comes back, and forgives this amateur gardener.  I just Spring, and this year, I especially like the Lilacs.  They remind me of a song that I love to sing to my kids.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky

Whenever I feel the rain on my face or the wind as it rushes by

Whenever I touch a velvet rose or walk by a lilac tree

I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world,

Heavenly Father created for me.

We were invited to an Easter Egg Hunt that should have been really fun, however since I’m still getting over a cold and it had been a long busy week, we just decided to stay home.  Well the weather was beautiful, so we painted eggs and watched the kids as they hunted around the garden looking for a trace of the Easter Bunny.

Luke would open each egg as he found it and check out the contents, only to close it back up and place it in his basket, I soon told him he could go ahead and enjoy.  Emily was dedicated to the cause and once she had a good collection, found a spot on the grass and began to scoff her little face.  It was fun as parents to watch them enjoy this part of the holiday.  Earlier in the day we spoke about the true meaning, and it was nice to know that Luke remembered parts of the Easter Story.

The most important part is that He Lives!  Happy Easter.

To fully enjoy this beautiful song of pure testimony, you may want to mute the background music of the blog at the bottom.

I just picked this gardening stuff right up, I mean I’m a natural. Just look at the dandelions my spot of Eden produces….that’s right, they’re Kirkland style!

When we came over to sign our contract with our landlord one of the things I wanted to make sure was that we could put up hanging baskets. The gables on the porch are perfect for them. And what do you know, there were hooks already there, just waiting. I was so excited to pick some up, and they make my heart happy every time I look out my window or come home. Now to plant some sunflower seeds…

These bulbs are a team effort – my landlord bought them, my mother planted them, I’m taking care of them, and the children get to stand on them (oh and Emily gives the tulips little hugs by gently squeezing them with her fingertips…so cute.)

This week we were treated to some amazing weather.  The sun beat down so much on Saturday that we even thought about sunscreen.  Even though I fell prey to a yucky end of Winter cold, we did a bunch of work out in the yard and even put up a trampoline for the kids.  The kids sat outside and enjoyed popsicles, and I enjoyed the beautiful flowers that remind me how grateful I am to finally have a garden!  Hello Summer, please stay a while, you’ve been sorely missed!

Have you ever noticed that when you’re feeling disgruntled or upset, the last thing you want to do is think of others or serve them, and yet, when we do help another, we feel happier, and our own problems seem smaller?

I was thinking of that as I sat at the back of Gospel Doctrine class the other day.  We read Matthew 11:28-30 where the Savior invites all those that “labour and are heavy laden” to come to him and He will give them “rest”.  He promises us that if we take His yoke upon us that our burden will be “light.” 

Well, I started wondering, what is “his yoke”?  How can we do that, and how can we, with all the stresses and heartache that we experience, feel light? 

Hmmm..what did Christ do when He walked on earth, He spent His days caring for others, healing them, teaching them, serving them.  He went into the lowliest of places where the people were rejected and dirty.  He bent down, and loved them.

Now I have always thought of Christ helping us carry our own burdens, and I do believe He can, if we put our faith in Him and trust in Him, He can give us greater perspective, and help heal our hearts and inspire us to solve even everyday problems.  But what if we turn it around.  The verse says to take HIS yoke upon us…so to me that implies that we are sharing His load.  His work is serving others.  Could it be that He invites us to care for others, and serve them, and by doing so our own burdens are lighter.  We are strengthened emotionally and spiritually when we reach out to those around us.  We allow Him to work through us to bless lives, and in so doing we are blessed too.

Elder Uchtdorf said “In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us, and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers.”

As I learn more of the Savior and what is important to Him, it makes it easier to align my priorities.  What is important to Him is us, and not what kind of job we have, or car we drive, but how we treat those around us.  How we love.

A month ago yesterday, I suddenly had a four year old.  I did have a year to prepare for it, but it still came as a shock.  Super Luke celebrated the day by going out for a happy meal and stopping to pick up a balloon bouquet on the way home.  I made him a birthday banner with checkered flags on it and some racing car cookies just like my mom used to make for us when we were kids (silly people think that lady fingers are for Tiramisu!)  I was quite surprised that at the party store Luke picked out three colored balloons that went beautifully together.  A metallic red, black, and silver, to go with his checkered flag balloon.  My dad reminded me later that those are Ferrari colors (of course.)  I guess Luke is more of a racing car junkie than I thought!  I appreciated that MacDonald’s kindly obliged and included a matchbox car with his happy meal (nice!)  Here he is on his new bike!

For dinner he chose bacon (his favorite food – and he is NOT a meat lover) and french toast with bananas and strawberries – YUM!  We made a big stack and he got to blow out the candles on the top.  As we sang him the familiar tune and did all our hip hips and hoorays, I thought about the last year.  It has been a year since I insisted the pediatrician give me a referral to a speech therapist, and how many people we have consulted and involved in helping our sweet Luke express himself and involve us in his world. 

Oh how much I have agonized and prayed over this child, and look at him, how he has grown!  I like to think I’ve grown too, I mean, we’ve gone through a lot together and since I’m not dead or crazy (not to my knowledge anyway) I must have grown too, right?  It’s funny.  When a baby is born it’s easy to say you’ll do anything for them, but when life happens, you get to prove it, and after all is said and done, you can look back, and it gives you strength and determination to keep doing anything for them.

Now of course all is not said and done.  Luke continues to go to speech once a week, ReadyStart preschool everyday but Wednesday, and social skills class on Monday.  It’s busy!  But I think what he’s doing is working.  We’ve just got to keep on keeping on.

One of the hardest things about being a parent is that you’ve got to learn that your best is good enough and that in the end, they decide who they’ll be.  You can love and inspire, you can teach and correct, but they will be who they choose to be. 

I just love my Luke and I’m so proud of him.  I love his early morning snuggles, and tackles in the backyard.  He loves anything with an engine and yet, loves to play music on the piano while mommy dances.  He would choose tomatoes over ice cream, and books over a computer game (not always but sometimes )   He’s a wonderful kid and I’m so glad he’s mine.

Well, it happened, my baby girl grew up.  In honor of her graduation into toddlerhood we gave her luggage (it’s a pink fluffy backpack with an optional wheelie stand).  We tried to incorporate all of her favorite things into her weekend.  We had a cake adorned with…lollypops of course, and lots of pink and purple décor – since she assumes anything in those colors is automatically hers.  We invited two little girls (4 year olds) that she really adores and wants to be like when she grows up and had fun decorating cups and making smoothies.  For her special family birthday dinner, we had spaghetti and meatballs…and meatballs, and meatballs, and “can I have more meatballs please?” – she would live on meatballs and ham if I let her!

The only traumatic part for Emily was when everyone sang Happy Birthday to which she insisted, “no, no, no, I don’t have to!” and then burst into tears.  That was yesterday, today, she did allow the singing and even clapped and put both hands high in the air as several family members called with their rendition. 

We’re so happy to have her in our family.  She makes us smile all day long with her sense of humor and her relationships to inanimate objects (she’ll apologize to balloons, and insisted tonight that her laminated paper dolls get to see what’s for dinner)!  She is very polite and sweet, and so super ticklish, it’s just so fun to be her parents. 

Happy Birthday sweetheart, we love you!

So by now you’ve probably realized that there may never be a Christmas Newsletter from the Arnotts for 2010…And you know you might just be right, but since I couldn’t completely deprive you people from hearing our goings on, I thought I would at least provide an update.  And maybe if I have it in me I’ll give you a typical to-do list from last year (which should give you a glimpse at why we were so busy.

Emily recently started talking, and I mean full sentences.  She’ll say “what are you doing?” and “I don’t have to” and “Great Job for going potty Luke!  Yay!!” in fact, she has me hiding my giggles almost constantly.  She is so darn cute and says whatever comes to mind or whatever Mommy just said.  She has been spending most of her days recently on the toilet herself.  HER idea, NOT mine!  I didn’t really want to start on the potty training journey just yet, but she really likes the idea that she produces (even gas qualifies in her book), and she gets M&Ms like magic.  In fact, our little girl rather likes living in the land of candy.  Any time she sees a J shape of any kind – woop, we have a candy cane!  And Lollypops are all around us – the security camera at Michael’s (ball shape on the end of a long stick), the boy with the big head in the book, a large screw, a bubble wand – they are all lollypops. 

Luke is also talking a lot more, with his memory still working overtime too.  He will start preschool here pretty soon and is quite good at forming letters, always asking how you spell different words.  He would spend most of his day reading books, if his toy cars and the piano didn’t lure him away.  Dr Seuss has become a favorite with Luke using Seuss’ rhyming style sometimes to ask us questions.  He is learning to read the odd short word and loves numbers too.  He drew his first family picture and we were both very proud of it.  He has been going to speech therapy among other things since April and has made so much progress.  We packed up our TV for several months to help spur on his own speech (and not memorized lines) and it worked wonders!  Around Emily’s 18 month mark he decided she wasn’t so bad of a person and now treats her quite civilly.  It means I can actually leave them alone and not fear for her safety – so liberating!  He has become quite helpful around the house and given mommy the glimpse of what it’s like to have a kid that can do the odd thing for himself!  Tomorrow he will say the scripture in Primary – he’s a Sunbeam!

Grandma and Grandpa Mackrory visited for Christmas and we had so much fun with them.  Emily liked to put her binkies in Grandpa’s front pocket and still talks about how they are at the airport (she must think we’re terrible for just leaving them there for weeks like this).  The biggest event last year was that we moved into a house across town with a yard, an extra bathroom (hear the cheers?) and a garage.  Even though we’re renters we feel like it was handpicked just for us, we just love it so much.

Grandma Arnott and Hannah visited us in May while we skipped off to Hawaii (Happy 7th Anniversary…?) thanks to Timeshares and Air Points!  And we were able to go down to SoCal for an Arnott reunion and to Colorado around Halloween.  We even went out East (really?  that was also last year?) to visit with Andy and KaraLynne for a cousin baby blessing.  Even though the novelty of airplanes and airports has thoroughly worn off on the adults – (the kids still love it!) it was wonderful to visit with so much family and to have some time to unwind amidst the stress of other things.

In other news, Andrew got promoted and is doing quite well at the office, and Cheryl is busy being domestic.  I painted the living room and made throw cushions for the patio, and living room.  And a couple weeks ago I made bread (yeah, I even ground the wheat – and unlike the Little Red Hen I shared my spoils).  That’s my bread in the distance of the chicken soup picture… From that far away you really can’t tell how heavy it is

Well I guess that did end up being like a Christmas Newsletter….I guess….I hope y’all had a Merry Christmas and all that.  We appreciate the kindnesses and support that we have felt from our friends and family this year and hope that we can be there for you in your times of trial and celebration.  We know that we are only the people and parents we are because of our Faith in Jesus Christ and our knowledge of the Gospel.   

I guess if I write a post like this I only need to do it once a year…just kidding…