tornado

Three years ago today, this happened...

I'm feeling grateful for everything I learned because of that experience and since then. I really don't think about this experience often, but I know it shaped me into who I am. I am grateful for the friends we had then and how that experience turned us into a family. I'm grateful that my husband and I (and baby Jude in my tummy) were all protected. I'm grateful for my knowledge of the Plan of Salvation that I know even those who didn't make it to see another day are truly in a more beautiful and wonderful place. I know this earthly life is a temporary leave from our heavenly home. This experience helps me remember that and that the things that really matter to me can't be destroyed by a tornado.

Read my story here!

Watch my story on CNN here.

one month of abraham.

Our big little baby Abraham has been alive for one month... Mind. Blown. To think that it was one whole month ago that I was walking down our staircase in that big blue moo moo... pregnant (and soon not to be) is beyond my comprehension. And that he has been with us for one whole month?! In a way, it seems like forever that I've known that little face (maybe because he looks just like Jude did?!) and on the other hand I can't believe I have slept with him and nursed him and hugged him and kissed him thirty whole days in a row.

Picture of the month.

#1: Mommy. All he wants. All he needs.

The end.

I've said this before and I'm planning on saying it a million more times, but he is special. Special to me. And just special in his own right. He is the most calm, content little baby you've ever known. (Example: We had many errands to run this morning. So I strapped him into the car seat and off we went. We left at 8:50 and got home at 11:50 and he was sound asleep in that car seat the entire time. We then got home and I nursed him, gave him a bath, changed his diaper, nursed him again... and he has been asleep in his swing for another hour and a half and still going strong.) He has remarkable head support and a serious grip for a little one. He is smiling at us lovingly and it melts our hearts. His after-bath afro is a little too good. And he is quickly becoming his big brother's best little friend.

Being the mother to two has taught me so much already. It is absolutely beautiful. I have grown and learned to love and learned a lot about letting things go. It is refreshing beyond expression and only fitting that spring is upon us. I feel a rekindled love for life and my precious family and what really matters. I am literally brought to tears while playing with Jude at his "mountain" or watching my husband play with the boys as I contemplate my many blessings and wonder how my life has turned out so good.

We went to church as a family for the first time this week. It was a deep breath of fresh mountain air to be at church for the full three-hours and have my dearest three there with me. The boys even matched and the cuteness was a little out of control...

"The cough and cry"

this guy i married...

Looking back on my blog, I used to write about Dan a lot (my love for him, singing him praises, our first couple years together)... Now I pretty much blog about Jude all the time. Dan might have taken a back seat when it comes to cooking and caring for him. But lately I have fallen in love all over again  and I need to write about it so I never forget.

I found myself a good guy. Like, a really good guy. A loving, patient guy who is always sweet and kind and takes care of his little family like it is an Olympic sport. I am so thankful to have him in my life. Picture a scenario: My pregnant self climbing into bed with my nest of four large pillows... a cup full of ice on my side table which I chew and chew and chew right in his ear... a hypnobabies tape playing loud &clear... and Dan patiently lies there trying to sleep. The most he's ever said is "I'll be glad when you're not pregnant anymore..." And once an exaggerated sigh and his turned the other way.

He loves his little family and when I'm having a tired or emotional day, he takes care of everything and he does it well. Sometimes I tease him and tell him to stop making me look bad and being better at my housewife duties than I am! But of course I am so grateful. Yesterday I was feeling... a little tired. He made me homemade biscuits and gravy for breakfast (we're talking biscuits from scratch here) all while keeping the kitchen spotless all throughout the process due to a highly allergic toddler and a paranoid mother in the vicinity). He then encouraged me to go take a nap before church as he watched Jude and got him ready for church. When we got home, he made homemade calzones (dough from scratch again) for dinner that were divine. Not only that, he cleaned up the whole downstairs before our home teacher came while I was sitting in a lawn chair out back with Jude. 

As a father, he does it all. He rocks, he kisses, he cradles, he bathes, he cleans, he cooks (no easy task), he plays. He is such a faithful husband and father. Jude could not adore him more and with good reason. Together, we work on helping our son and coming up with solutions for his health. We have been through so much together and so much for this little guy. Other memories we have together have molded us together and although they may not have been particularly pleasant at the time, I now look back on them with love.

I write this not so anyone will compare because that is a silly and defeating game to play that I know I have been guilty of myself. (It has been said that "comparison is a thief of joy") I write this for myself, so I can always remember and hold close to my heart the wonderful husband I have. I am blessed beyond measure and I want to document my many blessings to help me never forget! I hope I can always treat him with the love, respect, and kindness he deserves. Lets all try to see the good in those we spend our lives with. None of us are perfect but it sure helps to be around people who appreciate you and maybe seeven sing your praises every once in a while. ;) they say "choose your love and love your choice." ... Here's to loving our choices!