Dear Anderson 11/26/2016

Dear Goob,

Twice in a month! You're napping now, so I figured it was a good time to do a quick documentation. You have molars sprouting up everywhere. I think we are waiting on one on the lower right side, but everything else has come in. And those canines are still SLOW poking along.

You did a somersault for the first time yesterday. You enjoy doing 'Downward Facing Dog' and a Mowgli style walk, but this time you just stuck your cute little bum up higher and higher in the air and flipped over back/sideways! It was pretty exciting. We clapped and cheered and you shrieked and laughed and stomped your feet and then started crying. As you often do when exploring what you can do and learning new things.

You are now saying 'arm' and 'nose' and it kills me with how cute it is. 'Nose' is said rather nasally, with an almost absent 's'. You also say banana like 'nahnahnblahnahblah' and always get excited and stomp your feet and clap. Dude, you are your mama's child! I loved bananas as a kid too.

Yesterday you pointed to the blue and green pyramid rings, respectively, when dad asked you to point them out. We were floored. Dad practices your colors with the legos, and you and I practice with books, but we've never asked you to point out a specific color before. You are one astute little dude, and you love to learn!

Also, you ate a lot of broccoli this week, for which I feel victorious. I've been chopping it up really small and mixing it with shredded parmesan, taco meat, and rice. Win!

*Edit: It's been several weeks since we've nursed; you are officially weaned! You've become a little more snuggly since we've stopped breastfeeding, which is nice. You would have been happy to keep nursing each morning, but I was getting too desperate for my clothes to fit normally again. You've adjusted pretty well, overall. *

Thanksgiving was two days ago and that didn't bring much in the way of exciting new flavors for you. You really liked the sweet potatoes with the streusel topping, and gave the bacon squash a fair try. We were with friends for Thanksgiving and tried a lot of fancy new dishes that were probably a little too unusual for you. BUT, you loved running around the yard and playing with the dog and cat.

I've been trying to do regular play dates with other moms in the ward so you can get out and run around at parks and interact with other kids. You really do love exploring and running.

As always and for always, we love you.

Lesson in Meekness

Yet another (!!!) draft that I'm catching up on. This is a lesson outline from a few years back.

My calling is the 1st counselor in the Relief Society. As such, I have the opportunity to occasionally teach. 

To be honest, I chose this topic because I found it enlightening. Meekness used to be one of those subjects that just seemed bland and distasteful. Kind of like when you lump faith hope and charity together, it suddenly just isn't as appealing to study. However, while reading this conference talk, I found myself nodding in agreement and understanding. *Fist pump of victory. This lesson was born of a talk by Elder Ulysses Soares. The talk can be found here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/be-meek-and-lowly-of-heart?lang=eng

What do you think of when you hear the word “Meek”

Typical answers included weak, bland, push-over, spineless, without character or strength, someone who has been put in their place, submissive. 

In preparing for this lesson, I came across the following definition. Meekness is a greek derivative of the word Praus, which means a war horse bridled and ready for battle. Wild, agitated, irritated, made calm. Strength brought under control.

Qualities of the meek:

-God-fearing, righteous, humble, teachable, patient in suffering.

-Temperament is calm, docile, tolerant, and submissive.
-Not weakness, but behave with goodness, kindness, show strength, serenity, healthy self-worth and self-control.

-Fruit of the Spirit: lifestyle reflects righteousness. Elder Soares Quote:

“The Apostle Paul taught that meekness is fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, it can most easily be attained if we “live in the Spirit.” And to live in the Spirit, our lifestyle must reflect righteousness before the Lord.”

We are blessed to be born with seed of meekness in our hearts. - Elder Soares Quote:

 “We are blessed to be born with the seed of meekness in our hearts. We need to understand that it is not possible to grow and develop that seed in the twinkling of an eye but rather through the process of time. Christ asks us to “take up our cross daily”, meaning that it must be a constant focus and desire.”

How do we become more meek?

Steps to becoming meek:

1.   Improve Day-by–day through Atonement. God’s grace makes up for our shortcomings. President Lorenzo Snow quote:

”We have our little follies and our weakness; we should try to overcome them as fast as possible, and… should instill this feeling in the hearts of our children… that they may learn to behave properly before Him under all circumstances. If the husband can live with his wife one day without quarreling or without treating anyone unkindly or without grieving the Spirit of God… he is so far perfect. Then let him try to be the same the next day. But supposing he should fail in this his next day’s attempt, that is no reason why he should not succeed in doing so the third day.”

2.   Control Temper

In what settings do you find yourself getting annoyed/irritated/angry?

What about when people disagree with your ideas?

Your response when someone offends, critiques your efforts, or unkind?

How do you successfully calm/invite the spirit back?

“At these moments and in other difficult situations, we must learn to control our temper and convey our feelings with patience and gentle persuasion. This is most important within our homes and within our relationships with our eternal companions.” - Elder Soares

2 Timothy 2: 24-26 (Taken from Elder Soares' talk) “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves"
 

What does it mean to recover themselves?

3.    Humility: modest, courteously respectful

“I believe, brothers and sisters, that only those who are humble are able to acknowledge and understand the Lord’s answers to their prayers. The humble are teachable, recognizing how dependent they are on God and desiring to be subject to His will. The humble are meek and have the ability to influence others to be the same. God’s promise to the humble is that He will lead them by the hand. I truly believe that we will avoid detours and sadness in our lives as long as we walk hand in hand with the Lord.” - Elder Soares

Humility=God leads by the hand

What blessings have come in your life through humility?

Mahlangu Story

In which areas can meekness be a struggle, and how do we reinforce it?

How can we be meek in relation to others as well as in relation to God?

How is meekness a precursor to other virtues? According to Elder Maxwell in A Dimension of True Discipleship, it initiates, facilitates, consolidates.

A few blessings of meekness

How might meekness improve one’s quality of life?

“Meekness, however, is more than self-restraint; it is the presentation of self in a posture of kindness and gentleness, reflecting certitude, strength, serenity, and a healthy self-esteem and self-control.” –Elder Maxwell, A Dimension of True Discipleship

Isa 29:19 The meek also shall increase their ^ajoy in the Lord, and the ^bpoor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

“The meek are filled with awe and wonder with regard to God and His purposes in the universe. At the same time, the meek are not awestruck by the many frustrations of life; they are more easily mobilized for eternal causes and less easily immobilized by the disappointments of the day.” - Elder Maxwell, A Dimension of True Discipleship

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

 “Brothers and sisters, I believe the Savior Jesus Christ is the supreme example of meekness. Even during the last moments of His mortal life, being unfairly accused and condemned, painfully carrying His cross up to Golgotha, being mocked and cursed by His enemies, being abandoned by many who knew Him and had witnessed His miracles, He was nailed on the cross. Even after the most intense physical suffering, the Lord turned to His Father and spoke from the bottom of His meek and humble heart: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Christ faced extreme physical and spiritual suffering, giving us the opportunity to change our spiritual character and become meek like Him.”

If anyone had right to murmur, seek vengeance, it was He. - Elder Soares

“Meekness, however, is more than self-restraint; it is the presentation of self in a posture of kindness and gentleness, reflecting certitude, strength, serenity, and a healthy self-esteem and self-control.” –Elder Maxwell, A Dimension of True Discipleship

“The meek are filled with awe and wonder with regard to God and His purposes in the universe. At the same time, the meek are not awestruck by the many frustrations of life; they are more easily mobilized for eternal causes and less easily immobilized by the disappointments of the day.” - Elder Maxwell, A Dimension of True Discipleship

Debugging

This is another post I found in the drafts pile. I believe this is the first "Palmetto Bug", COCKROACH we found here, and Garrett was the unfortunate recipient. He said he was sitting in the living room working on his research when he hear a loud buzzing and something flew past his ear and "THWAPPED!" onto the couch behind him. He spent the next few minutes hunting it down and stuck it in a jar. They are disgusting, foul creatures. They fly and they crunch and they splat. They happen to be a large reason why we (I at least) would like to move back West eventually.

They are also one of three reasons we moved to a different apartment complex, where we get far fewer bugs! Garrett is the benighted cockroach slayer and has my ever-undying gratitude and praise.

Wilkinson Family Reunion-Ensign Ranch 2014

This post has been sitting in our drafts for just over two years! We went to the Wilkinson family reunion right before we moved out to South Carolina.

Apparently Michelle has a mini-meltdown in the days leading up to the trip, as evidenced by this note :)

Wednesday

Drive, Drive, Drive...

Before the hike later that afternoon, we played a game called Allhambra with Ila, Glinda and Sabine and not to brag, but Michelle and I took first and second place (beginners luck, I think not; a little cheating?...ask Michelle :) ). So far day one of the reunion had gone perfect and reminded me much of my Stone family reunions...playing games, going on hikes, eating good food. By Friday night we realized the sub theme to Finding Joy in the Journey must have been: To have joy you must eat tacos; because just about every meal involved tortillas and variations of taco/burrito fillings. Despite the fact that the meals where similar, they all had their own unique, tasty spin and there was plenty to go around.

Thursday

The theme for the reunion this year was "Finding Joy in the Journey." This mantra came after sifting through a variety of other themes including its sister with a negative connotation "Endure to the End." I think we all agreed a family reunion was doomed to fail if we all felt we'd have to "endure" each other's presence for the few short days we were together. 

Michelle and I (one of the newer members of the family) got to share the opening message and introduce the theme. We shared a few thoughts from the scriptures and from President Monson's last conference message aptly titled "Finding Joy in the Journey." We focused on the idea that we were meant to have Joy in this life (see 2 Nephi 2:25) and that we could choose to be happy despite our circumstances (see Alma 62: 41; 3 Nephi 6:13). It was Abraham Lincoln who said "I reckon most people are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be." And, President Monson who said "choose to find joy in the journey now" (emphasis added). 

Michelle highlighted some key points from the Monson talk. First, that we need to focus on the most important things in our lives--people--letting go of the past and prioritizing the present people in our lives. Secondly, she reminded us of the need to be grateful, to focus on what we have and not on what we are missing in our lives. As Elder Uchtdorf reminds us, we ought to be grateful in our circumstances not for things. 

After the thought, we tried to sort out the climbing wall and realized the communication and scheduling at ensign ranch had much to be desired (along with the good qualities of course--don't want to sound too whiny and cynical).  Climbing would be postponed until Friday so we could go on the hike to Franklin Falls. 

No matter how much I love the natural and unique beauty of Utah, the lush, green forests of Washington never cease to amaze me. The rich, clear pools of water, grandiose, cascading waterfalls and thick, exotic looking growth remind me of my time in the Australian rainforest or New Zealand back country. 

The hike, like most others I have done in Washington was gorgeous and Michelle and I took some time to explore off trail, to rock hop, and to jog along the dirt paths. We especially enjoyed the chatter in the car on the way to and from the falls with Mom Spencer and cousin Kara.

Here's our confession--Thursday night we definitely snuck away to our cabin to finish watching season one of the Legend of Korra series on our portable DVD player. Thank goodness for technology in the wilderness--bring on season 2.

Friday

Today we took advantage of the canoes on the lake. Although Michelle hates lake scum and we both quickly realized we'd need to communicate better to joyfully and successfully direct a canoe, we had fun. The lake was pretty nasty nast, but we enjoyed our jaunt and then watched the little cousins (and some of the big ones) slide down the slip n slide while enjoying our ice cream bars on the side lines. 

That afternoon we got to spearhead the climbing activity on the Ensign Ranch rock wall. Michelle was my bouncer and helped so much with preparing participants and managing the group while I trained belayers and supervised safety and climbing. We make a good team. Thanks again to Ethan, Uncle Kevin, and Cousin Rebecca for being my belayers and helping cleanup. 

We almost had a major problem about thirty minutes into our climbing when Larry (that name was thrown out like a title--commander in chief) showed up in a panic and said he didn't have any record of my climbing certification. I had an email that said I was good to go and got the go ahead from the front desk but somehow Larry hadn't received confirmation and was going to shut us down. We troubleshot for a minute or two and then thanks to borrowed smart phone technology (it slaps us in the face every day and reminds us we need to upgrade)  I was able to show him my credentials.  We belayed the whole family and had a blast watching the tiny tikes bravely climb the wall. 

Some of the kids had total trust, no fear or inhibitions and would have climbed a wall twice as high if we had told them they could do so safely. I sometimes wish I still had that kind of trust and courage and wasn't so paralyzed by fear, doubt, etc. All in all it was a really fun experience and I was able to confirm that I wasn't a certified fraud. Haha. 

That night we decided that rather than staying over one more night at the ranch we would pack up and scoot out early. We said our goodbyes and got on the road (after a few stops to pet horses and get gas---thankfully so considering what happened on our drive). On the way to Maple Valley we saw what looked like a terrible accident. At first I didn't notice it, we just drove over a spot in the road that had odd and unexpected splotches of red. These, we later discovered, or rather realized, were blood stains from the wreckage we had just passed. Michelle, as the passenger was able to see that a car was on its side and another overturned on the roadside. Though many others had stopped to see to this tragic accidents' victims, we quickly called those we loved who were travelling ahead of us and behind us to ensure they weren't involved in the accident and remained so (this was Michelle's quick thinking--I'll be glad to have her at my side in intense situations--second coming included). In addition to the cars, she saw what looked like smaller bodies or figures strewn across the edge of the road so we also offered a prayer in behalf of the victims. 

Our belief is the blood and bodies we saw were actually remnants of a deer that had been hit, causing the accident, and hope that there were no fatalities but the truth is yet to be uncovered.  After that, we were just anxious to get home as safely as possible. A little shaken despite having seen and been in fairly intense accidents prior to this one.  Again, though I sometimes roll my eyes when Michelle want to stop and pet a milk cow or coo at a horse, I was grateful to be a few minutes back on the road and to have avoided a potentially fatal and sorrowful night. 

Upon returning home we were able to laugh away our worries with Danny, Mom, and Ethan and fall fast asleep.

Saturday

Today the house turned into a construction zone. Michelle was patching holes and prepping for paint while I sanded railings and the hearth for staining. In the afternoon we wanted to go for a swim and decided to check out Ethan's place of employ "Angle Lake Park." Turns out the people of Washington like to go to the lake, and the city management of Washington does not like to provide parking. Rather than drive in circles competing for parking spots we took off early and ran some errands.

In the evening we decided that between the work and the heat we needed a good ole fashioned movie and the lot for choosing the movie fell with me. I of course made the obvious choice and picked a movie that would appeal to all (or not)--the magnificent seven, starring Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and a host of their famous contemporaries. Needless to say, the movie is longer than I remember and by the end of the flick I was the only one still awake in the room to watch. Oops. 

Sunday
We had a picnic in the park after church with Annie's family, and one of Annie's friends and her family. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon, especially since the next day was spent sleeping and driving.