Sunday, March 11, 2012

Weekend {etc}



i love everything about saturday morning - sleeping in, making a good breakfast, doing chores with the kids.

this week i taught them how to hand-wash the big dishes - the brownie pan from the night before, the waffle batter bowl, the wooden spoons, the frying pan. it was wet and soppy and slow, but they did such a good job and they looked so cute at the sink together :)







we visited the baby chicks at mimi's.
lily almost loved them to death (no, really. it's hard not to squeeze the things we love!) she is so tender for baby things and she loved those little chickies.

there's been a lot going on around here lately, a lot a lot. but i'm not ready to blog about it. we're getting closer and closer to the end of tax season. can't come soon enough. poor natey's teetering on the edge of exhaustion, insanity, collapse. he is super man and we love him to the end of the earth for working so hard for us. we're trying to cook up some fun plans for april, something to look forward to.

i love her scrunched-up nose

i taught the girls at church about homemaking today. my emotions were right up in my throat the whole time. i cried through most of my preparation, just so struck by the humongous responsibility and incomparable blessing of nurturing. i love it. it is my heart. and i told those darling girls, "this is your power. don't you squander it." and i believe that so strongly, there aren't even words to describe what i know and feel about it. we had the best discussion today; they were so candid and real in their sharing. my heart was so tender for each of them in their varied circumstances and struggles. a few weeks ago when the lesson was about divine potential, i brought up heavenly mother and i asked them to imagine what they thought she might be like and one sweet girl said, "i think she has comfort in her eyes." i can't even type that without tears welling up in my eyes. it was the most beautiful thing i've heard in a long time.

today, in the context of our homemaking discussion, i told the girls how much i love to fold my kids' laundry. i know that sounds crazy, but i do and here's why: it's not because i love folding laundry, it's because i love my kids (& nate) so much that many of the little things i do to make their lives comfortable and safe and clean are pleasing to me, even if the task itself isn't. i fold those little shirts and and skirts and socks and think love. love. love.

and even though they could never articulate the fact that drawers full of clean, folded laundry are evidences of love, i know they're assimilating the goodness of family life - little moments reveal it to me, like the other night when we were reading scriptures and henry stopped me to ask, "mom, did jesus have a family? like a wife and kids?" i told him that i wasn't sure, and asked what he thought and he said, "well, in the scripture stories and in all those pictures we have there aren't any pictures of his family and it doesn't talk about them, but if i were jesus, i would want a family...a wife and kids. so i think maybe he had that." and maybe i'm taking too many liberties here and inferring too much, but i think that was henry's way of expressing how much his family means to him, and hoping that same familial comfort and happiness could be extended to everyone. even jesus :)



4 comments:

  1. Love this post Em. I hope when Mia and Kate are in YW they have a leader like you teaching them. It's true, while "housekeeping" can be a little tedious, "homemaking" is pure joy. Love you.
    Nat

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, those sleeping babes! What angels.
    I love delving into that little Henry's mind and seeing the goodness inside him. He is SUCH a tender heart.
    Well done, Mama.

    "There's been a lot going on around here. A lot a lot." -- Are you keeping secrets from me? :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a sweet post. You have a beautiful heart, my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  4. love it all.. Including that dear grammy of yours. But now I want to know what's going on. :)

    ReplyDelete