Running in Circles

1. Getting ready for the day makes a huge difference. Sometimes after showering I just skip the hair and make-up part of getting ready and just put on clean workout clothes. The last few weeks though I've been really good about getting myself put together and dressed and it makes a huge difference in my day...even if I am still just at home playing, it makes me feel like me.

2. Sacrifice is hard. I'm ready for a second car. I'm ready for a bigger apartment. I'm ready for more "me" time. I'm ready to teach Pilates again. There's actually a longer list of things I'd love to change or move up with- but living within our means in the big picture is absolutely more important. Of course I'm not the only one that is sacrificing so I hope this doesn't come off to whiny, but the truth is I have to remind myself to see the bigger picture on a daily basis.

3. A want is a want and a need is a need. This is a lesson you can learn over and over in your life. Just because you want something doesn't mean you get it. Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you get it. Just because it's the one thing you think will make you happy doesn't mean you get it. I've learned over and over again that buying things really is just buying things and it doesn't bring any kind of lasting gratification. The comfort of knowing we can get the things we need because were not spending on all of our wants makes me feel much more secure and happy.

4. Being a mom really is empowering. I feel so blessed to have two wonderful children and to be able to stay home everyday with them. I am realizing that I really can be the biggest influence on them and that gives me so much more power than I ever thought I had as a stay at home mom. I've always thought my job was to keep them entertained and learning, keep the house clean and the errands done. But really so much of what Hazel and Henry will learn, emulate, want, and need is influenced by me during the day.

5. Good friends are the best. I feel so grateful to have made such great friends here in Dallas. The kind of friends that are genuinely happy or disappointed for me when I am. The kind of friends that bring by a salad because they just knew i would love it. The kind of friends that offer rides, babysitting, meals, quality time, play-dates, and advice in an instant. 

A friend in the ward had her baby on Wednesday afternoon and that night after i had already fallen asleep a group text had gone out looking to bring them meals. Within 10 minutes and 28 text messages a weeks worth of meals were planned. I was blown away at how quickly everyone offered to serve and am so grateful for their example. This was a learning moment for my testimony.

6 Teaching the gospel to Hazel is coming more naturally than I have anticipated. For some reason i thought teaching the gospel to a toddler was going to be a waste of effort. But I'm amazed as she has learned to pray, repeats scriptures, is memorizing the prophets of the church, and asks the most sincere questions- family home evening, prayer,family scripture study, going to church and nursery all matter, even at two and a half years old.

One night Brice asked Hazel to bring the scriptures over so we could read as a family. She brought them to the couch and opened them upside down and started saying," And it came to pass, those Lamanites were naughty,amen." 

It was sweet and hilarious.