Gospel Topic Tuesday: Atonement

I've been studying the atonement of Jesus Christ, our Savior, this past week. I've been pondering it and reading scriptures and thinking it through. What a selfless act of love the atonement is. When I think about it, I wonder if I am capable of such love in only the smallest measurement. I try to love man as we are told to do but I find it so very hard. There are so many people who just irritate me or annoy me and I struggle to find anything good about them. Yet here is the example of our Savior who loved us all despite all that we would do and He bled in the Garden of Gethsemane and let Himself be crucified that we might have someone to turn to for forgiveness and a way to conquer death both physically and spiritually.

Isaiah chapter 53 is a great chapter to read about what the Savior went through and how humble and meek He was. In verse 5 it reads "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Everything that we experience and go through in this life He understands. He endured it all and so much more. There is no feeling or pain or sin that He can't understand and comfort or take away if we turn to Him and trust in his redeeming power.

I am so thankful for my Savior and His love for me. I am thankful for His Atonement that makes it possible for me to overcome my shortcomings and find forgiveness. How through Him I am able to forgive others and find peace in my life. His life is a great example of how to live my life and try to do better.

Blue Sky and Clouds

Saturday we went to my in-law's for a birthday party for our nephew Brooks Jr. I got there and had fun helping my sister in-law Heather set up for the party. She got super creative which I just love and made some great things. And Heather you don't ever need my approval!

The birthday boy! I just realized I forgot to take a picture of the banner. Heather created a super cute banner that we hung over the table.

Here is Benjamin having a blast playing with balloons. He wasn't scared of them at all.

Heather made rockets, airplanes and helicopters. We then iced the cupcakes with blue frosting to represent the sky and made white clouds. This had to be explained to me because I just didn't get it. I felt so dumb!

Jacki put on Connor's hat and I was too slow to get a picture so I had her put it on again. Connor had to be distracted because it was his hat!

Corey is a smiler! Not that that is a word but he totally smiles his little mischievous smile all the time. And I love how the sun was shining on him.

When I took this picture I had to do a double take. Terence looked like he was sweating or something but he wasn't. There's an oil stain that only shows up in pictures. Too funny!

We hung out and ate cupcakes and ice cream after singing happy birthday to Brooks! It was fun!

Random Pictures

This blog may not necessarily flow...because it's just some random shots with details about the day or event or something.

Benjamin trying to get to a toy through the stool on March 12th. He eventually got stuck and I had to rescue him which proved difficult.

Benjamin is a walking fool now. He will climb up things or people to just turn around and walk to a destination and then turn around and walk again. He is getting turning around while standing down too. This was also on March 12th.

Benjamin loves to play with my purse. But I had a hard time getting this shot. He was too busy watching his Dad's avatar play with a helicopter on the Xbox. March 14th

Benjamin has started feeding himself little puffed Gerber food and Cheerios (thanks Ed and Leslie for leaving those!) Since he can feed himself he is more interested in us feeding him baby food again. But sometimes sneezing gets in the way. Jared thought I was ridiculous for wanting to capture this moment with the camera. I think it's funny! March 15th


Last week on Thursday I started up the crock pot full of chili. We eat dinner really late if we wait until I get home some nights from track practice. I asked Jared to put some aside and blend it up for Benjamin to eat with us. Jared gave him a few tastes before we got to the table and Benjamin was beating on him begging for his dinner. This was his first taste of meat. It was beef, well ground beef. He ate up the whole bowl of chili we had made for him.

Climbing

We have a climber on our hands!

Gospel Topic Tuesday: Humility & Pride

If someone were to tell you that you were doing something wrong how would you respond? Would you take it in stride? Would you shut down? Would you ignore them? Would you get angry with them? When I am told I am doing something wrong I tend to jump to a defensive mode. I try to defend myself even if while I am defending myself I realize they are right. But I don't want them to know that so I stay in defense mode.

Why is this? I have this feeling it is because we are not humble. We are too prideful to have someone else tell us what to do or to correct us. So what if it's Heavenly Father telling us that what we are doing is wrong and that we need to repent? Do you listen? Or are you too prideful and choose to ignore him?

We need to be more humble and teachable. Our trials are ways to humble us and teach us to rely on the Lord. My thoughts are turned to the hymn "Be Thou Humble". The first verse is as follows:

"Be thou humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee,
Shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answer to thy prayers.
Be thou humble in thy pleading, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee,
Shall bless thee with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares."

Heavenly Father loves us so much and wants only to bless us but we have to trust in Him and listen humbly. If we turn our weaknesses over to God He will lift us and strengthen us and we will no longer be weak.

I am grateful for my weaknesses and the opportunities I have to be humbled to remember God and His love for me. I know that all I have is from Him and that through Him all things are possible.

Ready for Sunday

Last night I was not tired after Benjamin went to bed. I decided to stay up and finish a scrapbook and start making a birthday card finally. I did not get anything ready for Sunday before laying him down or after laying Benjamin down. This morning came and I woke up for family prayer and then fell back asleep for an hour with Benjamin. I had ward council to attend and as you might guess I was late.

I have found that it is best if I prepare myself for Sunday starting early Saturday evening. Do you know the primary song "Saturday"? It goes like this...

"Saturday is a special day. It's the day we get ready for Sunday: We clean the house, and we shop at the store, So we won't have to work until Monday. We brush our clothes, and we shine our shoes, And we call it our get the work done day. Then we trim our nails, and we shampoo our hair, So we can be ready for Sunday."

This song has been playing in my head off and on for the past 9 months. The reason being is I've been trying hard to get things ready for Sunday morning to ensure I have everything I need at my fingertips to get out the door on time for my meetings before church.

Things I will normally do: pick out Benjamin's outfit, pick out my outfit, pack up my church bag, review the calendar and reminders for young women's, grab anything else I need to take and put it in my bags or near my bags. I have found if I have this all done then my morning goes a lot smoother. I am less stressed and I have time to slow down and enjoy Benjamin while getting ready.

This morning was not such a morning and the song "Saturday" played in my head yet again. I definitely see the benefits of being prepared and doing all you can to get ready as early as you can. We should not put off what we can do today for tomorrow, instead we should do what we can in preparation for tomorrow.

Gospel Topic Tuesday: Faith & Trials...Gifts

I haven't done a gospel topic Tuesday posting in forever. I keep thinking oh I will start that next week and then next week comes and goes. I was just about to let another week pass when I decided I just needed to sit down and take 5 minutes and write.

I was reading yesterday in "True to the Faith" about faith for a personal progress experience I am working on. I found a passage that stuck out to me. "Faith is a gift from God, but you must nurture your faith to keep it strong." There's a few reasons I liked this passage. One is because it says faith is a gift. It is given to us. It's a heavenly quality. I found that personally comforting. Two is because we have to nurture our faith to keep it strong. Which means we have to use it. As I was thinking about this I was thinking about trials and how if we step back and think about it our trials are opportunities to strengthen our faith. We are given the chance to use the faith we have and strengthen our testimony and come closer to God. It was kind of like an "ah ha" moment for me. Not only does God give us our faith but then He gives us opportunities to use it and develop it.

I'm thankful for my testimony of the gospel. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church. Though the trials are sometimes hard I am grateful I have them to help strengthen me and develop me into the person Heavenly Father wants me to be.

I Like Fancy

This morning I was in charge of making breakfast. I decided to make Dutch Babies! Delicious! We were almost out of syrup though so I had to make some more. As I was cooking the syrup I was thinking about how to serve it up at the table. I checked the cabinet and I had gotten rid of my gravy cup. I remembered I had a cream cup for my tea set in the cabinet at the end of the hall. Almost everything was on the table ready to go so I quickly grabbed it and washed it. While washing it Jared commented about how it was too fancy and I would have to wash it twice to use it once and it was unnecessary. I told him I like fancy! So I finished washing the cream holder and filled it up.

Who cares that my hair wasn't brushed, or that my kitchen wasn't 100% clean, or that we were using plastic plates. We were using the fancy tea set cream holder! It made me feel fancy and special!

Afterwards I canned the rest of the syrup. So now I've got some on hand again for awhile.

Jared took this picture of him and Benjamin this morning.

Story Time

Benjamin loves to sit down and read with us. Story time is one of my favorite times of day personally. Sometimes it's just one book and other times it's 5-6 books. Sometimes it's in the living room and sometimes in Benjamin's room. We have books stashed in both places.

(Please ignore my bed head.)

I love it when Benjamin will sit in my lap and have me read to him. It brings me a lot of joy. We also read from Winnie-the-Pooh the complete collection (thanks to Aunt Carolyn).

Across the living room

Yesterday Benjamin walked across our living room a few times. It was wonderful! He was so proud of himself and so were we. Below is a video we got. He loves watching himself on video too.

9 Month Stats

Benjamin was 9 months on Monday! We had a fun trip to the Dr's. He is on cold # 3 we think for the season and found out that children can get 8-9 colds back to back and they last about 2 weeks. Oh joy!

Below are his stats. He is actually starting to go down to the middle section.

Stats:

Weight:21lb 4 oz 64%

Height: 28.1 inches 47%

Head Circumference: 18 inches 64%

Benjamin's favorite fruit to eat is bananas. If there's bananas in it he is a happy eater.

Benjamin still loves bath time but doesn't like the end of the bath time routine. The part where diapers go on and PJ's. It's kind of comical because he will be fine and happy until his feet touch the bed.

He loves to play under the blankets now with us. He can be by himself or with us either way it makes for a fun game.

Benjamin has walking down to about 3-4 steps sometimes more. He needs to work on that balance a bit more.

He still enjoys chomping on my chin but with the teeth on the bottom now I am not such a fan anymore myself.

He loves to jump on the bed between Jared and I. We will stand across from each other and do a 1...2...3...wee...on wee he jumps up and across the bed to the other person. He loves it!

Benjamin has become a beggar. He begs to eat whatever we are eating and we will sometimes indulge but sorry can't have Daddy's peanut butter.

He only needs one hand now and will throw the second hand away when walking around now.

He has gone down to 1 nap a day for today and yesterday but we will see how that pattern holds out. It was still 2-3 before that.

He fits 9-18 month clothes.

Benjamin is not great at sleeping in his bed anymore. The Dr. said 7-10 nights of tough love with an hour of screaming at 2am should fix that. Ick!

He is a very determined, opinionated boy. He is quickly figuring out how to climb things and learning the cause and effect of some of his toys.

We still love being Benjamin's parents. It is the greatest thing in the world!