Family time

It was so nice to have all of the siblings there at the family Christmas party!  It's too bad so many of them were BYU fans!! Ha, Ha!

Karen and I were talking the other day how nice it is that our kids get to experience the friendships and bonds they have with their cousins.  Since we were at the tail end and lived far away, we kind of missed out on the whole cousins thing.  Now any time Kayla gets to get together with kids she always tells me her cousins are coming even if they are just some friends.  It was really fun to see them all together last night!

Jer and I decided to give the girls an early Christmas present so they could wear their new dresses to church today.  They looked so cute we just had to take pictures!

There are times in life that make me think about what a responsibility it is to be a parent.  Friday night was one of these times.  Our house was full of people for a party and the girls were downstairs playing with all of the kids.  Jeremy carried Neeley up stairs and took her, screaming into the bathroom.  When I went to see what calamity had happened this time, I came to find her chin bleeding and Jeremy with a worried look.  She had fallen off of the jungle gym and needed stitches.  So we left our house with the party still going on to take her to the ER.  The whole way there we were trying to make light of the situation so Neeley wouldn't be scared but inside we were both scared to death.  We were trying to mentally prepare Neeley for what was about to happen so we were downplaying what they were going to do while at the same time giving her a little idea so she wouldn't be so nervous of what was to come.  She was ok until she heard the word poke and knew she was getting a shot.  It was then that she started to cry and wished that she was at home playing with the kids at the party and that Kayla was there with us.  She would never wish Kayla to be hurt, she just envied her for being able to stay behind at the party while she had to get poked with a needle.  We were both wishing it was one of us.  When the nurse came in to wrap her up in a sheet to keep her down, I thought, oh no, here we go.  Then I tried to make light of it all and told her that they were making her into a burrito just like we had had for dinner.  Thankfully she thought that was pretty funny!  After she made it through the shot, I told her she was brave and she said, "No, I wasn't Mom!  I cried!"  Nine stitches later we were headed back to the party.  It was so nice to find the whole kitchen all cleaned up!  Yesterday she was fine and hasn't complained about it one bit.  in hind site, it really wasn't as traumatic for Jer and I as we thought it would be!

Last night at the family party Charlotte was telling me about an experience she had just had.  Kimi desperately wanted one of JoAnn's puppies and was crying and begging for it and was making a huge fuss about it!  What Kimi didn't know was that Char had already arranged with JoAnn to give them one of the puppies for Christmas but wanted to keep it a surprise!  Charlotte just kept up the charade telling Kimi that there was  no way they could have a puppy.  In her head she thought, "Kimi, if you only knew that Mom has it all worked out for you.  Everything will be ok.  I have  plan."  It was at that moment that she felt those same words reiterated to her from her Father in Heaven, reminding her that He has a plan and that she just needs to be patient and trust him.

These two experiences have caused me to think about our own Father in Heaven and what experiences he went through with Christ as well as those things he witnesses each day in our lives.  I am sure it was difficult for him to see Christ suffer and that it is also difficult for him to see us endure our struggles.  Many times I am sure he has wished that he could do it for us.  I have thought a lot in the past few days of the struggles we have yet to bare and it frightens me.  I am not sure what I will have to see my own children experience but I do know that we have the greatest example of all.  Our Father in Heaven has given us this knowledge so that we may draw strength and comfort from it.  I am so very thankful this year for that little baby that lay in the humble manger with such an awesome road ahead.  He didn't arrive in this life as our Savior.  He became our Savior through those experiences he endured.