This and That

On Wednesday, the kids wanted to walk to school. I walked with them. Owen usually rides his bike with a group of neighborhood kids, but since it was raining they didn't ride. But my kids didn't want to take the bus, so they walked. It is a really great thing for them, I'm impressed that they want to walk. Natalie said she likes the exercise and fresh air! These are elementary kids? Wow. So that was good. They are cute kids. It was rainy Wednesday and yesterday, so since I don't have bike rides as an option, I went to the temple. I went to the Jordan River temple yesterday. I've been feeling a bit stressed and stretched, so I was fasting and that helped, I went to the 11 am temple session - and when I was in the chapel, I opened the Bible to Isaiah 43, and verses 2 and 5 were a comfort to my troubled heart: 

  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

  Fear not: for I am with thee.

And then after the session was over and I was in the celestial room, I opened the scriptures at random again and came to Doctrine and Covenants 68:6. 

  Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.

I texted Corey of how these verses were an answer to my prayers. 

"What did they say?" he asked. I replied "Fear not. ...and that God won't let us drown." Life is busy, and sometimes it seems like we're just barely able to keep our head above water, but God will help us. Here is Katharine who dumped out all of Corey's ear plugs, and has a few in her mouth. I pray she won't choke and die. I'm trying my best to find things in the drawers that she might want to throw or dump out, but I'm always one step behind her. Katharine on Wednesday...

Things like this are contributing to my feelings of despair at the moment. Yes, probably one of my biggest causes of stress is the constant mess and clutter around our home. I want to simplify, and I really need to. I'm tired of all this junk that I can't get organized and is just used to make a mess. Legos can stay. Peter made a pretty sweet action scene Wed. 

Legos are good, maybe I should just get rid of all the other toys? Or atleast most of them? We don't need stuff inside. We probably just need to be outside more. More nature, less things inside. 

I enjoyed seeing the rain on the roses yesterday. And I took too many pictures of them. Oh, one sad thing about nature - they are cutting down the trees next to us. They are really going to be gone. The guy who owns the land next door was here cutting them down with some big equipment, but they weren't able to get down the ones that are leaning way into our yard. I'm sad. Our cottonwood trees were pretty. Now it's bare and looks sad and pathetic.

Oh well. I guess you can't stop the changes. But it is one less reason to stay, if we were thinking of moving. Which we aren't yet. But I'm sad. Rain was gone today. Corey went on a ride. I rode to the school with Natalie and Daniel as they walked, and then went on a very short ride. I was going to do the fishtail as fast as I could, then as I was coming to Wasatch, after keeping a good speed and feeling tired, I said "I actually don't want to do this..." and I turned around. Stretched for 40 minutes though! That was good. Weight before date night. I'm trying out some probiotics and coconut oil right now, hoping that might cure some of what ails me - my hacking throat, itchy scalp, and these last 10 pounds. Wes got another thing checked off for his mission papers - he went in and had his physician visit. Yay. He's going to be ready soon! Exciting.