Guess What?

Lyndon and I are thrilled and happy to announce that baby number six will be joining our family this summer! Before anyone else can ask first let me say that "yes we do know how babies are made" and "no we are not single handedly trying to populate the earth." We do however feel honored to be making a significant contribution! Some of my dear friends need to forgive me for not calling and telling them the happy news...this is all I feel good enough to do. We had this whole big plan to wait a long time to share, but while my family was here for Christmas Eve I had every one worried that I was angry with them so we told Jamen and let him shout out "we are getting a new family member!" to add to the festivities. It's much easier to have it out so that my kids know why mom is in her pajamas for a year and me passing it off as a cold wasn't working out so well.

With that said let me tell you how it is. I have five sons, 2 dogs, and 9 chickens. I adopted a child from Haiti, trained for and ran a marathon for fun, chose to have my kids home with me to educate them, had my tonsils out in my 30's and spent 2 weeks in a hospital with a tube in my throat....all of that is a cake walk in the park for me compared to being pregnant. I get so sick that my body naturally conforms to the fetal position and I have picked out hundreds of different pictures in my slate on my bathroom floor since I spend the majority of my life laying on it.

My husband does everything and I just watch. It is the only weight loss plan that works for me and my kids spend like 15 hours a day in front of technology of some kind (which I hate). With all of that said, we have been here before and we will live through it again. It would be highly ungrateful of me not to see the blessing in this. As I really get a chance to see my children when I am pregnant, since I can't do anything else, I know that they are worth it. I also know that I would go through anything to have them here...debilitating morning sickness, heartache waiting for them to come home from a fourth world country orphanage, anything....So "Yeah" for the Friant family. In the meantime I will be daily praying for the strength to endure my blessings!

As an after thought...the boys took bets on what they think the baby will be. 2 boys said boy, 2 boys said girl and one boy said chicken....I hope it's not a chicken!

What I Wanted to Say...

We all have those conversations that after they are over we know what we would have said, but looking back know that it didn't go that way. This happened to me yesterday and though I won't be getting a do-over with the person I spoke to I still have to say it...Lucky you! An aquaintance called me yesterday to chat about home schooling. She had just recently made the plunge and she was frustrated, wondering how I manage to work out or shower, and obviously rather deflated with something that she had started out so happy to try. I bumbled around trying to explain how I make it work while folding laundry with one hand and checking Jamen's math page with the other...but as it came to an end I could tell that I hadn't helped her at all.
So this is what I wanted to say.
-I think the greatest discouragement is thinking that we need to mimic public school. If that is what we wanted for that child then they should go there.
-Time and season applies to learning for kids as well. If you are trying and trying and they are crying and crying two thoughts come to mind #1 they are not ready and #2 maybe your not going about it right for that child.
-I think the most important thing we can have whether we home school or not to help our kids is an atmosphere conducive to learning. I am only beginning to understand this, but a couple of things that work around here are #1 Limited time in front of the TV or computer #2 Books, books, books...they are everywhere around here. You sit on them, look at them and stumble over them-the kids can't help but pick them up! #3 Be an example! Don't give up learning because you are to busy teaching! How can a child get enthusiastic about learning when the person teaching them isn't?
-Most of all trust the Lord and listen to your heart. I find the times I get stressed out about having two of my kids (for now) homeschooling is when I listen to others usually cryptic remarks about it. When I am watching my kids and listening to the Lord there is peace. The Lord knew when he asked me to do this that I had a lot of laundry, cooking and a two year old to manage. He still asked me to do it.
-Enjoy being with your kids! It goes so fast. It will matter more that you taught them about right and wrong and helped them know that you love them to pieces than whether or not they did 20 pages of math worksheets in a day.
So that's what I wanted to say, but the truth is she really didn't want to hear it. I had to laugh because I felt exactly the same way when I started. I would talk to my home school friends and want them to tell me the "trick" the "magic pill" that would make the day go right. They never told me and they would smile and say things like, "oh it all works out." As our conversation came to a close I found myself smiling and saying the same basic thing!

Things I Could do Without

Today has me thinking about the things I could do without and I thought I would share with you.
They are in no particular order, some of them are totally dumb and some are not at all.
-Corruption in the world that causes broken hearts to people that I love.
-Winter so cold that it makes me cry at the thought of going outside.
-Poor health for darling older people like my poor grandpa.
-Potty training. I would like some kind of computer chip to insert into my two year old that does it for me.
-Boys that can't go outside because it is to cold and so stay in the house making giant messes, fighting and whining.
-Noise. I wish my children came with a remote control so I could turn them down. Right now I would push mute on Grayson's remote because the crying is really loud.
-Backtalking. I mean really shouldn't what I say go?
-Lyndon working. Now I am not saying I don't appreciate the income, it would be pretty rough being homeless, but couldn't he just get paid to be home and keep me warm all day?
So here are a few of the things I could do without today. While reading Henry B. Eyering's talk at the Relief Society meeting today I read something that struck me as profound and applicable for me. Speaking of past relief society sisters he said, "Their determination born of faith to serve the Lord and others seemed to take them not around the storms of life but directly into them." It would be nice to never worry, never be inconvenienced and to pee without an audience. But, that's not why I am here. Loving people and being responsible for them will mean worry, tough days and trial, but I am trying to feel that determination born of faith and hope that I am getting it right at least some of the time...What could you do without today?