Tender Moments

This blog is our family scrapbook, so usually I post about the fun things we are doing. But life is not always so happy. This weekend was a hard one for me. Ryan went out of town Friday to visit his family and was gone through Sunday night. In the last month, he has been out of town a week for work, then we went out of town without him for a week, and now this weekend. I guess having Dad gone so much finally caught up to the kids, or me, or both!

I tried to plan some fun activities, but we had to postpone them because too many boys were getting time-outs and were otherwise grumpy. We did end up going out on Saturday -- they were good at Hogi Yogi, but then we had more problems that evening. Nathan was a NIGHTMARE through all of church . . . I left physically and emotionally exhausted.

And then as we were leaving church to go home, I tripped between where the sidewalk ends and the parking lot begins. I had a diaper bag on one shoulder, a large songbook in one hand, and Elizabeth in her carrier in the other. The carrier hit the pavement and I landed on top of it. Elizabeth of course woke up and started screaming and I started crying as I picked myself up. I don't think I actually landed on her, thanks to the handle. But I was so scared that I had possibly hurt my baby. The boys had been ahead of me and they all came back to help. I could see that they were sad to see me so upset. Once I was sure Elizabeth was okay, the tears continued more because I was emotionally spent. (I did bruise my left shin a little and scraped a few toes on my right foot, but I was fine.) I was glad that we had been slow leaving church -- no one else was around to see what a mess I was!

Out of all the stressful moments of the weekend, there were some tender, wonderful moments still:
1. Joshua had been in timeout on his bed. I went in to talk to him about what had happened. At the end of our conversation I asked, "Who do you need to say sorry to?"
Joshua: "Benjamin."
Me: "Yes, that's right. You can come out if you can tell him you're sorry and then be nice the rest of the day."
Joshua (as he is getting off the bed): "And Jesus! I need to say sorry to Jesus."
Me (happily surprised): "Yes, that is a great thing to do to repent."
Joshua is already out of his room, running down the stairs when I hear: (really loud) "Sorry, Jesus!"

2. I was able to take a break from the kids to attend the temple sealing of our neighbors. Karson and Betsy adopted Izzy 8 months ago, and this weekend they were able to be sealed to her. It was a beautiful moment, and I left the temple with such a love for my own husband and children. Even though none of them were physically with me, I felt so close to them. I am so grateful that we can be together forever!

3. Nathan was much better today (Monday) and so I laid by him at bedtime tonight when he asked me to. We were talking about various things when out of the blue he gave me a big hug and said, "Mom, I love you. Even when I tell you I hate you, I really love you a lot."

I'm thankful that these overwhelming days are few and far between, and that when they do come, there are still tender moments to be found!