GRAND CHILDREN ARE THE BEST

I just love being Nana, and nothing is sweeter to my ears than hearing little voices shouting, "Nana, Nana, Nana!" When your own children are growing up and you are in the midst of parenting, experiencing all the ups and downs, you may occasionally wonder if it is all worth it.  Well, being a grandparent is the big reward-- of course this is in addition to the reward we receive when each of our own children mature into loving adults.

Try as we may, we all make mistakes as parents, and at one time or another we feel as though we have come up short and not been the greatest parents around.  We play the "what if" game in our minds.  If only we had spent more time around the dinner table together, if only we had been more consistent at ready scriptures and praying together.....BUT NOW we get a second chance with our grandchildren!  Their parents are in charge, of course, and at the end of the day our grandchildren go back to their homes, but I believe grandparents can have a great positive influence in the lives of these little ones.  Since grandparents don't have to deal with the day to day, hour by hour, whining or fussing or tantrums of these little people, it is easier for us to spend a few hours here and there giving unconditional love and hugs.  We can sit down and cuddle them while reading or telling them a favorite story.  They can follow us around our houses and we can teach them skills with greater patience than we ever had with our own children.  We have more time now in our lives so we can take them on dates and shopping and we can come to their games and recitals.  We can teach them to pray and share our love of the scriptures and Jesus Christ with them.  As we develop our relationships with them they seem less likely to blow us off than they might their mom and dad.  We can watch them giggle and laugh their guts out, then take them back home when they are tired and cranky--what more could your ask for in life!  Thanks, God, for second chances.

AGING GRACEFULLY

In some ways I think I have gracefully accepted parts of the aging process.  Today, however, I got really frustrated with the fact that I am not as physically strong as I used to be. It's not like I haven't noticed it until just now or anything. Mostly I had come to accept the fact that more aches and pains accompany the physical exertions I used to do pain-free in the past. We have a pretty big yard at our house, nearly an acre. Most of our lives Gary and I maintained the yard by ourselves.  Then we started hiring someone to do it twice a month and we would do it twice a month. Finally we decided we were plain sick of doing it, so hired our awesome daughter-in-law, Kim, to do it for us. I tried to keep up the weeding and I did the planting each Spring. Then last year Kim volunteered to work an extra hour or so each time she came to help me with the weeding.  This week it has warmed up enough that the lawns needed it's first  mowing and edging.  Kim has been extra busy this week so I volunteered to do it all myself. I got an early start this morning and tackled the front yard after putting gas and oil in the mowers and edgers, etc. Gary did the power edging then I mowed, used the weed eater then blower. By the time I finished the front yard I was bushed, my back was hurting and my elbows and thumbs were throbbing from the weight of the weed eater and leaf blower. I had to put off doing the back yard until tomorrow.  I was so frustrated.  A lot of my neighbors have quit doing their own lawns, but I kind of snobbishly thought they were being a bit wimpy. Well, I have
 been sufficiently humbled by today's experience.

So now I am realizing I need to accept the limitations that come with age and take two days to mow and edge without griping about it all the time. I have so many blessings in my life to be grateful for.  Hey, I can still play tennis several days a week, so things can't be too bad:)

THE ATONEMENT

I have 3 lessons to teach this month in Sunday school about The Atonement of Jesus Christ.  This has lead to lots of reading, pondering, and prayer on the subject.  Of course it has also lead to a much deeper appreciation for this gift offered to me by Jesus Christ.  It has helped me to understand that this gift doesn't just kick in at the time of judgement, but empowers me on a daily basis to be transformed into someone who is more like the Savior whom I worship and adore.

I have read two books which have been so helpful.  The first is a relatively short book by Brad Wilcox, called The Continuous Atonement.  The second is a book which requires months of study, but which is well worth the effort.  This one is called The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister.  Fortunately for me, I had studied this book in years past and used parts of it in coming up with my lessons.

If you would like to learn more in detail about my feelings about and understanding of the Atonement, you can leave a comment here on my blog and I will email you my lesson.  You can also look on Facebook as I hope to post about it there as well.

GREAT TRIP WITH MY HONEY

I have had the blessing of spending the last three weeks on a sailing trip with my sweetheart, Gary.  We were both sick the first week, but as we gained our strength back and stopped coughing, we enjoyed every single minute of being together.  Due to winds and seas, we didn't sail far from Jolly Harbor, in Antigua, where we had stored our boat during the hurricane season.  We spent our time in quiet bays where we could work on various projects on the boat.  We read a lot!!!  We napped a lot.  I felt no pressure to cook fancy meals since we had no guests on board.

I am amazed and ever grateful that after 37 years of marriage we are still so in love with each other.  We are not perfect and of course we occasionally get on one another's nerves, but all in all, it has been one heck of a ride. These trips remind us of how much we love our family and how important they are to us.  Couldn't wait to get back and snuggle the grandkids, and hug the big kids too.

Taking these trips helps us appreciate the many beauties of God's earth and provides us lots of time to ponder and pray and think about everything.  We are so very grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We have truly, truly been blessed in every way.