light burdens

Today a sweet friend held L for a while during sacrament meeting.  She even took him out while he was fussing.  Nice!  Afterward she said "I hope that gave your arms a rest."  L is delicious and this sweet friend always wants to hold him.  And I appreciated the time to just pay attention to B. 

Later I was holding him asleep at the end of RS and thinking about the "burden" of holding this sweet boy.  All of my children are so sweet.  They are mine to care for, with P, they are our burdens.  But it is light because we love the, and because they're so cute.

Similarly our "burden" of living the gospel is light when we love.

something important

I was upset about something recently and P taught me something revolutionary.  I had been grousing for several tens of minutes about something that I felt someone else was doing wrong.  P said "You have 6 more hours to be upset about that and then you have to stop."  I was like both taken aback by his suggestion that I would continue to obsess about it all day, and by his statement that I had to stop.  Who's he to tell me to stop complaining about something that isn't my business.... oh.  Yeah.  It wasn't my choice to make.  And while their choice affects me, it affects them more, obviously.

This idea, not getting upset about things that aren't my business or choice to make... it's huge!  I can just choose to not waste emotional and physical energy on things I can't change.

I've heard of the serenity prayer.  I've even thought I was somewhat good at applying those principles in my life.  I'm vain like that.  But I've lazily felt like I was entitled to be bothered, when I'm not.  My energies are more appropriately placed on things that I can actually influence and that are my stewardship, like my family! 

P is awesome.  I'm glad he had the wisdom and courage to tell me this truth.

Valentines

This is a little idea I have been enjoying; making mini montages so the kids have mini pictures of themselves.  Last year we had extra pictures of G from his birthday cards.  I let him use those to put on valentines.  M and P were of course jealous.  So this year I made a mini montage so we could send valentines to cousins and friends with pictures.  The kids have 30+ cousins that are young enough that we wanted to send valentines.  Sorry older cousins!

I make these montages by putting the pictures into a word document.  I crop them, and make them all the same height, so the rows work out.  Still there was something strange with G and L...  Good enough for pictures that I plan to have cut up.  I've made a few other montages for M's birthday and bookmarks that I paid more attention to details...

So we've been making valentines like crazy.  I'm trying to help M understand that she can't spend 5 minutes on a valentine and then crumple it up.  I dislike perfectionism.  Poor girl.  She doesn't have to make valentines for all the kids at co-op, but a few would be nice.  And done is better than perfect.  I used to say "Done is better than good."   But I think the key to that is developing skill to get things done and have them be decent. 

I have some nice water color paper that I got for the kids.  Unfortunately I rarely let them use it.  But I did once let lP use a sheet which she made a lovely shade of coral by mixing the red and yellow beyond distinction.  At the time I was like "Why did you mix it up so much?"  But I saved it and turned it into hearts for them to glue their pictures onto.  I pointed out that it was a page lP painted.  Hopefully she doesn't remember my criticism....

I love my mom and I see in myself a similar desire to make things rather than buy the commercial option.  This can be fun, but it is also not cheaper or easier.  But I just accept that part of me that needs to add value.  It is really fun to do things, and create.  That's all the wisdom I have for today.