What A Blessing

I may be the only girl in the world who has struggled with the independence part of being pregnant, but lately it has hit me what a huge blessing pregnancy is.  Allow me to explain. 

All growing up I feel like I’ve been a pretty independent person.  I am not lacking brut strength and can therefore take on a lot of home projects, packing, lifting, playing sports, you name it on my own.  Since being pregnant though I’ve had to ask for a lot of help, even for the simple things like rolling up my pant legs (I’m sure you can relate if you’ve been pregnant before!) 

I really enjoy my independence, but even more I enjoy being able to bring this kiddo into the world.  It’s totally worth the little sacrifices, totally worth asking for lots of help, totally worth taking extra rests, and totally worth not running.

I’ve been in awe of how big this little guy is getting and the fact that we’ve been blessed to create him at the right time for us.  It’s pathetic because I totally get teary-eyed thinking of the baby, toddler, kid, boy, and man he’ll be.  My heart sings with joy knowing that I can spend eternity with him and Richard: no matter what happens here, we’ll always be together. 

The song “Families Can Be Together Forever” means a lot more to me now that I have one of my own.  The second verse reads:

“While I am in my early years,


I’ll prepare most carefully,

So I can marry in God’s temple for eternity.

[Chorus]


Fam’lies can be together forever


Through Heav’nly Father’s plan.


I always want to be with my own family,


And the Lord has shown me how I can.


The Lord has shown me how I can.”

While singing it in church it hit me, “Wow! I’ve done that! I did my best to carefully prepare, I’ve been married in the temple to a sweet and loving man, we’re having a precious baby boy, and we’re an eternal family!!” (And yes, I got teary there too, ha) It’s something I always dreamed of as a young woman and now I am experiencing it… what a blessing!

I’m truly grateful for these relatively small sacrifices that are bring about tremendous blessings in my life. 

I adore the miracle this baby is.

Something to Laugh About

This week, I’ve been taking some time to read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, by Stephen R. Covey. There’s so much good stuff in it and I’m only forty pages in!  One of the things that stuck out to me as I read the other morning was about finding the humor in our lives. I’m a firm believer that humor can lighten up almost any situation, and should be used A LOT! 

This part from his book really jived with me:

“[Humor] puts things in proper perspective so that we don’t “sweat the small stuff.” It enables us to realize that, in a sense, all stuff is small.  It keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously and being constantly upright, constricted, demanding, overexacting, disproportionate, imbalanced, and perfectionistic.  It enables us to avoid the hazard of being so immersed in moral values or so wrapped up in moral rigidity that we’re blind to our own humanness and the realities of our situation” (34).

As I’ve kept that in mind I’ve thought about how I can apply it to my life, and today I got the chance… After staring blankly at my closet, not really wanting to wear any of my maternity shirts, I decided to bust out an old dedicated t-shirt.  I slipped it on despite it being a LOT tighter than it used to be, and proceeded to go do my hair. As soon as I got in front of the mirror I realized I had a problem… I was sporting pregnancy midriff, so hot! Instead of getting frustrated I simply had to laugh at how silly it looked!  I guess a maternity shirt it is for today… 

(This is the best shot I could manage one hand! But you get the idea, so silly!)

"Lucky I'm In Love With My Best Friend"

(Written Aug. 30)

The lyrics to this song keep replaying over and over in my head lately. I feel so blessed to be married to my incredible husband. We each have our imperfections and weaknesses, but they seem to matter less and less as time goes by. Rich is so patient with me and is constantly encouraging me to do things that will help me to grow and learn. I really appreciate this because it helps me to not go stir crazy, and lets me know that he will forever want what is best for me and will be on the look out for things I might be interested in.
As he finds little ways to serve me and I find little ways to serve him, our appreciation for each other just grows and grows (imagine that!)  I'm so grateful I can entrust my whole heart to him. It's a treasure to have someone so dedicated to the same values and virtues you are.
In a world that I often feel is changing at an ever rapid rate, I'm thankful I can count on my husband to be one of my sure constants.
This man is pure gold through and through. He has a pure, sincere heart, an honest work ethic, and is willing to sacrifice whatever the Lord requires of him to be His servant.
Each one of us picks our spouce for a variety of reasons, and I'm simply so grateful Heavenly Father lead me to this one.  He is everything I need and could hope for and then some.

Be Actively Engaged

(Written Aug. 21)

In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord explains that, "...men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness" (58:27).
While praying about my struggles to get settled in here and battling feeling complete and utter lack of understanding, I found myself asking for the desire to get to know people, to get out and participate in the world outside of my apartment, and to be able to find things that motivate me to increase, as well as develop my talents. Then the above mentioned scripture popped into my mind and I quickly had to go look it up.
A few things hit me with this scripture. First of all, I have to be the one who chooses to get involved in this new place. I can't leave it up to other people to make my feelings about this time of life change. I will forever be the one who chooses to take an active role in the world around me or to take a passive role. Either way I choose, but one way is going to help me be a lot happier than the other.
Second, it's okay to have this week to settle in and unpack, and it's okay to not immediately love my circumstances. Life requires adjustment periods, and now is no exception. It will take time to get used to my husband's work hours/schedule, it will take time to feel like I have cleaned our house enough for habitation, it will take time to really call this place"home", and it's ALL OKAY! For this realization I am very grateful.

"Be Still and Know That I Am God"

(Written Aug. 20)

My life is choc full of "newness;" my husband has started his career, we live in a new state, a new town,  a new house, go to a new ward (church), are trying to make new friends, will have a new baby, and have a new schedule, all of which is  forcing me to adopt a new attitude.
Change at any time in life is hard, and I guess I subconciously decided that I wanted to take on as much of it as possible at one time as I could. Shame on me for ever thinking it would be easy! Or did I?
For the most part I am a pretty content person. I find satisfaction in the small things and am happy to go along with plans that are thrown at me. So why is this move so hard? Why won't all of this newness sink in and become apart of my life?
There's a scripture in the Old Testament that the Lord used to teach Joseph Smith a lesson with. He explains, "...be still and know that I am God" (Doctrine and Covenants 101:16). Now if there is anyone I can think of in history that experienced a lot of "newness", Joseph would be the one, and if that counsil applied to him, then surely it can apply to me at this time.
While I wish I could make this new place and new adventure sink in and become a normal part of my life faster, I trust that as I take things one day at a time that the Lord will slowly open up my eyes and my heart, and will flawlessly take all of these "new" things and shape me into a better person.

The Simplest Things

(Written Aug. 19)

Now that we have a two bedroom place and are where we'll be living when the baby is born, I can finally set up shop- aka baby's room!
It's amazing how the simplest things make my heart feel like it's glowing with pride. These are a few:
Seeing his tiny onsies/sleepers on his shelf,
Buying binki's for the first time,
Setting up his stroller and carseat,
Filling up my diaper bags with diapers, wipes, binki's, a blanket, homemade burpcloths, and clothes I want to see him in at the hospital,
Putting blankets in his pack n' play, and
Lining up little furry boots and shoes.
I feel so blessed to have this little boy growing inside me. I'll be honest that at times it is hard to give up my body, or rather my independence that came from being able to do x, y, and z withouth asking for help, but this is by far the most rewarding experience of my life. I know it is a gift and a miracle.
There is so much I don't know yet, but I simply  look forward to seeing the little boy he'll be. I trust parenting will be hard, but I couldn't have better examples in my life or a better spouse to help me learn to be the best mommy I can be.
Ten more weeks until I can hold my baby in my arms, see his beautiful face, and touch his small hands.

It's Good To Be Home

(Written Aug. 18)

With Rich's work in full swing, I get to do most of the unpacking and organizing of our apartment, which is something I really do enjoy.  Like most little girls, I grew up with pictures in my mind of how I want my home to look, and I love being able to implement those little things now here and there as our budget allows.
This move has been particularly rewarding since Rich has had long days at work, opening my day up for setting up our house (what else am I going to do?!)
Each day this week, after a lot of cleaning, organizing, and unpacking, I have gotten to show Rich what I've done, and his admiration makes all the work worthwhile!
Tonight, when he got home, being beat, he came in and crashed on the couch (you know your hubby is tired when you can audibly hear him sigh as he sinks into the couch from the other room).  We chatted about our days, and I filled him in on all the details of what I did to the house while he was gone. His honest reply after showing him the new set up was, "Wow, I didn't even notice all ofthis when I walked in. It just felt better; like home." While I could have been offended, I wasn't at all. It makes me really happy to do the little things that make my husband feel good and relaxed at the end of the day.
I know that he probably won't pick up on the small this or that I do during the day.  What matters to me is that I do it so that when he gets home from his very busy day he can kick off his shoes and think, "man I'm so glad to be home."

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

(I wrote this back on Aug. 17th, just didn't have this here blog created yet ;))


There's a song we sing at church entitled, "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go". The first verse reads, "It may not be on the mountain height, or over the stormy sea, it may not be on the battle's front My Lord will have need of me. But if, by a still, small voice he calls to lands that I do not know I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine; I'll go where you want me to go."
This song describes perfectly how I feel as of late. Rich has been blessed to get a job right out of college in these hard economic times, which is a huge blessing for our growing family.  It is also a little bit of a challenge because it requires us to move, a lot.
Last week was his first week of training in Minnesota.  As his week came to a close we found out where we'd be living for the next four months or so... Iowa. We now live in the biggest town near his project, consisting of 7,000 people. I thought I was from a small town, but not anymore.
With any big move, it presents the opportunity to grow and learn a lot.  It also presents an opportunity for Heavenly Father to touch your heart in ways He couldn't before.  I guess there really is a perk to the vulnerable position moves put you in.
Not knowing why we have been sent to this exact town for reasons other than work, I feel like this is exactly where we, and more imparticular, I am supposed to be right now. Despite how scared, overwhelmed, and unsure I am about a lot of things, I simply feel this is right where we are meant to be.
With this being the first move of many, I promise my Heavenly Father that no matter how scary, uncomfortable, or challenging any move will be, as long as He helps direct our path, I'll go anywhere He wants me to go and will stand bravely by my husband's side.

Looking For Inspiration

Hauling your life across the country in a U-Haul with your sweetheart has some perks to it after all.
Since graduating in December, I've had this recurring thought, "So... what next??"  With me being pregnant, and my husband, Rich, graduating then landing a job that takes us all over the place, getting a teaching job becomes pretty hard.  To be perfectly honest, my life's real dream has always been to be a stay at home mom, but I have found myself floundering searching for some form of progression in my life that will uplift and inspire me during this "in between" phase.
My husband, being the fabulous listener he is, took all of this to heart, and on our drive across this lovely country he sprung this question on me out of the blue, "So, Jess, what are your goals right now?" My honest response was, "Buhh... duhh.. umm... Survive giving birth??" But then it got me really thinking, "What do I REALLY want to accomplish right now in this phase of my life? What will make me happy?"
Along with a list of other things I want to do with my life right now, the idea for this little blog was born.  A place where I can share with whomever, or no one at all, the little lessons life is throwing at me.  See, I'm not good at being really quirky and funny, in fact, most of the time I feel silly posting in my other blog because I don't have some funny little story or caption to post, so I end up resorting to the drab comments under pictures like, "Richard and Jessi at the park." Which I then read latter and think, "Well no duh!" But one thing I am good at is being sincere and teaching myself simple little lessons life throws at me, and I figure someone else out there might appreciate the truth about individual life.
And so here I go, one courageous step at a time, I'll share with you the silly things life constantly throws at me, and hopefully along the way you can relate to a few posts here and there!

Jessica