Even though we’re going to our ward temple day at the end of this month, I wanted to go to a session earlier. We usually don’t go to sessions because it takes quite a bit longer—which is tricky in the heat with the boys. When I told Wes he said, “Let’s go this week!” Bless him. Things that would seem like a sacrifice to others are just good ideas that we should follow through with to him. I called to reserve a spot and there were only availabilities at 8 a.m. and 12:30. We arrived—through weird morning traffic—in time for Wes to do sealings before I went in for the session. I had a few things on my mind and thought about the beauty of the temple, how much the Lord really does care about beautifying and taking time to do things precisely and correctly. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect yet, but He can expect us to strive to be precise. Then I noticed the woman sitting directly in front of me. I recognized her hands, then her hair. When she turned around I had to muster all my energies to stay quiet. Sharon Morales! I visit taught her in Manor. She had been inactive for a long, long time. Earlier in her life she had gone to the temple, but by the time she moved across the street from us, she hadn’t been for a while. We gave her rides to church. She started coming regularly. She came over for Thanksgiving and could make any social setting sweet; she only sees the good in people. She had to move, but was working toward a temple recommend. I thought, “Too bad I’ll never know what really happens with her. I can only hope.” Then my phone died last week and I lost her contact information. But here she was! Right in front of me! What a tender mercy. I didn’t do anything to get her to the temple, but I prayed for her and love her and feel so blessed that I know of her continuing progress. I felt how much Heavenly Father loves her and how much He loves me—enough to keep me posted on this good woman. When we were in the Celestial room I felt that this is how it will be, joyful reunions with people we love, with those we’ve worked with, with those we can only hope for. This experience also helped me remember that I don’t know what is in store for others I work with (including our family!) in the future. The Lord can heal and shape our hearts; He can guide us to worthiness to enter His home—where we are always invited.

           Later one of the elderly temple workers asked if Wes and I were taking turns in the temple. She said that she’d seen me pushing the boys up the hill. She got a little emotional and told me how proud she was of us. I think when other people see us going to the temple with our crew, they think mostly of the logistics, which can be sticky at times. They also see that it’s possible to still regularly attend and still worship as a family. I’m glad we could give her hope. But there’s nothing impressive about us! We want to be at the temple. Our boys love the temple. We’re grateful we live so close to one. And really, as shown by my meeting with Sharon and our champion travelling sons, Heavenly Father makes it possible for us to do His work and enter His house.

            One of the other great blessings of the temple is the car time we get to share as a family. We get to talk and sing together. How awesome. I always feel closer to Wesley (not just physically!) after a little trip.

Some job postings are out! There are openings from Arizona State in Tempe to Clarkson University in Potsdam, NJ. Wesley has worked on his application package (a teaching statement, a research statement, his CV, etc.) all week. We spent Tuesday and Thursday evenings on revisions. We’ll work on it more in the coming weeks. We plan on sending the first application out September 15 and then on as they open. He’s also applying to national labs for post-docs, which means he’s writing research proposals and looking up people he would want to work with. Someone asked where we want to go. I don’t know. How can we really know? Sure, we’d love to be out West, we’d love to be within a day’s drive of family, but we want to be where the Lord needs us and where He knows is best for our family. So, we prefer wherever we’re supposed to go, wherever that is, and we pray for the wisdom to discern it and the ability to gain it. What an exciting adventure! The beginning is here!

The boys continue to cough. Levi’s rash faded, but remains. Keller had a night with a low fever—he seems to be teething more than anything, though. Levi took a few naps and sprawled on the floor a lot (which is strange) and Lincoln screamed for hours a time (which I wish was strange) and we relaxed and cuddled and read stories in hopes of comforting everyone. On a day that Lincoln particularly struggled, Levi spent a solid 25 minutes carefully coloring in the lines. When he finished his lovely purple dog, Lincoln marched over to rip out the page. Ugh. We calmed everyone down and I asked them what they thought we should do (we have this conversation over and over and over…) Levi glared at Lincoln while thinking, then had an idea. “I’m going to throw my jumping monkeys at his eyes!” (the jumping monkeys are little game pieces). Before I could intervene, he’d succeeded, Lincoln laughed and we went on our merry way. Boys rock.

The boys and I “hiked” some foresty trails in search of tadpoles. Just as we turned toward the creek, two puppies bounded up. Levi did his best not to scream. I held Keller, the other two tried to climb up my legs, and I tried to shoo away the dogs. One jumped all over Lincoln; he ended up with muddy paw prints in his hair and down his back. Levi, though untouched, felt traumatized and couldn’t enjoy the tadpoles after that. As we walked back to the van, the two re-lived the experience to each other. They turned to me, “Let’s just get a cat. We don’t want dogs.”  

Levi sounded out his first phonics book. He wants to read so much yet fears mistakes. It’s okay to practice. He can’t wait to start preschool. Hannah’s mom told me that Hannah is excited to have preschool with Levi “since we are going to get married.” Apparently she actually is in on the plan!

Lincoln found our pocket-sized New Testament and told us, “I need to read my scriptures!” Then he stood solemnly in front of us, held out the book, paused before saying slowly and seriously, “This,” (holding up the NT), “is from God!” Then he pretended to read from it, beginning with “Behold…”

Keller zooms, pulls up, stands while leaning on stuff. He’s trying to stand up on his own. He fights sleep. He starts screaming when we go near his crib. Since we’ve let him cry more, he screeches when I put him down. His newest form of holding on includes his teeth. I’ve been bleeding, so we’ll probably start the weaning process sooner than anticipated. The kid excels in determination and creativity. While Levi splattered on the floor, Keller crawled up to him, leaned over, and kissed his face. He sat up and giggled. This process lasted for ten minutes with all the boys gleefully entertained.

Keller has officially joined the party. I think I said this a couple of weeks ago, but he’s decided that his babyhood is practically over. He plays hide and seek as fast as he can. He climbs. He squawks. And he speeds. He chased and threw a ball all over the house one day. One night we couldn’t pry the toy hammer out of his hands, so he fell asleep with it. Actually, he hammered away joyfully until absolute exhaustion settled in. He pulls up on the edges of things like couches, yet he has two preferred standing spots: my knees and the bathtub. He has joined the sing-through-dinner chorus. (Wes told me that in his house they had a “no singing at the table” rule that maybe we should enforce…but I’ll take a joyful noise over the other options.) He and Lincoln have been stewing up fun. Yesterday as they sat in the toy room we heard bits of this conversation:

            “What you doing, Keller?”

            “Eeeee! Bababababa!”

            “No. What you doing, Keller? Do you want to play football with me?”

            Throw.

            “Good throw!”

Lincoln woke up, came to Wesley’s side of the bed saying, “I’m going to sleep by you, Dad. Levi can sleep by Mom.” A few minutes later he sits up, exclaiming: “It’s stinky!”

            Wes: “It is? Did you toot?”

            Lincoln: “No. It’s stinky!”

            Wes, laughing: “Who does it smell like?”

            Lincoln, decisively: “LEVI!”

We were all too tired for much of a FHE activity on Monday, so on Tuesday Lincoln chose to swim in the “little pool, because I am little!” Wes aired up the inflatable kids’ pool and they all splashed delightedly.

On Wednesday I had a temple recommend renewal interview, so the boys went to the beginning of mutual with Wesley. They loved it. Levi’s final comment of the day was, “I’m soooo glad I went to mutual!” Lincoln responded, “When I am a dad, I will go to mutual on Wednesdays!” (all things adult are encompassed in the phrase, “When I am a dad…” These discussions often occur in public restrooms). As I drove them home, Levi and Lincoln exchanged some significant glances and began an obviously practiced family council:

            We want a Daisy cow now.

            Maybe when you’re older.

            How about right now?

            Will you two take care of her and milk her every day?

            Oh, no! That’s Dad’s job.

            Or we could wait until you’re older and you can be in charge of milking her just like                                  Uncle David.

            We will be too tired; Dad will have to milk her.

            I guess we’ll have to wait, then because Dad has a lot of other work he has to do to take                           care of our family.

            No, no. We want a Daisy cow now…

The conversation ended with Levi’s conclusion, “When I get married, I will stay home with my wife and take care of her there. I love my wife.” Lucky her.

We’ve all been slow recovering. I didn’t think about it much until Levi got a fever on Thursday. The next day he was covered in a red rash. The doctor tested for strep. The quick test came back negative, but they sent in samples—we won’t know for sure until tomorrow. Despite rest and liquids he doesn’t feel any better and he sounds worse. Lincoln caught it as well, but still tries to go nonstop. We’re hoping that the rest of us might bypass it. Only Wes went to church today. Hopefully he won’t contaminate anyone else.  Levi has been taking amazing naps, though. No throwing up, no diarrhea, just slow and sore. If we need to be sick, this seems to be the way to go. Yesterday Levi woke up from a sick nap: “I need Lincoln!”

            “Why do you need Lincoln?”
            “Because he is my best friend!” Obviously. When Lincoln came in and crawled next to him, the boundaries of best-friend-hood were clarified with a few pushes and shoves.

In the midst of all of that, our vacuum smoked and died so we had to invest in a new one. I accidentally tossed my phone in the washer. Even after rice treatment, it’s dead. The replacement should be here around Tuesday. And when we went to the doctor, the receptionist informed me that our insurance wouldn’t cover our last well checks because they were too early (by a week for Keller); the insurance has a different story. Good thing we’re rich! All the back to  back necessity evaluations has increased my gratitude for all that we have and the miracle that we can replace these things without much discomfort or worry. We really are rich, especially in the blessings that cannot be measured with a dollar symbol. Most people in the world cannot do that. So, instead of asking “Why?” we try to ask, “How should we serve? How should we build the kingdom?” We’ll never be able to be deserving, but we try to be worthy.

On top of a huge rock wall at the park. 

Updates in Pictures

July!

One of Keller’s top teeth pushed through this week. Poor kid has been feverish in the hot, sticky weather. (Thankfully, this week felt positively refreshing after the last few. Nothing like mid-nineties and breezy!). Despite this, he happily crawled all over. He’s figured out spots that he’s not supposed to touch: computers, cords, doorstops, things his brothers are holding. Whenever possible, he goes right for those, giggling. If he wants to play he’ll attack it noisily. If he really wants to grab it and eat it, he’s quiet and fast. We can distract him sometimes. Usually once he focuses his attention on something, deterring him is basically impossible. He screams and twists and glares as if to say, “I will get it! I will find a way!” He loves bathing and splashing. He loves moving, moving, moving. We lowered his crib all the way since he can push himself up to sitting, tries to pull himself up, and clambers all over. He likes being closer to the ground and seeing more of the action. He loves green beans, black beans, waffles…all food, especially if he can pick it up. His reflux has returned with a vengeance (once again, we’re the barf-smelling family!) and we can’t figure out if he’s eating something weird or what. Thankfully, he has his nine month (!) checkup this week. He has slept through the night all week. Hurrah!

Lincoln loves running. Runningrunningrunning. “These are my running shoes.” “These are my running shorts.” “I am runningrunningrunning.” He tries to use Keller’s shoes. My shoes. Levi’s shoes. His favorite are Wesley’s running shoes. He forgets to pay attention sometimes and runs right into the wall. Or the floor. After our temple trip yesterday, he jumped out of the car running. Freedom! We have so many near-misses with him. He ran into the dresser and conked his head. He ran with his toothbrush and jabbed his mouth (ouch! That was too close!) He ran with the big boys at playgroup with Frisbees and soccer. He tried to teach Dustin (a boy we watched—who is a bit younger than Lincoln and a quite a bit bigger than Levi) how to run. He pretended to be a cow. Then a cowboy. He changes his clothes all day. He often wakes up in a different outfit than the one we put him down in—when we see him, he’s always very pleased with himself. We saw a man with motorcycle gloves and irrigation boots at the library. Lincoln followed him around reverently whispering, “Construction Guy!” When the man left, Lincoln ran after him: “Why does he have those boots?” I barely caught him in time (meanwhile, Levi unloaded our books for the week onto the checkout desk…)

Levi has tried really hard to use his words when frustrated. A week without biting! A week with more understanding! I love when we can talk together. It makes even tense situations unifying. Thank you, Levi! We’re so proud of him for pausing to think before reacting. What an example. He has also taken up some strange dance moves: it looks like a rain-warrior-figuring-out-the-body dance. It includes a lot of yelling and fast hand motions. His favorite things of the week include typing the alphabet on the computer (over and over and over), hitting the tennis ball with a racket (also repeated), and playing Plants vs. Zombies with Wes on the 4^th for “Boy Time’ (which he invented). He built boats and airplanes out of Legos. He led us all in parades. He taught me a game called “Bouncy Ball” one afternoon. I zoned for a minute and he yelled, “Hey, Mom! You need to run! That’s what your problem is!” My favorite quote of the week came yesterday while I helped him buckle into the van when we left the temple. “Mom and Dad are trying to teach me how to be nice. I’m trying to be nice.” And he always is.

Wes and I are trying to figure out how to find the volume button on our boys and turn them all down. There is no “inside voice.” There is LOUD and LOUDER and degrees of shouting. Is this a boy thing? (No, it comes from me not Wes. I try really hard to speak softly now though!)

We looked for a parade all over Austin and found one in Elgin (a little town outside of Manor). It included the Boy Scouts holding a flag, a veteran in a car, three men holding a flag, a girl on a pony, a few kids on bikes, and some city council members giving out Valentine’s candy and flags. The boys loved it. Parades are a necessity for Independence Day.

We celebrated Wesley’s friend/colleague who just finished his doctoral work by going to pizza for lunch on Tuesday. The boys did well. We’ll miss Kody, but plan on staying connected. That day, we also fixed the car window (it wouldn’t go up after rolling down) and picked up some food orders from the Bishop’s Storehouse. Wow! We drive a lot. We’re so grateful we can have a car. And a van! What a blessing.  

We’ve decided to focus our next-career-steps on national lab post-doc positions. Wes will still apply for professorships, but we plan on a post-doc somewhere first.

We’ve been reading Wesley’s mission journal. Love it. My friend is struggling. She asked me to pray for her—which was a very tender gift for me. I asked if I could put her name on the prayer roll and got to testify of the power of prayer and the temple. It’s been a sweet experience. I just want everyone to know the full joy of the gospel—even when mortality can be really, really hard.

 

That’ll do for today.