Moments of Motherhood

I will regret not recording a few sweet moments of motherhood that have happened over the last few weeks.

First, Joey bore his testimony in sacrament meeting. This is huge! We have spent time talking about what a testimony is and sharing testimonies at home during family home evening. Joey often defines what a testimony is instead of actually testifying of what he knows is true. He told me he wanted to bear his testimony and there were only about 10 minutes. My first instinct was to say no but I told him that when those that were up there sat down and if there was time then he could go up. It worked in his favor. My heart was racing and he looked obviously nervous. He did start out doing a bit of defining but then he added a few things about what he knew to be true and closed his testimony! I was in tears. It is amazing to see the growth and changes that have come to him. He can do hard things. The things that are hard for him are not the things that are hard for most but I see him daily growing and becoming what I am hopeful Heavenly Father has in mind for him. The sad part of this tale is that Peter was home with a sick Lily.

Second, I was folding laundry last week and Lily climbed up on my bed and started playing with a dish towel. Then she handed it to me and it was folded amazingly well for a 2 1/2 year old. I could not believe it. I dug through the mountain of laundry and gave her as many dishtowels and washcloths as I could find. She folded them all and made a neat little stack. She has watched me fold so many things and without me knowing it she has learned what to do and offered her help to me willingly.

Today, we had a few cherished moments. It is Spring Break and we did not make any great plans. Today I was the mean mom and made the kids clean, practice the piano and read.  Then the dreaded activity of grocery shopping and other errands. The kids did not complain when I asked them to clean. I had made them each a list and they got right to it. Joey helped Lily get started on vacuuming the stairs and Arabella helped her finish.  Jon helped Arabella by giving her a few tips on cleaning the downstairs sink, which is usually his job but we decided to shake things up a bit today. Joey then read to Lily- 2 books and Jon helped Arabella read a book. They loaded up in the car the first time I asked and helped Lily to buckle and unbuckle at different stores. I did have to ask about a dozen times for the boys to keep their hands to themselves. At Costco, I chose to get two carts so I would not be pushing as much.  Joey and Jon took turns but Jon did most of the pushing and only ran in to the back of my legs once.  When we got home the 3 older ones willing went back and forth taking groceries into the house and helping each other if something was heavier or bigger than they thought and they were only half way to the door. Lily would have been in on the action but she had fallen asleep.  After things were put away the kids went on a bike ride for a bit and then played together without fighting. 

A couple of weeks ago, a friend saw me with the 4 kids in town picking up our bountiful basket and commented on how she loved to see my kids work together. I laughed and thought if only they did that without me constantly telling them what to do our telling them to not fight.  Today, I was able to see what she was seeing. I would venture to guess that I don't need to do even half of the correcting that I do because I really do have good kids and they really do work well together.