Blessing Day

Savannah was given a beautiful blessing by her Daddy last Sunday.

{I have to give a special shout-out to two very wonderful women here that helped make her blessing a success! Chris Burtoft made that dress especially for Savannah. It was breathtaking. People kept asking "Where did you buy her dress?" ;o) It fit her personality so perfectly. We couldn't have been more happy! And Cleo Miller (Mema) made that beautiful bonnet you see Savannah wearing. It was simply gorgeous! She made a handkerchief and then turned it into that bonnet. When Savannah gets ready to go through the temple, she can snip the stitches and it turns back into a beautiful hankie she can take with her!}

It was such a special day. We feel so blessed to have this wonderful daughter of God here in our family. She is perfect!

We had planned on the weekend before. All of Joe-Z's brothers and their families came to town for the special event. Unfortunately, Joe-Z (and John Morgan) woke up with (what we can only imagine was) the flu on Saturday. Joe-Z was still in bed come Sunday morning. Bless his heart. So, we opted to wait for the next Sunday and asked a few of our good friends to help with the blessing. It was hard. We have so many good friends here. Our list was way too long, so we decided to go with the people we've known the longest. We had a great bunch!

A special thank you to: Brad Wonsch, Bill Miller (Papa), Danny Roberts, Andrew Harris, Seth Brock, and Drew Blimes (not pictured).

Simply Said Sunday

This quote really stood out to me at church today. Someone referenced this quote in Testimony Meeting this afternoon.

Speaking of the Ten Commandments, Stephen Covey said,

"It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law." (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

When I think about this, all I can picture is a wave crashing into the rocks. The wave will never knock the rock over and be able to continue on through the ocean on it's chosen path...the rock will stand firm and the wave will be the one to break. Every time.

Just the same, we cannot break the commandments. We'll only break ourselves against them.

This was just such a neat concept to me.

Simply Said Sunday

Helllloooooo Simply Said Sunday!

I was inspired by so many wonderful things I heard at church today. I thought about how much I wish you all could've been there and heard them too, because surely they would have spoken to your heart as well.

So, I've decided to dedicate a post each Sunday to things that I heard that were simply said, and yet were so far from being simple.

Next week I plan to take a little notebook, to write these wonderful little gems in. Today's "simply said" comes from a Sacrament talk given by one of our good friends.

This quote is actually not just a quote, it's more of a story, taken from an Ensign article from December 1971 by President A. Theodore Tuttle of the First Council of the Seventy entitled The Things That Matter Most.

"Some years ago, I read an editorial in the Deseret News entitled “The Mechanical Rabbit.” I quote:

“Most of our readers must have smiled the other day when they read of the greyhounds in Britain who don’t know a rabbit when they see one. So long had they chased a mechanical rabbit around the racetrack, that when a real rabbit bounded across the track, the dogs didn’t give it a second look.

“Stupid, eh? But sad too, this perverting of the natural instincts.…

“We chase mechanical rabbits, too.

“We chase paychecks, and don’t give a second look to the glint of the rising sun on a snow-topped peak.

“We chase our way through the appointments of a crowded desk calendar, and fail to take time to chat with the next-door neighbor or to drop in on a sick friend.

“We chase social pleasures on a glittering noisy treadmill—and ignore the privilege of a quiet hour telling bedtime stories to an innocent-eyed child.

“We chase prestige and wealth, and don’t recognize the real opportunities for joy that cross our paths...”

...

“Race on, you poor, blind over-civilized hounds. You’ll never catch your rabbit until you learn to recognize a genuine one."

This points up our challenge: See “that the things that matter most … are not at the mercy of things that matter least.”

Here's to hoping we can recognize our mechanical rabbits and shift our focus to seek the real, important rabbits instead. Have a great week!

Can less be more?

The Miller family had a "Family Temple Weekend" this past weekend. We rented a huge house in Winter Garden and Bill and Cleo and each of the boys and their spouses and children stayed the weekend together. It was a blast.

It was the first time that Joe-Z and I had been back to the temple since John Morgan was born. 7 months is a long time. You don't really realize it when you're caught up in the day-to-day thing we call "life", or at least I didn't, until I was taken out of that day-to-day and had a chance to breathe while I was in the temple.

It's so peaceful there. So quiet. I love that. It's so quiet that you can't help but hear the whispers of the Spirit. I decided that I want to try to make my home more quiet. When I was thinking about how I can do that, I thought of this talk, given by Julie B. Beck in the October 2007 General Conference, entitled "Mothers Who Know." This is the part that I really love:

"Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord's kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power."

Now, I realize that not all of us are mothers yet, and for the guys, never will be. But the great thing about this concept is that it can work for anyone. If you're a dad, you can still do these things, and have a better home for it. If you're single, you can do these things for yourself right now, and make your own personal kingdom better and more righteous, and in the process will be laying an even better foundation for your future family.

I have hope that this will help strengthen not only my family, but me personally as well. I, for one, am excited about having less at home!



(After reading this, it's totally not what I thought I was going to be blogging about when I started...at all actually. But, since it's what came out, I'll go with it. I'll let you in on my other blogworthy experience later.)

;o)

"Hands of Heaven on Earth"

We've been going through some random bins in our garage lately, and tonight I found this poem. Although I can't remember when or where it came from, I really liked it and thought I'd share:

I knelt to pray when day was done

And prayed, "Oh Lord, bless everyone;

Lift from each saddened heart the pain

And let the sick be well again."

And then I woke another day

And carelessly went on my way;

The whole day long, I did not try

To wipe a tear from any eye.

I did not try to share the load

Of any brother on the road;

I did not even go to see

The sick man next door to me.

Yet once again when day was done

I prayed, "Oh Lord, bless everyone."

But as I prayed, into my ear

There came a voice that whispered clear:

"Pause now, my son, before you pray;

Whom have you tried to bless today?

God's sweetest blessings always go

By Hands that serve Him here below."

And then I hid my face and cried

"Forgive me, God, I have not tried.

Let me but live another day.

And I will live the way I pray."

"Picture of the Year"

This came from an e-mail I got this morning...thought it was pretty cute!

All grown up

Sometimes I look at my little Levi and see a big boy looking back. So often I wonder where the time has gone, and how I can get it back.

Maybe that's how the world stays populated. Mommy's see their little children growing up and can't stand the thought, so they decide to have another little one to watch grow up, and the process just repeats itself.

All I know is that my children are my joy. I love being a mother. I know that's what I came here to do...to be a Mom. I personally think that there is no greater title that the world can offer me than "Mom."

A little perspective...

So, we've been having an extremely hard time with John Morgan. His crying borders constant. The past few days have been dizzying. He'll cry for hours at a time, until he loses his voice, then he whimpers until he falls asleep, tears still dripping down his cheeks. He gets little bits of sleep at a time, every once and a while he'll be able to sleep for 2 or 3 hours.

It's so strange...sometimes he'll lay on his blanket and stare up at you, just smiling and cooing like crazy, and 20 minutes later he's in hysterics. It's hard to see him so happy, and then so in pain the next minute.

We took him to his pediatrician yesterday who ordered a kidney ultrasound (scheduled for this afternoon), and told us to consult with our GI specialist from Children's to have an endoscopy done. So, we'll meet with him on Thursday and go from there.

With all of this going on, last night I'm on the computer perusing blogs, and came across this great "mommy interview" on the gab blog. From there, I went to this post about her daughter Rachel, who is handicapped. This story really put me in my place. I can't imagine going through something like this. I was left feeling so grateful that I was able to catch a little perspective in the midst of my so-called "rough" day.

I'm also really grateful for both of my boys, who teach me so much about patience, selflessness, and love, and remind me that if I feel this way for them, how much greater are those feelings that our Heavenly Father has for us. I know that he loves us and that he wants us to be happy, and will never give us trials greater than we have strength to bear.

Gratitude Brings Heightened Awareness

I read this LDS Gems thought for the day and thought it was so wonderful that I'd share it with everyone!

"Gratitude is a Spirit-filled principle. It opens our minds to a universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our hearts with their messages of God's love. This grateful awareness heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around us and the Lord. Gratitude inspires happiness and carries divine influence."

(Bonnie D. Parkin, "Gratitude: A Path to Happiness," Ensign, May 2007, 35)