Button Factory

I have thought of many a title for this post:
Poseiden's visit
Search and Rescue
Today I like Tile
Mud on your Face
Belching Toliets
More Arizona Adventures
Tests in Temperance

all of which describe consicesly just parts of this increasingly interesting day. I can't say that any of my day was bad, but it sure was different. I have learned that as I have prayed for the Lord to help me develop the virtue of Temperance, I have had ample opportunity to practice reacting with grace in stressful situations. Finally the day is really done, and I find there is peace in my home, just so long as everyone is sleeping and I have warm socks on my feet.

The morning began with a frantic friend in a very difficult situation. In a nutshell: Pornography ruins lives, and not just the life of the one viewing it. If Satan learns he can get at you in little ways, he will build your confidence in doing one evil thing at another until others are very literally in danger in your presence because you no longer have control of your agency. I am just glad we could offer a safe place for her to figure out her options, work through the situation, and sleep tonight without fear.

Then the twins appeared, with snotty noses. No biggy, just a bit more clingy and my precious time with just my two little lovelies disappeared. Cannon did not arrive, which was weird.

Breakfast at 10am, actually a normal time for me. I just kinda forget about breakfast in the rush of getting things going in the house. Including starting the laundry.

By 10:30am the youngest ones were asleep; Danny and the twins snoozing away in the bedroom and I could sit down with Faith to get her hair done and read a book. While trying to not eavesdrop on telephone conversations and just focus on reading a book to Faith I also tuned out the sound of running water. Twice the sound of the clothes washer registered and I thought "there is the last rinse cycle, it will be done soon and I will have to stop reading to Faith." When I finally finished reading 'Peter and the Wolf' to Faith I popped up to attend to a crying twin when...wah!! Water!!!!!!!

The washer had stuck on filling the rinse cycle. It kept running, and running, and running, flowing silently across the floor. Creeping deeply out from the wash room to the hall, the entryway and down to the main room when I sploshed into it's welcoming wave. At least an inch of standing water was pooling in the low spots of my all tile, thankfully, floor. Only a bit of water had seeped into doorways of the back bedrooms.

Thinking temperately, I got Faith and I each a broom and opened the front door. 'What an adventure we have today!" I told Faith as we began pushing the water out the front door in sheets. Faith splashed carefully, only slipping three times, and each time having to change her shorts again. She would return to me pushing water out the door and say "Mommy, this is an adventure!" just at the point when my positive thinking was sliding down the pole of my broom and pooling in the still gathering water.

During our water sloshing, Faith had to go to the bathroom. She yelled from my master bath, "Mommy, mommy, come here." I assumed it was the regular call to assist in flushing the toliet since the handles sticks and it is hard for her to flush. "I'll be there in a minute sweetie" I yell back. She tenatively comes into the room where I am still moving water. "No mommy, come see the toilet." This time the sound of running water alerts me, no more blocking out that sound, and I arrive just as the poo water is brimming the toilet! Yikes. And we have no plunger. Drat. Channelling all the Macgiver I had in me, I found a way to keep the float up, tricking the toliet to STOP PUTTING OUT MORE WATER so I could return to the now rising children.

Turning lemons into lemonade I determined the good soak on the floor was good for something- a nice scrubb. My friend corralled the kids in the bedroom, scaring the from exiting the door by continually sucking water up from the carpet, while I got the kitchen mopped and the rest of the floor mopped. As I mopped I noted the time; Noon. Cannon should definately have been here by then, his grandma was to bring him over at 9am, but perhaps he had pre-school after all today, but even at that he should come over by 11am. Maybe she just was feeding him lunch. I should call and find out what is going on. Not now, the floors need to get dry so the kids can come out of the bedroom.

I mopped on. Closing on 12:30 I had thrown some wheat thins to the hungry little people being held captive and thought, heck, I can talk on the phone and mop, call Grandma Joeann. No answer. Check the number. Dial again. No answer. That's weird, she always answers the phone. Perhaps she is just walking Cannon over her now. Another 15 minutes, no Joeann or Cannon. I call again. No answer. No the sneaky thoughts are coming in - what if? what if? Joeann is old and Cannon is clever. what if? what if? So I call Shelly across the street from Cannon's house, maybe she knows what is going on. No answer from Shelly. I start to get really concerned. So I call Stacy across the street from Cannon's house. No response from Stacy. I call Joeann again. I keep mopping. I call Joeann again. I call Shelly.

Shelly answers! Shelly is confused. Joeann dropped twin brother Cooper at 7am the morning and all seemed well. She'll just keep me on the line while she walks over to see what's going on with Cannon. As she is walking up to the house I hear from Shelly "Hello? Where are you?......Okay I will be in in a second..... Nancy, they are locked in Cannon's bedroom, I need to remember the garage code to get in the house, I will call you in a bit." Later I recieve a call from Joeann recounting how she had tried to help Cannon pick out a different outfit to wear since he was displeased with the one she chose and as he followed her in the room, he closed it behind him in frustration. The family had reversed the lock so it was on the outside so the parents wouldn't be locked out with the kids in. Joeann and Cannon and gone into the room at 8:30am. It was nigh on 2pm when I finally got Shelly over there. A 75 year old woman and a 3 year old boy stuck in bedroom, streets barren and deaf to her cries of help out the window. No food. No bathroom. Just stuck! Why she didn't think of prying the hinges off, I don't know. Shelly called me shortly after to tell me that Cannon was with her, in a state of shock, and she would let me know if he wanted to come over to my house later, he just needed some stability time for at least a bit. No kidding! I only lament that I didn't act on that pondering about Cannon much, much, much earlier. I am grateful that I did listen to the promptings, from the Holy Ghost no doubt, to pursue the issue instead of not letting it bother me.

Meanwhile....

The bulb in the master bath toilet had been jarred and water was flowing again. This time I did not react as temperately as I noticed the water creeping into the living room from the other corner of the house. Damn. Damn. Damn. I said under my breath as I splashed, once again, through standing water to running water. The kids happily played in the mud in the backyard while I decided how much of this water I wanted to deal with. Again, lemons to lemonade, I let the bathroom tile soak for awhile before getting it all dry to get in a good scrubbing I have been meaning to do for awhile in that master bathroom. In the midst of this, the second bathroom toilet also clogged, but did not overflow. Again, the absence of a plunger was noted.

While the master bathroom floor soaked and the toilets slowly drained themselves down, I emptied the wash machine out, bucket by bucket, to the backyard puddles, creating more lovely mud for my little ones. At this point I was powered and motivated soley by chocolate and the fact that this water was going to stay there until I did something whether it were now or later. I wrung the clothes out by hand, remembering the years spent in Brazil doing the very same thing with my clothes, each Wednesday coincidentally. The twins went down for a nap. My friend went in to work for a bit. And Faith and Danny got their very own scrub brushes to help me with bathroom floor. Scrubbing the floor was great fun. Faith told me at least twice that she is "a good helper, mommy." Eventually I couldn't back them out of the water far enough and put them on the bed to watch 'Baby Neptune' of all the einstien movies that popped up first, it was the one about water! The twins woke and finished the show with the kids. I finished the floor. We all had a snack.

The twins' mom came to pick them up, bringing 3 more kids. We talked amidst screams. Josh called stressed from work. I knew I needed to get dinner going. All happened and I got to my 6:30 meeting almost on time. I was only late because I procrastinated taking a shower, worried that the shower water would somehow back up and cause more water to clean up! aack.

Now it is late, my head is empty of this crazy episode, yet my toes are still a bit cold from the damp day. If old wives tales are correct, I am likely to get a chill from getting ones feet wet.
As tempering goes; it is pleasant to know that I can get better each day with facing life's new little challenges/adventures/differences without actually going crazy. I may feel a bit crazy in the moment, but as long as I don't lash out, I might actually become the graceful person I invision.

The little people have taken over now.
Daily they encroached a little more on my world. Sneaking. Screaming. A subtle attack at the form of life I possessed.
Now they rule.
I sit here, silently, hiding in my head. If I reserve just a little of what reamin normal in my head I should be able to survive. I can hide a little piece of me.
Just feed them. Dispose of waste. Monitor. Interact minimally.
If they have taken over what is outside, what is it that is scrounging through my brain. It ust be the scavangers of hearty life.
I think I will change my name. Then I won't have to respond to that nagging repetition. Something must dull the stinging annoyance of noise, Noise, NOISE!
Oh no! They surround me again, staring, silent. Eminent erruption. Will it be me or them?

Maybe I am not so sure doing daycare was my best idea this week; all in the attempt to have more money.
Money can't buy happiness.......but at least I should be able to have more chocolate in my house cuz this whole wheat gig is starting backfire.

Danny has discovered the sound of the 's', Sean Connery style that is. He began by transitioning from the 'yah!' affirmative to a resolute "Yesh." Now he drinks 'juish' and drinks that juice from a 'shippy' cup.
Yes, that picture is blurred, to protect his innocence of course.

My darling little Faith loves exageration. It just couldn't be due to the fact that we make everything just so dramatic to overplay certain facts of life, such as:
When you pee your pants you have to wear UH-gl-lee Panties!
Funny child has had a bit of confusion since moving into our new house. Since we no longer live in a tiny apartment with one bathroom, she has difficulty getting to, or deciding on which toliet to use. Either way, she holds her pee, speeding up the little hoppy dance until the very last moment until ....'I neeed to go poTTYY!" No kidding, is that what you body was telling you the last two minutes with the tap routine? So off she goes, getting about two-thirds of the way when she gets confused and comes back, now hopping vigirously from one foot to the other squeeaking out a pealed yet held back 'Mommy, I need helllllp....." hop,hop, turn, skip, hop, hold bum, shreeche scream. 'GO, GO,GO!" we yell "You know where it is" but the moment has built to the climax now, and if she stops dancing around or jumping or twisting, contorting her body in a way that seems certain to force the pee out, she will drench the room. So we rip the pants of and try to put her on the toilet before the stream of dammed waters burst. That is, of course when we decide to help her. Other wise we kind of giggle under our breath as we hear the struggle of trying to jump and take off her pants and get the toilet seat up between twirls. Usually,when we don't help it ends in a sad, repentant sort of cry from the pot "I peed my pants."
"Uh-oh, I guess you just need to listen to your body before it is too late. For now you will have to wear UH-gl-lee panties."
At first Faith was confused. The deliver made ugly panties actually sound bad. She was a bit apprehensive. Then we pulled out the old garage sale training undies with a few holes from wear in them. She looked back to make sure this was the worst of it, and then giggled "These are not ugly, the are just panties!"
Now Faith has caught on to the joke. Don't get me wrong, she doesn't like wearing the ugly panties, she much prefers princess panties, but she gets just as much of a kick out of it as well.

To nurture that budding interest in silly things our bodies do, we recently came up with, I thought, a rather creative way of making that stinging effect when you finally get lotion on severly dry skin seem fun. Since myself and both my babies have sensitive skin, we all were suffering from Arizona winter dryness. It is even significantly more dry in the winter than when we arrived here 4 months ago. We had to lotion up night and morning, and the first night was not so fun. I had eczema on my hands as well an when Faith started screetching and dancing, her common reaction to discomfort, I put some lotion on my hands to remember what the feeling is.
"Faith, did you feel that?" Faith paused. "They did like the party food." 'Who?' "The little skin fairies that come out to dance in high-heels." 'Fairies?' "Don't you feel that pricking on your skin after we put on the lotion? It has party food in it that the skin fairies like, so they come out to dance and play. Their pretty shoes prick your skin to make it all better! Oh what beautiful fairies." Faith stops her dance and looks at he underside of her fore-arms where the dry skin was the worst. Slowly, yet very discernably, she begins to smile. She sees the fairies. 'Oh they are so pretty! Dancing on my skin! I love my fairies in pretty shoes.' "Just be still and you can feel the kind of dancing they are doing on your skin." Faith sits down quietly on her bedside and just watches and absorbs the tingling pricks on her skin A slight giggle was all the more we got out of her that first night before she quietly lay in bed, paying attention to her body healing itself with a little moisture boost. The next night she was excited for the pricking high-heeled fairies to dance her skin all better.

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I am absolutely in love with my son! He makes me laugh and smile every minute of every day. Even when he is sad or grumpy it is just so dang cute I can't help but kiss his cheeks. As he grows more into a little boy he has become quite the tease. That little twinkle in his eye is magnified every time he does something he knows is funny. Can't this just last forever? I love Danny.

When did she get so grown up? Oh yea, that must have been Thursday when she turned 3.

The table was set with care. Doilies are a must, very glamorous. All the flatware had been be-dazzled. Of course the teacups were personally monogramed for the big day celebration...

Viola! Our beautiful princess became queen of the day on her very first Birthday Tea Party! (not her first birthday, her first Tea Party, 3rd b-day)

Of course, Danny only came for the food, and hey, if he had to wear the 'crown' (it was a Happy Birthday tiara, but masculine because it was just silver with no glitter) to get what he wanted, fine.











The rest is gorgeous history! My baby girl is three and I am oh so proud of how lovely and sweet she is.

I have 'goal-ed' (as opposed to resolved) with this new year to read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese, out loud. I love getting a fresh perspective on scriptures you have learned by heart. Because translations of any work are not exact, there are beautiful little nuiances in the phrases that help me to reflect on what the Lord needs me to become.

Last night I paused, after a delightful run of more and more pages (I enjoy reading out loud in another language a lot a lot) on the scripture that precedes 1 Nephi 3:7. We are all familiar with Nephi's courageous response "I will go I will DO!" particularly when accompanied by primary children, however it is Lehi's request preceeding the response that touched my heart. Lehi was so patient and very loving although repeatedly tormented by non-believers both strangers and family. He only cracks once under pressure, but often he talks with the tenderness of a parent who's heart is crumbling under the knowledge that his sons are not going to make it to heaven with him :(

After Nephi returns, full of the spiritual reassurance of the things his father has taught them (both he and his brothers) because he has prayed for the confirmation of that testimony, he learns that his brothers have been giving his dad grief the whole time he was gone having a glorious building experience and his father, poor Lehi, is just tired. "The Lord ordered that you and your brothers should return to the house of Laban and search out the registers of our parents and bring them here to the desert. And now, your brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing that I ask them, but, yet, it is not I who ask them, but an order of the Lord." ( 1 Nephi 3:5 my translation back to English with italics added) how exhausting, poor Lehi.

He then turns directly to Nephi, as I see it, and says with a pleading in his eye "Go, therefore, my boy, and you will be blessed by the Lord, because you didn't murmur." If for no other reason, Nephi has the promise that he will be blessed because he didn't murmur. In portuguese "seras abencoado' is absolutely direct - the future definitive -leaving no doubt that Lehi knew what Nephi's response would be.

Nephi's response was not one of just faith; he would go and do because the Lord always prepared a way so he would this time. Nephi's response was more than just "I will" in staunch courage. Nephi's response was a comfort to his darling, old, withering, father who had been weather beaten by bullying sons for after Nephi says he will, "and it came to pass that when my dad heard these words, he rejoiced (within himself, throughout himself) because he knew that the Lord had blessed me." (1 Nephi 3:8) Not only had the Lord blessed Nephi, but he had blessed Lehi through this righteous son. I feel the father's weight of sorrow lift as at least one son shows the testimony through word and action that he feels in his heart, for "rejubilou-se."

We finally made it to the zoo on my birthday. It was alright. I was grumpy so my view of the place was a bit jaded. It was a pretty interactive place. Faith got to ride this large African antelope....
The rhinos actually moved, every other zoo I have been to that has rhinos they seem to just be large rocks. These guys were eating and turning their massive heads and you were actually really close to them. They were Josh's favorite.
Kids as little Joeys, or is that what you call a baby wallabe? Their wallabe habitat was open to get right up to the animals (you can't pet them so what is the point) even if the wallabes had wised up and never if came close to the meager rope that seperated my children from their soft furry coats. I've never heard of a wallabe attack so I guess that is why the think it is safe to let small children within arms reach of the critters.

This habitat didn't have a sign. The dark cave entrance was a bit ominous but we figured if we sent Danny first then we could all go in after while the critter was either chawing on him or kissing is lovely cuddly cheeks.

A- moving faster than your children

B- start moving in the morning and just don't stop

C- get a really large yard and don't let kids back in the house before they pass through a shower, and only at bed time

As I leave last year behind, I find I am a bit more tired for it. I recognize that coming into 2010 will be great. I always like a new year. I like the new goals. I like review the old goals. I like musing over the new possibilities. However, this year I am a bit shocked to find that I am more tired. There could be some combining factors as to why I am physically more tired - those are easy outs. Yet, why does my soul feel just a little slow? On the inside, I can't seem wake-up quick enough in the morning to be absolutely grateful and happy; to love my wiggly little kids and untidy husband. I can make my body get moving and start the routines, but the inside is lagging. Blessedly, by the middle of the day I can feel the stretching, upward stretching, of really good things happening inside me. Changes are being made for the better. Good, better, best. Was it 2009 that made me a morning zombie?

Dunno, it was a good year though. We lived in a place I really really loved. We went on a vacation, a real family vacation with coolers full and camping gear filled with memories delux. We faced some new dragons, got really brave, and have gone into the lair at least if not killed a few baby dragons. We've lived in a place I really really didn't like but learned how to make the best of it while not getting killed. Finally we are in a very nice place. That is to say, a very nice place in all aspects. Josh and I have been amazed every evening to realize that we really like how our life has come together. How we have come together. How our little family full of little wonderful people has come together. We are genuinely happy.

Thus, 2010 has a good place to start.