Sweet

Tonight Matt did an adorable thing. He came up with me when I came to or Caleb To bed, we read our scriptures, and he stayed in bed and took his glasses off. I asked him if he wad staying all night, excited of course to actually be able to fall asleep with my husband next to me and he said he wanted to cuddle with me for a little bit. At that, he did. Loved it. And after a couple of minutes he was completely asleep. Which is how he still is. Silly man, thinking he can do everything on no sleep. I'm glad his body takes care of him.

Caleb and some other thoughts

Caleb is a very contemplative little one, I think. I bet he grows up to be a lot like his dad...thoughtful, especially before speaking and even more where offense is possible. Unable to start a new task until he comes to a good breaking point or finishes what he's working on :). Right now he's 7 months old and totally capable of rolling over, pulling himself up, etc. but he never does. I think he's not going to roll over until he's got a reason to-like knowing how to crawl. And until that happens, he's content with laying on his back or sitting up. He's so cute. Every morning, he wakes up, looks up at me and smiles when I greet him. He's got the cutest little smile. It fills up his whole face with his dimples and big grin. And lately, he's been doing a funny chuckle thing when he thinks something is funny. His first laugh was just an intake of air, so he sounded a little bit like a frog. Then, about a month ago he started giggling, but only when Matt would tickle him or something. But then, a couple weeks ago, he just started busting out this guffaw. I wish I could post it up here, but I don't think I have any recordings of it-it always happens very unexpectedly. But I love it, to no end :) what an adorable kid. I don't know how I got so lucky, to have the handsomest, most loyal and incredible husband and the cutest kid, but somehow it happened, and my life is phenomenal. And I guess that's all for now :)

A day at the beach

So, we are currently on Caleb's first trip out of Utah. He has done incredibly well; slept for at least 2/3 of the ride down, didn't cry when everyone's ears popped from the altitude change, and has been happy as usual. Unfortunately, yesterday, our first full day here in San Diego, he had a bit of a rough afternoon. We went to the beach. I suck his little feet I'm the water, but that was cold, so didn't make him very happy. But he was fine. And then I went to play and angie watched him for a bit. She's so cute with the little ones. But while I was playing he got hungry. And then he screamed.
So...I guess I never finished this one...but anyways, that's life.

Baby...

well, baby parties are going to happen. In just a couple of months. Pretty exciting, right? haha. My baby's supposed to come in a month. Laura's in 4 months, Cherry's in 6, Michelle's in maybe 7 or 8... not sure about that one... I should check. And Rachel's baby came last week :) Plus, Nikki's will be here in a few months, Logan's here, and... lots and lots of Babies.
My little man's been pretty active this morning. I think he misses his daddy... :) Matt's gone all weekend, to California for the reptile expo in LA. I'm kinda sad, but really, it's not a big deal. mostly means I can sleep whenever I want... and on whatever side of the bed I want... :) But I do miss him. That fellow's my favorite. but thank goodness it was now instead of in a couple of weeks-I wouldn't have let him go if it were any later. I will not have him be gone when I have this baby. He'll be with me, whether he likes it or not!
In other news, I still have 3 jobs, but now I'm cutting down my hours so my total will be closer to 15 hours a week instead of 40. which means much smaller paychecks, so that sucks. But... not working all the time will be nice. maybe I'll finally be able to shake this cold. And so far, my classes are fabulous. and my teachers are great. so, I can handle this whole thing. 

Baby Stuff.

http://apps.facebook.com/sweepstakeshq/contests/154757/invites/new?just_entered=true&show_newsfeed=1

I entered a sweepstakes for a bundle of baby stuff... Hope I can win it, cause this is all stuff I will be in desperate need of next February!
I'll post more later.

So Great Were The Blessings of The Lord

Chapter 17

Nephi is commanded to build a ship—His brethren oppose him—He exhorts them by recounting the history of God’s dealings with Israel—Nephi is filled with the power of God—His brethren are forbidden to touch him, lest they wither as a dried reed. About 592–591 B.C.

1And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and ^awade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our ^bwomen did bear children in the wilderness.

 2And so great were the ^ablessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon ^braw ^cmeat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

 3And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and ^astrengthenthem, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did ^bprovide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.

Pretty Awesome, that we can absolutely depend on the Lord, even in cases of extreme hardship, when we keep His commandments and try to always continue in His ways.

 8And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt ^aconstruct a ship, after the ^bmanner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.

 9And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make ^atools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?

 10And it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should go to find ore, that I might make tools.

The Lord gives Commands-Like Multiply and Replenish the Earth. We may not have the resources we need or desire in order to do so, but if we ASK, The Lord knows exactly what we should do, where we should go, and He will provide.

 12For the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should make much fire, as we journeyed in the wilderness; for he said: I will make thy food become sweet, that ye ^acook it not;

 13And I will also be your ^alight in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the ^bpromised land; and ye shall ^cknow that it is by me that ye are led.

Sometimes, we have to go without light for a time. But The Lord is leading us. He sometimes keeps us in the dark so we have more faith in Him.

This is pretty much exactly what I've needed the last few weeks. Struggling financially, feeling the burdens of living on my own and having to pay bills, pay for everything I want to do, pay for everything I need to do. It's rough. And, we're going to have a baby. Still 6 months away, but there are things that need to happen now. I've been questioning how we're going to get everything done and pay for it all. There are obviously things we can cut from our budget, things that we don't need to spend money on. But there are also things that are absolutely necessary, but take a lot of money. The school year's about to start again. We're both back down to 20 hours a week when that happens, cutting our income again. I'm looking for another job that will pay a little better and be closer to my life goals. But, things happen. We'll make it. We know that. But will we be able to make it good? I mean, of course it will be good. We'll be together. I will always be happy just to have my wonderful husband by my side. But... there's always that haunting question-will we be able to survive on our meager incomes? But reading through this scripture has just filled my heart and soul with the comfort I've been seeking. I know that we are doing what The Lord wants us to do. And we are working hard to provide for ourselves. He'll do the rest.

The Border Between Faith and Skepticism

Today, I was thinking about the Prophet in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series. The Prophet saw a vision, a man clothed in glory claiming to be the Dragon Reborn. It was, in fact, one of the Forsaken, spouting lies and convincing the Prophet to do awful, hurtful things that would contribute to the Chaos in the world. Of course, this makes no sense to one who is unfamiliar with the genius of Robert Jordan, but there are a lot of similarities between this tale and the religion that I have chosen to believe in. The Dragon is a being who brought chaos to the world in his first life, but managed to imprison the Lord of the Dark for a time, then died. Reborn, he is to bring salvation to the same world he once wracked in chaos, fighting the Dark Lord and freeing the world from his power. As a Christian, I believe that the Lord will come again to reign in glory and imprison Satan, bringing salvation to all the world. But is it possible to be entangled in the mess Satan is making, while believing you are doing the will of the Lord? Something similar happens in the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. The preacher has frequent visions in which he is told to destroy things that are in reality good, and to spread lies as truth. The "angel" he sees in vision is actually the great serpent-The Devil. I know these are both novels, and fiction, but I believe similar situations can happen in life. So, where do we draw the line? We are told to have complete faith, and that if we strive to know God now, when the time comes to meet Him face to face, we will recognize Him without fail. But at the same time, Satan, the Father of Lies, is incredibly good at deception. He can know what we picture God to look like, and can change His image to project our beliefs. At least I think so. So, at what point do we stop believing completely and begin to question the legitimacy of the beings in front of us? I am not, by any means, advocating blind faith. I think that everyone should come to a realization of what they believe wholly on their own, relying on their own knowledge, research, and feelings, hopefully with the spirit of God guiding them to find what's right. I guess, if I actually think a little bit, the answer is quite simple-question enough to know the answers, but don't take your questioning past the point of faith. It is incredibly possible to have faith while still questioning the important issues. I've done it my whole life.