Courageous

Mike and I really enjoy the Baptist production company, Sherwood Church Productions. They came out with movies such as Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Flywheel and now there newest movie called Courageous hit theaters this past Friday.

 We were so excited to see this movie that Mike took the day off work, we found a sitter, purchased the tickets and made it all happen even though there are only 4 theaters in our state that are showing this movie. But is was well worth the 45 minute drive to see it.

Mike and I really loved this movie. The movie is based around the roles and responsibilities of a father. It talked about those children that grow up fatherless have a higher risk of doing drugs, joining a gang, and a 20% higher risk than other children to go to jail. The movie also showed how a father can step up and be a real dad. All the men in this movie were fathers. They said "Hello" to their kids, paid child support, ate dinner with their kids but nothing beyond that. However when one of the men loses a child due to a drunk driver he prays to God on what to do now. And he receives this as his answer:

The Resolution

I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.

I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.

I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.

I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.

I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly.

I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.

I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion.

I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.

I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.

I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God.

I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will.

I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.

 

All the men sign his Resolution before their families and before God to be a better father and husband. But that seems to easy. When temptation comes and forces them to chose the story gets really hard. Choose the Right or turn in a friend. Choose the Right or lose a job. Choose the Right or go to jail. 

But the best part of the movie is how each of these men stepped up and became a better father to their children. No more just watching them from the sidelines cheering them on. They ran, danced, bonded with them to show their children that they are involved in their lives. 

Mike was so touched by this movie (and I thought that he would be) I gave him a Resolution for himself. If he chose to he could sign it. And...

 he did! (he even wore his suit when he signed it just like the men in the movie)

I'm not surprised because Mike really does know the value of being a father so he continually strives to be better. He doesn't want to just settle to be a good enough father. He wants to a good father.

This movie is absolutely amazing. We plan on seeing it again very soon. But I have to say that I adore my husband and I am so proud of him.

Gluten!

This new gluten free lifestyle has been much harder than we thought. With Ducati being celiac we've had to read and research alot on this GF lifestyle. Besides her not being able to eat anything that has gluten in it. She's really sensitive to foods that are manufactured where wheat is processed. She gets reactions from products like lotions and shampoos that have gluten inside of them. And the tricky part is that just because the label doesn't say "Contains Wheat" doesn't mean that there isn't any in there. Wheat is called so many different names:

 rye, barley, malt, articial flavorings, flour,emolina, wheat alternative, spelt, frumento,durum, kamut, graham, einkorn, farina, couscous, seitan, matzoh, matzah, cake flour, and so many other names that I can't even find them all. 

So it's been a struggle getting our house gluten free. So we've taken it step by step- we've created a safe room. Our living room/kitchen/dining area have been deep cleaned. All our food is separated to reduce cross contamination. All lotions, soaps, medicines (yes even OTC medicine have gluten in it) have been put in our room.  We only ate at home now. We learned this one the hard way.....last week we went out to dinner at a rib spot. After ordering her a gluten free meal she still broke out due to some type of cross contaminate from either the kitchen, the table, the waiter, or some other factor that I'm not aware of yet. So we've crossed out eating out for now. It's not that bad only eating at home. We're eating healthier and I've lost a few pounds. But it's not necessarily cheaper since gluten free foods are so expensive.

 A box of waffles are around $4, a box of pasta $2.50, tomato sauce $1.50, 6 cookies around $6, bread mix is around $7 and to make a b-day cake $10 for mix only not including all the other ingredients that need to be gluten free. So with these crazy prices I've taking up homemade cooking. Homemade pasta sauce, pizzas, popsicles, etc. It takes more time but worth the money. But few of my cooking challenges- I have to cook her food and our food separately. No more 1 pot meals. So I either wash my hands like 10 times or I just cook her's first then just cover it until our meal is done. And my 2nd challenge has been to keep conscience while I cook to not just touch something else while I'm cooking her food. I have been a multi-taskers since a child so to not cook, wash, clean, etc at the same time has been super hard. But I'm working on it.

However since Cati's been on this diet for the past 3 weeks she's only gotten a few skin outbreaks. Mostly due to non-food items. She would get her rash from walking barefoot on the carpet and the little crumbs causing her feet to blister. When I dropped flour on my kitchen floor last week I swept, mopped, and Lysol the floor BUT I still contaminated it since my shoe soles had flour in the cracks which lead to her feet getting blisters again from walking on the kitchen floor. Insane I know but it's always something.

We've debated if the entire family should go gluten free. Mike has started the diet due to some health issues he wonders if this diet will help clear up. But with Lily, Mason and Hailey- I've read that it would be easier for  all of us, especially me, to cook and feed everyone the gluten free food. But once you start this lifestyle you shouldn't really go back. So with Mason and Hailey going to their other dad's every weekend this could hurt them more than benefit them. If I were to cleanse their bodies of gluten for 5 days to just have them eat gluten foods for 2 days their bodies would get sick. So this reason has been the main factor that has stopped us from going 100% gluten free. But I admit that it would be nice to not have to vacuum every day. But Mike and I will pray some more on this matter.

Mike and I use to joked  before we knew she had celiac that we had a child that was allergic to everything. Who knew we were right?

My sister ate my homework

I have never known the excuse of "My sister ate my homework" to be true until we had a daughter named Lily.

Hailey had to hand in her homework with this nice bite mark. And she told her teacher that her little sister tried to eat it. It was so hard not to laugh when I seen this.

Sweetness

During scripture study Mike, Mason, and I will take turns reading. Lily and Cati will run around saying " It came to pass.....". But Hailey....

She's the quiet one. I offend wonder what's she's doing while we read her the stories. Of course we break them down and explain what's happening and she reads the words she knows but does she really understand what we are doing every afternoon? Does she feel the spirit testifying to her the love that comes from knowing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?.

After seeing her write this in her journal I believe she does.

She wrote " I ♥ U Juses (Jesus) " and  "I ♥  U God"

She is such a sweet and faithful little girl. I am amazed by her and her willingness to learn and love God.

Guess Who?

Guess who was born in 1801?

Guess who was the best friend of Joseph Smith?


Guess who was walked from Ohio to Utah to help saints from being prosecuted from mobs?

Guess who hiked up Ensign Peak 2 days after arriving in the land of Zion with a few other brethren and said those famous words "This is the place"?

Guess who felt the spirit so strong while at the hillside top? (Me.... there was tons of missions from the MTC there so how great is that! Here we are walking down the trail with some of them. Mason was so excited to see missionaries. He walked and talked with them most of the hike down. He can't wait to be a missionary.)

Guess who lived in 2 houses with his 20 wives and 57 children?

Guess who was called the "Lion of the Lord" and this is one of the reason why his home was called the Lion House? Today it's a restaurant with delicious pastries.

(only thing gluten free at the Lion House)

Guess who announced the Salt Lake Temple in1853?

Guess who was inspired to move the temple about a block due to a dream he had?

Guess who only had 11 days of formal education but knew how important it was to have an education so he built the U of U and paid teachers with cattle, eggs, grains?

Guess who was the 2nd prophet of the LDS church and was also included in Mason's history lesson?

Answer: Brigham Young.

I was so excited to see his name on the lesson program so I made this lesson into a history mystery and FHE. We went to all these historical places where Brigham Young went to so the kids can guess who we were learning about. It took them until the 3rd spot (his house) to guess who we were learning about. It was such a great afternoon. I can't wait to do one of these trips again.

Update

Dear Journal,

I know I haven't written in a while. But I'm here now so let's reconnect and catch up.

First our kids. They are great! Sort of... Hailey finished her color days at school. That was great since I had sewed her a gray dress for one of the last days.

But now it's time to get serious with her studies. She's in the process of learning to read. I've tried almost every technique out there in reading world to teach her to read. But she's only learned a few things before she's given up. So now that it's a must she's putting more effort into it so she's learning alot more.

Mason-  homeschooling is good. It seems to me that this year's work is so easy and simple that he's projected to be done with school by January. So we're going slower than usual. But that's OK...that means more field trips.

Lily is great. She's made a friend with the neighbor so she's been outside with him alot more this week.

Ducati- she is going great!!! To start  Mike and I always thought she was allergic to grass. But even with socks and shoes on her legs and feet would get rashes so severe that her legs would bleed. She would cry alot and sometimes she wouldn't poop for a week. Doctors thought she had a really bad case of eczema and was a picky eater (she hated grains, only wanted soymilk, and craved fruits and meats) So we were told to put lotion on her and try to introduce food back into her diet. After talking with a few friends about their experience with celiac disease. Things started to click! So we started her on a gluten free diet just to see what would happen. HOLY COW!- Within 1 week her rashes almost cleared up. Her digestive system is working properly again and her attitude has changed so much. She's our sweet Cati again.  But to get her officially diagnosed with Celiac we would have to put her back onto gluten foods so she can get the test done. And after talking Mike and I decided that we can't do that...at least not right now. We don't want her to go through that again just to be told something that we already now.

But making our home a gluten free environment has been difficult. We've always knew she's been allergic to most shampoos and soaps even if they say hypoallergenic. But now we've become such label readers that we've noticed that gluten is in most things. So she has to take a bath in our tub for no more than 2 minutes or the soap ring will start a reaction on her skin. And we've had to make alot of homemade things in our home to ensure there's no gluten in them. For example on Sundays I make spaghetti for lunch. So I made her gluten free pasta and made everyone else their whole wheat pasta in a separate pot. I read the label of the spaghetti sauce and it only said that it may contain milk. So I added a few tablespoons of sauce on her pasta. And when she dropped some on her shirt within a few seconds her chest turned all red. After taking care of her  I googled the ingredients and found that this sauce had a small amount of  flour grain. So she's can't use that one anymore. But I have been thankful to find gluten free foods at the grocery stores. But even with a coupon 1 box of pasta is around $2. Good thing it's just her so it's only a small amount that is used.

Mike and I- well things have been rough. I know that Satan has had his hand in our home for the past week. We've fought like crazy this past week. So after some serious praying and working out the kinks we are doing better. It's crazy to omit that Satan can have such a powerful hand in my home even though I know it's him that's influencing our contention. But it's so hard to turn away from him and his creative ways on making the contention last longer. We had our printer, laptop, motorcycle and dryer all break within 4 days. But thankfully 2 out of 4 are working again all thanks to Heavenly Father helping us thru that rough patch. This class that Mike and I attend has put such a toll in our relationship that Mike prayed for me and the answer can to him that I needed to quit the class. That he will keep attending since it's for his behaviors but that my role is to be a mother. And that for 8 weeks I have put the responsibility on the back burner. 

But like I said we are so much better. We've reconnected. We're laughing and enjoying time together. Yesterday was the 1st class I missed to I was still anxious for him going by myself but as time goes on I know I will feel more comfortable.

So that's it journal. I promise to write more to you so I can remember all these amazing moments.
Your friend

Black and White day

At school Hailey is learning the color wheel. So her teacher asked if possible each kid is to dress up in that days color.

 Today is Black and White day. Most of the other colors Hailey's had no problem finding something to wear. However today she did not had anything for these 2 colors. My first reaction was to tell her that her hair counts as black and she can wear a white shirt. But I knew how important this is to her so I stood up until 11pm sewing this skirt and this shirt for her. They were both from 2 of my shirts ( now I have an excuse to go shopping again) and when she woke up she was so surprised. She felt so special going to school in this outfit. I even made a headband with black and white fabric roses on it. I know over the top but nothing is to much for my daughter.

Labor Day Weekend

We had such a fun and great weekend!

We took Lily and Cati to see the Winnie the Pooh movie.

Mike and I absolutely loved it! Not the movie....but the giggles and squeals that we would hear from our girls. It was absolutely adorable. Too bad I mixed up the times and we were 20 minutes late. So we spent $10 for 40 minutes of kid laughing. So worth it!

Lily wanted me to take a picture of her while at the theater so of course I did it. She's so cute!

 Cati- she was so happy to have a pooh bear. I couldn't find a plush pooh bear in time for our movie date so Mike and I went to DI and found this one for 50 cents. She loves it and that's all that matters.

And we were invited to our neighbors birthday party. They told us that it was a water party but when they unrolled their slip and slide they noticed a hole. So all there was was this kiddie pool. So Mike came to the rescue.....

and put this together and WOW what a hit! All the kids loved getting wet on the trampoline. I'm so glad that the birthday boy enjoyed this.

since the sprinkler trampoline was a big hit the kids stood entertained for 3 hours!!!
But we finally dragged out girls over to help sing Happy Birthday and enjoy in some cake and party favors.

 

And that little kiddie pool was occupied by 1 person.... Cati

 while she ate her egg roll. She's so funny.

But after movies, going on a morning walk, only a 30 minute nap, and playing in water for hours on end our girls were pooped out. We know it's time for bed when Cati just lays on me to get cuddles. It melts my heart that she still fits in my neck nook. All parents, aunties, and uncles know what I am talking about. Where they rest their head right on your collarbone and they just stay there since it's so comfortable. These moments come once and a great while so Mike took this photo of me just soaking it up.

Sunday we went to church and enjoyed our day of rest.

But Monday we did some deep cleaning at home, Mike worked on his motorcycle while I worked on our 72 hours kits. Once Mason and Hailey came home from their visit with their other dad we put the tots down and played a game of Sorry.

We all had so much fun! I won.....YEAH!!!... but the memories of our kids laughing was the best win of it all. This was such a great holiday weekend.

Lighthouses

image

"Whenever we are inclined to feel burdened down with the blows of life, let us remember that others have passed the same way, have endured, and then have overcome. When we have done all that we are able, we can rely on God's promised help.


"You, my brothers and sisters, have access to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no mariner so lost, no gale so strong as to render useless the lighthouse of the Lord. It beckons through the storms of life. It seems to call, 'This way to safety; this way to home'" (Three Gates To Open, BYU Devotional, 14 November 2006). 


I have become a firm believer that some trials that are given to me are not just lessons that I need to learn. But lessons that I need to share to help others learn. When I read this quote my mental light bulb went off telling me that I can't forget this saying. So what better place to keep all my life lessons than our family journal.

Bounce

(Cati was intimidated by all the kids in the castle so she just bounced on the step. Smart girl!)

Tonight we went to our Babysitting Co-Op potluck get-together. One of the couples in the Co-Op has a bounce house business so they set 2 bounce houses and WHOA!!!- All the kids had such a great time!  

 This gave us adults time to chat and catch up to see how everyone is doing. I am a big fan of adult conversations! But after a couple of hours of eating, laughing, and sitting in the sun Lily, Cati and I started walking home and my heart became so filled with happiness. Lily and Ducati started wiggling their feet and giggling about all the fun they had at the party.  It was just so adorable to watch them.
The best part of the evening was when we got home. After brushing their teeth and getting on their PJ's they fell asleep in 6 minutes! Best night ever :-)