Sunday, May 20, 2012

I'm Back! Rejoicing in more blessings than ever! (don't miss bottom for the big news)

Hi My Friends! So glad to be back on blogger tonight! Waiting for Isaac to get home from Prom and the rest the house is asleep. With the long nap my husband gave me today and the fact that we went our for dinner tonight and morning (or all day) sickness is a little abated right now, I'll take the opportunity to write. Life's been wonderfully full the past few months. (leaving very few minutes to write about it!-please forgive my not staying in touch!) It got much fuller in February when we welcomed Paige to the family. Adding a ninth child, even at age 17, added a lot to the schedule. It's been a fantastic experience for us to have her and she's added a lot of fun, ideas, happy helping and growing to our fam. We've felt the blessings pour down before in dramatic, historic weeks but may I tell you about our last one? It's that time of year, March through May, when I buckle down and hold on tight, hoping to survive the exciting, but turbulent ride each spring - 7 girls bdays (added Paige's to that this year), Easter, the play, end of school year projects, concerts, trips and tests, the annual stake service project and stake conference, just generally, overall, more than I can keep up with. Though with experience and age, and my baby girl turning 4 I've handled it with near perfect tranquility this year...until the climax last week! All anticipation for big bday week this year - Emily and Anna turning 16, Esther turning 8, getting BAPTIZED! My Mom and brother and family would be arriving at the beginning of the week for all the festivities, Kara coming in Wednesday and my sister and fam with us and other sister and fam coming up for the weekend baptism. SO SPECIAL! But wow, I had no idea what a week it would be! Imagine the delight of my twins turning 16. I must admit, in all the joy and excitement of their births 16 years ago, I never could have imagined how delightful, gorgeous, shining, amazing, talented, and truly loving my girls would be now. I am SO PROUD of them!!! I love them more than I could have imagined when the nurse laid them in my arms for the first time - oh! and HOW I LOVED them THEN!!! So Mike and I were proud and excited for these two to be reaching the long-awaited milestones of 16 in our home - dating and driving permits. Mike took each of them individually on their first date, and then they were immediately booked - out for a first date with guys they really liked and having all the fun they'd been waiting for! Esther had been anticipating her baptism for months - palpable excitement. Such a joy to see that beaming testimony of Christ, His church and the sheer joy and enthusiasm to make her baptismal promises and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We planned carefully and that special event was everything and more than I thought it would or could be. Such a sacred memory for me already. The dates and wonderful baptism event were seperate from the nights we celebrated with parties - a pony came as a gift for Esther's birthday(which in and of itself was enough excitement for several months!) and a big barn dance was the celebration for the 16 year olds. Such a joyful week! It reminded me of the Sunday that I had 3 girls in white, Emily and Anna baptized and confirmed and Esther blessed the same weekend. That had been remarkable to me. I remember it in reverent thankfulness. I thought it could not be topped. But then there was the couple months of amazement - Mike put in as bishop, our sweet Clara 'delivered', Mike put in as stake president and to top it all off a surprise foal born to our new and favorite horse - one noone had been expecting! That was really quite the amazing time in the family history books, but... As Mike and I and my Mom and sister Kristi entered the ultrasound room Friday morning of this same delightful week of counting our blessings and immediately beheld 2 babies on the screen as he scanned my ONE belly, we topped the charts again for 'most amazing weeks ever'!!! I am still overcome by the news. TWINS!!! Unbelievable. I was overcome with the loving kindness and tender mercy of the Lord in the abundance with which He pours out His blessings. (I know we each go through difficult times of loss and sorrow, we all hit our great challenges in the road and have important choices to make, but it seems as we continue to strive to follow our God the best we can, to keep His commandments, do our best, He simply pours out blessings. There is always an amazingly beautiful rainbow after the storm and our world is new and more beautiful than before. He has promises ahead we cannot imagine if we put our trust in Him, do our best to follow Him.) We are thrilled for this little finale to our family! We are thrilled these two little ones will have each other - as Clara will be nearly 5 when they are born and in this fam one cannot IMAGINE being that isolated from one's siblings! LOL! I truly feared for a moment the news would just be too much for my girls -thought their hearts might really burst with the joy of it!- wish you all could have seen it - screams, tears, hugging and hugging and hugging, falling to the ground and hugging some more as more tears of joy overflowed! What a joyful moment!!! How even more exceptional to get to share that with some of our family and friends. As I lay here right now I can feel the soft tumbling of the babies within - keeping me company already. Isaac just came in and reported on a gloriously beautiful prom night - he went with someone he really likes too, so everythings a lot of fun around here that way these days! ;) Our days (and nights too sometimes!) are full, rich with blessings (and challenges!) I am soooo grateful for all of it! Great to catch up a little! Our LOVE to you and yours!!!! Watch for those amazing rainbows!! Lv, CaMarie