Oh the Neglect!!!

I know our following is small and we mostly write for ourselves, but I have to admit that the shame of nearly two months of neglect has been hanging over me for days now and despite times when I could have written, I continued to put it off. But no more! I'm shedding this shroud of guilt and returning happily, albeit dramatically, to the business of recounting little nothings and promoting banter on the blog.

(Phew! Sure is nice to have that confrontation over with- I've been dreading it for weeks!)

Alright, now for more difficulty- where in the world do I start? I know I ought to play catch up here and tell you about all the hilarious things our children have been up to 'cause, let's face it, we know why most of you actually read this. Things like, yes, Sam has turned into quite the army crawler/holy roller the last month or so, or Reese interrupted a 'discussion' (read: fight) Ry and I were having last night in the car to poke her head in between our two hot ones and whisper, "Pssst! Hey guys, can I watch a movie?" Of course we laughed and the tension was broken and we forgot all about what we were upset about. That would be just one of many great things I ought to take this returning post to share with you, but I'm not going to. I'm going to talk about something else.

The Patience Project.

A few weeks ago I read the most amazing talk given by a leader of our church named Elder Robert C. Oaks entitled The Power of Patience. Ryan and I both were ripe and ready for this one, seeing as how most of the last year or more of our lives have been one killer (sometimes in a good sense, sometimes not so much) lesson in the P-word.

Waiting.

There has been so much of it, and though I'm SO ready to be done, here we are still at it. To be honest, our last year in Logan has been one of huge struggle for our little family, but looking back I'm seriously in awe at all that we have learned and how much we have grown and, particularly, how much the Lord has blessed and taught us. For all my writings on this cute little blog, I don't seem to share a whole lot of what is in my innermost heart, and I think I want to change that. Maybe it's the looming 'I'm turning 30!' on the horizon (more on that to come), or that I am realizing a desire to open up more than I have over the last few years with those around me; it might be the overwhelming need I've always felt to document the important times of life and get the lessons we learn down on paper for posterity. Whatever it is, I'll share a few thoughts with you.

So, here we are, a year after Ryan's graduation from BYU in a very similar situation: applying for jobs, waiting, waiting, waiting to hear back from them, and hoping hoping, hoping for something amazingly wonderful to happen. :)

But here's the great thing: I am a completely different person now than I was twelve months ago. Wanna know why?

-I've never been closer to my amazing husband.

-Our testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are stronger than ever because we have had a multitude of opportunities to put it into action.

-I love being a mother of two little munchkins more than I ever thought possible, and, amazingly (especially on the crazier days), I would not go back in time to postpone our family while we got 'it all' figured out. I never knew I could feel such highs in the midst of turmoil and adversity in the form of little arms and tiny toothless grins. I love being a mommy!

-Asking for patience and faith is a dangerous game because if you do ask you're very likely to find yourself with a case study or two (or more) to acquire them. But here's the great part- something I'm constantly amazed at, being the perfectionist that I am- tiny, daily, imperfect efforts actually bring about incredible results! The Lord somehow takes our menial effort and transforms it into something dynamic and powerful and life-changing. And we not only make it through the hard times, we come out stronger and more like Him. Like I said, it's amazing.

There are lots of other things bouncing around in my head as I'm clicking away here, but I think I'm going to stop there because I'm trying to simplify my life this year, and do things out of the ordinary and cutting myself short is definitely both of those. ;)

I'll catch you all very soon since there are scads of pics and tidbits of news and funny little anecdotes to be caught up on, not to mention the exciting discussion of our book club coming up in a few weeks. Huzzah for not procrastinating anymore!!