John's First Injury, Gratitude Journal, Provident Living Ward Activity (described in a letter to Elder Jacob Shepard, my brother)

Today I watched the movie, "The Mountain of the Lord," it's about the building of the Salt Lake Temple and it is inspiring. (And I also finally learned why Seth and his brother Jacob often say in a low voice, "Nay, that's old mans work." It's from that movie! I finally get it) I felt especially inspired by Pres. Woodruff's keeping a journal every day of his life since he joined the church. I want to be like him. It is difficult at the end of the day when I feel so tired. But he says something that really hit me, he said something like, "Obedience to God's commandments is never easy, it was never meant to be." Our home teacher challenged us to keep a journal every day for a month and write down something that we are thankful for. It is helping me and Seth to remember the Lord's hand in our lives and to recognize what He has done for us. 

I am the Provident Living Specialist in our ward, and I am trying to help people become more prepared and self-reliant. We planned a ward activity which we carried out yesterday. It ended up being much more than I could chew, but the Lord helped us get through it and it all worked out ok. It was such a blessing that many people who agreed to help came through with their part of the work. It is so true that many hands make light work. We helped people build their own Rocket Stoves out of 4 tin cans, and a number 10 can so they will have something to use to cook without power, and then we had a workshop about staying warm and cooking without power. Many said it was a great success, and I am glad. I was so thankful my visiting teaching companion, Katie Taylor watched John for all 6 hours that we were at the church! God sent us lots of help. Needless to say we are so exhausted.

Mom and Dad are coming to visit us this weekend. We are excited. I know they are so anxious to see Baby John! John is 1 year old now! He is crawling so fast, pulling up to standing a lot, clapping, starting to sign words, loves to play the piano and read every book he can get his hands on. 

Sometimes I find him playing happily by himself, just turning the pages of his board books. Sometimes he laughs to himself when he reads, he loves it so much! 

This is John's current favorite book. It is the first one he always pulls off the shelf. It has all sorts of fun things. He especially loves the flaps (which will probably not live much longer with the way he loves them so aggressively).

Our little explorer had his first 2 injuries this week. First he climbed on top of the suitcase that we had blocking the stairs, and it toppled over and he fell with his face into the stairs! I was upstairs, and it was so scary! I flew down the stairs, and picked him up, and his mouth was full of blood, and he was screaming. I was in the middle of a work shift (grading essays online), and I felt like panicking! Thankfully, my wonderful duplex neighbor Beth Winder was home, and I raced over and banged on her door, and told her I didn't know what to do and that I needed help. She really stayed calm and collected, and helped me calm down, and we checked John's teeth which were thankfully fine, and the cut that he had inside his upper lip which looked bad, but maybe not stitch worthy. She helped me clean John up and distract him with some books and toys, and took care of him while I called my shift leader who was so understanding as well. When I got back 10 min later, John was playing with Beth's daughter Stella and Beth was reading them books. John was crawling around, playing,putting things in his mouth! (he is such an oral baby. He has to put everything in his mouth all the time) He really bounced back quickly and I was so grateful for that and for all of the help I had. He bit his bottom lip today, so both lips are even with injuries, poor baby. He doesn't seem to mind though, he's tough. John is the joy of our lives, and we love him so much. He is such a blessing to us, and I am also thankful to be married to my best friend, he's an excellent Dad.

 John loves to climb into, onto, around and over things. In his play room that we constructed out of half of our sunroom, John likes to explore.

 I said to Seth, John really finds a way into a lot of places, and Seth replied in a cheesy way, "Especially into your heart!" But although it may sound cliche, it is so true. He has climbed right into our hearts and is there to stay.