So, a few things from last week. Last week I mentioned things I miss. I forgot at least one thing. I miss when George would struggle to pass gas. He would clench his fists, hold his breath, grunt and push his fists up towards his face and his face would get really red. I tried so many times to take a picture and I could never quite get it. Also, my spiritual thought today is going to be on something from last week that I had forgotten about but that I really enjoyed.
Now for a brief catch up of this past week. I had sprained my ankle so things have been slow and sometimes a little hard. Coming down the stairs is the worst and when possible I have Jon carry George down the stairs so I can use my arm to hold on to the railing and the wall and hobble down the stairs. Going up the stairs isn't awful, but I look kind of like an old lady- bent over and as if I'm leaning on a cane. It's getting better though and we went to the YMCA on Friday and Saturday. I did a shortened workout. I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and went very slowly, focusing on keeping my foot flat on the pedal and rolling through when walking. I think it has helped my ankle, since it's getting better, it at least doesn't seem to have hurt anything. And then I did more sit-ups and other things.
I watched a little boy, Harrison last week twice. He was born in May of last year, so is just a little older than George. Harrison is now (as of two weeks ago) crawling. Anyways, Harrison reached out to touch George and George thought that was funny. His parents are friends of mine and the regular sitter had sick kids, so I took him for a few hours for two days last week. George is cute- like always. We're trying to get into a routine. For naps, I try to consistently take him to his room and put him in his crib. At night, he's still in our room, but when my ankle is healed I think we'll change that as well. He is starting to get into a routine of sleeping, eating and playing. Also, the past few nights George has been demanding a bedtime routine. We used to go upstairs and feed him and put him down. Well recently, he'll fight going to sleep unless we do George's 'tv time'. I start by reading a book or two (I try to rotate the ones by my bed). Then we go to the tv- which generally, George is facing us and not watching, but we do let him watch sometimes. This includes watching various youtube videos- well not always watching. Sometimes it's just a picture with a song. He especially likes when Jon sings Baby Beluga with Raffi and Bananaphone (by Raffi). He also really likes when Mommy imitates a version of "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" which Jon and I think is with an Indian accent. Other favorites include, "I Wanna Be Like You" from Jungle Book, and he loves "Brush Your Teeth" by Raffi, especially if you pretend to brush his teeth and "Down by the Bay". Anyways, he won't go to sleep unless we have done a fair amount of songs with him. And sometimes he doesn't want us to sing them- he wants to listen to the "real" versions and occasionally move/dance along.
I've been looking for youtube videos of animals. If you have a favorite animal I'll try to find one of that animal next. We watch a few a day, but I only keep the good ones, and I look for just short clips. Something where he sees the animal playing or especially ones where they're making noises- like elephant noises, or tiger sounds. He really liked a fox video we found today of baby foxes playing. He also really likes "Animal Babies" by Eric Carle- probably his favorite book right now. And he's getting better at moving and rolling. :) I could probably go on and on.
Anyways, a spiritual thought. It's kind of long but I highly recommend watching "Living with Purpose: The Importance of "Real Intent"" by Randall L Ridd (it's January 2015's Devotional. They're now calling them Worldwide Devotionals instead of CES Devotionals but can be found under Young Adults in the Gospel Library).
A few quotes I liked, "It is important, in today's world, to be intentional about why you do what you do. Living with real intent means understanding the 'why' and being aware of the motives behind your actions." He also says to "live a deliberate and focused life".
He then tells two stories. The first about how in seminary his teacher would reward students with a star on a chart whenever they would finish a book in the Book of Mormon. The speaker says how at first he wasn't motivated but then realized his name looked lonely and decided he wanted the stars next to his name and so he started reading in all his spare time. He then asks, what he gained and says, you're probably thinking I gained a testimony. You'd be wrong. I got stars. My purpose was to get stars next to my name and that's what I got. There are times when we have a spiritual moment when we're not expecting it, but the vast majority of the time, we get what we put into things. If we go to school solely for a grade, then we likely won't remember the material. If we read only for stars, we most likely will not gain a testimony. (This also would explain why some people can read the Book of Mormon and still not join the Church. They have to have real intent for the testimony to come.)
Then he gives what he calls a parable of oranges. It talks of an employee who wants a promotion and after 5 years of working for a company, there's a spot, and then he's disappointed to find that someone who had only been there for 6 months got the job instead. He went in to ask why and was asked to buy oranges for the boss's wife. He goes to the store and buys the oranges, brings the oranges back, the receipt and the change. He is then asked to sit an watch as the employee who got the promotion performs the same task. When he comes back he says that he went to the store and found there were many different types of oranges and so he called the boss's wife to find out that she wanted to make orange juice. So the man asked the grocer which kind makes the best oranges. Then when figuring out how many, he called the wife back to figure out how much orange juice she wanted to make and once again asked the grocer's assistance. Then he asked if he could have a bulk discount for buying so many and saved 25 cents per orange and dropped off the oranges before returning with change and the receipt. He then says, "You might say that one went the extra mile, or one was more efficient, or one paid more attention to detail. But the most important difference had to do with real intent rather than just going through the motions." This also reminds me of this month's visiting teaching message, which we shared with one sister this week on obedience. We talked about Abraham but then we also talked about Mary and Zacharias and Nephi and his brothers. Laman and Lemuel are always called wicked, but they were obedient. They were told to leave Jerusalem and they did. They were told to return for the plates and they did. They were told to return for wives and they did. But they did not do anything with real intent. Nephi went with a desire to do the right thing and we can see that he was blessed in the end. Mary and Zacharias was brought up by Lehua- the girl we teach. She said that Zacharias was in the temple- where, of all places, you would be most likely to receive revelation, and was told his wife would have a son. He asked how it could be, since she was old? He was stricken dumb. Mary was told she would have the Son of God and also asked, how? To Mary, there was no consequence but she was given an explanation. The difference must have been their intent, since we know God's not out to get people. Mary didn't doubt, but she didn't understand how it would happen and wanted to know; whereas Zacharias doubted and asked how. Their intent behind their question changed the outcome. So it is with us.
Towards the end he tells us to read the scriptures and pray, but with real intent. He also tells us to really remember the Savior when we partake of the Sacrament. I'm not as good as I once was in reading the scriptures and praying (especially in the morning), but I can also improve with my intent. In Relief Society last week we talked about prayer and how our morning prayers are like going over a plan for the day and our evening prayers are when we account for our day. We can also ask for other things, but they should go together and be a real meaning behind our prayers. These are things I can and want to improve on. Hopefully I'll have it down before George can remember and I can be a good example to him. It is long, (I think 45 minutes) but very good. Watch it in segments if you have to, but I really do recommend it.
I love you all! Also, if you ever want to see George feel free to send me a text and we can try to set up a time for a google hangout (video chat) so you can 'talk' to George and see him too.