Challenges and Loves

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Going Private!

We've finally decided to make a private family blog to include the personal details of our lives.  If you want an invite, send me an e-mail.  This blog will still be up and running and I will  post here when there's a new post on the private one so the RSS feeds will alert everyone to new posts.  (Thanks for the great idea Charis!) 

My Daughter and Jesus continued

Apparently she saw Jesus in the trees with the birds and was calling to him.  He's in the sun.

My daughter and Jesus

In the middle of nap time today, I heard stomping from above signifying a bathroom trip from my daughter.  I went up to check on her and caught her running back to her room and shutting the door as if trying to hide from me.  Upon entering her room and questioning her, it was discovered that she had indeed gone to the bathroom, but had not washed her hands.  So back to the sink we went.  An interesting conversation ensued--something about how she was crying a lot for Jesus because Jesus wasn't in her house, that she was scared and said a prayer and Jesus didn't come.  This is the gist of what I understood from her ramblings, which sounded a little disoriented like she was half-asleep.  Perhaps it was a dream she had? 

She was escorted back to her room, all her babies cleared from her bed since she had also related to me a story about her pink baby telling her how she wanted to fly and needed a magic wand, suspiciously suggesting that my child had been playing with her babies instead of napping.  So we removed the temptation on the grounds that the babies needed to sleep in their own bed with the only exception being the pink baby (to avoid a complete breakdown I had to give somewhere).  I stayed upstairs to take care of some things for my calling and just to make sure she really did go to sleep instead of play.  All has been quiet for some time.  Then out of the blue I hear her yelling out, "Jesus!  Jesus!" fairly loudly.  I peeked in her room only to ask her to be quiet so as not to wake up her brother, but I am very interested to hear the story behind this outburst.  What could possibly be going through that child's brain?  She was definitely awake, not dreaming.

Boy or Girl?

I am expecting to be in the hospital exactly 4 weeks from today so the baby will be born on 10/10/10.  We'll see if I can make it work out that way!  The big question is: boy or girl??

I took a few quizzes and looked up a few Old Wives Tales and ancient calendars and still found mixed results.  Here's a quick run-down for you:

• The heart rate is sometimes over 140 and sometimes under, although usually right around 140.  So this doesn't seem to help much

• I haven't had strong cravings for sweet or salty, although I remember with Luke I definitely loved the salty stuff.  This time I find I could probably eat fruit all day, which may qualify for sweet stuff.  This points to a girl.

• I have never been too sick with my pregnancies, but I have felt queasy a few times.  Since this is more than normal, it could point to a girl as well. 

• According to the Mayan's, I'm having a boy.

• According to the Chinese, I'm having a boy.

• Unless you check a different web site that insists I have to use my lunar age and year to calculate it (for the Chinese), in which case (if I did it right), I am having a girl.

• According to two quizzes, I'm having a girl (68% and 60% chance girl, 31% and 40% boy).  When I took these same quizzes earlier in my pregnancy, it was about 50/50.  Both were based on wive's tales.
• Mother's intuition: used to be girl, now I lean towards boy.
• 3 year old intuition: girl...she wants a "stister"
• Father intuition: boy (he actually thinks he saw it on the the ultrasound...I was watching far more intently than he was and didn't see a thing!)

So the way I see it, the score's pretty even depending on how much weight you put on each indicator.  Leave a comment and give your vote with your reasoning.  Or just vote on the poll.  Feel free to add a weight guess as well.  (The doctor's guess on the current weight from my ultrasound last Wednesday was 5 lbs and something ounces...I forgot the exact number).

I'll let you know in four weeks who guessed right!

Life's Secret Ingredient to Success and a Clean House

Maybe it's making a phone call, or doing the dishes, or talking to a stranger.  No matter the problem or the cause, be it fear or laziness, sometimes there are things that we just don't want to do.  A while back a friend was talking about missionary work and said that the hardest part is thinking about it.  Isn't that true?  It's the scariest when we're just thinking about doing it.  The dishes are so difficult when we're thinking about doing them.  Talking to a stranger is intimidating when we're thinking about talking.  But what happens when we actually do these tasks?  Most of the time, it's not that bad.  Sometimes it even turns out to be fun.  So why the heck is it so hard to get motivated?  What can be done to get over the thinking part and into the doing? 

My motivation issues of late have been mostly related to house cleaning.  Being pregnant and taking care of two little monkeys, I am always tired.  But I have discovered a way that has worked every time I've used it (now to only figure out how to make sure I use it all the time!).  The simple trick is to set a timer for a short amount of time and do the task I don't feel like doing.  Sometimes it's 5 minutes, usually it's 10.  I push myself hard during that time and then something magical seems to happen.  The timer beeps.  And I keep cleaning!  Suddenly I have more energy.  Suddenly I'm seeing progress.  Suddenly there's a little hope for cleanliness in the disaster and with that hope, a new desire and motivation surges within me to do a little more...or even to finish!  I begin to be productive and I feel pleased with my accomplishments, small as they may be.  I kid you not, it has worked every time.  Thinking about it is harder than actually doing it.

The timer approach can't be used in every situation, but the basic idea is to spend less time thinking and more time doing and you might be surprised at what you can accomplish!