Chris is growing and learning. His first year of teaching is underway! He got off to a great start at one of the "pillar" schools of Mesa, where he loves the kids and the kids love him. He's definitely got a lot to do and a lot to learn, but he's pushing through the curve balls and loving his work. He's also being helped and supported by a great parent system over there. The holidays (an EXTRA crazy time for musicians) are bearing down on him, and he(we) are taking the deep breath before the plunge. I am so proud of him for all he is doing. I am also grateful for how he rises in the wee hours of the morning to walk to the bus, how he comes home from a busy school day and still jumps in to rescue me and Tommy from each other at the end of our long days, and how cheerfully he works at both his day job and "home job".
Tommy is growing and learning. Can I say again just how much I love this age? This age is all about exploration, hugs, tantrums, park days, Grandma's house, Pooh Bear, Woody and Buzz, singing to oneself, the beginnings of make believe, animal crackers, making messes, getting into power plays, doggies, and kitties. He's the freakin' best, even when it's the worst. His current favorite movies are Toy Story 2 and Mary Poppins. His favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Jingle Bells" (we get a head start on the Christmas season in these parts). Tommy is good at matching pitch and really good at having meltdowns when things don't go exactly his way in a play date. His favorite treat is M&Ms. He's quite the articulate little talker (or maybe it's just my mom brain knowing what he's saying), and has a few daily phrases I hope to remember when he's older: "Oh yiiiiehhhsss" ("oh yes" high to low, when he's particularly pleased about what he's being offered); "move please" ("get out of my way, or off the couch, or go in another room so I can do something naughty"); "Superalissandlena" (a weird conglomeration of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Alex and Lena from Signing Time); "two, three, eight, nine!" (his way of counting without thinking about it first, and also his way of saying he wants a lot of something). At the store the other day, as he asked if we were all done and when I said, "two or three more things", he responded enthusiastically in higher and higher pitches, "two, three, eight, nine M&Ms! Oh, danchou, mama! danchou!" ("Thank you!") Needless to say, we got some M&Ms.
I am growing and learning too. I'm growing as a full-time mom, having taken a semester off from my kids' groups while Chris gets settled in to his first year of teaching. I'm still working on my anxiety and depression (with some success) and on my sugar addiction (without much success). It's hard. I'm trying to stop arguing with, and crying for, the world. It's hard. I'm working on channeling my sensitivities and my stress into better avenues. I'm working on learning to be creative and frugal with our finances, which have definitely taken a hard hit from losing my paycheck and adding on health insurance and other "real adult" bills. I've been exercising consistently for, like, the third time in my life! I'm working on not hating myself when I don't succeed in the above areas. I'm learning to redefine what success means in my head. I'm trying to establish meaningful, dynamic relationships with Heavenly Father (which has always come naturally for me), and Jesus Christ (which has always required a bit more effort for some reason). And I'm gratefully growing where I'm planted in this lovely house, this nice ward, this beautiful time of year, and with my sweet boys.
In this month of Thanksgiving, I truly have been giving thanks - for the tender mercies from Heavenly Father that have rescued us each time I think I cannot make it another day, financially or emotionally. For my sweet husband who is my rock and my motor when the going gets tough. For my Tommy who brings laughter and love to my life. For my mother for being my best friend, a source of consolation and encouragement. For anonymous and not-so-anonymous angels. For friends old and new. For family born into and married into. For the remembrance that God has a plan for all of us, even when there is so much pain, suffering, evil, and misunderstanding in the world. For the kindness and courage that all of us are capable of. And for the remembrance that Jesus Christ is a SAVIOR, THE Savior, in our simplest struggles and our heaviest sins and trials. Happy Thanksgiving.
And now, my beloved brethren, I desire that ye should remember these things, and that ye . . . contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you." - Alma 34:37-38
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