William Tyndale

A few years ago I read a biography about William Tyndale called "Fire in the Bones: William Tyndale--Martyr, Father of the English Bible" by S. Michael Wilcox. It was very interesting and really opened my eyes to the history of Bible translation and how much people (like William Tyndale) sacrificed to get the Bible into the hands of common people. It caused me to treasure the Holy Bible even more than I already did.

While on a recent vacation to Oregon, I borrowed a Bible of a dear friend. I noticed that inside the front cover was a letter from his mother. The Bible had been given to him when he was fourteen years old. His mother, who had since passed away, had left him some precious words of wisdom, her favorite scriptures, and her testimony that the Bible contained the words of Christ. It brought tears to my eyes. What kind of letter would I write to my sons? What kind of legacy would I leave them?

Scripture to me is evidence of the love of God for His children. I read scripture regularly (almost daily) and more than anything else this practice has strengthened my faith in God. And it's not just because of the words on the page. It's simply the act of reading them that helps me connect to God and receive answers to questions and prayers. When you really need it, God can speak to you through those pages.

I read the scriptures to my children every morning at breakfast because I want them to remember who they are--children of a loving Father in Heaven--and act accordingly. I hope they learn to treasure scripture as I do. And I am proud to belong to a church that encourages daily scripture study. When I happened upon this YouTube video about William Tyndale it was stirring. I wanted to share it with my friends and family. Love to all.

P.S. I noticed that my blog cuts off the right hand side of the video. If you prefer, link to the same video here to see the full picture.

May Day, May Day

Luke learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. He is loving his new found sense of freedom and speed. But he likes to escape and not tell me where he is going. I'm having flashbacks of when he was two. Once I was at the library checking out books when a woman brought Luke to me and said she found him outside in the middle of the street. For all I knew, he was still right behind me in line. Now the neighbors are calling me and saying that Luke is at their house and they just wanted to make sure I knew where he was. What is a mother to do? I used to have to put him on a child leash (aka "monkey backpack"), but he's a little too old for that now.

Anywho, Collin is playing on a soccer team for the first time. I've never really been that in to sports, but I am now! I LOVE going to Collin's soccer games. I am glued to that ball the entire 45 minutes, cheering and shouting. It's so fun! And Collin is pretty good too. He usually scores 1 or 2 goals each game. And he doesn't care if he wins or loses, he just wants to score and have fun. He's a great kid...a little Rudy, small in stature with a big heart and crazy determination. He runs his little heart out when he's on that field.

I've also been enjoying some quieter times with Owen. His big brothers go off to school and preschool and we go out and pick dandelions, splash in rain puddles, play baseball, and watch the beautiful birds that come to our feeder. Last week at breakfast one morning, Owen noticed the trees had finally grown some new leaves. He excitedly said, "Look, Mom! Green leaves on trees! That's science, Mom." I can't tell you how proud I was at that moment of my little two-year-old son. This picture is Owen AFTER breakfast, stained with blueberries, and sword-fighting in the kitchen.

Oh, and my other favorite thing right now is that Owen learned to recognize his name. Everywhere we go, when he sees a letter "O" he gets so excited. He says, "Mom! Letter O! O is for O-O-Owen! That's me!" He's really excited about learning letters. He knows about 8 of them so far. And he pretends to read all the time. He loves checking the mail with me. I let him open all of the junk mail and he pretends to read it. We look at the pictures and try to figure out what the letter is about. It's his own important job to do, checking the mail and reading it to me.

Speaking of important jobs, Collin has been really interested in learning how to do chores around the house. Not because I'm paying him, but because he's noticed that I do all the work around here! He doesn't think that's fair, so he decided to help me so that I don't have to do it all. Well, tonight he unloaded the dishwasher all by himself. He climbed into all the upper cupboards and did his best to figure out where things go. It was amazing.

Night before last, he swept the kitchen floor for the first time. He and I were cleaning together, listening to music. I said, "Collin, cleaning is so much more fun when I have someone else to do it with. Thank you." And tonight when Collin went to bed he said, "Mom, when I'm eight, I'll be old enough to do the laundry too. That will REALLY help you." He must see me doing laundry a lot. We'll see how long this cleaning spree lasts, but I'm loving it for now!

My parents bought me a digital piano for my 35th birthday. I cried. I've wanted a piano for as long as I can remember. I've been playing all the old songs I used to practice. And it has headphones, so I can play after the kids go to bed. It's so great! Last Monday, I played the piano while my husband and children sang a song (Love at Home) for family home evening. It sounds silly maybe, but I've always wanted to do that. It was a big moment for me. Now I can't wait to teach my sons how to play. I've already taught Collin how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Luke asks me to play Fur Elise over and over. I think it's his favorite.

Last weekend, Merritt took the boys on their first camp-out of the season. Collin caught this huge ugly carp, which they weren't allowed to throw back in the water. So Collin did what any little boy would do...he dissected it. He came home and told me all about how he had cut out the heart and the lungs (gills?) and the eyeball and then the stomach, etc. etc. He put sand in it, then put it in water to see what would happen to the different parts. Again, I'm so proud of my little scientist children.

Merritt is camping again this weekend, backpacking actually. This time with the Scouts. He gets so excited to be in the mountains. I love watching him prepare his equipment and pour over his maps and pack his backpack. He's so content and so confident that he'll be able to show all these Scouts how it's done. I love it. I love him and miss him.

Anyways, I better get back to studying. I was crazy enough to go back to school this summer (at Weber State University). I'm taking two early childhood education classes, trying to get certified to teach (eventually). Like I need more education! I went to college for nine years already. And I'll take a pay cut if I switch jobs. But, I'm loving my classes. I've always wanted to teach. My dream is to be a science teacher that services grades K-3 (like a P.E. teacher or a music teacher). The problem is that job doesn't exist! So, I'm not sure what I'll end up doing. But as always, I'm just taking things a step at a time. That's what I've always done...and my life has worked out pretty well so far. Love you all!

Happy Easter!

Date Night

My mom bought us tickets to a play for my birthday. We saw A Tale of Two Cities at Hale Center Theater. The play was great, and it was SO good to be with my husband after passing his two big exams (Series 7 and Series 63). I am very proud of him.

Happy Birthday Owen!

My sweet Owen turned two years old today, and Merritt turned 32 yesterday. So we've been having birthday cake and fun times at our house. Grandma and a few of Owen's cousins came over this morning for a birthday party. Age two means Owen is a BIG boy now, and not my baby anymore. It's crazy how fast the time has gone. We celebrated Owen's birthday with a BIG dinosaur party.

We painted tissue boxes to make dinosaur feet. We hunted for eggs filled with baby dinosaurs. We made dinosaurs with play dough. Then we had a dinosaur dig using the new sand and water table that Owen got for his birthday. And somewhere in the middle we had lunch, a dinosaur cake and ice-cream.

My mom commented that we played with all the messiest things: paint, sand, and play dough. So true. But it was worth it. The kids had a great time. And so did I. Happy birthday Owen! You have brought me so much joy these past two years. The thought of you growing up brings tears to my eyes. I know you can't be my baby forever, but what will I do when you're too big to sit on my lap?

I love the way you talk right now, trying to say so many new words. Your smile captivates me. You're smart and ambitious. You try to do everything, and keep trying until you get it. And you always do kind things for your brothers, even though you're small. I know you're exceptional. And it's my privilege to be your mother. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love you and I always will!

Snow Fort

We have had more snow this week than we've had all winter. Merritt built this amazing snow fort with the boys last Sunday. He even attached our slide to it (from our play structure). The boys enjoyed sliding down, then they all went inside the fort and drank hot chocolate. Later in the week dad fixed up a picnic which they ate inside the fort. The boys were so happy and loved their dad for it. Merritt is a really good dad. Happy birthday tomorrow, Merritt!

My Valentines

I had a really great weekend. I didn't get to go out with my husband. (Luke came down with a serious fever and flu Friday night and is still sick. Poor thing.) And although I do look forward to when Valentine's Day is once again about me going on a date with my husband, I enjoyed making this a special holiday for my kids.

Collin and I went on a mother and son date Friday night. We went roller skating. It was his first time and I couldn't believe his stamina. He fell so many times, I couldn't see how he had the energy to keep getting back up. But he did. Finally, by the end of the night, he made did make it one and a half times around the rink without falling once. All I can say is that my son is a very determined little boy. That DQ blizzard at the end of the night was very much deserved.

For some reason, I've had this strong need lately to remember more about my childhood. Especially memories of spending time with my mother. It feel bothered that I can hardly remember anything. I guess mostly because I work so hard at being a mother, and the thought of having my children remember almost none of it is depressing. I need to have a good talk with my mother. I hope she can help me remember more.

But as Collin and I were sitting in the car eating ice-cream looking up at the moon, Collin reminded me that this was the second date we had been on. I couldn't remember that we had ever done this before. So I asked him what we had done on our first date. He reminded me that I had taken him to the city to see the Nutcracker ballet. That was over a year ago, and I had totally forgotten about it. But he hadn't...And that was so meaningful to me. He had remembered. Oh how I hope that my children remember me as a mom that did things with them. I hope they remember how much I love them.

Anyways, we had a nice time making homemade Valentines together and with a little encouragement Collin thought of something nice to say about each person in his class at school. His teacher emailed me tonight and commented that several students came up to show her the nice thing that Collin had said about them. And Collin was much more excited to give these personalized valentines away. So excited in fact that he had a really hard time falling asleep on Sunday night. It turns out it was worth a little extra effort on my part to make this happen.

Also on Saturday, the kids helped me melt down our old crayons in the oven. We used a mold that shaped them into hearts. These crayons are now once again fun to color with. We also played a little estimation game with boxes of candy hearts. We made a graph with the hearts to see how many of each color were in the box. It was fun to compare the graphs and see that each box was different.

Tonight for family night we talked about the qualities of a good friend and made friendship wreaths with the Valentines the kids had received. They turned out very cute and we hung them on the kids' bedroom door. They really do make you smile, the wreaths...and the kids. Love them. Love Merritt. He's a good man. I'm so glad he's my husband.

On a side not, Merritt decided to fix our toilet on Saturday. It had "randomly" flooded a few times recently and Merritt was convinced it was clogged. He ended up replacing the whole thing. And since we only have one bathroom, that means we were without a toilet for several hours. Meanwhile, we took care of business at our neighbor's house. (Collin is famous for having to take a dump at the most inopportune times.) Luke was about to start throwing up any minute, but Merritt got the toilet fixed just in time. Owen cheerfully announced: Daddy fixed it! Daddy fixed the toilet!

And in all the craziness that day, Merritt brought home a dozen pink roses. And they have brightened my days since. I hope there will soon be time for romance, and until then I will just keep loving him. Happy Valentine's Day!