I am

I struggle less now than ever with the unfounded fear of any potential offense I may cause from saying aloud what I really believe of God and Christ. Chock it up to age or just real progression towards self-actualization, but I'm comfortable.
Comfortable with who I am, what I believe, what I don't believe, what those foundations really mean for me and mine, and where my very unique self fits in the grand scheme of it all. For the body is not one member, but many...

If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body. And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body. It is not therefore not of the body.
For if the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now God hath set each one of the members in the body, and now they are many members, but one body.
And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary and those [parts] of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor.
And our uncomely [parts] have more abundant comeliness, whereas our comely [parts] have no need. God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that [part] which lacked that there should be no schism in the body - that the members should have the same care one for another...
And whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it,
And as one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
And now, ye are the body of Christ...(1 Corinthians 12)

...and i am.

There is need and room for all of us, friends. We are never forgotten.
I'm a mormon

  

"That's why I'm a ninja."

In conversation with Elliot:

"You, Owen and Dad look the same because you're all...."
"Boys!"
"So Mom and Jonah look the same because we're both..."
"Superheroes!" 

well, sort of.

mesa my love

I grew up on the same street my father did.
The majority of his 30+ grandchildren, including my own children, will grow up in the same neighborhood as well.

Bloom where you are planted.

I love my home. I love my neighbors. And I believe there is a happy place where compassion and the laws of the land meet. - I want my children to grow up in a place where this can happen.
Lets go, District 18.

you'll be a lady soon

but until then,
happy (2nd) birthday, little pig.

  

free at last

first day favorites:
o "second breakfast."
e "playing on the park."


the boys are out of the house(!!!).
we've plunged them both headfirst into the wonderful world of the public educational system.
fingers crossed they'll make it out on the other side unscathed.

as for now it's currently just us girls holding down the homefront (can i get a what-what).
and in the spirit of our newfound freedom,
we're kicking our feet up and lettin' our hair down, so to speak:

  

gather up the fragments that nothing may be lost

spencer has been traveling back and forth between here and sweatsville-Austin since the beginning of summer.
he's missed a lot. swim team, singing performances, first day of school,
et cetera.
et cetera.

in spite of feeling like we're constantly treading water during the time he's gone, i think the kids and i have handled business relatively well on our own. like a bunch of champs in fact.
that's not to say we haven't each had moments where our legs grew too heavy to keep our heads above water any longer. we have. and still do.
i just try harder now to appreciate how easy life is while he's here,
and how great a thing take-out every night is while he's gone.

  

this place is a desert

 

would it be cliché if i said this summer flew by?
it would?
oh,
well,
never mind then.

everything in its right place

6/26/11: a sunday morning.
movie fort with popcorn and m&m's for breakfast.
don't let the serenity of this picture fool you though,
this fort was one of the worst things that's ever happened to me.
(but i am often times dramatic and probably should have known that m&m's for breakfast wouldn't end well by noon.)


7/24/11: i'm currently nestled in a far corner of our family room between a chest of drawers and jonah's crib,
quickly realizing how much i underestimated the uncomfortable factor of spending half a day in my tiny house with only myself + a 2 man carpet crew:
as they clear out each room i feel ridiculously lazy and keep awkwardly offering to help move things.
less than an hour in and i've already ran out of things to pretend to do to look like i'm busy, so now i'm just sitting and watching them.
and i have to pee (but they'll hear me)
i'll hold it all day if i have to.

   

hey you summertime

in stripes and 110 degree heat.


i don't need to explain to any mother how long summer days are.
they just are.
and it was by the end of this one that our house wasn't near big enough for myself and all three of them at once so the unruly little chicks were politely booted out back.
i later glanced up through the kitchen window to find them standing there together, huddled around the wooden swing that hangs from our pecan tree while all three busily chased the pink ice cream running over the tops of their cones to their fingers and hands.
small graces.

the sun only held them a few moments more before our summer ended and i called them back in.

pizzas off the grill with guilt-free drinks and spinning hooray for earth - true loves

  

i've failed to recognize the Glory that surrounds us

we went to see the tree of life last weekend,
and it was beautiful.


shot through a broader scope than that of our standard idea of cinema,
it's a montage of picturesque scenes loosely depicting the story of Us.
with no real resolve or reason,
because none is needed.

a nameless mother and father,
nameless brothers.
and at times in my own self-reflection,
i am all of them.