Trials

Today Jeff had this work thing he had to go to so it was just me and the kids at church today - actually Jeff was able to come and take the Sacrament, then he had to leave. I was a little apprehensive to go because lately at least one of the girls isn't sleeping while we are at church (they are too distracted), then dealing with both carseats and lugging them around, plus for some reason Porter doesn't want to be left by himself in Nursery, which is totally abnormal because he has NEVER been that way. Thus the apprehensiveness. But I went anyway, knowing that kind awesome people would help out if needed. Sacrament meeting was a little rough, then dropping Porter off was rough too. I was having to hold at least one baby almost the entire time. But the amazing thing is that I was still able to get something out of church...maybe not all of it, but something.

They touched upon trials today and how we are never given more than we can handle and we always come out learning and growing. That caused me to think back upon my last year. I believe I can say that this has been THE hardest year for me. If you had told me a year ago, after I had just gone through a miscarriage, what else was in store for me I would have laughed because it just would have seemed like too much. I have been challenged physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and spiritually. And all the while things were pretty much sucky, but I knew that I could handle it because it wouldn't have been given to me unless I could. Hind site is definitely always 20/20, but I was still able to somewhat happily truck along and deal with things I never would have wanted to deal with or things that I never before could have imagined me dealing with. I knew the Lord had a reason for all of this and that he had blessed me with awesome friends and family who would help me through it. My testimony has definitely grown this past year, and I haven't been able to say that in a long time.

Part of the lesson today they were talking about sacrifice and where we have to sacrifice something in order to receive blessings. The teacher asked for examples of this and I immediately said that for me pregnancy is a HUGE sacrifice, in every way, yet because of it I am blessed with such beautiful children that the Lord has entrusted in me to raise. How grateful I am for everything I have been blessed with, including my trials. I feel like a stronger and more empowered person for "surviving" my trials. I am just hoping for a little break from big trials, if at all possible :)

The girls this morning before church. I don't have many matching dresses, and we were in a hurry, as always (but we made it to church on time, thank you very much) so this is the best pic I could get.

I just love these little kids! And look, with make-up on my nose doesn't look that bad, although there were some kids today who noticed and asked about it or made comments, but it actually doesn't really bother me. Love to all!