The Common Link

 Yesterday my kids were bouncing off the walls. Today they were veering that way during Mackayla's naptime so I quickly told them to go sit down and get ready for a special craft. No idea what. I went to my craft area and grabbed a couple things. I got some fabric and fabric markers in the mix. We made pictures of things we're grateful for on the fabric. Then I decided as they were drawing that I was going to do this every year and when they turn 18 I'll make a quilt. Maybe I'll remember and maybe I'll be able to find them every year. That would be fun to take a homemade quilt on a mission or to college!

Macey drew some roads and some lollipops.

Cody drew a friend, our cul-de-sac, a dinosaur and some roads.

Those green circles are the manholes in the road:)

Moving in to a new community is kind of like walking into a movie with a heavy plot 15 minutes late. You are constantly trying to figure out what's going on and who's who. From talking to others and my own experience, it takes about a year to feel like you have finally caught up! So, about the time we leave somewhere I'll feel comfortable:)
But while it has its drawbacks, I love meeting new people! I feel like over the years of moving (really, we haven't moved that much compared to others) we have met some of the most amazing people:

A family of 9 raised by a single working mom for much of their lives who even finds time to make my kids baby blankets.

A mom who built her own house. It's a HUGE house! She worked construction one summer to learn how. She has 6 kids and yes, her husband helped. They are a neat family. They invited us over the other day to press apples and make our own apple cider - yes! fall is complete.

The stake presidents wife who did everything 110%, including wearing balloons to be popped at primary music time (while I played the piano). I have never been so entertained in primary. Without knowing it she got me through some tough months.

The mom of a family of 14 homeschooled kids found time to bring me ice cream one day just because. I thought she would be slightly crazy before I met her, (and you know who someone like that is before you meet them) but she is amazing and so fun to talk to.

I'm always amazed and grateful for people that immediately take you in, judgments aside, when you first move somewhere like you've been there for years. I couldn't even count how many people come to mind here. Just good people. Good friends.

The common link is service.

Some people just know how to serve. Others learn how to serve. But over the years those are the people that stick out to me. You would think I would have enough examples to figure out what to do for others myself! I LOVED the talk by Linda K. Burton our church's Relief Society president called First Observe, Then Serve. I tend to be the most unobservant person on earth, so it was important to me to learn from that talk. It's not that I don't want to serve, it's that I'm not observing!

Sometimes, too, I worry about what other people will think about me. For a while now, I've noticed (surprisingly:)) our neighbors yard is in need of some care. The dynamics of our neighborhood are...complex. The other day as I was mowing my lawn I debated just getting their edge on our side while I was there. I decided I didn't care who saw and I went for it. Then, while Mackayla was being so good, I decided to get the other side too. I was in a hurry because who knew how long she would be happy just sitting around (this is before she decided she could walk...which she decided on Sunday that she COULD!!!!!!!!!!! Call the press!) Well, as soon as I finished, my other neighbor, about 16 years old, and admittedly socially unique, came over and said: "You are really bad at mowing lawns." (He wasn't trying to be mean. This may turn out to be mine and Ben's all time favorite quotes!) Panic set in that my neighbor would be so mad at the crappy job I had done. Later that night he came over and said, "Thank you for mowing our lawn. Our lawn mower is broken and we haven't been able to fix it." He has been looking for work. So glad I did it!

Oklahoma was a hard year for me. Gosh, having babies is hard enough for me. Each one has been worth it. Sometimes now when I think about hard things, without trying to be dramatic, I want to call them "my Oklahoma." I found myself overwhelmed with how many people were willing to serve, even though we were doing fine.
This is maybe one Cody's favorite things about Oklahoma. Sometimes he asks me if we can go back to our frogs. (They lived on the corner of our house.)

It was an important lesson for me to learn there that it's as important to LET others serve you, as it is to serve. For some it's a hard thing to swallow pride. It's possibly as much a service to let others serve you as it is to serve.

"Our eternal happiness will be in proportion to the way we devote ourselves to helping others." George Albert Smith

Think about that.

Serving my family is an important part of this stage of life. Almost four years ago one member of our stake presidency in Pullman, in an interview, asked how things were. I frankly told him they were good but I was exhausted. He kind of scoffed and said, "You have no idea. It gets so much worse when you're older." There I was with a baby and an almost two year old, no sleep, no husband (I'm sure he was out of town), and no sanity. I still kind of get ruffled up about that (not mad!). But I can appreciate what he was saying: the problems just get bigger. Maybe I won't be physically exhausted, but maybe I'll want that physical exhaustion back over 'mental' strain. I suppose it's the same theory though: while you're working on getting through the trial other areas of your life are getting stronger.

I wonder now how I thought it was even challenging with two kids. But it was. I used to ask people all the time if they thought two or three kids were harder. After thinking about it for a while I decided what I think: BABIES are hard. So if it's one, two, three or ten it will take some adjustment.

Time is often the way I need to serve my kids now. Today we made cookies. The kids actually helped instead of just tasted. Cody was using the blender and got nervous and exclaimed "Take this! It's like a tornado on a mountain!" This is the first time I have ever gotten cookies to look like cookies should look.

 Usually they look like this:

 We got "Booed" on Halloween and went to go secretly take those cookies to our neighbors to "Boo" them. When I saw how our treat turned out I made it clear that they were not to be seen. No one could know who made those.

Service can just be making cookies with your kids.

 Wow that was a long detour. Here's a quote from our prophet:
“We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness. … We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.”