Do you know what Acts 26:28 says? It is King Agrippa speaking to Paul and he says, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
I feel like as I read Laudato Si, the second encyclical of Pope Francis, I can place myself in Acts 26:28:
"Then Amanda said unto Pope Fancis, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Catholic."
Pope Francis says some seriously cool stuff. I'm loving his example more and more as time passes. I really believe he is called by God to be where he is, even though I'm Mormon and not Catholic.
I haven't finished reading it but I plan to. It is beautifully written and essentially talks about being better stewards of the earth and taking care of the vulnerable and poor. Lately I have been working out in my mind how to do both of those things so this encyclical really spoke to me.
Sometimes I wish I had the ability to see into people's hearts like Jesus did. He took such good care of the poor and always knew what to do. He spent time with people who others overlooked or looked down on. He knew how to take care of people in the best way to help them. I hope when I meet my Maker the same can be said of me.
If I could thank Pope Francis for his inspired words I would. My dad always said to me, "You know, Amanda, if we were not Mormon we would be Catholic."
Friday, June 19, 2015
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
I Should Be Packing
It's time again to update the blog. I really should be packing. One week from today we will be driving away from Las Vegas in our big Penske truck heading toward the Valley of the Sun.
I'm tired of packing. I had a hard workout today. I just want to sit down for a little while. I no longer use Facebook. I've already caught up on reading other friends blogs. I still want to sit down for a while. I won't shop. I try to avoid shopping unless I absolutely need something. All of my books are packed away. So I'll update my blog.
Life in Las Vegas has been good to us. I was really involved in a local choir, the Las Vegas Master Singers, and I loved that. We met once a week and performed 5 or 6 times. It was fantastic. I hadn't been in a choir in over four years prior to that. It was balm to my soul. Mark and I both faithfully worked out at the gym and participated in triathlons. It feels great to be strong and healthy.
The ward I am in is small so I did not make a lot of friends. But it isn't about quantity. It is about quality. I met and became friends with some of the most quality women I can imagine: Jamie, Dawn, Rachelle, Johanna, and Heather to name a few. I spent the most time with Jamie and Dawn. We have children that are the exact same ages. Austin LOVED to play at their houses or have them come and play with us. We went to splash pads, parks, and pools. We had lunch together innumerable times. They were so good to me and I am SO sad to be leaving them behind. It doesn't bear thinking about. Thank goodness I plan on coming back to Las Vegas annually to participate in triathlons here!
Mark became a biking king. He biked to work almost every single day he wasn't working at the VA and when he was at the VA, I biked the kids around in a bike trailer. You can't ask for better weather to bike in than Las Vegas. Mark really settled into his life as a doctor. I am not sure he would say it but I definitely saw a huge increase in his confidence regarding patient care. He grows more knowledgeable by the day. I'm so proud of him.
The program was really easy on us as a family. We had lots of time to spend together. We went lots of fabulous places: Red Rock, Arizona, Utah, the Grand Canyon, Eiffel Tower Restaurant, Bellagio Fountains, Exotics Racing. We did SO many fun things while we lived here. It was a growing year for us as far as memory making goes. We made some fantastic memories.
Austin is just finishing his first round of swimming lessons. I'm really proud of him for trying his best.
Sean can reach just about anything with a stool these days. We definitely have to keep our eye on our Angel of Destruction :)
We did have to say goodbye to our cat, Moses, while we were here. He got sick and we had to have him euthanized.
By and large, Las Vegas has been a great place to live and we can see ourselves possibly coming back here to live permanently if there is a job available when Mark is finished with his training. But it is goodbye for now.
Thanks, Las Vegas, for a great year!
I'm tired of packing. I had a hard workout today. I just want to sit down for a little while. I no longer use Facebook. I've already caught up on reading other friends blogs. I still want to sit down for a while. I won't shop. I try to avoid shopping unless I absolutely need something. All of my books are packed away. So I'll update my blog.
Life in Las Vegas has been good to us. I was really involved in a local choir, the Las Vegas Master Singers, and I loved that. We met once a week and performed 5 or 6 times. It was fantastic. I hadn't been in a choir in over four years prior to that. It was balm to my soul. Mark and I both faithfully worked out at the gym and participated in triathlons. It feels great to be strong and healthy.
The ward I am in is small so I did not make a lot of friends. But it isn't about quantity. It is about quality. I met and became friends with some of the most quality women I can imagine: Jamie, Dawn, Rachelle, Johanna, and Heather to name a few. I spent the most time with Jamie and Dawn. We have children that are the exact same ages. Austin LOVED to play at their houses or have them come and play with us. We went to splash pads, parks, and pools. We had lunch together innumerable times. They were so good to me and I am SO sad to be leaving them behind. It doesn't bear thinking about. Thank goodness I plan on coming back to Las Vegas annually to participate in triathlons here!
Mark became a biking king. He biked to work almost every single day he wasn't working at the VA and when he was at the VA, I biked the kids around in a bike trailer. You can't ask for better weather to bike in than Las Vegas. Mark really settled into his life as a doctor. I am not sure he would say it but I definitely saw a huge increase in his confidence regarding patient care. He grows more knowledgeable by the day. I'm so proud of him.
The program was really easy on us as a family. We had lots of time to spend together. We went lots of fabulous places: Red Rock, Arizona, Utah, the Grand Canyon, Eiffel Tower Restaurant, Bellagio Fountains, Exotics Racing. We did SO many fun things while we lived here. It was a growing year for us as far as memory making goes. We made some fantastic memories.
Austin is just finishing his first round of swimming lessons. I'm really proud of him for trying his best.
Sean can reach just about anything with a stool these days. We definitely have to keep our eye on our Angel of Destruction :)
We did have to say goodbye to our cat, Moses, while we were here. He got sick and we had to have him euthanized.
By and large, Las Vegas has been a great place to live and we can see ourselves possibly coming back here to live permanently if there is a job available when Mark is finished with his training. But it is goodbye for now.
Thanks, Las Vegas, for a great year!
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Time Flies
Where in the world has the time gone?! So much for my goal of blogging more regularly this year! I'll just do quick updates on everyone.
Mark is keeping busy at work. Very busy. He is on his third in-patient medicine rotation. Those keep him hopping. We don't see him as much as we would like but the time we do spend together is awesome. He just rocked his Olympic Triathlon last week.
Austin is becoming more conversational every single day. It is an absolute joy talking to him. He is just so fun and says the darndest things. We were listening to Pandora Radio the other day and a Mary Poppins song came on. In the middle of the song she sings really high. In the song she just keeps going but in the movie she pauses and says "Cheeky!" So in the middle of the song Austin says, "Cheeky!" where Mary says it in the movie. It was SO cute. He loves to rock out to music, fix things with his tools, play with cars, watch Daniel Tiger, and ride his bike.
Sean is also becoming more wordy. He gets more words every week it seems. He says please, thank you, mama, dada, Austin, no (his personal favorite), yes, up, down, hug, bye-bye, hi, block, book, kiss, milk... I'm sure I'm forgetting some. He loves to walk up to Mark when he gets home from work and say, "DA!" and give him a hug. It is darling. He loves to follow his brother around. He loves to play with cars and watch movies. He loves to walk and run.
I am doing great, too. I also finished a triathlon last week. I did the sprint course. It was a blast doing it with Mark. I love being a mom. I am feeling sad that Austin will be going to school in just two short years. I'm anxious about what I'll do when I'm not a SAHM anymore. But until that day I am going to enjoy as many moments as I can. I just cut 11 inches of hair off. I'm still participating in Las Vegas Master Singers- a local choir. I'm taking care of business at home. There is sure a lot of it and it all takes longer with kids. I've made some fantastic friends in Las Vegas. I'm SO sad I'll be leaving them :( I hate moving. And that is about it!
Mark is keeping busy at work. Very busy. He is on his third in-patient medicine rotation. Those keep him hopping. We don't see him as much as we would like but the time we do spend together is awesome. He just rocked his Olympic Triathlon last week.
Austin is becoming more conversational every single day. It is an absolute joy talking to him. He is just so fun and says the darndest things. We were listening to Pandora Radio the other day and a Mary Poppins song came on. In the middle of the song she sings really high. In the song she just keeps going but in the movie she pauses and says "Cheeky!" So in the middle of the song Austin says, "Cheeky!" where Mary says it in the movie. It was SO cute. He loves to rock out to music, fix things with his tools, play with cars, watch Daniel Tiger, and ride his bike.
Sean is also becoming more wordy. He gets more words every week it seems. He says please, thank you, mama, dada, Austin, no (his personal favorite), yes, up, down, hug, bye-bye, hi, block, book, kiss, milk... I'm sure I'm forgetting some. He loves to walk up to Mark when he gets home from work and say, "DA!" and give him a hug. It is darling. He loves to follow his brother around. He loves to play with cars and watch movies. He loves to walk and run.
I am doing great, too. I also finished a triathlon last week. I did the sprint course. It was a blast doing it with Mark. I love being a mom. I am feeling sad that Austin will be going to school in just two short years. I'm anxious about what I'll do when I'm not a SAHM anymore. But until that day I am going to enjoy as many moments as I can. I just cut 11 inches of hair off. I'm still participating in Las Vegas Master Singers- a local choir. I'm taking care of business at home. There is sure a lot of it and it all takes longer with kids. I've made some fantastic friends in Las Vegas. I'm SO sad I'll be leaving them :( I hate moving. And that is about it!
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Lent
Lent is a powerful idea-- giving up something daily for just over a month in order to focus more fully on what is important.
Christmas is such a special holiday but when it comes to religiosity Easter is my favorite-- hands down. There is much less fuss around Easter and more time to focus on Jesus Christ. I love it.
I'm a little late for starting Lent this year. In fact-- I've never done it. But my growing addiction to Facebook has led me to start Lent a little late. I'm giving up Facebook and choosing to focus on my children for Lent.
It's been over a week now and I haven't been so fulfilled and so happy in a long time. I'm not saying Facebook is bad. For people who use it in moderation I think it is awesome. I wish I could use it in moderation. But I can't. I've been spending hours a day either reading facebook posts or reading the links other people post. And reading all those things has been consuming my thoughts, feelings, and time. It was all I would talk about with my husband (who would patiently listen but now admits he likes our conversations better). It would take time away from my children. I just got absorbed in an unhealthy way.
So I quit. I mean I really quit. I deactivated my account. I deleted my entire computer history so my computer wouldn't automatically put Facebook in the search bar when I entered the letter "f." I was so in the habit all I had to do was type "f" and my computer would fill the rest of it in. So I would type "f" then "enter" and bam-- I'd be there. That is why I had to delete the history. In the last week I have automatically typed f+enter and just gotten the letter "f" in a google search. The habit was so strong. I had my computer forget my password.
And I've been doing so well this week! I've spent more time really connecting with my friends through phone calls and long personal e-mails. I've spent more time playing and reading with my children. I've kept my house much cleaner. I've exercised more. I've read the Wall Street Journal (we have a subscription) and talked about those articles with my husband. I've given undivided attention to movies and books. It's just been a wonderful thing for me.
When I am past my fear of using Facebook too much perhaps I'll rejoin. Until then I may just continue this Facebook fast past Easter. I'm thankful for strong religious traditions (even those not of my faith) that help people become better. I'm thankful for Lent.
Christmas is such a special holiday but when it comes to religiosity Easter is my favorite-- hands down. There is much less fuss around Easter and more time to focus on Jesus Christ. I love it.
I'm a little late for starting Lent this year. In fact-- I've never done it. But my growing addiction to Facebook has led me to start Lent a little late. I'm giving up Facebook and choosing to focus on my children for Lent.
It's been over a week now and I haven't been so fulfilled and so happy in a long time. I'm not saying Facebook is bad. For people who use it in moderation I think it is awesome. I wish I could use it in moderation. But I can't. I've been spending hours a day either reading facebook posts or reading the links other people post. And reading all those things has been consuming my thoughts, feelings, and time. It was all I would talk about with my husband (who would patiently listen but now admits he likes our conversations better). It would take time away from my children. I just got absorbed in an unhealthy way.
So I quit. I mean I really quit. I deactivated my account. I deleted my entire computer history so my computer wouldn't automatically put Facebook in the search bar when I entered the letter "f." I was so in the habit all I had to do was type "f" and my computer would fill the rest of it in. So I would type "f" then "enter" and bam-- I'd be there. That is why I had to delete the history. In the last week I have automatically typed f+enter and just gotten the letter "f" in a google search. The habit was so strong. I had my computer forget my password.
And I've been doing so well this week! I've spent more time really connecting with my friends through phone calls and long personal e-mails. I've spent more time playing and reading with my children. I've kept my house much cleaner. I've exercised more. I've read the Wall Street Journal (we have a subscription) and talked about those articles with my husband. I've given undivided attention to movies and books. It's just been a wonderful thing for me.
When I am past my fear of using Facebook too much perhaps I'll rejoin. Until then I may just continue this Facebook fast past Easter. I'm thankful for strong religious traditions (even those not of my faith) that help people become better. I'm thankful for Lent.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Old Wheezy
For all the disadvantages of the field of work my husband has chosen there are also fantastic benefits.
Last night was a long night. I stayed up too late because sometimes I just need quiet alone time at the end of the day to decompress. I went to bed around 11:00. I peeked in on my boys to check on them. I do that every night before I go to bed. When I went in to see Sean he lifted his head and started to cry and wheeze.
Austin had croup twice an infant and toddler so I know what it sounds like. I also had been coughing and wheezing all evening. I went in and woke up Mark to have him take a listen. He said he thought he would be okay; but when I went to try and put Sean back to sleep, and he was hysterical because he couldn't breathe properly, Mark got out of bed and took a second listen.
He then got on the phone, found a 24 hour pharmacy, called in a prescription for Sean, and went out at 1:00 AM to pick up the prescription. No emergency room visit. No doctor visit. Just the right medicine in the right amount at the right time. Sean is doing much better and we were all able to get back to sleep at 2:30 (after Austin woke up crying once.)
I'm so thankful to have a Doctor Husband. It sure is nice on long nights with a croupy child.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Never Stop Trying
It's never to late to keep trying with those resolutions. I should have... six(?) blogposts by now if I were keeping up with my resolution. As it is... well. This is my second. But I'm going to keep trying! Today I'm going to write about super cute things my kiddos are up to!
Sean is (almost) a walker! He loves to toddle from furniture piece to furniture piece. He loves to push himself up in the middle of the floor and take a few steps. He loves the cheers he gets every time he is successful. What a cutie pie. He has a few words too! He can say the following: dada, mama, nana, up, ba (ball). He has 12 teeth!!! I can't believe what a mouthful he has got at his young age! One of the cutest things he does is crawl right up to me or Mark and stick his head between our legs. That is his way of saying "Pick me up!" He is our little scientist. He just gets into EVERYTHING. He is constantly on the go opening this, pulling that down, pushing those buttons, banging things together, tearing apart books, and generally leaving mayhem in his wake. We wouldn't have him any other way.
Austin is working on using the potty. I tried the whole "Potty Train in 3 Days!" method. It didn't really work for me (notice the emphasis) or Austin. It gave him the general idea of how to use the potty. We kept at it for about a week before I had a nervous breakdown and put him back in diapers. About three weeks after that he asked to start wearing his underpants with "cool race cars on them!" And now he is a potty champ with #1. He is terrified to go #2 in the potty so he will either hold it until nap time when he gets a diaper, go first thing in the morning before we put his underpants on, or ask for a diaper. He had several poop accidents that first week and withheld a lot. That is mostly what caused me to flip out on him. After I did that I was totally ashamed and decided I was the one who needed an attitude adjustment. So once I got on an antidepressant and chilled out things have been going smoothly, but slowly. I feel confident that he will get #2. We keep encouraging him to try to use the potty for it but he's just not ready. We try not to pressure him. I know he'll get there. He's such a good boy and has gotten everything else in his life on his own time schedule (didn't walk until 16 months!) I sure love him and I'm proud of the effort he has already made. He's such a good son.
Austin is also talking like you wouldn't believe! You would never know he is only 2! He speaks more clearly than some 3 and 4 year-olds I know. He loves to read, talk, play with his cars and trains, ride his tricycle, and watch movies and Daniel Tiger. He is super affectionate and gives what we call "serial hugs" where he will go back and forth between Mark and I saying "I LOVE YOU!" while he gives us hugs.
So that's where my boys are. I love being a mom more than I can say. It is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Sean is (almost) a walker! He loves to toddle from furniture piece to furniture piece. He loves to push himself up in the middle of the floor and take a few steps. He loves the cheers he gets every time he is successful. What a cutie pie. He has a few words too! He can say the following: dada, mama, nana, up, ba (ball). He has 12 teeth!!! I can't believe what a mouthful he has got at his young age! One of the cutest things he does is crawl right up to me or Mark and stick his head between our legs. That is his way of saying "Pick me up!" He is our little scientist. He just gets into EVERYTHING. He is constantly on the go opening this, pulling that down, pushing those buttons, banging things together, tearing apart books, and generally leaving mayhem in his wake. We wouldn't have him any other way.
Austin is working on using the potty. I tried the whole "Potty Train in 3 Days!" method. It didn't really work for me (notice the emphasis) or Austin. It gave him the general idea of how to use the potty. We kept at it for about a week before I had a nervous breakdown and put him back in diapers. About three weeks after that he asked to start wearing his underpants with "cool race cars on them!" And now he is a potty champ with #1. He is terrified to go #2 in the potty so he will either hold it until nap time when he gets a diaper, go first thing in the morning before we put his underpants on, or ask for a diaper. He had several poop accidents that first week and withheld a lot. That is mostly what caused me to flip out on him. After I did that I was totally ashamed and decided I was the one who needed an attitude adjustment. So once I got on an antidepressant and chilled out things have been going smoothly, but slowly. I feel confident that he will get #2. We keep encouraging him to try to use the potty for it but he's just not ready. We try not to pressure him. I know he'll get there. He's such a good boy and has gotten everything else in his life on his own time schedule (didn't walk until 16 months!) I sure love him and I'm proud of the effort he has already made. He's such a good son.
Austin is also talking like you wouldn't believe! You would never know he is only 2! He speaks more clearly than some 3 and 4 year-olds I know. He loves to read, talk, play with his cars and trains, ride his tricycle, and watch movies and Daniel Tiger. He is super affectionate and gives what we call "serial hugs" where he will go back and forth between Mark and I saying "I LOVE YOU!" while he gives us hugs.
So that's where my boys are. I love being a mom more than I can say. It is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Resolutions
Lots of people criticize New Year Resolutions but they actually are really helpful for me. And I don't care if only do them for one month or two months or the whole year! That I do them at all is awesome I think and I am that much better for it.
So this year I have resolved to blog once a week, mostly for the sake of my family record. I don't wax philosophical here these days. It just isn't in me right now. The daily grind of motherhood sort of squelched what little I had out of me. I love to READ that sort of stuff, I just don't spout it myself :) And generally motherhood isn't a grind. Mostly I think my life is freakin' awesome! But I'm having a lot of anxiety right now about potty training and moving again.
It's been a quiet week. Mark is on a busy rotation so we don't see a lot of him and the little we do see is exhausted and disconnected. I'm thankful he did not choose a specialty that will require so much of his time. He truly wouldn't have been happy with it. But we are HALF WAY DONE! Radiology here we come!
So this year I have resolved to blog once a week, mostly for the sake of my family record. I don't wax philosophical here these days. It just isn't in me right now. The daily grind of motherhood sort of squelched what little I had out of me. I love to READ that sort of stuff, I just don't spout it myself :) And generally motherhood isn't a grind. Mostly I think my life is freakin' awesome! But I'm having a lot of anxiety right now about potty training and moving again.
It's been a quiet week. Mark is on a busy rotation so we don't see a lot of him and the little we do see is exhausted and disconnected. I'm thankful he did not choose a specialty that will require so much of his time. He truly wouldn't have been happy with it. But we are HALF WAY DONE! Radiology here we come!
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Another Year Gone
Oh man! Where has the time gone! This has been the craziest year. We have done so many things as a family I have hardly had any time to blog. I used to be a pretty faithful blogger but not lately! This poor blog has been all but abandoned! But a new year is here. Perhaps this blog will get a little more loving.
We've done a million things since I last blogged. I don't even know where to begin.
Christmas was awesome. We had it with just us because Mark only had Christmas Eve and Day off (thanks to his awesome co-interns.) We did tons of stuff around Vegas: Bellagio Conservatory, Santa Train in Boulder City, E.M. Cactus Garden Lights, Las Vegas Motor Speedway Lights, Opportunity Village Magic Forest, Las Vegas Philharmonic Christmas Concert.
We went to Death Valley. It was amazing.
We went on an awesome vacation to Arizona in November when Mark had two weeks off. We went to Gardinerville to see Douglas and Carmen. They took us to Lake Tahoe. We went to the Grand Canyon for a second honeymoon. We went to Sunset Crater. We went to the Mogollon Rim. We went to the sinks in Snowflake. We had Thanksgiving with family.
We've been to Red Rock Canyon several times. I completed a triathlon.
I've made some wonderful friends here. I still keep in touch with friends from North Carolina.
We've been busy! So busy! But it has been an amazing busy-ness full of family and love and time spent together creating memories.
I've got lots of ambitions to make my life even better in this new year. Here's hoping 2015 is as awesome as 2014!
We've done a million things since I last blogged. I don't even know where to begin.
Christmas was awesome. We had it with just us because Mark only had Christmas Eve and Day off (thanks to his awesome co-interns.) We did tons of stuff around Vegas: Bellagio Conservatory, Santa Train in Boulder City, E.M. Cactus Garden Lights, Las Vegas Motor Speedway Lights, Opportunity Village Magic Forest, Las Vegas Philharmonic Christmas Concert.
We went to Death Valley. It was amazing.
We went on an awesome vacation to Arizona in November when Mark had two weeks off. We went to Gardinerville to see Douglas and Carmen. They took us to Lake Tahoe. We went to the Grand Canyon for a second honeymoon. We went to Sunset Crater. We went to the Mogollon Rim. We went to the sinks in Snowflake. We had Thanksgiving with family.
We've been to Red Rock Canyon several times. I completed a triathlon.
I've made some wonderful friends here. I still keep in touch with friends from North Carolina.
We've been busy! So busy! But it has been an amazing busy-ness full of family and love and time spent together creating memories.
I've got lots of ambitions to make my life even better in this new year. Here's hoping 2015 is as awesome as 2014!
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