Wisdom Comes with Age (and a brief update)

 Or is that just hindsight? The older I get, the more I realize I need me time. Not the retail kind or a day at the spa, but a consistent time everyday to gather my thoughts and study and be intentional about my faith. I know faith isn't always intentional, it is natural for some people. But I constantly have to remind myself that I am choosing to have faith, to believe that there is a better way to be and exist than what I currently know, and that the process is worth the effort. I began making a list of expressions of faith... it has helped to make it an integral part of my day. To begin with, faith in somethings is easier for me than others... I can wait for understanding of all things (that takes faith, right?). But it simply comes down to having faith in Christ. This I do have and hope it is expressed in the way I live and treat others. This week in my studying, I've broken it down into laws and principles.

• Laws- the word of God, or His revealed word (google: rules that regulate actions lead to consequences)
• Principles- a general truth, serves as a foundation for a system of belief/behavior/chain of reasoning

I think we receive guidance in both areas, the first is more easily understood while acting on principles often manifests itself in degrees and is harder to to remain consistent. For example, the laws of the fast/tithes/miracles have been revealed through the scriptures and our role is to understand and live the laws. As for gospel principles, we are invited to live in a manner that the principles become a guide to all our thoughts and actions, but I understand them to be more variable: faith, repentance, prayer, forgiveness, charity, obedience, mercy, good works, charity... It is harder to say that you are or are not living by the principles of the gospel. (clarification, some of those principles are also commandments, but more variable)

No matter what God we believe in or religion we belong to, every person on this earth has principles. And when we abide by those principles we find self fulfilment or contentment with our progression. I think unity is found when these principles overlap. Sister Eubank, in speaking of unity asked "How can I understand people around me better? How will I create that "union of feeling" when all are so different?" I know the intentional act of building bridges by understanding another's core principles will result in unity.

I need to study this more... 

Want to know what other guiding forces are set in our family life? Braces. We found out Maeser needs braces top and bottom, they get installed on January 4th. Lucky boy. For reals though, what a blessing to have something that will guide his general dental health and have a lifelong impact. Not so different from guiding principles we are intentional about.

In passing, it's worth mentioning the highlight of Moses's week: the automatic car wash. We drove through one yesterday and Moses wanted us to re-enter and go again. And when he retold the experience to Dan it was all sounds effects as he mimicked the wash on his own face. So expressive! (using his hands to swirl about and mimicking the dryers by swiping back and forth across his cheeks.) Now to get the dog washed... too bad there isn't an automatic option there too.

Love, Amy

On the first day of Christmas...

 my true love took the kids night skiing. Thankfully, because I've decided skiing with two tinies is impossible to do solo. (My attempts failed. Twice.)

Also, I really thought I bruised my shins, but Fenton told me I'm just wearing my boots too tight and that you shouldn't fasten them up until you've walked across the parking lot, up the hill and are standing in line at the lift. Genius.

On top of that, our new to skiing progenies are all cray cray. Each is interested in racing without knowing how to stop quickly or turn frequently. Moses crashed so hard this evening that he lost both skis and rolled twice before stopping. Kids are rubberized, right?

Not to make this just about skiing, we are so thankful to be here. Every. Single. Day. I think, "Wow, we never do this!" or "We could never do this at home." or "I'm freezing!" (also a novelty.. we should be acclimatized, but still struggling here).

Mary's last day of school is tomorrow, the remaining school children finish on Friday. So many "plans" have been made for the break. What the children don't know is that we're not big fans of most of their plans. Hoping to persuade them to sleep in, read or ski. Plans that won't make the cut: Harry Potter Movie Marathon, All-Nighters, sleeping in igloos and ice skating. 

We had a lot of fun hanging out with mom and dad this week. They came up to help with a Christmas project and then hosted a Christmas party on Thursday night. Moses unfortunately thought that a visit from Santa meant that it was Christmas Eve and was so confused when we got home. It was so sweet when Santa asked him, "What's on your list this year?" and Moses responded, "I don't have a list." But by the time Santa was ready to leave, Moses understood much better and let him know he would really like to have a car set for Christmas.

I'm looking for a book recommendation for the holidays, please let me know what you've recently read!

Love you,

Amy

Let's Resume

I kind of miss these weekly posts.

We live in a cold place. With snow. We live 5 minutes from a ski resort and we are planning to make the most of it. This winter I've given up running on the treadmill and picked up a pair of skis. For now, I spend my time on the tow rope with Moses, but eventually we'll be on the slopes. The bus stop is in the Sundance parking lot, the bus driver is so cool he lets the kids keep their skis on the back of the bus all day and then most of the mountain kids ski for a couple hours after school everyday just wearing their backpacks. It's perfect, every other day the resort closes at 4:30, I can pick the boys up from the resort and make it home for dinner by 5. (This has successfully been tested once, I hope it's a trend.)

Mary turns 14 today. Mind blowing. How did she (we) get that old?!

She is beautiful, helpful, talented, dedicated, self motivated and kind. The best birthday present came when the Jr. High called yesterday to say she needed to serve a quarantine, due to exposure to covid-19 twelve days ago. She lucked out and gets to stay home from school for 3 days, I'm thankful she didn't have to miss school for two weeks. Our neighbor has had to stay home for three 2-week quarantines this fall... we feel really lucky with this short stint. For her birthday we are skiing, twice. This morning for a couple hours and then this afternoon when the bus drops off Abe and Maeser.

Moses had his first ski lesson too, we are insistent that this is a family effort and that everyone will get time on the mountain. So far so good and we are riding this wave of enthusiasm for a new sport.

Dan is back from Florida, a bit sore, with post-race weight gain (muscles swell as they repair after expenditure) of 7 pounds. Crazy that our bodies know how to process growth and repair instinctively.

Feeling thankful for the current circumstances, for the opportunity to be in the USA and to have so much time with mom and dad and grandma and grandpa.