Brother for Trade?

Tonight we were invited to dinner with some friends of ours from our former Tempe Ward. They had a little boy, about a month younger than Lucy, and all day Amelia was looking forward to meeting and playing with little Tommy. Well, play they did! Those three kids ran around our friends apartment until they were breaking a sweat, squealing with delight. So we started joking with them and saying, "Amelia, do you think we should take Tommy home with us?" and usually she says, no. Well tonight her brain was on a different wave length.

"YES!" she said with some enthusiasm. Then she proceeded to offer our friends Lucy in exchange! What?! And Amelia was very put out when we told her we wanted to keep Lucy, we were just teasing about taking Tommy home with us. So she said, "But I want a little brother like this one." As she picks up Tommy and carries him around the room and then not so gently puts him on the floor, but he just laughed as he bonked his head on the floor.

And then I realized! She wants a brother, because she can be herself and no one cries when they get hurt. There aren't any girly squeals when she drops a brother on his head, and can simply rough house. Lucy isn't up for much of that behavior. She is a great playmate when it comes to playing pretend and just having a sister to play with, but doesn't like to play rough. I laughed at this thought.

On the way home, before both girls crashed from exhaustion we discussed this brother issue further. We told Amelia if she prayed real hard for a brother and was kind and obedient to her Mommy and Daddy, that Heavenly Father might be able to send her a brother. So she pipes up, "So we'll pray for a brother tonight and when we wake up tomorrow Lucy will be a brother!"

HELP!

Do You Help a Beggar?

Interesting happenings in the Target parking lot today. The girls and I were on our way to purchase some bird seed to feed ducks at a local park, when a man tried to summon my attention in the parking lot. Now, I am a very scared and cautious person and especially as a parent and this is usually the point I lock my doors and pedal to the medal away from there. But this time I locked the doors and driving slowly, cracked my window to see if he was seeking directions or something. He held up an obviously broken car belt and explained his car was broken down and he just needed help purchasing this car part, $27.00 is all, he said so he could get his car fixed. He also added he wasn't getting paid until the first of the month and was sort of stuck. SCAM! I thought... so I said I didn't have any change to give him, rolled up my window and went on my way to the store.

Now the story doesn't end just yet. As I drove away from this man, I listened to my thoughts. I have been reading the book of Mormon this year and just recently finished the book of Mosiah. I have been praying for the Lord to give me experience and help me to gain a stronger testimony of the spirit and of the book of Mormon. I started to ponder, if this man's needs are justified or not isn't up to me to judge. If all he needs is a part from the store across the street, what harm would it do to go and buy that part for him. I thought more on this (In the whole 2 minutes it took to park and get the kids out), if I were in need of something, which only a few months ago wouldn't have been to hard to imagine, why would anyone trust me over someone else asking for help. And suddenly I felt very strongly to offer the man help after I was done in the store, that I would meet him at the auto parts store and pay for that part. Then I thought, no that waste's my time and I could use $27 in so many other ways. But the prompting returned, you can help this man and it's not your place to judge. We were so blessed in the last few months while we experienced close to poverty in our own family, I decided to trust that prompting and offer the service to this man.

Now I really, and I mean REALLY never do this! We got our bag of bird seed and drove across the street and I said a silent prayer, let this man be an honest man and let this be of actual help to him today, and even if he is not I prayed that the Lord would honor this service and help him somehow. He was there, the part was retrieved from behind the counter and cost exactly the $27. He thanked me profusely and offered to pay me back somehow, so I told him to find someone else to do a good deed for when he was able.

I don't know what his real story or real intent was, but I feel sometimes God is testing us and wants to see what we are willing to do, if we are willing to share some of what we have, be it food, money, time, or talents. And I guess all I can do is trust that this man is also a child of God and that somehow I may have made his day a little easier to live through.

And I pose the question: what would you have done in my situation?

Silly Meya!

Amelia:
Founder of the Silly club and all things silly!

Amelia: "mom, I'm going to grow up to be a mommy, not a daddy because I don't want to work."

"I need to eat vegetables to grow healthy and strong. Like meat! Meat is a vegetable!"

"Last night the babysitter showed me how to stick that (the whipping cream spray in the fridge) in your mouth and squirt it, like this! It's REALLY good!"

"Daddy, you need to teach mommy how to drive."

"Mommy taught me a magic trick that when the light turns green the car just knows how to drive all by itself!

"Pickles are a vegetable."

"This ice cream is mint (still eating it.). Mint isn't very good for me."

"That kitty shouldn't have run out into the street, or it wouldn't have died. That's why we don't let Lucy run into the streets or she would die."

"In primary we talked about scriptures. I didn't have my scriptures."
ME: "Do you want to take your scriptures next Sunday?"
AMELIA: "No."

We were desperate in potty training and threatened to put a diaper on Amelia one day after going through most of her newly cleaned laundry. The conversation was as follows:

AMELIA: "diapers are the worst thing I can think of!"
ME: "Don't wet your pants then."
AMELIA: "Well, then you just have to do my laundry!"

"I dreamed about the zoo last night." or park, or friends house, or cousin's house depending on her mood.

"But Lucy CAN'T have a bed like me! She's still not as big as me and beds are for big girls, not babies!"

"It's okay if I don't wear shoes. I'm brave enough."

And in front of primary today, the primary president was talking about helping families, like washing the car. Amelia pipes up, "but my mommy doesn't let me wash our cars."

That does it! We'll have to wash the car tomorrow. I wanted to point out, it's not that she's not allowed, its that I hate doing it!

I love my little "Meya", and thinking of the silly things she's says is a reminder to me to always write down the cute things your children say so they are never forgotten and can bring laughs for years to come.

Glamourous Evening

The Star of the Show

What an amazing opportunity! I had the chance last night to play as soloist with the Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble. The conductor, Dr. Willson, came across a copy of the Bellini Oboe Concerto for wind band and asked me if I would enjoy playing it. OF COURSE! I played this piece my senior year of high school, memorized, with a community orchestra. So to play it again was like a marvelous blast from the past, except I sounded better this time! We did this concert for a retirement community in Mesa, so it wasn't anything fancy or in a big hall, but just the chance to play, to look pretty and to have people applaud just for me is such a wonderful thrill. I loved it. And to top it off my biggest fans were able to come. We had a babysitter so Dallan could come, and my parents were able to come along with my brother. Not to mention the old man on the front row who was oohhs and ahhs throughout the piece and the remainder of the concert. He made me smile! It was a wonderfully fun evening!

Roadrunner Quest

With my parents and brother visiting this past weekend, we have tried to gear our activities to accommodate two bird watchers. My father and brother have both gained a love for watching and photographing birds. So yesterday, we took a day trip to Tucson, with hopes of finding a roadrunner to photograph. Dad wanted to visit the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson because it is a very large natural habitat park with lots of paths, birds, and other interesting things to photograph. We had a lot of fun! On the way there, dad spotted a roadrunner sitting on a fence post, but going 75 mph, we couldn't very well stop in time to get a picture before it dashed off at a quick 17 mph while we turned back the half mile to find it. So we kept going.

After getting lost only once we finally found the moutain road to the park. It wound around a beautiful Sojuaro forest on some very narrow roads. Amelia yelled at me numorous times from the back seat to not drive off the cliff. Thanks Amelia! Unfortunately, we didn't make it in time for a show featuring roadrunners and other interesting birds due to our confused directions and freeway closures, but we did see some fun things. I'll post pictures from my dad and brother's camera later to show the amazing things they found. Here are some other photos from our day.

This Lizard was found just bathing in the sun along one of the trails. It was huge!

This was Amelia's favorite part. There was a tunnel so small only kids could fit through, and maybe tiny adults, winding up and down and around... but there weren't any roadrunner's in there.
Nope, not a roadrunner. Lucy really wanted to hold this little owl, it looked so cute and soft.

Don't take my picture mom!

We were very hot and tired by the end of our very long day. And just before leaving reservation land and entering back into the Phoenix area, I spotted a roadrunner run right across the road in front of our car! Dad pulled over, jumped out with camera in hand to chase it down. Darn those roadrunners for the speediness. All he ended up with was a pretty bad glare from the Native American whose land he must have been on while looking for his fast feathered friend, no picture. BUT we SAW one! Beep-Beep...