5.26.16 busy sundays

Sundays are one of the busier days of the week here. I guess we live in a small ward or we are just involved in a lot of the happenings because we are a big family. But I really have to brace myself for the many responsibilities that are required that day. After meetings and home teaching we came home to prepare dinner, talks, and work on John's religious knot which we promised would be done by Tuesday.

Harold is the deacons quorum president and was asked to speak at the priesthood preview for the younger boys. He was practicing his talk. He thought he could get out of a picture- which he did the first time (see below) but I was ready the second time and caught him.
He is getting so tall, only and inch or so shorter than Greg at this point. He is also getting smarter, more depth, and more confidence. Not that he lacked in those areas, but he is becoming more and more of the man I hoped he would become.
He was asked to explain the blessings of the priesthood. He shared that two of his favorites are going to the temple and  passing the sacrament. He likes the temple because "he's helping other people get to go to the celestial kingdom" and he likes passing the sacrament because "he's helping people here to be clean and keep renew their covenants."  He really came up with those on his own, I wasn't feeding him those thoughts. He told me this is just like giving a primary talk I said yes but you have much more testimony and knowledge now than you did when in primary.

The little girls love to play with water. Here they are playing with some fancy assorted mugs that a friend gave us. A perfect way to be in the room and moment but not be in the conversation. I'm so thankful our kids have sibling friends to share their lives with.

And Addie soaking up a little Anna time. Touch is so important. I'm thankful my kids choose to be mostly kind to each other. I think Anna and Addie but heads the most of my kids here so it's good to capture moments where they also are kind to each other. Addie often prays that we will be kind or kids at school will be kind. It's on her mind a lot. She also gets in trouble a lot for her not kind words.

Life keeps rolling on and with the passing of each small day we are getting further down this parenting road reaping some good harvest and continuing to pluck weeds and work with new kiddos getting them going. Although Sundays are busy it's a good feeling to be needed and to have opportunities to stretch and grow. Anna got asked to lead the music for sacrament meeting. 4 Songs in front of everyone. She did great. She is much braver and accepting of challenges than I was. She survived well and said she might would do it again if needs be.