Jonathan Robert with his new toy, taken yesterday. 10/4/08

Here is Grace on 10/04/08, she is such a cutie and Oh those Eyes!!

This is Charity last month on her first day to school. 9/2/08.

Gosh! It's been a while! I'm not sure why I haven't been posting, part of it is a sense of perfectionism in that I guess I want what I write to be poetic, or moving, or at least not to waste your time. I also haven't been taking any pictures so even if I thought I should post, then I think, I don't have any pictures to post with it. So blah, blah, blah, so much for excuses.

In the last two months since I blogged, lots of things have stayed the same but of course in other ways my life has changed. First, Holly, Jonathan, Charity, Grace and Jonathan Robert have moved in with us and have brighted up our lives. We all love having them here with us. Marvin especially likes the little ones and this chance to get to bond with them. Speaking of Marvin--He quit smoking 2 months ago and just this week finally said, "It's still hard but I'm going to make it." Every other time if I checked in on how he was doing he would just moan and lament on the desire that constantly pressured him. He has used alcohol to help but he says, "now, I'm going to stop drinking. I don't know when yet, I've used the beer as a crutch while I quit smoking, but once I know I'm free of the cigarrettes, I'm going to do it. It will be easier than the cigarrettes." I was so moved by this hopeful statement. I truly hope he can be successful. My concern is that unless he replaces these habits with something, he will just slip back into them. He currently does nothing except watch tv.

I haven't changed, I still think about and plan to diet and exercise but haven't started yet. One of the speakers this morning in General Conference quoted a marathon winner as saying "the commitment to win is nothing with out the commitment to prepare" I think I keep focusing on the winning and not on the daily, hourly, moment to moment preparation needed for the goal to be realized. It makes me marvel at Marvin's will power to quit smoking, when I can't quit eating the wrong things.

Christmas is rushing towards me and I haven't done any planning, or any made any handicrafts to give away. I do like to sew, cross stich, crochet etc. and would like to give something of myself this Christmas but it won't happen if I don't get busy. I had started some "red-work" embroidered dish towels last year after visiting my brother and his wife. She is from Scandinavian descent and is deeply involved in their culture. I thought that this form of embellishing the dish towels was cute and not too time consuming, but even so, I haven't completed any yet, but have all the materials to make a set or two.

Well, I least this is a start and hope to return to posting regularly. Thanks Marilyn for the sweet reminder. Love you all.