This week

So we did the stomach flu this week. Kyle started it on Monday night and Claire started it (in the car with my parents) Thursday night. Needless to say we kept our germs home from church today---just in case there is anyone in the ward who hasn't had it. From what I hear few families have not. Because my parents were in the car with Claire when hers started, they got her a big 44 oz Carl's Junior cup after they got her cleaned up from the first unexpected bout. That cup has been glued to her chin ever since. She's sleeping with it right now. It's annoying but cute and funny. She says it makes her feel better, so we allow it.

As I stayed home from church I felt it my duty to read church-related material. I finished the book "Contentment: Inspiring Insights for LDS Mothers" by Maria Covey Cole. I'd highly recommend it to all of you mothers, especially young mothers. I'll quote a little from it now:

It seems to be the lot of mankind that we fail to recognize the beauty and worth inherent within each phase of life we pass through. It was M. Scott Peck, in The Road Less Traveled, who stated, "life is difficult. . . . Once we truly know that life is difficult---once we truly understand and accept it---then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters."

Elder Henry B. Eyring said, "On many days, doing what matters most will not be easy. It is not supposed to be. God's purpose in creation was to let us prove ourselves. . . .'And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them' (Abraham 3:25).

As daughters of God, when we acknowledge His goodness and mercy in our lives, accept that life is not meant to be easy, and learn that motherhood is, by divine design, difficult and testing, we will truly be content with the things the Lord has allotted us.

I'll quote more later, as I thought it was a book worth quoting, but I like that part. I especially like the scripture from Abraham in context with the rest of what was said. That we are here to prove ourselves. Not to take it easy, but to show God that we're worth it. If that means taking on difficult trials, or the stomach flu, I'm up for it.