Pondering, playing, picking, wading and walking...

The past few weeks have been interesting for me as an individual.  I'm sure most moms go through phases like this.  Hmmm, for that matter, most people probably go through these times of self-evaluation regardless of ducks in tow, but it has been kind of hard for me.

When I think of who I am as an individual, I have a few key points that immediately come to the top of my list such as being a Daughter of God, a wife, a mother and then comes the pause.  Who am I when I'm not surrounded by my boys, my husband, my religious beliefs and convictions?  I really started pondering this as I looked around to many of my friends and the interests and activities that are daily events in their lives--business owners, artisticly talented visually or vocally, entrepreneurs, avid readers, students, employees, the list goes on and on as I have some wonderful friends that I admire and respect.  It's not that I feel jealous of what they do in their lives, but at times I feel I lack some of those special things that make each of us unique; who we are.  Case in point, recently our church boundaries were changed so we had the opportunity to get to know a new congregation.  When I was interviewed about my likes and interests, I felt that everything I shared took place years ago--nothing recent of interest.  I'm a mom, and a normal mom at that--nothing crazy like mom of the year, just your average mom, and depending on the minute you ask my kids, I'm not always that great of a mom!  Recently, as a few days have passed and I've been dealing with my kids being more disrespectful/disobedient than I would like, feeling a lack of motivation or knowlegde of how to try to change my response in these situations, recognizing the wonderful things my husband is accomplishing to support our family and to fulfill his many church responsibilities, I started getting discouraged about my lack of accomplishments.

Some days are just plain hard.  Yesterday turned into one of those days.

After letting myself wallow in discouragement for some time, I recognized the obvious, that only I could choose to change my feelings.  I do reconginze that I am truly blessed in many ways.  My family is blessed in many ways.  While we have our challenges, I know we can overcome them and I know I can overcome my personal challenges, but I don't have to do it alone.  I shared some of my discouragements with my sweetheart, and I could see and feel his concern.  I reassured him that I was going to be okay, but I was discouraged at the time and would need to work through it.  After pondering more, I knelt down and asked for help from my Heavenly Father.  I knew if there was anyone who could help me in this journey, it would be Him.  As I prayed, I felt a strong impression that I needed to make more of an effort to look for and then find the positive things in my days.  After identifying those things, I needed to focus on them and take strength from them, and the Holy Ghost would help me in doing so.  It sounds so simple and obvious, I know, but it gave me a positive direction and a feeling of encouragement.  I could do that. 

This morning as I said my personal prayers, I asked for those specific things mentioned above; the ability to recognize positive things, focusing on them and then gathering strength from them.  It's interesting how discouragement seems so sticky to get out of.  There were so many opportunities that easily presented themselves to add feelings of discouragement, but I was reminded of my prayer and made specific choices to look for positive things. 

It works.

My day hasn't been grand or glorious.  I haven't found new talents that make me unique or special.  But I have focused on positive things that do occur in my life, on a regular basis, and I have taken strength from them.  I again recognize the divine role I play as a mother, even if it is one that is not recognized with much worth in the world's eyes.  I need to look at my life through the eyes that my Heavenly Father wants me to see with, and recognize the good that is being accomplished, even amid my seemingly mediocre existence.  What's that quote..."The hand that rocks the cradle..."? 

To start our day, the boys and I headed over to the school to play in the soccer fields and on the hills.  J's physical therapist has given some specific exercises that will help his walking as he seems to be regressing with the onset of a new growth-spurt.  We all had fun running up and down the hills as we were chasing balls and trying to count the hundreds of dandilions that each of our balls ran over.  We then headed down towards our creek to pick blackberries that grow in abundance this time of year.  Blackberries are like weeds in the Northwest, but the month of August, when the prickery vines are covered in ripe, delicious fruit make them more tolerable (until you have to dig one out of your yard!!).  

While the two older boys were willing to brave the prickers, our youngest wanted nothing to do with them!

Literally, the fruits of our labors!

Next, we headed down to the creek.  Why not, it was just a few more steps!!

To start things off, J chucked a big rock hitting D right in the forehead.  Nice.  It did provide an opportunity to talk about what we do when we make wrong choices.  Repentance is priceless--truly.  I whipped my phone out when the hug started.  Couldn't miss this, could I?

(Even though D still looks a bit miffed about the whole rock thing.)

The boys had a great time playing in the water. 

Fish were the target of the day--enjoy the break, crawdads.

 

Plenty of snacks were enjoyed on our creek blanket.

And I enjoyed some much needed peace in my heart.

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

~2 Nephi 31:20

To the creek and back...

This past week we headed out to our beloved creek...and it was quite an adventure.

As a sidenote, this summer has been especially cruddy when it comes to weather!  It hasn't been particulary warm and most days have been cloudy until mid-afternoon when the sun finally breaks through!  Murphy's law that this summer we signed up for LakeShore Athletic Club so we could enjoy their outdoor pools, eh?  Oh well, enough of that, we decided regardless of a cold and misty morning we were going to enjoy the creek!

Fortunately, we live close enough to the creek that we like to walk through our neighborhood to access the water.  Today though, as we were walking our normal route, I noticed 6 or 7 bees fly out of a tree right in front of us.  I wasn't too concerned and we continued on.  Maybe as an afterthought, I glimpsed back just in time to see another bee fly out right as our oldest son was passing the tree.  Without any provocation, that bee, a wasp, flew right at G's leg and stung him!  I'm sure the entire Northwest heard the resulting scream! 

I don't blame G at all for the scream.  That was one mean wasp!!  I grabbed a water bottle from the stroller to spray some cool water onto G's red and puffy leg.  I felt so bad for him.  He was pretty upset about it all, but tried to calm down.  It had only been a few minutes since G had been stung, when the neighbor who's home we were in front of came out with some ice in a baggie and a paper towel.  She was wonderful and we were very grateful for her help.  After a few minutes with the ice on the sting site, G thought he was doing well enough for us to head on to the creek.  I was especially impressed with how gracious G was to our neighbor.  He thanked her for her help in such a sincere way that my mother's heart swelled with gratitude.  Here's a quick look at G's leg.

After the excitement of the sting, we headed over to the pond, just to check and see if the foilage might have cleared out a bit.  It hadn't, and our rule keeps us out of the pond when it's covered in green (that's my rule--and I'm sticking with it!!)  But we did come across this slimy friend on the path. 

Oh the joy!  G's hand is in the picture for size comparison.  Yes, I was extremely careful pushing the stroller past the slug so as not to release any of that yucky sliminess!  Ugh!

Finally we made it to the creek, and wouldn't you know it, but the clouds started breaking up letting the sun break through to warm things up!  Ahhhh, the creek!

Today was a pretty big day as D ventured out into the creek with his older brother for the first time ever!  Generally D would keep to the bank and shallow water, but not today!  G did a great job showing him the ropes!!!

In fact, D even caught his first crawdad!!  YAHOO!!

I love how excited G was for D's first catch!  As a mom, having your kids love eachother is truly one of the best things in the world!  D was pretty happy about his first catch!

Into the temporary holding tank it went, and yes, J was actively involved as the caretaker!

Such a nice time with some pretty big accomplishments overall. 

 Gotta love our creek...gotta love my boys!

New friends at the creek

Recently our congregation's boundaries were re-aligned and we found ourselves within the boundaries of a different congregation.  It was a big change for our family, but we have found some wonderful friends!  We even shared a day at the creek with some of them!  The Clement family was a great addition to our day at the creek!  G has become great friends with their oldest son, and I really enjoyed getting to know their mom, Kim.

It was fun seeing G have such a great time sharing the creek with someone new!

J wasn't too sure about it though.

Kim and her family all seemed to have a good time exploring their new surroundings.

Our boys did too.

It's fun to share.  :)

Cousins, cousins and more cousins!!

When my sister Emily called to say she was going to be in town for a week while her husband was away on business and during the first week their home would be on the market, we were all excited to get everyone together!  There were fun times at Grammie and Grandpa's house.

Fun times at parks.

Aunt Emily, Ivy and Flash, the dog with D.

Cute cousins.

Cute brothers helping each other.

And fun on all the great playground equipment!

We also spent time at the creek!  Look at all those kids!!

Uncle Michael demonstrating his expertise at skipping rocks.

And then there was Flash.  All I'm going to say is that he was very comfortable among the rocks, and Emily wasn't too happy with how he was showing his comfort!  After a short time he was relegated to his leash back in the trees.

After our visit that day, the creek will never be the same!

It was wonderful having so many cousins to share it with!  We'll be looking forward to the next time!! 

Hello CREEK!!

A trip to the pond cannot happen without a trip to the creek...our creek as our family calls it.  I was especially happy during our time at the creek.  It was exciting to me because I saw so much progress that our youngest son has had over the past months.  The last time we were at the creek he wasn't able to walk.  We still had so many concerns about his developement.  This trip was wonderfully reassuring to me. 
Our youngest son was walking all over the place!  In fact, it really will be a good place for us to be this summer as it requires him to work on strengthening his ankle strength, coordination and overall balance--and it's at a creek so it's just FUN! 

There was instant rock throwing!  I don't think it's possible to be by a body of water and not throw nearby rocks in.  I just don't think it's possible!

More rock throwing...  (note the rocks mid-air)

and more rock throwing!

There was also exploring for critters by the old...

and the young.

There might have also been a bit of dumping rocks, leaves and other debris into the container used to hold critters...

Snacks.  We never go to the creek without snacks!

And most importantly, the fun of just being together.

As we headed out that afternoon, I again felt the joy that comes when sharing wonderful time as a family.  Oh, and amid all the rock throwing, salamander and frog catching, mud collecting and such,

I found a small version of something else I enjoy...

Yes, it was a very good day.

More Lowes at the creek

We were pleasantly surprised this week when Aunt Christina arrived in town. We decided to have our Family Home Evening(FHE*) activity down at the creek. The boys were thrilled to have Grammie Lowe and Aunt Christina there to share in the fun!



In celebration of our new "creek guests", the Big Guy Lowe and our oldest son caught 11 live crawdads--a new creek record(for us, that is)!! I specify catching live crawdads because the unfortunate dead crustaceans don't offer much of a challenge!

I would love to know what our second son was thinking when these pictures were taken. This was the first time he ever held a crawdad by himself!


After a nice time at the creek it was time to head home. Our youngest lead the way in style!


Once again, a wonderful time at the creek!

*For those of you not familiar with Family Home Evening(FHE), here's a brief explanation--We believe that families are extremely important! In our church we dedicate one night a week, generally monday night, where we focus on our family by sharing Christ centered mini-lessons and fun family activities--all with the goal of strengthening our family. I can remember having FHEs as a little girl growing up too!! I hope my kids will be able to say that when they are parents someday too...

Oh what do you do in the summer time...

This past week was a scorcher! Multiple days over 100 degrees isn't normal for the pacific northwest, but we made the best of it! Knowing that my brother and his family just moved to Arizona where the temperature has been well over 115 degrees made this week seem like a cool breeze, kind of. But what do we do when it's summer, warm and wonderful outside?? YES! We go to the creek!!

No longer do we go to the newt pond. We decided the last time we were there that if we couldn't see the water because it was completely covered by any type of vegetative growth, it wasn't okay for us to be murking around in it. Boy was I relieved when our oldest agreed without complaint!

With the seasonal change into deep summer, our focus has changed also. We no longer catch newts, er, salamanders, but go for CRAWDADS! The Big Guy Lowe and our oldest son are the hunters!

Our middle son's job was to tend the crawdads without hurting them or letting them go.

He was also our official snail hunter.


Our youngest son was the morale booster when the crawdads were elusive,


the camp manager when food/treats were needed,

and the general overseer of the entire trip.

He did a great job as everyone filled their responsibilities to their fullest!


The hunters caught 9 live crawdads that day (and a few that were not so alive), three fish and more snails than I cared to count!

At the end of our trip, all of them were released back to their homes.


We had to go back soon though to make sure the skills of our oldest son were staying in peak condition. Enter our good friends the Crumb Crunchers! Whenever we are in need of friends, the crunchers come through. Our memories of the creek will always be laced with fun times and this family!

Who wouldn't like a girl that isn't afraid to do more than get a toe wet on a hot day?

Now, this is a picture from a past creek trip, but I just remembered it and had to include it! Friends that can get dirty without hesitation. Dear to our hearts!

Our oldest was grateful for a young apprentice and the chance to have help catching more crawdads. I believe they caught four that day! Plenty of reason for a celebratory swim! Ahhhh summer!