Yes, we're still here. All of us. One of us with a very ripe baby in our tummy, one of us with a very ripe pretend baby in our tummy, and one of us with a case of the truly terrible stomach flu that is going around.
I've been wanting to have this baby for a while now, but now that Rachelle is sick, I'm ok for him to cook a little bit longer. (Think I can stretch this out a week?) Of course, now that I'm not watching my "pot," it's going to start boiling immediately. And with my luck, right as I'm heading to the hospital, Shaelyn will get sick, and be without Mommy. And Michael will land it right as we're coming home.
We watched conference today. I love General Conference. I look forward to it every six months. (Except for all the talks about mothers dying in childbirth. Could they please lay off that topic? 3 talks about it in October, and already one this morning...)
My enthusiasm for conference has rubbed off on Shaelyn. She absolutely had to wear a church dress to watch conference this morning - her choice, not mine. She told me last night that she was going to dream about General Conference. She couldn't wait to get her "conference notebook" this morning. So while Rachelle slept off her lethargy and illness, Shaelyn stationed herself at her "conference table" and got to work - coloring bingo pages, filling in her notebook, cutting out speakers' faces from old Ensigns, and shouting out words and phrases with enthusiasm. ("She said 'scriptures' Mommy. Can you believe it?!")
I would love to say it was a day filled with the Spirit, that my 4-year-old listened to every talk with undivided attention, and that I had several questions answered.
More realistically, Michael and I were cleaning up bodily functions from our 2-year-old, Germ-X-ing our hands constantly, trying to get the 4-year-old to calm down and quit running around after the excitement of the first 2 talks wore off, turning the volume up louder and louder and louder to drown out the chaos around us, and finally trying hard to stay awake ourselves.
However, the best part of conference for me, and the part where I always feel the Spirit, is when we get the opportunity to sustain the prophet and our other leaders. There is no doubt in my mind the Lord called those men to lead, guide, and teach us. And watching my little children raise their hands, even if they are not really quite sure why they are, always brings a tear to my eye. It is such a blessing for us, as members of the Church, to be able to seal our testimony of the Prophet with our sustaining vote every six months. Or as I told Shaelyn, "We get to show Heavenly Father how much we love President Monson when we raise our hand."
I'm hoping tomorrow will be filled with less stomach flu and more peace. I'm hoping we don't run out of diapers at the rate we're going. And I'm hoping Christian waits a little while longer to come join our family.
Although we're all really anxious to meet him.
Happy Conference Watching!
Click here for some great bingo/coloring sheets (my kids just color them...)
