Samson

A few weeks ago, during Sacrament meeting, Daphne asked me to tell her the story of Samson. I tried, but during that part of Church, it's a little tricky to get through something like that. So, I promised her we could learn about Samson at Family Home Evening the next day.

That particular Monday happened to be our first day back to school from Christmas Break. The first day of a semester is always a little crazy for us. This particular day, I woke up with a burning, red eye. ick! I was planning on dropping off my new contact prescription that day, but that wouldn't help me much ( I'm kind of weird so I have a freaky special prescription that always takes a few weeks to come in...) I thought I could tough it out, but threw some contact solution and an old pair of contacts into my purse, got the kids breakfast and headed off to meet my new student teacher. About 10 am, my eye was on fire! I put in the old contacts, which calmed things down for a few hours and made life manageable.

I left school, drove to Bountiful, went to Costco and made it back in time to take out my contacts before my eye exploded. By this point, my eye was red swollen and felt as if it had been lit on fire!! After taking out my contact, I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes to get a little relief. Well, thirty minutes later, the phone rings and I jump- realizing that my kids should have come home from school about ten minutes before that. (YIKES!!!) Thankfully, it was my amazing neighbor, Toni, who had graciously welcomed my kids in when they couldn't get into our house. And the Mother of the Year award goes to..... Toni Johnson and NOT me. Thanks. This was only January 5th, people, so hold onto your seats. I have 11 more months of parenting mistakes to live through in 2011. Sigh.

Anyway, that was a really long way of saying that since my eye was swollen and on fire, Matt helped me out and took care of FHE for me, which would explain the tech-savvy approach. He pulled up a power point presentation on the PS3, which worked beautifully! Thanks, Babe! You're awesome!

Anyway, we had a good discussion of spiritual strength and spiritual nourishment and physical strength. They seemed to really understand the meaning of the story- the idea that our spiritual nourishment is even more important than having strong bodies. They loved it, and we had fun watching them flex their muscles! So, you know what is the most amazing thing about this picture? Isaac, my baby, is getting man arms. Look at that!!!

We have had an amazing year. I keep saying to Matt that I wish I could just freeze time so that we could keep them at these ages for longer. I know that in 2 seconds Isaac will be driving and I won't have little girls playing dress up and leaving plastic high heels on the stairs for me to trip over. I know that as soon as our life is calm enough for me to finish a blog post in one sitting, I will wish one of them would come interrupt me. I know that these are some of the best moments of our lives and I just wish I could hold them here a little longer.

I feel utterly and completely and thoroughly blessed. I have everything I really need and He has given me not only contentment, but joy. Everlasting Joy. The kind of joy that comes from knowing that my perfect, spotless Savior paid the price for my sins so that I can have this family forever and live with Him again.

It's seems easy to praise His name in the good times, I know. But the truth is, the natural man in us could easily manifest in pride; allowing us to think that our "good fortune" or current status is due to some measure of obedience or something that WE did. We are no strangers to hard times. We know, and we pray that you know, that Jesus Christ is our Savior at all times- He is encouraging us through the good times and supporting us through the sorrows. Matt and I both wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge His hand in all things. A little for you... but mostly for our children. While it is fun to have our friends and relatives read this blog, it is intended as a record for them. When they look back and read about this stage of life for our family, I want them to know that our faith is in Him; that our strength comes from Him, and not ourselves.

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him?...

For THOU hast made him a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

O Lord, Our Lord, How excellent is Thy Name in all the earth!"

Psalm 8:3, 4, 5, 9