Sisters Are Bliss.....

One of the greatest joys i have is when i witness my children getting along.  Now, don't get me wrong, i don't say this because it is a rarity or anything like that, but it still brings me so much pleasure.  I know from my own personal experience with my siblings that strong ties when a child lead to stronger ties when an adult.  I enjoy the relationships i have with my brother and sister and am grateful that even though we are far apart from each other, we do talk, or text or Oovoo on a regular basis.  I look forward to the day when i see my children hangout as adults.  When i will see or hear about them spending time with each other or calling each other, babysitting each others kids or whatever the case may be.

Something particularly special is the bond between sisters.  For those of you with sisters, you will probably understand what i am talking about.  Although it is something that has to be worked at.  Just like any other relationship if not fostered it becomes nothing, but when grown with love and fun it can beccome a vast reservoir of amazing experiences.  I have many fond and also funny stories of when my sister, Louise and i were young.  Some naughty i must admit, others secretive and special, and others yet that even though they were based on mutual painful experiences it was something that strengthened us as sisters.  My sister has been my confidant .....my audience (do performances of the Flintstones in the bring back any memories, Lou?), and a fantastic example of everything that is good and righteous.

I hope for these things for my children too....for my girls.

Several months ago Eden and Sarah had somewhat of a hard time getting along.  Sarah was the desperate little sister dying for Eden's attention and yet at the same time the worse tattle tail you've come by.  And Eden was the bossy big sister who was annoyed by her little sister and the way she copied everything Eden did and wouldn't play unless it was "her way," but then was also resentful because of being betrayed by all the tattling.  Part of the problem originally existed because Immanuel and Eden have been so close that Eden wasn't sure how to negotiate being close to both siblings at the same time and so would either love one and hate the other of vise versa.

It quickly became clear to John and i that something needed to be done.  So we prayed and talked with the girls together and separately and i am happy to announce that things have completely turned around.
Eden has done a fabulous job of finding balance....she finds ways to connect with Immanuel which happens especially in the evening when they get to stay up later than the younger two and spend time doing art together or playing board games, or talking about who their latest "crush" is.  ;-) In contrast Eden will spend a good deal of free time during the day doing "girly" things with Sarah like painting nails, showing Sarah how to do her hair "cool", dressing up in "cool" clothes and accessories and then today i found them in the secret hide-out playing a game.....Headbandz (so fun!).

I hope that my children will continue to develop their relationships to the point where they will be an infinite source of comfort and joy to one another as they age into adulthood and face challenges ahead of them.  I know that even as parenting may surely get harder as they grow older, it will also be more rewarding too.  So proud of my lovely babies.....

It's still a new year....better late than never i always say! ;-)

New Years Eve this year was definitely more fun than in years past.  Usually it seems that even though John and i are typically late night people (or at least i was before i repented and started going to bed at 10:30pm) we would always manage to fall asleep on New Years Even by like 11:30pm.  Any other night of the week and it would have been a 12:30 or 1am deal, but not for New Years.  Almost like an internal rebellion because we're supposed to stay up, lol.  However this year the Wrights accepted our invitation to party and we made it!  These are some of our most favorite people and we are so glad they came and celebrated with us.  Some children did not make it.  Actually we put Jack to bed as usual and Sarah passed out on the couch watch t/v at some point, but Iman and Edy were happy to be allowed to stay up and the picture of Edy sleeping is the next day as she crashed after church.  :-)  We celebrated with toast to the new year with sparkling grape juice and dancing to 80's music from Jared's iPAD.  The next day we had a fabulous dinner with the Wrights and the Boyles (more of our most favorite people).  They all stayed and joined us for a fabulously good time of playing settlers (my most favorite adult game, although i was last beat at it by Eden). We even got to use Ben's awesome foam board which one day soon John will hopefully copy for our playing pleasure.  ;-)  My most favorite picture on this sequence however is the one of Jack passed out asleep on the floor New Years Day with his plastic toy knife in his hand.   My second is the group dinner photo.  John and i LOVE having friends over.  Takes us back to our farm days where there was always a surplus of people and fun around.  :-)

 Amy swinging her girls around!  

That woman is strong! (in every sense of the word) :-)

 Iman dancing!

We as a family have since made family and personal goals for this year.  One of my favorite ones that was made was Sarah's which was to be kind and serving towards Jack.  She has been working hard on this and even was a dream to me the other day when we checked out the YMCA for the first time with a free-day pass and she stayed with Jack in the kids zone so he wouldn't be scared to be alone.

Each year we make a "Blessing Board" which is a poster board of all the goals and dreams and blessings we would like to come to pass.  We have experienced that when we are reminded of our goals visually it helps us even on a sub-conscious level to help to bring to pass those things more, even if it's just through prayer for certain people or ourselves.  This is a glimpse of this years Blessing Board.  We do this as a Family Home Evening activity at the beginning of each year.  :-)

2012 Blessings, Goals, and Achievements - The Morgans

 Some things on our board.....

 "Nana succeed at work"

(prayers and blessings for Nana)

 "Daddy Daughter Dates - Lots"

 (the girls goals)

"Sarah Serve Jack-a-lope" 

"Iman Pinewood Derby 4 the Win!!"

Are you Getting Used To It?

Well, frankly, no, and I'm not going to either, thank you very much!  That's what i think inside every time i get asked the question in regards to John traveling all the time with his new job.  To be honest i really don't want to get "used" to it.  I think that would be horrible.  I love my husband and in a perfect world i'd be able to spend every minute with him and he would still be able to earn just as much money, lol.  Well, okay to be fair (and healthy), i do enjoy a good girls night out (or in for that matter), but i also adore my husband i hate it when he gone or that i have to spend MOST of my time way from him.

I'm not sure where it stems from....i think part of the reason why when John got this new job, which requires him to travel on a regular basis, i decided i wasn't going to be used to John being away was because  i feel that my parents relationship was weakened by my Dad's constant traveling.  (sorry for the extreme run on sentence) I don't know if that's true or not, and i know there's more to their failed relationship than that, but i can't imagine it helped. I think you have to work twice as hard if not more to stay strong in a relationship when you are not seeing each other as much anymore. It becomes all too easy for other things to get in the way of having a good strong relationship without travel or distance being a part of it.  When i think about what MY experience was growing up i think my mother got "used" to it.  Adjusting is normal and a part of life, but i refuse to adjust to the point of being "used" to it or it being "normal."

If i still miss him horribly every time he is gone then it still means that my love for him is strong and real, and it still means i want him being around.  I think when you find yourself being used to your spouse being gone, and that is becomes a casual run of the mill experience or even when you find yourself looking forward to it because it means you can have things your own way completely or there's one less person to negotiate with, then you are already on a slippery slope to misery in your marriage and that is one place i refuse to be.

Now, don't misunderstand me.  I am not sitting here typing this blog post crying my eyes out because i cannot live without my husband.  I do not spend my days thinking "woe is me" or "i'm so alone" (heck, do i need to remind you that i have four very active children at home ALL the time with me?) I can function rather well by myself and am quite independent and i thank and give credit to my darling mother for that.  I know how to do many things by myself and if i can't i know how to get the right people to help me. I also am emotionally healthy enough to know that it is what it is right now and that there are many, many, blessings coming from the things we do and sacrifice and this new job where John is working for the church.  I don't need a pity party and i know many, many, women go through much harder things and have their husbands gone for much longer periods of time.   However, i would prefer him to be here every time i think of him. ;-)  I do miss him and all the goodness that is John Morgan.  :-)

I mean, look at this guy, (*sigh) He melts my heart and warms my soul!  :-)

So anyway, John Raymond Morgan, i miss you to pieces and love you more than anything including, but not limited to:

• Chocolate
• Wheat
• Cheese sandwiches (like Lauren Sturtevant and i used to get in Chamber Choir nights)
• The Color Green
• England
• Cockles
• Branston Pickle
• Yorkshire Puds (yes i know there's lot of food in here, lol)
• Mum's Christmas English Trifle (and we all know how much i LOVE that!)
• Live Chickens
• Any other relative i have
• cleanliness (whew, that was a big one)
• organization (another biggy)
• Wayne's World or Drop Dead Fred
• .......well let's face it, anything really :-)

The rest of this blog is for my husband as he is missing his children so horribly he commissioned a blog about them.  Since i didn't want to blog just about them this is the way i have decided to execute this assignment.  However, you are all still welcome to keep reading.....

Immanuel has been loyal to his PJ streak and has been faithfully wearing his adult sized Thunder Cats shirt with it occasionally hanging off him like a toga.  In fact today is the first day....i think that he has not worn it (even though he has actually showered in there somewhere) and he's actually in regular clothes as we speak.  lol.

Eden has been dancing her brains out with Sarah and they have been living it up on the fashion runway of life.  They are officially too cool for me.  :-)  The plus, plus side is that Eden has been super sweet to Sarah, who of course it eating up every millisecond of it.  :-)  As we speak they are eating scrambled eggs together that Eden made for the both of them.

Sarah has been mildly prideful, but mostly joyful.  And i think after a minuscule amount of ice cream on Monday night i have officially decided that ice cream is a poor way for sugar to be administered to Sarah.  She has been working hard on her goal of being nice to Jack and helping him, although pushing him off the bed today when he "ruined" her and Eden's dance party was a bit of a set back.  ;-)

And last but not least Jack is his usual interesting and adventuresome self.  He has been reveling in my childhood bedtime stories each evening and if you look on my FB page you will see a glimpse of what i mean.  I don't know if you looked at my page recently but there's a link to a commercial for Target that makes me think of Jack and his sweet, creative personality.  The link is also here for your convenience.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/ad/83116/target-video-commercial


Here he is sporting his own pick of clothes for the day, which the pants happen to be the church pants that i always want him to wear, but that he never does because he hates them.  He announced that he is going to wear them on Sunday and then hugged me because i'm sure he knew i'd be pleased about his choice.  :-)

Here he is in another shirt just 2 mins after the picture above was taken where he is insisting on wearing his shirt backwards because he occasionally likes to look at the picture of the animal on the tag of the inside of his shirt.

I have also been faithful to my PJ streak and have even put them on after showering.  Here's even a straggly picture of me......keep those thoughts clean now, lol.  ;-)

I love you much, and am REALLY excited to see you tomorrow night and then spend all day in the temple with you the next day.  :-)  You are good and perfect for me (even when i am mean to you because you've pushed my buttons too much....just don't throw it back in my face eh?)  ;-)  Come home safely!

Christmas Time....

Christmas this year was in our wonderful yellow house in Springfield.  I love having Christmas at home....i love doing our own traditions.....relaxing in my pj's all day.....eating what i want......watching whatever movie i want.....and being with my family.  The day before my mother and i made some English yummys......mince pies and my favorite, trifle!   Mmmm!

Then this year we were able to go back to our old tradition of having the kids wait at the top of the stairs while we torture them with video taping and cameras so we can catch the perfect entrance to seeing the tree.  This year, i'm not sure if it was caught on my camera, but the kids when they walked through the doorway into the room where the presents were waiting they all stopped there and i think Eden screamed a little and it was the perfect "i can't believe my eyes" response.  I owe it all to my Father in Heaven.  He has made this amazing Christmas possible.  It's so nice having been where we have been to be able to to truly appreciate all of the wonderful gifts we were able to get for one another.

Just three short Christmases ago, i didn't even have money to put gas in my car......gifts we gave our children we hand-me-down used toys from friends........gifts we gave were made......don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with any of that and i am so grateful that we were able to pull off what we did and that our children were young enough to be oblivious (they were, i even asked them about it this year and their memories are of a fantastic Christmas), but it surely was nice to be on the other end of it all (the having and giving end) for the first time.

Of course, we always worry more than we need to, our children are always content with less than we think they should be....it's a great skill to have, being content with what you have.  But this is what i DO know.....that whether it comes from others or whether it comes from your own bank account, it is ALWAYS ALL from the Lord.  It's just about a different mode of acquirement.  I am grateful for the journey we have been on so far and i know the adventures are not over yet, but i know what the greatest gift i have been given is to be able to see it for what it is and remember the Lord through it all.

I am grateful that i was able to spend Christmas with my mother.  She seemed to be really happy and that is always so nice to see.  We are glad to have her with us.  She is such a huge blessing to us all.  :-)  I am grateful also that i was able to talk on Oovoo with my siblings and mother at the same time.  It reminded me for a moment of Christmases past when we were all younger and at home, good times.  Louise would always wake us up at 4:30am and Jamie would always fall asleep in piles of toys in the floor after all the opening was finished.  :-)

Well i suppose those are my deep thoughts for now, lol.  ;-)  Enjoy the pics.  Truly there is nothing better than watching your kids open up their presents, ah, i love it.  :-)