Of Good Report

I love Halloween Night.  As much as I hate carving pumpkins I love the actual night of halloween.  A friend summed it up for me when she also stated her dislike of pumpkin carving when she said that she hated all the preparation for halloween, but halloween itself is great.  I fully agree.  I don't love the halloween parades at the school, or all parties at school.  I do love the magic of the night.  There is something magical about eating a nice warm dinner pulled out of the crockpot or some simmering soup then getting all costumed up and hitting the streets.  I love the honest to goodness trick or treating.  The kind where all the neighborhood heads out going door to door begging for candy.  I could do without "trunk or treat" or all the trick or treating in offices, or local businesses.  It is fun to see all of the children, and adults, dressed up in classic, or scary, or clever costumes.  I love the excitement of the...

I hate carving pumpkins.  I realize hate is a strong word and I honestly don't hate too many things, but carving pumpkins makes the short list.  I know I am the title of this blog is "of good report", but I can think of few, if any, virtues of pumpkin guts!  They are slimy, stinky and messy.  I always try to put on a happy face as we spread out the newspaper, pull out bowls and pass around sharp knives to my children.  I keep a prayer in my heart the the only guts and gore we see comes out of the pumpkin and not out of any fingers.  So far we have not had to get any stitches due to pumpkin carving--there it is a virtue. Tonight started out quite well, Spencer, Taylor and Emma were fairly independent gutters and carvers.  Estelle required quite a bit of assistance, and Sarah, bless her heart, decided to paint her pumpkin.  This of course meant we also had paint to clean up, but the fewer the pumpkin guts the better.  Sarah was...

I was planning on writing this tomorrow because that is Emma's birthday, but it looks like it is going to be another long night of blood testing so I decided to make good use of my time.  We had a party for her tonight and she got sung to at church, so it seems ok to write about my darling 10 year old daughter tonight.  Ten years ago tomorrow night I was holding my first baby daughter in my arms.  She was my easiest delivery and a sweet, sweet baby.  I felt like I had my hands full with a toddler and a preschooler to care for as well, but she was definitely a welcome addition to our family.  Her big brothers loved her right away; Taylor would shake her hand and say, "welcome, Emma, welcome."  She has a tender heart and is a hard worker.  She is very organized and responsible.  She loves animals and the outdoors.  She likes to play basketball and has a good shot.  She is petite and beautiful.  She grew her hair long so she could ...

I seriously considered having the theme of this blog be about a family who has a child with diabetes.   I decided that although there will certainly be plenty of posts about that I didn't want it to define who we are.  Even though I could put something about it every day, I will resist.  I want to focus on the good and virtuous, and by good in the case of diabetes I mean the learning that takes place on many levels and by virtuous I mean the patience and grace with which my son deals with this challenge every day.  For the second night in a row I will be checking Taylor's blood every couple of hours.  He has had two days of being extremely high--most of the time.  He had several lows this morning.  In April he started using an insulin pump.  It is supposed to make his life easier.  And in many ways it does.  He doesn't have to give himself four or more shots every day and he/I don't have to do as many calculations each day, b...

Mormons are a social lot.  Whenever we get together we talk, laugh, hug and on occasion cry together.  Yesterday I had the privilege to be a part of a moment when we truly worshiped together--reverently.  The Brigham City was dedicated and in lieu of church meetings all Utah members were invited to attend the dedication via satellite.  The chapel was full and it was quiet.  I loved listening to the music and viewing photographs of various temples worldwide before the meeting even started.  I got to attend with Taylor and Emma.  Destry and Spencer went to an earlier session.  We had to split up because we had two youngsters who were not old enough to attend yet.  As I was sitting there I realized that the other two will likely be old enough by the time the Payson and Provo Temples are dedicated.  It will be wonderful to participate with my whole family. I was impressed with the spirit of peace and reverence that permeated the meeting an...

Today I had the privilege of witnessing six young people enter the waters of baptism. The first three were beautiful eight year old girls. They were dressed all in white and two of them were baptized by their teenage brothers. It was lovely. All three of them were from families of our friends, my seven year old daughter watched with anticipation of her own baptism just months away. My five year old exclaimed that when she grows up she wants to get baptised. Joy. The final three were from the same family. The Huntings. The Huntings live a couple of streets away from us. They are amazing. They had five children ranging in age from 3 to 12. A few months ago the adopted four children ages 13, 9, 4 and 2. They are from Texas and are a beautiful, lively bunch. They have adapted very well and the parents are still smiling. Today the 13 and 9 year old were baptized along with their biological 8 year old. As I sat looking around the room crowded with friends, but mostly with ...

Yesterday, my second grader came home from school with a handfull of cute invitations for friends to join her for a "late night" at our house that evening.  She graciously ran it by me before delivering them and asked what would be an appropriate time for the party.  I told her that 7-9:00 p.m. would be great.  She wanted to make sure she had plenty of time to prepare, so she put 7:30 p.m.  Ok.  We went to the dollar store to buy candy, made cookies, and put cheese in celery in order to have a health snack alternative.  She set the table, printed off coloring pages, and cheerfuly helped to tidy up the house.  I love her enthusiasm.  She was a gracious hostess and while we initially handed out the candy to the winners of "musical chairs", she wante to be sure that everyone had a fair share.  She prepared goody bags with everyone's name on them  before they arrived.  In addition to the eating, musical chairs and coloring activities....

Yesterday I had a date with my eighth grader.  It was awesome.  He is awesome.  We went to lunch at Kneaders.  Also awesome.  This child has some great qualities, he is kind and compassionate, he is a leader, he's smart, handsome and has a fun sense of humor.  He is close to the Spirit and regularly recieves inspiration.  Sometimes he is wise beyond his years.   He also has some personal challenges that make him a challenge to parent.  He is anxious and often irritable.  We have had many long days since March (since birth really, but this go around has been since March), but I feel like we/he have made an upward turn.  It was refresing to visit with him about friends and dancing and growing up.  He has always been a mama's boy, but he is developing a great relationship with his dad.  They both need that.  I need that.  I get so sit back and watch them blossom rather than having to referee....

"If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praisworthy, we seek after these things."  This is a paraphrase by Joseph Smith, Jr. of Philippians 4:8 and my personal motto; it will be the theme of my blog.