Bittersweet Moments

Gotta love the bittersweet moments of life. Chad and I are staring one right in the face this month. We are moving! We were able to find ourselves a two bedroom apartment in our price range and will be moving the first weekend in March. We are so excited!

The Bitter:

-The kitchen is teeny tiny. We have been so spoiled with our current kitchen and all the counter and cupboard space. It will be interesting to see how we make do.

-Leaving our very first apartment. We have lots of wonderful memories here and it has been a wonderful apartment to live in.

-We'll be living on the 3rd floor...with no elevator.

-Tiny bathroom. I love our sink and all the drawers and space. We'll have to kiss that goodbye.

The Sweet:

-We'll be living on the 3rd floor....with no elevator. Lots of good exercise!

-Two bedrooms! Chad and I will be able to have our own little sanctuary! And not have to worry about whispering and the lights when we go to bed.

-The storage space! We'll have a small walk-in closet in our bedroom, a closet in Jarek's room, a linen closet, hall closet and coat closet. And on top of all that, a little storage room in the basement! It's not very fun living out of only two closets.

-We get a little balcony. We have some space to keep plants and maybe get a little grill for the summer.

-We're on the top floor. No more noisy upstairs neighbors. I just hope we don't become the noisy upstairs neighbors.

-We get to stay in our ward!

Luckily, the sweet always out weighs the bitter. We are way excited for this next stage in our life! We can't wait to get moved in!

Jarek Trying Green Beans

Jarek has been eating rice cereal for a week and a half or so now so yesterday I decided to try something new. I decided to start with green beans. His reaction was hilarious! I knew Chad would be sad to miss it so I decided to video tape a couple spoonfuls. Enjoy!

Jarek is 5 Months!

Our little JP isn't so little anymore! It's crazy to see how fast he's growing! Some of the things he's been up to...

-He loves rolling around the floor, grabbing at anything within his reach.

-If he can't bring an object to his mouth, he'll gladly bring his mouth to the object. Luckily, mom and dad are always there to catch him as it sometimes turns into a nose dive off our laps.

-He's starting to move around and scoot a little bit on his tummy.

-He loves watching TV. What baby doesn't?

-We've started feeding him solids. After a week of not knowing what's going on, he figured it out and has been chowing down.

-He screeches at the top of his lungs all the time. It's always happy, but man is it loud!

-He's recently taken an interest in his feet.

-He can hold his bottle all by himself. Can't quite maneuver it yet, but he can hold it up really well.

-He's sleeping through the night! I haven't even had to get up and put his bink in his mouth the last few nights. I hope I didn't just jinx it, but it has been wonderful!

-He's starting to get a tooth! It's definitely starting to cut through. You wouldn't even guess it by the way he's acting. No extra fussing at all! He's a tough little guy.

-He loves kisses on the cheek. Which mom loves to give!

He definitely brightens up our life and we love having him around! And now for the recent pictures!

This is often what I find when I leave him to roll around. Things scattered everywhere, socks that have been kicked off and the blanket attacking him. Sure love that energetic little guy!

Love that rice cereal!

Showing off the new high chair. He looks so grown up!

Thanks for the awesome onesie, Aunt Andrea and Uncle Joe!

He kept making this face while we were eating dinner one night. We couldn't stop laughing!

What a big boy!

(Chad's expression makes me laugh in this picture.)

What a cutie! We are way excited for what 6 months will bring!

Christmas '10

Well, I was a horrible mom and only took a few pictures of Jarek's first Christmas. I really am a horrible picture taker. I am trying to be better.

The three of us were able to spend Christmas in Minnesota with mi familia. What a wonderful time we had! It was so great to be able to spend some time with my family. I was so grateful for the opportunity my family had to meet Jarek (and Chad's sister, Tiffani, and her family, of course!). We all had a blast. We spent a lot of time being lazy, which was a great break from the stresses of life. Chad got to spend a week away from work as a reward for all the hard work he's been putting in. And Chad got to spend some time getting to know and feeling more comfortable with my family. It was a wonderful trip all around. The only bad thing was the lack of Derek, Brayden, Makayla, Andrea, Joe, and Tali. We missed them all very much! Luckily, we don't have to wait long for us all to be together again! We've got a family camping trip in Moab planned in May and we are so excited! It will be the first time we've all been together since James and Jess' wedding. It's going to be so much fun!

And now for the few pictures that were taken at Christmas:

Jarek and his Omma.

Spending time with Bunga, my awesome grandma. What a beautiful woman she is, inside and out!

Hanging out with Bumpa, my awesome grandpa. My grandparents have been such a huge part of my life. It's hard to think that their years are numbered. I'm so grateful to have these pictures so I can look back on them with Jarek and tell him stories about their lives and my memories of them. I hope my children will be able to feel as connected to their great-grandparents as I did, even though I never had the chance to know them.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

The Reason for the Season

Lately, I have been reflecting quite a bit on the birth of Jesus Christ, His life and ministry, and the Atonement. I love the Christmas Season. So many lights everywhere, wonderful music, beautiful decorations, the spirit of family and giving, and the celebration of the greatest birth in history.

Simply put, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that He lived a mortal life and died for all of us. I know that He was resurrected and that He lives today. I know that He knows and loves me personally. I have felt His endless love countless times throughout my life.

As we are spending time with our families and exchanging gifts I hope that we will all take time to remember the man who gave us the greatest gift of all. And maybe think of a gift we can give back as we start the new year.

I love you all. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. And I hope you enjoy the following posts about different people and parts of the birth of Christ.

“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).

"A Raisin in the Sun"

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to lecture anyone other than myself in this post. I needed to write it to clarify my thoughts. I did feel the need to post it just in case someone else got anything out of it. It is not meant to make others feel bad or make them feel like they need to do better. I am the one that needs to be better and I hope I can.

‎"Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning – because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ‘cause the world done whipped him so! When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is." ~Lena Younger, "A Raisin in the Sun" (3.1.113)

"A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry is one of my favorite plays. I read it my senior of high school for my Diversity in Literature class at Normandale Community College. I have a tendency to like depressing stories and this one goes right in that category. It makes me realize just how lucky I am. I have every avenue opened to me and I don't have to worry about not being able to attain my dreams because of where and when I was born.

Chad and I watched the newer filmed version of the play with Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs and Phylicia Rashad just the other night. I wanted to see how it compared to the one with Sidney Poitier (Sidney Poitier is way better). As we were watching, I was really struck by the quote I wrote above. It's constantly been at the back of my mind since we watched it. And I'm not exactly sure why. My guess is that I need to be better at what it says but I can't really figure out why. Or maybe it's just that I finally found my philosophy in life put into words. For whatever reason it has stuck with me, I'm glad that it has.

With Christmas fast approaching, I can't help but think of the Savior's example when I read this quote. I know that I feel the Savior's love most when I feel the most downtrodden. Why? I'm sure there are many reasons. I think it's mostly so I can feel hope again. Hope that all the hard times will pass and I will see the light once again. Hope so that I can hang on a little longer and make it through. Hope so I don't give up. Why does the Savior not want us to lose hope? Because it is one of only 3 principles (faith, hope and charity) that will help us make it back to Him. His greatest joy will come when we enter His presence once again.

So how does that all apply to us? We all need to exhibit more charity and restore others' lost hope. Easier said than done, I know. When someone has lost all hope, they tend to act selfishly and forget about those around them. I know it's hardest for me to love someone when they are acting like that. What a world it would be if we look beyond a person's behavior to the root of the problem. We can't expect them to act better by punishing them and getting on their case. They need charity, the pure love of Christ, and they need it from more than just our Savior. I'm not saying the Savior's love isn't enough. It is. More than enough. But imagine what it would be like to have that love from others around you. Think about the people in your life. Who can you love more? Who has lost all hope? Give them that love. Give them that hope. I'm sure you and I will be amazed at how it changes ourselves.

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