Ellie's Blessing

Ellie was so cute yesterday morning.... awake and smiling at Todd! We had contemplated waiting to bless Ellie till after we got back because things were so crazy, but Todd asked Ellie if she wanted to be blessed, and Todd said she got the biggest smile on her face. So, we decided to bless her. Todd gave a beautiful blessing to her, despite her crying through the whole thing! As soon as Todd took her, she started crying, and she didn't give up till we plugged her mouth with a finger! Good thing they have a microphone! I could hear Todd just fine, and how wonderful it was to hear her blessing. She is such a blessing to our family!

Speaking of families, I taught the nursery kids about belonging to a family yesterday. What a difference nursery is from Relief Society! I am loving it, though. We talked about having a mom, dad, grandma/pa, and how they all love us, and make us happy. I was thinking about how blessed we are to be part of a loving family. I am so grateful for the wonderful examples of my parents and in-laws of what a wonderful marriage entails. It's not easy all the time, but so wonderful, and so worth the frustrations at times. I am so thankful for a loving, patient husband! Todd and I talked about how thankful we are to have the privilege of bringing up such beautiful children who teach us more than we could ever learn on our own. Todd and I are also so blessed to have a wonderful ward family who have always loved and taken care of us! And I also taught those cute nursery kids of how blessed we are to be a part of a Heavenly family as well. No matter how broken a home can be, the knowledge of having a Heavenly family would help heal a heart. We have a Heavenly Father who loves us, a Savior who redeemed the world for us. How blessed we truly are.

And according to James, we are grateful to have a president of the US! He was informing me that while people are voting, Obama and McCain don't have that much to do. But when one becomes president, "you have all sorts of things to do, like reading letters from people... maybe who have a broken pipe, and they want him to fix it." I thought it was hilarious. We then had a more serious discussion on what the president does, and the type of letters he does receive, and what he does try to fix. His thought line was on the flooding in the midwest... cause he heard that the president visited all the people with flooded houses. The thought process of a now 7-year old!

James' other funny quote, was on the 4th of July. We got up early for a pancake breakfast, and I had the kids pick out their clothes the day before... I told them to find something red, white, or blue. Well, on the evening of the 4th, while he's running around the neighborhood looking at Adair's fireworks, he ran over to me and said, "Good thing I have red hair!" Why's that, James? "Because it's the color that I'm supposed to have on this day!" I'm glad he's happy to have red hair!

Anyway, that's all from us! We leave in one week... hard to imagine! Let crunch-time begin! :-) Glenn and James are about ready to jump out of their skin! Alex, just runs around happy to be with his brothers! And Ellie, just happy to be snuggled!