This week was pretty special since we celebrated Gillian's 12th birthday. This summer she has grown into a beautiful young woman, and I have felt blessed to have her as my daughter. Her brothers adore her, her friends love her, her leaders care for her, and Elijah and I can't do without her. She is mature, happy, and sweet, and always trying to do the right thing. She is kind toward others, and tender with the children; She has a great capacity to love, and is very thoughtful. From all of my children, she has gotten the perfect combination of my fun and loving personality and Elijah's maturity and easy going temperament. She makes me laugh with her theatrical talents, and brings tears into my eyes with her beautiful voice or lyrical poems. She is a joy to have around!
Here are some of the highlights of last week that I was able to capture with my camera:
Monday, July 28th
The kids are going strong on their running. The running club will continue for two more weeks, and so far the older boys have run 30 miles, and Gillian and Charlton are at 25 mile mark. Pretty amazing I should say. After running club, we always head to the library, and recently I've noticed that their friends follow us there too. Gillian, my mom and I grab our books and sit down reading, but these boys of mine hide themselves behind shelves so I won't notice them reading cartoons. I went to their hiding place and told them they are welcome to read as many cartoons in the library as they wish, but none at home. Since they have their own library cards, they had managed to pirate a couple home thinking that I hadn't noticed. Needless to say, I had to go back to the library this week to take back some of their embezzlement.
After our morning outing, the kids settled home reading, my mom did laundry, and I went grocery shopping. Around dinner time, we headed to one of my friend's home for pizza and swimming. The kids had fun swimming, playing ping pong and riding four wheelers. The day had been well spent!
Not much to report for this day. The kids cleaned the house - bathrooms, kitchen, dishes, beddings, vacuuming, mopping, tidying their rooms. After that, they played outside with each other, did school work, played board games, and read. Gillian got to go the Young Women's swimming party in the late afternoon; it was her first Mutual and she was very excited.
My friend Liz wanted to get together to have a pre-birthday fun with Gillian, so I brought some pizza and cupcakes, and had a little celebration for Gillian with one of her best friends. This year is family birthdays (we alternate between friends party and family party each year), but since Gillian is turning a special age this year, I thought a little party with her friend wouldn't be deviating too much from our rules. I didn't get to take any pictures with their friends, since I was actually talking with my friend, but here are some amusing pics of my kids playing around afterwards.
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| Making a whirlpool |
Thursday, July 31st
Last day of July was my sweet angel's birthday. I had told my mom and the boys that I had something special for Gillian and me during the day, but that we would celebrate her birthday together when dad got home.
I took Gillian to the English Rose Tea Room, a quaint, little tea shop, where we stuffed ourselves with various kinds of herbal tea, yummy sandwiches, tasty scones and jams, fruit and dessert, and where we felt like royalty. Gillian and I had so much fun feeling at home like the refined ladies that we are ;)
Afterwards, we went and had Gillian's ears pierced. She had been looking forward to this particular event for quite some time, and we celebrated it by having Gillian choose her first earrings. Sheer delight!
When we got back, Elijah had finished making her cake, so we had dinner, and then tasted his yummy creation. After dinner, it was time for presents. Gillian got a lot of fun gifts from her brothers and Mami Lili. Elijah and I gave her a new set of scriptures with her name engraved on them. We hope she can use them to guide her throughout her life.
Friday, August 1st
Gillian's birthday celebration continued on the next day when we met up with our good friends, the Wiederholds, at an Aquatic Park. It was so entertaining seeing Gillian and Mary go on their own pool as soon as they saw each other, the boys take off to jump off the dive board or go down the giant slides, Charlton and Josh run to the kid area, and Amy and I start catching up right away.
In the evening, Mary stayed for a sleepover, and to celebrate the occasion, I took them to the Cheesecake Factory. Being a Friday, we had to wait for a while to be seated, but that wasn't a problem. I had brought our Conversation Jar with me, and the girls had a great time asking and answering questions about all areas of their life. The evening was spent wonderfully, especially when I let them watch Princess Bride in their room. I can truly say Gillian had an enchanting birthday!
Saturday, August 2nd
This day was a very special day to me. My friends threw me an unforgettable baby shower with a French theme. They all had outdone themselves from the stunning decorations to the exquisite food. Everyone's gifts were so generous that I felt humbled by their love and kindness. I had been feeling very low the past few days facing the fact that none can help you in this world except yourself. It is a very cynical view, but one that I've felt to be true in our situation at the moment. It seems that no matter how much you serve or give from yourself, people will always be who they are, and unfortunately selfishness is a big theme nowadays. I just wished I had learned that lesson many moons ago, and had not given all of me away, with nothing to help myself and my family except my submissiveness to the will of the Lord. That last one requires a lot of faith, and lately I've been wondering on those choices I made that were never based on what I wanted or what I discerned to be the right path. I feel if I had I would be the mistress of my own life. But how can you doubt the Spirit? I guess faith, however small at the moment, is what's keeping me going. Seeing all of my friends there also, and feeling of their love helped me assuage that desperation of loneliness and bring some sunshine into my life.
I had brought Gillian and Mary to the baby-shower, and had asked Gillian to take a few pictures of this extraordinary event filled with kindness and thoughtfulness.
"If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm."
"Faith is not simply a patience that passively suffers until the storm
is past. Rather, it is a spirit that bears things - with resignations,
yes, but above all, with blazing, serene hope."
