Nightly Routine

I had an epiphany today.

Every night, while I'm doing my "nightly routine" (face wash, teeth brush, make up removal), I have this little girl glued to my side.

She pulls up her potty chair and uses it for a step stool.
NOTE:  This is the only thing her potty chair is currently used for.  Someday I'm hoping it is used for "good" and not "evil"... I digress.
She grabs whatever bottles I am using: face toner, empty lotion bottles, contact solution and she puts these items on her face just like me.  Then, she puts on my bright red lipstick that rarely sees the light of day.  (Or the dark of "date nights" for that matter.)

Most nights I call for someone, anyone to rescue me.  I mean after all when I've had the little chicka shadow me all day I figure that I should at least be able to put on my jammies and have a little "me" time in peace.  Nothing fancy here, just a few minutes.

But tonight I was pondered the situation.  I'm so thankful I've done this blog to chronicle her "growing up."  I realized that she is already growing out of  making big messes.  When she does make them, she says "sorry Mommy" and cleans them up.  I know I wanted her to grow out of that phase, but wow that was quick. 

SO, I decided that I wouldn't be in any rush for her to get past this one.  I'm going to happily accept and enjoy this addition to my nightly routine.  Maybe I'll even buy her some of her own bottles of lotions and potions to use.

What a great way to end every day... with a little red lipstick.

Our Heavenly Father's Plan

Over the summer we had the chance to visit the Church Welfare Square.  It was such a wonderful experience.  My testimony of people of the earth being in a large family was strengthened.

A few conferences ago, an apostle explained how the Welfare system of the church is here on the earth to be a blessing to Heavenly Father's children. During our visit we were able to see firsthand how it works. 

There was a Japanese family touring with us, mom and dad and daughter and they asked the sister missionary if humanitarian kits were delivered to Japan after the most recent earthquake and tsunami.  Our missionary assured them they were, only the instant potatoes were replaced with rice because the potatoes aren't eaten in Japan.

Heavenly Father loves his children so much He even cares about making sure you get rice instead of potatoes if it's important.

That was moving, but one of the most touching things I saw, was picture of children drinking a special drink created to help with the famine in Africa during the 90's.  Scientists at BYU came up with a nutritious drink for starving people to be able to get used to nutrients again, and to eat solid food after nearly dying of starvation. What a wonderful gift that God was able to give His children through the folks at BYU.  HE really does help us all.

Yesterday in testimony meeting, a sister in our ward got up and bore her testimony about the gospel and how we are all truly family.  Our ward members were going on a big camping trip in Colorado and had a suburban pulling a flatbed trailer filled with camping gear.

The car broke down in Albuquerque.  She and four of her children were stranded on the side of the Albuquerque freeway in the rain while her husband and oldest child went for help in the tow truck.  Not one person stopped. 

It started to rain, so she pitched a tent from her camping gear and got on the phone with information to reach the local church leaders.  An hour later, a local bishopbric member had her trailer hooked up to a borrowed suburban and had the children safely in the car.  These church members watched kids all afternoon while Peterson's went to find a car at a dealership owned by a local ward member.  This family fed them and let the Peterson's stay the night at their house.  They went from stranded to back on their way in 24 hours. 

Her point is, we are all family in the gospel.  Where does that kind of thing happen anymore?  In Heavenly Father's church, as part of His family.  I'm so thankful to be a part of this church and all the blessings that come from it and I am thankful that we are able to be a part of blessing all people in the world!

Blog A Thon - Someday

Is what I should be doing right now.
This very minute.

But instead, I'm going to make a Booster Club Flyer, work on next week's sharing time and catch up my calendar so I don't miss something important like I did twice yesterday.  Mom's should just NEVER get sick... just sayin.  No matter how awesome and wonderful your spouse is, (and mine is super awesome and wonderful), there are just some things that only you keep track of....

Like open houses, dance class, curriculum night (that's this Thursday honey), Activity Days, Sonic Night fundraiser, grandparents day, Scouts, orchestra practice....  Oh, I could go on, but you can see where this is going.

To his credit, anything to do with sports he is on top of. 

But being the CEO of Samuel Family Inc. is a very big, full time seven days a week job and "The Mother" has to be checked in for things to run smoothly and not be forgotten.  (Derek is CFO...  it's a thankless job but someone has to do it.)  BUT I love that our children are all striving to learn their talents and want to learn - everything.

So hopefully my kids will see the above list and know that just because I haven't journaled anything about our family for the past month, they have been VERY busy.  And hopefully before I forget all the fun things I want to share with my loved ones, I'll get a chance to do my "Blog A Thon."