7 posts tagged “family”

Yesterday I got to go see my brother-in-law get married! YAY! I'm so happy and excited and about a zillion other emotions.

What made the day the best for me was that they were married in the Temple. I know I don't post a whole lot about that sort of thing, but sit tight cause here it comes! The Temple is the most beautiful place on earth, so peaceful and quiet... so close to Heaven. There is no where on earth like it to get married, either.

In 1996, Megs and I were married in the DC Temple. At the time we had no family that could attend with us, so our guests were all friends. Some I still keep in touch with, others I do not. I dreamed of one day sitting in the Temple with family, and yesterday that dream came true for the very first time.

As Jared's only family member there, I got the primo spot beside him. I felt a little weird getting some special seat, but at the same time it was just so great to be able to sit right beside him while the officiator spoke. There was a mutual friend of his and mine, and she sat beside me.

As I looked at Rosemary's family sitting in a small cluster, I just wanted to weep for joy. There's nothing more I could have wished for Jared than to have so many loved family members beside him on his wedding day.

Weddings are more than just a man and a woman become husband and wife. They are about families being born, families being joined together, families going for generations backwards and generations forward.

Weddings are all about family. I sat in the Temple beside my brother-in-law and knew that we were forever tied as family. I looked at his bride and knew she was soon to be my new sister. Let me tell you, I couldn't have hand picked a better sister. Rosemary is just a fantastic woman and I am so excited to get to know her more over the years to come. Seeing her family, I knew we were also tied together through Jared and Rosemary.

It was nice to think of having such a large, loving family. It was great to think about how we are never really alone, that there's always someone out there on our side.

Rosemary's mother was the one that made sure I had my special seat. She didn't have to do that. I'd never met her before, but after just a few minutes to talk to her and seeing her great love for a total stranger... well I can see why Rosemary is so fantastic!

In our Temples we keep our ceremonies small. There is a simple elegance that brings tears to one's eyes. I'm not usual the sort to cry at weddings (good thing since I'm so often behind the lens of a camera these days), but I cried yesterday. I cried and I'm not ashamed of it at all!

Yesterday was probably one of the best days of my life in most recent years. The weather was just perfect and the events of the day beyond awesome.

They hired a photographer, but I got him to agree to let me chase around behind him. I got quite a few good shots, and he even let me pick out two or three poses to do with Jared and Rosemary. I hope they like my photos!

I'm not going to post them all here. You'd kill me. There's like 76 photos. Yeah. That's a lot. I know. However, I'm using this as my official announcement: I've set up a photography website. That's right, you can now have me be your official photographer. I've bought the bullet and decided to make a go for it. That's probably more scary to me than the whole wedding scene seems to others! I've put all the photos there, but you can view the blog entry/slideshow at The Emerald Lens. If you go, enjoy the show. Let me know what you think!

Meanwhile, I'll include just a few of the photographs I took here:

Oh did I forget to mention that Rosemary brings into our family an absolutely adorable little girl? My heart swoons at my newest niece!

I hope you enjoyed my rambles and gushing. And of course, my photos. I hope you have a great weekend. Tonight we're having a reception for Jared and Rosemary and we're just spending the weekend hanging out in New Jersey with the family.

As I say on my new photoblog - Have Camera, Will Travel!

--Lady O

Families come in all shapes and sizes.  With the definition of family changing faster than we can blink, people question constantly, "Just what does it take to make up a family?"

Some families are large while others are small.  Some families stand alone, while others rely heavily on the extended family.  There are two parent families and single parent families.  Children come through birth, marriage, or adoption.  Close friends find themselves known as "Aunt" or "Uncle". 

Most of our married life, we did not enjoy the blessing of living near extended family.  As geographical orphans, we broadened our definition of family quickly.  We welcomed all close to us into our Kingdom of Sir Megabyte.  Thanksgiving gatherings included others, like ourselves, far from home.  Christmas meant visiting good friends and neighbours.  While we loved, and missed, our family so far from us; we never felt alone.

Our boys fill our days with laughter and delight.  We adore them.  We wanted more children, but due to health we cannot welcome more into our home.  Still, we long for more. We all feel room in our hearts to love another.

Some, in similar situations, adopt children.  Other families open their hearts to pets.  We often talk about both options, yet neither seem feasible.  We keep our hearts open should circumstances change, and find happiness in the wonderful family we are.

Recently, something fell into our laps.  Literally out of the blue.  So completely unexpected, we know not what to make of it. 

Some would say, "The Lord works in mysterious ways."  I am only one.

Things moved fast, with a manic pace that, even I, cannot replicate. 

Just what is it that fell in our laps?  What are we doing?  How are we becoming a family of five? 

In just two short weeks, we become the proud parents to a teenager from Morocco.  She joins our family, for one year, as a foreign exchange student. 

Unlike most prospective parents, we do no have nine months to prepare for our happy addition.  We will not get to watch her grow, fall in love with her daily.  She comes to us, nearly fully grown, and for such a short time.  Already, we feel our hearts filled with love for her.  She already seems to be a part of our family and we look forward to our next year with her. 

And so we prepare.  To go from four to five.  There will be adjustments, growing pains, and worries.  Just like any other family.  But, just like any other family, we will experience immeasurable joys.

-Lady O

A month ago, my sister-in-law rang me on the phone and asked if we'd like to have her son come for a visit.  Our nephew is the same age as Caramon, we have not seen him in a year, and amazingly he is going to already be in our area!  Uh, yeah!!! 

So for the last month, I have put up with the kids asking how much longer, how many more days, hours, minutes.  You could say there was a little excitement around these parts!  Maybe? 

I became real anxious as the visit neared.  So many wonderful things, fun things, educational things... how's a girl to decide?  Just what was I to do while he visited?  How do I narrow it all down? 

I think I have it narrowed down, now that he is here.  Though there's so much more I want to do!  There's just not enough time before he leaves.  Sometimes I wish I could control time, have my very own Tardis.  Maybe I should hijack Bill and Ted's phone booth?  Buy myself a few more days to do things with my nephew?  Seems like a plan to me!

Yesterday we went into town.  There's this great scavenger hunt going on there.  Local businesses and artists teamed up to promote tourism, town knowledge, and environmental awareness.  Throughout town, you can find a collection of 35 large fish.  We gathered with some friends of mine, and together the eight of us embarked on a three mile hike, searching out fish and clues.

Today, I took the three boys to a local battlefield.  We learned about the battle held over 140 years ago while driving the park.  We found a handful of walking trails and set off for more hiking.  Today's hiking was far harder, however, through the woods, up hills and over bridges.  A whole lot of exploring going on.  Another three miles and the boys were ready for more!  Begging for more! 

With any luck we'll all be getting a bit trimmer from all this hiking!  The plans for tomorrow?  Who knows!  I'm hoping for far shorter hikes should we go a-walking!  Whatever we do, It's sure to be fun filled and action packed!  I'm so glad that we can do all this with my nephew! 

Maybe I'll lose some weight with all this hiking in July!  Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

-Lady O

PS: Dear Readers, if you want to see some of the fun we're having, I'm posting pictures to my flickr.  It's going to be a process as I have little time to post them all... but feel free to check out.  I'm uploading as fast as I can!  We really are having a blast!  My only hope is that my nephew is having as much fun as we are!!  :)

In our women's meeting at church, we discussed prayer today.  This is probably the simplest thing that we can all do, but it's also the easiest to forget.

Why is it when things are going well, we get lax in our prayers?  Yet, just as soon as things hit the toilet, we're on our knees begging for aid.

My husband and I have several decisions we are trying to make right now.  Some of them are pretty important.  We've been praying this weekend to know what His will is for us and our family.  I am not sure what the answers are, but I know what I am starting to feel.

The Lord answers our prayers in a variety of ways.  There's the feeling of peace that burns inside of us, making us feel so good.  Then there's the absence of all things good and uplifting, that feeling that makes us sure that something is completely wrong.  Sometimes, that's hard to feel if it is something that we really want.

The final one is perhaps the scariest.  The feeling of nothing.  Need we wait longer?  Is there a reason the Lord is not talking to us?  Am I unworthy of His answers?  Really, if we've waited for His answers and are truly listening, what does this mean?  Some say, it is the trust the Lord has in us.  He knows that we can make this decision without His help. 

But the problem?  How can we have trust ourselves like the Lord trusts us?  How can we know if we make the right decision?  How can He trust us when we can't trust ourselves?

Hopefully, we make the right decisions.  It seems as though we have a positive on one, but the dreaded silence on the other.  It's going to be a stressful and difficult week around the Kingdom. May we do the Lord's will is my prayer now.

--Lady O

Stay at home mother's received a pay raise this year. Woot! We are now worth $138,095 a year. That's a nice salary of $2,655 a week! Ok, fine... there's taxes to pay... let's see... married... 2 exemptions... sure. That's about $2198 for me after the IRS takes their share.

Tomorrow's pady day. Where's my paycheck?

I could really use that! I could use it to pay for gas and the note on the van that doubles as school bus and taxi cab.

I could use it to pay for the food to feed two growing and starving little boys. (Just ask, they'll make sure to tell you we are so destitute the last time they ate was last time you fed them!)

I could use it to replace the shoes with holes in them, add books on the shelves for education and literary needs, all sorts of things!

So I ask again, where's my paycheck? Do you know what I could do with an extra almost $2200 a week?

And yet, I really think that it's not enough. What is the value of a stay at home mother? She is raising our future businessmen, doctors, lawyers, and leaders. She is caring for the world's most precious commodity, children. Is that worth a mere $2200 a week? I think it's priceless.

The study says that a mother works a 92 hour work week. Maybe that's why I'm always so tired? Some days it feels like a 92 hour work day! At the end of the week though, most mother's couldn't tell you how many hours they felt they "worked". The joy of motherhood is enough. Sure it is stressful, but it is the only job where you are "paid" to have fun and play.

What other job let's you play hide and seek? Spray someone with a water hose? Sack out on the sofa with a book and some quality snuggle time with the kids? What other job pays you with butterfly kisses and giggles?

-Lady O

Boys are all the same! All around the world, boys will find a way to make anything into a game.

Today we were working on our revamped timeline in our school notebooks. I got this great idea from a local homeschooling mother. This branched into my husband and I making a template in the style of customizable card games to use in our timeline.

What on earth are you talking about? To sum up this idea instead of trying to write sideways and running out of room on some pages for historical events, you use card protector pages and put the events on cards inside the pockets. This allows you to expand by adding more protector pages and rearrange for new events you are recording. The best part of this is that you can see the history of the world in a much more global way. You can see that when so and so ruled in Egypt so and so ruled in China. When you are putting in information about an author of a book or a scientist, you can see what else is going on in the world.

We could go low tech and easy and just use cut up scraps of paper or index cards to jot these notes down on. Instead, we decide to go the extra mile. The result? Our old timeline has found its way to the circular file and I have recreated all of our previous notes into "trading cards". Nine pages of nine cards. Wow, we're only in Egypt, I can't believe how much we've learned! And I'm exhausted from typing and searching for pictures!

Today we were cutting away at these pages of cards so we can insert them into our brand new timeline. The boys go to town with scissors and paper scraps and a lot of giggling. They only cut out a couple of these cards before they realized what my husband and I had created.

Cries of, "We can play a game!" soon reached my ears and I smiled while watching. Before I knew it, the boys had invented their own history game. I must say I don't understand the rules or the purpose, but they seemed to be having a great deal of fun.

"I play Abraham!" Caramon says gleefully.

"Oh he's taking his family to Canaan!" Joram says and plays a card.

This progressed into a blur with Moses taking the Hebrew nation from Egypt, the two Hebrew nations being set up, the combining of the two, and finally Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar invading. Things did not stop here, though, they played cards to travel down Egypt's story as well!

All the while giggling and talking about all they'd learned in history.

Who said learning was no fun? Just ask my kids, all it takes is finding a game to play!