Morning Thoughts

My alarm went off at 6:40 this morning. I lay there, listening to the happy little charm of my cell phone and willed it to silence, begged it to turn back three hours and give me a little more time to sleep. Of course, it couldn't do that. I silenced the phone and listened to the movement upstairs. I heard Lucy stumble into the bathroom, then Jordan climbing down from his loft bed. Then Sam, downstairs and rummaging in the dryer for socks.

I feel lucky that I don't have to micromanage my children in the morning. With rare exceptions, they all wake up on their own and get mostly ready for school. I fix Lucy's hair, make lunches, and let the boys know if their fly is unzipped. But otherwise, they do pretty well on their own. Even breakfast is in independent venture, Jordan taking the lead in making sure everyone is fed.

It's a tender mercy at this point, when within minutes of standing up out of bed, I am sick. At least my stomach is empty in the morning, so to throw up isn't all that bad, but it still makes my eyes well up with tears and my nose get all snotty and my jawline tremble with the tension of it all.

This morning, Lucy called from the kitchen, "Mommy, are you okay in there?" She's old enough now that I expect she'll always remember when Mommy was pregnant with the last one. Perhaps it will help her to remember, when she's pregnant with her first, wondering if she'll ever stop feeling so terrible, that Mom felt it too and survived.

But sometimes, it feels like that's all I'm doing - surviving.

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In other news, I went to a women's conference this weekend. I taught a class on mothering (drinking coke and eating peanut m&ms through the entire thing so as to NOT feel sick while teaching... and yes, it worked) and hope it went well. But the most fabulous part? Denae Handy was our keynote speaker - here all the way from her home in Salt Lake. Words can't really describe how fabulous she was. She is such an incredible speaker, an amazing person, (and a great blogger, so yes please do go and check her out) and someone I feel so lucky to know and love. And she brought her husband with her, and he's pretty awesome too. I don't think I could ever adequately summarize all that she had to say, but I can definitely do so inadequately.

Scripture study can be awesome. Make it work for you.
Don't trade your testimony of the Gospel for being busy in the church.
Don't be afraid to work hard.
Talk to God -reassess where you are, and what you need to do to get better.

And laugh. Oh, I don't think there is anyone in this world that makes me laugh more.

See? Totally inadequate. I wish all of you could have been there.

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And finally... I bought a domain. I'm officially www.mommysnark.com. Fun, yes? It makes me feel fancy. If you've ever been so kind to link to my blog, your links will still work. So change nothing, keep clicking, you'll still be forwarded to me. I think you will anyway. If you ever happen to notice it doesn't work, mommysnark.com is easy to remember so you can change it and not lose me. I would be sad to be lost, so please do so if the need ever arises.