Heavenly Father Knows Best

As I was reading in Nephi 17, I was struck by verse 50. So Laman and Lemuel were complaining (I know, big surprise) because they didn't think the Lord could show Nephi how to build a ship. Nephi chastises them and among other things says, "If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done."

I thought about how easy it would have been to ask the for the waters to be parted to save the effort of making the tools and then building the ship. But then the result would have brought even harder trials like A LOT of walking (and it took them 8 years just to get from Jerusalem to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea). And then how would they cross the Mid-Atlantic trench?!?

So all of this made me think about the times when I've prayed to Heavenly Father for what I thought was the best or easiest way, but because He loves me, He did it His Way. Isn't Heavenly Father so clever!

Happy Kristen Day!

Last night my former son Chris told me that in 30 years I will be 70 and that's the age when most people die. He honestly thought he was trying to cheer me up. It didn't work. I told him I wasn't going to have any more birthdays. From now on it's "Be Nice to Mom/Kristen Day." I tried to get him back by telling him that in 30 years HE will be 40 (and then I added an evil laugh). He just looked at me and said, "So?"

Tomorrow I'm going to break it to the kids that with Mother's Day on Sunday, it's actually "Be Nice to Mom Week."

What a Cool Guy!

Meet Luke. He is a very busy 17 year old, but he still takes time to play with the little kids in the neighborhood. I know in these pictures it might seem that he's taking his stress out on them, but he is actually quite gentle and patient with them. They adore him! Thanks Luke!

If Adam were a girl

Yesterday I stumbled upon this picture of me. It's one of my favorites so I showed it to John. When I look at this picture, I see me at about 3 or 4 years old. When John looked at the picture, he saw Adam in a dress. Since he pointed that out, that's all I see now.

When we showed the picture to Adam, John told Adam it was a picture of him as a girl. Adam thought it was hilarious, but he was surprised to find out it was really a picture of his mom. He showed it to his brothers who had the same reaction: laughing, but surprised it was their mother. I think they were more apt to believe that the picture was one of Adam that had been "doctored" rather than consider that their mother had once been this young.