Zoo excursion

Wet too great advantage of the relatively nice weather and went to the zoo Monday ... The boys were so excited to see the animals again! It was like pulling teeth to get then to leave! They complained they were tired and needed me to carry them but they just had to go see more animals. It was frustratingly cute  ;-)

Mom's birthday ...

yesterday would have been my mother's 54th birthday ... and it was a great day! we told a few stories, talked with my dad, and even had red velvet cupcakes with pink cream cheese frosting (b/c mom would do something sweet and fun like that!).  i felt so at peace and had no regrets, no feelings of despair or anger toward God for having taken her in the middle of her life, the prime of mine when i am just becoming an adult and growing into a mature and special relationship with my mother.  don't misunderstand, i do miss her deeply and wish she could be here to share special little moments together, but i don't mourn her passing.  i have come to trust the Lord so much now that i know if it were best for her to stay she would have stayed - that in her passing we are all strengthened ... or we are given the opportunity to have strengthening experiences with the Lord.  i have been blessed with a greater understanding of the plan of salvation ... the plan of happiness ... the plan of redemption than i ever had before.  the eyes of my understanding have been opened because my heart was softened, even broken.  i am motivated more now than ever before to be diligent in obeying the word of the Lord and in making and keeping covenants with Him because i want to be eternally united with my sweet mother (and all my family) in the next life.  there is nothing the Lord couldn't ask of me that i wouldn't do because i have come to know that when He says something He will follow through on his word, it will never become void. 

so all in all, yesterday was a great spiritual day for me and a happy reminder of how wonderful a life my sweet mother led and all the good she acomplished on the Lord's errand in the short 49 years she had in this life.  may i too be as wonderful as she is.

Sewing projects

I recently finished a gift for a friend whose baby shower is tomorrow. It includes a sleeper bag, hat and booties. I had to try them on Andy to make sure they were the correct size for a newborn bc some patterns say they are for newborns but are too big. And they did fit and i was so happy i just had to take a photo of my sleeping baby's feet. Can't really see it very well since it's white with this lighting.

My Twilight Zone!

EVERY time i go to JoAnn Fabrics i lose track of time and get sucked into the twilight zone. I went looking for some coordinating fabrics for some knit i had in gray and another in dusty peach, and some extra beads for a pearl necklace from my mother that had broken. TWO HOURS later and i'm finally checking out!!! I found so many new fabric choices now that i have a serger that it takes me longer to assess what i find and reduce the it down to a couple of options so i can finally make a choice. Wow!

Then as i was walking around i saw so many inspirational things, like this ruffled pillow. I love ruffles, lace, flower accents, and drapeing lines.

Atleast i found what i wanted and can move fwd with some ideas and projects. I love sewing!!!

Little bits of joy

As soon as matt came home from work the boys flocked to him and greeted him with joyful shouts of "tatay! It's tatay!" (tatay is tagalog for 'father'). Then they latched onto his legs and demanded a walk thru the house. It was touching they were so happy to have their tatay return home.

Family Home Evening

Tonight the lesson was on the plan of salvation with some fun about the creation. The boys were such great helpers and had so much fun putting together the "puzzle" with all its pieces. They even helped draw some of the creation like darkness and seeds/fruit. It was awesome! We even got to introduce the concept of spirit and body and relate it to grandma. We ar learning that grandma is dead but that she lives with Jesus now until she gets her body back. It's so weird to hear the boys say "grandma dead." we have watched planet earth a lot lately to learn about the earth and they have learned about the food chain as well. So hence they know grandma is dead, but we are trying to tell the next part of the story as well. Through Christ we have hope of a resurrection from the dead and if we keep the commandments and make covenants with Hin in his holy temples through his restored priesthood we can have eternal life. What great hope there is in knowing the entire plan God has for us our salvation!

Andrew Steven Huss

This has been erased 3x so i'm sorry it's so delayed. Andrew was born Jan 18th at 1:54am because he was so stubborn and needed some persuading- my midwife had to break my water. He was 7lb 15oz and 20.5 in long. He hides his weight so well i affectionatly refer to him as chicken legs! He is so quiet except when he's hungry. His steel blue eyes just stare deep into you as he watches your every move.

Will & Jake love and adore him so much they want be in the same room with him all the time & make sure that baby Andrew is coming with us when we go to the store! They are amazing big brothers. Jake cannot stop kissing him!

I love to hold him & cuddle him when he's sleeping. He's precious. We are the luckiest family to have such wonderful children sent to us from God. He wants our family to succeed and be happy, and that's why He's made temple ordinances available for us today so our families can be bound together on earth and later for eternity in heaven. God be blessed for the matchless gift of His divine Son who made repentance & immortality and eternal life possible!