What can you learn from Flying a Kite

Our kiddos love to fly kites.  They love going to the park to fly kites.  They love taking a picnic to the park to fly kites.  Their favorite part....getting the kite up really high, then letting go of the handle and watching what happens.  What they learn from it....what happens when we choose to not hold tight to our standards and the commandments.  Not sure how I feel about this object lesson since we just about lose a kite every time we do it.  The boys especially find it amazingly fun.  So, the controlling mother I am, has learned to roll with this one.

Love that they tend to get along a lot better when we are outdoors...

love watching N help Eden with her shoes.

 And I love watching these two squirts play with the grass, having a great time.

 And E's notorious monster faces!

Where I've been finding Eli a lot lately:

Soren wanting to be with his side kick:

 Throwing grass into the wind. 

And the FINALE, watching and chasing the kite string, when it is no longer anchored to a hand.

We salvaged the kite, but the string must me tossed.  Was it worth it...yes!

Eastering

Looking over collected eggs at the easter egg hunt at the park.

 Coloring Eggs

 Easter Dress

 Easter Braids

 Brothers can barely stand her cuteness.  Yes, they spoil her.

We don't do all the normal Easter Celebrations.  We do some of them...like Easter Egg Hunts and Coloring Eggs. We do a  Passover Meal (LDS style) every year sometime around the actual Passover day.  We read about Jesus Christ's last week leading up to His death and resurrection.  We watch this video.  And of course we eat a yummy Easter dinner with family that we love.  Yum!  (I guess the part we don't celebrate is the Easter bunny)

Attack of the Scissors

I knew the day would come, when something would be ruined with scissors.  That day came.  And, I'm oh so thankful that it was clothing and not hair.  Now, we have discussions, over and over again...we cut paper, not ANYTHING ELSE!

The shirt and the pants are cut (see the cuts on the sides of the pants).

The Car Accident

It happened in the blink of an eye.  One minute, driving up a beautiful canyon, the next lying sideways, with the seatbelt suspending us in the air.  Glass crushed, tires spinning.  Derek and I concerned for each others well-being.  Then Derek saying (as we are still lying side ways in the car), "Well, this is really going to complicate things!"

We were heading up to a bishop's retreat for our church 10 days ago.  It was held in Angel Fire, up the canyon from Taos.  We came around a blind corner, a truck pulling a trailer was going fast, taking the turn wide.  He was over in our lane a couple of feet.  We had to swerve to miss him, hitting a loose gravel shoulder, spun 180 degrees, slid to the opposite side of the road, and tipped over on the passenger side.  Although it happened so quickly, it really did feel like slow motion. Could this really be happening to us?  How will this end?  The truck drove on, unaware of what he/she had just caused.  We could have died.  We could have been severely injured.  But, somehow, we weren't.  We walked away completely whole and healthy.  It truly was a miracle.

We came home to our five children.  Our lives have gone on as usual.  But, something has changed in me, really, in both of us.  We express daily gratitude for what we believe was the hand of God acting in our lives.  I do believe in a Heavenly Father.  And, I do believe in guardian angels.  Those living, and those unseen.  Elder Holland teaches, “From the beginning down through the dispensations, God has used angels … in conveying love and concern for His children. … Seen or unseen they are always near” (“The Ministry of Angels,” Liahona andEnsign, Nov. 2008, 29).

I may never know what really happened that day.  What I do  know is that  it could have ended very differently.  I've played out many different scenarios in my mind. None ending as good as the reality.

I held my children a little closer this week.  Looked deeper into their eyes.  I held onto Derek tighter, too.  I felt more alive, more here.  Truly, my life will never be quite the same.