Parable of the Rose

“A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it blossomed he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom – and also the thorns.

And he thought, “How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?” Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was able to bloom, it died…

“So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose – the God like qualities planted in us at birth – growing amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

“Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the Savior’s greatest characteristics was that He was able to show people the kingdom of heaven within them. He was able to reach past their thorns and show them the rose.

“This is the characteristic of love – to look at a person, and, knowing his faults, recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his faults. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns, then will he blossom, bringing forth thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold as it is given to him.

“Our duty in this world is to help our brothers and sisters by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love the Savior wants us to feel for each other; only then can we become perfect as He wants us to be and blossom in the garden of His Father.” (Author Unknown)

I found this post on another blog and wanted to share it with my family and friends. I found the message inspiring and true in my life.

Christmas Rules

I got this in an email and thought I would stick it up here for reading enjoyment. I certainly need to lighten up a bit this season and this injected a bit of levity for me.

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare . . . You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it... Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It 's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog. . .

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards!!

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

Quirks

Rules:
1) Tell six of your quirks

2) Tag your friends.

1) Well, Sarah, I had to laugh when I read your post about Making the Bed. TJ's funny nickname for me at that all important getting ready for bed moment is "Bed Nazi." I do the exact same thing, making the bed, straightening the sheets and fluffing the pillows before I get under the covers. I even have to have the right pillows. TJ doesn't pay attention to the pillows and will sleep with any of them. Unfortunately, this means that occasionally the pillow is unceremoniously yanked from under his head. And yes, TJ does complain about the cold draft when I shake out the blankets.

2) I organize the clothes in my closet by type and then by color. Shirts all next to each other and separated by color (shades of blue, white, red, purple, etc), then short skirts, then long skirts, then dresses. Conversely, my underthings are just tossed in baskets on the shelf, although they are separated. . .socks in one basket, bras in another, etc.

3) I don't like flipping through channels. My radio station pretty much never moves. It used to move all the time, but when I finally find a station I like then I tend to keep it there. I also don't like watching more than one show at a time on television. However I am pretty obsessed about holding the remote control for the television. TJ is pretty mellow about it, fortunately. So, Netflix works pretty well for us, no commercials, no channel flipping, pause on demand.

4) Knives . . . . MUST HAVE SHARP KNIFE . . . yes, I have probably driven people crazy trying to get the right knife sharp. A good chef's knife with a great edge is one of my favorite kitchen tools. Right after that is a good paring knife.

5) I worry too much. Maybe my middle name should be Chicken Little instead of Irene.

6) I tend to sit in the same general place in any room, given the option. I prefer the left side of the room, so I am looking to the right when facing the front. I also like to sit about 3 rows back from the front. A boring and weird quirk, but I realized just now that I do this. In all my classes for the last several years and also in church meetings, I sit in the same general place.

I don't have anyone to tag that hasn't already been tagged. I guess I need to get to know some of the sisters out here and see if any of them blog for future tags.

Ayden is born

This time around was not exactly what I expected when I planned the birth. :-p I should have listened to the little voice in my head when I actually took the step of writing out a birth plan and giving it to my OB. The little voice was telling me that if I wrote anything down that I would jinx myself. . . . .

He was born both quickly and slowly. He dithered about deciding to be born and had to be coaxed into birth with three days of light labor, but, when he finally decided, he came all at once. This was my first time with a water birth and would do it again. TJ was great and thought it was really neat. However, he drew the line at getting in the water with me. I can’t imagine why not!?!

He had some trouble breathing on his own when he was born, so only held him for a minute before the Dr. was working with him to get him to breath well.
They decided to put him on a CPap machine, which is similar to ones used on adults for sleep apnea. It is a little more serious with babies because they don’t have breathing down yet, so if they forget, then they might not remember at all again. (part of the reason for SIDS)

We couldn’t hold him while he was on the Cpap machine, so that was kind of hard for both of us. I think it bothered TJ more than me. I just had confidence that he would be okay.

Part of that was because I have confidence in the priesthood. I had contacted some priesthood in my ward and also called my Dad to see if they could come and give Ayden a blessing. Grandpa came with Mom and he was able to give Ayden a blessing. Then, the elders from the ward came and gave me a blessing as well with Dad. I knew they would be there soon and I also knew Ayden would be fine once he got the blessing. Dad gave Ayden the blessing as soon as they got to the hospital, then they came in to visit with me for a while and wait for the elders from church. About an hour passed in conversation and right after everyone left, the nurse came in to let me know that right after Ayden got his blessing his O2 stats had come back up and were staying up on their own. She didn’t mention the blessing part, just how long he had been doing well, so I knew the timing. So, that was the first time I had been able to hold him, right after a priesthood blessing.

Then, right after that, they got the results back from his blood tests and discovered his elevated Hematocrit levels. It is like blood doping in athletes and can cause a stroke if it is too high. Apparently it was dangerously high because they put him on an IV right away.

Now, he is fine and you would never know he had some difficulty getting here. If you count the preterm labor, one would think we didn’t know what we were doing. . . .i guess more practice is needed.

Baby pics of Ayden Marshall

He still has his splint on to protect the IV in his right hand. It was pretty cute watching him deal with it. He kept trying to suck on the splint. He didn't get frustrated, just seemed to take it in stride.

This was the first time after he was born that I got to hold him. He has little sensors and wires and an IV attached, so it was somewhat of a challenge to feed him the first time as well.

Right after he was born but before they checked his hematocrit levels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematocrit They had him under a warmer that was like an easy bake oven as far as I could tell. I think he got dehydrated from the lights and this caused his elevated RBC levels. Anyway, just after this they put an IV in his arm with a 10% dextrose solution to dilute his blood just a bit, since there was some concern of a stroke from blood that was too thick.

Last day just before we left the hospital. As you can see, he is as happy as we were about the situation. :-)

Look at that great big Yawn!