I legitimately almost passed out from excitement multiple times when we went to take family pictures a couple weekends ago. It was crisp, the leaves were falling, we saw a mama moose and her TWINS crossing a river...I mean, if there was a more perfect Fall day it would be hard to imagine.
There have been more than a few times this year where looking from the outside-in, I would think that we are freaking insane. The first was probably when we moved to Utah three weeks before my due date to get services for our newly-diagnosed autistic daughter. The next would be when we chose to add a troubled teenager to our already larger-than-the-American-average family. But the cake would be taken by the third moment - when we moved back to the area we started this year at after only four months of living elsewhere.
Life is scary and hard and I'm amazed our blood pressure is as good as it is with all the things we are striving to juggle and conquer. But at the end of each day the blessings outweigh the struggles and God is greater than He was that morning.
I know that this may be something that at times seems to define Peyton. But it really shouldn't and I don't believe it ever really can. Peyton is her own self. She is sweet and gentle, loving and cuddly. She has the power to soothe her dad's anxiety and soften her mama's heart that is so so close to the Spirit itself. She is inquisitive and curious, contented and joyful. As I look in her eyes, I see her intelligence and the wisdom of a Spirit that was groomed and prepared for the challenges she will experience in mortality. I love her with my whole soul and am so blessed to be called to serve her.
While it is undeniably stressful and emotional to consider the likelihood of there being very real challenges ahead for our precious girl, I am so aware of God's love for her. Peyton is so perfect, inside and out, and I am blessed to be her mom.
This post is dedicated to my friend Sarah, who sought out our latest family updates on my blog only to discover I haven't written in over a year and then, like any great friend, shamed me for it. I love you, too. But really. How sad is it that the last post on our blog …
As I ponder on this past year, "transition" is the word that comes to mind. Whereas 2017 was brutal and refining, 2018 has felt like a pivot away from that intensity and a step forward to what we hope will be an empowering 2019. Here are some of the biggest transitions we experienced.
“Just as doctors do not de-anesthetize a patient in the midst of authorized surgery to ask him again if the surgery should be continued, so, after divine tutoring, we agreed to come here and to submit ourselves to certain experiences; it was an irrevocable decision.”
It's been almost two weeks since Peyton has joined our family and I am just now acknowledging that I have been in denial about my healing. I haven't slowed down. I have attended craft fairs, gone out to lunch, grocery shopped, taken walks, cleaned the house, decorated for Christmas...the list goes on. The problem is, …
Continue reading No Rest for the Restless: My Postpartum Healing Process (or lack thereof)
I am so grateful to have been blessed to participate in such a symbolic event as childbirth - and am even more grateful to our Savior who performed the penultimate act of love on our behalf - the act that childbirth emulates - the infinite atonement.
The Farners 