Jungle Puma-Sept 27,2007

One of the reasons for a recent lack of sleep must surely be attributed to the Jungle Puma.
Let me Explain—–1st of all our house is an older house with old hard wood floors upstairs. All of the bedrooms are upstairs. So any walking around once the girls are asleep is frowned upon because you either need to creep from plank to plank like a master thief or fly across the wood floor like a dancer from “Lord of the Dance” which I am not too fond of either in the middle of the night. So needless to say both our bladders have become quite resilient. Elle has just recently developed what I call the “Jungle Puma” this is her way of letting us know that she is awake, would like to be held, or whatever. This isn’t a cry of pain or hunger either. Let me share with you what this sounds like and in our house with tile floors and wood floors the sound carries.
Ryn often endures for a good while and then will either say “shhhh is ok elle” or shoot a frustrated glance in Elles direction. We have learned to laugh and love every sound she makes even if it is quite shrill.
I just finished reading an article in a parenting mag about a father who’s life was turned upside down when they had their baby girl. He even resented his baby girl for cutting into or completely eliminating the things in his life that were his like his reading time, sleep, naps,sporting events and traveling. Also his intimate time with his wife. I can relate and understand what he is feeling. But I also can’t help but be thankful for how these little ones drive us and yes sometimes force us to be better people. After all is it not a life of 24/7 service, love, sacrifice and giving? President Hinckley said something I love regarding his long, happy marriage with Sister Hinckley. He said,” If we are always striving to put their needs before our own then things will work out”.
I agree with that 100%……But what happens when these little people slide in with their—-”We would like our needs met right now –please”—if they say please. How do we keep from giving so much all the time to these children we’ve been entrusted with without neglecting the needs of our eternal companion? Well, don’t expect me to have the answers as we are still fairly new to the parenting world. But I can say that if we can even try to at least talk and truly listen to one another, it helps! The temple is huge–reading and praying together is so important to feel that heavenly help– and lets not forget that too many couples these days are just trying to “stay in love” instead of “falling deeper in love”. The little things are really big things in a family setting. Think of how much we treasure some quiet time to talk or snuggle. Or how giddy we feel when we go out for dinner and a movie sans kids. Or something special and unexpected as small as it might be. I must admit when I was courting Kit and during our first few years of marriage I was really good at all these things. But it’s time for Dr love to make a permanent stay It’s time for me to remind Kit of what an amazing, beautiful, sexy woman she is to me!

She's getting too smart for us!-Sept 27,2007

Well Our little angel is definatley getting to smart for us way too early. The past few nights when Ryn senses it’s bedtime she grabs every book in the house and starts piling them up next to her. We read the children’s animated scripture book with her every night, so she figures “hey, what’s 18 more books right’? We love her so much and she really is a great big sister.

So Tired!-Sept 26,2007

We are both so tired! The transition back to France this year just hasn’t been the same. All of our sleeping paterns are out of whack. To boot the day after we arrived the club told us they are having financial problems with a sponser so if we wanted what we had agreed upon for this year I would have to do some work on the side! ARGH!!!! We told them that we had already given up more money with other teams to come back here so if they couldn’t find a solution we were going home. They were not expecting that apparently hoping that since I am a nice guy that I would just say, “okay”. They are now scrambling to make it work.We won our first game saturday 89-67. I finished with 20pts. It was a good win and also a very sentimental one as Thierry(our coach) lost his brother in August to a heart attack-he (Samuel) was only 33. The whole town has been really having a hard time dealing with the loss, especially Thierry. I can’t help but feel that we are supposed to be here to maybe help in some way. I know exactly what he is going through from losing Darren. In fact the other day I was driving to pick up the Elders and had the most vivid image pop into my mind. It was of Samuel in the Spirit World hoping with all his might that I will share the gospel with his family. Knowing that it might be the only time in their lives when they are in this close of contact with a member of the church and maybe their only chance to hear and accept.
We are always trying to do missionary work here but sometimes I get sucked into this lame way of thinking where I for some reason start to decide who is ready and willing to hear about the gospel. Such as–”well that guy would never give up his smokes and wine” or “they are just not going to listen”. When in reality our only job is to give as many people as we can the chance to hear the truth and then let the spirit do the converting, cleansing and changing of these people and their lives. The responsibility to share this gift with others can definatly be overwhelming at times but when it all boils down to it if we have the right intentions and we pray for the spirit to guide us then we should have nothing to fear. We also know that trials are placed in our lives to bring us to our knees and turn to God. I pray that they will listen. I can’t imagine having to deal with losing Darren without the knowledge of the gospels message of peace, hope and understanding

My 1st blog!-Sept 25, 2007

Well after much thought and being inspired by our good friend Michelle I decided to tackle an attempt at blogging. I am terrible at writing in my journal but love uploading photos, so I thought why not combine the two and see what happens.
The real driving desire to do this came lastnight when after we got the girls to bed Kit and I started reading the family blog of our good friend Michelle. Her entries of the days events and all the insights she gave, not to mention the great memories she captured were a big eye opener to what we all miss when we don’t slow down enough to take in all the miracles and life lessons going on right in front of us. We were both so touched by the tender experience she shared of Mary’s self -coiffing. After reading that I said ” I too want to learn from the everyday things!” “I too want to capture all the cute, funny, adorable and sometimes crazy things my girls do” “I too want to share my joys, sorrows ,blessings and trials with those I love!” Thanks for inspiring me Michelle and who knows if I keep it up maybe someday my girls will really love being able to read about their lives as little girls in France with mommy and daddy.So here we go and I hope you all will enjoy our adventures as much as I do! !