Little by little-Line upon line

We’ve all heard the saying,” You must crawl before you can walk” and “Little by little, line upon line”. Well these are all thoughts that ran through my head this weekend during stake conference in Angers. Elder Camargo (Area 70) spoke to us and taught us some great stuff. His talk was about experience and how important it is in our lives and the lives of those around us. He mentioned that he has had kidney stones 4 times and his wife has had them also, so when their children get them ( He thinks they have no chance of escaping them) they will know how to give them comfort and advice. He also talked about the adolescent years and how trying they can be for both teens and parents. “These are all experiences that we would rather avoid, BUT how would we be able to help others who will pass by these same things?”

That did make me think about when our girls will be old enough to date and have to deal with all the pressures of teen years ( Oh yes, you guessed it- instant ulcer and I could actually feel the grey hairs boinging out). Our experiences as teens will hopefully be able to ease some of the difficult times but it is also a time to learn for our girls so we don’t want to remove everything from them. They will need to go through things on their own, make decisions of their own and that is why the scripture in Proverbs 22:6 is so reassuring—”Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”—

This also made me think alot about why we are given certain experiences- They are given, of course to test us, prove us, and help us grow but also help others and be a guide and support through a difficult time. Losing Darren obviously comes to mind. What we went through on that roller-coaster of a day, our wedding day is so hard to explain, the emotions were all over the place. From complete and total elation and joy to the most suffocating feelings of sadness and loss. In one instant our family was added upon and in another a piece was taken away. But what we learned from this experience has allowed us to be more sensitive to the loss others deal with and to be a comfort to them. As Elder Camargo explained and as we know from the Saviors experience in Gethsemane, we will know how to help others more deeply if we have already passed through what they are experiencing.

These experiences are necessary for our growth, although when I think of boys calling our house to ask out our daughters all that comes to mind is neceSCARY! God is so good to us as he does allow us to gain experience little by little and line upon line. Even though Joseph Smith did so much in so little time, he was always able to learn and grow from his experiences. When I look at Ryn and Elle and think that only 17months separate them it blows my mind to think that Ryn has learned so much since she was Elle’s age(which seems like just yesterday). And that Elle will be doing alot of the things Ryn does now in a few months it is so crazy. With them so close in age and stages though it really does allow you to see how laying those important foundations and anchors help them grow and build for the next stage.
Parenting is tiring and demanding and hard BUT I can’t say it enough it is so rewarding and eye-opening . I LOVE IT! I am so thankful for all the great parents that we have had and been able to be around- from our own amazing parents to our siblings and learning from them to our good friends and seeing how they do things…. we are so blessed and our daughters will be better for it:) so thank you !