Bring Light and Joy

So what do you do when a girl you know finds out her baby girl (who is the same age as your baby girl), has cancer? The first thing I did was wish that I knew this mother better so I could be a better friend. The second thing I did was look for opportunities to help her family out (because she has two older children, both boys). Our ward has made this really easy - they've set up a calendar filled with different needs and you can just sign up to help whenever you can. The third thing I did was pray for inspiration - although I've had a prayer in my mind for this sweet baby ever since I found out she was sick. And thankfully inspiration did come - the answer might not have been exactly what this mother or baby or family needed, but it was something to do, which was what I needed.
Our stake just had stake conference last weekend, and in the adult session the themes for the talks were temples and missionary work. One young mother-to-be talked about missionary work and service. She said that what the world needs from us LDS are just two things - light and love. She talked about how her father is the director for the Young Ambassadors at BYU and how they are in Africa right now on tour. Her dad sent her several text-pictures of some of the young ambassadors with children that are in the hospital with severe burns, and she noticed that one young woman in the group was crying in all the pictures. Then the speaker said this: "I told my dad that he needed to have a talk with that young lady because these children and people already know that it is sad. Everyone knows that. Her job is to bring them joy."
Well that thought really struck a chord with me, especially with this family on my mind who in a matter of days entered the fight with cancer with their baby girl. Her situation is undoubtedly sad. Everyone knows it is sad. So maybe something I can do is bring a little light, a little joy. Presumptuous, right? But better than nothing.
So I made these mobiles for the baby's hospital room and thought of her all morning while I was working on them. I held Marianne a little longer than I had been, any moment I could, and I thought a lot about the trials we all face in this world.

Bekah's Haircut

A few weeks ago Bekah and the other kids were able to spend the night with their cousins Zaya and Russel.  They had a wonderful time, and I could tell because when I picked them up they were all covered in dirt from head to toe. What I didn't realize until later was that Bekah's hair had also received a generous dose of sticky sap that refused to brush out. I'm sure somewhere in cyber space there is a solution for getting sap out of hair, but Bekah wanted a hair cut anyway and the sap was near the ends so it could easily be cut off. I decided to cut her hair myself because 1. Marianne had just laid down for a nap and I didn't want to wake her and take her to the hair cut place and 2. I kinda sortof want to know how to cut Bekah's hair myself and 3. Bekah lets me cut her hair - in fact she gets super excited.
So I spent fifteen minutes watching youtube videos on how to cut an a-line hair cut, and then started hacking away at Bekah's hair. An hour and a half later (Bekah was so, so patient with me!), this is what it looked like:
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but it definitely looks better curled under because then you can't see the choppiness. My plan now is to cut it regularly so that when she's in high school she'll let me cut it and I don't have to spend money to take her to a salon!
We'll see...
Before:

After:

Prepare to Be Floored!

I know you won't believe me...because flooring is not a necessity, right? But Rus and I just threw caution to the wind two weeks ago and blew a chunk of change on some wood flooring anyways. (We live on the edge.) I didn't hate living with concrete floors for the past nine months as much as I thought I would, but I am so SO happy that they are covered!
My parents were planning on being in town this past weekend for my niece's baptism and decided that there was nothing they'd like more than to help us install our flooring. (Seriously.) So Rus and I started trying to level the floor the Wednesday before. I don't know if any of you have ever leveled a concrete floor, but it is a horrible, messy, time consuming process, especially when your floor was apparently laid by drunk concrete workers. On Wednesday Rus and I used a six foot ruler to find any dips in the flooring that were more than 1/8". (There were many.) On Thursday while he was at work I read all of the instructions on the concrete mix that we were going to use and thought to myself, "Rus has never done this. He'll read the same instructions as me. Why can't I just start on this now before he gets home. Then he'll come home and it'll be almost done, I'm sure."
Ha.
So I made the mix, dumped it in the appropriate spot, and then spent 1.7 minutes confidently spreading it out.
And then it started drying at an unbelievable rate and I immediately realized that I had made everything worse, not better, and in a few minutes it would be hardened and stuck there and Rus would walk through the door and I'd have to find a hole to crawl in...
So I did the only logical thing...I ran to the garage, grabbed the flat shovel, and started scraping the crumbly stuff back into the bucket that I had just poured it from.
And then Rus walked in, I told him that the concrete people were idiots, cried for good measure, and sent him off to buy something that worked.
He came back with four more bags of the same product and later showed me exactly how to do it right.
Ug.
I think he will admit that the stuff was horrible to work with, too, though. We had to pour it, let it dry, and then sand any rough edges, and then remeasure, and then pour some more later. Our house was promptly covered in dust everywhere. You'll be happy to know that laying the actual flooring was really, really easy. We bought an engineered Quick-Click flooring and it was great to work with. It's Brazilian Koa.
Anyway, now that you have the saga, here are some pics:
Living Room BEFORE:

Living Room After:

 And another view, Before:

During:

After:

My mom paid the kids in animal cookies for helping.

 Oh, did I say kids? I meant everyone.

 Here is a close up of the wood. I am so happy with it!

 And here is a close up of the dust. Yuck.

 And a finished view looking back at the kitchen.

 We spent Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday leveling the concrete in these two rooms. We started laying the flooring at 10am on Saturday, took a break from 3 to 6pm, and finished at 10:30 that night. All that is left to do is putting the trim back on.
Hooray!
Thank you Mom and Dad! It was really fun to work with you!

Marianne's PONYTAIL!

Dear World,
(I'm sorry, I can't help myself addressing these posts like letters...indulge me. Just a little bit longer.)
Marianne's hair can officially make a ponytail. Oh happy day! This means I don't have to pretend that I like headbands for her anymore (because for some reason I don't). This also means that while I'm on the stand leading the music and Rus is holding her, somehow her ponytail will wind up in his mouth and then take on the appearance of half of a curly stiff mustache. It's still cute, though!
See! This is how the "Ponytail Photo Shoot" went. (Pre-Rus spit.) And yes, I knew the blanket had a yellow stain when I used it. I even knew Marianne was in front of it. I think I just hoped it wouldn't show up. Lesson learned.
Mommy! I want that camera!

I really want that camera strap!

 Tee-he-he, Daddy just zerbered me!

 Then of course Bekah jumped in. She's always a happy extra in any photo shoot.

 Why not bring in the whole family. Beau - "lean in" does not mean "plaster yourself to Bekah."

 Need a close up? It's got a nice curl, huh. Thank you Rus.

Love Letters/Hate Mail

Dear Man at the Post Office,
Please know that when you walk by with a towering chocolate ice cream cone, my son will cry and beg for a similar confection for the next half hour. I might not like you for your unconscious offense.

Dear Hockey Team (aka "Pioneers"),
Why have we lost five games in a row? You are all great players...well not you Aaron, but you're learning, like me (but in my head I'm better than you, at least I don't steal the puck from my own teammates)...And why the cold shoulders? Is it violating hockey code to get chummy whilst putting pads on/taking them off? Art, you don't seem to have a problem stripping down, I might not ever look at a middle aged heavyish bare-chested man the same. Bradley, wow that was a lot of cuss words in one breath last night when our team helped the other team score. I admit that it crossed my mind several times last night after the slaughter that maybe I was the one who dropped the ball (or missed the puck), five too many times. But there was a serious lack of goals, too, and those were not my job - I'm defense for a reason.

Dear Laundry,
I might hate you, but I love how all the little shirts and pants disperse themselves into four neat, albeit towering, piles. Really. I love those four piles.
p.s. Explain to me how Bekah has only one pair of underwear for a week? Please tell me the washer is eating the other six pairs...

Dear Marianne,
You made my night last night when you willingly ate more than one bite of avocado. You and I might have both been covered in green mush, but there were officially six bites of avocado in your tummy! Now please open up for pears or bananas or sweet potatoes!

Dear NieNie,
I entered your "Motherhood is" essay contest and I would really like to win. I hope you'll agree because I'm already planning the conversation we'll share on Mother's day. It'll be all about your baby without any awkward burn questions, I promise. If I don't win I'll just have to tell myself that you never got my email...how could you not love an essay that begins with spit up?

Dear Trees,
Rus and I spent a fortune on you last week. We are reversing the horrible decision Rus's grandpa made to never plant a single tree on this property four decades ago. So please do your part and grow fast. Like treehouse-next-year-fast. Rus will water you and you will grow. End of discussion.

Dear Beau,
I know that in your mind my job description is thus: "Mom will play with Beau at all times and in all things and in all places," but I'm afraid you didn't read the fine print which reads: "Except when there is laundry to do, dishes to wash, floors to clean, toilets to disinfect, errands to run, other kids/husband to please, or on rare occasion, personal interests to pursue." I'm sorry. I really do like legos. And monsters.

Love,
Keri/Mom

The Marianne SlugBug Video

Beau Video