Not to Be Forgotten

This morning for “couple” scripture study, Kevin and I were discussing the question from the Sunday School student manual. We got to the question about the importance of the two great commandments—to love God and to love your neighbor. I got to thinking about the day before and how Allie so beautifully demonstrated, at three years old, both of these…

Yesterday afternoon, I sat down at the piano. I started playing a hymn, merely because the hymnbook was what happened to be open in front of me. Allie’s eyes lit up as I began to play and she moseyed over to the piano with a goofy little grin, and asked sweetly, “Mom, will you play ‘I Am a Child of God’ for Aaa-llie?’” Now how could I resist that?

I smiled. “Of course, Allie.” And I played it, while we sang it together. How I love her little singing voice, the way she strains to belt out the high notes, then resorting to a soft, sweet head voice when belting gets out of her range. But more than anything, I love her passion, her adoration for the music. She has no fear, nor sense of self-consciousness.

I let her choose a few more songs—“Snowman” and “Popcorn” being among the first she chose. Then came her fourth favorite song, “I Like to Look for Rainbows,” and my eyes filled with tears as she sang the line, “I want to be the best I can, and live with God again.” I wonder when she’ll really know what she’s singing about? And perhaps she already does.

After running out of ideas, she began to choose songs according to the accompanying illustration, so I, of course, had to sing a few on my own. We got to “Jesus Loved the Little Children” which also had a drawing of the Savior tenderly holding an infant. She looked at it and I said, “Allie, did you know that Jesus loves little children, just like this baby, and just like you? Jesus loves Allie very much.”

She replied, “And Allie loves Jesus.”

Then in the evening, I got the girls in their PJs, and right before putting them to bed, ran out to the front yard to water my flowers. Sami stood in the doorway and Allie followed me outside. Just as we were heading back inside, her older friends Aura and Jose from down the street, rode by on their bikes. Of course they stopped in our driveway—they absolutely adore Allie. We talked for a few minutes, and then they rode away. As Allie followed me back inside, she said, “I love Aura and Jose.” I stopped and turned around and she had this look on her face like everyone in the world loved her and she loved them, too. And she looked so happy. She knows of her worth, as well as theirs, and she’s only three years old.

The greatest teachers of those two great commandments tend to be, what we see, as the “least” among us.

A Brief Insight

I was talking with my aunt Gina yesterday, venting to her about all of my motherly frustrations. In doing so, she pointed out how hard on myself I have always been, even from the time I was itty-bitty. The conversation progressed to a point where I had a sudden realization of something of which I had previously been in denial. I won't go into how exactly I arrived at this epiphany, because it involved revelations regarding loved ones-- revelations I won't reveal to you. But here's what hit me. I know sometimes that I'm probably too tough on Allie-- I expect too much out of her. I used to kid myself into thinking that's because of my concern for her. However, I always knew I wasn't necessarily concerned for her eternal welfare, because I have faith that will all work out in the end, but I really thought I was merely concerned for her earthly state. I realized that I'm tough on Allie because I'm tough on me, which means that what I'm really concerned about is not so much her welfare, but what her actions reflect about me as a mother and a person. To put it simply, I'm being prideful. Wow, that hit me like a ton of bricks. And Gina wasn't being critical or condescending in discussing this. She pointed something out she has noticed in others that brought me to this conclusion. Now I realize that understanding this about myself will not solve all my problems, but it has given me new direction-- hopefully a better one.

Jambalaya

1 rib chopped celery
1/4-1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 green sweet pepper, chopped
2 Tbs. margarine or butter
1 14.5-oz. can stewed tomatoes, cut up
2 c. chicken broth
1 c. water
2 c. long grain rice
1 tsp. dried basil or thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. bottled hot pepper sauce (adjust according to preference-- this amount is quite mild)
Salt, to taste
1 bay leaf
1 lb. smoked sausage
2 c. cubed chicken or turkey

Slice sausage into disks, and sautee in a large skillet till brown. Meanwhile, chop celery, onion, and pepper. Remove sausage from skillet and set aside. Cook vegetables in margarine or butter till vegetables are tender but not brown.

Stir in undrained (and cut up) tomatoes, chicken broth, water, uncooked rice, basil or thyme, garlic powder, pepper, hot sauce, salt, and bay leaf. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes or till rice is tender. Stir in cooked chicken and sausage; heat through. Discard bay leaf. Serves 6-8.

It's All in the Past

Allie officially began her first season of swimming lessons last week. When I had gone at the end of April to sign her up at the designated time and place, the original plan was to sign both girls up for lessons-- to choose a time where Allie would have a class at the same time Sami would take the "Mommy and Me" class. It would be perfect. However, that plan was foiled when we realized about a month ago after a trip to the beach, that Sami cannot stand water cooler than bathwater. She also hates sand. What kind of a kid is that? What kid hates sand? Actually, to be honest, I never did like sand either (still don't), but I do like to go in the water... as long as it's not above my mid-section. Okay, back to Sami... So, I didn't sign Sami up, and figured I'd just keep her strapped in the stroller while Allie swam. Allie's first day was last Tuesday. After roll-call, her teachers led the brood over to the edge of the pool, directing the kids to sit there and dangle their feet over. Being the first day, it was the day to test their levels to see which teacher they would get. After encouraging them to kick their legs, one teacher went to each kid, and while smiling, reached her arms out to see if they would reach back. If they did, she'd grab them and dunk their lower half in the water to see their reaction. Of course most of the kids got a bit freaked out. I mean, they didn't even see that one coming. The difference between the rest of them and Allie, is that the other kids mainly recovered, with the exception of maybe one other. Allie was all for swimming lessons till that lady decided to "practically drown" her. Once the teacher set Allie back down on the edge of the pool, Allie thought, "Man, I'm outta here!" She got up and walked away, looking for something better to do. Heck, there was a bin full of toys to play with, or a giant whale at the extremely shallow end of the pool that was calling her name. I ran after her and stopped her.

"Allie, where are you going? You need to go back with your class."

"No, I wanna pway with the toys." She walked away from me.

So I caught up to her. "Allie, you need to go back to your swimming lessons-- back in the pool with your class."

"No, I wanna see that whale."

"Okay, let's just go home."

She looked at me. "No, I wanna swim."

"Well, you can go back in the pool with the other kids and your teachers or we can go home. Which one?"

"Back in the pool." And she walked over and sat back on the edge, waiting for help. The teacher came over, took her in, and put her down. Allie was a bit nervous until she realized the pool at that end was about two feet deep. After that, she walked all the way across the pool, and the teacher got her to hang on to the edge and "walk" herself around to the deeper end. She really was quite cooperative once that little fiasco at the beginning was out of the way. Her next lesson wasn't quite as difficult. Although, that "princess" mentality is beginning to surface. While she's not afraid to go in the water, she doesn't seem to want to try to actually swim. Why do that when there's a big strong teacher to do it for her? He can carry her, lift her, support her, hold her, so why should she try to do it all by herself? Ick. What is she? A peasant?

Those girls make me laugh... and cry, too, but we'll skip that for now.

Sami took her first steps on Saturday! Don't get me wrong, she's not walking yet, but she's getting braver, and I don't imagine it will be long before we have another Tasmanian Devil tearing through the house. Although, she is a pretty fast crawler-- a regular Maria Andretti. Once she started crawling, I was just grateful she could actually defend herself against her overbearing big sister. Of course that also means that Allie has become more aggressive as well-- the pushing and shoving and screaming have begun. Ah, yes, sisterly love-- such fond, fond memories. I'm sure Mallory is rolling her eyes at this moment as well. I love you, too, Mal.

Hey, here's something fun! Some friends from our Wymount days at BYU, the Sextons, happened to fly into Melbourne for a beach/Disney World vacation. So we got to have them over for dinner at the end of their trip. Spending time with them just reminded us of how much we miss all our old friends. What a great family! And Allie loved playing hostess to their girls, who were five and three. Krista seemed to really like our Jambalaya, and wanted the recipe, so maybe I'll just include it on the blog. Just as a disclaimer, though, I have no idea how authentically southern it is, but we think it tastes good anyway.

I had better go and tend to the child who is running around diaper-less. Kevin just can be so incorrigible at times.