Such a blessing!

Each birth is a blessing!  

And when it happens that the birth is a new niece for me--even better!

My dear sister is quite the specialist--

This sweet little girl is

her 5th girl!

(She has a great recipe--look how cute they are!)

Not that I am at all biased--but these girls are all as smart as they are cute!

(Proud Daddy was taking the pictures!)

It seems a little weird to me that my younger sisters have more children than I do!  

I spent so many years being the trail blazer, it is now a slightly odd feeling to be outnumbered!

Whew!

What a wild sprint through the weekend! I cleaned house manically on Friday, and it was LOVELY by the time my party rolled around. I had small, but not pathetic attendance. If you are still interested, you can order stuff until this Friday.

On Saturday, we got dolled up and went to a "surpise 40th anniversary party" for Mr. Prism's Aunt & Uncle. It was good to see family we haven't seen for a long time. Lots of exclamations over how tall LargeBoy is getting (and we didn't even have BigGirl here--she has SHOT up this last year, and is amazingly tall and pretty). SmallDaughter and the WonderDog behaved very well--and she ate about 10 plates of potato chips, which her loving brother patiently refilled for her.

When we got home, LargeBoy and I worked on a model of the human body while we listened to General Conference on the internet. It was nice and mellow to listen together.

http://lds.org/conference/languages/0,6353,310-1,00.html" (once again, nothing will link, and you are forced to cut and paste. Sorry.)

In the evening, Mr. Prism went into town to attend the Priesthood Session, and the cookout dinner they had before, and LargeBoy and I did a lot of baking: a batch of bread dough which turned into 2 pizzas and 4 loaves of yummy bread, a pan of really rich butterscotchies, and a lemon jelly roll.

On Sunday morning I made up 2 huge crockpots of stew (one of beef veggie stew, one of corn chowder)(--Thanks for loaning me your crockpot, Miss K!) and got them cooking along. Aunt A and Uncle R, plus their awesome chillun arrived, and we began listening to the Morning Session of Conference. Partway through, my dearest-cousin- in-the-world arrived, with 2 adorable babies in tow (one is her sweet nursey baby, and the other is her sweet niece.) She has come to our part of the world to assist her little sister (my awesome cousin Kit), who is undergoing some medical stuff and needs help chasing her little one (who is 19 months old and FAST!).

It was great to have everybody here, and we all squished into my little computer room to listen. During the break between sessions my dad & co. arrived and he set up a screen and his spiffy computer projector, and we arranged all the couches in the living room (currently 4!) like a theater, and listened to the afternoon session in comfort!


I particularly loved Elder Jeffery R. Holland's bold and forthright testimony of the Book of Mormon, and Brent H. Nielsen's touching talk on missionary work.

Then we all ate and ate and ate, while watching a "slide show" of old family pictures that had been put on a CD from my grandparents old slides. It was great.

I am so blessed.

The most precious gift

I just talked to someone that I dearly love, that I have missed, lost and misplaced in my life for several years. My heart is too excited to sleep, and I am overflowing with love.

Last night I got to go and snuggle a sweet brand new baby boy. (Yep, the one from the previous post, who decided not to wait any longer!) His new parents are doing great with him, and I am confident that they will be wonderful parents.

I have gotten news of several expected new babies. How precious each one is. No matter how many babies come into my life, each one is a miracle.

Now, stop procrastinating, get off the computer, and go call someone who is precious to you, and tell them how much they mean in your life! Don't wait--procrastination only robs us of wonderful memories and good deeds that we could be doing.

A Summer of Rejoicing!

I am rejoicing at the birth of a new life! A sweet baby boy, who came early, but just because he didn't need to "bake" as long! He was ready, and came in a peaceful, gentle birth, surrounded by love and familiar voices. Each baby comes with such utter, incredible potential. I love it when parents choose begin to put their children's needs before their own, long before the baby is even born. Our world is filled with such heartbreaking selfishness, that I love every act of love that shines against it.

I will have other babies to rejoice over this summer--but baby Jackson James is the first!

I am rejoicing at my nephew, who was baptised a few weeks ago. He is a wonderful, sweet boy, and the only sadness in my relationship with him is that we live so far apart! I am very proud of him--he has always had a special place in my heart, and that spot just keeps getting bigger as he grows!

I rejoice that I am surrounded by lives that are expanding. This summer I have 4 couples that I love getting married--and I can whole-heartedly support all of them! Even better! I hate to feel like they are making a huge mistake, and of course, there is nothing I can do about it. It is MUCH better to watch my younger friends make such wise decisions in their lives--it brings so much joy--not only to them, but to a huge circle of people who are affected by them.

I rejoice in watching the way the Lord puts the people we need into our lives. Several people that I love are going through deep sorrow, deep pain and hard trials. It is very hard to see the suffering--both physical and emotional of people that I love.

Some of the trials are physical--mortal bodies causing pain, wearing out, or needing major surgery. Some of the trials are the pain of death--of losing someone that they couldn't imagine living without.

Some of the trials are the most painful kinds--not brought on by their own sin or bad choice, but by the rebellion, selfishness and sin of those they love the most--a spouse, a child, one of their "dear beloved".

In the valleys of sorrow in my own life, I have found the sweetest blessings have come to me in the very middle of my deepest trials. Those miracles that happened at the very instant when I needed them most, have deepened my appreciation of, my knowledge of, and my love for the Savior and His atonement as a true force and cause of miracles in my life. I am praying that those miracles, those Moments of Grace will also bless the ones I love. There isn't much else I can do.

Ooh, how I love new babies!

My dear friend K, who is my same age became a grandma yesterday. Now, we all know that I am FAR too young for Grandmotherhood. Quite true. She managed this feat by the clever usage of a stepson, who is old enough that if either K or I had actually given birth to him, we would have been in medical journals. This excellent stepson is married to a charming wife, who has given birth to the most beautiful baby in the world. (Grandpa told me so, so it must be true--he couldn't possibly be biased. At all. Anyway, after having seen photographic evidence, she is VERY beautiful.