I had a goal to post something here once a month. A reminder came up on my phone. I ignored it. The reminder sat for days, then weeks. I didn't upload pictures or write. Maybe it's because we have been very busy. I think both Rick and I are wondering when life will get a little easier. We live in chaos. Aside from the remodeling work we're are doing on the house, other things have come up--mold and dry rot around the front door, delayed appliances, a failed well pump, then a failed septic pump. Work is demanding for Rick, and he's having to adjust his schedule to accommodate getting kids to school in the morning while I'm at seminary. Each of our seven children need our attention and love in different ways. And we also are working hard all the while to strengthen our marriage and develop ourselves individually. We had a temporary, but stressful Covid scare that required communications with the school and work and quarantines. Often, I feel spread too thin and I know Rick feels the same way. Because both of us are overwhelmed, we play a lot of "Hot Potato" with things like who's going to register the kids for sports, who will dispute the accidental overdrawn account fee, who will take care of the pool, who will administer discipline to the kids.
Maybe it's because we're busy and overwhelmed that I also feel a little depressed. Maybe it's that winter is coming, and I am dreading it. Maybe it's the holidays. The work of the holidays brings me little joy. I like the magic. I like remembering the birth of Jesus Christ. I like seeing family and playing games. But the rest of it feels like more work piled on top of the work I'm already struggling with.
So, maybe you can see why I'm finding it hard to publish updates.
But good things are happening here. They are. I'm learning so much from teaching seminary. Even though I feel a little bitter sometimes about the time it's taking away from what I want to be doing (or that I think I need to do), I feel that I am making good connections with the kids in my class and I'm developing spiritually and academically in ways I had not anticipated. We live in a beautiful place and our house is really nice. We have food to eat. We are getting to know good people here.
Is it pessimistic of me to think that life isn't always pure bliss? What is bliss without stress? I guess we need both.
I was able to go to the Mesa temple open house a few weeks back. The trip across the country was long and at some points it felt a little lonely. But it gave me a chance to reflect on the blessing it was for us to live in Arizona for only four years. We can look back now and see many reasons why we might have been led there, but a big reason for me was to inspire my interest in writing and family history work--specifically an interest in learning more about my Grandma's experiences when her family moved to Mesa almost 100 years ago in 1924.
Did you know that when our family moved from Iowa to Arizona, our kids were almost the exact same age as the kids in my Grandma's family when they moved from Salt Lake City to Mesa? That was an instant connection for me.
This connection and an interest in writing my Grandma Della's story spurred a three-year long project to research their history and write a story about their experiences. The story I wrote is from Della's perspective as a child, her experiences with desert life, what happened when she go polio, her recovery, and things she learned along the way that might have influenced her for the rest of her life.
The story isn't completely true. I added a few characters and some elements of what might have happened or what could have happened. Because it's a first draft of my first book ever (maybe even my last), it will never be published. But the process of writing the book inspired an interest in me to pursue writing, to understand history, and to record stories.
And when the time came that the Church History Department inquired if anybody had ancestors with a special connection to the building of the Mesa, Arizona temple, I was ready to respond with inspiring stories and pictures. The result is that Arthur Price is one of 15 people you can learn about in the new Mesa Temple Visitor’s Center.
I don't think I was the only person who submitted Arthur Price's name and details for use in the visitor's center, but I think my interest in their story contributed. At least, it has been very special to me to remember them and their sacrifices.
Why am I writing all of this? Why on a blog that I mostly use to update our family adventures?
Because I learned in the process of moving to a place we couldn't stay long and writing a book that will never be published and devoting time to developing a talent that may never be of real use that we matter to God more than we think we do. Our challenges, stresses, and disappointments matter to Him because we matter to Him. Our life experiences and learning are significant and necessary even as they come bit by bit through small daily struggles or by leaps and bounds as we climb life's mountains.
Often, when I'd sit down to write about my Grandma, I'd think about her mother, Isabella. How awful it would have been to traipse to the Wild West with seven children. To a place with fearsome snakes, scorpions, Indians, and weather. To support her husband in a work that God called him to do. But what work was she called to do? In my mind, her work was just as important. She and their children were his joy. When I read and listen to accounts of what the family referred to as "The Mesa Years" I can't help but hear, "It was so, so, hard and we learned so, so much."
I'm not sure what we're doing her in Pennsylvania. I hope we never have to move again. Moving is hard. Raising children is hard. Serving in demanding callings at church is hard. Forgiving is hard. But through it all, we're learning so, so much.
That’s my Mesa visit. And now, here are some fun pictures of our chaos:
Moving a piano 5 minutes before Ricky had to be at work. We only got one scratch on the floor!
We still have plenty of boxes:
I found this guy surfing in the pool. Ewww.
Gavin found a butterfly’s wings without the body—hmmm.
Makayla has been reading the Sisters Grimm series to Brooklyn.
Andrew likes Cool Whip:
I don’t foresee me unpacking these boxes until spring.
I try to excuse my nonunpacking (like that word?) with the fact that the basement is still under construction and I don’t have working desk drawers and the garage is full of contractor tools and supplies. But even without that, I can only devote a few hours a week to the task. And I’m tired. And maybe we don’t actually need those things.
Comments