Travels

Mr Renn posting here: So I made it to Utah after only three days in the car.

My Brother and Sister-in-law left Wed morning and after one last breakfast at the Shady Maple, we headed west (and south) to the Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive. It is a 108 mile scenic route that travels the tops of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western Virginia. There were lots of overlooks and winding tree covered roads.

It would be a perfect trip for a convertible or a motor cycle.

We spent the night in a Charleston WV hotel and had an interesting encounter at Subway (the restaurant). We decided to get a lot of sleep and then just drive straight through. And so, on Thursday about 9 am we left WV and traveled through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinoise, and Missouri.

We broke for dinner in Independence Missouri. Then headed off into the setting sun. We passed through Nebraska in the dark and the sun began rising on us just outside of Cheyenne, WY.

We had a few car problems and managed to get home utilizing a borrowed paper clip in place of a fuse. What an adventure. So we rolled in to the valley around 2 o'clock on Thursday, after being in the car for 29 hours straight. It was a nice to see the country via a blink, and especially nice to cross Nebraska in the dark (for those of you who have crossed Nebraska you would know what I mean).

It is great to be here safe and sound.

hiccups

The boys and I made it into Utah late Monday night.  Our flight experienced every kind of imaginable delay except for de-icing.  We escaped that one.  After we had been sitting on the runway waiting to take off for 20 minutes and the captain announced it would be at least another 30, I incurred the wrath of the flight attendants by taking Sir O to the bathroom.  It wasn't worth it.  He'd already peed his pants.  (He peed them while going through security too.... )after this I put him in a pull-up, but he still had to go to the bathroom 3 more times during the flight and had diarrhea during the descent.  That was as much fun as it sounds like it was.....

Sir O is now in bed with a fever.  I am trying to help my parents get their home ready (mostly their yard actually...) for an open-house on Sunday (for my brother's mission), and I REALLY NEED TO BE STUDYING.

So, yes.  I made it to Utah.  But no, I'm not really here.  I'll really be here when I get back from my test in mid-June.  Assuming I am still intact then.  There is a possibility of me falling to pieces.

Mr Renn is on the road.  He has promised to take lots of pictures, which is more than I can say for myself.  Today he's hoping to catch a stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway - that's on his bucket list.   We miss him.          

Back to work.  No rest for the weary, sunburned, pregnant mama.

Intermission

Packing still, but the end is in sight.  Signing off as our computer goes into a box.  (We are not cool enough to spend money on laptops or matching socks yet).

But I am cool enough to do this:

the big reveal

There you have it - our gaggle of ganders. The ultrasound tech caught herself typing "boys" instead of "boy" on that last shot, and spent the rest of the appointment joking about our baby having overabundant male anatomy. That was a treat. But so far as she indicated, everything looks fine. I am immensely relieved, as this baby hasn't been nearly as active as the last two.

We are in packing overload. Our apartment looks ridiculous and Mr Renn and I are both a wee bit edgy. Hopefully all of our children will live through to the other end of this process. We load the truck this weekend, and then I fly with the boys on Monday. I swore I would never ever fly by myself with two children. (Especially a large lap child on a limited lap) and yet I find myself staring it in the face. This too shall pass...... I hope.

progress

Being pregnant while packing - it complicates things.
I don't recommend it; in case anyone is considering it.
But I'll still make it out alive.

Doctor

And, just like that, it's over.
Mr Renn is now Doctor Renn.



It was a long evening (looooong evening), but the boys were troopers.  The Captain took many trips into the hall with my parents, and Sir O drove his truck on every conceivable surface.






Despite some really whiny student speakers, it was still a ceremonious evening with some emotional moments.   At one point while we were seated in the balcony (we later migrated to the unclaimed box seats) my mom noticed that almost a1/3 of the graduates had their phones out and were texting or otherwise checked out.  I don't know whether that's funny or sad.  And the venue, the Academy of Music, was gorgeous.  It's the oldest continuously running theater in the country.  I couldn't help wishing I was watching an opera from those box seats instead of a graduation.

Mr Renn got to drive in to the city with his carpool for the last time for their early roll-call.  He said it was a fairly emotional experience for him to drive with these guys for the last time.  They have spend a lot of time together, and seen an impressive amount of traffic and crazy driving.



Temple allows students to bring their children with them when they cross the stage to be awarded their diplomas.  It's a nice gesture, and I appreciated it.  However, we became the perfect example of why they might want to change their policy (skip to about 1:20 for Sir O's antics)



And so we have officially been excused from student life.  It's funny how there's melancholy in parting with even unpleasant parts of it once they've become so familiar.  But lest our evening be too sentimental, Sir O disappeared for 15 minutes during the post-ceremony reception and was finally found trying to exit the building on the ground floor.  Gray hair, here I come.

Ta Da

Oh, the busy, busy nature of these days!  I'm so short on energy that the whole world seems to be racing past.  My parents are in town for Renn's graduation tomorrow, and today we all caravaned down Broad street (yikes!) to support Renn at his Senior Awards ceremony.  The boys finally got to see where their daddy is when he's "at school" all the time.



And Mr Renn got three awards!  We are so proud!  He was pleased to be awarded the Isadore Auerbach Memorial Award, The Academy of General Dentistry Award of Excellence, and a Certificate of Recognition from the American Academy of Implant Dentistry.  (And wow everyone with his 2 1/2 children, who were almost reasonably behaved through the event).  



I'm feeling so proud of Mr Renn for excelling at school and balancing his time effectively so his family was not neglected.  This is not a small thing.  Tomorrow we graduate!!

sleepblogging

I'm up too late.  My blessing are weighing heavily on me lately.  Change is hard. (and inevitable)  Good change is always preferable over unfortunate change, but it's still hard.  And I'm sitting on a bucket of good change.

I worry about how my kids will handle all this change, but I keep forgetting that they are far more adaptable and resilient than I am.  Still, the instinct to soften and protect is unsmotherable.

My brain moves so slowly through the motions of planning and preparing and maintaining that sometimes I think I'm moving backward.  And I know I'm perpetually forgetting to take care of my prego self. (As much as one can forget).  I sat down on the couch for a moment today because of a dizzy/lightheaded spell - they are becoming increasingly common - and I fell fast asleep, sitting up, within moments.  This is not safe while Sir O is on the loose.  By the time I woke up (and I don't think it could have been long at all) he had destroyed my neat piles of 4 loads of folded laundry and covered himself in green pen.

We had several "your body is a temple" talks today.  He got hung up on the part where he is not a building.

I look around me and all I see is chaos and mess lately.  The more I pack, the more the boys find odd miscellany to strew across all our floors.  Almost everything that I used to make my home feel attractive to me is out of sight.  I am pretty much convinced that all my boxes labelled "decor" are also housing the source of my missing bursts of energy.  It's funny what a difference small things make to me.  What I wouldn't give for a pretty, calm corner to retreat to when I need to recharge.  Except that's constantly lately, and I am not allowed to retreat.  It is charge, and charge some more in the battle against entropy.  The move must go on.

I am frequently scolded for making the business of packing harder than it needs to be.  But I know we will (yet again) be living with most of our belongings in a storage unit.  If we are to be able to access things when we need them, then I must be thorough and organized now.  Based on my experience the last time we did this, I'm convinced I will thank myself later.  I had better thank myself later, because it is currently a pretty thankless prospect.

I've had more than several moments this week of being seized with terror at the idea of having more children than hands.

I'm going to go eat a pickle and go to bed now.  Please, please, let sleep find me before my bladder forces me out of bed.

concerto morning

I love my monkeys.  This is what we've been doing this morning instead of packing and laundry.  Because the laundry isn't going anywhere......







Yeah, our neighbors love us.....

A word at closing

"My counsel for all of us is to look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing."

Thomas S. Monson

Stories

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith....

The stories of Jesus can be like a rushing wind across the embers of faith in the hearts of our children. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”⁸ The stories of Jesus shared over and over bring faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strength to the foundation of testimony. Can you think of a more valuable gift for our children?

Are the life and teachings of Jesus Christ embedded in the minds and souls of our children? Do they think about the Savior’s life when they wonder what to do in their own lives? This will be more and more important in the years ahead."

Neil L. Andersen

they can't all be exciting posts....

What, you want me to do something besides pack?
I'm having a miserably hard time collecting my thoughts lately just to have interpersonal conversations, let alone to write.
Packing packing, packity pack pack pack.
Having endless half-finished conversations about the logistics of our massive move.
Never quite figuring anything out or making any concrete decisions.
Running out of time.
Feeling sluggish and still nauseous, even if there is improvement.
Never getting quite enough sleep.
Not having access to any of my stuff, which would throw anybody's groove off.
Finally getting my tooth fixed that cracked way back when I was pregnant with the Captain.  That's 2 years with a broken tooth; have I got my priorities in order or what?

(my new smile, except for the part where my lip was still numb...)

I am just awesome.  Awesome awesome awesome.  Now off to schedule my ultrasound.  I've been procrastinating that for a week now. And to take some stuff I sold on ebay to the post office.  It sort of has to get mailed by tomorrow or else ebay and my buyer can call me a big fat liar.  It's a big, non-machinable package, so there's really no way around post-officing.  Post-officing with large (2-hands to carry) packages and two kids.  Also awesome.

I want a nap.

death hath no sting but....

"The tragedy of dying as to things that are spiritual has a greater impact for those who “have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression[;] they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things” (Alma 24:30).

As parents and leaders we need to watch over our members and families, helping them to stay away from those things that could lead them to a spiritual death. We also seek to rescue those who are now dead as to the things that are spiritual and help them to “be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters” (Mosiah 27:25)."

Francisco J. Viñas 

Judgment

"Many a sister has often heard (the first story, {Luke 10}) and wondered if she were a Mary or a Martha, yet the truth lies in knowing the whole person and in using good judgment. By knowing more about Martha (John 11), we find she was actually a person of deep spiritual character who had a bold and daring testimony of the Savior’s mission and His divine power over life. A misjudgment of Martha may have caused us not to know the true nature of this wonderful woman."

Gregory A. Schwitzer 

trials and response

"The Apostle Paul taught an interesting lesson only a few years before the Saints in Rome were to face some of the most violent persecution of any Christian era. Paul reminded the Saints that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” Our Heavenly Father, who loves us completely and perfectly, permits us to have experiences that will allow us to develop the traits and attributes we need to become more and more Christlike. Our trials come in many forms, but each will allow us to become more like the Savior as we learn to recognize the good that comes from each experience. As we understand this doctrine, we gain greater assurance of our Father’s love. We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from the experience."

James B. Martino