Christmas Morning

It's Christmas morning. I am sitting in the hallway of our rental house waiting for Lincoln to wake up. He woke up at 3:30 this morning and he was ready to start the gifts. I had him go back to bed and he is still there for now. 

Lincoln is so excited for Christmas this year. The magic is so real to him. I can't wait to see him this morning with all of his excitement. I love Christmas with my little family. 

I am grateful for the birth of Jesus Christ and the chance we have to celebrate it on this day. I am also grateful for the birth of my sister, Tori. I love her!

More to come soon!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I received the following email last week from my staff developer at school. This melted my heart. (Linda is Lincoln's teacher.)

 Don't kids just amaze you!  I subbed for Linda for just a bit, and I have to tell you what your cute Lincoln said.  I don't remember what story I was telling them about my own kids, but we were on the rug and a child made a comment about their dad and then in a sweet little voice Lincoln said, "My dad is in a wheelchair, but in the resurrection he won't be anymore."  It made me teary eyed. 

 From the mouth of a babe!!

This warmed my heart to read. I love Lincoln's spirituality. He is amazing!

My Special Day With My Dad

This year November 29th was the day after Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving day was really great.  We had a nice, quiet time with a few family members in Parowan.  However, perhaps my most favorite part of the Thanksgiving holiday was the day after. 
Early in the morning we woke up to find a new Christmas tree for Dan and Corrin.  We got back to Parowan around 6:00 am.  Mom, Dan,  and Corrin headed back to bed.  I noticed that my dad was awake and sitting in his chair.  I sat down on the couch and talked to him for a while.  He mentioned that he would like to go to Cedar to pick up the new dryer that they ordered.  I excitedly told him that I wanted to go.  He snickered and said that I needed to go back to bed.  I didn't.  I started talking to him again, and he told me again that I needed to go to bed.  Again, I didn't.  After a while I told my dad that Sears was open and I was ready to go whenever he was ready.  He wandered to his room and got dressed.  When he came back out he said, "Let's go!"  I was so excited!  I was going to get to spend the morning with my dad.  Just me and my DAD!  We jumped in the truck and started toward Cedar.  We talked and laughed the whole way to Cedar City.  We talked about everything from politics, to the weather.  We picked up the dryer and wandered around the hardware store for a while.  It was fun to hear my dad talk about all the tools he would like to have and how much fun he could have in a hardware store.  Then we loaded into the truck to head home.  We were driving on the freeway when suddenly he pulled off at an exit.  I wondered what he was doing.  Next, he pulled into a restaurant parking lot.  He was taking me to BREAKFAST!  We sat down and ordered.  We laughed and talked all the way through our meal.  It was so great!  After about an hour we got back in the truck to go back to Parowan.  I was disappointed that our Father/Daughter morning was coming to an end.  However, I will never forget the special day I had with my dad.  I am so glad I didn't go back to sleep when he told me to.  :)

Texas, Tornadoes, and Teaching the Gospel

Today on the way to school, Lincoln and I had a very interesting conversation.  It went something like this...
Lincoln:  When I go on a mission I want to go to Texas.
Me:  Really?  Uncle Daniel went there.  That would be cool if you went there too!
Lincoln:  Yeah.  When I go I am going to be a tornado watcher guy.
Me:  That would be awesome!  I actually think that missionaries spend their time teaching the gospel to people.
Lincoln:  I would do both.  When a tornado comes I would say, "Quick!  Quick!  Get in the basement!  And remember, God loves you very much!"
I love the things he comes up with. 

My Dad is Courageous

A couple of years ago I watched a movie called Courageous.  Its was such a great movie that I recommended it to my family to watch.  My Dad watched the movie and it had a pretty big impact on him.  Following the movie he sent this email to all of us.  I love the words in the email.  I want to keep it forever. 

Dear Michael, Shannon, Tori, and Daniel,

 

I just watched a movie recommended by Shannon called Courageous. If you haven't seen it, I encourage you to watch it.

 

Needless to say, since I am writing to you, the movie had an impact on me; and as a result I need to make sure you know where I stand.

 

If you have ever wondered if I love you, love your mom, love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I apologize for leaving you wondering. I should say it more; probably hoped my actions would speak louder than words. I love each of you, I love your mom more than you can imagine. I love my Heavenly Father and Savior.

 

If you have ever wondered if I would be there for you at any time and any place, I apologize for leaving you wondering. I always will be. My family is my life. Without you and your mom, I would be nothing.

 

I'm so proud of you and proud to say I am your father. Being your father has been easy; not because I'm good at it, rather because you are all so good. I know I have made mistakes and ask your forgiveness for those.

 

If I have been successful as a father, it is because of your mother. She has taught me so much and made me the person I am. I wish I was half the parent she is.

 

My desire is to be better. My desire is to continue to be a better father than I have been, and a good grandfather to your children.

 

I plan to continue to learn and apply what I learn. And I hope you will help me by letting me know what I need to do to be better.

 

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

 

Love,

 

Dad

 

His words were so beautiful and impacted me so much I felt compelled to respond to my sweet daddy.

Dad,

Rest assured, I have never wondered whether you love me, mom or Heavenly Father and Jesus.  You are the best daddy I could ever imagine.  I love you so much.  I've heard a saying that goes, "a daddy is a girl's first love."  I think of you when I hear that and I absolutely think it's true.  You taught me at a young age what I wanted in a man.  You are wonderful and I love you so much, Daddy.

Love, Shannon

 

Back to It

My mom and dad were here over the last couple of days. Gosh, I love them so much. They are so loving and kind. My mom shows her love in the obvious ways; Hugs, loving words, gifts, service etc. Although dad gives hugs and loving words as well, as I have grown older I have noticed his way of showing love to his children is a bit different. At times Dad shows his love by issuing challenges to us that will help us become better people. Dad and I spoke in an impromptu conversation in the hallway about the need to keep a journal. He admitted that his journal keeping habits have not been very good and that he will be starting again. I admitted the same. He challenged me to do better job at keeping a journal. I accepted the challenge and since my blog is my journal, I'm back at it!

So much has happened I the last 6 months. Lincoln graduated from Kindergarten and we sold our home in La Verkin. We are currently living in St. George in a rental home while our new home in Hurricane is being built. We can't wait!  

Lincoln is now in first grade at Heritage Elementary. He is doing great! I am also back in the classroom teaching 4th grade at Heritage. We are having a great year. David is still at Southwest Behavioral Health doing the data managing. We are happy, healthy, and doing awesome!

I am so thankful for my family both immediate and extended. David and Lincoln are two of the greatest blessings in my life. I am so blessed and because of that I know my Heavenly Father loves me. 

So I will be back to the blog again. Enjoy!

Faith

Tonight lincoln asked "mom, is the Book of Mormon real?"

I said, "yes. All the stories are true. They happened a long long time ago."

Lincoln asked, "in 1966?"

After a small giggle in my head we proceeded to have a really good conversation about Heavenly Father, Jesus, Heaven, angels, and what happens when we die. He asked why we close our eyes in Heaven. I realized that he thinks we close our eyes in Heaven because he cant remember it. I told him that when we are born, we forget Heaven because Heavenly Father wants us to have faith without being able to see the things that we should believe in.  I told  him about when he was a baby.  I was changing his diaper. He kept looking at the ceiling and smiling. I asked him what he was smiling at and he said, "the smiley faces!"  I truly believe that at that moment he could see people on the other side of the veil. Lincoln was very receptive to the story and I could tell that he could feel the spirit as we talked. What an awesome moment we had, just him and me talking about the gospel. He is such a great kid with an amazing spirit about him. His faith is an example to me. He prays for everything from help finding the stapler, to helping my sunburn get better, to helping the day tomorrow go by fast so that he can participate in something he is excited about tomorrow evening. He is amazing! I should learn from his example. As I turned off the light in his room tonight and turned to leave his room I heard him say with all the love in his heart, "Good night Heavenly Father."

Sweet kid. 

Glue

Today Lincoln said, "mom. I think glue is made out of milk and tape." That actually makes a lot if sense.

I Can Do Anything!

This morning was show and tell at school for Lincoln. He chose to take a new small Lego set he got for his birthday. I didn't want it to break and to have loose pieces in his backpack so I put the set into a Tupperware bowl with a lid. I showed him the bowl and asked him if he would be able to take the lid off all by himself when it was time to show his Legos. He immediately replied by saying, "mom, I am six now! I can do anything!" I love his positive attitude.

Roots

Last night we went to an older woman's house to drop something off. Lincoln wanted to come to the door with me, but I encouraged him to stay in the car with David. I hurried to the door to drop off the item and ran back to the car. When I got in Lincoln asked, "what did that lady's face look like?" I told him that she is a pretty lady with a nice face. Then he asked, "does she have roots on her face?" Confused I asked him hat he meant. He said, "sometimes old people have roots in their face." I giggled as I realized that he was referring to wrinkles.

Today I asked Lincoln if he would put his dirty clothes away. He politely replied, "mom, I would really love to, but I can't." Before I knew what to say he ran outside to play. Funny kid.

Marvelous!

When i get Lincoln from school I always ask him how his day was and he always replies with a simple "good." When picking up Lincoln from school today I asked him how his day was. He replied with an enthusiastic, "marvelous!"
I thought it was adorable.

Party!

The other day Lincoln and Bridger came to me and said they wanted to have a Valentines Day party. I told them that Valentines day is in over a month. They said "okay" and walked away. A few minutes later they came and said that they want a Lego party because you can use Legos every day. I decide to go with it. They asked me to make invitations on the computer. They told me the day and time that they wanted the party. They also told me what they wanted to do at the party. Lincoln made a list if those he wanted to invite. The list included about 6 friends and the Primary President. :) I asked Lincoln if he meant to invite the presidents 3 year old son, he said, "she can brig him if she wants." I thought that was really funny.
Lincoln was really excited to deliver the invitations. We let him go to the doors all by himself. When he went to the primary presidents house he told her that she would either have to leave her cat at home or take it to a cat hotel during the party.
Lincoln and Bridger made all if the decorations for the party. They drew pictures on papers and taped them on the walls all over the house. I also gave them some streamers to hang. They loved that. When Bridger came over he brought some balloons to help with the decorations. We went and picked up pizza and breadsticks and came home to wait for the friends. Soon everyone came. We played games and watched a movie. We had a great time. Lincoln is a good party planner!