Hard is Good
Today was Grandma Linda's actual birthday!
We celebrated with Raspberry Dessert Cake made by Grandpa!
It just warms my heart when I see Jackson in his free time crocheting this cute little hat for his baby brother.
Speaking of Jackson's baby brother, we held a family fast today for him--for a safe delivery and that he'll have the health and strength to fulfill his mission on this earth. We don't know how long that will be, but we do know we'll be grateful for whatever time we have with him.
I was reading a book today about Mothering. It talked about the importance of kids learning life lessons the hard way. It explained "hard is good". I second that! Kevin and I feel like one of the most valuable lessons we can teach our kids is that life isn't fair and it's not meant to be. We have this little song we sing to them when they start complaining...it only has 7 words and we sing it over and over in various tunes, "You don't always get what you want...you don't always get what you want..." they don't like the song and they aren't too fond of the lesson but they seem to be learning it and I think they're stronger kids because of it.
I think about how excited they all were to find out they were getting a little brother. And then just a few days later they found out the chances of him surviving were seemingly so slim. It's been a hard thing for them to try and process but it's been good too. Any opportunity to see the reality of Christ's Atonement and how it applies to them is a blessing. Any opportunity to rely on and trust our Heavenly Father is a blessing, and any time they can learn the power of faith and prayer they are blessed. Elder Holland described faith in these words, "Faith is always pointed towards the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the High Priest of good things to come."
We also make a point of teaching the kids that although life isn't fair, God is more than fair and any loss or disappointment they suffer in this life will be more than made up for in the next. They know if they aren't able to have their brother in this life, they will have him in the next.
Yes, hard is most definitely good.
