Sundays and Little Houses

Sometimes church is like this:

And I want to take a bunch of notes and sit and bask in the Spirit of the moment.

Then other times, like today, church is like this:

And I secretly wish our baby had already arrived so we could play with him/ her to pass the time.

Lately, we've had a bunch of interesting meetings for church. Last week, for instance, one of the deacons forgot to pass to the pianist during the Sacrament, so he went back up to pass to her and when he came down, he tripped and the bread flew everywhere. I felt bad for the poor little guy, but it was pretty funny.

Church is church, and we love to go. The unique meetings just make it more exciting. Isaac made me laugh today. Concluding a somewhat long meeting, we sang the song "Did You Think to Pray?" and when we got done, all of the Bishopric members started looking around at each other. One of them eventually got up, realizing that the person that they had asked to pray wasn't coming up. As we kinda chuckled about this to ourselves, Isaac whispered to me, "I guess someone didn't think to pray." haha, right? K, maybe you had to be there....

Anyway, life has been pretty good here at the Olive household. Just the same old stuff, really. We think we may have found a new spot to live, but we're still checking it out. It's a little 2 bedroom house that looks like it would be fun, but we haven't seen the inside yet, and we figure that part is pretty important. We're getting more and more excited to move, though. Even Isaac has expressed his excitement every now and then.

Our neighbors haven't been making us any eager to stay. After the whole car-hitting thing, we haven't cared for our neighbors very much. But last night made me hate living in an apartment even more.

I was awoken by a loud thud on our bedroom wall (a wall shared with another apartment). As I sat up, I heard a guy and a girl shouting at each other. I went to the bathroom (because let's be honest, I have to do that all the time anyway...) and when I came back, I just listened for a while. It was easy to hear every word they were saying, because they were shouting at each other at the top of their lungs.

Apparently, Aaron, the guy, got kicked out of a party and the girl came to pick him up. But then Aaron got mad at her because she was texting some unknown phone number on her phone, whom Aaron assumed must be another guy. When I woke up, the first think I heard Aaron shout was that he was an "f-n police officer" and I thought, "Oh good, maybe the cops are already there." But then the girl shouted back "No you're not, you got fired you @#*%^ ..... @&@**$" And the conversation went on from there. I was ready to call the cops just to file a noise complaint, but then I heard this:

BAMMMMMMM!!!! (Against our bedroom wall)

And then the girl screaming, "You don't have !&@^  to  !*&#@&# get violent!"

To which the guy yelled back more profanities. And that's when I knew I'd be calling the cops.

Isaac woke up around this time and I told him what was going on.

The cops came quickly and knocked on the wrong door for the noise complaint. They actually knocked on the door of the neighbors that hit our car, so we kinda had a laugh, wishing we could tell them to just talk to those guys, too. But we directed them to the other apartment and they took care of whatever was going on.

Anyway, long story, but ultimately, I lost 2 hours of sleep and ended up sleeping on the couch because I could still hear talking from the neighbors and was worried it would get escalated at any moment. Isaac sleeps like a rock, so he was out after the cops came.

Fun times. Needless to say, we're excited to be out of apartments and (possibly) into that little house soon.

Life

About 5 weeks ago, I took a very important test. It was a type of geometry test, one that required me to determine two small parallel lines placed on a  flat plane. I felt like I had studied sufficiently, but I didn't know what the outcome would be. As I read the results of the test early that morning, I realized that despite all of the preparation I felt I had had, I could never be prepared for a result such as this.

As the results became clearer to me, I remember looking in the mirror. I saw me, saw my surprised and dazed smile, and I felt my heart leap. Then... I saw my belly. I realized that inside that space, there was now a little life multiplying in size by over 1,000 times a week.

After the realization set it, I checked the test just one more time to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. Once I was sure, I went out to tell Isaac.

He was still sleeping, but I woke him up. Then I said the 2 words that I know every husband wants to hear at 6 o'clock in the morning... "I'm pregnant." Isaac took a few seconds to digest my words, said something like, "really?" (with a tired smile), and then got up to look at the test himself. As he studied the results of this test that had already changed my life, he said what every newly impregnated wife wants to hear at 6 am... "I don't see anything...."

Though this drove me crazy, I do have to admit that at first, the test wasn't as definitive as the one pictured above. That first day, the second parallel line was much less visible.

But as the days went on, Isaac was slowly able to see that line get darker and darker, and slowly it sunk in to him that he had gotten his wife pregnant, a fact that he began to take much pride in.

Now, a couple of doctors appointments and an ultrasound later, we actually have a picture of our little munchkin.

With a heart beat at 145 bpm, and the size he/she needs to be, it looks like our baby is doing just fine.

It's crazy to me that a baby, Isaac and I's baby, is actually developing inside of me. So far, I have felt his/her presence in only a few different ways: nausea, food aversions and cravings, and fatigue, lots of fatigue. All remind me that this baby is still doing a good job in there. He/she is still working hard and growing fast.

Each week it's a new adventure for me to read about or research what our baby is growing and how big he/ she has become. I'm so grateful for modern technology that can quench my thirst for extensive knowledge about this munchkin before I'm even able to feel him/ her inside of me.

Our official due date is September 19, 2012, so we still have a while. But I'm excited to finally tell everyone because it's all I think about these days.

Learning Lessons

Today at my day care I watched one of my kids play with the trashcan, a trashcan similar to this one:

As he kept pushing the lid back and watching it swing, I went over and told him, "You shouldn't play with the trashcan because you could pinch your fingers doing that. It will be owie on your fingers." He looked at me and understood, but decided it was too much fun to pass up.

About a minute later I heard him begin to scream because he had just smashed his finger in the trashcan.

It hit me right then about how much a parent must wish their child understood everything the way they do. On a daily basis, I'll come close to begging my 2-year olds to do something that I know will only make them happier, but they are living only in the moment and only in their own understanding. They don't see what I see.

As I thought on this principle I became 1. More grateful for my own parents, who I'm sure had many instances like this with me, and 2. For my Heavenly Parents.

I thought about how often in life we hear God's counsel for simple things like "You should read your scriptures every day." or "Pray every evening and night." He can see everything, and in the vast view that He holds, He can see that these things will make us happy. Not only that, He can see how much these things will prevent us from the "smashed fingers" in our life.

Like my 2-year olds, it's not easy for us to see what God sees. We think to ourselves, "Maybe I'll just play for a little while longer and nothing bad will happen."

But then, when something bad happens, God is always there.

When my little 2-year old smashed his fingers, I went to him and said, "See, I told you that playing with the trashcan would smash your fingers." After reaffirming that fact, I gave him a big hug and tried to comfort him until he was better. I would never dream of leaving a child to cry when they are truly hurt, even if they did something I just told them not to do, even if the consequence was deserved.

That's not to say that I could take the consequence away, because his fingers were going to hurt no matter what I did. But I could be there to comfort him through it.

It's the same with God, I think, and likely with most of our earthly parents as well. No matter what we've done in opposition to God's advice, He will be there with open arms when we hurt ourselves. How frustrating it must be for Him to watch us day by day, constantly giving and re-giving advice through His Prophets and Apostles, knowing the path to happiness, and seeing us test it anyway.

Yet, He's always there.

I guess the 2 main lessons in this all are: 1. You can learn a lot from 2-year olds, and 2. We should just do what God says and we'll be happy.

Awesomeness

I have an awesome husband.

Lately, I've been feeling quite under the weather, and Isaac has been spoiling me.

This morning, I woke up and he had done all of the dishes before getting ready for school. This means that he almost had to skip breakfast because he ran out of time. I felt so bad! I should start to be a good wife and wake up to pack him a lunch and make him breakfast before he leaves.

But alas, I remain lazy and he remains awesome.

In other news, our car got hit last night some time. We have a lovely neighbor who has some lovely friends. We went to bed pretty early last night, but I couldn't sleep due to our favorite neighbor doing who-knows-what with his friends.

This morning we walked out to find this:

All I'm saying is that the owner of the red car better not come visit his/her friend again, or we'll know. How many red cars are gonna have scrapes that just happen to match the huge one on our car? Not that I'm sure they'll remember ever hitting our car if I confront them. They'll likely be just as baffled by the scrape on their car this morning as we are, if they ever made it home.

Anyway, all is going well. I heard back from my grad school and they have invited me for an interview that will take place in March! I was very excited to hear that. So until then, it's just finishing those shuck-smackin' independent study classes so that I can actually have my Bachelor's degree. 

Someday...

Consider the Lillies

I'm just having a lazy, contemplative morning this morning. As I was browsing through people's facebooks and blogs, I came across a link to this song. I've always loved Consider the Lillies, but in recent months it has taken on a special meaning.

As I listened to it, I was brought back to a special, sacred Sunday in a hospital room. It had been an intense week filled with tests and lots of unknowns. Isaac was still on his mission, something that was hard for each of us. As we stood around the bed of Isaac's father who was just diagnosed or would soon be diagnosed with a severe malignant brain cancer, we held a special Sunday meeting there for him. The Spirit permeated the room as we all joined together in prayer. My mother and I had prepared this song to sing as part of this special devotional. We hardly got through the first verse before the tears began, but we were able to make it through. The last verse seemed to especially ring true in my heart as I sang, "Consider the sweet tender children, who must suffer on this earth." And then of course the chorus, "...and he will heal those who trust him, and make their hearts as gold."

As I thought back to that moment, I could remember the peace that filled each of us, the peace that comes in knowing beyond any doubt that God is with us. He is mindful of us and always will be. No matter what trials we may find ourselves in, we have to know that God will not leave us. We have to know that "all these things will give us experience and will be for our good." He knows each lily in each field. He knows how they grow and how they wilt, especially when they encounter things completely out of their control.

Today, I realized once again how blessed my life really is. I'm so grateful for the peace that the knowledge of the Gospel can bring. Isaac's father is still with us, stubborn and determined as ever. It's been almost a year since that day, and for the past year we've witnessed so many extensive miracles. So even though, from an outsider looking in it may seem like this trial is unfair, undeserved. I like to think that the miracles we have witnessed and the blessings we have received are the unfair, undeserved part of this all. It has been a humbling, faith testing experience, but God continues to watch over us and bless us. He will never cease doing so as long as we have our faith.

We just have to believe in Him. 

School has begun, and we'll be moving soon.

It's been a while since I've updated. Life has been pretty busy.

Isaac just started school on Thursday and both of us are happy. He's really excited to have more productive things to do, and I'm really excited for him to have more productive things to do. :) It's a win-win. It sounds like this semester will be keeping him pretty busy, and I know he's gonna do really well.

Speaking of school, I finally finished my grad school application and will likely be hearing back from them (or not) this week. If I do hear back, I'll have an all-day on campus interview to complete and then I'll know if I'm in or not. If I don't hear back from them, I guess I won't be going to grad school in the fall! :) Either one I'll actually be pretty content with, so we'll see.

Beyond that, life has been pretty normal. We're already starting to look at new places to live. We've liked our current apartment, but our lease it up at the end of March and we're hoping to find a 2 bedroom apartment closer to campus so that Isaac can ride his bike to school. Right now, Tech is about 15 minutes away and it's costing us a lot in gas money. Isaac nearly curses at the idea of having to move again, but I think he finds solace in the fact that this could likely be our last move for the rest of our time here. As for me, I kinda think moving is fun. I love organizing and setting up a new home with new looks. (But don't tell Isaac I said that...)

It's kinda funny, too. Isaac and I just barely got callings at church. He's teaching 16-17 year old Sunday School, and I'm teaching Sunbeams. Isaac is enjoying all of the punk teens in his class, trying to show them that learning the gospel is "cool." He's doing a good job. And I kind of love the Sunbeams. Originally, I was put in Nursery, but when I told them I worked with 2-year-olds all week, they thought they'd give me a change of scenery... so now I'm with 3-year-olds. haha Luckily, I never tire of children. I just love them a bunch. Also, Sunbeams kinda cracks me up. For instance:

The other Sunday, my co-teacher was teaching. (We switch off every week.) She was teaching a lesson on bodies, and how we came to this Earth to get bodies so we can be like God and Jesus, who also have bodies. She decided to use the story of Joseph Smith seeing God and Jesus as an example of how they have bodies just like ours. She put in an animated, old fashioned movie about Joseph Smith for the kids to watch. She had forgotten, however, that the movie began with Joseph as a young boy, getting his leg operated on. We decided maybe this could teach about how Heavenly Father heals our bodies. Little did we know how traumatic it was going to be for our little 3-year-olds. As they sat there watching Joseph cry and the doctor with the knife, I looked around the room. All I saw were 3-year-olds sitting completely still, some with tears welling up in their eyes, and all of them with a shocked look on their face. Not unlike the picture below.

Some of them even closed their eyes, or put their hands on their face. We were both laughing, feeling bad for giving all of our little Sunbeams PTSD, so we fast-forwarded to the part where Joseph prayed in the grove. Most of the kids rebounded after us explaining over and over that Heavenly Father helped make Joseph healthy again, but one girl was particularly disturbed. She just kept asking the rest of class with a really sad expression, "Why they cut Joseph Smith's leg off?" We kept explaining that they didn't, but by the end of class she still wasn't convinced. This last week, one of the first things she said to us in class was, "They didn't cut off Joseph Smith's leg, huh? They didn't." We were glad she hadn't been permanently damaged.

 I guess that just goes to show that not all of the stories of the Gospel are appropriate for 3-year-olds. I can only imagine if we taught them about Laban's head getting chopped off, or Joseph being killed by the mob. Yeah, maybe we'll save that for when they get older.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be updating again sometime soon. :D

3 months

Today is Isaac and I's 3 month anniversary, and you know what that means? Actually, it doesn't really mean a whole lot, unless you're a big celebrity because then you'd be making some kind of record being married this long.

Anyway, yesterday Isaac and I looked through all of his pictures on facebook. We were reminiscing about the old times we had together. It's a fun thing for us to do. I'm so glad we have so many fond memories of our pasts together and that there was nothing we ever did that we would regret looking back.

Isaac was making me laugh the whole time. I would look at a picture like this one:
 

And say something like, "Oh yeah, I was mad at you that day for something. I can't remember what, but we were arguing." (Which is easy to tell from my expression.) Several different pictures I'd remember something specific about, like "Man, that day was so crazy, we were so annoyed with each other that day." or something like that. Isaac had no recollection of any of the arguments or conversations we had that were attached to pictures. Then all of the sudden, we came across this picture:

And Isaac said, "Oh yeah, we were playing that one game where you try to bomb each other on my dad's palm pilot!" I just looked at him. We both started laughing. Out of all the things he could remember, he remembered that we were playing a game.

Anyway, so times around the Olive household have been good. Our works are going well and life is just life. I've started on some more of my independent study classes and Isaac is eager to begin at Tech in a week and a half or so. We also found out that we qualified for even more grants than we thought we qualified for. God has not forgotten us, I tell you. Things continue to happen that make everything we need to do possible.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I'm excited for the new year and all that it will bring. Here's a video I found on Isaac's camera that I thought would be fun to share.

Hard to believe that it's only been 3 months since this video was taken. I'm so glad our apartment doesn't look like that anymore.