Went to the doctor today for our 28 week appointment and all looks well. I am measuring 32 weeks now so they are going to do another ultrasound in 2 weeks to determine fluid levels and baby size and possibly get a new due date a little earlier than we thought. It hit me while I was waiting for my wonderful sugar test that we are definitely on the down slope of this pregnancy and I better get ready for this new little one to get here. I still have so much I want to do before she comes and yet I just can’t do much of it. We will have some extra help around the next few weeks and I am hoping that I’ll be able to convince them to help me with a few of those projects. Nevertheless this little one will come when she’s ready and really we have everything (it’s just a matter of where!) so there isn’t any stress, just that wish list of things a mom wants to get accomplished before life gets turned upside down for a bit.
Good news is that my back is doing much better, I still have problems occasionally and I just have to stay on top of my adjustments and therapy to keep everything bearable, but it could be so much worse. Now we are staying down because the contractions are increasing in intensity and frequency. I’ve just barely started dilating and thinning so as long as we don’t progress too quickly I can still be up and around a bit, but I do have to stay down a lot. All of that “down time” has given me plenty of time to read and work on some of my favorite heritage makers projects. Anyone that knows me knows I love to research family histories. I have been spending a lot of time working on 2 books in particular. I am taking my great-grandma/grandpa Taylor and going back 4 generations on each of their lines. I have gathered stories, conducted interviews, scanned photos, etc. Trying to get a complete history for those 4 generations and publishing them in a book. It has been fascinating to compile all of their stories and get to know them so much better. I’m almost finished with that book, just waiting for my mom to get back home and get me a couple of pictures she has and send them to me and it’s ready to publish. I’m excited to start reading it to my kiddos. I’m also working on a book of my grandpa/grandma Searle and their 4 generations doing the same thing. This one has taken a little more digging and leg work, but it is coming together nicely. I think in a few weeks I’ll be able to pull it together. I have known little on many of these ancestors so it’s been a fun discovery. Can’t wait to get both of these published.
I’ve also had a good deal of time to read. I have read 52 books in the last 8 weeks. Some of them I have LOVED, others I’m not a fan, and some were just a good way to pass time. However, I was really getting sick of reading. I was trying to intersperse it with other things to not get bored and I love to read but after that much I am just ready to get out and do something. Nevertheless, I’m not going to be able to get out and do for a bit so I still have to stay down. I decided that if I have that much time to read then I was going to give myself a personal challenge. I am going to read the Book of Mormon before the baby comes. I haven’t had a chance to sit down and read it that quickly before. I decided if I approach my reading of this great book with the same intrique and pace as I have the other books I have read it won’t be a problem. I am taking time after each chapter to write down thoughts and insights that I have gleaned from this reading and categorizing certain things. It’s been a great experience. I am only 2 days into it and I am almost half way through 2 Nephi. So for those interested I thought I would share some of the thoughts that I have had and try to make a daily or at least every few days summarize some of the thoughts I’ve had.
One of my favorite things to do when studying a passage of scripture is to think about all the stories that are “between the lines” so to speak. For example I’ve always been intrigued about Zoram in 1 Nephi. I can’t wait to ask some of those questions on the other side or watch the big movie someday, but his life fascinates me. Mostly out of the curiosity of the unknown. I mean here is someone who went to work one day and never goes “home”. He is practically abducted and forced to go with Nephi and his family in order to preserve his life. I’ve always wondered if he lived alone or if he was living with a family, was he married, did he have a mother or a wife waiting for him to come home that night and he never did. Did they send out a search party trying to find him, did anyone file a missing persons report? Did he ever wish he had the chance to go back, or say goodbye to anyone etc? I think it took great courage and eventually faith to go with Nephi and his family and remain with them. One of these such stories that has stood out to me this time is the untold Sariah version of the exodus from Jerusalem. I felt a connection to her this time that i haven’t thought about before. Here she is living a life of luxury and wealth in Jerusalem. She has a good family, a good home, and life is overall good for her and her family. Then one day her husband announces that they are moving. Not moving to another great home in a good city, but moving to a tent, without the conveniences they are used to, and in the middle of a hot horrible desert. I have been in that part of the world and I’m telling you, it would have been anything but pleasant. I’m sure she had plans that were uprooted, she had to revamp the family situation and as mother probably had to do a lot of convincing that life was going to be okay. Yes she murmured a bit along the way, but WHO WOULDN’T!! It is so hot and uncomfortable in that part of the world. It’s just a bunch of rocks and an occasional bush. I was thinking about my poor pity party of having to reschedule kids swim lessons, cancel music lessons, and harbor up at home (in an air conditioned house! none the less). I sometimes get frustrated arguing with the kids about why we can’t go to the park or the zoo. Why they can’t go to swimming or gymnastics or the farm like their friends. I keep telling them we’ll do all of those things another day, but right now we just can’t. I’m sure Sariah’s kids were complaining about much worse conditions. And yet they went, they did, they answered the call. That is what we are trying to do, this wasn’t in our timeline, this wasn’t exactly what I was ready to sign up for, but we are doing our best to answer the call and do so without too much murmuring. Along with this wandering in the wilderness, many of them were pregnant and delivering children in those awful conditions, with very little food and water. The not only successfully had children, but were able to nurse them even when they had nothing to eat. The Lord truly provided miracles along their path to ease the burdens of the situation a bit. Just as he is providing angels and miracles along our journey.
I am missing attending the temple weekly. It’s been such a big part of my life that I feel a void in not attending as regularly. I miss the revelations and inspiration that I received in attending. But I was reminded that throughout 1 Nephi there are versus that say “and all of these visions my father received while dwelling in a tent in the valley of…” etc. I was reminded that those same revelations and inspirations are available to me here in my home, I don’t have to be in the temple right now, the Lord can still teach me. I can still feel that comfort I felt there until I can return. I just have to take the time to ask, to ponder, and to listen.
That’s probably enough ramblings and thoughts for one day, but I’m excited to see what I might glean from Isaiah this time??
At this pace it won’t take me long to finish the Book of Mormon and so I’m sure I might get another book or two in before the baby so if you have any suggestions send them my way….reading anything good right now?
Hope you are all having a delightful day!
