Thornton Mom

We are in Virginia celebrating Thanksgiving with my extended family.  It is such a joy to be with family.  I love it.  I love that I have Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Sisters, and In-laws so close to me.  Family is such a joy to me.  I love that my kids have my cousins to play with.  They have been running around the house in complete joy and happiness.  Big families are great because there is always someone you can play with.   We took a picture of all the babies.  Michael is my youngest and these lovely ladies are just at the beginning of their mothering adventure with their second.  But so fun to have friends to play with.   Wednesday we sang to Michael here is the video:   Today I read a talk by Elder Adrian Ochoa of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ( click here to read/listen/watch) Jesus Christ , who was perfect, and Joseph Smith, who admitted that he himself was not, we...

Happy Birthday Michael!!! Today Michael is 1 year old.   We celebrated his Birthday Saturday with the Thornton Gang.  He thought that eating his cupcake was the best thing ever.      Happy Birthday Derek!! We also celebrated Derek's Birthday.  His was on Saturday.  He opted for yummy cherry pie.  What a wonderful man I have married.    Today I read a talk by Elder Kevin s. Hamilton , of the Seventy, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ( click here  to watch/listen/read his talk)                           We each have many choices to make as to how we observe the Sabbath day. There will always be some “good” activity that can and should be sacrificed for the better choice of Church meeting attendance. This is in fact one of the ways that the adversary ...

Last night we watched the new Superman Movie--Man of Steel.  I really liked it.  I have always liked Superman.  When Derek and I were first married we had a man in our Church come up to us and tell us that his son saw Derek and turned to his dad and said, "Dad, It's Superman!"  It was then that I realized that I had married Superman and I still feel that way today.  He is such an amazing man and I feel so blessed to be his wife. Today I read a talk by David M. McConkie, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  ( click here to watch/read/listen to this talk) His talk was directed towards teachers.  I do a lot of teaching with my children and found some ways that I can improve.  “The most important part of your service will be your own daily spiritual preparation, including prayer, scripture study, and obedience to the commandments. We encourage you to dedicate yourself to...

I read a talk given by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ( click here to read/listen/watch this talk) The power of God’s holy priesthood is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I testify that as you worthily participate in the ordinances of the priesthood, the Lord will give you greater strength, peace, and eternal perspective. Whatever your situation, your home will be “blessed by the strength of priesthood power” and those close to you will more fully desire these blessings for themselves .--My home is blessed by the priesthood.  I am so grateful that it is a part of my life. As men and women, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters of God, we move forward together. This is our opportunity, our responsibility, and our blessing. This is our destiny—to prepare the kingdom of God for the return of the Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen .--Being a woman in this day ...

Derek went hunting Friday night.  So we had a sleep over in mommy's room.  We spread blankets all over the floor and watched a movie until we all fell asleep.  It was fun. The next morning we all "reinacted" the sleep over for pictures.  Notice the smiles on the "sleeping" faces. Today I read a talk by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latte-day Saints. ( click here to read/watch/listen to this talk) "How we preserve time for family is one of the most significant issues we face in most cultures." -- I need to make sure I spend time with the kids. Yesterday I had them all day but didn't play with them. I rewarded them with TV but that is not the reward they need. I need to give then my time. "But if we allow our culture to reduce the special relationship that children have with mothers and grandmothers and others who nurture them, we will come to regret ...

Derek and I were both sick yesterday.  I let him stay in bed so he could rest and I got the kids up and ready for school.  Just as I was about to get them in the car he came downstairs thanking me for letting him sleep and then wisked the kids into the car and took them to school.  When he got home he put me in bed and said, "I feel bad because I didn't take care of you yesterday when you were sick and now today I know how you feel, I want to take care of you."   He is such a sweet heart.  I am so blessed to have him as a husband.  What a Joy he is. Talk given by President Thomas S. Monson , Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ( click here to read/listen/watch this talk) " Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking so...

Derek was at work and had called needing me to get on the computer for him.  While I was looking something up Maddie and her friend dumped every toy in the play room into a big pile.  How did they know that I needed to go through all the toys and make sure they were in the right bin? Yesterday as I took the kids to get their flu shots I had the impression "Samantha has anxiety." As I received this impression I was given the gift of empathy.  I felt great patience and love for her. I felt that she was sick and now I have a label to put on it. That now we can start treating the sickness instead of just guessing. I have been praying for this. I am so grateful to a Heavenly Father who listens and give us our desires, not always in our time but He gives then to us. I read a talk given by Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles ( click here to read/listen/watch this talk) "The joyful news for anyone who desires to be rid of the consequen...

In the morning Derek is so sweet and takes the kids to school for me.  We first started doing this last year as I was pregnant and so grateful for the extra sleep.  Maddie always had a hard time saying goodbye so she and I would sit on the steps of the garage and make faces and blow kisses to Daddy, Elizabeth, Samantha, and John Derek.  Michael has now entered the family so when we sat on the steps he hoped on my lap and started waving both his hands as hard as he could.  This got everyone waving as hard as they could and I couldn't help but share it with all of you. It is hard to see in the truck but I just loved everyone waving as hard as they could.  What a joyful family. I am grateful for the priesthood.  (The priesthood is the power of God given to man, as in anchent days was given to the apostles.  Today the priesthood has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Every worth male member of our church has the opportunity to ...

Michael has a six sense to know when I am up blogging.  I usually try to get up before my kids but the last few days he has woken up within 10 min. of me waking.  Even now it is 1:00 in the morning and I keep hearing him move around. Maddie's cousin Amber took these pictures last November. Maddie was evaluated for her speech today.  Early in her life I always felt that Maddie was ahead of the curve, especially in her speech.  Then when she was about 3 I noticed that everyone had caught up to her.  But then by about 3 1/2 I noticed her falling a little behind.  By 4 she was becoming hard even for me to understand.  When we put her in preschool she would come home in tears telling me that no one at school understood what she was saying.  I decided to do something about it. There is a program here in Wake County, North Carolina, called Project Enlightenment that works with children who have not entered Kindergarten.  I had reache...

Derek and I had gone to the temple Saturday evening and did not return home until late.  Michael had a difficult night and so we both woke up exhausted Sunday morning.  I ended up in tears and prayed for help.  I remembered the TOFW clip about God putting His hand on my cheek and prayed for that. After taking a nap I woke still tired but full of patience.  Derek had left for meetings and I got the children ready.  I felt the hand of the Lord giving me patience the whole morning as well as at church and then for the rest of the day.  I felt that the Lord truly had put His hand on my cheek and gave me the strength that I did not have.  What a blessing it is to have the peace of the Lord in my life.  I feel His peace, love, and kindness and am not sure what I would do without it. It was a beautiful evening last night, we ended up with 10 kids in our back yard that did not belong to us.  I love it when my house is the magnet for the neighborhoo...

I am almost done Christmas shopping, it feels so good to say that.  I got to sit and chat with my really good friend for several hours yesterday as our children slept and others played.  It is nice to have another woman to talk to.  Then I got to snuggle up to my husband and watch a movie.  Thank heaven's for ClearPlay (a DVD player that you can purchase that will edit movies to your personal level of comfort in terms of language, violence, sex, etc.)  We rented a movie and watched it with ClearPlay and noticed a few times where it had skipped.  So since it had seemed such an innocent movie and because it ended completely different than we expected we wanted to watch it again but decided to turn off ClearPlay.  Then the true movie came out.  We only  had to watch for about 2 min. before we realized that the innocent movie we thought we had seen was not so innocent and that those skipped scenes were skipped for a reason.  So we turned the...

Michael had been extremely grumpy.  I don't know if it is teeth, separation, just not feeling good, switching to milk instead of formula, or just one of those days.  He just kept screaming and I didn't know what to do.  Finally I put him by the window so he could watch his brother and his brother's friends play kick ball.  He was mesmerized.  He stayed quiet for almost 5 min. which was a huge reprieve.  Occasionally I would ask the kids to say hi to him and that would last us for another 5 min.  Just enough for me to get the piles of laundry put away. Maddison was in a cute mood.  She kept getting things out.  At one point she got out my yoga mat and said she was going to do yoga.  She then got another mat out and said, "Mom this one is for you."  She knows what I like.  So we did yoga together with Michael crawling underneath us.    With Daddy out of town we all snuggled in my bed fo...