Thornton Mom

Today is Christmas Eve.  Michael woke up so happy to know that he could take off one more ring and that there was only one left. Aunt KoKo invited all the girls to spend the night at her house last night.  They made cookies and watched Anne of Green Gables. Ammon also invited the boys over to his house for the night.  John Derek was so excited that Monday he packed his bag and put it in the car so that he would be ready. Aunt Annelise arrived just in time for dinner and volunteered to put Michael to bed so that Derek and I could run some last minute errands. It has been nice to have the kids taken care of. This morning my thoughts are turned to that First Christmas Eve.  To Mary, new at motherhood and marriage and being called to carry the Son of God.  What an amazing responsibility she had.  She must have been an amazing woman. To Joseph who stood in the background. Here was a man who did not seek praise, did not seek attention, who hum...

It really was delightful to be with my family for Thanksgiving.  Aunt Mary and Uncle Kyle were so sweet and kind, so accepting of our little kids.  They seemed to bask in the joy of family and that was contagious.  We felt a huge outpouring of love from them and felt so welcome. As we visited with cousins and my sister that we had not see for a while my heart grew and desired even more to be around these wonderful family members more.  My testimony of families increased.  I realized that it is so important for us to get together as families and strengthen this bond. It amazed me that here we were a pocket of family scattered over the East Coast but united in love and friendship.  We all wanted to be together for Thanskgiving to bask in the love of family.  This year I truly was thankful for family. One of my cousins had just moved to the east and had a 9 hour drive to come to Thanksgiving with all of us.  But he and his sweet wif...

 The boys and Elizabeth went hunting so we had tea.  It was delightful.  So fun to be with Grandma and Aunt Annelise. Yesterday I had a sweet experience.  I had to get some new shoes and happened to be going by an old friend of mines home.  The thought came that I should go visit her.  I hadn't planned on it and had a lot of errands but felt this was direction from the Spirit so I went.  As I drove up to her house there was a car stuck in her grass.  A woman who had come to visit my friend missed the driveway and was now in the grass with her tires spinning.  She said that my friend was in the shower so the two of us tried to get her out with no luck.  A few minutes later my friend came out with wet hair and tried to help.  She mentioned that someone was coming over and it might cause a problem if this friend of hers was here when they arrived.  We prayed to get the car out but instead I felt that I should offer this...

Annelise and My's 2nd day of Girls Weekend. Michael, already so proud of his facial hair. John Derek's gift from Aunt Annelise We have been hearing a lot about the Sabbath Day.  As I have thought more and more about the Sabbath day I have felt a need to change.  My Sabbath Day consists of bidding my husband an early good-bye, getting kids ready for church, tying to feel the Spirit as children are noisy and fighting etc., a game of chase as we try to get all the kids in the car.  Home where everyone is famished and wants to eat right now! This is where I typically throw my hands in the air and give up.  The rest of the day is spent with kids on computers or television, me trying to calm down and cook so my husband can eat a nice meal with us and watching the clock tick so I can stop feeling guilty and we can be done with Sunday. I realize that this is not the way to keep the Sabbath Day holy and to make it a delight.  Today I ran across this Art...

 Annelise and I went off for a girls weekend.  Our first stop was Duke Gardens.  We both took pictures and limped around.  I have a broken foot and she has a foot constantly in pain.  It was a slow process and we only walked a little bit but it was fun. Our second stop was the Lemur Center at Duke.  So fun to see so many lemurs.  We really did enjoy it. This is the chapter when Christ comes to the Americas.  In our Book of Mormon it is chapter 11 but in this book it is chapter 5.  The chapters may be different but the words are the same.  We then went to the Duke Library that houses rare books.  We were able to view an original copy of the Book of Mormon.  There were times that I was almost in tears as we looked at this book.  The feelings I had really surprised me.  I felt a great reverence, a closeness to Joseph Smith.  At the beginning of the book he explains why he did not publish the 116 pages...

Happy Birthday Annelise!!  She came down for a visit on her birthday!!  So we got an ice cream cake from our wonderful nephew and celebrated with her. She insisted on giving everyone a gift for her birthday.  John Derek got a mustach straw.  The highlight of his day!! Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 20:8 "8  And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled." In Relief Society they also talked about the blood and body of Christ. That when we come into Sacrament meeting when we look at the sacrament table covered with a table cloth that we can think about that being Christ actually laying on the table. That this is His body and His blood. As that image entered into my head I ...

Annelise and I commiserated together.  We both have boots just on different feet.  The kids were cute getting stuff for each of us because we were proped up on the couch.  Mom was sweet and took on all the responsibility of taking care of us.  One day Annelise's foot started hurting so bad she could not walk.  It didn't make any sense.  She has continued to be in excruciating pain without knowing what the problem was.  How blessed I feel to know what is wrong and to know that it will have an end. Yesterday Annelise finally got her answer.  She has CRPS ( Complex regional pain syndrome) which means that her body thinks her foot should be in pain and sends signals to the foot to be in pain.  It will never go away but she will start physical therapy and pain management therapy to learn how to deal with it and to hopefully put it in remission.  Poor dear!!  Book of Mormon, Helaman 11:37-38 ...

So one benefit to me having a broken foot is that my mom came to take care of me.  What a blessing, what a delight, what a wonderful Mom.  Annelise also has a hurt foot so mom flew to Virginia, picked up Annelise and drove to my home straight.  She is a trooper. She made meals, took us to appointments, too the kids bowling and to the library, cleaned, did the never ending job of laundry, you name it and she did it.  She is so sweet. I feel so blessed to have my wonderful mom.  I am so grateful to her for her sacrifice.  She carries the world.  I loved just being able to talk to my mom.  We discussed kids, the second coming, gospel principles, life, recipies, it was wonderful.  Thanks Mom Book of Mormon, Helaman 8:4 "4  And those judges were angry with him because he spake plainly unto them concerning their secret works of darkness; neverthel...

Happy Mother's Day!!  I had a wonderful surprise arrive at my house Saturday evening and it came with homemade cheesecake.  My sister Annelise came to visit for Mother's Day.  It was delightful.  As I was getting ready for church I had a pair of pearl earring my mother had given me for Christmas that I wanted to wear.  But the back of the earring was glued to the pearl and I couldn't get it off.  I have tried several times to wear them but it hasn't worked.  As I held the earring in my hand again I decided to read my scriptures.  At the end of scripture study I had an idea and followed through on it and off came the back of my earring.  I was delighted and truly felt that this was a special Mother's Day gift from my Heavenly Father. Samantha made me breakfast in bed.  She and John Derek gave me cards they had made at school.   Elizabeth spoke in Sacrament Meeting.  Her talk was very sweet.  I kept a copy and will ...