Promptings

So I wanted to get this story down before I forgot it. This past December I took Tyler and Britain to the temple to do some family baptisms. While we were waiting to get started Tyler said how she wanted to do this every year as a Christmas tradition and how she wanted to do the work for my biological fathers family. I was shocked because I didn't think I had ever told them I was adopted by my father and about my birth father. I put it out of my mind and went on with the day.

A few weeks later I was giving a lesson in Relief Society. I don't remember the lesson, but I was reading a part that said we needed to honor our parents even if they were not the best parents and have hurt us. They gave us life and for that reason alone we should honor them. As I was reading it I had the very distinct feeling that I needed to do the work for my birth father and to forgive him. I had a hard time putting it into words as it happened and dealing with what was happening at that moment. I have hated my birth father for so long. I have never wanted anything to do with him, even when he was married to my mother. Why was I suddenly getting this impression?

I went home feeling very unsettled in my heart. I called my mom and she was very upset by it all. I prayed that night asking if there was someone who was ready to accept the gospel in that line and waiting for their work to be done and was given that answer that there was. My biological father was not a member of the church nor was anyone in his family. Of my sisters who are his biological daughters one of the has made lifestyle choices that won't allow her to do the temple work needed, and one struggles more than I do with what he did. I guess that left me as the only person to do this work. It has not been easy though.

For the longest time I struggled with the idea of adding his name as a father in family search. I do not consider him a father to me and it took me quite a while to add him. I made sure that it still should my dad as my father and my biological father as an additional parent (my dad adopted us and we are sealed to him so in the eyes of the law and the church he is my father not my biological father. in fact our birth certificates were even changed to reflect that).

I then decided to try to do and Internet search for his parents so I didn't have to keep bothering my mother and digging up old ghosts for her. What I found came as another major shock. I found out that my birth father passed away about 16 months ago from being electrocuted in a work related accident. I was the one who had to inform my mother and sisters that he had passed. Finding this out brought on a whole new set of emotions that I struggled dealing with and I had a hard time getting him out of my mind. I put his death information into Family Search and it came up with his ordinances being ready to be done. It was so hard to see his name linked with those ordinances. I am still trying accept it and print the cards to begin his work. My children, who have not been tarnished with the past, are eager and willing to do the work for his family. I am struggling each step of the way. Britain in all his wisdom told me that maybe this was how I was going to be able to forgive him.

This next weekend I will be getting the genealogical records my mother has to try again to start some of this work. I am not sure if it is my birth father or one of his ancestors that is ready to receive this work. Tyler (the first to be prompted) and I (the second one to be prompted) received the promptings about a year and a month after his death. Maybe in that time he has changed and is anxiously awaiting for the ordinances of the gospel. Whoever is ready, I am sorry for my personal struggles and will try to overcome.

Mom and Dad

The last few months for my parents have been laced with medical problems and stress. My dad fell and broke both knee caps and after surgery was in a rehab facility for several weeks. During that time my mother ended up in the hospital with some heart problems. once my dad came home from rehab, he started having major problems with his blood sugar and ended up back in the hospital for a day.

Almost losing both of my parents in a month wasn't easy. I wanted to take the time to write down some of the things about my parents. First of all my dad. My dad may not have my biological father, but he chose to love my sisters and I and he has loved us as his one. He gave up so much to raise us after he had already raised his family. He lovingly took in and cared for us, giving us all he could. I got the opportunity to live alone with my dad for awhile while our family had to be geographically separated because of work while I was in elementary school. I remember laying on his bed with him watching tv at night and him playing his old country records like Patsy Cline. My dad has always loved what he calls "shoot 'em up westerns" and especially John Wayne. He did a great job caring for me (and for part of the time my sister) until our family could be reunited again. Most weekends we would drive the 4 hours to St. George where my mom and sister lived. Even then my dad liked to drive slow!

While we lived on the reservation I remember piling in the back of the pickup and driving around, sometimes with the camper shell on and sometimes without. My dad loved to take us out to a cafe (I think at 3rd Mesa) that served monstrous Navajo tacos that were amazing. Since he was a high school teacher, he would often get invited to some of the different celebrations on his students. I remember going to some of the different Navajo/Hopi villages so see the different dances.

My dad has such a love for science and would often take us out rock hunting through out Arizona. We would go look at petrified wood and go on picnics in the desert. My dad also built us several radios, in fact I think I was in high school before I had a radio that wasn't built by my dad. My dad loves to tease as well. He constantly has a joke to tell. My kids have come to rely on his suckers that he always has on hand to give them when we visit. My dad now loves to build things with rocks. He has his little rock shop in back of their house and he is always giving us little gifts he has made.

When Robert was in Korea and Colorado with the Army, we bought a house that was across the alley from my parents. My dad was always helping me out, fixing up the house and the yard when I needed it. If he couldn't physically handle the work, he would walk me through what I needed to do. He has always been there for us and I love you so much dad!!

My mom is an amazing woman. She divorced my birth father when I was very little and raised my sisters and I until she married my dad. She was never one to sit around, but was always working to better our lives. She went back to school a few years after marrying my dad to get a degree in accounting. At the time she worked for a law firm. We lived in a beautiful home my father built for us in St. George. After we all had reunited and were living in Arizona she again went back to school to finish her education. At that time she changed her major to education and had to work hard to get her degree as my dad's health was failing. We once again had to live apart while she went to school and my dad worked to support us. this time we were only and hour and a half away though and my dad came home each weekend. My mom graduated from college when I was a sophomore with a 4.0 GPA (this while raising 5 kids). She never gave up and went above and beyond what was necessary to get her degree. We then moved to where my mom got a teaching job which allowed my dad to retire. My mom continues to work hard teaching and supporting her family and has touching many hundreds of students lives.

My mom is also a wonderful musician. She plays the piano and organ. She tried to get us girls to play, although we didn't cooperate. There were many times when my mother accompanied me singing for different music festivals, in church, and for my auditions in college. She has also accompanied my sister in all her music. Even with all her skill, she decided a few years ago to go back to taking piano and organ lessons to improve her talents she was blessed with. In all she does she tries to be an example to her children of how to overcome trials and be better. She was the one who encouraged me to go back to school when Robert went overseas and to get my masters (she even found the program that was perfect for my situation)

One of the things that has been the most special for me has been the relationship we have had as adults. My mom is one of my very dear friends. We talk often on the phone and can share our deepest frustrations and successes. She has also raised a child with special needs and understands what I am going through. So many times we have comforted each other in our trials as mothers. I could not make it through all that I do with out my mother! I love you mom!!!

Way To Long!!

So I have not written in a really long time. Mainly because the time I used to blog during is now spent teaching Jesse so it easier to spend two seconds updating Facebook then the time needed to blog. I don't remember if I have written on here yet but we decided to teach Jesse at home through the Idaho Virtual Academy this year. He is doing great with it and we are seeing some great progress with many of his behaviors as a result.

Anyways, in the last few months we had a great but crazy Thanksgiving. The week prior Robert was in a car accident that totalled his car and sent the world upside down with doctors appointment, insurance companies, searching for a cheap car, etc. Well my mom finally found us a car in Pocatello just before Thanksgiving. So we decided to meet in Twin Falls to pick it up from them, sign all the paper work, pay for it etc. So as soon as our Thanksgiving meal was over we got in the car and headed to Twin. We sat in the Subway in Walmart to fill out everything, spent a little time together, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed back home. So as Jesse puts it we spent Thanksgiving driving a long time to go to a store. He wasn't happy about it!

Robert has been recovering and is now down to one chiropractic visit a week. In the beginning it was 3 a week and that really impacted us financially (all the loss of pay to go). I just look forward to getting reimbursed for it in the end.

Christmas was great as well. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with our traditional Shepherd's dinner. This is such a wonderful way to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and brings such a sweet spirit into our home. After all the activities centered around that we headed out looking at lights, put cookies out for Santa and headed to bed. Christmas day was a nice relaxed day spent opening presents and hanging out with our family.

The shepherds making their way to Bethlehem.Faith giving Jesse the family's gifts for him.

Writing the letter to Santa.The search for the green ornament to see who gets to open the first gift.Opening stockings. We are all back in school again now. Tyler is preparing for finals next week and just selected her songs for festival in the spring. Britain, who has been heavily into sports all year, is finally done with sports for a little while and is focusing on his school work. Jesse and Faith keep mom busy each day with school and play for them. Robert is busy as ever always striving to provide for the family. Hopefully it won't take me this long to write again. I will try to be more vigilant!

Time, What's That?!

I have gotten so bad about blogging lately, since summer started and I can't use my camera, I am at a loss. School so far is going good for all the kids. Tyler is loving high school and really enjoys her French class. Britain has had some struggles again so far socially, but is excelling academically like always. Jesse is enjoying the virtual academy, but for mom it depends on the minute how her feelings are about it. Faith is loving preschool still and can never get enough of learning. She most likely will start reading soon as she is ready for it, mom just has to find the time to teach her.

Robert continues to remain busy with work and is working on adding some fun time in as well (it is so hard when you work the amount of hours he does). I am busy with preschool, teaching Jesse, and life. I love my exercise group as they help me maintain my sanity right now in life. Some days I feel like I am hanging off the edge. I am glad I have the knowledge that Heavenly Father know what I can handle, because I think we may differ some days on that issue but knowing he is there gives me some much needed comfort.

Summers End

So the end of summer is here and the older kids are all back to school today. Jesse and Faith will start on Monday. It has been a long and busy summer. We started off with scout day camp, girls camp, and later scout camp. We had a great 4th of July weekend with my family being here. It was a great weekend to remember our great nation. We also kept busy with summer camp for preschool which lasted all but the first week and last week and a half of summer break.

We enjoyed a fun weekend camping with friends. The kids enjoyed riding the four wheelers which was a new experience for them. Britain and Tyler also enjoyed going out on a bunny hunt at night and watching all the guys having fun. Robert was able to join us about 1 in the morning and then went out on a hunt with a few of our friends to end the night.

Lately we have been busy sewing and canning. Tyler made seven dresses for humanitarian aid as a value project and I made four for Faith. We have also been canning alot lately. We canned 26 quarts of apricots, 51 quarts of green beans, 77 quarts of peaches, 8 quarts of tomatoes, and about 40 bags each of frozen corn and zucchini.

It has been a great summer and we are glad to be back at school.

What a Weekend

So what a weekend we have had. Britain went on Thursday to a three day backpacking/campout with his scout troop. We had several full days in a row where it was nothing but running from one thing to the next. Then the big problems started on Friday afternoon. Robert and I went to the orchard to pick some apricots. Shortly after we got home my throat started to hurt and Jesse and Faith were complaining of the same thing and coughing.

The kids went to bed early, but Faith started having a hard time with her asthma. I started her on her inhaler but as the night went on she was still struggling and couldn't sleep. She climbed in bed with us and could just toss and turn and moan all night. Around 3:30 we decided to take her into the ER since we couldn't get her breathing under control. As we were getting ready she threw up (this is common when Jesse and Faith are really struggling with their asthma) so we hurried and got her a bath before leaving.

Tyler got up before we left and soon after that Jesse was up having a hard time with coughing. Neither of them went back to sleep that night. We ended up being in the ER until about 6:30. Faith received a couple of breathing treatments, had some chest x-rays done, and had a lot of observation time to make sure her oxygen levels were up and stabilized. After her second breathing treatment the respiratory therapist and I were getting nervous as her heart rate jumped to 199. Albuterol raised the heart rate but that is higher than any of us would have liked. After awhile it went back down and she stabilized.

The chest x-rays showed that she had pneumonia which would have caused this asthma attack. Around 6:30 we were released and after no sleep all night we were ready to go home and crash. Robert had church cleaning to go do (he was going to call and say he couldn't make it but when he found out Brother Pack was called in to work he ended up going) so he picked up Tyler and left while I stayed home with Faith and Jesse. We took it easy for most of the day trying to allow the kids to rest.

Tyler went with two of her nonmember friends to the ward party and the stake dance. I was worried about getting her there and since she had invited her friends I didn't think we should cancel. Luckily one of her friends mom volunteered to take the girls to both events.

When Britain got home I found out that he got sick while he was camping also so now we have four of us home sick while Robert and Tyler are still doing fine. Hopefully we can kick this soon and be back to health.

What We Have Been Doing!

So life has been going on crazy as usual. I think I have figured out part of the reason for my lack of blogging. My camera battery died over a month ago and I can't find the charger. I have missed many great picture opportunities, but such is life.

Our garden is going great right now. We have been harvesting radishes and leaf lettuce. Many peas are almost ready. It is great to see everything growing and changing each day.

Tyler has been away at girls camp all week and will get home tomorrow. She has been babysitting for some friends each day through the summer and plans on using the money to help pay for her cello and school funds for next year. She is looking forward to going to an EFY type of conference next month and staying at the BSU dorms for it. The only draw back is that none of her friends are going.

Britain is staying busy by mowing the lawn for a friend each week. He is working on saving money for his mission. He also loves playing of the slip and slide and is looking forward to campouts and going to scout camp.

Jesse finished up with day camp last week and had a lot of fun. He is also enjoying summer camp that I do each day. We try to keep him on a tight schedule each day which helps him to deal with life better. He functions so much better when changes are minimized and he knows what to expect out of each day.

Faith is enjoying summer camp as well and has been showing off her new tooth ring that she got today. She lost a tooth about 6 months ago even though she was way to young to. The permanent tooth (if it comes in) will not come in for several more years and so she had to have a spacer put in to keep the teeth from growing together.

Robert has been working 80 hour weeks lately between his two jobs and we see him very rarely except as he is going from one job to the next. We are grateful for the added income, but sure miss him being around.

I have kept busy teaching summer camp each day, taking kids to all the various appointments, lessons, and activities. I have also enjoyed working out with friends each week in our enrichment group. It has been a great way to work on something for me and helping to accomplish some of my goals for myself.

Right now our family is also very concerned about my nephew Sean. He has been hospitalized for almost two weeks now. He lives in Arizona and was life flighted to Las Vegas twice within a week. They are finding out that he has a thyroid disease where his immune system attacks the thyroid. So his thyroid has been sending toxins into his body. His adrenals are also having problems that are making some of his hormone levels be too high. He is also dealing with heart murmurs as a result of everything. we are hoping he will be able to come home soon, although he will be on medications for a long time to come. The medication also has some major side effects that could cause some life altering problems. It is so much for a 12 year old to bear.

So we have been keeping busy and are looking forward to some time this summer where we can enjoy some relaxation!

A Homemade Saturday

Today Britain was at a merit badge clinic again, Robert was at work, I did my usual Saturday temple trip last night with my friend Carmen, so we had a day to relax and have some fun. We decided to make Valentine's Day cards.

Jesse made some cute dog cards made out of hearts and candy. I helped by cutting out the hearts and then he assembled them. When he felt overwhelmed, we decided on a system of him gluing part and me finishing it.

Faith was anxious to get started so while I was helping Jesse, she fingered painted. Then she made some dog cards for one of her classes and heart cards made from her finger paintings from the other.

Tyler had fun creating her own cards for each of her friends. She also helped me with Faith and Jesse. Britain was able to make a few cards as well when he made it home. The kids spent hours creating cards and just having fun. It was a great family day!

A Wonderful Christmas Morn

Christmas morning was a very relaxing and enjoyable time this year. The kids managed to get us out of bed about quarter to eight and we headed to the family room to open our stockings. There we found that Santa had left us a note and some treats in place of the cookies that we left him. We all had fun opening our stockings and seeing the fun things Santa left us.

Then we had the hunt for the Christmas tree ornament to see who got to open the first present. Tyler found it this year so she was able to start the presents coming. Then Robert began passing out presents to everyone. We had a good time seeing all the gifts that each member gave to each other. Then we read the service gifts that we gave each other. Robert saved Santa's gifts for last. This year Santa gave the family a few gifts instead on giving everyone individual gifts. He left the family a Wii and some games to go with it. This got a rave reaction from the kids. Santa also left mom a special present of the Wii Fit (Mr. Claus kept it a surprise that he had found this incredibly hard to find object from Hannah for quite a while as we continue to search stores for it, I guess he lucked out that we couldn't find it any other time). We then had our traditional Christmas breakfast of cinnamon rolls, oranges, and Little Smokies. The rest of the day was spent hanging out, cleaning up after the presents, shoveling some snow, playing outside, having our Christmas dinner, and learning to play the Wii. Overall it was a great day to relax and enjoy being a family.

O Holy Night

This has been a wonderful Christmas season. I love how as the children get older, they can more fully understand the wonders of Christ's birth. Over the past few years our family has really focused on switching the focus of Christmas from Santa and the commercialism of Christmas, to the remembrance of the Savior. We still talk about Santa and put out cookies for him, but we really try to focus on the Savior. So I was really excited when I found an article at Meridian Magazine that talked about having a Shepherd's Supper.
I started out making these meat pies for dinner. The recipe was more elaborate than I was willing to make, so I just took some canned biscuits and covered them with hamburger and cheese.

Then we filled our knapsacks with our meat pies, grapes, cheese, and an orange.

Each person tied their knapsack around their waist with a cup for juice and dressed in pj's and towels to represent shepherds.

Here are my darling shepherds ready to begin the journey.

We then turned off all the lights in the house except the Christmas tree. We started out by the bedrooms. Jesse had made a great candle at scouts this week and so we used that as our guide to help us make it to Bethlehem.

On our journey, we stopped to eat our dinner (the lights were still out, I just used the flash so you could see the picture). We ate our dinner as the children told us the Christmas story and we talked about the sacred shepherds that guarded the temples sheep.

After we finished eating. We talked about our gifts we could give the Savior. Each person wrote down a service they would offer the other members of the family as their gift to Christ this Christmas. Each of the service gifts were them placed in a basket to give to Jesus.

Then we continued on our journey to Bethlehem. Faith carried the basket and when we reached the Christmas tree, she placed the basket next to the baby Jesus under the tree. We then read the Christmas story in Luke and watched the Nativity movie. After that, we sang our favorite Christmas carols and then drove around town looking at the Christmas lights. It was so neat because Jesse and Faith were so attentive during the Shepherds Supper, they were totally focused on events and didn't start struggling until we were looking at lights. We then came home and set out Santa's cookies and the kids headed to bed. It was a great night!

Scripture Power

I got this idea from this post at a great site called Becoming LDS and decided to modify it a little. The poster has a scripture mastery scripture to memorize for the week, an article of faith for the month, a family scripture chart, and a personal scripture chart. What I will do is each day when the kids read their scriptures, they can write it down and have an M&M. This goes for personal and family study. Then when they can recite the scripture and article of faith they will earn a small reward (it is part of their Christmas present so I can't say what it will be). My hope is that this will provide a little more motivation for the family in completing our daily scripture study.

Day and Night of Lights

Today was another whirlwind day for the Hamilton's Robert had to work both jobs today. Tyler started out the day with a fashion show for the stake achievement day girls. I had planned on going to the temple early this morning so that I could be back before Tyler had to be at the stake center at 9:30. However Faith was up at 4:30 am and didn't fall back to sleep until around 6:00. So I couldn't go until after Tyler was done at noon.

So then I went and did some ordinance work at the temple and then picked up Tyler's friend Katie on the way home. Katie was coming over to put up our lights since Robert was working all day. Katie puts up her families lights and really enjoys it. Rob ended up getting off an hour early, but he still let Katie and Tyler put up the lights. The girls did a great job and Jesse and Faith really wanted to help.

After a quick dinner of leftovers, we all headed out to Caldwell's Night Light parade. The kids enjoyed watching the beautiful floats and Katie's mom joined us to watch the parade. I let Tyler and Katie be in charge of the camera and they did a pretty good job. After the parade, Tyler went with Katie and her mom to watch Twilight (again) while Faith, Britain, Jesse, and I went home for some nice hot chocolate. Overall it was a great, busy day.

Here are Britain, Jesse, and Faith after the parade.The finished light on our house.