Five Things for Friday, 39th Edition

For the last few months Jon and I have been teasing each other about whose “baby” was going to be “born” first– his thesis or my book. It looks like mine made its emergence (in print) first!

Felice got the very first copy of our book ‘The Gift of Giving Life: Rediscovering the Divine Nature of Pregnancy and Birth” in her hands on Wednesday night.

She sent us all a picture of her holding it and a video.

I nearly cried when I saw it.

I just can’t believe it is really real. In many ways the process of writing this book has been so similar to a real birth– we’ve gestated (almost two years), been in active labor (editing, and boy that hurt!), and for the last few months have been trying our hardest to push this baby out. A few weeks ago we decided we were crowing, last week we could feel the baby’s head, and now the shoulders out and she has an APGAR score– I’m giving her a 10!

Nerdy I know, but what else do you expect from girls who have been writing a birth book for three years?

I have put so much of my heart and soul into creating this book that I am both thrilled and terrified for it to come out– sort of like birth, right? Mostly I am thrilled and can’t wait to hold this little baby in my arms. I am pretty sure I might just snuggle with it on the couch for a day.

If you have ordered a copy of my baby you should be getting it really soon!

She is beautiful, so beautiful.

Rose has been saying the cutest things lately. Her vocabulary is really expanding and sometimes what she says is just too cute.

Just three examples:

A few days ago she got a blister on her foot from wearing her church shoes without socks all day (she wouldn’t wear any other shoes because they weren’t princess shoes). That night, after I put a Bandaid on it, she kept asking me if I would kiss “her bliss”. So I did. How could I refuse that?

The other cute thing she has been saying is calling Ritz crackers “bubble crackies”. I never buy Ritz crackers but I caved in and got a box a few weeks ago. Last week they were on sale and I bought two extra boxes, just because I love to hear her ask me for “the bubble crackies”.

Yesterday I went to help her get dressed and I picked out a cute pair of pink pants and tried to put them on her. She emphatically told me that she wasn’t going to wear those pants and so I picked another pair of cute blue pants. When I tried to put them on her she refused and LOUDLY told me, “Mom, Princesses don’t wear pants.” So there you have it… right from the princess herself.

Our house selling adventure is going well, though I can’t wait for it to be over. It appears like the contract with our house is going to go through and that we should be closing around the middle or end of May. The frustrating thing now is trying to figure out where we should move to. The problem is that we really don’t want to leave where we are now, we love it. Yet we know that we aren’t suppose to stay here, and that was an answer that neither one of us were happy with. While I have faith that God will guide us where we need to be, it is still really stressing me out. I just keep praying that God will lead us to 1) where we can be of service in His kingdom and 2) where we will be able to get what our family needs to thrive. I know that He will guide us, but I am finding that stepping out into the darkness never gets any easier— no matter how many times you do it.

Two of my favorite professors (and my little sister’s favorite professor) in the world just published an incredible book. 

When I worked at the Women’s Research Institute at BYU Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill and Valerie Hudson were just getting the WomenStats Database under way in full swing. The database documents of women’s rights and women’s social, political and family situations in every country in the world. With the data base they were hoping that they would be able to show that the economic and political stability and growth of a country was directly related to how well women were treated and valued, which is exactly what they found. The implications of their findings is enormous and I can’t wait to see what else comes out of this, hopefully towards creating a better world for women and one in which the perpetuation of life (and those who create it) is more highly valued.

This is another baby I can’t wait to snuggle up with on the couch, even if it isn’t mine 🙂

Oh, and don’t be scared away by the title, it is referring to “sex” as in “gender” 🙂 

Have you seen the Kid History videos yet? We watched all of them a few nights ago as a family and all of us were busting a gut laughing. It is such a cute idea. I would love to be able to capture my kids telling a story and do something similar, maybe for a present for grandparents?

This one is my favorite.

Have a great weekend!

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