What a Day!

Yesterday really brought up a range of emotions for me, and I guess, being a girl, I need to express them. We started out the day kind of rocky. Adie woke me a up a number of times Saturday night, which always frustrates me, especially on Saturday night, because Sunday is a very busy day for me. I was finally fed up and recruited Brett to help get her back to sleep in the early morning, but his attempts were also futile and we all ended up being up earlier than we wanted to, tired and frustrated. This is not a great way to start what is meant to be a spiritual and rejuvenating day, and it took me the whole of the morning to get into a somewhat decent mood, even though at this point we knew the reason Adie wasn't sleeping very well was she had yet another cold (never stop nursing - they get sick every other week!). Once you discover your child has a decent reason for waking up in the middle of the night you inevitably feel guilty for being so frustrated at them.

We were concerned about bringing Adie to church because she hadn't slept well or taken a decent nap in the morning and we didn't want her getting all the other kids sick, so we stuck it out through sacrament meeting, sitting in the back. I can't say I got a whole lot out of it though. I was, of course, quite tired and I hadn't been able to eat lunch before going to church, so I basically napped through most of the meeting after unsuccessfully trying to put Adie to sleep in the hall. Brett and I knew the day would just get worse if we attempted to keep Adie at church, so I took her home during Sunday School, while Brett took care of his clerkly duties.

When I took her home I thought she would finally be tired enough to go down for a nap. It took me a half an hour to get her down, so I had about 20 minutes to take care of a couple of things before Relief Society and finally eat something (hungry, tired Sabrina = very cranky). When I finally sat down with 10 minutes left to eat my lunch, I hear a cry from the back room - NOOOOO! I just hoped Adie would put herself back to sleep, but that is not her specialty these days, and with her being sick, there was even less of a chance. Needless to say, I became more cranky and was not feeling especially ready to go conduct the Relief Society meeting. I was able to shove down a bit of food while holding Adie on my lap and bouncing her to keep her calm. Brett came to relieve me and I walked back to the church building (for those of you who don't know, we live like 30 yards or so from the building) taking deep breaths to calm myself down. No one wants to see a cranky person up at the pulpit, but it is sometimes hard to get up in front of people and pretend everything is hunky dory, ya know?

However, Relief Society didn't disappoint. It never does. It is always so uplifting and it was exactly what I needed, which is where things started to take a turn for the better. I got home to Brett having made me some cheese toast and he was in the process of making me Jell-o jigglers. Who doesn't get happy about the prospect of jigglers?! He also had taken Adie on a little car ride so she'd take a nap and she was in good spirits when I arrived home. Needless to say, Brett is awesome. He knows how to ground me when I just feel like being mad. That afternoon I also visited with a friend for a while, and that is always very therapeutic.

We also had an awesome Relief Society fireside last night, where the Spirit was so strong. The topic was balancing your life, with all the demands of children, school, work, etc. Our bishop's wife gave the message and was the perfect person to do so. She raised 5 children while being a dance teacher on and off. She is now a dean at BYU and is just an exceptional example. There were also a lot of great comments made by the sisters there that really helped give me some insight and perspective I needed. Have I mentioned how much I love Relief Society? Women have so much strength when they unite.

At the end of the fireside, we received word about President Hinckley's passing. I am sure I am not the first or last to blog about this, but it was such bittersweet news to hear. My emotions were already really close to the surface from the fireside, so when I heard that, I couldn't help but cry. I probably would have anyway, but maybe not quite as much, because honestly, I am so happy for him. I will miss him, which is what makes his death sad. However, he was an amazing man, who accomplished so much and was such a rock and example to the people in the LDS church, and even many people who are not LDS, which is part of what makes it happy. He lived a full life and now gets to be with his wife and his loved ones once again, and he gets to rest. I can't imagine how tiring being the prophet must be. I have no doubt he had quite the reception on the other side.

So, I guess the point of this very verbose post was just to say that yesterday was a rollercoaster, but it makes me appreciate life even more. How amazing it is that we get to experience all the ups and downs, tos and fros, and even occasional loops. It's not often easy, but it is so incredible to have so much to learn from, and at the same time, to have so many people to learn from. People are most often what allow you to learn and experience so much. I am so glad no man is an island. We really do need each other, and I am so grateful for all the people in my life.