Gimme A "B": Living Underground

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Living Underground

It's pretty tough living in my parents basement, there isn't any natural light, tight quarters, no storage, most of our earthly belongings are still packed away in boxes and very little alone time. BUT there are also so many things to be grateful for, no rent, being with family ALL the time, family dinners, getting to live in a beautiful home, and the list could go on. As hard as it may be, I am counting my many blessings. I have good days and I have bad days.

On those bad days I try to imagine our future home, our dream home. Our dream home has changed from being a 2-story mansion with plenty of land, a pool and a view, to a modest 3 bedroom fixer-upper with lots of natural light. I do believe we will have our eventual DREAM HOME, but for now our dream is modest.

Today I am focusing on my children having fun building blanket forts and eating nature valley bars, and the beautiful rain that is falling. I'm focusing on my sweet husband who works hard to provide for our family, and to love me and us. I am grateful for his sacrifices and devotion to our family.

I'm focusing on my healthy baby growing inside of me, he sweet little kicks and movement that reassure me she is there. I love having my baby's inside of me, safe. It's like when I was a kid and we'd play camping and make a big huge blanket fort. I'd put one of our lamps inside and turn all the other lights off and pretend that that was our fire and when we stayed near the light and inside the tent, we were completely safe. We'd peak out and stick out our feet just to feel that thrill of danger, but we always returned to the light.

That's about how I feel about the gospel and my testimony. When I stay close to the gospel and follow the Lord's counsel I feel safe and know that I am known and taken care of. I may get laxed and feel the thrill of watching TV at night before bed, instead of praying or writing in my journal, but I always go back to the light where I feel most safe and secure.

I am grateful for the gospel and it's ability to strengthen me and make me equal to any task that is ahead of me. Alan loves the story of Peter walking on the water and we use that analogy a lot in our home. Peter only started to sink when he turned his focus from the Savior to the waves around him. When we start to focus on those things we can't control or for me, things that I can't buy, we remind each other "stop looking at the waves". Some days it's easier said than done, but it does keep our focus where it should be.

Life really is good, and we really are extremely blessed, especially with parents who love us and are incredibly patient.