Eliza and the bathroom prayer

So apparently on Friday afternoon, Eliza was playing in the bathroom and somehow locked the door. The doors, locks and hardware in this old rowhouse are tricky enough for an adult, let alone a little 4 year old girl. Anyway, she's locked in the bathroom and can't seem to unlock the door. She's stuck. Jenny tries to help give her instructions from outside the bathroom door to no avail. It's time for Jenny to go get Eve from school. She's got no choice, she has to leave Eliza locked in the bathroom. (for those of you who were about to call Pennsylvania Child Protective Services, we live about 300 yards from the school) When she gets home, Eliza is still locked in the bathroom. Jenny calls a neighbor who has the same kind of lock and a matching key to come over. But before the neighbor gets here, Eliza finally figured out how to turn the lock the right way. I asked her about it.

Me: Eliza, how did you finally get out of the bathroom?

Eliza: I said a prayer to Heavenly Father and then he helped me know how to turn the lock.

We're grateful that Eliza has taken the charge to "pray in your closets and in your secret chambers" to heart. And we're even more grateful that the Lord hears and answers prayers, anytime, anywhere. Even the prayers of a confused little child.

Belated New Year's resolution

I don't typically make resolutions, cause I don't really have anything to improve upon.....cough cough...hack cough.......um.....because I break them before Valentine's Day, but this resolution and this year will be different. Viva la 2009!
New Year's Resolution:
post to this blog more than 1 X a month.
There, it's in writing, and shared with others. Which is supposed to help in the resolution maker's resoluteness to keep their resolutions.

Point Ahhhrrrrggggg to Point $

It's about time I give my wife credit for the best Christmas present I've ever been given:


That's right. A fully packed moving truck! I didn't really believe it myself at first. When I got back from Philly on the 23rd, Jenny opened the door to an empty garage, and I was a little confused. I thought that maybe she'd had some help in giving me a head start on the great packing project. But no! She had arranged for the entire house to be packed up, ready to go!
I was flabbergasted and overjoyed. How will I ever top this? Maybe by settling down in one place for longer than 3 years? Maybe.........

On December 27th, 2008, we finished packing our things, loaded up the minivan and headed east. We didn't really know what to expect, other than 36 + long hours of driving with our children strapped in their seats. Besides some vicious winds in the middle of Wyoming (not that surprising, right?) we had smooth sailing all the way. Our kids only asked if we were there yet a few times, and were very well behaved and in good spirits almost the entire trip. Even baby Tabetha was good natured about being strapped into place for extended periods of time.
We didn't take enough pics to document this strange phenomenon (blessing from the Lord) but here's at least a shred of evidence:

Eve & Eliza enjoying the view from the back seat,
somewhere in the midwest.

Cutie Cute Cuties

In case we don't actually get our Christmas email composed, I want to share this picture of our beautiful girls. What we may lack in worldly goods, is stratospherically surpassed by what we have that matters in the long run. Our family.

Music matters

So I've been missing my family quite a bit lately. Especially now that we're half way through with the Christmas season, and I haven't been able to share much of it with them. :( Aside from talking to them on the phone, music seems to be the one thing that always lifts my spirits. I love Christmas music. I had the pleasure of performing with our ward's choir today. And while we weren't perfect in execution, we did it in the right spirit, and it was great to be a part of. I just wanted to share one of my absolute favorite songs that I've been listening to a lot lately. It's not really a "Christmas" song per se, but I still think of it in those terms. Unfortunately you'll never ever hear it on one of those so-called all Christmas stations that play the same 100 songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and......but it needs to be heard, shared and appreciated.

As for the video, take it or leave it, but the song is exactly what it should be. Thank you Sufjan Stevens


Without further ado, I give you 'Come Thou Fount', as performed by Sufjan Stevens: