I can't believe I'm having this conversation!

Not too long ago Isak, Becca and I were out on one of our daily roadtrips when, from her seat behind me, Becca asks, "Mom, who can I marry?"

My response was that of probably any mother of a five-year-old. "Becca, you don't really need to worry about that yet. It will be a lot of years before you get married."

She responded, "I know, but I just want to know WHO I can marry."

Deciding to play along I said, "Well, do you know any boys your age?"

She and I both began to list boys that we know who are her age. Being a five-year-old, her world is still quite small, so the list was only about five or six boys long. She considered some of them more seriously than others, but was generally not pleased with the selection.

In an effort to ease her mind I told her that because it will be a lot of years before she gets married, she is bound to meet many more boys that she can choose from.

The conversation ended, but she was still clearly unsatisfied with her marriage possibilities.

I couldn't believe I had just carried on a conversation with my five-year-old daughter about her marriage prospects.

I was reminded of this conversation tonight when, once again, Becca found a topic of conversation that I was just not prepared for.

"Mom, who is the cutest of the Jonas Brothers? Nick?"

"I really don't know, Becca. Who do you think is the cutest?"

"Is Nick the middle one?"

"I really don't know, honey."

"Yeah, I think Nick is the cutest."

So now I'm wondering, what kinds of questions is she going to ask me when she is 15?

Blessings

Several months ago I was called into the stake Young Women's presidency of the newly formed Indianapolis West Stake. As part of that responsibility I was involved in planning and was able to attend Young Women's Camp and Youth Conference this summer. I can't even begin to explain the blessing that this has been in my life, but I will try.

The greatest blessing has been just simply spending time with the youth and feeling their enthusiasm and witnessing their susceptibility to the Spirit when they are all together. I am constantly amazed with their openness to their leaders, to one another and to the gospel. I hope they realize how incredibly amazing they are!

Another great blessing has been the opportunity that my preparation for these events has given me to experience the power of the Spirit in my own life. I have become increasingly aware that when I try to do things on my own, I struggle, and often fail. But when I allow the Spirit to guide me, the path before me is clear and I am able to fulfill my assignments successfully.

Also among the many blessings that I have received this summer through my association with the youth is the association that I have had with other leaders. I am continually impressed by the desire of the leaders of our stake to help the youth understand how truly special they are and the Spirit with which our activities and events are organized. I am constantly being lifted to higher ground by the examples of those I work with.

As I have seen the blssings flow into my life over the past few months I am in awe that I have been given this opporunity and that my Heavenly Father loves me enough to bless me in so many significant ways. With the blessings that I experiece as a wife, mother, daughter, friend and servant of the Lord I find that very often my heart if full to the point of overflowing.

More Ear Tubes and No More Tonsils

On August 8th Isak went in for surgery to have ear tubes put in and his tonsils taken out. Do you remember that Becca just had this done a couple of months ago? Becca is always such a trooper when she doesn't feel well and she handled the recovery from her surgery remarkably. I didn't expect the same from Isak, and rightfully so. Not only is he two years younger than Becca, but he is also a little less tolerant of pain and discomfort.

The day of the surgery he did quite well, but only because he had an allergic reaction to the morphine that they routinely give to help patients as the wake up, so they gave him Benedryl. Loaded up with morphine and Benedryl, he was pretty at ease for the rest of that day.

The day following the surgery the story changed. Tylenol with codeine (which we didn't use with Becca at all) became ever so important in our home over the next few days. I felt a little uncomfortable giving it to him so much, but they gave us a huge bottle of it, so they must have been expecting that he would need it, right?

After the first week he started to improve noticeably each day and by the end of two weeks he was back to being his fun, silly, active self. It takes experiences like these to help me really appreciate having healthy and happy children.

Besides gaining perspective and appreciation for good health, the other benefit of having a child have surgery is lots of snuggle time. And Isak is the snuggliest snuggle bug I know.