Acting not asking

We've all been guilty of it. Using phrases such as-

"Do you need anything?"

"Well let me know if you need anything."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

I've used those very phrases and I've been asked the same. 

How are you supposed to answer those types of questions anyways?  None of us want to admit that we need help...even when we desperately do. There's several variations of the answer, but they all typically sound something like this- "Oh, I'm okay. But thanks." 

Last night was a hard night for me. Morning sickness isn't just a morning thing for me. In fact, nights are usually the hardest for me. Last night was especially hard. I was awake from 1:30am - 5:30am. I hate vomitting, but last night I wanted nothing more than to just vomit. I was in so much pain! 

I hate asking for help, but I was seriously considering calling my mom. Would I have asked for help- probably not. I know she's got things of her own to take care of. 

Well this morning I got a txt from a friend, Rebecca  Duncan. She wanted to know if she could come pick up my boys. And then followed that up with a txt that said something along the lines of 'by the way, I'm already here.'

Rebecca had no idea that I hadn't slept last night. She didn't know that I wanted help, but probably wouldn't ask for it. Maybe she thought she was just taking her turn with my boys (we usually alternate weeks of watching each other's boys on Friday. My boys love it!) But there she was...not on a Friday, but on a day when I needed it! She was inspired. I believe she was led by the spirit. 

And this spurred my thoughts. I thought about the times when people had acted on my behalf and seemed to be inspired or led in their actions. None of these people asked what they could do. They just acted. They just did something. 

And this leads to my theory- we most often become instruments in the Lord's hands when we are more proactive & sincere and act, not just ask. When we are in motion The Lord sees that we are serious & sincere about being used. What are we telling The Lord when we just offer to help? 

"God does watch over us and does notice us, but it usually through someone else that he meets our needs." - Spencer W. Kimball

(And random, unrelated cellphone pics since I'm typing this post on my phone)

Health & Hormones

So I've been pretty sick for awhile...for various reasons.

#1- Sometime at the beginning of last year I began getting sick. I'll spare you the details, but multiple doctor visits and a colonoscopy later I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Ulcerative Colitis this past January. I've been put on a low residue diet- basically that means I can't eat much fiber at all. I'm so sick of white bread! haha But I hope to get this under control and go into remission. I don't see a GI doctor until June. We'll see what he has to say.

#2- We've had just about every known sickness pass through our household this past month. And I was the recipient of all of them! Fevers, chills, horrible cough (still not completely over it in fact), aches, sinus infection, ear infections, nausea, drowsiness. Not fun, especially when you can't call in sick as a mom. I didn't get all these symptoms all at once, but rather just when I seemed to be getting better, I'd catch another bug. I was sick with one symptom or other for about 3 weeks.

#3- I'm pregnant! Much more joyous. I've been anxious to experience morning sickness (how many times can you say that?!) as a kind of a sign that the baby is healthy (the time I miscarried I wasn't having morning sickness). I've wanted to make sure the constant nausea I was feeling wasn't a culprit of either the colitis or the different bugs I've experienced this past month. Well I'm finally not sick & the colitis isn't as bad (apparently you have flare ups with ulcerative colitis when you get sick...this I learned the past month). I'm about 7.5 weeks along and the due date is October 17.

Happy 4th birthday to Liam!

Liam had his 4th birthday this month. We did a family party. This time I made sure to get a cake (Last year I didn't think he'd notice and we'd all been sick anyways, so I thought we'd skip the cake. A few days later we had a family dinner on Sunday. My mom made a cake for Liam in honor of his birthday. He LOVED it and talked about it for days! I took note.)!
The cousins liked the cake too. (in order left to right- Collette, Gracie, Ruby & Payson)
They also liked the presents. Liam was so anxious to play with his new Thomas Train tracks that he left the cousins to open the last present.
Happy birthday Liam!

London- day 3

Our last day and more double decker bus rides.
Buckingham palace...which sadly didn't do changing of the guard that day due to the rain. :(
The kids obviously loved it.
All of our umbrellas were on their last leg.
St. Jame's Park (I think)
A World War II monument
More guards
Big Ben
Meeting a few celebrities.
The London Eye
This was my view of the London Eye as I went on a mad search for pants for Max.  This was after he had a blowout & I didn't have a change of clothes OR a diaper with me! About 15 minutes of being a strange, running tourist, I found a store called Next which had some little boy pants.
Our view from inside the London Eye.
The boys did like this part. Liam and me had talked for weeks about the "clock tower" & the "big wheel" that we'd see for Christmas.
Nightlife.
Westminster Abbey
Chad and me got to go on a little date our last night in Europe. Yes, we probably should've done it more often, but we were usually so tired after a day of walking and cold. On this date we sampled some of these chocolates. I think we got mint, ginger, orange, coconut & super dark (my favorite!).
The neighborhood we were in (Shoreditch) was supposedly notorious for having really awesome & authentic curry. I wanted to try it, but we weren't really hungry, so I suggested we just stop in this more "deli-looking" curry place. I figured we just grab some take out, but that's not how they did things there. So basically, I picked the worst place ever to eat curry! Did I mention that my first bite of chicken was cold/lukewarm. I was so nervous we were both gonna get food poisoning!
Banksie the famous graffiti artist (or at least I like to think it is)...and a sign that we thought was a little odd.
Our flight home. Max doesn't discriminate on who's shirt he'll put his hands down apparently.