Simplicity...

it's a lost art.

Why is most everything that we do in life so complicated lately?

Wyatt and Will Jaye have been taking a Hunters Safety class with their dad every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for the past few weeks. They all seem to enjoy it and have learned a lot.
I decided this last Thursday, that I would drive the 45 minutes to Lakeside with Ed and the kids, drop the boys off at their class, and then Ed and I could, with the younger kids, run a few errands (I will admit we went to my LEAST favorite store in the world, WAL-MART...I hate that place). Anyhow, after completing our shopping, and getting dinner, we went to pick the boys up from class. We were a little early and so Ed and Wylee went in for the last 45 min of the class to listen and sit with the boys. Winston, Wyndel and I sat in the car. As I fed the baby, Winston and I talked about monsters, sang songs, and listened to the quiet nothing going on around us. We watched bugs fly around, through the windows of the Suburban. He snuggled up next to me and rubbed my arm (just like Waylon used to) and listened to me sing some of my favorite primary songs. It was like the world around us had stopped long enough for us to just enjoy the quiet, beauty around us. How I miss that feeling...it's been so long.

I have noticed, in the last few days, that feeling trying to sneak back into my life.
The feeling that life needs to slow down and be simplified!

It's as if Heavenly Father is trying to tell me that the chaos the world offers is not at all what He had in mind and that my family and I need to slow down, turn away from the things in the world, and find happiness in the SIMPLE things. I am not suggesting that my family and I have become worldly...but that more now than before, we need to stop and take a breath of the simple freshness that is still here, but forgotten by so many.

He is still here. Amongst all of the trails and challenges we all face, HE IS STILL HERE!

He is in the still, darkness of the night, where things are quiet and peaceful. He is in the wondrous smell of pine trees and cool evening air. He is in the simple touch of a tired, two-year-old boy. He is in the pleasant sound of a mothers song to her tiny children. He is in the comfort of good memories...the ones that take you back to the happiest moments in ones life..., He's often found in the smallest bug, and the twinkle in a young boys eyes after discovering that small bug. He is still here.

I have been so busy, trying to do all of the things a mother does, and often times, MORE! Ed and I have been trying to get things in order for the "rainy days"...that we know unfortunately come. Ed's been working diligently to prepare us for the winter...collecting wood, working side jobs with the horses for extra money, etc. He is going to school to finish his bachelors degree in all of the "spare" time that he DOESN'T have, and still he tries to make the time for his church calling's and fatherly duties. It is like clock work...monotnous...everyday...all of the time.

I think that these reminders from our Heavenly Father are necessary. We like to stay busy...it keeps us from being idle. But, often times I think that we allow ourselves to "Run faster, than we have strength" and forget that there are more important things to do. He wants us to find happiness...we are meant to find joy and be happy! If we do..do...do, and never stop for that important breather, we become burnt out, overwhelmed, and sometimes give up. What good are we then? ~ I think of a light under a bushel...

Stop...Stop world...long enough to let me think~remember~and see the good that is still here.

I have a beautiful house on a beautiful piece of earth. I have trees that have provided sweet fruit and a garden that has provided for us, good food to eat. I have 7 beautiful children...one of which is cheering each of us on, even in the toughest times to just keep, keeping on, so that we can see him again. I have a wonderful husband that has good health and can provide for us...not because he has to, but because he wants to. I have good health. My kids have good health. We have the basic necessities of life and even some of the finer things in life. I have the gospel and the knowledge that a Loving Heavenly Father has given me all of these things not because He had to, but because he wanted to...to see me smile!

Thank you Heavenly Father, for reminding me to slow down and see the beauty in my newborn, baby girls, eyes and tiny features...the single rose on my rose bush and the sunflowers outside my bedroom window. Thank you for the sunrise that I get to witness every morning first because there are no other houses that obstruct my view...the magnificent horses that carry us to and fro in a well built wagon that my husband, brother, friends and community built for us to enjoy... for the fantastic red barn that makes me smile...for the opportunity to teach my children at home and learn right along with them...for the joy that comes when we learn together...for the pleasant sounds I still can hear and sights I still can see. Thank you for allowing me to grow old even though the wrinkles and dimples are unsightly, I am still thankful for the reminder that I have lived and continue to live a good life.

I am grateful for the reminder...that simplicity is the way and that it is so important to just be happy with the simple things in life. Life is not going to become any easier. It is only going to become more challenging and difficult. The world has made it's point very clear~that it's ways are not the Lords ways. The worlds idea's of "simple", I believe, are actually becoming more complicated.

I am blessed.