Athletes

Logan

Malan & her best friend Ella

Amelia

I wrote this entry several months ago, and for some reason never posted it.  I probably thought it needed to be added to or maybe I had some other thought that I didn't have time to include at the moment.  Well, the thought is gone now, and I'm feeling less picky about being literary, so here it is, just the way it is.

So remember a few posts ago I wrote about the girls and ballet?  And at the end I made a comment about them eventually choosing soccer over dance?  Well... they are now refusing to go to ballet now that their spring show is over and they are both on soccer teams for the first time.   Logan is also playing soccer again for the first time since we left Albuquerque.  He is so naturally athletic that he generally does pretty well at whatever he tries even if he doesn't know all the rules and technique.  Hopefully he will stick with soccer for a while so he can really learn how it's done (I enjoy watching soccer much more than baseball).  But I will watch him do whatever he enjoys the most.  I would really love it if my kids got into something that I enjoy doing that we could do together, like climbing, biking, or hiking... I'll keep trying.  It's not that they don't like to do those things, they do, it's just not something they have pursued actively without serious mom and dad encouragement.

Logan's talk

This has nothing to do with the post, except that it's of Logan and I thought it was a fun picture.

When I wrote about Mothers' Day talks a few posts ago I failed to mention that along with Malan and me, Logan spoke in sacrament meeting too.  I'm posting his talk here too.  He did a great job, and I was happy to be speaking with 2 of the amazing people who made me a mom.  Here's the talk...

I have been asked to speak about how my mother has helped me become a deacon and receive the priesthood.   The Priesthood is “the authority to act for the Lord and do His work on the earth.” 

I learned from the Gospel Principles manual that;

“A young man who has been baptized and confirmed a member of the Church and is worthy may be ordained to the office of deacon when he is 12 years old. The deacons are usually assigned to pass the sacrament to members of the Church, keep Church buildings and grounds in good order, act as messengers for priesthood leaders, and fulfill special assignments such as collecting fast offerings.”

My mother has helped me become a deacon by teaching me about the gospel helping me live the commandments.  Making good choices will help me to be worthy to receive the priesthood when I turn 12.

I have also done some things to prepare myself to become a deacon.

I read the scriptures and say my prayers.  I go to most of my scout meetings.  I go to church every Sunday and try to keep the commandments.  When I make a mistake I repent and try not to do it again.

My mom is special because she helps me with school and work at home.  She feeds me and takes care of me when I’m sick.  And because she typed this talk for me as I slept on her floor at 10:30 last night even though she is sick and needed to go to bed early.  Those are some of the reasons I love my mom.

Testimony, etc.

OK, so I (Jana) didn't really write the whole talk.  I did type the whole thing, but Logan mostly told me what to write.  But when he fell asleep before it was totally done, I just couldn't resist adding the line about writing his talk.  It was pretty funny when he read through the whole thing for the first time in the car on the way to church.  When he got to the sleeping line, he just stopped and said..."moooom" (that's a drawn out, disgusted-tone "mom", not moo like a cow).  He did omit the line in sacrament meeting.   I love my almost a teenager boy!

New Job!

Yesterday was Rustin's first day on his new job at FFKR Architects.  This is a big change for him, and not one that was anticipated or very welcomed, but we feel like it will end up being a good experience for him and the family.  The firm where he used to work suddenly found themselves without some big projects that they expected to have, which meant that they had way too many people to keep busy (and keep paying).  They gave Rustin the option of staying on with a pay cut or interviewing with FFKR, who they had learned was hiring.  He chose to interview and got the job!  He has had mixed feelings about this change because FFKR is a big firm and he has typically not wanted to work for a big firm, but it seems there are some benefits to it.  The big one that I am hopeful about is that they do not encourage working overtime, and if it is necessary, they pay you for it (time and a 1/2 even)!  So... maybe, just maybe, I'll get to see my husband more.  We feel very blessed that Rustin did not have to have any time out of work.  He was able to go from one job right to the other, which is amazing in this job market.  One of the many blessings of paying our tithing!  I may post more details or impressions later, but for now, I must go to bed.

Malan Turned 8!

Malan was baptized on Saturday April 30th, the day after her 8th birthday!  She wore cousin Mckenzie's baptism dress so it was extra special.  It was a beautiful snowy morning that turned into a green, but chilly afternoon.  We had a brunch with family and friends at the church after the meeting, and although I can't say everything went off without a hitch, the "hitches" were not significant enough to remember or worry about.  My mom gave an inspiring talk on the Holy Ghost, Brigita and my dear friend Christy sang an angelic duet, Uncle Adam graced us all with his piano prowess, and all the cousins who dared sang I Am a Child of God.  Rustin did the baptizing and confirming with the adoring grandpas as witnesses.  It was so comforting to have the love and support of all our family (the presence of those absent was felt and appreciated) and many friends on Malan's special day.  Thank you to everyone who made the brunch possible by preparing yummy food and helping with set up and clean up!  It was a great day!

Malan spoke in church today (Mothers' Day) about how she felt at her baptism.  Her talk (which she thought up and typed totally unaided) follows. 

I have been asked to talk about some of my feelings about my baptism & say some things special about my Mom & say some ways my Mom helped me get ready for my baptism. Some of my feelings about my baptism are… when I went in the water I felt really good. And when I came out of the water I felt really warm. And after I got dressed I told my Mom I wanted to get baptized 100 times. Because it felt so good getting baptized. And it felt really warm not just the water made me feel warm the holy gost did to. I  And some things special about my Mom are…my Mom is always there for me and she always helps me when I need help. I am glad my Mom & Dad are married &I am glad they are my Mom and Dad. Some ways my Mom helped me get ready for my baptism are… she helps teach me the commandments &she helps teach me the gospel. And one of the commandments is to get baptized.  

Mommy Connections

When I first started blogging I didn't want to just write another mommy blog that focued only on my adorable children and idylic life. I still feel that way, but i have come to appreciate the value of mommy blogs and other mom to mom connections. The truth is ...we need eachother! We need that interaction with other moms. Even moms that we don't know can impact our lives in amazing ways. My freind Tarynn (one of those moms who has influenced me for good) posted this thought on Facebook recently, and I thought it belonged in this post...

“Women need women. Whether it be our mothers, mother-in-laws, sisters, dear friends, or even online acquaintances — woman are some of the best and sturdiest scaffolding we can have in our lives...”

Since it's Mothers' Day I'd like to say just a few things about my first earthly mother.  I may at al later time tell about some of the other influencial moms in my life, but that feels overwhelming to me right now, so I have to just start with one.  My mom is an amazing person!  The older I get and the more mothering experience I have the more I realize how amazing she is.  She has survived raising 7 imperfect kids and kept at least most of her sanity.  She has endured and even thrived through inumerable challenges, and she is still there for me and all her kids whenever we need her, yet at the same time, she is her own person.  I spoke in sacrament meeting today about mothers and mothering, and I shared this poem that I wrote about my mom several years ago.  There is much more I could say about my mom, but that's all I can write for now, and I'm sure that's more than you care to read right now.  Happy Mothers' Day to all the amazing mothers in my life!! I love you!

My Mother

An alternative sacrament meeting talk

My mother is extraordinary. 

My mother loves her children unconditionally. 

We are not perfect, and sometimes we are hard to love, but she loves us still. 

My mother is perfect.

And I don’t mean perfect like the usual sacrament meeting eulogy that some poor child is brain-washed into giving because he thinks that is what mothers want to hear. 

You know the talk…

”My mother is perfect.  She bakes bread and cookies everyday, she spends her whole day driving us from practice to school, to lessons, and back home again.  She would rather her kids had nice things to wear than spend money on something new for herself.  Her whole life is devoted to her children, with no thought for her own time or improvement.  She is completely selfless…etc. etc.” 

It’s the kind of talk that makes me not want to go to church on Mother’s Day because I know that I am not like that mother, and I don’t necessarily want to be like that mother. 

My mother is a different kind of perfect. 

Although she has done all the things listed in the eulogy, she is real, and she shows me how to be real;

how to repent when I make mistakes;

how to take time for myself, because she knows that I and my family will be better off in the future if I do;

how to educate myself, both formally and independently;

how to love my husband, and put him first on my priority list (even above my children). 

She teaches me that it is important to make things beautiful, but it is not the most important thing;

that although women are super, I do not have to be Superwoman, and must not run faster than I am able, which means that sometimes, something has to give. 

She teaches that sometimes learning and living the gospel are more important than… eating;

But…that food can be an effective means of getting the family together;

She teaches me that as a woman, I am smart, capable, talented, different from men, but not inferior, essential to making a happy eternal home and family, but not solely responsible for the successes or the failures of that family;

that it is necessary to be peculiar, and even to be the “bad guy” at times;

She teaches me that there are some things I do that my children will forget about the next day (and I need to forget them too), and other things that they will remember for the rest of their lives;

that being consistent with my children is more important than appeasing temporary desires;

that we all have great worth as individuals along with our collective identities;

that although it is a great honor to be “my husband’s wife”, and “my children’s mother,” I am also important as me, separate from any other relationship.

My mother is perfect because she is not perfect. 

So I know that if am not a perfect mother or wife, I can still be extraordinary. 

I can still be the one to influence those around me for good. 

I can still love and be loved, serve and receive service.

 I can still be worthy of the sacred title Mother.

By Jana Ostler in May 2004

Aspirations; check

Hold on just a minute while I do a little shimmy... Now I can say with all honesty that I have accomplished my daily aspirations today (except that I guess now it's a new day, but I haven't been to bed yet, so does that count?)  How, you may ask, can I say I have "slept more" today when I am still up at 12:24 am?  Well, I slept in until 9:30 am and took a 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon.  Ok, it's not really the kind of sleeping more that I meant when I wrote the goal, but it'll have to do for now.  Tomorrow (today) is Mothers' Day.  I am not as prepared as I need to be for it to be a smooth, worry-free Sunday morning, but I'm going to bed anyway and praying that I will be patient and understanding, and that others will do the same for me.

Progress

I just realized that this post plus one more will make 12 posts to this blog this year.  This is meager by many standards, but for me it is real progress because 12 is the number of posts I logged in all of 2008, 2009, and 2010 combined!  And if you count my posts to my new blog (my personal journal) then I am already ahead.  Although I never feel like I am doing enough or doing it well enough (a common sin among women I have learned) I think I should celebrate my improvement in this and other areas!  I feel like I should be helping Rustin in the kitchen since that saint of a husband is doing dishes, cooking dinner, and entertaining Evan simultaneously.  But, I also feel like somehow I have to make time to record our history. For example, our posterity may not have known that Rustin does such wonderful things if I didn't take a minute to write about it... right?  So... the progress report (not just mine).

-Logan has been caught up on his homework for 4 weeks in a row now, and is determined to keep it up!  WOW!  I can't tell you how amazing that is!
-Evan is learning more words every day and continually making us smile and laugh.  He is no longer afraid of the sight of dogs, in fact he can't get enough of seeing them as long as they don't make any noise.  Rustin has been trying to teach him that when dogs bark they are just saying "hi" and he does this by mixing barking sounds with the word "hi", so now whenever Evan says "hi," it sounds like he's barking, and whenever you ask him what a dog says, he says "hi"!
-I am steadily increasing my running speed.  I have run several 5k + training runs in the last couple of weeks at about a 10.5 minute /mile pace.  I know, I really can't call that "running", it's still a jogging pace, but I feel good about it.
-I decided last summer that I was going to complete a sprint triathlon this summer, so I started training for the swim a couple of months ago.  I used to be a TERRIBLE swimmer and quite afraid of water (even though I spent a lot of time in it while growing up) and now, I can say with some confidence that I know how to swim.  I have much improvement to make still.  I am quite slow, and still have the occasional panicky moment when I have to break my stroke to catch my breath and calm myself down, but now instead of stopping dead in the water and doggy paddling while gasping for air, I can somewhat calmly roll into my "sweet spot" (a term I learned from my awesome swim teacher and friend Coleen), breath deeply for a minute to steady myself, and then roll back into my stroke.  This would have been unthinkable a year ago.
-I have "kept up" on the laundry for a few months now.  This doesn't mean that the laundry is always DONE because that's impossible unless you make everyone go naked, sleep standing up, and drip dry instead of using towels.  But I have managed to avoid chest high piles of dirty clothes and multiple baskets of clean clothes waiting to be folded and put away.  I don't really know what has made the difference except maybe just consistently doing a little everyday.
-I have done better about managing the kids' chores and responsibilities using progress charts and rewards lately.  Sometimes it is so hard to keep up with who has finished what and who has earned or lost what privilege, but I have devoted enough time to it lately that we have had a somewhat meaningful system of incentives and things are getting done around the house (by the kids) more regularly.

I'd love to keep going, it helps me feel better about myself and my family when I spend time thinking about the good we accomplish, but I really better go help Rustin now so he can feel good about what I'm doing too!