Into the Fire

Over the past several months, Phillip and I have done a variety of things to support the Yes on Prop 8 effort. Some of the things we've done have been a little outside our comfort zone, like knocking doors or calling local voters to talk with them about the proposition. All of that can be a little intimidating, but we feel that preserving traditional marriage and defending our rights of free speech, of religious freedom, and not having a homosexual agenda imposed on our kids at school through lessons and field trips are very good reasons to get involved.

Well, tomorrow afternoon "involved" will take on a whole new meaning for us. We've volunteered to man the "Yes on Prop 8" booth at our local farmer's market, in a town where protesters regularly hold anti-war, "Impeach Bush" rallies. Yeah, it's gonna be wild. If you want to know how wild, try reading the Ericksons' post about their experience last week. They said that some people were supportive or at least respectful, but in most cases they encountered incredible hostility from anti-Prop 8 folks whose motto is "Love Thy Neighbor."

Incidentally, the Ericksons mentioned that it really helped when friends and neighbors stopped by to shed a ray of sunshine through the storm clouds. So if you live near us and have a spare minute between 4:30-6:00pm tomorrow, please come by the booth and give us a smile. Pretty please.

P.S. The Clarks will take over from 6:00pm until the market closes, and they'd probably appreciate a visit, too. :)

For our Tuesday night activity...

...we bought pumpkins for Halloween. Joy picked her very own pumpkin, though she had a hard time deciding between two very similar ones.

Here are our pumpkins, just waiting for a few days until we carve them.

Once we got home from picking out pumpkins (and kicking them like a soccer ball to the front door), Joy decided that she wanted to build something with her blocks...


...so, with Mama's and D's help, she built a tower at least twice as tall as she is. Isn't that an engineering marvel?

Lost and Found

This morning Joy and I visited a pumpkin patch with some friends, and being the snap-happy mom that I am, I brought our camera along to catch a few memories (cuz that's what memory cards are for, right?). We then took the kids for a walk, and on the way home Joy and I stopped at a store to get something we needed. As I was paying for our purchase, I suddenly realized my camera wasn't in its usual spot - or any other spot that I could see.

I searched the store, then retraced all of our steps that morning. Twice. No luck. I couldn't even imagine how the camera had been separated from the stroller, but even if someone hadn't intentionally removed it, they had obviously picked it up from wherever I dropped it. Either way, it was long gone.

When we reached home, I called the police station to report the loss just in case some good citizen decided to bring it in, but I honestly wasn't very hopeful. I had said plenty of prayers, and I believe that God answers them, but sometimes the answer is, "Sorry, sweetie."

An hour or so later we got a call from one of the police officers. He said someone had brought a camera by the station, and he asked where I had been that morning. When I mentioned the pumpkin patch, he replied, "And the little girl pushing the stroller - what was she wearing?"

"Purple pants, a long-sleeved shirt, a little hat . . ."

"Yeah - this is your camera," he said. "I'm looking at that picture right now. You can come get it anytime." Joy and I hopped right in the car to retrieve our camera, and when we arrived the officer told us that a woman had found it down the street from the pumpkin patch and brought it by the station. I still don't know how we could have dropped it, but I'm very grateful that there are still good, honest people in this old world. Thanks, ma'am, whoever you are.

P.S. Joy was really impressed by the pumpkin patch's pop-up vampire. "Mom, did you SEE that?"

Joy and the Tricky Dismount

At the park recently, I noticed Joy spending a lot of time on a springy firetruck toy. Sometimes other kids would climb on the back of it to play with her, but most of the time she just sat there on her own, calmly watching the world go by. I hadn't realized that she liked the toy enough to spend half an hour on it.

After a while, I noticed she was staring in my direction a lot and stretching her hands toward me. I walked over to see what she wanted. As soon as I was within reach, she grabbed hold of me and used me for support as she climbed down from the firetruck. I guess she wasn't necessarily a huge fan of it - she just couldn't figure out how to get off.

Now that she knows how, maybe she can explain the process to Daddy.

Our young musician

We enjoyed watching General Conference from our home via internet this past weekend. Although I was not raised in a home where we stayed at home to watch conference (we always went to the Stake Center), with a young, energetic girl with a short attention span (as all kids her age have), we thought it would be better for everyone in the family if we stayed here to watch. That way, we'd be able to focus on the conference, and Joy would be free to roam about the apartment playing with her toys and books.

Which she was perfectly happy to do. She'd come and sit quietly for a minute or so when President Monson was speaking (we'd call her to point out the prophet), but invariably she'd soon return to whatever play-time activity she had most recently been involved with.

There is one exception to this pattern. Whenever the choir started singing, she would drop everything she was doing and come running to watch and listen. Almost without exception, she'd watch attentively until the choir was finished singing, and then return to her previously-scheduled activities. It was quiet sweet to watch, especially since I'm also frequently touched by the choir's singing.

Whether she was sitting on Mama's or D's lap...

...or standing in front of the computer screen, Joy was captivated by the choir's singing.

However, Joy doesn't just appreciate listening to uplifting music. She also loves to make it. Several times in the past week or so, I've caught her singing, in excellent pitch, portions of "Twinkle Twinkle." I don't know if that's common in 21-month-old kids, but it caught me by surprise the first time I heard it. There's a friendly debate going on in my family - some think that Joy will play the violin when she gets older, while others, seeing her long fingers, predict that she'll play the cello. Who knows, maybe she'll decide that she wants to sing.

A Lesson Learned at Class

Joy and I have started attending a free "class" offered by a local community college. Their catalog calls it a parenting class, but it's a actually a glorified playgroup with a brief discussion for the grown-ups toward the end.

The kids can paint and do crafts . . .

. . . play with the toys and the other kids . . .

. . . and enjoy a tasty snack after song time.

The adult discussion is offered two weeks in a row, so the parents who hear it the first week can watch everybody else's kids the second week (or vice versa).

The class has been good for both Joy and me. I enjoy the adult interaction, and it's nice to have fun, social activities for my daughter that I don't have to think up or pay for. As for Joy, she is starting to find the songs more engaging, and I think it is good for her to interact with other kids more.

Perhaps the most important thing we've both learned so far is that Joy can be more self-reliant than either of us suspected. Ever since she began walking, I've been next to her like a shadow to help her out and make sure she didn't fall off of anything. For her part, Joy had become very clingy, always wanting me with her wherever she went.

During discussion time, though, I started telling Joy that I needed to sit there a while and that she was free to stay with me or go play. Of course she eventually left to play (with me keeping an eye on her from a distance), and we both discovered that she would be just fine. What's more, some things I had always helped her with and assumed she couldn't do on her own (like going down a slide unassisted) she has quickly mastered now that I'm not doing everything for her.

Of course, I still make sure to spend time playing with her and we have lots of fun together, but I think it's good for both of us that she is starting to play and try new things on her own, too.

Joy's New Sibling Will Be . . .

Phillip and Joy joined me for the big ultrasound today, and we learned that Joy will be getting a little brother in February. It actually wasn't much of a surprise--Phillip and I both had a feeling beforehand that this baby was going to be a boy. And no, we haven't picked out a name yet, though "Hezekiah" would provide nice alliteration with his surname. :)

Here's a picture of our little man smiling at the camera. We're really looking forward to getting to know him better in a few months.