All it takes is all you've got

So glad you picked this day to touch base. I was thinking of you when I ran Boston today, and how tough you were last year. I hope all is well with you!

What a beautiful blog post! I love your perspective on the seasons of life!! Glad you are doing well and how awesome that your husband ran Boston this year and got such a great time despite the heat!

You're so wise, Nan. I'm glad you posted. Eric and I were talking about you guys a few days ago and wondering how you're doing.

Thanks for touching base. How's life?

i always love reading your posts. great to hear from you and glad you are doing well. congrats to aaron yesterday!

You really do care about us. Have fun being pregnant :)

So nice to "see" you -- I had been hoping for a blog update, and here it is!!! Hugs to you and all 4.7 of the rest of your family ;-)

Good to see you poking around the blog. I have been a super-bad blogger as well. Life. I gotta go check out your post.

Nice to hear from you, Nan. Good luck with your upcoming event. It will be sacred, and definitely add again to your reservoir.

thanks for your posts Nan. I really was inspired to gain some hope for my current 7 weeks and counting injury that I off and on try to run through...waiting for pain free days to come!! So glad yours has a happy ending!! I too have tried many of those you listed for help--- it started with what I thought was just PF but has progressed my entire foot calf and hip. It is going no where with massage, ice, ultasound, steroid shots. I think the MRI was read wrong and after reading your post I should get a second opinion to what is going on. Thanks again!! hope the baby is taking it easy on you!!

I love what you had to say Nan. I want to be more like that. Good luck on your upcoming birthing experience!

Thanks for the post Nan. I appreciate your thoughtful perspective.

Congratulations on the pregnancy! We are expecting as well, due date around Christmas.

Awesome Sasha! Is that going to be double digits for you?

Burt - not yet, only eighth, but we'll take double digits if the Lord will give it to us, we already have a 15 passenger van.

We have a 12 passenger, and we stopped at 6, which I think is the perfect ratio. You should have stopped at 7.5.

Having an empty seat between each kid cuts down on the bugging. We have a 7 passenger van and 3 children. Maybe Sasha's kids sit calmly and respect each other's personal space more than our's do Burt. By that I mean your kids and my kids seperately.

I've got a couple of daughters the same age as your boys. They might get along good.

Once the size of the family reaches the point where providing personal space would require the vehicle driver to have CDL, the gas mileage at 5 mpg, and not being able to park in a normal parking lot, you have no choice but to teach the children to behave. I find that when you teach them correct principles consistently, and then fully expect them to apply those, things tend to work out. For example, you can stop a fight by reminding them about what king Benjamin taught in Mosiah 4:14, or what Christ taught about contention when he visited the Nephites. Sometimes adult intervention is not necessary as one or more of the children remember and explain the doctrine before you think of it yourself. This works, of course, only if the children are sufficiently familiar with the scriptures and have proper respect for them. This happens naturally if you read the scriptures together as a family every day and encourage the children to read on their own. It took us some time to figure it out, but now we start the adult or older sibling assisted personal study for each child at the age of five - about the time they learn to read with the Book of Mormon being an important part of their reading instruction. I was amazed at how interested a five year old can be in the parts of the scriptures where many adults get stuck and quit. Eventually around the age of 8 the child has the maturity to study on his own and becomes a reading helper for younger children.

Did you have your baby yet??