Not So Many Angry Words (And Other Blessings)

Today I've been feeling extremely blessed. I have a short, comprehensive list for your enjoyment:

• I was somehow blessed to find my PERFECT mate 7 days after moving to Provo, and then got to marry him 6 months later. I do not know how this miracle occurred. To this day, I am baffled at how well we fit. Truly it is miraculous. The Lord brought this about. That is literally the only explanation. Shem shouldn't even exist by all accounts. No one so compatible to me should be possible. Sometimes, when I'm going through one of those moments where I fear I secretly have a horrific mental condition, I'm positive that I have severe Schizophrenia and have completely invented him like this dude did in that one movie:

(Fun fact: Jennifer Connoly plays "Alicia" in this movie. Another fun fact: I saw Jennifer Connoly in "Labyrinth" for the first time the other night. FANtastic. Last fun fact before more things for which I am grateful: I just spelled 'Labyrinth' correctly on the first try without having to first google it to spell check. I am proud.) MOVING ON!

• I've been having a rather rough pregnancy, but the last few weeks have been relatively comfortable by comparison. I'm no longer vomiting multiple times a day. I am no longer dehydrated. I am no longer losing tons of weight. I am no longer so fatigued that I cannot move. I feel generally perky and upbeat and am now able to do a few chores before needing to rest.

• Somehow we're making it. Every month. Despite tough financial realities. It's miraculous every single month.

• My sweet husband is in the kitchen AS I WRITE THIS doing the dishes for me. Because he is incredible. And one of the most selfless men I've ever met.

• My nesting seems to be mostly concentrated in the area of food preparation. This is a blessing both for myself and my husband as we frequently have delicious foods and baked goods in our home. Tonight, I made something like this:

...and I'm not gonna lie to you, it was flippin' tasty. I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD!

• I'm head-over-heels in love with this baby already. How much of a blessing is THAT?? Women are so incredibly lucky to be able to experience love like this. It's absolutely amazing. And I was so nervous about how much I wanted a girl. Psh. That all went out the window when I saw my precious little boy moving and kicking inside of me and got pictures of his face and he has his daddy's nose. (As far as we can tell. There's still lots of time for things to change.) Man, I'm in love with him. Also, he gets to wear things like this:

• Lastly and DEFINITELY not leastly (because this is the reason for the blog's title) this weekend we got to hear modern-day Prophets and Apostles of the Lord teach us all kinds of neat things. This guy's talk was one of my favorite's and reminded me of something which I'll gloss over after I let you see his sweet face:
• 

This is Elder Scott. He is absolutely amazing. And he is very in love with his Eternal companion, whom he spoke about ever so sweetly during conference this weekend. She has passed away, but Elder Scott spoke of her as though they were just away from one another for a short amount of time. It was one of the most tender, sweet talks I've ever heard. It was his talk that reminded me of a 14-year-old desire that I'd actually forgotten about until recently. I've always had a hope that my baby would never have to listen to harsh or angry words while inside my womb. I wanted so badly to be in the kind of marriage that would be free of that kind of arguing. I knew, realistically, even at 14, that a marriage in which you never disagreed was impossible...but I had a hope that I could have a marriage in which we never yell or use harsh, angry, hurtful words. That brings me to the final blessing I'd like to mention:

• Somehow I've been blessed to (so far) be in a marriage in which we never yell or use harsh, angry words. Sure we disagree, and even get upset with one another on occasion, or hurt by something the other did, but we've never used angry words. And this sweet baby hasn't ever been exposed to raised voices yet in his short life. I feel like this small accomplishment is so encouraging to me who is so apt to making mistakes and struggling with being an obedient daughter of God. I feel like maybe I am capable of being a good mama. Maybe I can shelter this sweet boy from some of the harsh things in this world...at least for a little while...at least so that he can grow up in a home where he feels safe and loved and cared about and where he is never worried that mommy and daddy don't like each other. I'm sure there will be struggles to come in which our goal of never yelling or being intentionally hurtful will be tried. We might (and probably will) fail a few times. But we will never stop trying. We are a united front and working together to create an Eternal family in the perfect, Celestial pattern that our Heavenly Father has designed. What a blessing this life is! What a joy! It's hard for me to express the love I feel for this life, for my Heavenly Father, for my Savior, for my little Eternal family that is slowly growing and for the blessings that I've been given every single day. I'm in love with it. I'm in love with it all. What a marvelous work and a wonder!
  

We are just so overwhelmingly blessed.