I love my life!

I have spent over four hours at the health center in the past few days. The kids had to have a TB test to register for school and apparently it came out positive. So we then had to wait at the health imaging center for 2 and a half hours to get a chest x-ray that won't come back for a few days. They can't register until they get a negative result. The schools here are so full that it is based on a first come first serve basis. So even though the school is just up the street they will now most likely that the kids will be shipped to some other school in the district. The only thing that gives me comfort is knowing that God is over all and maybe the kids would have a better experience in a different school. I am worried about them and wondering if the rest of us have TB in our systems. I don't really know enough about it yet to feel very educated. I am sure everything will be fine.

Joshua is growing like a weed. He weighs 13 lbs already and is 24 1/2 inches long. No wonder my shoulder hurts. I always thought that my babies were fat because I feed them to much but Joshua is on a pretty good schedule. He eats every three hours for 30 minutes. At night he will sometimes go longer. So I guess I just make cream. He started out so skinny I was surprised to see him get fat so fast.

He smiled at me the other night. I was talking to him and smiling then he started to smile back. He kept doing it in response to me. It made my heart sing. Then today Sarah was smiling at him and he did the same thing. He is so delightful.

Joseph keeps taking off his diaper and sitting on the potty so I finally broke down and bought him a potty chair and underwear. We got home and set up his potty. He was so excited. So we put on the unders and I was waiting for him to pee is pants so he would know what it felt like. As we were eating lunch he had an accident and didn't even say anything. That was a bummer. I am hopeful that it will be easier this time around since we have waited so long. We'll see.

Tonight we are taking the kids to the beach. We are going to have a picnic, as Sarah says. It has been a cooler day so I am hopeful that it won't be too hot for the baby.

update*******

The beach was so awesome. We had a nice dinner of tuna burgers and chips. Then the kids played in the sand and the water. Joseph did not like the water and cried when the tide came in a little to fast and got him wet. He stayed far away the rest of the time. He kept running and pointing at the water. The older kids loved the water and wanted to go all the way in.

We got a gerbal the other day. It was totally free. The cage, food, treats, hay and vitamins. He is long haired and he looks like a mini dog. Emma says he looks like the dog max from little mermaid so she named her Ariel. She is afraid of the kids and jumps if you try to touch her. Hopefully she will get used to us soon. Joseph calls her Kitty and shows her everything he has. He was reading to her this morning.

We got the chest X-ray back and the kids do not have the disease just the virus or infection. Which translates to mean they have it but can not give it to anyone unless it becomes active. In order to prevent it from ever becoming active they have to take this medicine for nine months. The medicine reacts strangely to a ton of foods like cheese, fish, and avocados. There were a bunch more but those are the only ones I remember because we eat those often. We will wait until we get back from St. George to start the treatments and through trial and error we will figure out what foods affect them.

Sarah is finally registered for school and it looks like they had so many 1st graders that they will be making another class. So she gets to stay at the school by us. I am so glad I didn't over stress it like I could have. Everything always works out. Jared decided it was best for him to be homeschooled. Actually it is a charter school that helps with planning and fieldtrips and extra activities. We will met with the teacher about once a month to go over all his work and get help if we need it. The also have monthly carnivals or other big activities and every Friday they have labs or special classes he can go to. I think it will be fun for the both of us. I might enroll Emma also but I have not decided yet. She makes the deadline but she still seems so young.

I let the kids make it a matter of prayer weather they should go to school or be homeschooled. As I prayed about it I had such a peaceful feeling that they would get there own answers and that their answers would be right. We had neat tender moments as we knelt in prayer together. First I prayed with Jared and he said he felt instant peace for he knew that he would get an answer. He told me it was ok for me to cry. So naturally I then started to tear up. I expressed how tender it is for a mom to get a glimpse of how much Heavenly Father loves him. I then testified to him how special he is in our Fathers sights and we then enjoyed a wonderful embrace. He first prayed to know if it was right to go to school and as the next day past he came up to me and told me he didn't feel like that was right.

Sarah and I knelt in prayer as well. She was in kind of a goofy mood so I don't think her prayer was very sincere. The next morning she asked If I got an answer and I told her I hadn't really thought about it much. She said. "Yeah me either" She understood that she had to put forth effort before she could be ready to receive an answer.

We had a family home evening lesson where we talked about prayed and how to receive answers. We explained to them that we had to study it out in our minds first then we would know if it was right because our heart and our minds would be one. We then wrote out all the pros and cons for each and then they decided what it was they felt was right. We then again knelt one on one in prayer. Jared knew right away and went to bed feeling at peace.

Sarah on the other hand had a different experience. After her prayer she got very sad and so I just held her as she cried. It was not a wailing kind of cry just a very real sad cry. I asked her what was the matter and she said she didn't know. After awhile of just holding her the baby started to cry so I left her alone for a moment. When I came back she said she was scared because she wouldn't know anyone. We talked it over and she asked if Ryan would say a special prayer with her. After he did she felt at peace. Shortly afterwards she ran up to me with joy on her face and said, "I got my answer! I get to go to school." You could see it in her face and energy that she had received an answer from God. How special for her to have that experience. Sometimes it seems God lets us have those discouraging moments so that we will turn to him then our joy and happiness is all the sweeter. I am so blessed to have these special spiritual children who teach me so much.