Easter Lesson

Yesterday I taught an Easter Lesson for Young Women's. It was kind of a disaster in the sense that I could have done a better job preparing it and I cried through the whole lesson. However, that is actually where the lesson turned into something wonderful and spiritual for me. We were talking about the atonement and we watched an Easter video. During the video Elder Holland says, "Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Elder Holland goes on to say, "It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.”
This really struck me, I hadn't thought of it like that before. I mean I know we can't even understand how difficult it must have been for him, but this actually made me understand a little better. As we continued to talk about the atonement I was giving an example from my mission how sometimes it was so hard, but I knew the Savior had felt what I had felt and knew what I was going through. As I continued to think about it, I thought of my mom and how much I missed her and how I'm so sad she is gone and then I thought "wow", the savior has felt this before too and he knows my pain. Not that I want him to be sad or in pain, but there is a comfort in knowing that someone else knows how I feel and what I'm going through. It made me so appreciative of the Savior and all that he has done for me and I wanted to record it for me and share it with you. I'm so grateful for the atonement and his sacrifice for me. I know that he lives. I know that he loves me and will be there to support me. I'm truly grateful and feel so blessed to have the knowledge of Christ in my life.

So Big! Boys March 2011.

My dad has been teaching the boys to raise their arms up when he says, 'So Big'. They are pretty good at it. Owen cracks me up in this video because he just keeps doing it even when he isn't very happy about it.

Fun Stories about the boys.

Owen walks around sometimes with his hands behind his back. Mike calls him the little Emperor. I guess Jim (Grandpa Slade) did the same thing when he was a little boy.

The other day when it was nice outside I left our sliding glass door open. The boys were playing outside on the steps that lead to the patio and the drapes were blowing in and out of the door. A little later, I heard both of them giggling and I looked over and Owen had come inside and was moving the drapes back and forth (like peak-a-boo) playing with Caleb. It was really cute.

Owen was jealous when Mike was holding another baby. He went over and held onto his legs and was whining for Mike to pick him up.

We have just decided to leave our little vacuum in the kitchen, I know real classy, because the boys make such a mess when they eat and it is just easier to vacuum them up. Well they both love putting the nozzle against their mouth when the vacuum is on. They get all smiley and want to hold it themselves and pull it on and off their mouths.