The Miracle

October 25, 2015
My boys are just normal kids, they pretend to be super heroes, they crack up when a dent in a pear looks exactly like a bum, they argue about which chipmunk they are (everyone wants to be Alvin and Quinn will NOT be Theodore).
But some days I'm reminded of who they really are.  I'm reminded that in those cute little bodies there are powerful spirits, more wonderful and amazing than I can even comprehend.  They are sons of God and they were His before they were mine.    Today was one of those days.
We had our annual Primary Program at church.  Both boys have been working really hard to learn their parts.  Yesterday there was a dress rehearsal at the church.  We took the boys after Ethan's basketball game and were planning on letting Caden stay just a few minutes and then taking him to his soccer game.  When it was time for Caden to leave, he wouldn't go.  He was so concerned about doing a good job on the program, it definitely took priority over his soccer game and I was fine with that.
The program was amazing and sweet as they are every year.  There was a special spirit while the kids testified through their words and the songs about what they believe.  They sang a new song called, "The Miracle," that I had never heard before.  It is beautiful about the atonement of Jesus Christ.  I loved watching Ethan and Caden's faces as they sang the song.  They both sang with all of their hearts, watching their faces sing the words of the song I knew that they knew that everything they were singing about Jesus Christ as their Savior they truly believed!  I felt the spirit testify so strongly to my heart that it is true, the miracle of the atonement of Jesus Christ rescues me too.  Here is a video of the song:



After church I was talking to Caden about how much I loved that song.  My sweet 5 year old told me his favorite line from the song is, "Jesus bled and died to save me, a price that I could never pay alone."
I asked him why that was his favorite.  He said, "well in the first place if Jesus didn't die for us we could never be resurrected and then when we died we would just be a body all alone in the cold ground and that wouldn't be good at all.  It also means that I can repent and be forgiven.  He did something I could never do alone."  I was pretty blown away by his response.

November 9, 2015
This song has brought up a lot of great conversations in our home the past few weeks.  I feel that these conversations helped prepare and bless my family to overcome a trial that was just around the corner.  On my birthday I announced to the boys in a fun birthday surprise that we were having a baby.  They were all pretty excited and confused.  Ethan was the most excited.  Last week I had an early ultrasound and the baby wasn't measuring as far along as I thought I was.  The doctor wasn't too concerned, he just thought I was off on my dates, so we set up follow up appointments for more blood work and another ultrasound.  I was troubled after this appointment, but after a heartfelt prayer in the library parking lot I felt an overwhelming feeling of peace.  I didn't know if that peace meant that everything would be fine in the pregnancy or if it just meant that everything would be fine, but I felt it nonetheless.  A few days later I lost the pregnancy.  One of the hardest parts was having to tell our boys later that night.  Our sensitive Ethan was heartbroken.  He said, "what if something like that had happened to Caden when he was a baby.  I couldn't imagine the world without Caden."  He didn't understand why his prayers for a healthy new baby in our family hadn't been answered the way he wanted.  We had a conversation about how our Heavenly Father sometimes answers our prayers by sending us peace and helping us get through sad times.  Tonight we talked again about the ways our family has been blessed and lifted in the past few days.  I acknowledge all of these blessings as miracles, and am full of gratitude for the blessing that the atonement is in my life.  I know that He understands how I feel and will truly succor me in my time of need.  I have felt that very profoundly the past few days.  My favorite line of the song is, "Jesus is a God of miracles, nothing is at all impossible to Him.  And I know this, of all his miracles, the most incredible must be, the miracle that rescues me."