Sometimes, in all the noise of my life and the world around me, I hear varied sounds–a capella singing, impromptu piano pieces, languish and laughter, television banter, lightsabers bouncing, and conversations here and there.  Since we replaced the carpet in our family room with Pergo recently, I have noticed the level of noise that I hear has increased without the carpet to absorb some of the sound.  With all these melodies competing for my attention, I find myself tuning out the sound and failing to truly listen.

Just a few days ago, I attended my regular Sunday church meetings.  Following a class I taught, a friend of mine came up to discuss her week.  Because I was thinking of catching our children before they ran rampant through the hallway, I was not really tuned in to what she was saying to me.  I was about halfway there with her, and halfway in my mind wondering about my own work.  When I saw her again later, I apologized for not listening to her.  I told her that I felt distracted, and that I felt badly for not showing her the compassion I ought to during her expression of emotion and thoughts.  I did not help to carry her burden as she did mine.  I felt like less of a friend.

Thankfully, I was able to talk to her during the coming week after someone had spoken ill of her.  She was distressed and tearful, and I stopped what I was doing to listen.  I hope I was able to speak words of love and comfort to her as she did for me only days prior.  How grateful I am for another chance to help her.  I will try to work on my listening skills and be more aware and in tune with the needs of those around me.    How about you?

Today is one of my favorite days. We are still living in the glow of Thanksgiving and at the same time starting Christmas. Last week, my boys put the Christmas lights on the house. Today, the grandchildren will put out the Nativity figures, and tonight we will enjoy the magic of Christmas.

Being a mom allows me to pass down family traditions to my children and grandchildren. One of my favorites is Christmas. During this season, our hearts turn to others more and more. We remember the blessings we have been given, and we want to share so we can bless the lives of others.

The last few years have been difficult. Yet, the peace that comes at this time of year is a gift from a loving Heavenly Father.

We are Christian, but other celebrations at this time of year also bring us hope and peace. My husband has ancestors who were Jewish and in honor of them, we participate in a Hanukkah celebration.  We enjoy eating latkes, cooking kosher, and lighting the menorah.

Celebrating the traditions of our ancestors helps to connect our families. Also, as our families evolve through marriages, births of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren or children leaving home, our traditions change. Sometimes we decide to adapt them to our new situation or to depart from them altogether, embracing the new and retiring the old.

Traditions are like the glue that holds our memories close to our hearts. We love them.  We need them.  We treasure them. As we allow traditions that build faith in God and man to be part of our lives, we empower our families.

I love holidays–the cooking, the traditions, the music, and don’t even get me started on the food….

But my favorite part about holidays is the family getting together! Clichè or not, I love it when all the brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles and cousins gather at some semi-common location (which, this year, was my hometown) and share laughs, memories, and loads of fabulous food   After dinner, we split off into smaller groups and chat, play, and sing songs around the piano (we are lucky and have two pianists in the family, so my aunt and I switch off so we both get to play and sing!). 

And are the children perfectly behaved the entire time?  No.  Do all the desserts come out perfect, never burned?  Not exactly.  Do the dishes magically do themselves after the 4 kajillion family members go home?  I wish, but nope.  And does the stress level ever drop below 11 in the days right before the big event?  Ummmm….no.  But I am so grateful to have my family close enough that we can share these experiences–sometimes bordering on adventures–together.  Because being with my family, as imperfect as we are, brings me life, love, and true joy.  So my (now post-) Thanksgiving message to you, dear readers, is to enjoy those gathering-together times for what they are:  blessings.  Happy Holidays!

With thankful hearts and helpful hands, families, friends and neighbors gather together on this one day of the year to express gratitude to Him who gives us everything and to each other. The day is spent in all corners in the United States with everyones special traditions and tiny touches that make it Thanksgiving for them.
For me it’s the mashed potatoes, the yams covered in marshmallows, and the pumpkin pies we always have. It’s the family clustered around in the kitchen, the turkey song that has rung in my ears every November since I could talk, and the Christmas music that is always playing as we cook. It’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Thanksgiving turkey craft we do that the kids so adore, and the way we all seem to notice, even better, the blessings that surround us. It’s the air that catches us as we embrace, it’s the tendar words of thanks we go around the room saying and most of all it’s the love that we feel for one another as we truly take the time to share it.
So as this season blesses us once again, may we open our hearts to the beautiful moments that don’t come everyday and truly thank those we love for the countless miracles they create for us as we walk through each experience of this life.
What are you most thankful for and how will you express it this year?

Cobi Dickinson is an amazing woman!  She balances her time between supporting her awesome husband, teaching her fabulous four little ones, and building up those within her sphere of influence.  She is an active writer, tri-athlete, and dear friend.  She is currently supporting women and mothers on her newest blog, MOMs Arise.  Read more from her at http://momsarise.blogspot.com and enjoy!

On my mind much lately is the principle and practice of love.  Some questions that have been in my thoughts are those such as:

• Do we have to earn love, or can we expect it to be given freely to us?
• What comes by “protecting” ourselves through not expressing the love we feel toward others openly?
• How do we show our love in a way that it is received as love by those around us?

Over the past year or so, I have been working on relatively young relationships with new acquaintances and I have immediately felt connected to these people who have recently entered my life.  I feel a familial bond with them and seek to express my love and admiration for the presence of these new friends in my life.  Yet I hesitate.  If I express love quickly, will they find me insincere?  If I feel love for them that is unreturned, will I feel abandoned?

My husband and I are celebrating eleven years of marriage this month.  We had a short courtship (met in June, dated in July, were engaged in August and married in November).  Days before he proposed to me, we stood outside on my front step to say goodnight.  He looked at me and said, “Tell me something.”  I immediately thought to say, “I love you.”  In an instant, I thought of all the times I could’ve said it in other relationships when I didn’t.  I had never been comfortable standing exposed to express my feelings.  As I look into his tender eyes, though, peace overwhelmed me.  I said, “I love you.”  Never before had I said that to a man I had dated, but I said it to him with my whole heart, soul, mind, and spirit.  He did not return the words then, and I was okay.  I actually felt triumphant!  Jubilant! Lifted!  I was amazed how expressing my feelings of love soared my spirit to new heights.

When those around me share their love with me through words, I feel a deeper bond in our relationship.  I pray that my words to others will sustain them when they feel lost or alone.  I know that thinking of them when I am troubled and the ways they have wrapped their arms around me and accepted me for who I am gives me courage to keep moving, growing, and expressing love.

With whom will you express you love today?

Before I begin this blog, I would like to apologize for dropping off the face of planet earth for the past two weeks. I’m sorry for slacking! I will do better in the future.

Now, let the blogging begin!

I majored in music for my undergrad, and one of the coolest things I get to do is go to my friends’ junior and senior recitals. They perform 30-45 minutes of music they have worked on throughout their years of music major-hood. Last week, I got to hear my friend play her senior clarinet recital (which was awesome, by the way), and her final piece was an arrangement for clarinet ensemble of Journey’s power ballad “Don’t Stop Believin’.” I heard the song on the radio the next day and immediately thought of my friend (which made me smile), and then I thought about the words of the song and how to — you guessed it — apply them to my life.

I got my first rejection letter from a med school last week. Not fun. So I’ve been pondering rejection lately, and have decided that no matter what the rejection is, we have to move on with our lives and make space for whatever blessing God has in store for us. And we can only do that if we…(cue the music please)…

Don’t stop believing! Think about it: if I just constantly sat and wallowed in my misery about not getting into XYZ Medical School and never got over it, I’d be too depressed to finish my other applications. If I didn’t finish my other applications, I wouldn’t get in anywhere. And then I’d never live my dream of being a doctor. So I chose — and am still choosing — to continue on, believing that I will be accepted by the right school for me.

Moving on after setbacks in our lives is an act of faith. Moving on shows that we trust in something greater than ourselves, that we trust that something wonderful could happen to us…because it just might. So take some advice from Journey (and me) on this one and don’t stop believing. You never know what absolutely fabulous things are waiting for you if you make room for them

My name is Jill. My husband, Tyler, & I have three beautiful children (Anna – age 8; Keith – age 5; Kristina – age 5). We adopted the younger two children in November 2008 from Ukraine.

I want to share with you our story of this amazing adoption process. First of all – we’ve always wanted a big family. Both Tyler & I come from large families. Anna was born one year after we were married and she is a delight. From the time that she turned one year old, we struggled with infertility issues and were not able to have another child. For about two years Anna prayed every night for a brother and a sister. Then we discussed the idea of adoption. Shortly afterwards, I had a dream where I saw the outline of a little girl. She had blonde hair and was about 3 or 4 years old. We determined that we would probably adopt from Russia, since the girl was caucasion in my dream. I discussed the idea with my brother-in-law, Yury, who is from Belarus. He did some research and said that Ukraine would be a better country to adopt from than Russia. My husband & I prayed about Ukraine and felt overwhelmingly that it was where our children were. We decided that we wanted to adopt two children – a boy and a girl: one older girl who could play with Anna and a younger boy.

So, in a leap of faith we started the adoption process and chose our home study agency (Cherub International) and our placement agency (About A Child). Then I was talking with my friend, Valerie, who has adopted two special needs children herself – one from Uzbekistan and the other from Ukraine. She introduced me to the Reece’s Rainbow website – which has pictures of special needs children up for adoption in foreign countries. It was there in the siblings category that I first saw Nastya – and she fit the image that I had seen in my dream. I was floored! I couldn’t believe it. And when I saw that she & Nick were twins – I realized that God had answered my prayers. I had been praying for twins for 4 years! It was an incredible experience. I called Tyler, who was driving home. When I described what I had found, he felt God’s Spirit very strong and began crying. This confirmation united us in our commitment to making these children part of our family.

Tyler & I had discussed the idea of adopting a child with special needs, and we felt really good about it. So, when we saw that Nick has CP (cerebral palsy) and mental retardation – we were at ease concerning it. I have always been comfortable with those who have special needs – I’ve worked in nursing homes and became friends with those who had handicaps and truly enjoyed those wonderful people. Additionally, I want to share with you a promise that I made to God concerning special needs. When I was pregnant with Anna, the first ultrasound that I had showed some abnormalities in her head to body ratio. The doctor was concerned and scheduled another ultrasound for the following week after at a different facility. That whole week I was in distress, thinking something might be wrong with our baby. I finally prayed to Heavenly Father and told him that if it was his will for me to raise a child with special needs – that I would do it and that I would do my very best to raise him or her. The following week the ultrasound was completely normal, so I didn’t think about my promise that I’d made to God – until I saw Nick. And then I knew that I was being blessed with the opportunity to raise this boy and do my very best to help him have the best experience that he could possibly have.

And so, this was our goal: to adopt these precious twins and bring them home as soon as possible.

So, I woke up recently from a dream in which I met a woman who was happily smiling–almost giggly–and when I asked her how she was, she replied, “I’m great!  I just took 2 inconsistency pills!”  In my dream, I was feeling kind of down, and I responded, “Maybe I need to take one of those, too!”

 What in the world is an inconsistency pill anyway?  What does it do?  How can I get one?  Answers to these questions and more follow.  Read on….

If I take cold medicine to get rid of cold symptoms, then logically speaking, I would take an inconsistency pill to get rid of inconsistency in my life.  Okay, so an inconsistency pill would help me be more consistent, right?  Is it desirable to be more consistent?  For me, it is.  At least in the areas where I am growing as a person and working hard to be more loving and kind.  Upon waking, I wrote this in my journal:  “What would my life be like if I were more consistent?  In what areas would I like to change before becoming consistent?  [I would love] to replace habits that are destructive or fruitless with productive, loving, accepting behaviors while consistently becoming more kind, patient, long-suffering, diligent, meek, humble, and full of love.”

In my waking hours, though, I think I would refuse the pill.  I am not looking for a quick fix; I’m looking for the growth that comes from the daily practice of being consistent, thank you.  I am sure my daily life will give me plenty of opportunities to work on it! 

In a Morrison’s Cafeteria in South Carolina, there was a sign that read: “Love is something so divine, Description would make it but less. ‘Tis what I feel, but can’t define. ‘Tis what I know, but can’t express.” The author is unknown to me.

I loved it so much, though, that I had it quoted on our wedding invitation. I think that it is hard to define and express the love we feel when others help us or help our family members.

This week, our dear Andre, helped to lay pergo flooring at my daughter’s home. This has been a great blessing to her.  The words “thank you” seem not to be enough to express the feelings in my heart. Our daughter has waited for awhile to have the new floor put into her house. I can’t wait to see the finished project!

Love is something so divine
Description would make it but less.
‘Tis what I feel, but can’t define.
‘Tis what I know, but can’t express.

Love is the most wonderful feeling in the world. How can we share it with someone we love today?