Sunday thoughts and gratitudes

We've had a pretty good day today. Of course there has been the ever present whining of kids, but nothing extra ordinary... We woke up late and still managed to get to church just as they had the opening prayer. We had a great lesson in Relief Society on Bereavement and Death and the power that the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation gives to us. I then stayed for choir practice and we had a great time practicing some songs we are trying to prepare to sing. Our choir director has grand ideas of what we can accomplish, and though we don't quite share the vision (we are kind of skeptical on our ability to sing a piece from the Messiah), we are having a fun time trying to learn the piece.

At home we've had a relatively peaceful afternoon. I'm grateful for the days that are more peaceful. I know that my own individual level of tolerance to busy days is much better when I do have quieter "recovery" days to relax a little bit.

Another thing I've been thinking about this afternoon is my gratitude for technology. With Rich being in the computer field, he tends to know about and follow technological trends. We don't always get stuff right away when things come out, but eventually if he (0r occasionally I) really really want something and it's affordable it winds up in our house.

One such thing is Rich's itouch. The thing is now that he has it, he's testing out an iphone for work and he isn't really using it much now, so I've been playing with it. I've realized that Rich's itouch is much easier to sit and read off of webpages than my phone is. So at night I've been taking his itouch into the little girls room, and while I'm laying down with them and waiting for them to fall asleep, I have been reading ensign articles.

Now I'm a big reader. I love to pick up books and read a 300 page book in one day, but somehow I tend to have a hard time picking up the ensign to read it. I feel like it's something I can't read while I have to split my attention. A novel is easy to read, while another part of my brain is listening for sounds of contention, or subterfuge from the kids. A novel is easy to toss down and pick right back up and get back into.

The ensign is harder for me to do that with. I'm so glad I figured that I could read it at night online using Rich's itouch. I've been able to read issues from the past three months, cover to cover, in just the last week and a half. It's quiet when I lay down with the girls, and since they are right there, I know they aren't getting into anything and I'm able to use most of my brain power to concentrate on what I'm reading. I'm actually feeling like I'm getting much more out of reading it than I have gotten in the past when I've sat down with the magazine in my hand.

So I'm grateful for the technology that is allowing me to find a new way to connect and read the ensign... and it opens up a whole door full of great reading material for me to read at night while I'm putting the girls to bed.

I'm also grateful for relaxing Sunday afternoons... we've been having fun baking together with the kids... this week Rich and Ashley made brownies, and Alyssa and I made some Jello.

And... I'm rambling... :) So I'll end now... :)