So....Allie needs to develop a personality. She is really quite boring...........or not. Just check out this video of her reading her favorite bedtime story to mom.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Humility
If you had asked me back a couple years where I would be in my career today, I would certainly not have told you that I'd be seriously considering a career change. Two years ago, my plan was to make about 10 times what I'm actually making right now (and it wasn't that unrealistic.)
I can hear the words of Alma ringing in my ears...."Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? (Alma 5:27)" Apparently I haven't because the past year and half has been more and more humbling.
A few months back, my Mom and Dad asked if they could come over to our house to talk to us. (is that EVER a good thing?) They shared with us some new things they had learned and told us that they were determined that their children have a food storage. They knew that most of us kids weren't really in a position to just go out and purchase a years supply of food. They had started the process of liquidating my fathers retirement account in order to make sure that their children had a food storage supply.
I have to be honest that at first I thought they had gone off the deep end (luckily they found a life preserver somewhere and have their feet planted back solidly on dry ground.) But I tried to open my mind to what they were saying and Kelsey and I have really tried to do what we can to get our food storage in order. We went from having a couple boxes from the cannery to having a year supply of most of the basic food items within a couple months. This is largely due to my parents drive to make sure that we are all prepared.
I used to think that food storage would come in really handy if there was an earthquake and I couldn't get to Harmons. I thought that it was for an emergency. I cannot tell you how important having our food storage has become. As I have seen more and more of my clients quitting the business and our families income and savings hit rock bottom, I have truly realized that food storage is absolutely for emergencies. It is just that sometimes those emergencies are only emergencies for our family. We used to spend a couple hundred bucks at Harmon's every time we went shopping. Without the ability to do that, we have started looking at our food storage like our own grocery store. We spend only a few bucks at the store when we need produce or a particular item, and we have tried to structure our menus around what we have available in our house. I can't tell you how good powdered milk tastes. (Yes...it does actually taste good...especially when you know that it's helping you to get through the tough times) Our food storage is a huge blessing to us and we owe that 100% to the drive and passion that my mother feels about having an adequate supply. Rick and Kaye have also helped by taking us to Costco and filling our freezer with veggies and meat to help us get through this.
Alma asks "Behold, are ye stripped of pride?" Apparently not. But I can promise you that I'm making progress. Thanks largely to the amazing love and support I feel from my beautiful family and both sets of my parents.
Now I'm trying to make lemonade. :) I just passed my test to get a license to sell Health and Life Insurance with a great neighbor of ours who has offered to mentor me to get me started in the business. So if anyone needs health or life insurance, give me a call. I'm determined to make some really good lemonade. (Just don't plan on catching me in a funny striped outfit with a weird hat on squishing lemons in a bucket....I'm still a little too proud for that.)
I don't want this to come across as "Oh woe is me" because when you compare our troubles to what our savior endured for us, ours is insignificant. Instead, I really want you to understand how grateful I am for parents (both mine and Kelsey's) that are in tune enough with the spirit to help us to prepare when even we weren't looking far enough into the future to see this coming.
I can hear the words of Alma ringing in my ears...."Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? (Alma 5:27)" Apparently I haven't because the past year and half has been more and more humbling.
A few months back, my Mom and Dad asked if they could come over to our house to talk to us. (is that EVER a good thing?) They shared with us some new things they had learned and told us that they were determined that their children have a food storage. They knew that most of us kids weren't really in a position to just go out and purchase a years supply of food. They had started the process of liquidating my fathers retirement account in order to make sure that their children had a food storage supply.
I have to be honest that at first I thought they had gone off the deep end (luckily they found a life preserver somewhere and have their feet planted back solidly on dry ground.) But I tried to open my mind to what they were saying and Kelsey and I have really tried to do what we can to get our food storage in order. We went from having a couple boxes from the cannery to having a year supply of most of the basic food items within a couple months. This is largely due to my parents drive to make sure that we are all prepared.
I used to think that food storage would come in really handy if there was an earthquake and I couldn't get to Harmons. I thought that it was for an emergency. I cannot tell you how important having our food storage has become. As I have seen more and more of my clients quitting the business and our families income and savings hit rock bottom, I have truly realized that food storage is absolutely for emergencies. It is just that sometimes those emergencies are only emergencies for our family. We used to spend a couple hundred bucks at Harmon's every time we went shopping. Without the ability to do that, we have started looking at our food storage like our own grocery store. We spend only a few bucks at the store when we need produce or a particular item, and we have tried to structure our menus around what we have available in our house. I can't tell you how good powdered milk tastes. (Yes...it does actually taste good...especially when you know that it's helping you to get through the tough times) Our food storage is a huge blessing to us and we owe that 100% to the drive and passion that my mother feels about having an adequate supply. Rick and Kaye have also helped by taking us to Costco and filling our freezer with veggies and meat to help us get through this.
Alma asks "Behold, are ye stripped of pride?" Apparently not. But I can promise you that I'm making progress. Thanks largely to the amazing love and support I feel from my beautiful family and both sets of my parents.
Now I'm trying to make lemonade. :) I just passed my test to get a license to sell Health and Life Insurance with a great neighbor of ours who has offered to mentor me to get me started in the business. So if anyone needs health or life insurance, give me a call. I'm determined to make some really good lemonade. (Just don't plan on catching me in a funny striped outfit with a weird hat on squishing lemons in a bucket....I'm still a little too proud for that.)
I don't want this to come across as "Oh woe is me" because when you compare our troubles to what our savior endured for us, ours is insignificant. Instead, I really want you to understand how grateful I am for parents (both mine and Kelsey's) that are in tune enough with the spirit to help us to prepare when even we weren't looking far enough into the future to see this coming.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Life Happens...
Yeah....life happens. You know that phrase about making lemonade out of lemons? Doesn't it seem sometimes that even if you did make lemonade out of the lemons you were handed that it would be so sour that you couldn't drink it? Sometimes life and our burdens can weigh so heavily on us that we feel like we may never get unburied.
Kelsey and I are in one of those times right now. I work in the title industry. With the housing market in one of its worst slumps in years, my income has been shaved to about 1/5 of what I was making last year. That wouldn't be a problem if we hadn't just bought a beautiful new home, or if we had been able to sell our old home and get the equity out of it. But the combination of all of these things has created a bit of a "perfect storm" for us and have really been teaching us some of lifes difficult lessons.
Then, to make things just a little more interesting, I decided to do another play. I love performing and have a really good time doing it, but it is a HUGE time commitment. It is truly like having a part time job that you don't get paid for. Not only am I a lead in the play, I'm also on the Draper Arts Council, so I have been very involved in the ticketing, advertising, set construction, etc. as well. It has been very fun for me to get involved in theater again. I remember now how much I love to be on stage. But this experience has definitely come with a hefty price tag. For the past three months, I have been in rehearsals Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturdays for 4 hours per day. The past month it has been Monday through Saturday. You can imagine the strain it has put on my sweet wife. We have joked about her being a single mom, but it really has been more true than I would like to admit.
In addition to taking on all the extra responsibilities that she would need to without me around, Kelsey has been taking care of the kids, coordinating school schedules, arranging soccer practices, donig her calling and basically being a super-woman. She has been stalwart and amazingly strong as she has battled through each day.
I don't mean to weigh you down with our problems. I just wanted to add a little bit of sugar to that bitter lemonade that we've been trying to make. I wanted you all to know what an amazing woman Kelsey is. She has put up with more in the past couple months than any wife should have to. She brightens my days and makes me want to be a better man. I am grateful to my gracious Father in Heaven that he has blessed my life with such an amazing, patient, beautiful woman. Kels - I love you!
When life hands you lemons, try to make sure the juice doesn't squirt in your eye as you're making lemonade. And find some sugar to add to it....it'll make it easier to drink!
-Ryan
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Poor baby
I took Ethan in for his 6 month appointment and found out that he only gain 4 oz. in two months. Not good. :( Both the pediatrician and the lactation specialist told me that I should stop nursing and feed Ethan bottles and baby food. He needs to increase his calorie intake by 10% for the next month and then we will see how much he gains and see if we need to try something else. He is such a happy kid that you would never know that he is starving. I guess I should have figured something was up when he still wears 0-3 month clothes. :) Bad mom!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Thoughtful Post
Normally my posts have a lot to do with what is going on at the Hoskins' house. Today I guess that is also true, but it is going to have a little bit of a different touch.
As a member of the Relief Society presidency I have the chance to teach a lesson every few months. I happen to be teaching on Sunday and have been on my knees a lot the past few days trying to come up with something to teach about. This morning it hit me. I have been doing a lot of personal research on confidence and self-worth, and I got wondering if anyone else feels the way I do. I think that a lot of the time in our lives as stay at home moms we feel as though the things we do day in and day out really don't seem to matter. No one applauds me when I make a really great pan of Macaroni and cheese. The only time anyone notices that the laundry seems to magically get done every week is when it doesn't get done for some reason and they don't have underpants in their draws. I don't get a pat on the back for getting the kids to school on time, or remembering to sign the endless things that come home from school. And I don't get a bonus when the baby gets to the doctor appointments every time, or the treat for class are already in the school bag before the kids walk out of the door. Yet, day in and day out I do those things. Do you ever wonder why? I have been thinking a lot today that there is a very fine line between knowing your self worth and still trying to be humble. President Hinckley always had the personal philosophy, that I think would be something that would greatly enrich my life it I could adopt it. He said, "I believe in myself. I do not mean to say this with egotism, but I believe in my capacity...to make some contribution to the society of which I am a part, [and] to grow and develop. ... I believe in the principles that I can make a difference in this world, be it ever so small." Today is my day to step back from the details of my live and reacquaint myself with the big picture. Everyday that my kids go to school with clean clothes on, all of the proper things in their back packs and a kiss before they walk out my door, I am making a small contribution to the world, because I am raising kids who know that they are loved and can function in this world. Everyday that I take a minute out of my crazy life to talk to a friend in need I am contributing because I am making the world around me a better place to be. I do believe in karma... what goes around comes around. I have become so preoccupied with my own weaknesses and that of faith in the Lord's ability to use those weaknesses for my good. Dr. Thomas Harris made the wise observation on insecurity and confidence: "Most people never fulfill their human promise and potential because they remain perpetually helpless children, overwhelmed by a sense of inferiority. The felling of being okay does not imply that the person has risen above all his faults and emotional problems. It merely implies that he refuses to be paralyzed by them." I think that for me, and maybe for some of you, to often I wallow in my weaknesses so much that I don't allow "weak things" to "become strong." then use the guise of humility, when in all reality it is a lack of confidence.
I am challenging myself to believe in what I am doing and with that, believe in who I am. I was put here for a reason and if the only reason is to raise strong, productive and confident people that in and of itself is something really amazing.
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