Randomness

All I have is randomness in my head right now, so that's all this blog post is going to be. I hope it will be entertaining enough, though, to justify the randomness. Here goes.

The Watchtower

I think I already said that I'm sick. Got sick early Friday morning and I still feel like a truck ran over me. I'm just SO TIRED still. Yesterday I went to the doctor and found out I officially have Strep Throat. ... Strep sucks.

But today I found a good side-effect of having strep! My kids are with a friend so that Rob could go to work and I could sleep. I was in bed, half-awake half-asleep, when there was a rather insistent knock at the door. I opened it to find two very nice people standing there. Jehovah's Witnesses. Truth be told, I've never had a JW at my door before. Heard lots of stories, but never personally had the experience. They looked at me in my PJ's and bedhead, pale face (Rob says I've been pale for days. That's paler than normal, so it must be pretty pasty white) and sort of paused. I told them I was sick, and they believed me (hard not to tell that I'm sick, since I'm so out of it). So they just handed me a copy of The Watchtower and went on their way. Fine by me. It's titled "Why God Saved Noah. Why We Should Care." I'm debating if I'll read it or not. I mean, I already KNOW why God saved Noah, and I already DO care.

Parley Parker Pratt

Another good side-effect: I've been able to read a lot. I'm so tired, and I don't move much, so I'm in bed for a good part of the day, or sitting on the couch. But it's maddening to just do NOTHING. So I've been making good progress on Parley P. Pratt's Autobiography. He's my great-great-whatever-grandfather, and I love the man. Bold and brave. Probably was something of a prick at times, but he was so motivated to do right! Gotta love it.

Of course he's fond of making grand statements about how everything that he's gone through is harder than anything anyone else has gone through. How the sufferings that the State of Missouri put the Mormons through marked Missouri as a tyrannical state for all of eternity. A little harsh, I think. Or how the joy of the Saints was greater than any joy anyone else could ever have experienced. But I think this kind of talk may have been an 1800's thing to do: over-the-top emotional and romantic. Very interesting to try to interpret it back into modern-day thinking terms.

Lilburn Boggs

Anyways, I've just read the part about the sufferings in Missouri. Even without the flowery romanticism, the stuff that the Mormons went through in the 1830's in Missouri, ... wow. Tough stuff. Painful, painful stuff. And Parley isn't nice to the State of Missouri or the Governor of the state at the time: Lilburn W. Boggs (and several other men. Truly, some of them were more mobsters than law-keepers. Some of them were relatively good guys, though. Gotta keep it fair).

Parley has this to say about Governor Boggs, calling him "the modern Herod":
"Lilburn W. Boggs is dragging out a remnant of existence in California, with the mark of Cain upon his brow, and the fear of Cain within his heart, lest he that findeth him shall slay him. He is a living stink, and will go down to posterity with the credit of a wholesale murderer."

So, I was thinking about this man, and why he was such a rotten apple, cause I really think he wasn't a nice man or a good man. And I think I've come up with a reason that no one has really looked into before: his name. His first name was Lilburn. What kind of name is that? And you can very quickly come up with a great nickname for that: Lily. Poor little Lily: made fun of his whole life for his rotten name. Not that this gives him an excuse for being so terrible, of course, but I do think we should all be a little more sympathetic to poor little Lily next time we think of him (assuming, of course, that we ever DO think of him).

Uberty

The other day I was getting into the shower when Miciah walked in to use the bathroom. She looked at my body and said, "Mom, why are yours longer than mine?" My what, sweetie? "Your these," she said and she pointed to her own chest. Ah, yes. I said, "Because I'm a woman. Someday you'll hit puberty and get them." "What's uberty?" It's not 'uberty', Miciah. It's P-Puberty. "What's puberty?" I told her it's when you start changing into a woman. Much to my surprise she said, "Oh. So like, when I'm in high school I'll get those?" Yeah. High school or Junior High. And that answer seemed to satisfy her alright.

"You're so pretty all the time."

Elijah is a charmer and a sweet little boy. Today he wanted to lay down with me, which was fine, of course. All the kids are suffering somewhat from Mom Deprivation. Elijah wanted to know if, when I got better, I could play with him. Yes, of COURSE! I would LOVE TO when I'm better. They've all been pretty understanding. Anyways, he was laying next to me this morning and he said, "Mom? I love you." I love you, too, Elijah. "Mom? I like you." I like you, too, Elijah. "Mom, do you know why I like you?" No, why. "Because you're so pretty. All the time. You're so pretty all the time."

Awww.

Rob is a Gem

Rob has been great with me being sick. I think it helps that I actually LOOK sick. I hate when he's sick, but the only indication that he's sick is that he says so. When I can TELL he's sick, it's a little easier. And Rob says that I'm very pale. Plus, I just sit there half the time, staring into space. Luckily, this is abnormal behavior for me.

Anyways. He took off work on Friday (or rather worked from home), since I was completely incapacitated. I couldn't even get out of bed, or sit up. Literally. It was awful. He cut back his Sunday committments so he could take care of the kids. And yesterday he worked from home again, since I wasn't any better. He set up the doctor's appointment for me. And he's completely taken care of anything and everything that needs done. He's made dinners and lunches. Put Miciah on the bus in the morning. Grocery shopping. Changing diapers. Everything. I am so lucky that he is such a good guy.

Today he had to go into work for a while. I told him I wasn't capable of watching my kids today. I WANT to be, but I'm still pretty out of it. So we called up some friends and begged them to take the boys. We have good boys, and they were happy to help. They sent Rob home with dinner, which makes me want to cry. How nice is that? We'll totally have to do something nice for them when I'm better.

And that's all I've got. Rob is laying down, says he feels really tired. Uh-oh. That's DEFINITELY not good. Keep your fingers crossed for us, and a few prayers might not be a bad idea, either.