Our Trip, Part II: Phoenix

So when we got to Phoenix, we were all ready to get out of the car! We got in and said hi to everyone; my Aunt Helen and Uncle Harry, and they already had my Grandma Ronnie over. She is not allowed to drive any more after her brain incident (she can't remember what it's called and right now neither can I) and so they had picked her up and she stayed the entire time we were there (she wanted maximum time with her only great-granddaughters!)

I fed Bridey some cereal and carrots, then we had a very nice turkey dinner together, except Ems, who was still cranky from the lip-biting incident and wouldn't come to the table, and kind of hung out. She played with Legos during dinner. There was much baby-holding. Emma played the piano a bit. We all chatted a lot. Then everyone else had to go to bed, not being on California time or a weird sleep schedule. Bridget fussed a bit and had to be fed three times before she went down to sleep. Emma wanted to eat at midnight, and Jeff and I wanted a snack, too. We ate leftovers made into sandwiches (mmm, turkey dinner sandwich!) and ice cream and watched The Empire Strikes Back. When Ems was wound down, Jeff brushed her teeth and his and got her into bed, and then I spent some quality time with the toilet (*wince*), washed up, and brushed my teeth and climbed into bed myself. Emma had fallen asleep between the wall and Abba, so I actually got to cuddle with him, which was nice.

The next morning we SLEPT IN! Yeah! When we got up Helen graciously made us french toast, mmm, and even got peanut butter for Jeff to put on it, ick. But he was happy. We hung out a lot, Emma played outside (wearing her blue Superman t-shirt and red pants and socks and her red t-shirt on her back for a cape.) She loved the tetherball. And the lacrosse stick. And the laundry basket and basketball that Aunt Helen got out for her to play with. She watched Curious George and then went outside to play again, even though it was getting hot. I made some more cereal and carrots and let Grandma Ronnie feed them to Bridey. We warned Emma four times that we were going to Target, but she wanted to stay and play. We enjoyed ourselves going to Target alone, and of course when we went back Ems had had a fit that we were gone. She had finally settled into a grumpy but placated state watching Lady and the Tramp and eating a lollipop. (Bribery works wonders with that child...) We packed up the car and had dinner (Stouffer's Lasagna, one of my favorites! With garlic bread and green salad, as I told my aunt, "Just like my mom used to make!" *grin* ) Uncle Harry got home from work in time to say goodbye. We all got in the car and started driving. A quick stop for gas and we were on our way.

Since we hadn't really had our typical "Family Home Afternoon" the afternoon before, we decided to have FHE in the car. We decided this kind of in the middle of it. ;) Jeff was kind of being testimony-bearing-ish talking about things that have made him see the power of prayer, the power of the priesthood, the truth of the Gospel. We turned back a few times in our discussion to include Emma (she loves to talk about Heavenly Father and Jesus. Especially Jesus.) We stopped for a snack at Del Taco, then continued our discussion. A while later we needed to go to the bathroom, so we stopped at a rest stop (Arizona has WONDERFUL rest stops. They are clean, well-lit, well-maintained, have stocked, tidy vending machines, places to sit, places to walk... They're just really nice, their only shortcoming being the lack of toilet cover seats. But no one can have it all, right? ;) ) Emma decided to sit on the metal bar in front of the vending machines and fell backwards, hitting her head twice, hard. :( Poor kid. She was soothed by picking out Cheetos, snack mix (of which she wanted only the pretzels, but they didn't have just pretzels) and, after I got some Sour Skittles for Jeff, M&Ms. (There was something funky with the machine; instead of giving us 1 bag, it gave us 3! I looked for a number to call to tell them, but couldn't find one. Oh, well.) We then got back in the car, Emma fell asleep, and the really interesting stuff began.

You see, we've been feeling we need to have another child, sooner than we had thought. It started with me, but after praying, Jeff felt it, too. This is despite me not really WANTING another child yet. I can barely handle the two I've got. We'd almost certainly have to move, probably get a different car... I was worried that it was just my secret wants that I didn't know were there coming out, because usually I KNOW when something is coming to me through the Spirit. But after prayer, we thought this was right. But I was starting to think of a date, of starting to try sometime in January (trying for us means not using BC, and letting whatever happens happen.) I already knew I need to get my IUD out, I'm STILL having pain from it, I just haven't been able to get in to the doctor. But I just haven't been sure. Jeff has been afraid to pray about that date, afraid of what answer he would get. I was reminded by someone on one of my forums that the righteous believers are allowed to ask for a sign. So I told Jeff this. He being the one who was the most unsure, I figured that if a sign came to him, it would be for real. So he prayed, and he said that he hated to bother Heavenly Father with this, but we were still unsure, and if it wasn't too much, could he please have a sign? Could he see something like a shooting star going across his field of vision (he was pretty specific in picturing it?)

So we started watching. At the moment he was looking at traffic, I saw five shooting stars go across the sky in rapid succession, right where he had shown me he had pictured them. He wasn't sure, so he watched some more. He thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but then was still unsure. So he prayed again. He said, "Heavenly Father, I'm really sorry. I'm just still unsure. Can I have something brighter, if that was the sign?" After the prayer was finished, there was silence as we scanned the sky. All of a sudden, he said, "What was that?" "What?" I asked. "That! Did you see that?" "That airplane that I have been watching for five minutes?" "You've been watching for five minutes? Did you see it just glow very brightly?" "No."

Apparently, the airplane that had been moving across our field of vision for quite a while had just glowed very brightly-- only for him. He felt a confirmation that this had been sent by Heavenly Father. This was what he had asked for. Heavenly Father changed his perception so that he would KNOW the sign when he saw it. And so we knew.

So in January or February, it looks like we will be abandoning all efforts at birth control.

I just don't know what I'm going to say to my family when I get pregnant. They all know I don't want another so soon, how am I supposed to explain that it was planned?