rambling monday

a quick update from the neeleman clan. life can be so interesting, you know? last week was t.o.u.g.h. and really hard, and lots of tears plus henry and i were sick so that made things even a bit more shadow-y. but we made it out alive, and today already seems fresher and lighter.

i am trying to eat healthier and feed my family healthy, real food. i feel this huge weight in changing habits, tastes, goals but things are changing slowly but we are making our way somewhere... i hope. daniel and i have been reading the china study together and have been swimming with information and trying to put our heads around it all. but it feels good to learn about the impact that food has on our bodies.

anyways, henry and charles are so funny. last night daniel and i walked in their room to every book from the bookshelf on the ground and all of the picture frames (that we still haven't hung) crammed into charles crib, and multitudes of kitchen utensils to help them make "chocolochieeee" as henry says and them talking up a storm to each other- their own little language, with bits of english and portugues as well. their energy is incredible! help!

daniel and i looked at each other and smiled. daniel said "their perfect, their just what we wanted. i imagine our conversation with heavenly father went something like this; so what kind of kids do you want? and we said, well we want cutie ( i love when daniel says that word) , spiritual, smart. athletic, and we want them to help a lot of people and have strong testimonies.." and heavenly father replied, "ok, well they are going to have a lot of energy when they are little and need a lot of attention...", we we said, "oh course! that's what we want!" and then he looked at me and said "we got them! their just what we wanted!"

i am so thankful to have daniel around to make all these situations that could be stressful and hard as a mother and put them in an eternal perspective. he is so good at that. i love so much the quote from conference me lift thee, and thee lift me and we'll ascend together. daniel lifts me, he really does.

p.s. this all started when daniel was at a church meeting last night and i was feeling so overwhelmed and alone and then henry, of course, pooped his pants. with tears rolling down my cheeks, i looked at him and said "henry, you can't go poo poo in your pants! it makes mommy sad! you have to go in the toilet!" (this has been an ongoing battle you guys, like, months now.) and he leans down and looks me in the eyes and with the most tender voice replies, "mommy es okay, you can get a blessing from daddy!" and then folks i really started to cry. i told daniel the story and he laughed, he said "well at least the most important lessons are sinking in, right?'

xo