The Importance of Being Earnest...

No, I am not talking about the play by Oscar Wilde later turned into one of my favorite movies starring Colin Firth.

I am talking about the kind of earnest that shows devotion, commitment and sincere intention to a certain thing.

So in this post I am talking about the importance of being earnest in our marriage.

Marc and I really have to be earnest in keeping our marriage strong and thriving because of all the stress of raising children with Fragile X. We lose each other, sometimes, among all the needs of the children. But, we cannot be strong and loving parents if we as individuals and a couple are suffering.

So, that brings me to the importance of being earnest grandparents and sisters.

Three weeks ago I fell apart.

Really fell apart.

Bad.

Because my mom was the person that I called to cry to, she and my sister, Jessie, worked out taking all 3 kids from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. My mom had them the first part of the night. Then they slept over at Jessie's and then they came back to my mom's for the day.

We went to a movie and even slept in the next day.

Marc and I were able to start getting back on our feet and feeling like we could face the day again.

But, the cloud was still hanging heavy over me.

I think that the whole Baby-being-on-the-austism-spectrum thing was still sitting with us.

So 2 weeks ago we asked Marc's parents to take our kids overnight.

We were able to recuperate spiritually by going to the temple with his sister, Amy and her husband. It was such a great night and I was starting to feel our burden lifted.

After we said goodbye to Amy and Frank we went and got some Frozen Yogurt and ate it outside on the bench and listened to the music playing outside and we even sang along. We had smiles on our faces and Marc even got a little goofy...

Tee hee! Check out the guy in the background.

Then that next night we had respite so we were able to go out again.

This time we went with some friends to dinner and then to "Chalk The Block" down in the Provo Riverwoods. That was SO MUCH FUN!!!! They had live music and booths and people everywhere. It was awesome! Then to see all the art that people had drawn with chalk in the parking lot was unreal! Truly amazing art! I can't believe people are willing to go to all that work and then just have it washed away. WOW! And it held a special place in our heart because it actually helps raise funds for autism programs in our area. Aw...

We danced with the band--it was an all girl band and they rocked!

This 3D was so cool!

This was done by the Orem High School Art students... what? Amazing talent!

Hey! Is that Lindsey I see here? Yes. She's the one in front. She was not the artist of this piece but, the helper so I made her get in the picture (smile).

Loved this one!

I took this one for a few reasons: 1) it was one of my favorites, 2) it had a mermaid in it so I had to take a picture of it for Brother, and 3) it was drawn by our band's bass player, Steve Keele's son! How cool is that?!

just pretty

I know, it's sideways, but it is still cool and I am too lazy to rotate it...

You know, I think it was after I saw all this chalk art that my life was put into perspective. It may seem like so much of the work I have put into raising children gets washed away by the hard times and trials and that is when I get discouraged. But then I earnestly put effort into my relationship with my husband and it seems like the lines I have drawn start coming back into focus and I realize that nothing was actually washed away, there was just a dark cloud covering all the lovely colors left on my life's pattern. And then I look at my life in a new light and perspective and understand that the trials and heartache only made my efforts brighter because I have learned to paint on a new canvas in different hues.

I hope that the "artwork" we build into our children's lives will forever influence someone for the better and in turn help them to understand the importance of being earnest...

even if the path is not easy.