For the next several days I will be posting about the World Congress of Families. This year it is being held in Sydney, Australia.  Remember how we helped to raise funds for Angela to attend? She is sending daily reports of the presentations, interviews she is able to have, and more. I am excited to share with you what she is experiencing. There are so many around the world - politicians, religious leaders, community organizers, trained professionals, and others - who are dedicated to defending the family. I will try to post each day's events in order so you are not reading them backwards as you scroll down. I have broken up Angela's summaries into several posts so it isn't overwhelming to see a HUGE post. Remember, if you have any questions you would like her to ask when she gives her interviews, leave them in the comments and I will pass them along to her.

Five Things for Friday

There's been a lot going on but not much time to be on the computer lately. Today I thought I'd join in on Heather's Five Things for Friday to help summarize our happenings.

1. Come next March I will be the mother of 10 children! TEN! That sounds like such a big number but when we look at our brood it doesn't seem like a lot. We are so excited! To tell the children I wrote the following sentence, one word each, on 3x5 cards "Mark your calendar for March thirty-first." I had them come and choose a card. Most were moaning thinking the cards contained extra chores for the week.Then they were confused with only one word on their card. I told them to put the words in the right order. It worked out perfectly! Since then I've had an ultrasound that has bumped my due date up to March 25th.



2. Sweet Cookie turned eight last week and was baptized on Sunday. She is growing up so fast! It was a beautiful celebration with extended family coming from all over.

Laura's Baptism

3. I am so excited for this weekend! Twice a year we have the opportunity to listen to our Prophet and Apostles speak to us as a whole church. They travel around the world the rest of the year visiting with members but this weekend is for all of us.
4. There is a new endeavor online in the LDS Community that I get to be a part of and I'm very excited about it! I have joined with 24 other LDS bloggers around the blogosphere on a new blog called Real Intent.

We are creating a place of faithfulness online, where we address issues of personal faith, strengthening families, and engaging in our communities with Real Intent - with an assumption that our talking will help each of us to be better, to do better, and to help one another in our discipleship.

Here are links to two of my posts that long time readers might find familiar: A Summer Cottage In Babylon and The Simple Pleasures of Home.  Come and join the conversation! {hint, hint}

5. My youngest sister is engaged! Her "hunt" is over!  Anyone who knows her and her fiance will get the joke.  :)  We found out the same day I told the kids about their new sibling coming so it was a very exciting eventful day for us.


37 comments:

  1. So exciting! Congratulations on your pregnancy! Hopefully you are feeling well.

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  2. Congratulations!!! 10 kids! That's amazing! Also, congrats to Rebecca! :)

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  3. Congratulations on #10! I don't know how you do it! I'm not sure how I'm going to handle #3 in a couple weeks. :)

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    1. That's why they usually come one at a time - so you can handle them better. Although truth be told three was the hardest for me. Good luck!

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  4. What a blessing families are! Congratulations to you and your family.

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  5. Congratulations!! How exciting! I hope you are feeling well!

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  6. Ten kids, really? Wow!

    That website sounds like just what I'm looking for...Thanks for the info.

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    1. There are some great posts up right now with a lot more in the works. Its a great diverse group of writers who are trying to change the tone in the bloggernacle to be more faithful and less faithless. :)

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  7. Although I said it before, it's worth saying again- Congrats! I've looked over the new site in the past week and it looks nice. Very positive unlike many "bloggernacle" blogs I've come across in the past year or two. Yay!

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    1. That's exactly what we are trying to do with Real Intent - be a more positive faith filled blog.

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  8. You are awesome to have 10! Hope you are feeling well and have a great pregnancy. I know others look at our eight and are overwhelmed, but to us it doesn't seem like that much. Good luck.

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    1. Thanks! We sure got the looks today at the grocery store's case lot sale buying five cart loads of goods.

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  9. Whoot! Whoot! So excited for your guys.

    Also, I love that all "baptism" photos in the world (practically) look the same...the same walls and artwork in the background!! :)

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  10. Congratulations on #10 - very exciting news! You've had a lot going on in your life lately - time to put up your feet and have - what else - a little chocolate.

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    1. Right now I am sipping some salted caramel hot cocoa. Great minds think alike! :)

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  11. Congratulations! What wonderful news. I grew up in a ward with several big families but I don't know any these days. I love getting a glimpse into how big families work. It is encouraging. We just have one little one so far. :)

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  12. Congrats!!! TEN is a big number! Double digits! How wonderful. I have 5 and live in an area where most families have 1-2 kids. I took all my kids to the pediatrician recently and on the way out and older gentleman asked if they were all mine and I said yes, and then he said the funniest thing--"that's a good start!" I just laughed. I've heard a lot of comments, as I'm sure you have, too, but that was a new one! As Brother Benson would say, you're getting your quiver full. So exciting!

    How is the new house coming along? I haven't noticed any posts about it lately... :)

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  13. Congratulations! You are truly blessed!

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  14. Congratulations! You are truly blessed!

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  15. I don't usually comment (I don't know why I don't... ha ha!!) but a baby on the way?! THAT deserves a huge CONGRATULATIONS! :) Whether it is your first, or your tenth, expecting a baby is so very exciting! Hopefully you are feeling good!

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  16. Congratulations!!! I'm so excited for you! Congratulations to Cookie too on such a wonderful step.

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  17. Yay! So excited for you and your family. Congratulations, and congratulations to Cookie too. Exciting day.

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  18. Wishing you all the best along with health and feeling well! Wonderful news.

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  19. Congratulations! I'm so jealous, but in a very good way. Anytime that number seems overwhelming, send a few this way - we'd love to feel that huge! Hope you're feeling well. Take care.

    And a huge smile for Cookie. It's a huge step to take and in such a beautiful way!

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  20. Congratulations on #10 and on the baptism!

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  21. 10 sounds like a lot to me. Congratulations! Went to With Real Intent. LIked it and subscribed.

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  22. Congrats on adding a new baby to your family! And on Cookie's baptism. I'm also glad to see a faith-filled blog. I thought I'd branch our from you and the Proclamation crew and I was disappointed by what I found using Google. Thanks for bringing the LDS bloggers who support Church leaders and policies into one place! Though I have to say I'm greatly deterred by the abbreviated feed in my feed reader. Not a fan at all. Those feeds usually don't last long for me.

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    1. Just an FYI - I'm not a big fan of abbreviated feeds either but they are there for a reason. One of the main reasons for a blog to do it is because it cuts down on others stealing posts and posting them as their own on a different website. It happens a lot! It's much easier to steal straight from feeds. They don't want to take an extra step to click over to the blog and have their IP addresses tracked.

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    2. Thanks for the explanation. I only knew bloggers did it to get more visits to the actual site. I just don't like how it interrupts the flow of reading for me. I'll try to stick with it, though I haven't clicked over yet to read an entire post.

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  23. Oh I am so excited for you! Congrats. You know I had the thought cross my mind a few weeks ago that you were pregnant. I don't know how it got there but maybe I was in tune with something. Can't wait to meet this new little one in a few months. Best wishes with everything. ANd thank you for linking up to my post today it was a treat!

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  24. Congratulations. I was expecting our tenth baby, due in May, but experienced a pulmonary embolism and a miscarriage in the last two weeks. Due to the PE i can not have any more children. I feel very sad to be leaving that part of my life behind but also excited to move on to grand parenthood. My oldest son got engaged a week ago. :)
    I will love to read about your pregnancy and the birth of your little one in March. Sending you my best wishes for a healthy pregnancy and birth!

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  25. Congratulations! What an exciting post for your family. A baptism and a new baby. Two of THE BEST occasions and blessings we can experience. Hooray!

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  26. Congratulations from Panaca!!! So excited for you & your beautiful family!!

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Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done. ☺ There, don't you feel better?

Please leave a comment! I enjoy hearing your thoughts, whether you agree with me or not. If we all agreed on everything how boring would that be? Worse than eating white chocolate, because it's fake. So be real, be yourself.