My Gift

This is the 3rd year where I have selected a particular goal to finish by Christmas as a gift to my Saviour. After I achieve this goal as my gift to Him, it always turns into a gift for myself somehow. It nourishes my spirit and calms my heart. It has been a deliverer of peace during the Christmas season.

My gift this year was to have THE LIVING CHRIST memorized. I squoze in the time whilst caring for my little ones, carefully memorizing each inspiring sentence. In the back of my mind I had envisioned some sort of presentation that would come of it; a recitement in front of my family for Christmas morning or perhaps a special family home evening of some sort. This type of publicized event did not come, but a more perfect setting did present itself...

I had it completely memorized right down to the signatures by December 23rd. In the late evening, I found myself alone in the house; My husband was gone, due to come back late that night, and my 2 kidlets were just settled in their beds fast asleep. Alone in the kitchen, I started to have one of those overwhelming moments that I get every so often. My heart holds it's beat and my eyes start tenderly filling with tears; a moment of deep deep gratitude ensues. My husband. My daughter. My son. All mine. How I ever found favour enough to receive such an insurmountable blessing of being a wife and a mother to this family, I will never understand. It was in this moment I felt a prompting that this was the time to give my gift. With a voice humbled and quivering, I recited THE LIVING CHRIST out loud. I stared into my living room of glowing Christmas lights, a tree holding the handprints of my babies, a standing plaque of mod podged pictures of baby Jesus, a string of cards given from family and dear friends, and photos on the wall of what matters most. This was Christmas. This was my gift. It was given standing in my kitchen wearing ragged pyjamas. My hair was undone. My makeup was off. It wasn't wrapped pretty nor was it grandiose... But neither is a stable and a manger.

Even given to us in the most humble birth, Jesus Christ will always remain the greatest gift we will ever receive.


CLICK HERE TO READ THE LIVING CHRIST



Heaven's slice is our Saviour.

We wish you a ...

Heaven's slice is celebrating our Saviour's birth.

How to Spend Less at Christmas

Well, I've found the secret to spending less at Christmas time. Are you ready to know what it is?!

You GIVE more.

Yep, that's it folks.


But BECAUSE I love the joyous sound of each stroke on my piano of letters, I shall type me up some paragraphs...


Over the past 10ish years I've noticed that December is one of those weird months. With all the expenses that Christmas can conjure, (most especially when you're married and have 2 families involved) it's no doubt that you worry about how much money is going out your door. On the flip side, December is also the month where you embark in the season of giving; Donating not only money, but time, smiles, compassion etc. Oddly enough, the month where you worry about money spent, is also the month where you joyfully give more of your dollars. The result is shocking - the expenses don't break the bank at all! In fact, when it's all said and done, you prove to be thriving! Truly. Giving more genuinely and generously with that Christ-like compassion actually blesses you financially. Obviously I'm not talking about when you spend excessive over the top non-needed gifts to people, but those dollars spent towards others that truly make a difference charity wise (Just thought I'd clarify in case you were tempted to go out and buy me that 5 star all-inclusive Hawaii vacation...) Though it is predicted to be stormy weather in December, it turns out smooth sailing.

Why is this? Well personally I have come to know it is actually the workings of a much higher power than you or I. God's hand touches our efforts and in turn blesses the giver. I've learned this through paying TITHING. I've had miracles happen by following this command. Money has become tight at times in my life, and as I've made sure to pay this regardless, a window has always opened. I've been ever-so blessed immediately after paying tithing, yes, even and especially financially. This is all due to the hand of the Lord, the only explanation.

My mother told me about this talk she stumbled upon called WHY GIVING MATTERS. The speaker is an economist who was setting out to prove that the more money you made the more money you gave. Though this was true, he stumbled upon the strange truth that the more you gave the more money you made as well. Even he, an economist, didn't understand why this was, but yet, it is. Giving more begets getting more. Even when it comes to $$ signs. It's a great speech, so click on it and read or listen to it will ya?!!

How blessed we are as human beings in the service of others. Doing good matters. Loving matters. GIVING, matters! I need to step up my game.

READ or Listen to it though, seriously, it's wonderful.




Heaven's slice is giving.

The Purge: 465 Things Gone In 30 Days

                                                                

Confessions:  I'm counting a bundle I still have here as gone because I'm taking it somewhere special come a week or so. I included loose paper kind of like 10=1 type thing, just cause I had so many. Also, pretty sure I only got rid of may be 2 things from the photo above.

Why I did it

You know that whole post I did on UPLIFT OR DOWNPULL? Well minimalism is one of those things that uplifts me. I've always had an appreciation and desire for the simple. In fact, this may be why I love complicated stuff so much - because I love to u-n-complicate it. I love the idea of only having things in your home that you truly love, adore, and use; cutting out all the rest. In my leisurely pinterest pinning on the subject I came across the challenge HERE. It got me so giddy I knew I had to do it! Also, I have fears of becoming a hoarder and I want to make sure this fear doesn't come true. Though I had started ridding lots of stuff out of my house prior to, November was my plan of action.

How it works

Day 1 = get rid of 1 thing  Day 2 = 2 things and so on until Day 30 which all adds up to a whopping 465 things gone! I made myself a sheet like this(except larger obviously) and wrote out what I got rid of as it left my house:

Day	Thing(s)	Day	Things
1		16
2		17
3		18
4		19
5		20
6		21
7		22
8		23
9		24
10		25
11		26
12		27
13		28
14		29
15		30

I didn't really follow dates to get rid of stuff as much as I  just followed the sheet and tried to get it all out by the 30th. It was just easier that way.

The struggles

Basically here is my briefing on the process: Your mind and heart have to agree. There's no brain wins this one, heart wins that one, no compromises made, and no sacrificing for either side. The single item that has the attaching struggle needs to makes sense both emotionally to get rid of as well as logically to get rid of. It's a soul search for the answers on either side to find the justifying reasons to let it go. If effort has been made on both sides and an agreement hasn't been made, you keep it and move on to another item. I learned to emotionally justify unattaching myself to things and to logically see how an item can be useful even though it is not fulfilling an immediate need.

At the start, I actually leaned more on the side of wanting to get rid of EVERYTHING that wasn't an actual need. My logical brain burst onto the scene as a dictator over my heartfelt emotions and I quickly had to lead troops into a peaceful rally for democracy - I had to search my talents and dreams. These things enticed my logic to realize that although some items aren't a need, nor do they fulfill a purpose at the moment, they are a possibility that I do desire. Furthremore, this life isn't just food, clothing, and shelter, it's becoming our true selves; taking time in our talents and fulfilling goals and dreams that we have. Really though the real thing that broke through this stop point was my cheapskatingness; If I know I'm going to need this if my talents progress or my goals come true, it'd be nice if I didn't have to buy it again and save myself the money... super logical and economical.

Here is some of my personal thoughts to the common justifying pleas of keeping an item:

• But I love "so and so" and they gave me that. If it was hand craftingly made and that is the only thing you have that reminds you of them. Sure, keep it. But if it was one gift of many and was unused, unloved, and store bought, I say chuck it(give it/sell it)! People are not things, and honestly it's kinda weird how we attach people to items. Not saying I don't do this, actually it is because I am so sentimental I've learned that if I keep a limit to the sentimental things I have, I take better care of them and cherish them more.
• But it was a gift. If you fear that someone may be offended that you don't keep their gift, then that person doesn't know the meaning of a gift. A gift is something given, freely given, as in it is the recipient's choice as to what to do with that item. When people become preoccupied with the gift they gave you in where it's whereabouts is and if you are using it, then they did not give you a gift - they forced you to permanently borrow their thing. You literally got given a responsibility, not a gift. "Here, house my item forever, or I will hate you."  This is not a gift, and honestly I don't think near as many people are offended if you gave their gift up as you think. If I gave something to someone and they gave it to someone else and I found out, I would literally be glad because a) they know I am not a thing b) they don't feel the guilt of keeping things they don't want c) they know I wouldn't be offended and d) my gift quite literally became the gift that keeps on giving, YAY!
• But it's pretty. I had to really look at what I actually wear regularly and what decor my house mostly is. Though some things were pretty, I always opted out of wearing them, it was actually a chore to have them on my body and place them in my house. I felt guilt wearing them and guilt boxing them. Guilt is logically not good for the brain and emotionally suckeths... aka this thing has got to go!

Weird tip - Try not to hold an item for long (2-3 seconds) if at all! Something weird happens when you hold it, your body suddenly feels the need to hang onto it forever, and that's how hoarders are born... just kidding... but it's a little true.

A little recommendation - make sure family or the person who gave you item(s) wants it first before going elsewhere, just a polite thing to do ;)

What I gained by losing 465 things

- Better sense of what my talents are

- Better sense of what my dreams are

- More appreciation for what I have

- More selfless outlook on life

- More opportunities to give 

- Decreased stress levels

- Increased happiness

- Decreased guilt

- Decreased anxiety

- More clean and tidy home
- More efficient cleaning
- Tools to kick out regret and guilt
- Ability to focus in more on what truly matters
- More love for simple
- More ambition
- More time to myself (I don't how this happened, but it did)
- More motivation
- More focus on people instead of things
- More quality items
- More joy in the things I have
- Ability to see more of the things I love
- More creative/effictive ways to preserve/view sentimental things
- More empowerment
- More humility
- Realization of how incredibly blessed I am
- More focus on my family's needs
- More focus on the needs of others
- A little more pocket change
- More cautious spending
- More awareness on where I spend my money and time
- More attention to my little ones
- More awareness of what comes into my home and how it affects us
- More things I love in my home
- More space
- More acknowledgement of my true values


*I would write the reasons, but who really wants to read an even more gigantically long blog post?? You'll just have to do this yourself and see how you gain these things...which brings me to...

The Invitation
If you feel giddy and excited to do this then I invite you to do it! Don't do it though if you feel guilt to, I can't recommend it working to your benefit if you do it out of guilt. I think any hefty goal or project (within the confines of law and conscience) are a great thing to embark on and prove to be highly rewarding. Do it for you and see how it turns your heart toward others!


Conclusion
This project was easy, then overwhelmingly hard, and lastly super rewarding and easy. Overall, it was awesome, and I'm totally going to be doing it again most likely! Even now, off hand I can probably only name may be 20 things I got rid of, meaning I don't miss what I gave up at all. I gained so much more than what I lost and it became ever so true that:

Heaven's slice is giving.

Lifting Up or Pulling Down?

Is what you're doing, saying, keeping, making, eating or purchasing lifting you up or pulling you down?

Since becoming a Mommy I don't get a whole lot of time to myself anymore, so I've found that I'm becoming a lot more careful and conscious of what I do with the "me time" I do get. There are so many things that pull me down, but also many other things that lift me up. More and more I'm listening to my sensitive heart with the time I'm spending on things.

Do I feel lifted?
There's a surge of energy that gives a skip to your step almost as if you're spirit is lifting your outer body shell and moving it forward effortlessly. You feel giddy, excited, motivated, and optimistic. It's like you're literally lifted 2 feet off the ground.

Do I feel pulled?
There's a drain of energy that drags your step like your spirit is trying to keep your outer body from doing this. You feel guilty, unmotivated, and pessimistic. It's like you're literally being pulled down 2 feet into the ground.

We live in such a blessed era and location where technologies and advances have made everything so readily accessible. It can be overwhelming to try to choose only a few things to devote our time to, but I think it can be as simple as this: if we feel lifted - do it,  if we feel pulled down - don't do it.

With so many things that lift our souls, why would we ever choose to feel pulled down?
I think the biggest reason is caring too much about what people think or what we think others think and expect from us.

Your youth is a time to explore, to try every hobby, sport, and artistic venture, but I think once you hit your twenties you should start focusing in on the things that are you; the things that lift you. It's about magnifying what your specific skills, talents, and passions are.

Expressing to yourself or others what your talents are doesn't mean you're declaring that your are an expert in them, it simply means that you love doing those things. Meanwhile, stating that you don't have a passion for other pursuits doesn't mean you dislike them or dislike the people that do them. In fact, I think the more you focus in on your own talents you become more grateful for those people who posses talents which you do not have. You're no longer measuring yourself up to them, but instead truly viewing them in their glorious capacities and can then generate an actual genuine compliment (not the one's where you're like "if only I was as good as you are at this" type non-compliment).

I've found as I am editing out the "stuff" in my life and my home I'm becoming more and more enlightened in identifying my talents - that which uplifts me. --> watch out for future post on "getting rid of 465 things in 30 days".

I personally feel like you can't lift anyone up if you're being pulled down yourself, so it becomes a vital necessity when you give of yourself to others to be pre-uplifted.




Heaven's slice is lifting up others.

The Handmixer - A Lesson On Humility

This post also has to do with the silliness that is a mommy brain, but I thought I'd make it a little more serious (because I'm super melodramatic like that).

I made some lazy cake cookies a few weeks ago. Using my hand mixer, I shoved in the beaters and started at 'er on low. It was a struggling unit, so I turned it on high. As it still persisted on wrestling with the mixture, I figured the batter was just too thick. I trudged it along then called it good and unplugged it. Going in for the lick, I stopped myself and realized this was cake batter not cookie dough and I sucked my tongue back into my face. I then went on to rinse them and dunk them in some sitting water for a bit. I finished up the lazy cake cookies and started in on loading up the dishwasher, placing the beaters in the utensil rack. A few hours later I unloaded the dishes and placed the beaters back in their container, noticing that there was 2 different beaters in the dishwasher, one of which was mashed up pretty hard. I shrugged, chalking it up to a two year old playing with stuff in the pantry and putting it in the dishwasher while my back was turned. All was unloaded and kitchen cleaned when I realized I had only put 1 of 2 of the cookie beaters in the container. Not seeing it's mate in or around the dishwasher or sink, I figured I'd check in the mixer container for the other... low and behold the other one was already in there as well. It FINALLY dawned on me that I must've used two different beaters when mixing the dough, hence the struggle, hence the one bent beater I unloaded from the dishwasher.

There were at least 5 different instances where I could've and SHOULD'VE noticed my mistake.

With something as obvious and tangible as putting 2 completely different beaters in my mixer and it falling entirely unnoticed by me, I can't help but think - what other things could I be overlooking so carelessly in my life? I had played the blame game with this error insisting that the struggle must've been the cake batter's fault, the battery power, my 2 year old... then lastly, I looked at myself as the cause. How many times and how many situations have I so pridefully done this? What other instances have I quickly labeled others as pot stirrers before realizing I held the gigantic spoon in my own hand?

Humility gets thrust upon us in so many different ways, sometimes it's a heavy burden or trial... and sometimes, it's through a hand mixer.

Either way though; humility brings us the power of divinity we so deeply need in a world of constant turmoil.


"Humbly submitting our will to the Father brings us the empowerment of God—the power of humility. It is the power to meet life’s adversities, the power of peace, the power of hope, the power of a heart throbbing with a love for and testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, even the power of redemption. " -Richard C. Edgley The Empowerment of Humility



Heaven's slice is being humble.

I can't do hard things

Behind every heart, a trail of deeply agonizing pain can be found. Some of these hurts are publicly known, but for the most part they go silently unnoticed by the local population. I've always had somewhat of a difficult time hearing others' words stating their accomplishment of something difficult. In a large part, the reasoning why I have a difficult time hearing it is because I don't comprehend how they alone defeated it. You see, I can't do hard things. As much as I'd may be like to share with you a grand list of my trials, failures, and heartbreaks and how I percervered because of my great strength, it's simply not true. There is a darkness that has overcome me many times in various stages of life I have had thus far, and I truly could not be rid of it. It had it's way with me a time or two (or ten) purely because I tried to fight it alone. Painful experiences and circumstances have shown themselves to me in such different and unexpected ways; still, they are all the same - they are a hard thing. A hard thing that I matter-of-factly can't bare.

I alone have never been able get through hard things, though I have gone through a plethora of them. Simply put, the reasoning is because I always had someone with me fighting out the dark and carrying me back into the light. The most important and valued piece of knowledge my parents gave me was that I was a child of God and that I could always call upon Him no matter when or where I was at emotionally, mentally, or physically. It was because of this knowledge my parents so wisely taught me that I have been able to go through unspeakable tortures that have been thrown my way. I can't do hard things, but my Savior can, and my Savior did. He went through all of what I've experienced, and because of his mercy upon my soul he has provided me with a second pair of eyes, hands, and heart far more greater than I can fathom. In my darkest hours as I have called out to divinity, I have always been given their strength to help me do the hardest things that I couldn't bare. I am lifted up because my hand stretched toward the greater; I let go of the cliff crevice and put my hand in theirs and that is how I avoided the fall. It was never my strength, it was theirs. I can't do hard things.

Heaven's slice is knowing that your strength is not your own.

Halloween 2015: What We Wore

This was our family Halloween get-up this year:

Can you guess what we were?!

What does a kid baseball player,

lifeguard,

dog,

and a baseball have in common?

Yep, you got it!! We went as The Sandlot characters!!!

FOR. EV. VER.

My Hubs was Squints, I was Wendy Peffercorn, my little girl was "The Beast" /Hercules, and my baby boy was the infamous baseball autographed by none other than the the sultan of swat! The king of crash! The colossus of clout! The colossus of clout! BABE RUTH! THE GREAT BAMBINO!





Heaven's slice is your favourite movie.

I'm cheating...

I still have some editing tweaks on some posts, so to fulfill my weekly post quota and in the event of Halloween here's a throwback link to last year's Halloween post:


CLICK -->TRICK OR TREAT 2014


Enjoy and stay tuned for this year's Halloween post!



Heaven's slice is most definitely Octobers.

Screens Suck

Firstly, PLEASE be restfully assured that this post is completely hypocritical, and that I the author am fully aware of it.

Having said that, what I will go on to write I really do believe... I just usually try to put that belief in a headlock on the daily so I can scroll through my newsfeed in peace.

Anyways.

Screens suck. They literally do. They suck the energy out of ambition, they suck empathy out emotion, they suck time away from relationships, and they suck the living out of your life. They suck you in like you are the addict and they are the answer. And they're not, they're really really not. Yet it's so hard to stop! To stop scrolling, clicking, liking, commenting, watching, reading, sharing, typing, posting; it is just so hard! There's always something new that pops up - a big news story, a crusade to defend, a tangent to exploit, a video to lol at, photos to gawk at... It's all so enticing! But it's not real.

It's not real.

That photo album you're swiping through of a past acquaintance was taken a month ago at a lake you've never been.
That video you're watching was taken a few years back on a whole other continent than you reside.
That news story you're reading was completely made up purely to get you to visit their website.
That little girl will not get a heart transplant if she gets a million likes.
You will not be the lucky winner of $1000 given by a recent lotto winner.
You're crush will not reveal himself once you share a post...

None of it is your reality.

You know what's real? This:

















(Having trouble viewing? Look up about 10 inches and it should work.)

This, this is real. Isn't it glorious?!



Too many times I've gotten a tug, or a yell, or a swat that reminds me that the screen isn't real. Too many times I've spent my time scrolling through looking at photos of other children instead of looking at my own right in front of me. Too many times, and I realize I'm seriously addicted to a screen, a stupid iPad screen. I feel so much energy and motivation when I'm out of it's clutches. I'm more patient of a mother, I'm more kind, more happy, and way more fun. When my battery power dies and it's plugged in in the back room for hours unnoticed I feel so much more solidarity and peace in my home and in my heart, and I know my children feel it too. My focus is on them and not on a screen.

It's not to say there isn't a lot of good that can come from the internet, but it can be a hard habit to break when we use it in a way that gets us out of our real life and into a false reality that's so mind distractingly consuming. This technology that is at our finger tips should be used to enhance the reality we are in, but not take us out of it. (Things like dancing around the house to music off of youtube or looking at the recipe from which you are making supper, etc.)




Heaven's slice is knowing when you are an addict... and doing something about it!

PS click here to view some addiction videos that are pretty insightful "12 steps to Change"- CAUTION they deal with mature subject matter.

And just like that...

my little baby...

is now a man.

Heaven's slice is this little one... and mustache soothers.

Faithmily

As Thanksgiving is now here, I thought long and hard about the one thing I am most grateful for. Even though I have roughly a billion trillion things to choose from, it was clearly "FAITHMILY."

(I couldn't choose between faith and family because for me I can't have one without the other... so I made up a new awesome word to blend the two. Isn't it amaze balls?!)

My faith is what has kept me going and my family is the rewarded benefit.

Oh how I love them!

Heaven's slice is being grateful.

The Body-After-Baby Lie

"Childbearing ruins your body"

This is a common well believed lie and it effects so many, even me. Days, weeks, sometimes months after the precious moment that you get to hold your new infant, it hits you - your body isn't the way you remember it prior to being pregnant. Why not? The baby's out now, what gives? Oh ya, because childbearing makes your body a flabby, droopy, ugly mess. Let us all bash those dark embedded belly scars, the disgustingly stretched skin and excess fat. After all, it's just a pregnant thing all of us as women have to go through right?

WRONG! So wrong. For so many reasons:

#1 The words disgusting, ugly, flabby, fat etc. do not and cannot apply to a body that has grown a human life. A HUMAN LIFE. It has housed, nourished, guarded, protected, and covered the most helpless, defenceless, and precious of all beings for 9 months straight. How could that ever be considered ugly? If there was an institution that had been able to accomplish this task, no one would ever walk by the building calling it ugly, least especially it's owner. It would be celebrated, using correct terms like 'glorious' and 'wonderful' to give it an adjective.

#2 To bare a child is a gift not every woman gets in this life. Think for a minute, just one solid minute, what it would be like to know that you could never bear a child. Put yourself in those shoes as a bystander of a conversation involving a mother pushing her tiny babes in the stroller talking on the phone about how fat and ugly she is from having these infants, the laughing speech of a body she now hates. You would be holding back tears - bitter, devastating, angry, broken, silent tears. There would be pleas with God on how you would never criticize a childbearing body if you could just be given the chance to have a baby of your own. There holds the knowledge of what the body-after-baby truly is, behind the eyes of a mother who can't bare one. (ps - adoption is a magnificent thing!) 

#3 The world is listening. Ever wonder why some women don't want to have children? Why some choose to abort? They listen. They listen to you, to me, to all of us that have given birth and how we speak about our bodies. The turmoil we go through, the unsightly scars they leave behind, the irreversible "ugly" we see ourselves to be now. They listen to the lies we speak instead of the truth we hold in our arms. They are listening, are we speaking the truth? Because the truth is that having a body-after-baby is the most dazzling, magnificent, divine, and BEAUTIFUL thing we have. 

Even if our baby was given to another mother, or did not survive due to an unforeseen circumstance, having a body that bore life is among, if not thee most miraculous things, period (sorry men). It is noble and it is good. It is so good. Do we realize it? I know I need to. 

Society has ruined the most sacred, exquisite thing a body can do by spreading false rumours on it's ugliness and it must be stopped with the truth.

A body-after-baby changes so much 1week, 3mo, 1 year, even 2 years postpartum. But honestly, with having such a profoundly influential scar on my heart from birthing miracles, I think I'd feel a little ripped if I didn't at least have some sort of physical mark to show for it.

Heaven's slice is knowing how incomparably beautiful a body-after-baby is.

Teddy Moose

A dear friend of mine gave me a stuffed-animal moose when I was going through a rough time, and as I kept it over the years I decided to give it to my little one in her crib. It is now among her must-have-to-sleep-at-night things. We saw it only fitting that our next kidlet should also have a moose of his own. It was so fun shopping store to store to pick the perfect one out for him! Every kidlet that we get will have their very own teddy moose and that is that.

Heaven's slice is creating traditions for your kids.

The Luckiest Kids

For Family Home Evening we recently went over this particular Ensign article below. Needless to say, I absolutely loved it! Definitely a must read, so click below and read it will ya?!!


Blessing Our Children by Improving Our Marriages - Lori Cluff Schade


"The quality of your marriage is influencing your children, whether you realize it or not. As you and your spouse work to improve your relationship, your children will be blessed." 
                                                                 - Lori Cluff Schade

I've always thought that children that know their mom and dad love each other were among the most luckiest kids ever, but this article truly drives the blessing it provides for the children to a hole in one! It also has a lot of great ideas on how to improve your marriage from whatever scale you think your marriage is at - Here they are below, but they explain them more in depth in the article... just read it K?!

• "Articulate and share what you want your marriage to look like in 5, 10, or 20 years. 
• Write down and share a positive memory in the marriage.
• Share a memory of a time that you were able to overcome a challenge together. 
• Create small but meaningful rituals for when you part and come together again. 
• Introduce an element of novelty into your dating. 
• Tell your children regularly what you admire about your spouse. 
• Actively seek uplifting marital improvement resources. 
• Ask each other regularly if you are more or less connected as a couple than before and discuss what you can to do bridge the gap. 
• Counsel with your bishop to access professional resources if necessary. 
• Pray. "            

        - Lori Cluff Schade

Pretty sure my kids are the luckiest kids. Not because we go galavanting all the time doing crazy fun things, not because they get all the candy they want when they want, not because they get every toy they have eyes for, not because they have no bedtime and can watch whatever they want (because none of that is true for one)... but because their parents are pretty smitten with each other.

(too steamy?)

I heart us :)

Heaven's slice is giving children the best life they can have.