quiet Saturday night musings

It is a rare Saturday evening because our house is silent except for the whir of the refrigerator behind me. Although I really do love the regular hustle and bustle of the weekend teenagers trying to find something fun to do or grade-school kids making up dances or pulling out every cup in our house to hold the concoctions of smoothies they’ve come up with, I am at one with this silence.  Dave is with Max and Elle at Youth conference which has been going on locally all weekend.  They came home this afternoon and got all gussied up for dinner and a fireside tonight. I love that Dave gets to work with the youth in our new ward.  It makes me so happy for the youth and for him because he loves it.  I am sending good vibes that their spirits will grow and they will feel the love of their Heavenly Father more abundantly than ever.  Grace and Claire are at friends’ houses.  Lucy is tucked sleepily in bed after convincing me that she is, indeed, a real little girl and not a cat (she told me that cats love cookies and milk so I became worried that she may actually be one since she has that trait so strongly in common with them). My body is achy and tired from a crazy weekend and it feels wonderful to stretch out on the couch alone with my thoughts.  Today I had the opportunity to speak at a local women’s conference.  I spoke about “Happiness in the Havoc of Motherhood” and even though my ears were plugged (protein deficiency??) and I felt like I was under water and couldn’t really hear myself speak the whole time, I really enjoyed it (I hope they did too!).  I especially enjoyed that my sister-in-law happened to be there and I got a chance to catch up with her one-on-one which is a rare happening around here. I came home to hugs from three little girls who got their Saturday jobs all done without me nagging at their sides and got to snuggle on the couch with Claire to figure out what she wants to get with an Amazon gift card she got from her birthday.  I got to listen and watch Claire and Lucy make their own dancing/music video: Claire doing acrobatics in the background and Lucy doing twirls and claps in the front reminiscent of the dance in this post. Now if I can just get Dave to rub my feet while we watch Downton Abbey when he gets home it will be a perfect ending to a good Saturday.