Mitt Romney and visiting teaching

I have to say Michael is a million times more of a politcal buff than I...he watches it on TV a lot and his radio is always turned to it.  Bill O'Reiley is his fave.  We did watch the republican campaign last night though and I thought it was great.  Tonight I came across a short biography video on Mitt and his lovely wife, Ann.  They have 5 boys and they were open about the hard times of raising a family.  In addition to raising a large family, Ann has multiple sclerosis which I didn't know unitl now.  Mitt said that hearing that diagnosis was the hardest time of his life.  I was so inspired by them.  It reminded me that everyone is dealing with their own problems and that just like everyone else, I have to "put on my big girl panties" and deal with it.  Mothering goes unnoticed so much of the time, so it was nice to see someone like Ann get recognized on this kind of level AND to feel like my efforts truly matter.  Janelle has been sick for over a week now.  First it was a yeast infection, then an ear infection, then thrush, so she hadn't been eating or drinking much, and it was hard for everyone.  Luckily she seems to be on the mend because she's less fussy and eating a litte bit more.  We probably won't do much for the Labor Day weekend and just hang out and take care of our little baby.  I'm so glad to have Michael home for a few days.

My visiting teaching companion and I did our VTing today.  The lessons have touched a lot on the history of VTing lately and its great purpose in our church.  I decided to share something different.  A couple of years ago I went to a general RS broadcast at the stake center in Lovell.  Barbara Thompson's talk touched me most.  I've always been a"pretty good" visiting teacher I guess.  Well probably not that good actually because I just did it to get it done and didn't think a lot about the sisters I visited until it was time to go visit them again.  Sometimes I felt frustrated about visiting teaching, like it wasn't all it was cracked up to be almost...until I heard this talk by Sister Thompson.  It strengthened my testimony of VTing and I've had a different out look ever since . Sis. Thompson said it was late one night and she was getting ready to leave town.  It was the end of the month and she hadn't gone to see a particular sister yet, whose name was Julie. She didn't have an appt., she hadn't called, but decided to go visit this particular sister anyway.   Julie had a 6 year old daughter with brittle-bone disease and all she could do was lay there and talk.  That particular night, Julie's daughter Ashley did something significant (can't even remember, rolled over or something) that she'd been working towards for 6 years.  This was a HUGE milestone for her and sis Thompson said that even though it was many years ago and that Ashley has since passed away, she thanks Heavenly Father for the opportunity to bless this little family and witness this precious moment. This simple story was so inspiring to me and the spirit told me that night that visiting teaching IS inspired and that it IS important, even though sometimes we don't see the blessings right away or even in this lifetime.  I love this gospel and am so glad for the direction, hope and peace it gives me.