OWL always love you....Kim

     Recently I tried making  some cute paper mache canisters.  The idea was there ,however, they weren't quite right.  I decided to try my hand out on one more because I had an idea for this post and I needed a visual for it.

     I love the way this one turned out.  It's just what I wanted.  I used my basic supplies:
     Paper mache canister
     Wooden knob
     Delta paint in tahiti blue and crocus yellow
     Owl inspired washi tape
     Wooden label tags made by Ball jars I found on my last shopping trip to JoAnn's

    I glued the knob onto the canister.  Painted the canister inside and out with Tahiti blue paint.  I painted the knob and label in crocus yellow.  I had a vinyl cut out that spelled out love.  When the paint dried I applied the vinyl to the tag.  I attached red ribbon to the tag and tied it to the canister.  Hoot,hoot it was done in under an hour.
     I was inspired to make this cute little canister for my daughter Kim.  She is the mother to two of the cutest children on the planet.  Which makes me  ( pictured with them )  the grandmother of two of the cutest kids on the planet.

     When my son-in-law to be called me with the announcement that Kim was expecting their first child together or at least she thought she was expecting their first child together it came as a complete unexpected announcement.  You see they weren't married yet.  They were engaged, but their wedding wasn't planned for another four months.
     With the news a few things had to be changed.  The wedding we thought would be held at the Bountiful Temple was no longer going to be held there.  The wedding itself,  that we thought would be held in April was moved to March.
     The reason I am telling this part of the story ( my daughter did give me permission ) is because it was somewhat of a trial for our family.  First of all Kim was sicker than a dog!  I think she threw up more times than has ever been recorded in history.  Second we are Mormons and when our children are preparing to be married it is usually for time and all eternity in one of our temples.  In order to do this you have to be worthy.  Being four months pregnant out of wed-lock doesn't qualify a person to be worthy to be married in the Temple.  It doesn't mean they never will.  It just meant for now they wouldn't be.
     My beautiful daughter did get married.  She was four months pregnant.  She was a little bit embarrassed and felt a little uncomfortable.  Her wedding was somewhat different in the fact that there were people she felt like she couldn't invite.  People she felt like might be judging her.  She was twenty years old at the time and my cute son-in-law was twenty two.  What they did have going for them was their love and commitment to one another.
     This was also a difficult time for me.  For a little while I felt somewhat embarrassed.  I had to tell people Kim and Chance weren't getting married in the temple when they asked.  I had to put on hold the plan I had made along time ago that my children would be married in the temple.
     One day after Kim and Chance had been married about a month Kim and I went to the grocery store.  We ran into several people we know.  Both Kim and I noticed that people weren't making eye contact with her.  They were looking directly at her stomach.  It was obvious that this newlywed of one month was several months pregnant.  One of Kim's trademarks is to say the word GOLL.  As we were leaving the store she made this comment " goll people yes I'm pregnant.  Do I have to wear a sign around my neck saying "Look at me, I'm pregnant!
     At this moment my heart changed for the first time for this young daughter of mine.  I had been so caught up in the fact that she was four months pregnant that I never put myself in her shoes.  I never realized how hard it must have been to tell people that she wasn't getting married in the Temple when people would ask.  How hard it was to be told that some children wouldn't be invited to her wedding because they needed good role models in their lives.  How hard it was to be throwing up every five minutes and trying to adjust to being a newlywed ( challenging enough without being pregnant ).
     For some reason we are a people who find it hard not to judge.  We judge people by the color of their skin, for the way they look or don't look, for the tattos they may have on their bodies or for the babies they are carrying before they are wed.  I've done it.  I've done it to some of the people I love the most.  I have tried to be careful and when I catch myself judging someone I try to repent as soon as I can.
     The year Kim got pregnant out of wedlock was difficult for many reasons.  The year Kim got pregnant out of wedlock was a year of blessings.  It took me ten months to realize a few things.  One of the things I realized was Kim gave me a beautiful gift.  She gave me the gift of being a grandmother.  A grandmother to the cutest red head on the planet.

     Two thousand years ago a man named Jesus walked the earth.  His message was clear and simple.  It goes like this:  "Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged".  It was needed then and it's needed now.  Let's leave the judging to him and the loving to us.