Porter Post

Bedtime. Mom's have a lot of feels about "bedtime." Lately bedtime has been oh, so sweet in the Porter house. I love it, even though it's not perfect. After everyone does their nightly jobs and routines we re-group to read the scriptures. We're currently working through the Book of Mormon, which was Cameron's request after receiving his own copy for his birthday in May. There's something about sitting to read the scriptures that screams, "MOVE AROUND LIKE YOU HAVE ANTS IN YOUR PANTS, ELBOW YOUR BROTHER IN THE RIBS HARD, FALL OFF THE COUCH AND HIT YOUR HEAD (YOU NEED ANOTHER GOOSE EGG), AND TRIP SPENCER AS HE AIMLESSLY WANDERS BY JUST FOR GOOD MEASURE." It's a mystery, but we'll work with it. Now whoever can sit on their bums and listen during scripture time can stay after prayer to read a few more books before bed. This has been working well, especially now that we've gotten our Halloween books out. Tonight, after we read books Ja...

Beauty in our remembrance of Mom: It took losing Mom for me to realize what it meant just to have her, just to have a mom . Take note everyone, that's a hard lesson to learn. The beauty lies in that I love her harder and deeper. We are going to have a happy and tender reunion. Death, for me, seems less scary knowing that Mom will be there waiting for me. Mom will be memorialized for the grandkids in a different way now. Of course we wish they could grow up with her in person, but the way we talk about her and the stories we tell will paint a vivid and even angelic picture of her in their minds. We won't pretend that she was flawless, because nobody is, but their vision of her will be softer and brighter around the edges because of the extra dose of love that has grown out of our deepened appreciation for her. I think she would call that beauty for ashes too. Watching each of my siblings get up before me to speak at Mom's funeral and seeing the dimples that she passed ...

A thought that kept coming to my mind in the ensuing days of my mom's death was, "beauty for ashes." It turns out it comes from Isaiah 61:3 , "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Those words, that reminder that the Lord will trade beauty for ashes, were my eye in the storm. I noticed so many ashes around me at first, but I also quickly started taking note of the beauty. Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day I would rather bag up all of the beautiful things I've seen in the last three weeks and send them back to their source if it meant that Mom was gearing up for her next trip down to my house and that I was caught up in planning our annual Harry Potter birthday party without another care in the world. But what I will isn't what matters and so I'm embracing the beauty in His will. I listened to a talk from Evan A. Schm...

My Mom died in the early hours of June 29 of complications from pneumonia. She was one month shy of her 67 th birthday. I’ll be processing everything from the morning of her death to the day she was buried for a long time. I’m so grateful that I was able to talk to my mom just two days before she passed. I had sat down at my computer after rocking Spencer to sleep and it was quiet time in the Porter house. My mind went blank as soon as I sat down and I relaxed, which is abnormal because I usually feel torn between doing ten things at once when I sit down to “get stuff done” during quiet time. So I thought, “Well, what should I do? It’s been a while since I talked to Mom...” When I asked her how she was she answered, “Well, actually not so good,” and she explained that she had just come home from the doctor’s office where she found out that she had pneumonia.   She filled me in on some details from her appointment and how she had been feeling recently. My mom has had and ...

If you've debated having a talent show at your next reunion, I'm here to tell you it's worth it! This was my favorite thing that we all did together at the Terry Family reunion. There was some teetering back and forth as to wether or not we should do it and there were several "Everyone's participating, right? I'm not the only one making a fool out of myself, right??" moments, but the enduring drive to keep it on the calendar paid off. (And Jayce and I  might have paid our kids to participate...) In case you're thinking, "Talent shows are for those families who have instrumental child prodigies, or who can put on a 2 act musical to near Broadway perfection!" Well, you're right. They are for those families. But they are also for anybody with talents, and guess what? We all have those! That excuse can't bail you out. Do some digging, think outside the box, and have fun. It worked for us. Terry talents: Lady Lucy twirling: ...

Growing up in Virginia, I had heard of the Outer Banks and here in Georgia I see a fair amount of cars driving around with "OBX" stickers on the back windows. Now that I have been there, I get it . We had our first Terry family reunion and it was the perfect location, at least to me. A pool (backyard), the beach (across the street), good company, fun food, and plenty of activities to do in the area to fill in the gaps. We had a fabulous week. If you and yours live on the east coast and you're looking for a place to meet up, I highly recommend the Outer Banks. Here is a smattering of what we did that week: The beach. I have yet to go to the beach and regret it. I love hearing the waves, I love smelling the air, there is so much to do and somehow you feel like you have all the time in the world. There was crab digging, water playing, wave facing, burying in the sand, the skim board (a challenge yet to be conquered), and apparently the making of poop soup or somethi...