Liv's reminder....

This photo was taken April 2010 P.C.  Perhaps you don't know what P.C. time is, it's like BC but PC stands for pre children. This was back in the time when I had a tanning pass, had only one person to get ready (myself) and couldn't knead my stomach like bread dough.  I feel like this photo was taken about 70 years ago because so much of life has happened since then. I feel like I am on a totally differing planet. It's like I'm on mothering avatar except for I'm not blue, I don't ride on a flying hissing iguana and I am much more concerned about the environment of my messy house than Alpha Centauri.  

No excuses.  I realize that children are no excuse to stop brushing your teeth, wearing a bra, and looking like you're camping on a daily basis.  However, I will admit that sometimes the first time I get out of sweat pants (or on classier days, yoga pants) is 15 minutes before Gar walks through the door and that's only to prove that I haven't become one of "those moms".  You know, the ones that come to drop off the lunch money still wearing slippers forcing their child to hang their head in shame that they have a mother who belongs to the,  "let themselves go"  club. 

  I may have had a reminder of this today when I was holding Liv and we were eating cuties  (which are by far one of the most delectable foods digested by mankind) on the couch together and doing a fish puzzle with 5 pieces (let's be honest, toddler puzzles should take less than .02 seconds to complete) and she patted my hair and said, "Mama brush." 

I asked her to repeat in case I had heard incorrectly. I hadn't. I didn't know she was aware of my hair brushing.  This face shows her obvious disappointment. My brother Ben sent me a BYU devotional talk by Elder Tad Callister about refinement.  It said:

"Women ought to be praised for all the gifts they possess that so unselfishly add to the richness of our lives, including their attentiveness to their personal appearance. We must not “let ourselves go” and become so casual—even sloppy—in our appearance that we distance ourselves from the beauty heaven has given us. Every man has the right to be married to a woman who makes herself as beautiful as she can be and who looks in the mirror to tidy herself up before he comes home. Every woman has a right to be married to a man who keeps himself clean, physically as well as morally, and takes pride in his appearance. A husband should hurry home because of the angel who awaits him, and that angel should be watching the clock awaiting his arrival."

Let's just say that the free shirt I'm modeling, yoga pants and makeup-less face have a long way to go to reach angel status.  I'm pretty much hoping that quote can apply to my PCR years (post child raising) because for now, I'm feeling good when my teeth are brushed.  Perhaps Liv's reminder today was helpful that I could do a little more....