Author Archives: James V.

Pictures: Olivia vs Kreed [Family Blog]

I thought it would be fun not only to post some pictures of Kreed, but find those of Olivia’s baby pictures that look similar to Kreed’s. Enjoy.

Olivia
Kreed
Olivia
Kreed

Olivia
Kreed
Olivia
Kreed (ignore the pink blanket)

 Here are some of the two together:

Olivia helps me push Kreed back to the nursery.
Olivia meets Kreed.
Vegetables at the hospital
Not sure what Olivia is doing here.
Home together.
Olivia “reading” Kreed a book.
I just love Kreed’s “Oh, wo is me” face.

Some random photos:

Morning of the 9:00am C-section.
Love at first sight.
James Kreed Valentine
Going home!

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Improvement begins with ourselves

President Lorenzo Snow taught,

If we expect to improve, to advance in the work immediately before us, and finally to obtain possession of those gifts and glories, coming up to that condition of exaltation we anticipate, we must take thought and reflect, we must exert ourselves, and that too to the utmost of our ability.

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church
Chapter 3: Lifelong Conversion: Continuing to Advance in the Principles of Truth

Video

Fatherhood

This video came out about a week before our second child was born. It moves me every time. Our little boy has now been with us seven days and as I consider the past week, I don’t know that the Lord could make His love and intent for us to have joy more obvious than allowing us to experience parenthood. Words cannot describe the feelings I had on the day he was born, except to say how aware I was that there was a Father in Heaven who loved me, who loved my wife, who loved our two beautiful children and that He was sharing in the joy we were experiencing that day.

In the video the father makes a comment on how he wishes he could trust his Father better like his children trust him so much. Having the special moments, emotions and impressions from this past week so fresh on my mind, thats what I find myself wishing for.

Looking in the mirror I see a lot of opportunities for growth, a lot of weakness and shortcomings. But like my newborn son, I realize I am at the beginning of a journey. The depth and breadth of eternity is out there ahead, and so I trust that my Father will be there, helping me with each new milestone, each new step, just like I look on with joy to each new day with my wonderful family.

Stick with the Ship of Zion

Sometimes we talk about a perfect church filled with imperfect people. I liked this analogy by Lorenzo Snow,

“Stick to the ship of Zion. If boats come to the side, showing beautiful colors and making wonderful promises, do not get off the ship to go to the shore on any other boat; but keep on the ship. If you are badly used by any of those that are on the ship, who have not got the proper spirit, remember the ship itself is allright. We should not allow our minds to become soured because of anything that the people on the ship may do to us; the ship is allright, and the officers are allright, and we will be right if we stick to the ship. I can assure you it will take you right into the land of glory.”

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow,
Chapter 3: Lifelong Conversion: Continuing to Advance in the Principles of Truth

Video

The Gifts of the Three Wise Men

My daughter loves to watch a number of different PBS shows shortly after waking up. Something about breakfast and TV always seem to go together. On Sundays we try to avoid just watching anything, which led me searching out some of the recent Bible videos put out by the Church to see if they would hold her attention. I was impressed to what degree they did.

As we were watching a compilation of the different story-lines associated with the birth of Christ, we came to the segment with the three wise men coming to visit the Christ child presenting their gifts. The next piece in the story is naturally Joseph taking the family to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath.

It then occurred to me that the gold, frankincense and murr were probably how the family was able to completely uproot to Egypt for many years. You’ll recall that when Jesus was taken to be presented at the temple, his parents brought doves because they could not afford a ram. Joseph likely depended on his trade for their entire substance, moving to a foreign land would make that difficult. The gifts of the wise men were not idle pleasantries of celebration or even just worship by faithful men. They served to anticipate the needs of Joseph, Mary and the infant Messiah when they needed it most.

The Wise Men Seek Jesus

B-day! [Family Blog]

Needless to say, I am one happy mama. This morning we had a scheduled 9:00am C-section. James Kreed Valentine was welcomed into this world at 9:17am. He weighed 9 lbs 2oz and was 22 inches long. The similarities between him and his big sister were apparent immediately–he has te same auburn hair color and a really heart-clenching, bottom lip pout. Kreed is quieter and calmer than Olivia so far. I am Ok with that.

I will post tons of pictures when I have a laptop/computer but I will let you know how it went.

We arrived at the hospital just after 7:30 for our scheduled C-section and everything went smooth and relatively quick (just enough to keep me busy but not enough to freak me out). It’s a very different experience to have a scheduled C-section rather than sitting on pintocin forever and not progressing with an epidural that didn’t quite work. As sad as I have been that we would have to do a C-section again, I am glad we went this route in the end (he was only getting bigger).

Te weirdest part was that I walked into te operating room on my own. I got a spinal injection that isn’t an epidural and works really fast. Although I felt pressure te whole time, there was no pain. This time I was able to appreciate the moment and James got to hold Kreed next to me while the doctors (who are great) talked about vacations and sewed me up. I can move my legs already and should be able to go for a short walk this afternoon–I am more excited of the prospect of dinner though.

James and I have both enjoyed this experience much more as we are more aware what to expect from an infant. James is on his way to get Olivia now so she can meet her baby brother. I am so happy that our growing family is healthy and we look forward to these new learning experiences ahead having two children.

Thank you all for your prayers, for your thoughts, and for your love.

Again, I will upload lots of pictures soon. I will probably be home about Tuesday.

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