Our new grandson Baxter is born

Well just when we thought we weren't going to get to have any more grand kids our youngest son found the most perfect person and two years ago they were married.  Now we have been blessed with grandchild number 12 born March 23, 2013 at approximately 7:50AM.  His name is Baxter Richard Redman and here's his birth story. 
I've been in the delivery room or at the hospital when all but one of my grand kids was born, and so Baxter's due date was March 29th and my younger brother Larry was getting re-married on March 23rd.  John and I faced a decision, do we miss my brother's wedding to make sure we were down in Utah plenty early so as to not miss this birth or do we make plans and attend my brothers wedding and just hope that we could make it in time for this little guys birth. 
We really love the gal that my brother was marrying and we didn't want to miss their special day either, but I also didn't want to take a chance and miss this babies birth. 
Well our decision became easy when the Spirit spoke to me as my mom called a few weeks before we were making our plans, and with sadness in her voice pleaded with me that we might be able to help them to get to the wedding. You see my dad was turning 86 on April 1st this year and even though he's doing well and maybe would be plenty fine to drive clear to the Seattle area from Billings to get to the wedding, he's also starting to feel the pangs of age and so it's slightly harder for him to navigate the traffic of those busy interstates.  I felt my mom's trepidation as she visited with me and said that she sure wished they could just drive to our house and then jump in with us to get to the wedding, then continue on with us in order to meet their new great grandson hoping that he would be born shortly after we would arrive there. 
I knew from the whisperings of the Spirit what I needed to do and so after visiting with my husband John the decision was easy for us and we elected to make sure we attended the wedding and help my parents to be able to get there.  We would just hope that the birth of Baxter would wait for us to arrive.
My parents arrived here at our house on Monday the 18th of March and we left for the wedding on the morning of the 19th so we could have a few visiting days beforehand.  Well sure enough the night before their wedding at around 7PM March 22nd, I received a text message from my son that they were headed to the hospital.  Secretly I hoped that it would be a false alarm and that she would wait a couple of days to deliver, but I also was afraid that if this were the case we could risk that he wouldn't be born while we were there and we'd have to come home before his arrival, so on one hand I was glad, on the other sad that I was missing out on being at the hospital with them.  However I never had second thoughts on our choice as I knew the whisperings of the Spirit to be true and I was glad that we had made the choice to be at my brother's wedding.  There were no regrets with this choice at all.  I guess I had to accept that I can't have everything and so I was still very glad that I had made the choice to help my parents get to the wedding, and equally importantly I had made the decision to be at their wedding also.
Now with all this excitement, I called my son and told him to keep texting me all night long to keep me informed of her progress and the moment that I was a new grandma again.  So all night I laid in bed and answered texts every few hours.  Finally at 3:30 AM my son sent me the text that the doctor had come in to deliver our new grandson.  A few hours went by and finally it was 7:30 in the morning and still no call or text saying that we had our grandson here.  Finally I couldn't stand it anymore so I sent off a text asking if he had been born and my son sent me just a one word answer.  "Pushing"   I guess poor Ashleigh had to push almost 3 hours but finally at around 7:50 AM we had a healthy grandson. 
We got up and gave the news to the rest of the family and then got ready to head out the door for the wedding. 
Now looking back our grandson and my brother's anniversary are going to be on the same day so I'll easily remember their anniversary each year. 
After the wedding we hurried on our way to get to Utah and see him while they were still in the hospital but that wasn't to be quite so fast.  As we drove the route that was the fastest way to get there suddenly I got an e-mail inquiring about a 5th wheel camper that we'd had for sale for the last 2 months.  This man just had to see it today and only today and he was going to buy it, so if we could just come home for him to look at it we could consider it sold.  Once again we had to make a choice.  We needed to get this camper sold so we elected to drive 5 hours out of our way with my poor parents having to ride longer to get back to our house here so we could show it to this man.  We had the promise that he wanted it though.  We hurried home to show it to him and finally after saying yes he wanted it he decided that he wanted heated water tanks since he would be living in it even during winter months, so after leaving here telling us he'd be back in the morning with the check, he called to say that he wasn't going to buy it!  I was so disgusted because now I lost a day, and spent the gas money and time to get to go and see my grandson.  No one should ever get in the way of a grandma trying to get to see her new grandson.  I pitty the poor fool!
Now the next morning we got back in our Jeep and headed south once again and after spending a night in Pocatello so that we could see our kids living there and also pick up our 11 year old grand daughter to take her with us, we finally arrived to see little Baxter at 3 days old. 
We went to visit them 4 times in the week and took dinner with us so that neither of them would have to cook for us and we could stay longer to hold and love on him each time. 
We love our newest grandson.  Making the right choice to help my parents made it possible for my dad and mom to meet him and hold him and since he's named my maiden name for his first name it was quite an honor for my dad to get to be there and see his names sake.  We were able to get pictures of them holding him, and it's so wonderful to have this new little guy in our family.  He's so cute and looks just like his daddy.  As I watched them be parents my heart swelled with joy and pride to know that my son and his beautiful bride are going to be such good parents to this grandson.  Seeing our kids doing what's right and living a righteous life raising their children in the Lord is the greatest blessing to me as a mom.  We love you Baxter Richard Redman.  Welcome to our family. 

Sometimes kids can teach us adults

There's one thing in life we can all depend on, and that's that trials will certainly come our way. How we choose to react or deal with these trials is always our own choice.  I know many friends who have more trials than is humanly possible to imagine.  I wonder why Heavenly Father has given them or allowed them to go through so many trials, but I see that they are very strong people and they teach me many life lessons as I help them. 
This past week I had a relatively mild trial and I feel like I certainly could have passed the test better than I did.  I know that this is an area of my life that needs to be constantly worked on.  I'm generally a positive person, and I have a natural easy going personality so I don't usually take things personally or get upset at things that aren't important in the eternities.  I definitely am not a worrier, to the point that it bothers my husband that I don't worry enough.
Well this past week something happened, nothing major in the scheme of life, but just something that was a trial for me.  Here's how it all unfolded....
A few weeks ago I was asked by the leader of my band Gravel Road if I could get some of the kids I teach and also our girls band, The Foggy Mtn Girls, together to perform with Gravel Road for a benefit concert up in Lewiston.  Everyone who knows me, knows just how much I love to play bluegrass and so I was very excited after this Fall's dry spell to finally get to play a show again.  I was really excited that the kids I teach and who I've pulled into their own band were going to get to play it too. We've named their band The Bluegrasshoppers and they were all very excited that they were going to get to play it too, and especially because they were going to get to play the show all by themselves and without me playing with them. 
All was going well and I had spent extra time working with the kids over the last two weeks.  For an entire week four of these kids were staying out here next door to us with their grand parents and I had gone over every night for four evenings and worked with those kids.  Then I worked with the two guitar players who are brothers and finally on Monday a few days before we were to do the show on Saturday, I went to town and worked with all the kids to have them ready for their show.  We practiced working the mic, how to introduce their band, where they should stand in regards to the mic stand and then how to feed in and who would be taking breaks on each song.  The kids sounded so good and we had worked so hard. 
Then on Wednesday came the phone call.  The two guitar playing boys' mom was on the phone.  Both boys had come down with the flu even though they had been given the flu shot this season.  I was devastated, and I just knew that my prayers were going to be answered and the boys were going to be all better by Saturday, so I didn't allow myself to worry about it, but I know that my disappointment was very apparent to their mom, and this is where I felt like I failed the trial.  I was so busy practicing with both Gravel Road and The Foggy Mtn Girls over the next few days, but in my mind I was just positive that the boys were going to be all better and able to play come Saturday. 
When Friday came and their mom who was now getting sick with it too told me that as of that day if they weren't a lot better by the following day they wouldn't be playing, I know now that my voice must have given away my feelings.  The following day I phoned their house and spoke to the oldest boy who's eleven years old.  He informed me with his sad voice that they weren't going to be able to be there and once again I'm sure he detected my disappointment, because an hour later their dad called me to explain that they felt like the boys were still contagious and that they didn't want to spread this bug to the other people at the show.  The poor dad I'm sure had to build up courage to call me.  I could tell by his voice that it was very hard for him to make that call, and I knew that I certainly could have handled this trial better.  I felt so sad and guilty for how I had obviously been less sensitive to the poor kids and their trial, and realized how selfish I was to have even let them feel any of my disappointment.  The Holy Ghost whispered to me in my heart that if I was this disappointed imagine how the poor boys must have felt. 
I've learned a valuable lesson, about me being selfish in my wants for the kids to the point that it made those poor kids feel even worse than they should have had to feel.  I always hope that I'll do better next time when such trials come my way but the truth is that I don't seem to remember these lessons until after the fact.  I want to do better and I hope to someday learn these valuable lessons.  I guess I just have such a passion for bluegrass music and I have had so many great blessings in my life through my music so I want everyone else to feel this in their lives too, but I need to step back and make sure that my exuberance doesn't cause me to make choices that are counter productive to ultimate goal with my teaching.
I ended up playing guitar with the kids and yes it was a disappointment to the rest of the kids in their little band, but no it wasn't the end of the world.  Life will go on and there will be other times for them to get to play together. 

The Bluegrasshoppers

Trials are inevitable but how we deal with them is up to us.  We can learn lessons and grow through them or we can fail them it's our choice.  I hope that the next time I have a trial, I'll pass the test a little bit better.