It's a girl!!! Our family is about to begin!

We went to our ultrasound appointment today, and we have exciting news ... it's a girl!!!

We were both so convinced that it was a boy! She is so active. At this moment she is poking and sliding around all over inside of me. She wakes me up early in the mornings or during naps because she'll be kicking so much and so hard. During both ultrasounds the technician had difficulty getting pictures of her because she wouldn't hold still very long. Brian and I are so excited for her to come!

Family really is what life is about when you get down to it. We Mormons are big on family, but there is a reason. It all centers on Jesus Christ. Here is a wonderful quote from the book Between Husband and Wife, pg. 10-11:

"Heavenly Father did not intend marriage between a man and a wife to last only for a few brief years of mortality. ... As death separates all husbands and wives (as few die on the same day), couples married by divine authority are not divorced upon death. After death they are reunited as a couple in the spirit world. ...

"Through Jesus Christ, resurrection restores our physical and spirit bodies in an immortal union, making it possible to continue as husband and wife forever, for as resurrected beings we cannot die again (see Alma 11:45). If we have complied with the laws of God and faithfully kept our temple covenants, we can be eligible for an eternal relationship. Our temple sealing allows us and our posterity--adults sealed to their spouses--to be part of an everlasting kingdom, dwelling together in the highest degree of celestial glory (see D&C 131: 1-4)."

I just think that is an incredible quote that kind of sums it all up. The covenants we make in the temple help us to live more like how Jesus showed us how to live. Through His resurrection, we can have mortal bodies so we can be married forever. Through His atonement, we can live the way He showed us and He will save and cleanse us so we can have those blessings for eternity. It's probably the most amazing thing ever!!

Being in a family helps us be like God. Ever notice how we call Him Father? And how it says in Romans 8:16 that the "Spirit itself beareth witness that with our spirit, that we are the children of God"? In Hebrews 12:9, it calls God the father of spirits. These are just a few references that I have found.

As we have a family, we become parents, just like Him. Of course we have a long ways to go to get to His level of perfection (thank goodness for eternity, right?), but Christ commands us to follow that path : "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48).

Being a parent helps us become perfect like God, probably faster than anything else in this world will. Maybe that's why it's so hard! :) It's a good hard, though. I'm excited to be a parent.