Hope in the Hopoate Family

 Today I got to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a while.  … I was just reflecting on how grateful I am for my body. Having a baby really puts your body through some challenges. And my body was no different. Especially after having my fourth child and being in my thirties this time.  Recovery was challenging.  I remember with my first everybody saying, give it 12 weeks. After 12 weeks of having your baby, you’ll feel so much better. And that was just not the case for me. With any of my pregnancies. For me, it truly takes a year to feel back to “normal”…  Well, now I am two weeks out from that date and it still holds true. My little baby girl is going to be one! And this time around, I feel like I was the most patient with my mind and my body during this transition. It has been so beneficial. So I got to enjoy the benefits of patience and loving my body. Today I completed a mile swim! It was wonderful. No matter what stage you are in, I hope you will be p...

      A  couple of years ago I felt the need to go back to school eventually. I didn't know what I was going to study, where I was going to go, or what career it would lead me to. Yet, I felt the need to prepare myself physically and mentally. I pondered and fasted often about future schooling, but it didn't seem like it was time yet to make a decision.     Well just a few months ago, while  attending the temple, I felt drawn that it was time. It was surprising a little bit, even though I had had so many experiences telling me it would be soon. I just didn't think it would be that soon. So I asked the question, what am I going to school for? My mind said one thing and my heart said another. It narrowed it down to 2 options though, so that was good lol.     I went home and told my husband and he has just been the most supportive person in the world.      I called multiple schools, discussed multiple programs with them. I researc...

      It wasn't a direct invitation, but it felt that way... The 1st counselor in my stake talked about how at church, the room fills from the back to the front. I then felt a personal invitation to sit closer to the front. This would be very hard for me. We've worked hard to set a habit of getting to church early. I am grateful for that. However, I always sit in the back lol. I have 4 kids who can be disruptive and would not want to draw any attention to us. So the back has been our spot lol.     I brought up this to the primary president, and she shared that it would be amazing. That she has done it with her family and that it has been good for their family.     So I did! And honestly it has been a few months now! Our kids know our new spot and it has made them more attentive to the speakers. Yes, we still have disruptions or diapers that need to be changed or kids that simply need to leave the chapel. However, 90% of the time, sitting near the front...

      I am so grateful to be alive. Starting with that because today and this week have been so wonderful. Things have  been going like planned. My babies are healthy. I am healthy. I've gotten a lot done and spend great quality time with my family, but also had a lot of good breaks and me time.      However, a couple of weeks ago I was having a very low day. It was Sunday and my littles were having a hard day. It was really hard to stay at church and be reverent and feel good. Let's spell it out a little bit  more. My husband serves in the bishopric in our ward so I sit with 4 kids under the age of 6 by myself and try to keep them quiet, listening and holding still. Yeah, hard to do.       This was a special Sunday with a lot of our leaders speaking so I really wanted to listen, but my 2 year old was mad at everything I did or his siblings did. He did not want to play or eat or draw or anything lol. So needless to say, I ...

 So I was listening to this podcast over a year ago. It’s with Shawn Johnson and Andrew East about The Fatherless Epidemic. Here is the link to it… https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couple-things-with-shawn-and-andrew/id1485740243?i=1000574913969 Well I just loved it! I highly recommend a quick listen of it. I’ll only mention one thing that impacted me recently! Alec Lace is the author and was the guest on the podcast talking about fatherhood. One thing he talked about was getting involved in what your kids like to do. He explained how with one of his kids it was easy. It was all the sports he personally loved and so he could easily join, coach, support and participate with his child. However, another child was really into chess. So he said he just started learning about it. That’s what good parents do. You get interested in what your kids get interested in. Super cool right. Well my kids are all still under the age of 5 and so they don’t really have individual interests yet… ...

A great family member gave me a Book of Mormon guidebook! She said she saw it and thought of me. She brought it over to me and I was so excited about it. It combines our church curriculum of Come Follow Me with some other activities to help you “slow down” while you read! Well I’m a handful of pages in and I appreciate this so much! It’s been a great addition to all my studies. Today it had this kind of goofy activity where as you read about Nephi and his brothers traveling all over, you drew a line to the new location. So you start in 1st Nephi chapter 3: 1-8 in the wilderness. Then walking back to Jerusalem. Then to Labans house, then Lehi’s house. Eventually to a cave, then the walls of the city, then Lehi’s treasury, etc… It super illustrates all the traveling they had to do. I thought it was kidish, but ended up loving what it taught me. After seeing these lines go everywhere, I realized how little Nephi’s parents knew what was going on. They saw the first and last lines… meaning ...

 My amazing husband got an amazing chance to go to New Zealand to lay to rest his wonderful grandmother. We prayed about it and knew he needed to go.  So I planned to stay home with our 4 kids. However, I don’t like being home alone, especially for how long he’d be gone. So I reached out to my awesome dad and he said we could stay with them while Malachi was gone! We worked out the logistics and we were all looking forward to some adventures! Starting with my dad driving from California to pick up me and my kids! Then letting us stay at his house, eat his food, make messes, give him headaches, haha and all the things that come with 5 new people in his house and 4 of those people being age 6 and under lol. Most credit goes to his wife for all she did for us! They are thoughtful people!  Okay so I had so much help from them! However, their dad was gone so I was solo on a lot of parenting duties like teaching, correcting, brushing teeth, changing diapers, etc… My dad and his...