Tree Ring Analogy

Have you missed me? Well I've been contemplating the words in this talk by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled "Of Things That Matter Most."

He starts with this wonderful observation.

It's remarkable how much we can learn about life by studying nature.  For example, scientists can look at the rings of trees and make educated guesses about climate and growing conditions hundreds and even thousands of years ago.  One of the things we learn from studying the growth of trees is that during seasons when conditions are ideal, trees grow at a normal rate.  However, during seasons when growing conditions are not ideal, trees slow down their growth and devote their energy to the basic elements necessary for survival.

Nothing really huge has been going on in our lives, but there have been a lot of little things.  I've had to slow down and devote my energy to the basic elements necessary for survival.  I call this "survival mode."   It's no big deal.  Most everyone, at some time in their lives, finds the wisdom in going into a survival mode.  We've been catching up on rest, eating simple meals, enjoying family time together, learning new things, re-enjoying old favorites, working on talents, and thinking on the future.  We just cut back on many extras like blogging, excessive social media time, shopping, and too many extracurricular activities for a little bit.  We "unplug" everyday for at least an hour or two.  This sounds pathetic, but since we do most of our homeschooling online, we enjoy listening to streaming music, and much of our communication happens using some form of electronic device, you can probably understand.  This time allows us to focus on more important things like enjoying our family relationships and developing talents or skills.

Have you ever gone into "survival mode"? What gets axed first?

For Peace At Home

Have you ever had a hectic day? Maybe the children have been at each other's throats all day.  Or perhaps the day started out with stress. Maybe you went off track a little today, made some poor choices, and are now regretting them.  Of course you want to have peace in your home!  But how can you invite that peace back?  Our family has been experimenting with "resets."  We return to the important starts of our days.  Our day is "supposed" to start with prayer and scripture study and perhaps a song or two. Some days we do this and still have a hectic day.  More often, we forget and have a pretty tough time.  When I notice we're having a tough moment, I call for a reset.  Everyone comes to the living room or wherever most of us are, we turn off technology, and we return to our Father.  We often start with a prayer, but sometimes we need a song to draw in the Holy Spirit first. Then we find a scripture to read together.  Most of the time, we find a good teaching moment here. We once again feel the peace of the Spirit.  We pray for more guidance in our day.  As we have practiced this "reset" idea, we have been doing better about starting our day out the right way, but we also have gotten better about resetting our days in the right way.  Our Heavenly Father is waiting for us to speak to Him.  He has answers for us, if we'll only turn to Him. Our homes can be temples to the Lord.  As we practice these little things, they can grow our faith and our testimonies.  As we center our life on Christ, we can have true peace and happiness. Simple consistent good habits lead to happiness. Are we perfect at this?  Of course not!  And we still have tough days where no one remembers we need a reset.  But we're trying and this is helping.

Where did I find this idea?  Well, it's been evolving for some time, but a part of it came from Elder Richard G Scott's talk in the April 2013 General Conference "For Peace at Home." He begins his talk with these words (emphasis added):

Many voices from the world in which we live tell us we should live at a frantic pace.  There is always more to do and more to accomplish.  Yet deep inside each of us is a need to have a place of refuge where peace and serenity prevail, a place where we can reset, regroup, and re-energize to prepare for future pressures. The ideal place for that peace is within the walls of our own homes, where we have done all we can to make the Lord Jesus Christ the centerpiece.

He tells us that parents are not the only responsible party here.  Children can be taught to help keep the peace in the home. 

Children who are made to feel accountable for their actions...grow to be trustworthy citizens in the kingdom of God.

He also encourages us to be wise in our use of technology.  The fact that we can communicate instantaneously with anyone in the world through the internet is amazing.  We can find answers to many worldly questions, connect with loved ones, and study the scriptures and other important works.  But it can also be a source of filth and distraction.  We should be very careful about what we allow into our homes and what we allow to take our attention away from the most important job we can have: helping our children grow up in righteousness. I know I've been struggling to find a balance.  We need "free time" just as much as our children do.  But our children also need times of our undivided attention.  They need to experience all the beauty that life can offer and they need us to guide them in those experiences.  We need to get out more.  We need to get down on the floor with them more. We need to talk with them and not only to them.  We need to focus our lives in service to others.  The internet can be a great tool to organize and research. But don't allow this tool to use you!

On that note, I'll leave you to read or watch Elder Scott's talk yourself, while I take my children out to experience this world, after we start our day right, of course. ;)
Read, listen to, or watch his full talk here.

An Invitation to Come Unto Him

At April 2013 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Henry B. Eyring spoke to my soul.  (Read his full talk here.)    Here's a gem for you to consider for your life.

President Eyring started by sharing his experience with drawing near to the Savior.  In the Doctrine and Covenants 88:63, Christ says, "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."  This direction is echoed through the Holy Bible.  Like President Eyring, I have "experienced the joy of coming closer to the Savior and of His coming closer to me most often through simple acts of obedience to the commandments." He shares some of His sweet experiences, but may I share mine? I have learned through experience that when we pray for answers and are in the right places at the right times, God is able to so sweetly give us those answers.  Among other things, I've been seeking ways to come closer to my Savior.  I started by reading the scriptures on a more regular basis, pondering the words I read, and praying for more guidance.  I must say that so many times when I question came into my mind, the answer was found so quickly in the Scriptures.  I would pour out my gratitude to my Father in Heaven for those sweet and simple answers.  Then came Conference.  I've said before how much we love watching General Conference. And it remains true.  I had a prayer in my heart throughout the session that I would feel the Spirit working in me and help me find my answers.  And every single talk, I felt the Spirit burning within me!  Telling me that what these men said is true.  I felt guided to record these feelings of revelation, to start working on certain areas, to focus on particular doctrines or actions in my life.  These last 2 months I have felt so near my Savior.  I've had setbacks, of course, but I have been making strides in my life again.  And I'm sharing with my children my excitement for my Savior and His Gospel.

stock photo source

Back to President Eyring.  He tells us we "are under covenant both to lift up those in need and to be witnesses of the Savior as long as we live.  We will be able to do it without fail only as we feel love for the Savior and His love for us.  As we are faithful to the promises we have made [at baptism], we will feel our love for Him.  It will increase because we will feel His power and His drawing near to us in His service." I can testify that this is happening for me.  I had been feeling overwhelmed by so many things.  And while some things are still difficult, I feel lifted up. I feel encouraged to serve my friends, neighbors, family, and strangers.  I feel the love of my Savior more as I draw closer to Him in prayer and in scripture study.  I feel His love growing as I also feel Him drawing nearer to me.  I see more purpose in my life and less drudgery in the everyday simple things.  What is a mother but a servant to her family?  After Christ washed the feet of His disciples, a task normally left to servants, He said

Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. (John 3: 13-17)

What a blessing we have to serve God's little ones in this way!  What an expression of love and service.  It may sometimes feel a drudgery or unrewarding.  But we are helping to raise God's children.  This is not something that happens in a day or even a year.  It requires a lifetime of daily service, one tiny step at a time.

President Eyring continues:

My promise to you who pray and serve the Lord cannot be that you will have every blessing you may wish for yourself and your family.  But I can promise you that the Savior will draw close to you and bless you and your family with what is best.  You will have the comfort of His love and feel the answer of His drawing closer as you reach out your arms in giving service to others.  As you bind up the wounds of those in need and offer the cleansing of His Atonement to those who sorrow in sin, the Lord's power will sustain you.  His arms are outstretched with yours to succor and bless the children of our Heavenly Father, including those in your family....There is a glorious homecoming prepared for us.  We will then see fulfilled the promise of the Lord we have loved.  It is He who welcomes us into eternal life with Him and our Heavenly Father.

I bear testimony that our Savior knows our needs before we can even express them.  He is anxiously waiting to bless us.  When we draw near to Him in prayer, in faith, and in service, He pours out blessings upon us.  I know that when we are obedient to His commandments, we are blessed with so much more than temporal blessings.  If the fullness of joy that is promised us in the eternities is anything like the fleeting times of joy I feel during this life, it only makes me more anxious to serve Him, in whatever way or place.

Time Out For Women 2013-Kansas City

The weekend of April 19 and 20 I went to Deseret Book's "Time Out For Women."  The theme for the year's tour has been "Higher," how we can be higher in our thoughts, words, actions, and connection with our Savior.  I was only able to attend all day Saturday, so Friday night I went to the Kansas City temple with my sisters-in-law.  I completely forgot to get a picture at the temple, but I did get one of us when we went to dinner later.

Sorry it's a little fuzzy, but you can tell we had a great time together.   Here, we're at Chipotle. Yum!

Anyway, it was fantastic.  For those of you, who don't know what it's all about, Time Out For Women is an amazing program put on by Deseret Book.  It's a time for women (mothers, daughters, wives, single women) to take a "time out" to recuperate, refresh, and revive our hearts, minds, and souls.  Speakers are invited from all over to talk about ways we can uplift ourselves.  People, it was wonderful!  I've gone before, about 5 years ago but haven't been able to go since.  My dear husband insisted I go and have a wonderful time and even spent the weekend with his brother and their kids so we sisters-in-law could have a great time together!  It was so what I needed.  I love my family.  I love my babies.  But sometimes we really need to remember ourselves and refill our spiritual cups without everyone else's needs.  It makes it so much easier to deal with the day to day things that happen and need our attention and patience and and and.

So here we are waiting for the show to start.  We are all made up.  I'm wearing earrings AND a necklace and no one has peanut butter or snot on her pants or shirt. Yes, it was a good morning. :)

I would love to tell you all about everything that was said, but I just couldn't give the whole program justice.  I will share a few thoughts that really touched me and encourage you to make the time and sacrifice to go to one of these programs offered all over the US.  It's only about $60 for the weekend, and if you order your tickets early enough and with a group, you can really cut down the price to about $42.  Amazing!

What I will talk about a tiny bit is the difference in the programs offered that weekend.  We were upstairs in this huge exhibit hall, talking about how to be above the world, think "Higher," pray better, come closer to our Savior, learn to rise above fear through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and simply be better people inside and out.  The women there were of all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. They were young and old.  They were married, single, divorced, and widowed.  They were mothers and grandmothers.  And some were not yet either of those.  Let me tell you: they were all beautiful.  They may never have won a beauty contest with their physical looks, but their sweet spirits shined through their eyes and you knew these women knew something special.  They were excited about a "time out" and about having such a spiritual feast and such a great clean fun time!

Aren't we lovely?!  This is my sister-in-law, a couple friends we bumped into, and me after the program ended.  We had such a wonderful time!  Can you see the light burning through us?  We had been so uplifted this whole time.  We had been filled. And, extra cool to me, this program came to us just a couple weeks after the General Conference of the church and this week is another women's conference for my stake.  So many great opportunities to grow!  Yes!

 Now, let me direct you to the event going on downstairs.

 Now, I realize it could have been so much worse. And I'm not saying that a pageant is necessarily even a bad thing.  There are some really beautiful people out there.  And I love to see beauty.  I see it all over and I like to appreciate it.  And, wow, having a group of physically beautiful women in one group is actually pretty great.  The problem is when we take the focus away from all the good.  When we take all the credit on ourselves.  When we start to tear one another down.  When we allow Satan power over us by thinking that maybe we aren't good enough and that we need to do some drastic work to make us better.  I see the before photos here and think they sure look nice to me. Fit and healthy is good, of course, but the vendors' purpose was to focus on the flaws and let their self esteem take a hit until they bought into their product or service.

 The other service I saw advertised there was some plastic surgery group.  They closed their booth down before I decided to get a picture, though.  Can you imagine with me for a second?  These are already beautiful people.  God gave them the gift of physical beauty and they are using that gift.  But then Satan steps in with the "You're not good ENOUGH, though," and they start doing plastic surgery to make it "better."  It blows my mind.  So, we walked passed this pageant and the vendors outside.  I saw the girls waiting for their turn.  They had trendy and beautiful clothes.  They had obviously spent time working on their hair, nails, and makeup.  They had airbrushed tanned skin.  Nice jewelry.  But I looked at their faces.  They were lovely, but they were nervous.  I would be, too, if I were standing in front of a group of people and asking them to judge me!
I prefer to be judged by my Savior and my Heavenly Father.   They don't look on the outward appearance but on the heart.
We were excitedly going up the escalator to the learn more and become "Higher."

 One of the speakers, S. Michael Wilcox, talked about becoming "Higher" in our prayers.  He said if he could change one religious jargon to another phrase it would be "saying your prayers."  We shouldn't just "say" our prayers.  We should be as Hannah in the Old Testament who so badly wanted a child. "And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore" (1 Samuel 1: 10).  She "poured out her soul in prayer."  When we are filled with sadness or anger or loneliness, there's no room for healing.  We are already full.  We have to first "pour out."  Christ showed this to the apostles, on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24.  They were mourning the loss of their Savior and Friend.  Jesus, who appeared a stranger to them, was walking along the road also.  He asked them why they were sad.  They responded with surprise:  "Don't you know? Are you a stranger here that you haven't heard?"  And they tell him all that happened.  Jesus then expounds the scriptures to them, explaining that it was part of the plan.  It is coming on evening and they invite him to stay with them and eat with them.  At dinner, their "eyes were opened" and they realize that He was with them.  Then he disappears.  Did you see the healing that happened?  They were filled with sorrow. Of course our Savior knew why they were sad, as He knows why all of us feel.  He wants us to tell Him, to "pour out," so He can fill us with the Spirit and to heal us.  This completely changed the way I look at prayer.  I want to be filled with the Spirit.  He commands us to pray ALWAYS.  What a connection that He wants us to pray and "pour out" so He can fill us with Healing!

You can probably see why I love these programs.  They are so worth attending.  They bring growth and closeness to the Spirit of God and to our Savior.

Children Have the Potential to Build Up Our Homes... Or Tear Them Down

Have you ever seen the movie "Yours, Mine, and Ours"?  I haven't seen the old 1968 Lucille Ball version, just the one with Dennis Quaid from 2005, but it was wonderful and fun.  I really recommend it, if you haven't seen it.  But maybe I should go watch the original, too.  They're usually so fun.  Anyway, we were watching it and I realized an important point that may not have been intended.  Near the end of the movie, the kids decided that they actually didn't want to break up the family after all.  That they actually liked each other and WERE a family.  So they find the parents and tell them the break up was all their fault, that they started the fight, but that they changed their minds and wanted them together again.  I think the important point here is that if they had the power to cause the family to break up, they also have the power to help a family stay together.  Now let's be fair.  Some parents truly have irreconcilable differences, including infidelity, abuse, and no desire to work on a marriage.  My comments here shouldn't be misunderstood to say that kids are responsible for holding families together or that some families don't have big problems.  My point is that children can make it impossibly difficult or so beautifully easier by their attitudes and actions.

Mary N Cook

Mary N. Cook, speaking to the young women in the church, shared this talk entitled "When you save a girl, you save generations." Sister Cook tells us how children can build up the home. She encouraged young women to search for and "stand in holy places."  She compared each daily act of obedience to God's commandments to putting oil in our spiritual lamps, as the wise and foolish virgins awaiting the call of the Bridegroom in Matthew 25:1-13.

"Living the gospel in your home will also add oil to your lamp and weave spiritual strength into your home now and bless your future family in countless ways. And furthermore, as Elder Robert D. Hales has said, 'If the example we have received from our parents was not good, it is our responsibility to break the cycle … and teach correct traditions for the generations that follow.'

Decide now to do all you can to fill your lamps, that your strong testimony and example may be woven into the lives of many generations—past, present, and future. I testify that your virtuous life will not only save generations, but it will also save your eternal life, for it is the only way to return to our Father in Heaven and find true joy now and throughout eternity."

I know I want my children to have strong testimonies of Jesus Christ and God's plan for us.  I want them to follow correct traditions and life lives of virtue.  I want them to be strengthened by these things and stand above the world.  I want them to "stand in holy places and be not moved." I want them to raise future generations of children who also know these things.  One way they can do this is to help make their homes "holy places."  We can read scriptures, say fervent prayers, and work to keep out the evils of the world.  We can work on being peacemakers in our homes.  We can be selective about what shows we watch, what music we listen to, and what content we allow on our computers.  We can be selective about what comes out of our mouths.  We can work to make our homes clean and orderly and keep our appearances tidy and attractive.

Parents have a responsibility to teach children what is right and to bring them up in a good environment.  And children can contribute to the peace in the home.  We can literally reverse and heal centuries of abuse, misuse, and neglect by caring for our daughters properly and allowing them to blossom.

"Whate'er thou art, act well thy part."

Sister Elaine Dalton, recently released General Young Women's President, shared this talk during the Saturday morning session of General Conference.  Isn't she lovely.?

Among other things, she talked about how parents can "instill in their daughter the ennobling and eternal truth that she is a daughter of God... How do we help her step out of the world and step into the kingdom of God?" Her answers? 

"Young women need women and men to 'stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.' Never before has this been more important than now. Young women need mothers and mentors who exemplify virtuous womanhood. Mothers, your relationship with your daughter is of paramount importance, and so is your example. How you love and honor her father, his priesthood, and his divine role will be reflected and perhaps amplified in your daughter’s attitudes and behavior."

Have you taken a look around at this world we live in?  People, in general, have very little respect for one another.  They go on public forums and social media, picking fights with friend and stranger alike.  People attack others for their views on religion, politics, and health.  They slander those of a different gender, skin color, or culture.  Colleges are teaching young women how to avoid getting raped instead of teaching young men not to rape.  Families are falling apart because of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as well as plain selfishness. Television and movies make sin appear heroic or ideal.  We have a desperate need for an internal change.  We need people to stand for what is right.  We need families to teach children by example how to respect one another, how to work for their living, how to live within their means.  We need young men and young women to "return to virtue" as a way of life.  

Sister Dalton asked, "What would the world be like if virtue—a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards, including chastity—were reinstated in our society as a most highly prized value?"  Can you imagine?! Wouldn't there be less of a problem with pornography and more a focus on modesty? Wouldn't family relationships be more valued and divorces happen less? Wouldn't abuses be rare and proper affection become commonplace?  What if the media chose to uphold high moral standards instead of the next trashy, more shocking thing?  Wouldn't women finally be treated properly?  Wouldn't righteousness begin to abound?  Wouldn't we feel safer allowing our children to play in the street?  Do you remember growing up and playing in the street with your friends until the street light came on?  Were your parents watching you intently the way you have to watch your children today? 

We really need to start thinking of each other as brothers and sisters, children of the same God.  We all have the same potential in this life.  We have a noble calling to help one another, instead of tearing each other down.  Satan is real and he is really trying to destroy God's plan for us.  He wants to tear down everything that is beautiful, lovely, kind, innocent, and sweet.  We can fight that.  We need to start in our own homes.  We need to be examples to our children of how to be kind and respectful and honest and true.  We need to take the time to hear what our children are saying to us so that we can help them through their troubles.  We need to listen to the needs of our community and country and world.  But first, we need to build up our own homes.  As moths are drawn to the light, so will the Light of Christ call to the souls who are so wanting it.  Neglected children will be drawn to your family because of the love and respect and boundaries they see there. 

The Home: The School of Life

This talk from Elder Enrique Falabella in the Sunday afternoon session of the April 2013 general conference really touched me, The Home: The School of Life.

He starts out by telling us that the best university we have on parenting is called The Home.  I truly and honestly believe that we can make so much change for the good in this world, just by focusing more on our families.  Please, even if you are not a member of the LDS church, watch or read this talk and see what nuggets of wisdom you can find.  He teaches 6 special lessons.  First, the temple is the place. Second, to contend you need two people (and I will never be one of them).  Third, a child who sings is a happy child. Fourth, I need you to hug me.  Fifth, I love the Book of Mormon and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  Sixth, it's not enough to know the Scriptures; we have to live them.  We've made these are new family rules.  We talked about it as a family for Family Home Evening on Monday and we decided we could all work on these.  We repeat these words when conflicts arise.  I've already learned so much from this!

The temple is the place. It's a focus for our lives, for our families. It's a beautiful covenant that Andrew and I have made and that we want our children to make with their future families.  It's a promise that continues into the eternities.

To contend, you need two people. I follow some parts of the Love and Logic parenting/teaching system. One of their "rules" is "I love you too much to argue with you."  I feel this statement really falls in line with that.  It takes two to fight.  If you start a fight with me, I don't have to fight back. I love you too much to argue.  I can wait until you are calm, so we can talk out the problem.  Not fighting doesn't mean that I always give in.  It simply means that I value our relationship too much to argue and I value having the Holy Spirit as a visitor in my home.  I don't want to drive Him away with fighting.

A child who sings is a happy child.  This goes both ways.  Sometimes our children sing so much, we just can't stand to hear that same (usually incorrectly sung) line or verse one more time!  But we need to remember that they're likely singing because they are happy!  And we need to allow that.  We also need to consider that if our children aren't singing, how can we help them learn to be happy?  Are they not singing because they've always been told to be quiet?  Are they not singing because they were just fighting or disappointed or distressed by something?  We as parents can help our children to be happy and we can learn to gauge their happiness by how much they sing.

I need you to hug me.  So often this is an unspoken thing.  The children feel it or we feel it, but no one says it.  We need to say it more often.  When I read this new "rule" to our children, their eyes brightened up.  We are a hugging family, but maybe we haven't been hugging enough.  So now, whenever anyone is seeming sad or angry or tired or disappointed, one of us has started to say, "I need you to hug me" or to ask, "Do you need me to hug you?"  It has definitely brought more peace to our home.

I love the Book of Mormon and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  John 14:15 states, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."  And what are His commandments?  Where can we find them?  We can find them in the scriptures.  There are so many more than just the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament.  They are important and so many are still broken today.  But we have more commandments: to attend our church meetings, to pray, to love and care for our children, to teach our families to follow the commandments.  The Book of Mormon, the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the words of modern prophets are so important.  They contain the words and doctrine of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We need to read from these words every day. We need to pray every day, personally and as a family.  We need to thank our Heavenly Father for giving us this world and for making this plan for us.  We need to thank Him for giving His Son Jesus Christ and that He followed through and did all the Father asked of Him.

It's not enough to know the Scriptures, we have to live them.  The ability to quote scripture or know where to find a particular story is good. It will help us in living the Gospel.  But if we don't LIVE the Gospel, it's worthless.  Our Savior came to this earth to overcome Sin and Death, so that we can become clean through Him.  We need to have faith in the grace from our Savior.  We need to believe in him and also believe Him when he says we can become perfected in Him (see 1 John 2:5, Moroni 10:32).

I plan to share through the next few months bits of the conference talks that really touched me.  There were just so many jewels throughout the conference that I really hope you'll take the invitation to listen, watch, or read the talks. I bear testimony that God knows you and your situation.  He has inspired these men and women to share messages that will have eternal significance in your life.  I'm certain you could select any talk at random and find an answer to a prayer.  Even talks that had nothing to do with my particular time in life were still so filled with inspiring information that I was able to clean truths for me from EVERY SINGLE talk.  I know you can, too.

Progress and a Lesson On Being an Example

I'm really not going to blog every day about homeschooling.  Keeping track of it on my free tracker program is enough for me, but I like to preserve my pictures when I remember to take them.  I know the lighting is awful and the pictures were taken on my camera phone, so the quality is not great. But I have documented my work, so there!

Ms A is learning about the letter C, the sound it makes, and so on, so today, we made this paper bag cat craft. I already had white paper bags and the girls insisted on their cats being white. OK.  No problem. Print off the templates, let the girls color, and away we go. Ms. A named her cat "Abby" and insisted he was a boy.  Great job, kiddo.  Ms. Z named her cat "Belle."  That's what she names nearly every female animal right now.  That's cool.  She likes the name.  And may I take a moment to brag?  Yeah, she's totally reading her McGuffey Primer stories so well!  She needs a little encouragement at times, but she's doing great.  And I don't mean that in the "my kid is SO above average and I'm going to rub it in your face" sort of way. She's having a good time and she's excited to learn.  She definitely has problems with certain letter combinations and sight words are not really her thing, especially when they try and change things up like "cat" and "cap." But a month ago, she couldn't read for real.  She would memorize stories, which is still a great step in learning, and she would pretend to read scriptures (like she's doing right now), but she wasn't actually reading words.  Please excuse the spilled over laundry basket in the background.  My kids were making memories before I invited them to start school. ;)

Obviously she has a couple good examples to follow of people who like to read.  I read as often as I can and I tend to let other important things fall to the wayside while I'm reading.  If you're an avid reader (or love one), you know what I mean.  My husband has also been wrapped up in books lately.  So they girls have been really seeing people reading and loving it and talking about what we read.  This is SO important: if you want to have a child who loves to read, let them see you enjoy reading.  It's true in many areas of life.  If you want a child who loves to help, always (or nearly so) happily accept their help and don't criticize their work (at least not while they're small and learning).  If you want a child who is kind and respectful, use respectful words and actions, be a courteous driver, and generally serve people. On the other hand, if you can't figure out why your kids yell, tell people to "get out of the way," or refuse to share, consider how you treat them. Then consider how you treat other people.  It's not a cure-all, but if we want to make our world a better place, we need to start with ourselves and our children.  Courtesy and kindness really are contagious.  Give it a try. :)

God Answers Prayers....Just In Case You Wondered

We just had the 183rd Semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I've been working lately on coming much closer to my Savior.  I've been praying to know how I can do this. I've been studying His word daily.  Not just a chapter here and there, but I've been REALLY digging deep into the scriptures and trying to understand more about the history surrounding a doctrine or event.  It's been awesome.  Then came Conference!  (For those who've seen "The Singles Ward," say it with the same awe and excitement as they had over the new big screen TV.) Our family makes a big deal about it.  It's like the Mormon Superbowl. I'm serious.  We have a blast.  The adults filled out our "Fantasy General Conference" brackets.  We guessed which apostles would speak during the Priesthood Session. We selected 10 of the members of the quorums of the Seventy who would speak throughout conference.  We guessed which hymns we would sing as a congregation, and we guessed which of the various auxiliary presidency members would speak. It was really fun to see a speaker come up and say, "Hey, I picked him/her!  That was MY general authority."  We spent the previous week or so preparing the kids for this awesome time.  They were SO excited!  When the apostles would come up (we were watching on a Roku at my in-law's house), they would excitedly shouted, "That's President Uchtdorf!" Or "That's Elder Packer."  It was sweet!  We had food and games and different hands on activities to keep the kids focused on the point.  We have a tradition of taking a walk around the neighborhood between sessions and I got to lead the walk this time.  The kids enjoy naming the kinds of walks they go on.  When they go to this one particular park, it's a "honey walk."  When they're grandpa takes them for a walk, they call it a "Shupaw walk" complete with Shupaw treats.  But with me, we took a "Crystal walk" and I will cherish that for years to come.  What sweet children!

OK, back to the actual conference.  Holy Cow!  I felt like almost every single talk was pointed at me and my questions lately.  I've had concerns in various areas of my life.  Some are too personal to share here, but I think one common concern is how to help my family come closer to Christ, how to bring more peace into my home, and how to deal with the growing evil in this world. Every single one of those concerns, and many more, were covered in conference, in multiple talks.  There were a few talks that I wouldn't have been surprised if the speaker had looked directly into the camera and said, "Crystal, we know you've been praying about this and Heavenly Father wants you to hear this."  It was THAT great!  I encourage you to listen to any and all talks that you can.  In a couple days, they'll be available to read as well.  The talks are translated into several languages, so if English isn't your first language, I'm sure you'll find your home language there.http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2013/04?lang=eng


Oh, yeah, I guess you'd like to know the winners of our little games.  My sister-in-law Amber (who couldn't even make it that day!) won the fantasy brackets with 9 correct guesses, I think.  I was 2nd place.  We also had a game to guess the number of members, new baptisms, and operating temples.  My brother-in-law Sam won that one. Then there was a group of pictures from when the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve were children and you had to guess which was which.  That was pretty cute.  My father-in-law Wes won that one.  He got close to double the correct answers of anyone else!