Joining the 800 club

The 800 club is something I am learning all about.  Apparently in the Mormon church the 800 club is for those with two missionaries serving at the same time.  It costs $400 for each missionary per month.  I am counting my blessings!  Today Emily received her mission call.  She has been hoping to learn Spanish and serve in South America.  

just a little excited!

She patiently waited until afternoon, called all the local family together, lined up the cell phones for the loved ones not so local, got the letter opener in hand to make it as quick, clean, and efficient as possible.  

the I love America shirt might have to go with her to reminder her to come home.

 Then invited us to sing one of the songs that has been going through her head all day.  "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go".  

Thanks, Melissa, for playing

It may not be on the mountain height

Or over the stormy sea,

It may not be at the battle's front

My Lord will have need of me.

But if, by a still, small voice he calls

To paths that I do not know,

I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:

I'll go where you want me to go.

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,

Over mountain or plain or sea;

I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;

I'll be what you want me to be.

It is a wonderful song, sung from the heart.  I was tearing up a little but still singing until the words touched my heart when I heard "Lord, with my hand in thine, I'll go where you want me to go".  I am comforted that she will truly be with her hand in His.  He will watch and protect her as she works as His servant teaching the people of Bolivia.  It's not easy sending my little girl to another country in another continent.

I'm so proud of her, her love of the Lord, and her sincere desire to share the gospel.

Why Halloween?

I love Fall.  I love Autumn leaves crunching under foot.  I love harvesting the garden, apples, winter squash.  I love soups, warm bread, hot cereal, pies.  I love stocking my shelves with food for the winter.  I love apple bobbing, corn husking, hay bales climbing to the sky.  I love donuts on a string, dinner after dark, warm baths and reading at night.  I love wearing layers of clothing and bundling up to go outside.  I love the rain that keeps me inside.  I love Thanksgiving and all it entails.

 
I am frustrated that Halloween is stuck in the middle of such a beautiful season and sucks the joy right out.  I have tried to downplay Halloween.  I have tried to attend harvest parties where scary costumes were not welcome.  I enjoy the opportunity to visit with neighbors and friends, I just wish Halloween was not the reason.  We like dressing up.  I have our dress ups available year round - they are not for Halloween.  Doodle wears a different costume at least some time almost every day.  My frustration is how to celebrate Autumn, harvest, good friends and gratitude with out feeling like I'm trying to replace Halloween.  I want it to stand on its own.

Thank you Hansens for the apples!

I was recently driving through some bigger cities near by and my anti-Halloween sentiments grew as the size of buildings dedicated to Halloween grew.  There are warehouses dedicated to Halloween which is celebrating evil.  I don't understand how so many of us can be deceived because of the pleasant twist we try to put on it.  I don't know why it is so hard sometimes to listen to my heart.  Maybe it is because so much of the world is shouting in my face.  The decorations, the sales, the people wanting to know what my kids are going to be for Halloween, the trunk or treats that load up our children with everything we know they shouldn't be eating, the adrenaline rush of being scared by movies, or haunted houses, or scary stories.  I believe the divide is growing wider as the popularity of Halloween explodes.  Here are a few more thoughts for you linked on this blog.  There are two links, check them both and share your thoughts.  We also have Moroni 7.

Let's refuse Halloween.  Join me in choosing better and not giving in to the traditions of old with all the yuckiness of "new and improved, gorier and more realistic, cute but still evil" stuff.  There has to be better ways of bringing people together.  Let's stand for something good!

Mary Poppins

Happy moment last night as my family enjoyed watching Mary Poppins.  Entertained all my at home kids from 4 to 21.  I enjoyed it with new eyes.  I should have been watching with paper and pencil in hand.  There were quotes I liked, there were thoughts that came.  I loved the way Bert and Mary Poppins taught proper roles.  I loved the respect and confidence they each had for their own purpose or mission.  It sounds funny but they taught truths and principles in a delightful way.


Raising boys I was grateful for the description of Bert by Mary Poppins in a dating setting.  This would be the kind of gentleman I would expect my boy to be.

Oh, it's a jolly holiday 
With you, Bert
Gentlemen like you are few
Though your just a diamond
In the rough, Bert
Underneath your blood is blue!

You'd never think of pressing
Your advantage
For bearance is the hallmark 
Of your creed
A lady needn't fear 
When you are near
Your sweet gentility is crystal clear!
Oh, it's a jolly holiday with you, Bert
A jolly, jolly holiday with you!

Then there is the way that Bert willingly adjusts to the times.  In todays economy we can learn from his example of looking to the need and filling it, being a man for all seasons.

Mary Poppins and Bert are both good at helping others find their own way to correct principles.  They allow others to develop and grow without putting them down or compromising their own morals.

Then there is the overall idea of a spoon full of sugar helping the medicine go down.  What an incredible difference it makes when we have a positive attitude, when we look for the bright side.  Basically when we count our blessings along the way and remember to praise the Lord in the good and the bad times.

My little ones fell asleep again before it was over I may get a chance to continue my study as we watch it again for them.

Mission guesses?

It's that time again.  Twinkle has submitted her papers with her desire to fulfill a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and will likely receive her call next week.  She would love to learn a foreign language and she is willing to go to a primitive area.  She would also be great in a visitors center with her outgoing personality.  She has traveled enough to know that where ever she is called, she will be fine.  Her testimony of the gospel is strong and she is excited to share with others.  She is anxious to hear where the Lord would have her serve.

Please leave any guesses in the comments.  It so fun to imagine the possibilities.  

reach higher

I'm reading Misfit Cygnet blog from my sidebar link.  I'm reading about the Hunger Games.  She writes about the way so many of us get drawn into accepting evil, inappropriate, spirit-less attitudes.  It saddens me and actually frightens me a bit to think it is so easy to become desensitized.

While I read her post and comments I can hear Twinkle with my little ones having fun with primary songs.  It is such a huge contrast that it easy to see what I want for my life and my home and my family.  There is so much goodness that we don't need to compromise but too often it isn't so easy to see.  Too often it sneaks up on us from well meaning friends or family and we make excuses.  We think we need to know what every one is talking about so we succumb and become desensitized, willing to accept less than best.

For me it is a process.  Time and again I am grateful that we don't watch television, that we seldom watch movies.  I have cut way back on radio time.  We can't assume reading is good just because it is reading. We must carefully measure the quality of what we read,  the things (especially ideas) we expose ourselves and our family to.  There are so many wholesome resources for entertainment, learning, and understanding that we don't have to settle for so much less.    It is a confusing world that we have to muddle through but we are not alone.  We can ask God.  He can teach us where to get what he needs us to get so that we can become what he needs us to become.

It can be disturbing.  It is natural to want to justify poorer choices but the price is small compared to the blessings in store for us.  I would love to hear what you are thinking, where you stand.  I would recommend reading the comments after her post also as people trying to understand and learn.  I realize each time I make a choice to raise the bar in my home, I get comfortable and slip in other ways.  It is helpful to learn from other perspectives and their journeys.  I feel inspired to reach higher.

Old?

Tonight I had a date with my sweetheart.  We had dinner at a local restaurant, checked on kids at home and headed to see the movie Secretariat.  It was a good movie, clean and entertaining.  The worst part of my night was standing at the window buying tickets.  The sweet little lady asked if we get the senior discount.  I am 45 years old.  I will not qualify for that discount for 20 years!  We come home and tell our kids about our night, next thing I know Twinkle is telling me that time is catching up with me.  I think I'll just leave for the weekend, enjoy my mom's retreat and maybe come back younger.

receiving

Friday my schedule changed, immediately.  Tall One came upstairs unable to walk on his leg.  It had been a month since his surgery, the incision had been slow to heal and had taken a turn for the worse, much worse.  His knee was swollen, warm, painful, and he was starting a fever.  We made a trip to the city to have it checked and ended up in surgery at Primary Children's hospital.  It turns out he had a staff infection.  They washed it out and are now treating it with big gun antibiotics.  We almost had to stay there for 3-4 weeks of treatment but feel very blessed to have been allowed to come home and take care of him here.

He looked disappointed.  I cried.  He was the strong one.  He told me it was okay to cry.  This was not good news.  He stayed strong.  I had to let some people know so I could take care of things at home.  Each time someone allowed me to feel their love, I cried.  He so wants to be healthy and well.  It seems like it all keeps dragging on with hopes of almost being well becoming squashed again.  I see so many people with more severe challenges and I think I 'm a wimp, a complainer, weak.  I cry.  People bring me dinner and I know we would be  okay without help but love comes with the offers and I have an embarrassed gratitude.

I wonder how it works.  How do we  learn from each other?  How do we develop the closeness that allows us to truly carry one another's burdens?  How do we let down the walls that protect us and our imagined self reliance and find that in exposing the weakness we become stronger?  I'm trying to understand how sometimes when we share those most embarrassing times that we feel so much closer to those we shared with.

I often feel alone as I become self absorbed in my own life.  I forget about reaching out to others and then I feel lonely.  It is a silly cycle.  I can feel the sincerity and I can feel the effort as we sometimes awkwardly reach out to each other.  Basically when our intent is good the love comes through and we feel closer to one another - the loving and the loved.

Thank you for those that reach out.  Thank you to those who accept and love.  Thank you for those who are practicing the Divine Gift of Gratitude that helps us see clearer through the selfish fog, or the  pity fog, or the lonely fog.  I'm grateful for the every day, simple days.  It isn't until things get wild that I remember the simpler joys of an "everyday" day.  It is through the harder days that I realize no matter how hard things seem at the moment I am able to see the gifts of my loving Heavenly Father encircling me with angels both seen and unseen and tender mercies, happy coincidences, honored blessings and priesthood power.  Life is good.  The view keeps changing but really it is getting brighter and more beautiful

I thought I would share this link. In our efforts to simplify it is important to look at maybe why we get so busy and where our priorities are.

Another link to this video recently shared with me. I'm going to a mom's retreat soon. The theme is honoring our husbands. We have had weekly assignments as well as inspirational music, quotes, . . I'm so excited and feeling more love already for my wonderful sweetheart.

Memorizing The Living Christ

As I have been wanting to do more things to bring the Spirit of Christ into our home I was thrilled to find this article in the September Ensign. We began right away memorizing The Living Christ one sentence or two each week. We have been going for a month now and have had amazing success. As the author said, the little children have done very well. I have been surprised at their ability to memorize and their enthusiasm for this project. I had mentioned that it would be nice to have it done by Christmas as our gift to Christ but that I thought it would be too much. They keep pushing for more sentences each week. If they can really keep up (including myself) then I believe we will have a very memorable Christmas.

I want to share this great site of Great helps that came in my email today. I have been creating my own poster for the refrigerator each week but this gal has down a great job of lots of picture helps for memorizing. Wanting to share our success and fun, here is Doodle, age 4 reciting The Living Christ so far.

As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth.

He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it.

We recite it each morning at devotional and repeat the new sentence(s) three times. Then we do it again during school for our memory work. My goal was to do it before each meal but that hasn't happened. I have it on the fridge for the readers to practice. In reality the littles put the big ones to shame. They know it so well and are the ones anxious to move on. We pray for help in memorizing and internalizing the words of this very special testimony. I do believe it is blessing our home.

My adult children and my parents are joining us on this. I hope they will report their progress as well. We will share again in a few weeks. It is so good to allow the children to present in front of other people. It builds confidence in speaking out and knowing they have something worth sharing.

We Thank Thee, O God

This morning we are in the middle of the world wide General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The speaker are many but in my heart where I hear those messages specific for my I am hearing an increased need to know the words of my living prophet and to act on them.

It began last week at the General Relief Society meeting where President Thomas Monson spoke about the need to love one another, look for the best in each other and not be so quick to judge.  The Lord knows women well.  We judge.  We compare.  We can be very unkind in our thoughts of others and of ourselves.

Yesterday morning began with President Monson welcoming us to General Conference.  He shared temples being built and to be built.  He spoke of missionary work - the young men, young women, and then the older couples.  I feel gratitude for my parents who are currently serving their second mission and my inlaws who have also served.  President Monson said that I need to be preparing for the day when I can serve with my sweetheart a full time mission to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, to love, serve, and work hard in that special callings.  I am committing to get my own Preach My Gospel and study with my husband (Honey, I don't think I can wait until Christmas for this one.).  We need to know this missionary handbook, we need to prepare for the future, and we are now preparing our own children to fulfill their priesthood duty to serve as missionaries.  I have wanted to get out of debt, to get our finances in order.  I now have another motivation to  put our finances in order so that we will be able to support ourselves on a mission/missions some day.

So in those first few minutes I already have some big assignments in following the prophet but immediately after President Monson spoke the Tabernacle choir sang We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet.  It was sweet to me that the words of this song bore witness to me of the blessing of having prophets and my need to follow them.

19
We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet

Brightly

1. We thank thee, O God, for a prophet
To guide us in these latter days.
We thank thee for sending the gospel
To lighten our minds with its rays.
We thank thee for every blessing
Bestowed by thy bounteous hand.
We feel it a pleasure to serve thee
And love to obey thy command.

2. When dark clouds of trouble hang o’er us Which I have been feeling
And threaten our peace to destroy,
There is hope smiling brightly before us, For which I am so grateful
And we know that deliv’rance is nigh.
We doubt not the Lord nor his goodness.
We’ve proved him in days that are past. He has never let me down
The wicked who fight against Zion
Will surely be smitten at last.

3. We’ll sing of his goodness and mercy.
We’ll praise him by day and by night, I will praise him in the midst of each day
Rejoice in his glorious gospel,
And bask in its life-giving light. I want my path to be lit with his light, following his way
Thus on to eternal perfection
The honest and faithful will go,
While they who reject this glad message
Shall never such happiness know. I want to be so careful not to reject this glad message.  I don't want to miss any of the joys or happiness that the Lord has in store for me.  

Text: William Fowler, 1830–1865

Music: Caroline Sheridan Norton, 1808–ca. 1877

My heart continued to rejoice as my mind listened and recognized the many truths being shared throughout the  day through those leaders and apostles chosen for this day and time to give direction to the Lords people.  I am so excited to continue learning and hopefully progressing as I learn to rely more completely on the Lord and his ability to help me follow his prophets.

It is time to listen again.  Please join me or listen later.  Pray and know God's will for you too.