Being present

Some highlights from the last week.

 Taming the wind for our fun.  Looking to fly with two feet firmly planted on the ground.

 Sometimes the best place to soar requires going into the wilderness, away from the power lines and man made things.

 It is there that we find the ability to  enjoy the simple pleasure of flying a kite. In the wilderness we can concentrate on the task at hand with fewer obstacles and worries.

 Fresh air, exercise for healthy bodies, work with real rewards.

 and a chance to help each other rise above the common ground, taste the sky.

 and to leave this spot better than we found it.

 At home, schooling brings so many opportunities to get work done quickly,

 enjoy favorite art projects,

 and developing skills and talents.

Temples

I desire to share just a little of the joy and blessing temples are in my life.  We build temples to our God. In some ways they are as the alters and monuments built in ancient times.  They represent our love and dedication to God. They represent gratitude for his sacrifice and gift of the atonement.  They are also a place were we enter in when we are clean and worthy.  Not that we are perfect but we are seeking his way and following basic commandments of honesty, morality, and worship.  He has made it possible for us to perform saving ordinances for those who have died without baptism.  Baptism is an earthly ordinance but we can be baptized in place of someone who has died without baptism and then in the spirit world they have the option to accept or reject this gift.  When you love the Lord, when you experience the joy of accepting His gospel, when you feel to share this joy with others including those who have already passed on I feel very grateful that God has provided a way for them to be saved.  They can accept the saving ordinances and continue to progress.  A God of love would not damn his children for not having the opportunity in life to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.   It is such a beautiful way for us to serve others in doing for them what they could not do for themselves.

My experience in the temple also allows me to commune with God.  I go there to serve others and am blessed and guided by His spirit.  I am given strength to continue on, face challenges, my capacity to love increases and so does my understanding of what God expects of me.  It is a place of reverence and worship.

To share a bit more about temples:

about homeschoolers

As a homeschool family we had fun with these videos and thought we would share.
http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2012/02/homeschooling-videos.html

We have loved homeschooling.  I love homeschooling.  I love having my children at home, discovering things together, working, learning, playing together.  No, we don't get tired of each other.  Yes, we do do other things too.  Yes, part of the reason I home school is because of the current cultural influence that is not fitting the values I want to teach my children.    I am sorry that their are so many misconceptions about home school.  I would just like to say that I home school my children because it is truly what I feel is best for them.  It is a decision that is continually prayed over and evaluated.  I seek to know what is best for us. I don't know what is best for you and my homeschooling does not mean that if you send your kids to school I look down on you.  I would hope you would respect my decision too.

This year we are enjoying a variety of resources.  I get a lot of great ideas from Milestone Academy.  We use Sonlight science, some Apologia, nature readers and notebooks.  Our history includes Milestone recommendations as well as Story of the World. We spend a lot of time reading together.  We are using Getty and Dubay italic handwriting and Pathway Readers that are sweet and moral.  It is a list that has evolved over years using what we already have and adding as needed or discovered.   My goal is to raise children of strong character.  I hope to teach them hard work, love of learning, and good relationship building.  I pray for guidance in guiding them to become strong men and women of God who seek to serve him and build his kingdom.  Each of us is just doing the best we know how and hoping that we are always progressing and growing.

Another fun resource is the kids should see this, a fun variety of videos.

Feeling love

I am feeling love today.  Nothing grand or amazing, just simple.  I am feeling blessed.  Blessed in so many ways.  I look at life, the past week, the past month.  It is sprinkled with happy happenings.  I wish I were better at capturing the moments.  I'm wanting to remember the feelings, put them down in writing but then the time slips quickly and I am left with my imperfect mind.

I do have a feeling of contentment.  A feeling that says through it all I have been loved.  I have been helped.  I have done things worth while.

 I live in a beautiful place where winter sparkles, we pray for snow, and we watch as tiny bits of green sprout up from the earth.  There are hopes of spring and change and beauty.

 Through each day, especially when I remember to watch, I will see the good.  I will see the happy.  I will see that joy and contentment come while you are in the middles of seasons.  It comes always but we must use eyes to see.  We find that it is not a waiting but a recognizing.  Learning to see what has always been there.

 When we see, we may see a chance to be a spot of happy in another's life too.

 I am grateful to celebrate love and life on the same day.  We celebrate this 4th son, 7th child.  We celebrate his very existence and then we remember the icing on the cake - his sweet personality.  He feels strongly.  He laughs wholeheartedly.  He fights for right and rejoices in good.  He is 8 today.

 Eight is special.  Eight years old means you are old enough to make and keep sacred baptismal covenants.  In our family you get your own scriptures - His word, to read, study, and feast upon.  He will enter the waters of baptism in just a few short weeks.  Then he will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  That gift that comforts, teaches, testifies.  That messenger that speaks truth to the soul.  He will take upon himself the name of Christ and be a member of His church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 I teach him, pray over him, with him, and get to watch him grow.  I am so grateful for the family circle that supports us.  It is in our family that we have peace, joy, trial, heartache, stretching, recovering and beginning again.  All through it we are loved.

sick day and movies

Last week I got sick.  It was just a bit of a stomach thing and if I didn't eat and just laid around I felt fine.  It worked well.  We read aloud and watched a movie.  When Courageous first came out in the theaters we ran to see it.  I really liked it.  That is the movie I chose to share with my family on sick day.  They all liked it a lot too.   The producers manage to tell a good story.  It stirred emotions and thoughts and inspired a desire to be better.  I am so grateful for good people who are willing to produce great movies.  We have also enjoyed some of their other movies:  Fly Wheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof.  They have taken on some important issues with marriage and family. I hope they have more great movies in the works.  My husband and I have discussed the truths we recognized from these movies.  I can confidently recommend them.  They have been good for my whole family.  There is some violence in Courageous that shows good men fighting for right and gang members doing stupid initiations. I talked to my younger kids first about it and they choose to cover their eyes at those parts.  I hope you find it worth your time and that we all come away with an increased desire to put our families first and support others in their efforts.

CrossFit? Iron man?

Forgive my ignorance but I just don't quite get it.

Why would anyone need super defined muscles?
When would spending hours daily in a gym sculpting your body be the best use of time?
What would your purpose in life be that would require so much time spent on this mortal tabernacle of clay?

Maybe taking care of this gift of a body glorifies God.
In what way?  When you move past moderation, past common sense, past feeling, how can that be a sense of gratitude?  How is developing abs that show each individual muscle and can only be seen when you are naked and flexing helping glorify any one but self.  It seems to me that it is only for self gratification, to impress your gym-mate.  It would seem that developing beyond a natural health doesn't make you better, nor does it thank God for your body. The message might be "you didn't do well enough.  I have had to reshaped everything to make it look better." (same message with all the implants only they don't have to spend as much time.)

Maybe a chiseled body develops better relationships within the family - the most important unit in society and central to God's plan.    If you spend all your free time at the gym or working out and all you money on memberships, contests and special foods, when would you have time to spend with family?  Maybe the whole purpose is to erase any signs that your body ever gave birth.  I'm sure that getting pregnant and having your body less than perfect would be something to be avoided.

Maybe your spouse loves you more when your body is worthy of pinterest and facebook posts.  If the love of my spouse depends on the tone of my muscles then it is a shallow imitation of love.  If I can't maintain physical perfection do I risk being dumped for someone who looks better at the gym?

Maybe all that developed strength is going to save someones life someday.  Maybe you will need to lift a car off of a child or some other disaster.  Can you imagine, all the muscle bound heros are hanging out together in the gym competing against each other and admiring each others muscles and would never know that someone might need their tractor tire changed without a jack and none of these strong men are to be found/available.

Maybe you will have to build your own house with your bare hands and then run down a buffalo and kill it with your bare hands to feed and cloth yourself.

Maybe a cave man diet promotes cave man mentality - survival of the fittest, watch your own back.

Maybe all this time and effort is developing a celestial body and you can have this "perfect body" in the resurrection.  Maybe you won't really need the resurrection because you are strong enough to do it all yourself.

I can't imagine that there is anything in God's eternal plan for me that requires this kind of physical self focus. I can't imagine that I can serve better, love better, develop more by loosing balance.  There is so much more to each of us than the shape of our body  There needs to be balance.  There needs to be time spent on spiritual, social, emotional, mental, and physical development.  When I see some crossfit champion body I'm guilty of being quick to judge.  I don't go to the "look at that gorgeous piece of meat" that might be what they are hoping for. (although I don't know why anyone would want their value to be based so completely on their physical appearance) I see someone who is selfish, self centered, self worshiping, self glorifying - all about self.

What happened to moderation?  What is the purpose?  How can you better serve God? fulfill your purpose? serve your family?

I realize I have been a little harsh.  Balance goes in every direction.  I don't want my funeral to focus on the miles I logged jogging every morning or car pooling children to too many activities. Is it most important that my children know that I sat on a bench for hours on end watching them do things with other people or that they know me because we do things together.  I don't care if my children can not boast of my latest weight lifting accomplishment, my rock hard body; or innumerable pinterest or facebook numbers I have logged.  I want to be healthy. I want to be active so that I may serve, love, enjoy life and find joy in my posterity.  Things that create unbalance tend to be anti-family.  Maybe it has to do with my word this year.  PRESENT.  I desire to be present.  I want to understand the cost of involvement in each activity and make sure the sacrifice is worth that price.  Are my priorities in line with my Father's will?

Each day our family begins with Deuteronomy 6:5 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."  I hear my 7 yo review it as he comes down the stairs. It is the same verse that Christ would have repeated daily growing up.  It is where I want my focus to be.  If we put anything else first, we are not worshiping God.

A new question was introduced to me in making my goals.  "What then?"  As I choose to do something, to spend my time, may I ask - What then?  Keep asking what then and find where this road will eventually lead.  Is that what I am really choosing as I pick the beginning of this path?  We all have the same amount of hours in a day, days in a year.  The time passes whether we plan it or not.  How am I using the gift of time?  Is the end result worth the sacrifice?  Can I live this way and in 20 years (or 30 or 50 or even 5) and say I have no regrets?  I am feeling a call to repent.  I need to do a lot better.  I will continue to evaluate, seek guidance, and move forward.  Isn't that all we can expect of each day?