My sweet boy...

 

My sweet Aiden heard Emery crying and started rocking her! 

Made my heart melt. So proud!

It's raining babies!

Helped my sister in law with her baby shower last Saturday, and both helping with one and attending another this Saturday!! Whew...

I decided on a whim to try out a "Pinterest" idea and made BLUE deviled eggs!

They turned out pretty great - if you're in to deviled eggs.

Meet Murphy

In order to really see what it takes to care for a dog, we asked our friend if we could "dog sit." 

The kids loved him...

The dog was really sweet...

We had good "dog" times...

And now the time is over! 

Sadly, we're not ready for a dog right now... But very grateful to have learned this before committing to one!

Hold on...

While on our journey here below, beneath temptation’s power. Through mists of darkness we must go, in peril every hour. 

Hold to the rod, the iron rod;
‘Tis strong, and bright, and true.
The iron rod is the word of God;
‘Twill safely guide us through.

And when temptation’s power is nigh, our pathway clouded over, upon the rod we can rely, and heaven’s aid implore.

Hold to the rod, the iron rod;
‘Tis strong, and bright, and true.
The iron rod is the word of God;
‘Twill safely guide us through.

Hold to the rod: the word of God. Hold on to the scriptures. That's our answer. We need Thee e v e r y hour. Stay Thou near by...

Sometimes "when life gets you down you know what you got to do?"

Simple primary answers. 

Pray and read the scriptures. 

Yup. 

Time well spent.

I am not a crafty person.

I have talents, sure, but not ones that include fabric, lace, embellishments, scrapbooks, or even glue. 

Could I develop the skills needed to make attractive decor? Sure. 

Is it the best way to spend my time? Probably not.

Is it healthy to have hobbies? 

Absolutely. It is essential to do something for yourself. Save a little of your time each day for yourself. Or else kiss your sanity goodbye, sister...

Anyway, I feel like less of a woman and sadly even less of a mother when I see others with crafty, trendy, beautiful talents that allow them to create really beautiful things...

A part of me envies them and their talents, and a part of me knows that #1 no good will come from being green with envy and wishing I had the skills. #2 I belittle the talents I have been given when I envy. And #3 a part of me asks, "what purpose will I serve? What good will I do? What service can I give with fancy, embellished items?"

I made myself think with a wider perspective; an eternal perspective, and asked myself: What do I want out of this life?

Who do I want to be? 

What am I aiming to become? 

Who do I want to be remembered as?

What do I want my children and grandchildren to think of me?

And my favorite Jenny Phillips song came to mind: 

"I want to be a woman who is kind. 

Who envies not, and has pure thoughts inside her mind. 

I want to be a woman full of love.

Who speaks gently, and always sees the good in everyone.

 

The greatest thing I could be is woman of charity.

I could do many things with this time He’s given me...

But nothing matters more than becoming

a woman of charity.

 

I want to be a woman full of hope.

Who suffers long, and seeketh not her own.

 A woman who easily forgives.

Who is not provoked, and always knows who she can lift.

 

I could do many things,

with this time He’s given me.

But nothing matters more than becoming

a woman of charity.

I want these traits! I want to be this woman! I want to be remembered as being charitable. And kind. 

I want to look back on my life and say "Yes. Time well spent."

Like Marjorie Pay Hinckley said, 

“I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.” 
― Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I feel so much better. I feel ok that I don't {yet} have the level of craftiness that I wish I had. I feel good about the skills I do possess. And I feel good about the promise of the future. There is always a need, and I can help.

I needed this. 

Journaling is very therapeutic. 

Notes on 185 General Conference

A few of my General Conference notes...

Saturday morning:

Pres. Henry B. Eyring -

"When we offer succor to anyone, Heavenly Father feels we have offered succor to Him."

Come ye blessed of my Father.

The law of the Fast. The commandment and the blessing. To loose the bands of wickedness... Then shall thy light break forth in the morning, thy health spring forth speedily... Here I am.

We are offered the opportunity to fast once a month, and pay a fast offering to the benefit of the poor and needy. 

Rich promises are made to those who fast be assist the needy. To omit to do this righteous act is sin.

{Sierra Leone}

His question was the confirmation... where he not only understood the principle of the Fast, but it had been planted in his heart. His fasting would lead to spiritual blessings and s greater capacity to resist temptation. 

Christ resisted Satans temptations...

No more desire to do evil.

We are invited to be faithful in helping Him assist the poor and needy.

• Boyd K. Packer - 

"... I read that the two essential ingredients to a successful marriage are a cookie and a kiss." -- Boyd K. Packer 🍪😘

The holding of hands.

Grateful for the atonement and the power of procreation.

• Linda K Burton -

Love and uplift our husbands. Our spouse, our closest friend. 

Priesthood  holders.

Help create a home where the Spirit can reside.

We complete each other. Not compete.

Our hands.

He always greets us each with a hug and a kiss.. I would have stopped more often and thanked him more often.

Build a home with your husband where the Spirit can be found.

When was the last time I:

Praised my companion?

Thanked him? Expressed love for him?

Stopped myself from saying something hurtful to him?

Apologized to him? 

Chose to be happy rather than demanding to be right?

"Guilt is to our spirit what pain is to our body..." --David A. Bednar

"Start speaking with a new tongue. The tongue of angels..."

• Dallin H. Oaks - 

Parable of the sower.

The seed that was sewn was the Word of God. The different soils on which the seeds fell represent the different ways in which we mortals receive and follow these teachings. 

The seed that fell by the way side have not reached mortal soil heart hardened and unprepared.

My message concern those who have committed to be followers of Christ.

Because it had no root it did not grow. Because they had no root in themselves, when affliction and persecution arises, immediately they are offended.

Some seeds fell into thorns. And the thorns did choke the seeds, and the did bear no fruit.

Materialistic 

The cares of this world and the Deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things choke the Word, and it becometh unfruitful.

This is a warning to be heeded by all of us. I will speak first of the deceitfulness of riches. Wherever we are - in our spiritual journey-  whatever our state of conversion-we are all tempted by this.

Those who believe in the theology of prosperity are suffering from the deceitfulness of riches. The possession of wealth is not in Heavenly favor.

***The root of all evil is not money, but the love of money.

Spiritually sedated by worldly possessions.

Savoring the things of men. In our actions, priorities, and thinking.

We surrender in Addiction= impairs God's precious gift of agency. 

"We are overcome by the cares of this life when we're paralyzed by fear of the future, which hinders our going forward in faith- trusting in God and His promises."

Dangers in surrendering to the cares of this world... You have to be willing to take the risk that's exactly where Faith comes in. Our commitment is the test!

*** Saturday Afternoon 

• David A. Bednar

Hush our fears

• D Todd Christofferson:

Marriage and Family

"No one is predestined to receive less than all that the Father has for His children."

--D. Todd Christofferson

• Wilford W. Andersen:

 Learning the music.

If our children learn the dance steps without  learning to hear and to feel the beautiful music of the Gospel. They will eventually become uncomfortable with the dance, and stop. Or almost as bad, they will keep dancing from the pressure to...

Teach your children the music of the Spirit. Gospel. 

If our hearts are out of tune with the Gospel then we need to tune up.

If you're not hearing the music of the Gospel in your home, please remember these two words: Keep Practicing.

Harmonious balance

• Dale G. Renlund:

Mandela in South Africa 

"A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying."

'Twas I, but tis not I {now}

Conversion.

• Michael Ringwood

Alma 30:

Shiblon- the middle son.

To be like Shiblon.

All I really want in life is to please my fathers- both my Heavenly Father and my Earthly father.

• Elder Quentin L. Cook - 

Family 

The worth of souls is great in the sight of God.

Priesthood Session

• Dieter F. Uchdorf -  

"We come to church- not to hide our problems- but to heal them." --Uchdorf

***Sunday Morning***

Pres. Thomas S. Monson

144 temples

Pray for guidance.

As we remember our Temple covenants we will be better able to overcome temptations and to bear our trials.

In the temple we can find peace.

• Rosemary M Wixom - 

"I know my Savior loves me."

Conversion. "The Lord can only teach an inquiring mind." Russell M. Nelson

She began to question the very foundations of her faith.

Focus on what you know.

Mother Theresa

You're not so much in the dark as you think.

"If Mother Theresa could live her religion without all the answers and without a feeling of clarity in all things, Maybe she could too." 

My testimony had become a pile of ashes, it had all burned out. All that remained was Jesus Christ. He does not leave you when you have questions.

Make the Gospel personal.

What do you want?

You have to have your own spiritual experiences.

**"I can still bear testimony, I will just say those things that I know and trust. It may not be a perfect offering of knowledge, but it will be my offering."

Helaman 5:12

"Hold fast to what you know, and stand strong until additional knowledge comes."

Jeffery R Holland 

Answers come when we earnestly seek and live the commandments.

• Josè A. Teixeira - 

Christ said, "Seek me in every though. Doubt not. Fear not."

"Small and simple gestures and acts made daily will deepen our understanding of the significance of the Lord in our lives and help us to share this understanding with the rising generation..."

Take time away from your mobile phone. You

Habit 1: visit the church's resources. Think and Reflect on what matters most.

Habit 2: subscribe to Church official social networks. Content in seeking of the Lord. Strengthen your desire to learn more.

Habit 3: make time to set aside your mobile devices. It is refreshing to put aside electronic devices and instead turn the pages of the scriptures. Especially in the Lords day. (Sunday) 

The habit of setting aside your mobile device for a time- will enrich and broaden your view of life. 

We have the means to know Him better and to live His gospel.

• Elder Geráld Causse - 

There is always something new to learn each Sunday.

If we seek, we shall find.

• Elder Brent H. Nielson - 

We loved. We watched and we waited. Placed her name on the Temple Roll and never lost hope. 

Caused the "prodigal son" To turn and walk back home. She did not know she was lost until her faith were awakened.

The windows of Heaven have opened. 

All of us need to be saved. We are all on the same path back home.

The father had compassion. Have patience as you love, watch and wait.

• Jeffrey R. Holland - 

He grabbed me. He held me. He refused to let me fall. 

This is the most sacred day of the year. (Easter) Brotherly hands and determined arms that reached into the very abyss of death to save us from our callings and our failings. Our sorrows and our sins.

We cannot fully understand the atonement without knowing there was an actual Adam and an actual Eve who fell from an actual Eden.

Cutting them of from the presence of God

Because we were then born into that fallen setting, we too would transgress against the laws of God. We also were sentenced to the same penalties that Adam and Eve were.

Are we all just hanging? Searching for something to grip? With nothing to save us, to hold on to?

We can celebrate the gift of victory because of events that transpired on a weekend precisely like this more than two millennia ago in Jerusalem. Beginning in the spiritual anguish that transpired in the Garden in Gethsemane, moving to the crucifixion on a cross on Calvary, and concluding on a beautiful Sunday morning inside a donated tomb. 

• Dieter F. Uchdorf - 

His grace helps us become our best selves. 

My soul grieved because of my iniquities.

His grace allows and enables to overcome sin. 

The gates of Heaven are unlocked

The windows of Heaven are opened.

****Sunday afternoon ***

• Robert D. Hales - 

Agency 

It is never too late to do what is right. 

Religious freedom:

Freedom to share our beliefs with others.

Preach the Gospel to your children.

• Kevin W. Pearson - 

Bless me that do not lose my testimony, and stay faithful to the end. No one is immune to Satans temptations.

Enduring to the end is essential to eternal life.

"To hang in there" is not a principal of the Gospel. Enduring to the end means constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him.

Why do we struggle to be Faithful?

We struggle when we are caught between competing priorities. Casual obedience and lukewarm commitment weaken Faith.

Enduring to the end requires total commitment to the Savior and to our covenants.

Conference Memes

General Conference- Saturday

I will listen for the music of the Spirit, which will bring more meaning to my daily dance.

I will hush my own fears.

I will fast for the poor.

I will be a better wife and mother by praising, expressing my love, and apologizing more.

I will focus on my Savior during the sacrament and not whisper or allow myself to become distracted.

I will savor, love and focus on the things of God more than the things of man.

I will actively decide to believe Christ, not just wish it to be.

I will focus on things that are essential. My family.

I will not parent by compulsion.

I will be humble, like Shiblon.

I will remember that compared to God, I’m not really that different from whom I’m judging harshly.

I will remember that my husband and I are equal partners.

….And if (when) I fail at any of the above…..

I WILL KEEP PRACTICING.

So, President Monson, because I love and sustain you, I will support you by doing. I will sustain you by trying. I will honor you by slowly but steadily becoming.

I love you President Monson.

And to show my love…

I will follow Jesus Christ.

And even more importantly….

I love my Savior, Jesus Christ!

And to show my love….

I will sustain His prophet.

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