Mary at the openhouse

The lines were long and the kids did well. At the conclusion of the evening, we entered a large tent with a statue of the Lord. The whole time Mary was so excited about going to Jesus' house. So, I asked as we were going to the car if she saw Jesus anywhere. She said, "Yes." I asked, "Oh, really? Where?" Without a beat she said, "In the tent."

It was adorable in the Celestial room she stopped and turned to me and said, "Yeah, that's it. Your eyes look amazed. You have beautiful eyes when they sparkle like that."

Skittles?

I am going to do this object lesson that I heard last week to teach my children things I cannot say about tithing. My teacher said that she gave her children ten skittles each and told them to go ahead and eat them as she started her lesson. She taught that we needed to pay one tenth of our increase to God.  And the candy was symbolic. So, they each had ten, she asked for one out of ten of their candy. They told her it would have been easier if they paid it before they started eating it. Brilliant, huh? I am excited to hear what Joseph will teach me.

Advent calendar

Let's make stuff, like a countdown until general conference! I haven't decided yet how to make one, or when we ought to start one, but I have some pretty good ideas.

I want to build a liahona for FHE, too. But, first we need to finish learning our special song ,"I'm Trying to be Like Jesus." First, huh? Forgive me, I get over zealous sometimes. You guys are doing great on the song so far, I do not want to jepordize that. It is a good foundation for life. We have been counseled in the past to think and sing a song to fill our minds so there is no room left for other thoughts. Also, I'll share a story with you about how I used a song.

I used to go to the practice rooms in the music hall late at night and I would start to get scared. It seems silly to me now, but I was really scared. Or walking home in the dark, so I would sing out loud , "Heavenly Father, are you really there? And do you hear and answer every child's prayer..." I always felt better and protected. Whether or not I was isn't important. The fact that I knew that song and could song it brought feelings if peace into my heart and I felt safe reminding myself that reality through song. I was not really alone, I was so glad to remember that!

Best Friends

I was given such incredible spirits to be part of my life. A friend pointed this out as evidence that God loves us and is so good.

All of my children are very special, but Joseph is beyond exceptional. He is as good as Brooksie and as smart as Lena. And he verbally loves more even than Gavin, if that is possible, you may wonder. Yes, he tells me alot of the time how much he really loves me and hugs me. Today, when I got hurt he was so worried and is always so kind to me. He likes to make sure I am being cared for. And he seeks to make me happy. Something tells me it is good to remember thus cause when he gets older, like term aged he will he ashamed of ne for the most part.

Mary's hair

As I was combing my hair, I thought about her, messy mass and thought better of my own hair, but she likely has my hair, so I thought, it sure will be nice when she grows up. I thought a similar thing about walking and Portugal training. Why do we insist on teaching and forcing children to do things our way and in our time frame? I concluded that it must be for our sake.

Now, I plan to take you on my little mental journey to that conclusion. Mary has a discipline problem. She refuses to hold still to have her hair brushed. But, still I do it and though Nick likes to laugh at her willful nature and call her as threen (a three year old teenager) he does absolutely nothing to offer any discpline, leaving it all up to me. Well, I figure she is not able to reason things out yet, so my know is just to provide love when she needs it. I will wait until she is ready to teach her how to behave, like with her embarassingly unruly hair. It looks bad, but she ought not be even slightly concerned with appearance yet, and when she is ready she will want her hair fixed.

Then, I realized why we do it then. I figured it was stupid to care at all how she looked to others, but that us not why we do it. We are building good habits for a lifetime. She will hate us or love us eternally for the habits we help set, so, it is more for me to learn to fix her hair, even if she cries, because that one day that she finally understands things might come latter than we expect, and habits might have already been set.

likely in jest

Some of my better ideas were originated in someone else's head! It was probably said as a joke last night that a mother was asked to help create a list of traits for their child's significant other. But, it got my wheels turning and this thought was spit out, "I will make lists for my children to become familiar with and part of who they are and what they ought to expect while they still think I know anything."
So, as a preface, I will use this as a stating point to make two lists, though I expect they will be incredibly similar. One will be for girls the other for boys. What I think are needful traits for future spouses.

GUYS                                                                             GIRLS

most important thing I will ever say to you

I love you so much!!!