Becoming Peculiar

No Matter What

2011-10-30T22:51:00.000-06:00

The words on the page are the lyrics to “No Matter What” by Kerrie Roberts.

As I watched this video I felt like the girl could be me.I’ve felt those feelings, acted that way, and then had to open the door, and my heart, and walk down the stairs to be with my kids, when really, what I felt like inside was throwing myself back on my bed trying to sink into oblivion.

I didn’t want to bottle up my pain, because I know that I NEEDED to feel the pain to be able to heal, but I also could TRUST Heavenly Father and know that “No MATTER WHAT” he was there for me.

I made this scrapbook page and discovered this song shortly after Holly’s funeral, and it has been hanging up in my kitchen where I glance at it daily. Today I took the time to read the words again and allow myself to briefly feel the pain again that I felt at the time of her funeral. At that time I was barely holding on the the promises.

As time has passed the pain has lessened. I still hold onto the promises but I am functioning well in daily life and no longer have the intense need to curl up in ball, although at times it would be nice. It is nice to have a visual reminder of where I have been and how far I’ve come in the past couple of months.

Time Out–for MOM!

2011-10-30T22:40:00.000-06:00

I did it. I talked to my husband, who is amazingly supportive, and explained to him that I really needed to get away for a couple of days. I assured him that I wasn’t running away, from him, the kids, or my problems.

During a conversation I had with a friend over the weekend I was reminded about the peace and personal revelation that can come by attending the temple. Since the Boise Temple was just closed for remodeling, the nearest temple was Twin Falls, 2 hours away. The trip was doable in one day, but I felt like I needed more time than that, so after more discussion with Brad, making arrangements for the kids, I rented a car and packed to head out of town.

I got my friend to drop me off at the car rental agency, and when she came to pick me up, she commented that she hadn’t seen me looking so chipper in a long time. It was true, just making the decision to take care of myself, to reboot my life, had already begun to have a positive effect on me.

My Grandma loves Glenn Beck. She listens to and watchs him all the time, and pre-orders all his books. She has been trying to get me to listen to his book The Seven Wonders, she accidently ordered the audio version, for several months, so I took it with me to listen to in the car.

By the time I had gotten to Twin Falls I knew I had to buy the book. I love listening to books, but some books you just have to write in, underline, highlight, and write your feelings in, and this is one of them. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes -

“Everything happens for a reason.” (pg 13),

”They weren’t coincidences at all, they were bread crumbs” (pg 59)

“By sharing your truth with others, you are empowered.” (pg 41)

I had mentioned on facebook the day before that I wanted to go to the temple, but didn’t want to drive a 12 passenger van all by myself. My best friend for life commented she would join me at the Temple if I let her know when I was coming, since she lived nearby. Right before I left Boise, I facebooked a message to her to let her know I was on my way. When I called her about 20 minutes out of Twin she was already home from work and making arrangements to spend the whole evening with me.

I checked into my hotel, my friend invited me to stay at her house, but I really wanted to be alone most of the time that I was in town.I didn’t want to feel like I had to be social. I wanted to freedom to cry or sleep or type and cry some more. My friend understood.

She came and took me out to dinner at a nice, quiet, Chinese place. We were able to sit and talk for hours. The food was good, but I have no clue what I ate, or the name of the restaurant. I do remember the conversation that we had. We talked about Holly, about her life and her death, about the kind nurse that I had, about planning a funeral, about grief and pain. We talked about being kids together, about our families, about the many trials we had been through, but mostly she listened and I talked. I told her of my pain and sorrow, of my feelings of anger, and guilt, of the injustices that I felt I had been dealt, of the difficulties I was facing in forgiving, and forgetting, in letting the pain go, of feeling comfortable at church.

It was so nice to have a compassionate person to talk to, someone who knew me, maybe even better than I know myself. Someone that knew my family, and their history, and how far we had come. A friend who didn’t judge me for my feelings, or my emotions, or my anger, who excepted me pain and emotions, and loved me even more because of them.

When we finally called it a night, it felt like such a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders. I could begin to heal . . .

“studies prove that someone listening in a compassionate way to another human being’s life store can actually alter that person’s brain chemistry in a healing way.” (Seven Wonders pg 168)

I was so amazing – I had listened to in the car on my way down, and knew that I intellectually that it must be true, and that I needed someone to talk to – I had tried reaching out to several people, but they weren’t able to feel the need I had for a compassionate ear, and in fact I had come away from those instances more hurt and full of pain than before.

“I was “ready to vanquish the demons, [I] had been fleeing”, but first I needed to face them. (SW,112) and I was able to do that by talking about them with my friend. Now that someone had taken the time and energy to listen to me compassionately I was sufficiently healed enough to begin to take the next step.

The next day I attended the temple. I was able to feel the spirit and find some peace and comfort in the plan of salvation, in knowing that Heavenly Father knows and loves me, and is watching over me. I was able to begin to release more of the pain and anger I had towards those who had hurt me, and to forgive them. Keith Ablow describes it like this “Never be afraid to feel for someone else, no matter how unfeeling they have been to you. When you do, you stand with what is good and decent and miraculous. You stand with God.” (Seven Wonders, pg 167) I was able to forgive them, but the pain was still there, although greatly reduced.

I spent the rest of the day alone, mostly in my hotel room. I read more of The Seven Wonders, I took a much needed nap, and then I addressed envelopes. I had decided to mail with funeral programs to friends and family members, to write notes of forgiveness, or love or encouragement to others as an important step in my healing process. I included in most of my cards the address of my blog. I didn’t count, but I probably had about 40 envelopes addresses. I worked long into the night on the cards, so long that it was 1am before I even noticed. I still had many cards to go . . . but I was on the right path.

The next morning I met my friend for breakfast. We spoke again for another 2 hours. Honestly, we hadn’t spoken in over a year, and that is the way our friendship goes, even if it is a year or 2 between conversations, it is like we just talked yesterday. Except for once. As I was reading the chapter on Friendship I thought a lot about my friend, and I remembered the time when I wasn’t there for her. I realized that I needed to ask for her forgiveness. We had a wonderful talk and cemented our friendship even deeper. I will always treasure her friendship, because we have truly bonded, and will be eternal friends.

These few days away – by myself – in the presence of a true friend – in the temple – were exactly what I needed. I was again able to center myself, to have faith, and courage, have the strength to go on. Listening to and reading The Seven Wonders was an important part of this transformation and helped to give me insight into what was to come next . . .

The next few weeks and months were truly a whirlwind . . . and I’ve thought back to this TIME OUT often as reassurance that I was on the right path. At this time I’m unable to say more in such a public forum, but I am continually grateful that I had this opportunity to prepare me for what lay ahead.

*********************************************************************************************************

I began writing this post while still in Twin Falls, but in the whirlwind of life that has happened since then, and the fact that I’ve given my copy of the Seven Wonders away twice, I was never able to finish. I am so glad I finally got it done, because I felt like I needed to post this – before moving on to any other posts. I miss posting, and I am glad to be back.

Mortality–Our Temporary Home

2011-08-19T00:41:00.001-06:00

I read an article in my Relief Society newsletter that recommended this song, Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood.

Rebecca P. wrote it was one her daughter was thinking of using at her commencement. I immediately thought about the concept of death, as a commencement. I don’t know if this is what she was talking about – but to me it was a beautiful thought. Death – is not the end, it is only the beginning, the commencement, of the next stage in our eternal life. A life that didn’t begin at earth. We are eternal spiritual beings. Birth, no conception, was also just the beginning of a new stage in our spiritual life. I say conception, because I believe, very strongly, that the spirit enters the body long before birth. I have long loved this quote -

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

I looked it up – and found out that is is from Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest, who was a very wise and spiritual man. I enjoyed reading his quotes on thinkexist. I would love to learn more about him. As much as I have always loved and saw the truth in the above quote, I love this version, also by Teilhard de Chardin even more.

“You are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience.
You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience”

This human experience is sometimes very difficult, but it is made even more difficult when we fail to realize, or forget, or ignore, that we are spiritual beings. Just like our bodies need food and water, our spiritual bodies need scriptures, prayer, meditation, and fresh air. When we ignore our spiritual needs all else falls apart, but as another friend reminded me, President Ezra Taft Benson said, WHEN WE PUT GOD FIRST in our lives, all OTHER things will fall into their proper PLACE or fall out of our LIVES! (The Great Commandment – Love the Lord, Ezra Taft Benson,Ensign, General Conference Issue, May 1988)

I am recommitting to do just that, put GOD first in my life. The promise is amazing, if I do my part, everything else is life will be better, better than I can even dream.

We must put God in the forefront of everything else in our lives. He must come first, just as He declares in the first of His Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3).

When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.

We should put God ahead of everyone else in our lives.
(The Great Commandment – Love the Lord, Ezra Taft Benson,Ensign, General Conference Issue, May 1988)

The Problem at My House

2011-08-16T01:36:00.000-06:00

I wrote this a couple of days ago. I just never posted it. I’m posting it now so that my post tomorrow will make sense. I’m also go to set the post date to the date I should have posted it, even though I am posting it late or early Friday Morning I think I wrote it Monday or Tuesday.

*****************************************************************************************************

There’s a problem at my house, and I’m afraid the problem is me. I’m really struggling right now, with everything. I thought I could handle losing Holly. I really did. I happened to run into the Bishopbric the evening we found out there was no heartbeat – and I told them I would deliver the baby on Thursday, and I expected to be back to church on Sunday. Everything would be OK, I had been through this before.

I was very obviously in denial. At that point, I still didn’t believe that the baby was dead, I was sure that there had been some mistake, that I had felt the definite movement that morning, and since then. I spent hours that night searching the internet for stories of ultrasounds that were wrong, and a heart beat was found at a subsequent ultrasound. And I found them, there was a shred of hope out there. Barely a sliver really, these had been ultrasounds and much earlier gestations, ones where a heartbeat had never been detected before . . . maybe the baby’s heart just hadn’t started yet and needed a bit more time.

The next day my parents came by with doughnuts for breakfast and took the kids away for a previously planned workday at my sisters house. I requested a blessing before they left – and so my husband and my dad gave me a priesthood blessing. Brad anointed, and my Dad was voice for the blessing. I don’t remember most of what was said, but I’ll paraphrase the small tidbit that I do remember “the baby was taken at this time so you can begin healing.” That was so not what I wanted to hear, but it was what I needed to hear. As I spent the day alone I was able to take a step on the healing process and move out of denial, to accept that I was indeed carrying a dead baby.

Fast forward . . . and I mean FAST . . . 9 weeks. I haven’t hardly had a moment to breathe. Our vacation was amazing, and I was able to let go of all of the hurts, trials, and responsibilities of my daily life, well at least I left most of them behind, anytime you are responsible for 5, and intermingling almost constantly with 11 there is bound to be some stress on the mother. Maybe not let them go, but leave them behind. It was a nice break, and I didn’t want to come home and have to pick them back up again. Life, however must go on, and they are my burdens, and I must deal with them.

Life has been so hectic, so crazy. So fun. Honestly, we have had an amazing summer. We have done so many fun things. Vacation. Family. Friends. Swimming. TV. Cousins. Family Reunion. Computer. The list goes on. I have really enjoyed planning fun things for my kids to do – and then doing them with them. It just got to be to much fun. No downtime, for the kids, or for me. Ok, not true. We slept every night. I slept a lot less than the kids. I needed “MY” time. I searched the web. I wrote blogs. I facebooked. I read books. I avoided dealing with my emotions. I surfed the web or played games until I was so tired that I could go to sleep without tossing and turning first. Sometimes it worked.

I didn’t deal with the emotional issues as they came. One here – one there. A misspoken word. An imagined offense. An insensitive remark. Oh, the tears were there. I cried, huge, racking sobs. I yelled, and cryed to my husband. Why am I being treated this way. I wrote in my journal. Sometimes I prayed. It seemed easier to just ignore everything around me.

I think the problem at my house is me – and I’m ready to run away. I need a break. I need to regroup. I need to find peace.

Love begins . . . Grief never ends

2011-08-15T01:55:00.000-06:00

It’s been almost 9 weeks since the day of my ultrasound. The day I was looking forward to for so long, longer than you may think. I was pregnant, and my girls were old enough to really appreciate and learn from my pregnancy. I had invited both of my older daughters to come to the ultrasound with my husband and I. I was so excited, and so were they. We were going to find out if it was a girl or a boy, and I was going to start teaching them about the wonders of having a baby. We were going to watch videos on prenatal development, I was going to let them help me pick out new clothes, get the room ready, meet with a doula, tour the hospital, and a birthing center, etc. I was so excited, I was just waiting for the time when they could see the ultrasound, and feel the baby move.

That time never came however. I’ve experienced many ultrasounds, including a few traumatic ones. I had it when the ultrasound tech stops talking, but keeps looking, and then suddenly they are gone, but will be right back. That is never a good sign. There is silence in the room. No one knows what to say. I pray, silently, and squeeze Brad’s hand. We’ve been through this before, several times. I plead, let it just be a small problem. MaryAnn scared us like this, but she is beautiful. Please let my baby be alive. Although, I’ve seen enough ultrasounds to be able to understand when they are looking for a heart beat – and the little lines that should have been wavy, weren’t. How can I go through this again. Oh, my girls are here. I had such high hopes, such plans. This will be the second time Rebecca’s been with me to hear the news that there isn’t a heart beat. We’d already seen this baby’s heartbeat 7n weeks ago, and I heard it only 4 weeks ago.

That was brutal, the 16 week checkup, the doctor had such a hard time finding the heart beat. I had been so worried, and it seemed like it took 10 minutes for him to find the heart beat., and it hurt so bad, as he pressed the little wand into my lower abdomen over and over, here and there, trying to find the heartbeat while I tried not to breathe, and pray, and not cry all at the same time. Finally, thankfully, he found the heartbeat, and sent me home.

The tech came back in a said that the doctor wasn’t available right away and to just keep waiting. I told her I didn’t want to wait, for her to just tell me what the problem was, that I had been through this before. Honestly, after that I don’t remember. I hope that in my silent prayer I had gotten to the “Please be with my girls” and “help us through this” and “Thy Will Be DONE”. After that I was numb. And in denial. and shock. I wanted to know the plans, and go home and cry, by myself.

Many parents are surprised by the emotions they feel after a miscarriage. They often feel shock and disbelief. Life seems unreal for a time. They express depression, anger (directed at themselves, their mates, a doctor, God, or even life in general), guilt, irritability, lack of interest in normal activities, sadness. Many experience irregularities in sleeping or eating. Some feel anger or sadness in the presence of babies or pregnant women. (Coping with the Heartache of Miscarriage, Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard, Ensign, July 1989)

I've felt these feelings, asked these questions, found peace, and yet needed to revisit them again, and again, as I've had multiple losses, and anniversaries of those losses. I’ve learned how to handle grief, and forgotten. I’ve bottled up the emotions, and tried to move on, not realizing what that was doing to my attitude, my personality, my relationships, my soul. I’ve mourned. I’ve cried. I prayed. I’ve read many books. I’ve healed, some. I’ve found peace.

I’ve brought more children into the world. I have learned to love them a little more. To cuddle them more often. To treat them a little more tenderly. I’ve become more Christ-Like. I hope. I’ve struggled. I’ve grown. I’ve had another miscarriage. I’ve regressed. I accepted, on some level, God’s plan for my life. I tried to bypass grieving with a blanket statement of faith. That didn’t help. The pain came out in other areas of my life, for nothing can ever be created or destroyed, just rearranged.

It is birthday time again. Yesterday was Kyle's birthday, and usually we can celebrate his life, short though it was, but this year is so much more difficult, as the grave has been freshly dug to bury his sister with him, and we once again have to wait for the grass to grow and blend in with the surroundings.

I will have to patiently answer questions like, "How come Holly doesn't have a headstone?" and "When will they be alive again?' I will have to be brave, and calm, and set a good example for my kids, even if I feel like laying down on the baby grass and crying and crying. October is still a long ways away, and we've already said "goodbye to Holly" and it wasn't even time to say "hello".

Grief is not a behavior. Mourning is a behavior that occurs within grief. Generally people believe that when the socially recognized period of mourning has ended, so does grief. Grief continues, with episodes of mourning. (CiCi found this somewhere – I wish I knew where.)

Grieving is never done. If it was it would be like saying we never loved. Doctrine and Covenants 42:45-46 tells us the mourning is appropriate, even when we know that death is part of the plan, and that our babies will be saved eternally.

45 Thou shalt ^alive together in ^blove, insomuch that thou shalt ^cweep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not ^dhope of a glorious resurrection.

46 And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not ^ataste of ^bdeath, for it shall be ^csweet unto them;

The Encyclopedia of Mormonism states, “Mourning not only is appropriate; it is also one of the deepest expressions of pure love" (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Death and Dying). We had more than a moment with Holly and Kyle, our love grows even in our grief, we strive to live our life so we can be with them, again, in the eternities.

If I Listen with My Heart

2011-08-10T22:59:00.001-06:00

I am constantly amazed at the wonderful resources produced by the church to help us teach our families, not only in print, but online as well.

I am not musical, so these songs and videos are wonderful for me to use to teach my children the impact of great music in their lives. Here is the link the page with 8 songs that were printed in the Friend, with sheetmusic, audio, and sometimes video.

This is the video that we watched during our afternoon devotional today.

LDS.org - Friend Article - If I Listen with My Heart

I say afternoon devotional because we haven't been getting out of bed and eating breakfast until about 10am, so it is afternoon before we are sufficiently prepared for devotional. After devotional I have been reading Prince Caspian to the kids, until I am to tired to keep my eyes open and then I lay down on the couch and take a nap.

We have had a rough and very busy summer, and we are relaxing this week, however, everyone is starting to feel like they are ready for more structure, so next week will see a return to family breakfasts, and morning devotionals, and regularly scheduled bedtimes. I think it will be good for all of us.

The Skin that I’m In

2011-08-10T02:23:00.001-06:00

I'm slipping back into a skin that I'm not sure that I want to be in. Ten days of vacation from home, school, grief, work, church, menus, callings, yard work, responsibilities, homeschooling, friendships, etc was nice. Not lazy, or boring, super busy as usual. I still had 5 kids to watch over and ensure that their basic needs were met, food, clothes, sleep and shelter, and their emotional needs were still paramount in my thoughts and actions. It was nice to leave so many other concerns behind, although we went so many places and did so many fun, touristy types of things.

As usual, carving out a bit of time for myself was difficult. I desire that time at night, but am often to tired to be real productive when I am winding down from a long day. I sometimes try to wake up early, but it never seems to fail that if Mom is awake early, and wants quiet time, so are the kids, of course, if their are chores to be done they might stay in bed all day.

Part of me wants to just move on to a new normal, start over, be free from past worries. From past experience I know that ignoring the issues, or trying to hide them deep inside is not the answer. I need to deal with my issues in a productive manner, or they will deal with me in a non-productive and harmful way when I least expect it.

There is no end in sight to the ocean, and it's force is powerful. You can stand on the sand, dip your ankles into the water, but it's pull is nearly irresistible. The waves call to you to come in, to feel the power of the tide. Heavenly Father's love is greater than the ocean. He wants us to come home to him. He sent his Son to save us from our sins the way the waves wipe out all traces of human presence in the sand. Forgiveness and Repentance are as available to us, as writing our concerns in the sand, and having them washed away by the LOVE, Peace and Hope that is found in the Ocean Waves.

I know that I can forgive, I know that I can find that peace in my life, and I Heavenly Father wants me to, and I know that I need to, but it won't happen magically. I have to take the effort. I need to find the time to pray, to meditate, to write, to acknowledge my own contributions to pain that I feel. I need to write my fears, feelings, errors, and offerings of forgiveness in the sands of my soul and allow Heavenly Father to wash away the pain and infuse my soul with peace.

I want to again find peace in my own skin, and have the energy and emotional strength to BECOME . . . more than I am.

The Good Heart

2011-07-28T08:10:00.000-06:00

Thinking, but choosing not to feel, cold-hearted men live at a frantic pace, in a desperate pursuit of whatever it is they think they are missing in life. With no time for meditation, prayer, introspection, or reflection, they live as a dog, forever, chasing its tail. Remember one and all, the head is for getting and the heart is for giving. (The Good Heart, pg 43, by James Michael Pratt)

This is how I’ve been living the past couple of weeks, at a frantic pace, running here and there with my kids and my family, trying to make sure that everyone else needs are met, but not taking time for the things that matter most to me. Even when I was up late into the night, because I needed time to myself, I wasn’t using the time wisely, unless playing computer games until 4am is considered a wise use of my time.

At first I didn’t think that this part of the description fit, but the more I think about it, maybe it does, on some level.

“Cold-hearted men . . . are not lost be delusional and hyper-rational, telling themselves there is no God; that there is no personal responsibility for their actions. Lacking conscience and convinced the brain does all the work, these poor souls make decisions based only on ‘I, me, and mine,’ injuring others as they do.”

Outwardly I’ve never said, “There is no God” because I truly believe that I have a rock-solid belief in God, and in the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but . . . I have been acting, in my personal unseen life as if there is no God. I say this because my reading of the Book of Mormon has been almost non-existent, my prayers have been insincere and infrequent, daily devotionals with my kids have been irregular and lacking, and my introspective moments have mostly been framed around the writing of a blog post that hopefully will help to heal my soul and touch the lives of others as well.

I have, however, been thinking a lot about myself, trying to deal with my grief, and all the other duties that come with the calling of Mother. In this delusional state I have injured others, and claimed that they have injured me, and that I was only protecting myself. During one of currently rare family scripture studies this week we read this verse,

3 Nephi 6:13

Some were lifted up in pride, and others were exceedingly humble; some did return railing for railing, while others would receive railing and ^apersecution and all manner of ^bafflictions, and would not turn and ^crevile again, but were humble and penitent before God.

Turn the other cheek. Be Humble. What does penitent mean? Can I do this?

Where’s My Elephant

2011-07-24T00:46:00.001-06:00

I could spend an hour and write something very truthful and emotional, but instead I think I’ll quickly tell a cute story. MaryAnn loves to play with the dog pieces from our game, Walk the Dogs. She lines them up, then knows them down, throws them on the floor, then picks them up. Yesterday she was playing with them, and kept asking, in her cute 3 year old, sometimes hard to understand voice, “Where’s my elephant.” Of course, she usually knew where it was, because she had hidden it, sometimes in the middle of the dogs, sometimes in the other room.

Maybe that is way I woke up this morning thinking about this poem, and it has been on my mind all day long.

I’ve seen several different endings to this poem – but I think I will leave those for you to seek out.

While searching for the poem I also found this great article exploring the poem in more detail in the Hospice of the Piedmont’s Living with Loss Newsletter. Summer 2011.

I have an elephant, do you?

There’s an Elephant in the Room
by Terry Kettering

There’s an elephant in the room.
It is large and squatting
so it is hard to get around it.

Yet we squeeze by with,
“How are you?” and “I’m fine.”
and a thousand other forms of
trivial chatter.

We talk about everything else –
except the elephant in the room.

We all know it is there.
We are thinking about the elephant as we talk together.
It is constantly on our minds.

For, you see, it is a very big elephant.
It has hurt us all, but we do not talk about
the elephant in the room.

This Tooth’s for Holly.

2011-07-18T11:32:00.001-06:00

My face is numb, I’m afraid of it not being numb, that’s not entirely accurate, I’m afraid of the process of getting from the present feeling of numbness to the normal state where I am not aware of my face. Pain is in the process.

My regularly scheduled dental appointment was last week. It had been the 6 months since I had last seen my dentist and gotten a exceptional checkup with no cavities.A lot had changed in the last 6 months though and I knew going in that I had at least one tooth that had a cavity. Sitting in the dentist chair getting my teeth examined I finally realized why I was so upset about this dental visit. Hormones. Pregnancy Hormones to be exact. For some reason the hormones involved in pregnancy seem to wreck havoc on teeth.

I was no longer pregnant, and the dentist never even knew that I was pregnant, yet in my teeth was the evidence of my pregnancy and I had to tell the dentist about Holly’s brief existence. It’s not easy to talk about death of loved one with those I know and love, but summoning the words and courage to tell people, close friends or virtual strangers, of the death of my baby is so difficult. Knowing that it is going to be a shock, and then watching their reaction, and then their insecurity in how to react is emotionally draining.

I was a little more prepared today – a week removed from the discovery of the physical damage – and another week of emotional healing - for the pregnancy made the experience fairly normal for a restorative dental visit.

The analogy is poignant though, Pregnancy has changed me, and my family, both physically and emotionally.Immediately following the discovery of the death of our unborn baby we were numb. We knew that because of the faith we have in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and of his loving atonement for us, for his death and resurrection we will have the opportunity to someday be with our babies again. This faith is what carries us through the trial, the numbness, the process of returning to a new normalcy. However, right now we are in the midst of the pain.

We are coming out of the numbness, and the pain is manifesting itself in outbursts of anger towards each other. In avoidance of time together, in late nights, in excessive sleeping in, and extreme business so that we can avoid our thoughts, our feelings, or emotions. Yet they are still there, and if we don’t deal with them soon they may haunt us for the rest of our lives. Like my need to have faith in my dentist and the work involved in saving my pain I need to find a way to help my family heal from the pain that Holly’s death has caused in our lives. We may also need to revisit the experiences of the other losses in our lives, just like I have to go the the dentist again next week to have another cavity filled.

Who Are the Brave?

2011-07-17T23:46:00.002-06:00

Rebecca, Isaac and I attended a Eagle Court of Honor this evening. It was a very neat event to honor the hard work and dedication it take an entire family to help a son become an Eagle Scout. Even though he is still a cub scout, Isaac was inspired to work towards Eagle Scout.
I was impressed to see how many people turned out to honor the young man. There were a lot more people there than the family was expecting, and that was very neat. So often these days we all get wrapped up in our own little worlds and don’t take the time to reach out and connect with those around us. This young man, and his family have reached out though, and they have touched the lives of many people, and those people gathered tonight to honor them.
The closing song was an ensemble of young men who sang with a fervor for the song that could be felt by those in the room. The spirit was strong, and the song was beautiful, and the young men were heroes who have yet to be tested and know their full strength. I wish I had a video or even a picture of the young men that sang tonight, but since I don’t, I found a youtube video of the song, Who Are the Brave by J. Paul Williams and Joseph Martin.

I love this quote found as the description of the song on Sheet Music Plus’s website.

“This work . . . asks us to explore the role we all perform in our daily lives. Because of world issues, it is imperative for us to reflect on things around us.”

Here are the lyrics to the song:
Who are the brave? Those who go to war.
Who are the brave? Those who fight no more.
Those who gave their lives, protecting freedom's shore.
Who are the brave? Those who serve in war.
Who are the brave? Those who live with pain.
Who are the brave? Those whose lives are plain.
Those with healthy bodies, those protecting the unsure.
Who are the brave? Those who serve the poor.
Who are the brave? Those whose speech is free?
Who are the brave? Those loving liberty.
All those with heart and mind, protecting all they find.
Who are the brave? Those who serve mankind.
These are the brave.
So beautiful. So true. We often think bravery as being something grand and life changing, as a warrior going to war, facing some tremendous challenge. That may be, but I know many people who are brave who,

have never gone to war, but have quietly suffered pain day in and day out for many years
who haven’t made national news for their brave acts, but have cared for a child, who will never grow up, for 30+ years.
who will never be famous, but have stood by their spouses through thick and thin, rough years, court appearances, and jail time
who haven’t died, but have given all of their life to raising their children, and loving and serving grandchildren and great-grandchildren
who will never be rich, but have worked hard their whole life, teaching the children of others

THESE ARE THE BRAVE!
The Unsung Heroes that quietly go about living their lives and blessing others. Many of them Mothers, but Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Friends, Neighbors, all of them can touch our lives and help us learn to be brave. Lets remember to honor them, the brave heroes that we see in our lives every day.

Emotional Range of a Teaspoon

2011-07-15T01:25:00.002-06:00

I woke up this morning and thought of this conversation from Harry Potter, and how accurately it described my emotional state lately.

“Well, obviously, she’ feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best. Then she’ll be feeling guilty, thinking it’s an insult to Cedric’s memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she’ll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can’t work out what her feelings toward Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that’s all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she’s afraid she’s going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she’s been flying so badly.”

A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron said, “One person can’t feel all that at once, they’d explode.”

“Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t’ mean we all have,” said Hermione nastily.- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. by J.K Rowling pg 459

My emotions have been all over the place – and when people ask the standard, “How are you today?”, I have to pause and think, “Is this the time and place and person that I can open up and really share how I feel, or should I say something innocous like, “fine”, “ok”, ‘getting by” or, “still here”. I don’t want to lie, so I usually try to come up with a couple of words that could be accepted as flippant, or as a clue that I’m having a rough day, and then the the other person decide where to go from there in the conversation.
I think Michael J. Fox sums up what I am trying to say much better than I can.

So if you go up to someone and say, "How are you? Are you OK?" I mean, that tells me I'm supposed to not be OK. Just ask me if I'm OK, I'll tell you I'm OK...and take my word for it. Or I'll tell you I'm not OK...and then be prepared to reap what you've sown by asking me the question.
Read more: Michael J Fox Interview - Michael J Fox on Family and Tracy Pollan - Good Housekeeping

That’s the key – being prepared to reap what has been sown. I understand that most people aren’t prepared to deal with the rush of emotions that is bottled up inside me most of the time right now, and most of the time I don’t want to let them out either, but sometimes I do feel like I need to explode and that is when a listening ear, or at least a warm body is most appreciated.
Tears are nothing to be afraid of, they are very cathartic . The presence of another being brings love and peace into the equation, and that person can help you to come full circle to where you can face the day again.

Compassionate Friends

2011-07-14T02:06:00.002-06:00

I got a letter from "The Compassionate Friends" today. It is interesting that an organization that I've never heard of has sent me a letter offering their sympathy at the loss of my baby, but it is nice to get mail that isn't a bill. I do have to admit we have received a few sympathy cards in the mail over the past few weeks. They are both difficult and comforting to read.

As I read the enclosures with the letter I also found it interesting that all the "grief material" is given to the ones doing the grieving. I don't feel like I need someone to tell me that grief is "painful and traumatic". I already knew that, already felt those feelings.
However, it is comforting to know that others have felt similar feelings, and that my feelings of "isolation" are typical of a grieving parent and not a sign that I am friendless, unloved, and unwanted. Depression talks loud, and lies. I may know that they are lies in the logical part of my brain, but the emotional part talks a lot louder sometimes.

After reading the brochure I wondered if "The Compassionate Friends" can figure out who I am - why can't they figure out who my friends and family are and mail them the brochure, or instead of the "Stillbirth, Miscarriage, and Infant Death” brochure they could mail them the "How Can I Help" brochure.

If you don't have time to read the whole brochure - I will highlight the two ways that I could use help the most.

— Be there. Run errands, help with household chores, provide child care, and help in whatever way is needed. Don’t say, “Call me if there is anything I can do.” That call will probably never come. Be aware of what needs to be done and offer to do specific tasks.

Being there is important. If you aren't in my home you have no idea how I am doing, or what needs I have. If you don't ask, I probably won't tell you what I need, and to make my life a little easier you could look around and offer something specific. Since I still have 5 kids that eat and wear clothes I probably have a dishwasher that needs loaded or a load of laundry that needs folded. Even if you just sit in my kitchen and visit with me while I clean could be very helpful, if I am physically recovered. My mind is clearing now, but it was so fuzzy for awhile, I had trouble maintaining a thought long enough to articulate it. I'm spending so much time at the grocery store now though because I can't seem to plan more than a meal or two ahead, and so I'm constantly needed to go shopping for food for the next meal.

— Give special attention to surviving children. They are hurt, confused, and often ignored. Don’t assume they are not hurting because they do not express their feelings. Many times siblings will suppress their grief to avoid adding to their parents’ pain. Talk to them and acknowledge their loss.

I honestly don't know how my kids are doing. I don't know if they are grieving. I've tried talking to them a couple of times. I don't know if they are feeling ignored. I locked myself in my room quite a bit at first, only doing what was absolutely necessary that I do. Physically and mentally I needed time off, and emotionally I was on a rollercoaster, and didn't want to take it out on my kids, so retreating was probably the best option. Lately we've been having fun with our family that has been in town, but I'm beginning to realize that it has been to much fun. We have had very little down time, and almost zero family time. What little time we have has been taken up with trying to get our housework, bills, library books, yard work and etc. caught up. My kids have had a lot of fun, and some chores, but are they being emotionally supported? I don't think so, because even our family traditions of scripture study, family home evening, and family prayer of taken a huge hit amongst all the chaos.

The brochures are really helpful, but they can only help so much. Real friends, as opposed to unknown "compassionate friends" and virtual "facebook friends" would be welcome in my life.

The Bill

2011-07-13T23:50:00.003-06:00

I dreaded opening “the Bill” from Relyea Funeral Chapel. I was afraid it would upset me – and so I walked past it several times this morning, I knew it was there, but was avoiding it. Finally, I decided to just get it over with, I was having a “good” morning, so this would probably be the best time to open it. I already knew that the total would be around $700 – so it wasn’t sticker shock – or was it. The total was only $590. I quickly scoured the rest of the page to find out how come it was so low. The funeral director had already explained that the costs would be minimal, the casket at cost, opening and closing costs at the cemetery, and the rest of the typical mortuary fees would be waived. (From what I understand it is typical for mortuary's to reduce the cost of their services for infant deaths).

The bill read as follows:

McCord Goldenfrost 12 Infant Casket – $150
Interment Fee – Cash Advance – $440

But wait, where was the cost for the flowers. I had ordered casket flowers a couple of days before the funeral. I had looked online and found the casket spray that I liked at Hope Blooms in Eagle. I loved the look of the Sweetly Rest Casket Spray, but I liked the colors in the Immorata Casket Spray. I emailed Hope Blooms and asked if they could do the Sweetly Rest with the lavender roses and for a small 12 inch casket. They were able to do what I wanted, plus suggested adding a ribbon with “Holly Marie” embroidered on it for a keepsake, and let me know they would make all the arrangements with the funeral home, including billing the funeral home. So . . . did they get paid?

I calmly called the funeral home to double check my bill. All is well, Hope Blooms was paid, after my bill was mailed, I would be getting a new statement at the end of the month. Relief.

While I was on the phone with the billing office I asked if I could make payments. The reassuring answer was “yes, no payment plan needed, just pay what you can.” Double Relief. The experience I had dreaded, and already cried over, twice, went so much smoother than I expected.

It was still a good day. Maybe even a little better.

Cinderella

2011-07-12T09:44:00.002-06:00

This is a beautiful song about a father and his experiences with his daughter as she grows up, and they grow up so quickly, and sometimes they are gone in an instant.

Here is the Author and Artist Steven Curtis Chapman telling about his real life experience that was the inspiration for this song.

Grandma is Coming Today

2011-07-02T00:01:00.001-06:00

MaryAnn was sitting on the couch next to me, and was singing over, and over,”Grandma is coming today.” I was a little confused, because Grandma had already been her, and left already. However, it was really cute, that she was singing. Rebecca walked into the room and said, “Do you know what she is singing. I said, “Yes” with a confused look on my face. Rebecca said, “It is an All-About Family” song.

We love “The Allabout Family” and “Scriptures Scouts” and “Alexander’s Amazing Adventures” I mention all 3 of these together because the same artists wrote all of them. My kids have learned so much about the scriptures, the gospel, and good values by listening to these over and over. They have helped to create some really neat spiritual experiences in our home.

Apparently they have been listening to the Allabouts the last 2 nights as all of the kids have been sleeping together on the trampoline. MaryAnn picked up on the song quick – and has been singing it.

Unfortunately, I can’t find anywhere online where you can purchase the CD’s. I highly recommend them if you ever see them.

Grandma is Kisses,

Grandma is Hugs,

Grandma is coming Today!

Sleeping under the Stars

2011-06-28T00:09:00.001-06:00

I am making memories with my little ones tonight, they wanted to sleep on the trampoline, so it is just Mommy, Kevin and MaryAnn, sleeping under the stars. It is moments like these I know that we will treasure forever, and it makes all the rough times so worthwhile. I enjoy cuddling with them, and listening to MaryAnn sing, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” until she fell asleep.

I kept trying to sleep, but to know avail, so I pulled out my laptop and kept scrapbooking. I love my laptop that Brad got me for my birthday. It has been so handy. The wireless connection even works good outside on the trampoline!

May Flowers - Gotta Pixel
Stampete Font" border="0" alt="In the Clouds - Laura Banasaik - ScrapOrchard
May Flowers - Gotta Pixel
Stampete Font" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6wKe-BRUt5Y/TglwGtDHh7I/AAAAAAAA-jw/vT2EwYQ6WCU/2011-06-16%252520Footprints%252520copy_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="625" height="484">

Portland Vacation

2011-06-25T16:36:00.001-06:00

We are getting super excited for our vacation to Seaside Oregon. We leave in about 1 month.I finally found my pictures from our last vacation - I converted to a digital camera about a week after we got back from that vacation, so I had to have all the pictures scanned.

Sweet Summer Sun - DeDe Smith" alt="Yin Template #253
Sweet Summer Sun - DeDe Smith" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9CWFeeQrQcM/TgZi1lbiDeI/AAAAAAAA-jY/6VOlVK6PvAc/2001%252520-%252520Portland%252520Vacation%252520copy_thumb%25255B13%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="501" height="249">

It's been 10 years since this vacation. Isaac was only 4 months, Emily 2 years, and Rebecca 3.5. None of the kids remember seeing the ocean, going to OMSI, being surprised to see Multnohomah Falls and having time to stop and enjoy it. We loved finding new parks, camping out, and having Fruit Snack Attacks.

I used this Yin Template #253 from Simply Yin

Designing Debut

2011-04-30T23:33:00.001-06:00

I have been digital scrapbooking for a long time, and have never had the guts to try designing a kit before. However, my daughter, Emily, has been learning photoshop and has been wanting to design a kit for awhile now. We decided that since we both love all the kits from the LDS Blog Train that was a good place to start, so we each put together a little kit to share.

It was a lot of fun, and challenging, to come up with my own ideas for papers, and to then to get to play around with some of the tools in photoshop that I don't really know how to use. I have no desire to go into designing anytime soon, but who knows, you may see more kits from Emily sooner, rather than later.

Emily's Kit (click on preview to download, I hope)

Nancy's Kit (click on preview to download, I hope)

I'm not sure where you've come from to get here - but you can find another part of this kit at The Adkins Family Blog .

To catch the whole train go to LDS Blog Train.

Thanks for stopping for a minute.

Dancing !

2011-04-30T16:41:00.000-06:00

I downloaded my video camera and found these cute videos of MaryAnn that the boys had taken, so I edited them together. Enjoy!

School Bus

2011-04-28T22:03:00.000-06:00

We were at Rebecca and Emily's volleyball game and MaryAnn walked up to me, hit me, and said, "school bus". She then proceed to hit me again, and again, each time saying "school bus". It took me a couple of times to figure out what she was saying, and when I laughed at her, and said, "school bus" back to her, she again hit me and said, "slug bug".

I laughed and laughed and informed her that there were no school buses or slug bugs in the gym and she didn't need to hit me. Can you tell that we have been in the car a lot lately.

Points!

2011-02-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

I started a new point system last month for the kids. It is an excel spreadsheet that basically gives them credit for everything that they do in a day, from brushing their teeth, to kitchen chores, to school work. It allows them to set weekly goals, and then track their progress towards earning them. All of the kids have old cell phones, no phone service, just fancy mp3 player, but it is also a mini computer with spreadsheet capabilities. So they can be seen walking around the house checking their handhelds to see what they need to do next.

It is a great little system and the kids have really taken on more responsibilities for what they need to do, and I am doing a lot more praising and a lot less nagging.

Last week, I found Emily in her bathroom at 10:30, way past bedtime, cleaning of all things. She was trying hard to earn her points for the day. We had been gone most of the day, and I had neglected to tell the kids that it was understandable that they hadn't earned their daily points, dinner at church doesn't exactly require the kids to do dinner dishes. I was able to praise her for her dedication to earning her points, and send her off to bed.

However, my favorite story will probably always be this one -

Brad had me ROFL (literally) tonight. I don't remember more than 1 0r 2 times in my life that I did that. I told Isaac he had to earn 5 more points to go watch TV with Grandma tonight so he rushed off and brushed his teeth, and did a few jobs in the bathroom. He came back and reported that he checked the toilet paper and the towels. I was good with that, but Brad went all wacko - I checked the toilet - it's dirty - POINT! SInk - Dirty - POINT! It was so hillarious. I was on the floor for nearly 15 minutes laughing and tearing and laughing again. It was so funny. Not only was Brad loud and obnoxious, he was making faces and jumping around! Of course, he was right also, Isaac did need to do a bit more than just check things, but I was working on the baby steps principle of lets start at least thinking about it before we get to stressed about it. Anyway, Brad took Isaac into the bathroom and laid down the point law - you must use CHEMICALS! to get a point! That of course started us all laughing again, everytime that Brad said, "CHEMICAL". It was a great time - and Isaac even survived yet another lesson on how to clean his bathroom.

Getting Started with Digi Scrapping

2010-10-11T07:40:00.000-06:00

It is a overwhelming task to begin organizing a lifetime of photos, letters, and other memorabilia. It isn't a project to take lightly, and sometimes it is hard to get started because you aren't sure where to start, how to organize or what you want the finished project to look like.

I've been working on my Grandma's history for over 15 years now, having started and stopped many times over the years, and technology has grown exponentially over the years, so I can understand the overwhelming feeling, but I can also personally testify to the excitement of finding a new picture that I don't ever remember seeing, or even just finding a picture that all of the sudden is a treasure, because I now understand it's importance.

This undertaking is so worthwhile that I'm going to offer a few tips for getting started.

Timeline
Beginning with a simple timeline is a great place to begin to understand how everything else that you discover all ties together. I suggest a spreadsheet format, with the years listed down the left-hand side, and several columns with different headings. There are several things that you can include on a timeline, and you might want a combined timeline for a couple, with a column, or several columns for each of them.

Important/Special Dates - birth, baptism, graduations, wedding, birth of children, deaths, etc
Homes - what places did you live (this really helps with organizing pictures)
Jobs -
Medical Issues

Final Format
What is the final format of your project going to look like, there are many many options today, and will probably be more in the future. You can do a traditional scrapbook in either a 12 x 12, 8 x 8, 8.5 x 11, or 11 x 8.5 format. All of these sizes can be done digitally as well. You can also plan on creating a DVD with either a slide show, or an interactive DVD where you can click on links to learn more, hear music, watch video snippets, etc. Really, the sky's the limit as to what you can do, limited only by time, money, and expertise.

I choose years ago to design my pages in a 11 x 8.5 format because it fit nicely into a page protector in an inexpensive binder, the binders fit nicely on my book shelves, I could print them easily on any printer, and computer screens are in a landscape format so they are easy to design and view on a computer screen. I continue to design this way for many of the same reasons, but also because I want uniformity with the 1000 plus pages I have already designed.

However, there are now many places where you can get scrapbooks printed in a wide variety of sizes either as a bound book, or as single pages that you can slip into traditional scrapbook pages protectors and integrated with your paper scrapping pages.

The important thing is to make a decision as to what size you want to design in and for what reason. This does not limit you from occasionally making a different size ( for instance you may want to make a small 8 x 8 album of special family reunion) these pages could be re-sized for a larger album, 2 of them could be put on 1 pages, 4 on a page, etc with a new background layer to tie them together.

Scriptures 4 Kids

2010-08-19T22:35:00.000-06:00

We discovered a great website this summer called Scriptures 4 Kids. I love it because it has 4 versions, or levels, of Book of Mormon stories for kids. There are also games, and other fun activities. I should have my kids write the review, they are on there more than I am.

Immediately following devotional we have what we call "Scripture Reading Time". The kids each get to go to a different station each day. Computers is one station and they are allowed to do things on the computer that involve the gospel, so Scriptures 4 kids has been a great addition to their scripture reading time.

Other activities that they do on the computer are, LDS.org, friend.lds.org, newera.lds.org, scriptures.lds.org, scripturescouts.com.

One thing to note about scriptures4kids, it doesn't work consistently in Firefox, so make sure you use internet explorer.

Buzzzzzz!

2010-08-17T22:26:00.000-06:00

During scriptures this evening MaryAnn was wandering around the living room waving her finger in the air and saying "Buzzzzz" and then poking people. It was so adorable.

It made us all laugh. She never managed to get anyone on the nose, but she was just as happy to "buzz" their legs or arms.

This also reminded me of how Dad plays virtual nose poking with Ally over skype. I had heard about it, but it was so funny one day when I was in the same room as Dad when he was on skype with Ally, I was watching her on the big screen TV when Dad, started Buzzing and coming in for the poke. Ally jumped, and covered her nose, just as if she had been right their in the room with us, and not 2000 miles away in Alabama.

Not So Perfect ( but Progressing) Scripture Reading

2009-09-06T22:18:00.000-06:00

Our daily family scripture reading isn't perfect, it kind of moves in cycles. We are fairly consistent about reading, but some weeks and months we just listen (or try to) Daddy read outloud. Sometimes, we all manage to open our own scriptures and follow along, sometimes we each take turns reading a verse or more. When things are really going well, not only do we all follow along and take turns reading, but we also have a discussion and really study and learn together.

I recognize the fact that we would never get to have the amazingly spiritual days when we just look at our kids and say, "Wow", if we didn't have the opposition of the "not so perfect" days. It's difficult to be at the height of spiritual family scripture studies with 5 kids, two of whom are non-readers, but even on the really bad days I take comfort in the fact that we are following the counsel of the prophets by reading the Book of Mormon and that we are instilling a vital habit, and providing the opportunity for testimonies to grow.

I love this quote by President Marion G. Romney

“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1980, 90; or Ensign, May 1980, 67). (“Lesson 16: Family Prayer, Family Scripture Study, and Family Home Evening,” Marriage and Family Relations Instructor’s Manual, 79)

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My Other Book of Mormon Posts.

Family Scripture Reading Posts by other bloggers.

Gospel Art Family Scripture Study by Becoming LDS

We Believe: Family Scripture Study by Mormon Women

How to Make family scripture study fun, interesting - LDS Church News

Joy, oh Joy, it's Joy School Time

2009-08-04T23:08:00.001-06:00

I finally have a young child old enough to participate in Joy School again and I am so excited. Two of my older three were in Joy School and we had so much fun. I somehow stumbled across the book, Teaching Your Children Joy by Richard and Linda Eyre. I began reading the book and was hooked. I wanted to teach my children JOY.

I was blessed to find two experienced JOY school Mom's to join up with and we had a wonderful experience in Joy School with the other little kids in Joy School. The Joy School program is fantastic. It is all laid out so that you know what you are teaching, what stories and activities to do, what songs to sing, when to have rest time and a snack. It is structured so that although the kids are at a different house each week, with a different teacher, they are still with the same friends and having a great experience. The "JOYS" are so much fun to teach, and learn about" and more important, and taught less, than other "academic" lessons.

Here is a list of the JOYS, broken down into the 5 main areas:

Physical Joys
Spontaneous Delight
Body
Earth

Mental Joys
Interest & Curiosity
Imagination & Creativity
Order, Priorities, & Goal Striving

Emotional Joys
Trust & Confidence to Try
Family Security, Identity & Pride
Individual Confidence & Uniqueness

Social Joys
Realness, Honesty & Candor
Communication & Relationships
Sharing & Service

Spiritual Joys
Simple Faith and Receptivity to the Spirit
Obedience & Decisions
Gratitude and of Knowing God as Our Father

Most joys are covered in a module of about 2-4 weeks, except for the Spiritual Joys. Only Obedience and Decisions is covered as a module. Joy School is Christian based, but the most evidence that I remember is the Nativity Play the kids put on in December. It would be easy to portray your religion in the program. I loved having that having a group of LDS kids allowed me to talk about Heavenly Father whenever appropriate. (Maybe this is part of what led to my homeschooling).

Logistics involve rotating teaching between a group of mothers. Class is 2 days a week for 2 - 3 hours, and a group of about 4-8 kids is ideal, ages 3 - 5, or the two years before typically entering Kindergarten. The kids love going to their friends house, but also love having class at their house (except sharing toys and Moms). The cost is a $50 registration fee, and then $70 a semester to purchase the curriculum. Once you buy the curriculum you may reuse it within your own family. You get the lesson plans as downloadable PDF's, plus the music as MP3's and CD's. Once you have the curriculum you color and cut out the flannel board pieces ( I like to laminate mine) and then use them to teach the songs, tell the stories, etc. My older kids love to help color them, and I think they will enjoy remembering the songs and stories from their JOY School Years!

It's been 5 years since I've done JOY SCHOOL and I'm so excited to do it again! If you have any questions about the program, don't hesitate to ask.

UPDATE: I finally found my password for the JOY School website and it is even better than it was 5 years ago - surprise surprise. You don't have to color the pictures if you don't want to, you can get them in black and white & in color!

Sewing is Sew Sew Fun!

2009-07-11T02:29:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I received an email announcing that Karalee was offering sewing classes this summer and I signed my daughters up right away. I knew that Rebecca would be interested because her “TALENT” at the Stake Talent show the last 2 years has involved sewing.

Rebecca made and nighttime ensemble for her American Girl doll Sariah. The ensemble includes PJ’s, a blanket, an mattress, and a pillow. Also pictured is Emily’s doll, Emily.

Rebecca models the dress that she made for the talent show in 2009. She received many compliments and wistful comments that they wished more girls learned how to sew today.

Emily was excited to take a sewing class also. Being the jealous Mom that I am I decided to ask if I could participate in the class also. I explained that I already knew how to sew but would like to get some help on zippers and hems. I was excited to be invited to join my girls in taking their sewing class. I’m sew glad that I did too.

Rebecca, Emily and I showed up for class the first day loaded down with 3 sewing machines, patterns, fabric, and iron and lots of enthusiasm. I got some great tips on how to put a zipper in and even got to practice on some scrap fabric Karalee told us that most of the work of the sewing project is in the cutting out, but that most of the problems can be eliminated if you make sure you cut your pattern out accurately. I am humbled to say that learned a lot about the importance of not trying to take “shortcuts” in my cutting that often have resulted in problems later on. After two hours of listening to Karalee explain to us how to rip fabric to make sure it is straight, how important it is to cut the pattern accurately, and the necessity of ironing as you go along ( although, we didn’t iron our pattern pieces) both girls had their skirts cut out.

Our second day of class we got down to the business of sewing. The girls got to practice going straight, doing zig zags, finishing edges, and finally they got to sew the side seams in their skirts. I was glad that there was just the three of us in the class because we got a lot of individual attention, and I knew enough to be able to help out my girls part of the time.

As we were sewing we also discussed our family tree and determined that we were both related to Wilford Woodruff through his wife Sarah Brown. I also was able to begin to explain why I wanted to be part of the sewing class. I explained it as being part of our HOPE CHEST JOURNEY. The Hope Chest Journey was conceptualized from history by Donna Goff and is about preparing daughters to become wives and mother’s. I love how Donna says this,

“All the while she was preparing her hope chest, the women in her life were preparing her, chatting as they worked, passing along a large body of knowledge and skill, incidentally, from one generation to the next, and building bonds of community support, kinship, and sisterhood. These young girls learned about relationships, parenting, family life, recipes, home nursing, and so much more, through listening to and participating in conversations with the women in their lives. Many of the women in this community were informally helping the young girl to prepare to become the queen of her future home.”

I hadn’t even told me girls about the Hope Chest Journey, they got their introduction to it as they listened to me explain it to Karalee.

We have however, already begun our journey, we just didn’t have a name for it. In 2004 I invited my Grandmother to teach my kids to sew. We began with making cute little stuffed animals out of felt and plastic canvas designs. At this time Emily was 5, Rebecca was 6.5, and Isaac was 3.5. They loved having Great Grandma Glasgow come over every Tuesday morning for sewing lessons. Believe it or not, but they all sat quietly at the table and sewed for almost 2 hours each week.

The kids all chose to give Bonnie and Tyler an animal for their wedding present.

The following summer we looked forward to sewing with Grandma again. This year we progressed onto embroidery, and Rebecca (as the eldest(7.5) started on an embroidered pillowcase. Grandma was making one, and Rebecca was making a a matching one. Unfortunately, this perfect example of a hope chest item remains unfinished, because Grandma passed away that November. We have fond memories of our times sewing with Grandma, and my only regret is that I didn’t document the stories that she told us those 2 summers as we sewed together.

And now back to our sewing class. It took us several extra hours on Thursday to finish up the girls skirts, but Karalee hung in their with us and we finally got them done. The girls outdid themselves. I was worried that after 2 hours they would have had enough of sewing each day, but they hung in their and were still happy and energetic and the end of a four hour session. I should have remembered how good they did all those years ago with Grandma and I wouldn’t have worried. Karalee said she was impressed with how happy and fun to work with the girls were. They also enjoyed working with her and telling her all about their American Girl dolls ( who came to class as well).

As I was quietly working on my own projects I was thinking about all the different lessons that could be learned from sewing, like how the little things do matter, how to be patient, to do it right, or do it again, so that in the end you have a product that you are happy with and enjoy wearing, the importance of modesty and beauty, the joy of wearing something that you chose and made yourself. The girls asked me if sewing was cheaper than buying clothes and and we had a discussion about cost and “fair trade” items, but I didn’t even factor in all the other little lessons, traditions, and love that sewing stitches right into the clothing that we wear.

This is just another step on our Hope Chest Journey, and hopefully only the first of many sewing classes that we take from Karalee, because I know I learned a lot, and I hope that my girls did also, and it wasn’t all about stitching.

Liberty Day Parade

2009-07-04T18:52:00.000-06:00

We attended the Liberty Day Parade this morning, and I was really disappointed. I remember attending the parade in years past and it being a fantastic event with Marching Bands, horses, scout groups political groups, and business groups, fire engines, clowns, and much more.

The best part of today's parade was cultural groups, the Scottish Bagpipers, the Koreans, and the Hare Krishna's. I think that the groups that take the time to learn about their religious, cultural, and family history realize what a great place america is to life. To many of the rest of us are complacent.

There were a few other groups that had a good turn out, and these were the groups that are taking the time to learn about the history of this great country, the constitution, and the founding fathers. They are the one's that realize how far our country is moving away from the constitution that has made us great. I don't know the name of all those groups but some of them were representing the 9-12 project, Boise Tea Party, and Idaho Tea Party, and and Freedom from Tyranny group. These groups had some nice floats, people dressed up as founding fathers, a representation of George Washington's Prayer at Valley Forge, and another float had Benjamin Franklin and Davy Crocket.

We as a People need to show our support for the this country, we need to come out to the TEA Party's, we need to participate in the parades that celebrate this great country and the founding father's and all that they have done for us, and recognize the veterans that have served our countrys, and the soldiers that are currently training and protecting our country.

In an effort to do my part I am going to give away a copy of the book, The 5000 Year Leap by Cleon Skousen. This is the book that Glenn Beck has been recommending that everybody read to learn more about how our country was set up. I haven't finished reading the book, but wow, what a great book. Read this book, share it with your friends, and enjoy discussing the principles with them, and then go out and help save our country. You can buy the book from the NCCS - order 10 or more copies and you can get it for $5 each and then you can share them with your friends. To read more about this check out my blog post The 5000 Year Leap.

To win a free copy of The 5000 YEAR LEAP post a comment telling me what you did to Celebrate the 4th of July and link to your blog if you have one. Then check out my sister's post about the Declaration of Independance and see the need video that she posted.

Summer Is Here!

2009-06-09T22:45:00.000-06:00

Spring just flew by - right from Easter Eggs to Summer Break. Ok, so summer break for a homeschooling family isn't much different than a school day, except just a lot crazier. They kids (and the Mom) are ready for a change of pace, so we put down pencils and pick up different tools. I'm thinking paintbrushes, rakes, shovels, sewing needles, etc.

Right now the girls are busy getting ready to go to Jubilation - a huge girl scout campout. They are very excited - I wish I was going with them, it sounds like a lot of fun. The following weekend the boys are headed out for the annual Father's and Son's campout. Last night Isaac informed me that I needed to go on a camping trip with him so we could "spend more time together" and fish. I'm not the fishing type, although I do really enjoy fishing.

I'm ready for so more one - on - one time with my kids as we relax and play and learn at a slower pace this summer.

Easter Story in Eggs

2009-04-08T00:01:00.000-06:00

I found this great idea to go along with the Resurrection Eggs (or Easter Story in Eggs) that I bought a few years ago. We have done this for several years and my kids really enjoy opening the eggs and seeing what trinket is inside. The only problem is they don't use the King James Version, so I printed out my own scriptures.

This year we are going to go a step further, and create a lapbook in the same style. Check out Jamin's cute lapbook where I found the great printables and got my inspiration.

Since I am doing this project with 6 kids, I spent a bit more time to prepare everything so that it will go smoothly and everyone will be able to decorate eggs to their hearts content.

Here is the link to the Easter Symbols Printables on the Christian Preschool Printables website.

I found some great easter eggs to color on the following website - I downloaded them, opened them up in photoshop and resized them all to approximately the same size before printing them out.

Activity Village
Coloring on DLTK
Milliande Printables
Lucy Learns

I then created a template to trace onto construction paper to make the mini books. I still have to resize the text to fit inside the eggs, maybe we'll add the text on Thursday.

The 5000 Year Leap

2009-04-05T21:55:00.000-06:00

The National Center of Constitutional Studies is offering copies of The 5000 Year Leap - the book recommended by Glenn Beck for $5 each to make it possible for people to share them with friends, family, and others. The books talks about the correct principles of government. The NCCS also sales pocket constitutions for $1 and is having a sale on their 3 book collection called the American Classic Collection ($35 - what a great deal).

I placed my order today - and for sharing this with 10 friends I am getting a free video on the constitution. I hope you will join me in sharing the principles of sound government with your friends.

This video shows some of the principles found in The 5000 Year Leap.

General Conference Treasures

2009-03-30T22:39:00.000-06:00

Shortly after last General Conference we discovered this little treasure on the internet through the wonders of mass emailing.

A few weeks ago we were watching it again and I wondered, have they made a new one yet? Of course, I knew they didn't know who the new apostle will be - but just maybe . . .

What a treasure this has been to help my kids become excited about the apostles. We are looking forward to seeing the new video when it comes out after conference and the chance to get to know another new apostle.

Speaking of apostles this week we will be learning about the apostles to prepare ourselves better for General Conference. Here are some of the resources we will be using:

The Special Witnesses pages in the 2002 Friend was a Getting to Know (the Apostles) page.
January - Elder Jeffery R. Holland
February - Boyd K. Packer
March - Elder Henry B. Eyring
April - Elder Richard G. Scott
May - Elder Dallin H. Oaks
June - Elder Russell M. Nelson
July - Elder L. Tom Perry
August - M. Russell Ballard
September - Joseph B. Wirthlin
October - Robert D. Hales
November - David A. Bednar
December - Dieter F. Utchdorf

The 2006 Friend had Guess Who pages for Each of the Apostles.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
The individual links take you to the text pages, but you can also get the pdf version by going to the main page for Friend.

Once we have learned a little bit about each of the apostles, and what their jobs and responsibilities are we need to better prepare ourselves for listening to their inspired messages.

In the March 2009 Ensign there was an article titled Preparing our Children for General Conference that gave some great ideas for turning General Conference into a spiritual experience for the whole family.

I've never really thought about what I needed to do to prepare for General Conference so this post by Bethany on Preparing for General Conference was really eye opening for me. I also liked this Pre-Conference Checklist included in General Conference Worksheet by Lisa Smith. Mostly my preparations for General Conference have fallen along the lines of how am I going to keep the kids quiet, happy, and paying attention.

Well, I have good news -

Some wonderful members have put together some packets to use to encourage children and youth to listen to conference. There are a lot of great ideas here - so remember, you can't do them all this time, but conference comes around again every six months (and by then your kids will all be six months older.)

2009 General Conference Packet by Melanie Day

General Conference Ideas/Packets/Games - on Sugerdoodle - this has a whole list of different activities

General Conference Activity Pages from The Idea Door.

General Conference on About.com

Make Conference Memorable by Mormon Mamma

How to Stay Awake and Interested during General Conference - by Bethany

If you are looking for more coloring pages this site - ldscoloringpages.net indexes the coloring pages from the Friend.

As you can see there is a plethora of ideas. I like bits of pieces of all of them, so I pick and choose what to present each time to my kids, each child is different, so each packet can be different. I hope that you can find something that will work for you and your kids.

I look forward to General Conference - and enjoy the time spent with my kids watching and learning. Last conference was the first time we had a DVR and so we took advantage of it and would stop oonference so we could discuss the talks, and take better notes as it was going along. However, I still find that I miss quite a lot while taking care of the younger ones, so I love listening to conference on my MP3 player. You can usually download the MP3's of the conference talks within hours and begin to absorb the messages. I also anxiously await my Ensigns and spend the next 6 months reading and rereading the talks, and taking notes and highlighting them. I truly treasure our inspired modern day scriptures. I hope that this will help you to also treasure the wonderful blessing of a semi-annual General Conference.

Temple Geography

2009-03-21T23:19:00.001-06:00

I am excited to be studying Temples this year with my kids. It is part of my Mother's Educational Course that has been such an inspiration to me this year, and has tied in so nicely with all the little bursts of inspiration I was getting last fall but didn't know how to incorporate into my life.

A couple of days a week I have been reading to my kids from Chad Hawkins book The First 100 Temples (Hawkins, Chad S., The First 100 Temples. Deseret Book, 2001). It is a beautifully illustrated book with a page or two on the history of each temple and several faith promoting stories. Included in the illustrations of each temple is a hidden picture. The kids love to find the hidden picture after I finish reading to them.

We have also incorporated the Temple Cards that were published in the Friend in 2002. We use the cards find the locations on our large wall map as we review what we remember about that temple. The kids were very excited to find that the book mentioned the first donation to the Mesa Arizona Temple was by Helena Rosebery (one of our relatives).

Rebecca began taking notes about the temples the other day and it got me to thinking that we needed some way to document our tour through the Temples of the World, but I couldn't anything other than the temple cards, and the Temple to Dot the Earth Game (Friend November 2002). So I decided to create my own notebooking pages. I created several versions, since I have kids at various levels. I'm planning on creating a Family Temple Notebook and having a different scribe for the day, since 150 temples is a lot to get through in 52 weeks. I included longitude and latitude because we just learned about it this week, but also to aid in locating the cities on a map. I was surprised to find someone had already created a longitude and latitude list (which is way more accurate than mine was going to be) and not only that but I found 2 interactive temple tours one using Google Earth and one using Live Maps. I'm so thankful for the work that other people create and share with the world through the amazing power of the internet.

I found these Temple Trivia questions on about. Com, but I don't like sites with so many advertisements, especially for my kids, so I created my own Temple Trivia Crossword Puzzle based on The First 100 Temples. I think this will be a fun way for them to review what they have learned, and will be able to look through our notebook to find the answers. I'm looking forward to creating more puzzles after I see what they take notes on as we continue on our world tour.

Rebecca said that she would like a report page so she could do her own research on one of the temple sites that I had found. (It really is true, if you trust the process they do transistion into scholars.)

The House of the Lord – Official LDS Site on Temples

LDS Church Temples – wonderful, up to date page on all the temples, facts, wonderful maps, downloadable screensavers.

Temples to Dot the Earth – Mostly maps of the temples, some interesting statistics, and links to local temple websites.

I have only just begun to create this notebooking pages, it will take me a long time to do 150 also. I wanted to share this now, and see if anyone had any suggestions, or recommendations for particular ones that you would like to use right away. I also want to have something that talks about the importance of the temples, I guess I'll have to search the Friend for more Ideas. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Nancy

Bibliography

I found the longitude and latitude of the temples as a download in an CSV file (can be opened in a spreadsheet program) from (GPS Coordinates CSV File) http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/downloads/

Trivia taken from stories in The First 100 Temples (Hawkins, Chad S., The First 100 Temples. Deseret Book, 2001)

The outline pictures of the temples was from the January 1986 Friend ( Pat Graham, "Sharing Time: The Spirit of God," Friend, Jan 1986, 46) but you can download the individual files from this about.com site. The colored temple cards can also be downloaded from about.com at (and can be located easily at this location in a modified format or this location which just links you to the church's site easier. Here are the links to the other months not already listed April 2005 and September 2007.

One Minute to a better YOU

2009-03-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

As part of my Mom's Ed Course I read, The One Minute Teacher (by Spencer Johnson, M.D. and Constance Johnson, M.Ed.)

I really like the idea of taking just "one minute" not only to review my goals, but also to praise myself for progressing on them, and sometimes to take "one minute" to recognize that I am not progressing towards my goals and to accept taht I did something wrong but that I can turn the situation around and begine working on my gaols again. This reminds me of a quote from Flylady.

"You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to
jump in where we are. O.K.?" ~ FlyLady

I have often been guilty of thinking I am so far behind that I will never catch up, but now I try to rememder to tell myself that I don't have to catch up, I just have to start again right where I am.

As I was reading this book I kept thinking of how I need to use the One Minute Recovery when I catch myself in the kitchen eating - when I don't really need to be eating. I also need to set a one minute goal to review, and to remember to praise myself. I also could see ways that this would work with my kids.

I especially want to teach my kids to "Cooperate with Others, Compete with Myself."(pg 85) I love homeschooling my kids for this reason, rather than my kids comparing themselves to their peers it is a lot easier to teach them to compare themselves to where they were last week, last month or last year, and to teach them that as long as they are doing their best and continuing to progress they are successful. I need to teach them to set their own goals, and to learn to praise themselves, and to learn to recover gracefully when they are off track. By teaching them these tools of goal setting, praising, and recovery they can better direct their own life and learn to be the best person they can be.

This book fits in well with some of the other studies that I have been doing - see my posts on habits and sharing - even though I haven't had time to fully explore these areas they all tie together.

I found this great summary of the one minute teacher by Michele - I'd like to further explore her blog.

Opportunities and Attitude

2009-02-28T23:14:00.000-07:00

I've thought a lot lately about how your attitude is all important. If I choose to be upset, things are upsetting, but if I choose to make the best of it, it is just a momentary setback. Disasters and tragedies become trials that only serve to make us stronger, and more aware of our strengths and weaknesses if we only have the right attitude.

I didn't realize how pervasive this was in the LDS culture - I was only just discovering (or rediscovering) it for myself. I love how Mariah Proctors says it in her "I'm grateful for the opportunity"

For Latter-day Saints, life isn't a stream of miserable events, a river of burdens or entitlements, it is instead a series of “opportunities' and that changes everything. "

Attitude really does change everything, and often we just need to slow down, and figure out what Heavenly Father is trying to teach us so that we can adjust our attitude to be one of humility and learning.

I've been trying to teach this to my kids lately. We are memorizing a scripture that Isaac chose,
and I have been trying to teach them that serving others is much more beneficial than fighting. One of the most common complaints at our house is that "so and so" didn't clear their place at the table. Of course, it would take about 5 seconds to "serve on another" and clear their place for them while clearing the rest of the table . . . but the kids seem to think that "failure to clear your place" is a felony offense and must be reported to the Kitchen Police (MOM) and tried before a judge (MOM) and punishment rendered immediately ("so and so") must clear their place right now. Can they not see that this takes about 3 minutes and causes hard feelings, drives the spirit from the room, and distracts Mom.

Maybe I should institute a Kitchen Police and time how long infringements take out of our day. The punishment could be reduced time on the computer. YEA - this might really work. It may be fun and games for awhile, but I know that it is important to teach my children to serve one another, and to love on another. That is what will serve them best in their life. Clearing the table is only a nicety.

Youtube AAAHHH!

2009-02-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

I had an aaahhh moment about youtube today.

I've kind of avoided a lot of websites like myspace, youtube, facebook, and blogging (until recently) for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons are, is it really going to stick around, is there anything good there, or just a bunch of time wasting drivel, am I going to have to worry about bad stuff all the time. Ok, so some of the other reasons are I'm an extremely busy homeschooling mother of 5 kids under the age of 12, who is involved in my church, my extended family, and would like to have a reasonably clean house most of the time and live on one income(my husbands), and I really enjoy digital scrapbooking in my free time. I just don't have time to spend exploring every website community out there, so I just don't try to do it all.

A couple of weeks ago I was almost convinced to join facebook. I don't quite remember the reason why, but I did sign up, except I never have clicked on the link to verify that I signed up, I've just been to busy to get back to that particular email. I do love blogging now that I have rediscovered how much I enjoy learning, and thinking, and writing to improve that learning process. Like most people, I want to be remembered and to pass on my knowledge to future generations as well. As I have gotten into blogging I have learned (again) that there are many amazing and talented people out there who are constantly contributing wonderful things to the internet community. Some of my favorite blogs to I read - when I get the chance - are

Everyday Food Storage

Diapers and Divinity

The Happy Housewife

Milestones Academy

The Lazy Organizer

of course, this isn't all the blogs that I read, and I'm always finding more, but I'll save for another day.

I had an aaahhh moment about youtube today.

I didn't forget -- this post was inspired by article I read on Meridian Magazine "Church Videos for Blogs and Websites" By Larry Richman. It contains a list of website with uplifting, inspirational videos that depict the LDS church in a postive light. Of course, I haven't had a chance to watch hardly any of them, but I'll set a goal to watch 1 video a day, and this is why:

Please share this list with others. Feel free to embed these videos in your blogs and Web sites. When you watch these videos, be sure to rate them and leave a comment. That will help positive videos about the Church to show up higher than negative ones!

AAAAHHHHH! One thing that I can do to help fulfill the mission on the church is to increase the popularity of good, so that good can outshine the bad. I'm off to sign up for a youtube account so that I can rate video's and help to my part in spreading joy!

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." incorrectly attributed to (Edmund Burke)

10 minutes later

WOW, that was easy, and I can sign in using my google account so that makes it even simpler! Here is the first video that I watched on, rated, and commented on.

Gordon B. Hinckley - Lessons I Learned as a Boy

Bible Pop Quiz

2009-02-10T15:47:00.001-07:00

Can you name this character from the Bible?"

"This man preached tirelessly to a people who largely rejected him. He was just and perfect in his generation. But he was mocked by the people. Grieved by their sins, he did all that the Lord commanded him. The people sought to kill him. He constructed the means of saving all mankind. Those who followed him were saved from death. Only those who were his family were saved. His salvation also saved the animals from death."

So - do you have an answer ?

Are you sure?

Is that your final answer?

If your answer is NOAH - you are right!

But wait, was that your first answer?

If your first thought was Jesus Christ you are also right.

Trick question you say, well maybe, but so fascinating. How many other Bible characters have lives that parallel the life of Christ? Curious now? OK, here is another one.

"There was a long wait for this person's birth. His name and birth were foretold by an angel. His mother conceived miraculously and brought forth a son. He was called `the only begotten son.' He traveled to Jerusalem on a donkey. Those with him were asked to wait while he went yonder to worship and pray. He was to be sacrificed on a hill in the area of Moriah. He carried the wood to be instrumental in his death. He was one with, and in similitude of, his father. He voluntarily submitted to the will of his father. Those who accept the gospel become his seed--his sons and his daughters."

So - I bet you figured out it could be Christ, but who else?

No, I didn't figure these out by myself, but I am highly intrigued to go and study my scriptures more know and to learn more about he lives of the prophets and the Savior. I'm reading this great book called, The Holy Secret by James L. Ferrell and the best part is you can read it online for free from DeseretBook.com. The pop quiz questions posted above are only a small part of chapter 7, but don't start there, read the book from the beginning. It will open your eyes and really get you thinking about how you study the scriptures.

The Holy Secret
by James L. Ferrell
online by Deseretbook.com
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
. . .

Contemporaries in History

2009-02-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

I learned so little about history in school. Ok, so I know a few main characters, and a little bit about how the government in supposed to work, and that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are our founding documents, but beyond that I really didn't learn to understand the fabric of history.

I didn't even know how much I didn't know and understand until recently. The first inkling of my lack of knowledge was towards the end of my college career. I was taking an art class (art 101: History of art or something like that). We covered a lot of types of art throughout history. I remember being amazed when I realized that 6000 years is a really long time, and that their is a art history that goes back that far. Here I was, a young married mother of two, and finally grown up enough to enjoy an art class(where we did indeed experiment with many types of art) and finally learn that a people had been creating art for thousands and thousands of years.

A few years later, when I was a mother of 4, I was finally privileged to learn again how little I really knew about history. We were studying ancient history, and the Old Testament side by side, what an amazing bit of serendipity. I didn't know enough to plan it that way, but it was indeed a blessing from above that we were able to see how the Old Testament is the spiritual account of history, and that other historical records exist to verify the existence of people like ABRAHAM and DAVID. I had never, until that time, really connected the scriptures, with actual history. I didn't doubt the scriptures, I guess I just assumed they were the only records that we had . . . ?

I am still often pleasantly happy to discover many more fascinating stories from history, and feel so very blessed that I am able to learn right along with my kids as we learn together in our homeschool. I know that they are learning so much more than I learned at their age, and I am finally getting the education that I continually desire.

On that note, I'd like to share my amazing discovery for today. Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln were contemporaries, and their lives are amazingly similar. Think about it, they were both born and raised poor, were basically self educated, ran for President of the United States, served fellowman immensely and were both martyrs. I learned even more about Abraham Lincold and Joseph Smith by reading this article: Did Abraham Lincoln ever meet Joseph Smith by David and Nancy Leroy. While it is impossible to say if they ever met in this life, I'm sure that they've met on the other side. I know you'll agree with me.

I'm getting an Education - and Loving IT!

2009-01-30T22:51:00.001-07:00

I discovered this great group of women from around the world that have organized a course of study, titled, "A Mother's Education Course for Latter-Day Saints." I've only been participating since January, but it has made a huge difference in my life this month. My thirst for knowledge, especially gospel knowledge has increased, the feeling accomplishment is wonderful as complete something that, unlike dishes and laundry, won't have to be repeated again tomorrow. The feeling that I have friends that are striving, like me, to become better mother's, better wives, and better daughters, to understand more about the gospel, despite our busy schedules, and precious responsibilities.

A month ago I thought, how am I going to find the 15 minutes a day to read the scriptures, but now 30 minutes a day doesn't seem like enough time. I want to keep reading and studying.

I posted that thought on the LDSMOMED yahoo group and was asked how I got to that point. Although we've been taught for years that we need to read, and study, and pray every day it isn't just something you can decided to do, will-power doesn't seem to be enough. As I've thought about that I had to go back in time a few years. Life runs in cycles, sometimes I've been doing great spiritually, and then sometimes I'm down. I can see the cycles in my life now if I look back, but I can also see that it's not just a circle, it's more like an upward spiral. Each time I am up, I reach higher and deeper, and learn more, but then the fall comes, but I don't fall as far down as I was before, because I'm a different person than I was before. It is still difficult to climb off that plateau and get moving upward again, but once I've taken the first step, the 2nd and 3rd is much easier.

In 2006 I joined a yahoogroup called GCFHS were we began a serious study of the General Conference Issue of the Ensign and then discussed the insights that we gained. Although I haven't been real active in the discussion I have come to love General Conference and can't wait to get my Ensign to begin to study the words of the prophets. Even through my last downward spiral I kept up my reading of the Conference issue, even though scripture reading was quite lacking.

However, as I discovered this new group, and moved into a new year, it was exciting to once again begin the upward climb, and I can feel myself learning, and my testimony growing. The more I learn, the more I want to learn. I feel just like my Grandma when she said this week, "I've decided that what I want to do for eternity is read, and study, and learn."

I have no doubts that there won't be tough times ahead, and my studies will suffer, but I also know that I will be able to climb higher, and move closer to the Lord again as he teaches me the things that I need to know to return to live with him.

Joseph Smith and the Angel Moroni

2009-01-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

I am teaching the 11/12 Valiant Girls class in Primary again this year. This has been such a great class to teach. The girls are still young and innocent, yet eager to learn and understand the doctrines of the gospel. They often as questions that make me pause and think, I don't remember asking such questions at their age. This year we are studying Doctrine and Covenants and Church History in Primary, and also in Gospel Doctrine.

During Family Home Evening this week Emily was giving a lesson about how Joseph Smith prepared to receive the gold plates. We have been using the primary manual at home for devotionals and family home evening as well, there is so much information in there that I get through so little of it during my class. We were amazed to learn that Joseph Smith had received visits from other Book of Mormon prophets such as Nephi and Alma as he was being spiritually prepared to receive and translate the gold plates.

Joseph Smith’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, wrote that after the first visits of Moroni, “Joseph continued to receive instructions from the Lord, and we continued to get the children together every evening for the purpose of listening while he gave us a relation of the same. … During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode [method] of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among them” (Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, pp. 82–83). Because he had always been honest, Joseph Smith’s parents and brothers and sisters believed all Joseph told them. “Lesson 4: Joseph Smith Prepares to Receive the Gold Plates,” Primary 5: Doctrine and Covenants: Church History, (1997),16

I realized that Joseph went through a scholar phase at this time and was being taught be great mentors from history to prepare him for his mission in life. He had many trials, and had to be tested and to learn the things that he needed to know to perform his great work.

This led to a discussion of Angel Moroni, and how many times he visited Joseph Smith. I had previously read these next two quotes and was able to share what I remembered with my family.

David Whitmer Comes to Help Joseph Smith

By May 1829 the work of translating the Book of Mormon was almost complete. Although Joseph Smith had possessed the gold plates for about two years, he had only worked on the translation a total of about three months. Joseph had been careful to protect the plates and had not shown them to anyone, but he became concerned about their safety in Harmony. Oliver Cowdery, who was acting as Joseph’s scribe, wrote to his friend David Whitmer, who did not know Joseph Smith, and asked David to bring him and the Prophet to Fayette, New York, where they would be safe and could finish the translation.

Before he could take his wagon to pick up Joseph and Oliver, however, David had to prepare his fields for the spring planting. When he went out to start plowing the soil in the morning, David discovered that someone had plowed part of the fields already. This person had done a very good job and left the plow in a furrow, ready for the work to continue. At the end of a day of plowing, David found he had accomplished in one day what normally would have taken two days to do. David’s father, Peter Whitmer Sr., was impressed with this miracle and said, “There must be an overruling hand in this, and I think you would better go down to Pennsylvania as soon as your plaster of paris is sown” (quoted in Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, p. 148). Farmers in that area added plaster of paris to the soil to make it less acidic. The next day David went to the place he had left the plaster, near his sister’s house, but the plaster was gone. His sister told him that the day before, she and her children had seen three strangers spreading the plaster with great speed and skill. She had assumed they were men David had hired, but David knew they were helpers provided by the Lord.

David was grateful for this divine help, and he hurried off to Harmony. Joseph and Oliver came out to meet him as he neared the town, which surprised David because he had not told them when he was coming. Oliver told David that Joseph had seen David’s trip in a vision and thus knew when he would arrive. David had never met Joseph Smith before, but he soon became sure that Joseph was a true prophet, and they became good friends.
“Lesson 9: Witnesses See the Gold Plates,” Primary 5: Doctrine and Covenants: Church History, (1997),42

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David Whitmer, in 1878, told Joseph F. Smith and Orson Pratt a story that includes three more visits, the fifteenth through seventeenth. He was traveling with Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith to Fayette, to finish the translation when “a very pleasant, nice-looking old man suddenly appeared by the side of our wagon and saluted us with, ‘good morning, it is very warm,’ at the same time wiping his face or forehead with his hand. We returned the salutation, and, by a sign from Joseph, I invited him to ride if he was going our way. But he said very pleasantly, ‘No, I am going to Cumorah.’ This name was something new to me, I did not know what Cumorah meant. We all gazed at him and at each other, and as I looked around enquiringly of Joseph, the old man instantly disappeared, so that I did not see him again.

“Joseph F. Smith: Did you notice his appearance?

“D. Whitmer: I should think I did. He was, I should think, about five feet eight or nine inches tall and heavy set, about such a man as James Vancleave there, but heavier; his face was as large; he was dressed in a suit of brown woolen clothes, his hair and beard were white, like Brother Pratt’s, but his beard was not so heavy. I also remember that he had on his back a sort of knapsack with something in, shaped like a book. It was the messenger who had the plates, who had taken them from Joseph just prior to our starting from Harmony. Soon after our arrival home, I saw something which led me to the belief that the plates were placed or concealed in my father’s barn. I frankly asked Joseph if my supposition was right, and he told me it was.”Robert J. Woodford, “Book of Mormon Personalities Known by Joseph Smith,” Ensign, Aug 1978, 12

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My curiousity was now piqued and I did some more research on Joseph Smith and Angel Moroni and found this great article "Moroni - Joseph Smith's Tutor" that talks about many of the known visits of Moroni to Joseph Smith. I am just thrilled that the more that I learn about early church history, and Joseph Smith the more that my curiosity and testimony grows.

H. Donl Peterson, “Moroni—Joseph Smith’s Tutor,” Ensign, Jan 1992, 22

The Invisible Woman

2009-01-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

What a touching tribute to women and a motivation to continue to serve, even when we fill invisible.

She's Growing UP

2009-01-22T22:23:00.001-07:00

When MaryAnn is the age Rebecca is now Rebecca could be married or serving a mission, but I will still have a little girl who is growing up. Rebecca is looking forward to being in Young Women's before the end of the year, and likes to remind us the she won't be able to come to Webelos anymore, because she will be at "HER" activity.

Meridian Magazine showcased MormonAD video's today, and it reminded me how much I enjoyed reading the New Era when I was a young women, and Rebecca has already been asking me to get the New Era for her to read. WOW, my little girl really is growing up! This was one of my favorite MormonAd's - I have always been my own person, my own kind of beautiful, and what a wonderful gift of identity I have been given to love myself for who I am. I hope that I am able to instill that gift in my children.

Another Question

2009-01-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

It appears that others are asking questions, like Eamonn McCann when he asks, "What if Mormons are right and Catholics and Protestants wrong?"

Here's the article
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What if Mormons are Right and Catholics and Protestants wrong?
Thursday, 28 August 2008

Why are the Catholic bishops so concerned about Mormons baptising dead parishioners? The Mormons didn’t invent baptism of the dead. The practice has a significant history within mainstream Christianity. The decision to order its abandonment was taken only after heated debate, and was a close-run thing.

What’s the difference, anyway, between baptising the dead and baptising babies? A tiny infant will have as much understanding as a dead person — none at all — of the complex philosophical belief-system it’s being inducted into when baptised, say, a Catholic. Transubstantiation? There’s daily communicants go to their deaths without any clear understanding of the concept. So what chance the mewling tot?

Indeed, given that all Christian Churches believe that the soul lives on after death and retains understanding and consciousness of self, doesn’t it make more sense to baptise dead adults than live babies?

Apart from which, if the Catholic bishops hold that the beliefs of the Mormons are pure baloney (as they must), and their rituals therefore perfectly meaningless, how can it matter to them what mumbo-jumbo Mormons might mutter over Catholic cadavers?

The current controversy has been prompted by Archbishop Dermot Clifford and Bishop Bill Murphy complaining to the National Library in Dublin about records handed over by the Church being made available to all and sundry. The Mormons are believed to have taken advantage of this facility to comb through parish records and baptise the souls enumerated therein, a batch at a time.

The bishops stepped in after the Vatican warned all national churches earlier this year about Mormons misusing diocesan records. I have heard it suggested that the alarm of the Holy See had escalated after reports that Mormon multiple baptisms were regularly breaking the official record set by General Liu Kung Lee who, in one afternoon, baptised seven regiments of Chinese soldiers into Christianity with a fire-hose.

Let’s look at the facts as understood by the early followers of Christ. For more than 300 years after the Crucifixion, baptism of the dead was widely accepted, its biblical basis located in 1 Corinthians 15, 29: “Otherwise, what shall they do who are baptised for the dead if the dead rise not again at all? Why are they then baptised for them.” In other words, a deceased person could be baptised by proxy: otherwise, how could such a person be included in the Resurrection? A good question.

The radical Cerinthians and the Marcionites were especially energetic baptisers of the dead. It was to wrong-foot these sects, seen as competitors with the official Church at a time when it was consolidating its position as the State religion of the Roman Empire, that the Synods of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) voted, after bitter debate, to condemn the practice.

Interestingly, a clear trace of baptism of the dead has lingered in official practice to the present day, in the form of prayers for divine intercession on behalf of the unbaptised souls. Prayers for intervention were encouraged in Catholic schools in the 1950s. For all I know, this remains the case.

Baptising the dead might be seen as analogous, too, to the Jewish prayer of intercession. Which serves as a reminder that US Jews put a halt to galloping post-mortem Mormonism a couple of years ago by arguing that deJudaising those who’d perished in the concentration camps constituted a profound insult to Holocaust victims. Following talks in New York between leaders of the two religions, the Mormons backed off.

The key point is, surely, that all religions believe that the soul, after death, at last knows what’s what — whether Hinduism, Free Presbyterianism, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Catholicism or whatever is the true religion. What if it’s Mormonism? What if it’s an everyday occurrence on the other side that Catholics and Protestants are left standing dumbstruck at the Gates, gasping: “Mormons! Who’d have believed it?” And maybe a wife berating her husband: “There! I told you it would be the Mormons! But would you listen?! Now it’s eternal hellfire for the two of us, I hope you’re satisfied.”

In that scenario, shouldn’t all members of all other religions be literally eternally grateful to the Mormons for sharing their saving grace even unto and after death?

If, on the other hand, it isn’t the Mormons at all, those who turn out to have been right can wave a merry farewell to the crestfallen followers of Brigham Young as they trundle downwards to their eternal comeuppance.

What’s the problem?

Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon

2009-01-21T22:06:00.001-07:00

I've always believed the Book of Mormon to be true, to have been translated from Gold Plates by Joseph Smith, and the more that I learn about Joseph Smith, and the standard works of the LDS Church, the more that I believe. How Can you not belief, that is a question I often ask myself when I come across something new - like this video.

Glasgows at Home

2009-01-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

The Glasgows are a wild and fun loving bunch, who enjoy getting together, talking, laughing, joking, teasing, eating, talking, working, laughing, and eating, did I mention talking and laughing.
We had a great evening tonight at my Mom and Dad’s house. Bonnie, Tyler, and Ally decided to surprise everyone and move back from Florida. They discovered that it is really difficult to orchestrate a cross continent move without telling anyone, and without trapping someone in a sticky situation between a story, half truth and little white lie. You may think it deceitful, but to “a Glasgow” it is a lot of fun, and makes life much more interesting. All the hiding, truth evading, and stories came to an end tonight when the entire Gail Glasgow Clan descended upon Mom and Dad at “HOME”.

We had a wonderful evening full of love, laughter, food, talking, hugs, and joy. We worked together to put one of our favorite family meals on the table, Finger Food Delight, we lifted our voices up in song as we sang, The Primary Colors, we bowed our heads in prayer as we blessed the food, and began and ended our family home evening. We all listened and learned more about the Prophets of the 7 dispensations of the Gospel as we listened to Malinda teach us a lesson. We rejoiced in the fact that we were all together again, all 15 of us.

A Second Fridge

2009-01-19T11:34:00.001-07:00

When my Grandma moved in with us she had 2 fridges and an upright freezer. She hardly ever uses her extra fridge, so she said that I could use it. It has been so wonderful, and really saves me a lot of time and money. I am able to go shopping at Costco twice a month, get 8 gallons of milk and store it in the 2nd fridge until we need it. This saves me from having to "run to the store" late Saturday night so we have milk for Sunday. It also saves me money because I am in the store less, therefor less of a chance for items to jump into my cart that I don't really need.

We just recently discovered another item that stores well in Grandma's fridge, yogart. We love yogurt, and having a wide variety of flavor in little cartons takes up a lot of room, but now I can get our favorite Tillamook yogurt at Winco once a month (about 50 containers) can easily be stored in the extra fridge.

While MaryAnn and I were shopping this morning she made a new friend.

Laughter Really is the Best Medicine

2009-01-18T22:57:00.001-07:00

Our Sunday evening traditions usually find us planning games as a family. I don't often get to play however, as I am the one tending to the little kids. However, this week we played Family Fun with my parents. I love this game because even it is an interactive game that doesn't require a lot of continual focus or card holding and I can play even if I am busy with the baby.

Tonight my parents were playing with us and we were first entertained as Rebecca and Emily had to sit down on the floor back to back and try to stand up without using their hands, and without their frogs falling off of their head. I wish that I had my video camera, it was so much fun to watch them struggle, and laugh, and except that they had tried, but failed.

Next we got to watch Isaac attempt what my Mom said was impossible, laying down on the floor, putting a cube on his forhead, and standing up without dropping the cube. It only took Isaac 2 tries and he succeeded! Woo Hoo, Way to Go Isaac. Again, I wish I had my camera.

However, the funniest part of the night was when Brad had to hum a tune and try to get his teammates to guess it. Both Rebecca and I had read the card, (I had to decide if Isaac would know the song to hum it, or if he should just try to guess.) As Brad opened his mouth (or closed it) to begin humming my Dad shouted out, "The Star Spangled Banner" Rebecca and I were both amazed, I started laughing, while Rebecca shouted "What?" Dad was right, and Brad hadn't even hummed a note. My Dad started laughing, and laughter is mighty contagious. It was so funny, I was crying. It was probably a good minute or so before we got ourselves under control and could go on with the game. I don't think we ever really even asked Dad how he came up with that answer, just a wild guess, I assume.

Brad and I were reviewing the events of the day and we had to laugh again at how much we had laughed before. I have now gotten at least 2 great workouts out of my Dad's confident (yet premature answer), "The Star Spangled Banner." Brad said he was worried that Dad was going to fall out of the chair, or "croak" right then and their. Blessedly, that is not the case, and as we continue to laugh as a family we will keep his heart in good shape. Laughter is one of the best Glasgow Family Traditions!

No More Guilt

2009-01-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

Mother's feel guilt, often, and lots of it. Homeschooling mothers have even more reasons to worry. This article by Kathryn Louis of Milestones Academy is appropriately titled, "Let Me Reassure You." This paragraph by Kathryn is very reassuring to me, because this is what our homeschool looks like most of the time.

One sweet mother asked what the bare minimum should be. In my opinion, devotional, the 3 Rs, and plenty of outdoor time are the most crucial school activities. If you then can add a little history and science, you are doing well. Handicrafts are almost too sad to miss but may be postponed.

Thanks you Kathryn for your sweet words and your dedication to share your wealth of wisdom and experience with homeschooling mothers everywhere.

Mom Song

2008-12-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

Teaching the Book of Mormon

2008-12-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

Over the last 4 years that I've been homeschooling I've come to the conclusion that it's been a good day in our homeschool if we have devotional and scripture reading time. Anything above and beyond that is exceptional. I came to this decision after considering this quote by Joseph Smith, "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

If the Book of Mormon is so important I figured that it is imperitive that we learn all we can about the Book of Mormon. We start out each new year using the scripture story books produced by the church, Old Testament Stories, New Testament Stories, Book of Mormon Stories, and Doctrine and Covenants Stories. These are easy to read, include pictures and give us an overview of the book. Then we strive to dig deeper and learn more. I have discovered several great resources for teaching the Book of Mormon and using it as a learning tool in our homeschool.

Discover the Scriptures - Rochelle Keogh
I highly recommend this website. Rochelle Keogh has created a wonderful series of workbooks for students as young as beginning readers to use to learn and understand the Book of Mormon, and other LDS scriptures. Her workbook for beginners covers the Book of Mormon Stories book mentioned above. The workbooks for older readers get right into the scriptures. We have been using her materials for several years in our homeschooling, and they are easy to use as a family or independently.

Book of Mormon Studies - by Heather Martinson
Heather has put together a great study guide that kids can use on their own or could be used as an outline for family devotional time. She incorporates primary songs and instructions on reading the Book of Mormon. She offers this study guide for free.

Plain Book of Mormon - by TimothyWilson
This is a simplified version of the Book of Mormon written at an 8th to 9th grade reading level and incorporates many pictures. It is available as a free PDF download or for online viewing.

Storied Scriptures by Penny Gardner
Penny has provided a wonderful service by breaking the standard works down into manageable reading segments. My family read the Old Testament following the Storied Scriptures daily readings and we learned so much and enjoyed reading the Old Testament with kids ages 8 to 3. WOW!

Scripture Scouts by Roger and Melanie Hoffman, Marvin Payne, and Steven Kapp Perry
My kids love the Scripture Scouts. We own all the CD's and they are listened to over and over. I remember one night when my daughter about age 7, came to me in tears, not sad tears, but tears indicating that she had felt the Spirit testify to hear that what she was listening to on the Scripture Scout CD about the Savior was true. What a testimony building experience for her and for me.

Each episode of Scripture Scouts is about 30 minutes long, and they cover many topics. Once you fall in love with Scripture Scouts check out the AllAbout Family.

We can learn so much from studying the Book of Mormon each day and usually I learn from my kids.

Scrapbooking Programs

2008-12-27T08:47:00.001-07:00

I'm often asked what programs I use for scrapbooking, so here's a quick overview.

For years, since about 1997 I have used Microsoft's Picture It. I still use it for simple and quick little projects. It is simple to use - my 9 and 10 year old daughters have been using it for at least a year. However, Microsoft is no longer making this product. I have found two alternative products that are similar.

Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Designer is a great product and I have found a great deal for you. DJ Inkers sells it for about $10. It is great for scrapbooking but you can also make cards, invitations, posters, and more. It comes with a lot of clip art, but allows you to also use clipart and more importantly scrapbooking elements from other sources.

Scrapbook Max is another great program that I have found. The wonderful thing about this program is you can download a trial version and use it for 1 month before buying it. The purchase price is fantastic, only $40 and it comes with a large selection of scrapbooking kits. You can purchase more kits from Scrapbook Max, or use kits found on any other scrapbooking website. They also have a wide range of products such as books, calendars, puzzles, etc that they can print and the prices look compatible with many other printing websites that I have found.

Adobe's Photoshop Elements is my program of choice (it has a higher learning curve) but you can do so much more. You have control over virtually every aspect of the page and although I have been using it on and off for years I understand only the most basic aspects of the program. This is a simplified version of Adobe's Photoshop that is a professional use program, but I couldn't tell you what the differences are. Adobe also offers a free trial version of Elements. Costco is currently selling it for $79.99 with a bonus Learn Digital Scrapbooking CD by Linda Sattgast. I've learned a lot from Linda's tutorials on her website The Scrapper's Guide.

There are many other programs that you can use effectively for digital scrapbooking. If you are interested in finding out if you already have one that you can use try Top Ten Reviews Website for a review of other scrapbooking programs.

Each program has it's strengths and weaknesses and you need to choose one that will work best with your scrapbooking style. Another important thing to remember is to save each page in two formats, the format that your program uses, and in a JPG for sharing.

Good Luck finding your scrapbooking style.

On the first day of Christmas

2008-12-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

My kids love to sing "The Twelve days of Christmas" and they especially love to anxiously await some mysterious stranger dropping gifts off on the doorstep for 12 days before Christmas. This miracle has happened at our house 2 0r 3 years. I can distinctly remember 2 years when life was going really rough and this lifted everyone's spirits so much.

This year Isaac is sharing the 12 days of Christmas with us - and I'm adding in a little bit of the history of the Christmas Symbols before the song. While looking up the meaning of the symbols I found out that it is another piece of history that can't be proven for absolute certainty, and some people want to "debunk" the religious symbols (is that surprising) of the song. (The Twelve Days of Christmas, Dennis Bratcher) The greatest part for me was this paragraph that seemed to sum up what I have been struggling to understand about symbols.

"However, on another level, this uncertainty should not prevent us from using the song in celebration of Christmas. Many of the symbols of Christianity were not originally religious, including even the present date of Christmas, but were appropriated from contemporary culture by the Christian Faith as vehicles of worship and proclamation. Perhaps, when all is said and done, historical accuracy is not really the point. Perhaps more important is that Christians can celebrate their rich heritage, and God's grace, through one more avenue this Christmas. Now, when they hear what they once thought was a secular "nonsense song," they will be reminded in one more way of the grace of God working in transforming ways in their lives and in our world. After all, is that not the meaning of Christmas anyway?"

Symbols only have meaning if we give them meaning. The alphabet is just 26 scribbles unless we have been taught that they have meaning. A kiss is just a kiss, or a thimble, unless we attach love and affection in its delivery. I love the symbols of Christmas, and I teach them to my children, just as I teach them to eat, to read, to write, to love and serve one another.

Mess or Bliss

2008-12-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

I walked into this room and my instinctive thought was - "What a mess!"

Then I sat down in the rocking chair, nursed my baby, listened to The Forgotten Carols CD, and had my husband turn of all the bright lights. As I sat there an relaxed I paid more attention to what I was looking at.

Isn't that a beautiful Christmas Tree that the kids decorated?

And here are the scriptures that we just finished reading before they went off to bed. Not only are we reading the Book of Mormon, but for Christmas we are following the advent calendar in the December 2008 Friend (as suggested, organized, and orchestrated by Rebecca).

Here is evidence that we went to Deseret Book to do our Secret Santa Christmas Shopping tonight. The kids willing spent their own money that they have been saving for several months to buy presents for each other, they weren't stingy either.

Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

Reading and the Book of Mormon

2008-12-10T00:24:00.000-07:00

I read this essay by Greg Hill on Grant Von Harrison's research behind writing his book Teaching Children to Read Using the Book of Mormon when I was just getting started homeschooling. (You can by the book at BYU or preview it at LDS Literacy.org). This really helped to form some of my most basic beliefs about learning to read and its importance. As we continued to read from the scriptures as a family we can see the impact that it has on our kids education. (See this post on Teaching the Book of Mormon).

Since that time I've been interested everytime I find other books about teaching kids to read by actually using the scriptures. Here are the 3 books that I have found.

Teaching Children to Read Using the Book of Mormon - By Grant Von Harrison ( BYU or preview it at LDS Literacy.org)

Learning to Read using the Book of Mormon, by Camille Funk

Head Start with the Book of Mormon: Using the Scriptures to Teach Children Reading and Writing Skills by Vicki Lynn Rasmussen

I own all three of these books, I have used bits and pieces from each of them. If I could only buy one, I would go with the Head Start book, although I'd like to get the CD version of the 5 Volume Learning to Read Using the Book of Mormon so I could study it more.

I'm so glad that we have such a wide variety of wonderful books to read, but if the only book I could have was the Book of Mormon . . . what a treasure!

Book of Mormon Stories

2008-12-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I searched out some Book of Mormon story books for my kids. I wanted them each to have their own book, on a level appropriate for reading ability, to read and learn to understand and love the stories of the Book of Mormon. I was able to find a few books, but I didn't feel like their were a lot of choices. I've been on the look out for new books since I know have two new little kids. They can use the books of their siblings, but my kids are a little possessive, about "my book of Mormon story book." While sharing is an important concept, I think that these books in a small way represent the "oil in their lamp" the beginning of their testimonies.

Last year I noticed that a girl in my primary class had a Book of Mormon story book that I had not seen before. I finally took the time today at church, about the Book of Mormon stories book that their daughter had. It was one that I'd never run across before in my search of books for my kids. I came home and in my search on the Cedarfort website I found several books about the Book of Mormon that I never have seen before.

The young girl had this book, Jr. Book of Mormon. This one is for young children, ages 2 and up, it has a lot of illustrations, and short stories.

"Book of Mormon Stories for Little Children" is one that we already own, I bought it for Emily in my previous search. It only has a few pictures, and it appropriate for a beginning reader to read to themselves.

My First Book of Mormon Stories by Deanna Draper Buck is a board book for the youngest reader. We have really enjoyed ours, and other books in this series. Even though it is a board book it is quite large, and is wonderfully illustrated.

I found the Book of Mormon Reader Activity book by Joylnne Stapp several years ago when I began homeschooling my children. My daughter enjoyed reading it and doing the activities in the book. She has recently relocated her copy and is again reading the book and doing the activities in it again. I may have to buy a new copy for my other children so that they can do the activities as well.

Who's Your Hero? Vol. 1: Book of Mormon Stories Applied to Children by David Bowman is Isaac's favorite book for scripture reading time. This is different than scripture time. Scripture Time is in the evening with Dad, and we read from the Book of Mormon, Scripture Reading Time is part of our home school day, immediately following our devotional. The kids get about 15 minutes to read, something involving the scriptures. Isaac's book, volume 1 has stories about Nephi, Abinidi, and Ammon, and then it has a section where it shows the kids how they can be like these scripture hero's in their everyday life.

"And it Came to Pass" looks like a great book to read to understand the story line of the Book of Mormon, and to understand how if fits into the flow of history. I would love to be able to read this book. You can preview the first 22 pages of this book online, and what a great resource.

"The 2 Hour Book of Mormon" by Larry Anderson is supposed to be readable in 2 hours by a young reader and helps prepare them to read the Book of Mormon for the first time.

The LDS.org website now has the online Book of Mormon Stories online in several formats, mp3, pdf, html, and video. Even better, they also have the New Testament, Old Testament, and Doctrine and Covenants in the same formats. The LDS.org website also has the Scriptures available to read online, but even better, the computer can read them to you. My kids love to get online and listen to a chapter read outloud while they follow along as part of their scripture reading time.The church is continually providing us with wonderful resources in a variety of formats to teach our children.

This is the Book of Mormon that I bought for myself. It is a large and heavy book. We use it daily for our family scripture study, and ours has fallen apart. I took it down to a copy center and had the broken binding cut off and had it spiral bound in two sections. It is much easier for us to read it this way. They have done a wonderful job of adding definitions, footnotes, quotes, and pictures to the book. It makes it easy to answer questions and discuss what we are reading. Although I bought story books for my kids to read on their own I also feel that it is very important for them to hear and read the Book of Mormon in its original form daily.
(10/26/08)

Hobbit - Hobbit - Hobbit

2008-12-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Kevin likes to say Hobbit, Hobbit, Hobbit, in the hopes that Daddy will read outloud to us again tonight. Unfortunately, tonight we had to tell him, not tonight, The Hobbit is over. We have really enjoyed our evenings lately as Brad has read outloud to the whole family. I really enjoyed have a few minutes (30 or more somenights) to sit quietly, to hold a baby, to work on a plastic canvas project, or to just close my eyes and listen.

We were trying to decide what book to read next. Brad is going to start reading "The Red Badge of Courage" so that he can attend a book group meeting with the Statesmen book group. While I was trying to find out if it would be an appropriate book to read aloud to the family I found this great article in the New York Times on the importance of reading out loud to you kids.

Hey Brad - another thing we've been doing right all along.

The books that are mentioned look like great ones to add to our collection.

Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children: Selections from Shakespeare, Twain, Dickens, O.Henry, London, Longfellow, Irving Aesop, Homer, Cervantes, Hawthorne, and More by William F. Russell

Hey! Listen to This: Stories to Read Aloud - by Jim Trelease

ABOUT EDUCATION; THE VIRTUES OF READING ALOUD

By FRED M. HECHINGER

Published: November 13, 1984

'' READING to your children may be the single most powerful contribution that you, as a parent, can make toward their success in school,'' William F. Russell says.
The one common factor in all children who learned to read easily, he says, is not a high I.Q., not family income, not parents with college degrees. Rather, it is that those children had been read to regularly by their parents from whatever materials happened to be at hand - newspapers, road signs, even product labels.
Still, Dr. Russell, who holds a doctorate in education, prefers good literature, and he offers parents a choice in his new book, ''Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children'' (Crown Publishers, $13.95).
Reading aloud to children may be turning into a national movement. Two years ago, Jim Trelease, a newspaper reporter, artist and father, published ''The Read-Aloud Handbook'' (Penguin Books, $6.95). In an interview he said parents should begin by reading to their 6-month-old infants. By age 2, he added, being read to ought to be a daily activity, preferably before naptime and before going to sleep in the evening.
The prescriptions of Dr. Russell and Mr. Trelease overlap. Mr. Trelease urged that reading aloud be continued in school, from the first day, and at least through elementary school. Dr. Russell agrees but suggests extending the practice into early adolescence. He says it is a mistake for parents to stop reading aloud to their children as soon as they learn to read by themselves.
The complexity and vocabulary of a book that may scare an eighth- grader away may be readily understood when the child hears the work read aloud, Dr. Russell says. Children's first-grade primers, he points out, are written with a controlled vocabulary of only about 350 words, even though most first-graders actually have a ''listening vocabulary'' of almost 10,000 words. In other words, not reading real literature to them is an insult to their intelligence and dulls their appetite for books. Occasionally, Dr. Russell admits, he was tempted by difficult passages to simplify the original text, but as soon as he imagined the authors ''leering'' over his shoulder he left things intact.
Apart from intellectual benefits, much affection can be generated during family reading sessions, bringing children and parents together more effectively than merely watching television might.
In his selected classics, Dr. Russell begins his Level 1, ages 5 to 8, with Hans Christian Andersen's ''The Ugly Duckling'' and concludes with ''The Golden Touch,'' adapted from ''The Wonder Book'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Level 2, ages 8 to 11, begins with a selection from Mark Twain and includes an O. Henry story and parts of Romeo and Juliet. Level 3 starts with an excerpt from Stephen Crane's ''The Red Badge of Courage'' and moves to a selection of poems. Finally, he includes ''holiday favorites'' from Easter and Passover to ''A Christmas Carol.'' But in an interview Dr. Russell stressed that the book intends to show parents how to select their own candidates for reading aloud.
Mr. Trelease's book included a guide to more than 300 read-aloud suggestions. The search for materials may lead others to the Seedling Series, paperbacks published quarterly for children by Short Story International. It contains the unabridged works of contemporary writers from all over the world and is available by subscription (P.O. Box 405, Great Neck, N.Y. 11022; four issues for $12.) The series, which is in its fourth year and is aimed at ages 9 to 12, features stories by American and foreign writers.
''We have discovered,'' said Sam Tankel, the publisher, ''that children are fascinated by stories about children, particularly from other countries.''
Since children usually want their favorite stories read over and over again, Dr. Russell urges parents to pick readings that interest them as well. When the adult reader appears uninspired, the message, he warns, is that reading is boring.
Fathers should be as much involved as mothers, Dr. Russell says. Single parents should recruit adult readers of the opposite sex - grandparents, neighbors, friends. The male role, Dr. Russell stresses, is important because children often see reading as a feminine activity: most elementary schoolteachers are women. The male-female issue is especially important for poetry, which is often mistakenly viewed as not a ''manly'' pursuit.
Dr. Russell prefaces each selection with the approximate reading time. He considers it vital that reading sessions not be cut off in midstream because time has run out.
Reading aloud to children is making converts. In Chicago, Mayor Harold Washington plans to begin a media campaign early next year and to distribute information to public schools, libraries, churches and youth organizations and parents.
In Delaware, State Representative Kevin W. Free organized a statewide project in pediatric clinics. As part of the project, trained volunteers talk to parents in waiting rooms about the need to read to their children. The program also trains teen-agers to read aloud to their younger brothers and sisters.
In New York, the United Federation of Teachers supports Parents as Reading Partners, a program that encourages parents and children to read together at least 15 minutes a day.
In an afterword, Dr. Russell cautions: ''Don't think that a book must be either one to read aloud or one of your children's own silent reading. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having your children bring home a Dickens novel, let's say, from which you read aloud one chapter while they read another on their own.''
Reading aloud costs nothing except time. Its only flaw is that it favors children from homes where books are no strangers. That should underscore the importance of building daily reading into early childhood education and child-care programs for poor children.
Finally, reading aloud is not some new-fangled idea. Such readings, for adults as well as children, were part of the American household in the early days of the Republic.

My Blog - My Newspaper - My Book

2008-11-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

I started my blog after a friend mentioned to me that she was going to turn her blog into a book, that there were companies that would take your blog and print it in a book. WOW! I had now idea! That was part of the reason that I wasn't blogging yet, I new about the concept, I even know how to do web design. I had a vanity site back in the mid 90's, and in the late 90's I got paid to design a pretty extensive website.

Fastforward 10 years and 5 kids later and I knew I didn't have time to tinker around with a website, and I was only so - so about keeping my journal up to date. I had switched to a computerized journal in 2000 - alpha journal is a great little journaling program that allows you to add pictures, etc like a word processor, but it also timestamps and keeps all of my entries organized by date, and is searchable. I can even have several different journals under my username and password, so I occasionally write things down about the kids, in their own special section of my journal. I also let each of the kids use the program. They love having their own login and password, and love to type their journal, play around with the fonts, etc. It is a lot easier for me to read also, and I don't have to worry about losing their papers all over the house.

Whenever I think about this, which is rare, I worry about all the history that is lost because of the prevalance of computers, email, and the internet. I started college right about the time email address became popular, so I have very few letters from my parents, but lots of lost emails. Then there is the vanity site that I created while I was in college, what about it? Once you leave the university they erase at, so what about all that history, will archeologist be able to dig through our old hard drives and blogs to figure us out, well while researching blog books, I discovered that someone had thought of that years ago and was actually doing something about it.
I found this in a comment on Lifehackers post about blog books.

airship
8:01 AM on Thu Mar 2 2006

Being a dinosaur from the age of paper myself (I was/am a magazine editor and book author), I might be inticed to print a nice softcover copy of my blog from time to time, just for ego-boosting browsing in my dotage. But as long as the Internet Arcive ( http://www.archive.org/ ) is active, it's really unnecessary. And like you say, the links won't work on paper. Maybe e-paper?

and guess what - check out these links. 1996 - M1997 - V1997 - B1996. Ok, so they were a little cheesy back then, we've come a long way - blogs can be so simple or complex, and so beautiful in just a few easy step. As for my website, I did create a much better one a few years later, and I do have it backed up on my personal computer.

Oh yea, I was going to tell you about turning your blog into a book. There are several companies that can download your blog, let you do a minimal amount of organization and then ship you a bound book complete with text, photos, and comments of your blog! Wow, anyone can be an author these days. There may not be book signings, and huge press runs, but just think, a book you actually wrote. I am seeing inspire, not require working here for encouraging my kids to write! Gone are the days, at least in my house, where construction paper books run supreme. Maybe it's because we are all perfectionist, or just computer junkies.

Lulu
Blurb

BlogCollector

Here's a great blog post on Turning your blog into a book.

Another neat discovery onlong these lines is FEEDJOURNAL. Finally I can have a daily newspaper that isn't full of lies, misquotes, distorted truths, and depressing stories. I can actually create a newspaper that is personalized to me, and contains writing by people that I know (ok, some only virtually) on topics that are of personal interest to me. Honestly, I probably won't use this very much - but I can easily print things off for Grandma this way.

Eating with Harry Potter

2008-11-21T22:22:00.001-07:00

My Dad started a new tradition last Fast Sunday, Ok, maybe he just modified that tradition. We have been gathering for dinner with everyone that could make it for dinner for years. Last month Dad suggested that we come up with a monthly theme for the dinner, so last month it was Chinese. The best part was, I didn't have to cook, the boys really got into it and my brother made orange chicken, and Brad made the fried rice. Dad said we was bringing the chopsticks, and he did, along with Pork and Seeds and fortune cookies. Malinda brought some sort of a dessert, called ? Another interesting think about this meal was the the kids weren't the only ones that had to try something new, and everyone actually liked most of the food. Ok, the mustard was hot, or not, depending on your tastes and the dessert was, edible, soggy biscuits cooked in coconut milk. Ok, so nobody really liked the dessert, except maybe Malinda, but we ate it and didn't complain and got to understand how it is to be a kid again.

The theme idea was a hit and we decided on England (the home of Harry Potter) for next month, and the Scandinavia Countries for the first of the year so that we can have rosettes.

I claimed the privilege of making butterbeer, because I had just heard of a couple of good butterbeer recipes on the Mormon Mom Cast which is one of my favorite podcasts. I don't know that we will be repeating treacle fudge however.

Socialist Cows

2008-11-11T22:24:00.000-07:00

With all the talk about socialism, communism and other isms during this election season I've been thinking about this quote that my Grandmother used to have on her fridge. It was the first thing that explained the difference between socialism and capitalism to me, and it was about cows.

When Grandma moved in with us her fridge was bare - and so I haven't read the quote for the past year, although I knew it was in a bag in her store room with everything else that was taken off her fridge and never put back on, I just didn't have time to go find it. Yesterday, however, Grandma asked me if I had seen her quotes that were on her fridge - we were both thinking about the same quote. Well, I finally found that bag again, and the quote on cows was missing. BUMMER! Grandma was quite disappointed, and although I was able to quickly pull up several websites that contained her quote and much more she spent the day searching for her copy - and finally found it so that she could email it to Glenn Beck.

Here's Grandma's quote

Definitions of Government
Communism: You have two cows. The goverment takes both of them adn give you part of the milk.
SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both cows and sells you the milk.
NAZISM: You have two cows. The government takes both you cows and then shoots you.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. The government takes both of them, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain.
CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one of them and buy a bull.
DEMOCRACY: Everyone has two cows. A vote is taken and whatever the majority decides to do you do, and that's no bull.

Here are links to several pages with expanded versions.

World Economic Systems - Political Cows around the World

Simple Scrapbook Tutorials

2008-11-08T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! I finally found some basic scrapbooking tutorials. I was beginning to think I was going to have to write them myself, but Stacy Carlson of Gotta Pixel is now writing digital scrapbooking tutorials on Ann The Gran in her new blog titled, Digital Scrapbooking - No Glue Required.

Although Stacy is writing tutorials for Photoshop Elements, her tutorials will help you to understand other scrapbooking programs as well.

Here are links to her first 5 blogs with some great beginner tutorials.
Jump Right in, the water is warm
Patiences and Desire, The Basics of Digital Scrapbooking
How to use a Digital Scrapbook Brag Book Template
How to use a Digital Scrapbook Quick Page
How to Create a Basic Digital Scrapbook Layout

To check out the newest post to Stacy's blog click here

Thanks Stacy for your guidance and encouragement in the Digi Scrapping World.

Digital Photo Organization

2008-11-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

I learned something new about photo organization since I gave my class on Digital Scrapbooking. I am now in the process of re-doing my organization to make it even better. I was trying to help out a friend and teach her how to organize her photos and her camera automatically names the directories when it downloads photos like this "2008-11-06" This file name is read like this, "year-month-date" or 6th of November 2008. I am going one step further and labeling my directories like this "2008-11-06 Homeschool Choir". By labeling the file folders this way I can see at a glance what they contain and quickly look through the list to find Kevin's birthday party, or valentines day, but even better they are automatically put in chronological order.

This is improved over my previous organization method in that I don't have to open so many file folders (nesting file folders can get annoying) and each file folder contains the complete date information.

Another great thing is that Picasa 3 beta is out. I have been using this new and improved version and it is so much better. They've added a few more bells and whistles that I probably won't use, but they now support PNG's which are so vital to scrap bookers. Hurrah!

TJED Info

2008-11-01T09:43:00.000-06:00

A google search of TJED will turn up 33,000 links, these are a few that I feel are particularly useful to me.

Lets start the list with A Thomas Jefferson Education Overview.

We should also mention the books.

A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille
A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion by Oliver & Rachel DeMille and Diann Jeppson

Leadership Education, The Phases of Learning by Oliver & Rachel DeMille

Here are some websites -

George Wyeth College this would probably be the official site, the college founded by the author of the TJED movement.

TJEDOnline is a brand new site by Rachel and Oliver DeMille - I haven't explored it yet, but it is on my list to explore when I have some quiet time.

Tjed.org is another extensive website that again I haven't explored in awhile.

Local Groups -

There are several TJED groups in the treasure valley - this one has a group blog for their reading group, Mother's Who Know. They are also trying to get a mens reading groups going as well - their website is Statemen.

I know there is another couple of local groups - but I don't have website for them. There is a group for teenagers, and a few other reading groups, contact me if you want more info and I can try and track them down more.

The Mentoring Our Own Yahoo group is no longer an active discussion group, but there are some great resources in their files. I particularly like the 4 Phases, 7 Principles poster in the Core Phase Folder because it lays out a map for our life.

Photo Programs

2008-10-30T12:26:00.000-06:00

I've been doing some more studying on labeling photos and have found some neat programs.

I was concerned because I read an article that said Picasa didn't support IPTC, but it was an old article, this article explains the Picasa upgrade. It also led me in search of some other programs.

Foto Tagger is a neat little program that allows you to identify individual elements in your photos. Take a look.

These programs are not for the feint of heart - I'm mostly including them here for future reference.

PixVue

Photo Freeware.net

PixViewer

Mom, Don't put down that Crochet Hook yet!

2008-10-29T17:34:00.000-06:00

No, this is not an announcement, well, it is, but not that I'm pregnant. It's another sort of a afghan milestone that we have reached. Yep, that's right, Kevin is now, or nearly, potty trained! I read this post by my friend a few months ago -The Potty Training Diaries - and was reminded that eventually I should potty train Kevin. He is now closer to 3 than 2, but my girls didn't train until much closer to 3, however, Isaac trained himself a week after he turned 2. It happened so fast I didn't do anything other than go shopping for boy underwear.

For some reason last week I decided it was time. We put Kevin in underwear and set the clock. He did great - if we did.Today however, we hit a big milestone, he tells us and we go with him!!!! He's not all the way there yet - but - it will soon be time to choose colors for Kevin's big boy afghan!

Note: My Mom makes each of my kids an afghan when they are born, and a bigger one when they are finally potty trained.

Labeling Photos with Picasa

2008-10-29T16:25:00.000-06:00

I was so excited when I finally found this website All About Digital Photos and found out that I could label my photos digitally. YEA! Just like labeling the back of snapshots, your photos can now be captioned for posterity's sake.

Picasa is a FREE program that you can download from picasa.google.com and is most useful for adding captions to your photos and and for its ability to search. It is important to know that when you add the captions in Picasa they are saved as an IPTC standard caption, and are now part of the file.

Installing Picasa
· Double Click Picasa Icon
· Click Run
· Click I Agree
· Click INSTALL
· Click Finish
o This step may take awhile – Choose Only scan My Documents, My Pictures, and the Desktop the first time so you can learn to use the program. Later, you can set it up to scan more files. This may take awhile.

Click this button to set to Folder Tree Structure.
By clicking the arrows next to the folder names you can see what is inside of the folders.

Adding Captions
Double click on a picture.
Underneath the large view of the picture it says, “Make a Caption.” Click there and type your caption.
Remember, these captions will now stay with your picture, they are saved as part of the picture file.

If you can't see where is says, "Make a Caption" you may need to click on the icon that the arrow is pointing at.

Searching for more pictures.
Click on Tools – Then Folder Manager.
Using the tree structure choose which folders on your computer you would like to have Picasa scan. If you choose "scan always" Picasa will update when you save new pictures or projects to your computer.
Beware, you don’t want it to scan all of your computer, just where you save your photos, and your projects. This may take a really long time – depending on how many pictures you have, mine took at least an hour.

Picasa is indexing your pictures and making it so that you can search through your pictures ( well, eventually.)

Picasa searches file names, directory names, and captions. You may need to spend some time organizing your photos and adding captions before it is very helpful in searching.

Laughter, Joy and Sorrow

2008-10-29T15:05:00.001-06:00

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

I've been reading this book outloud to my to my kids for the last month for part of our study on Native Americans. It is the story of a young girls adventures over the course of a year. She is a member of the Ojibwa trip that lives on an island in Lake Superior. Smallpox came to their village and many people died, including the baby Neewo, and then there was the recovery and the extremely hard winter. They were finally saved from grief and depression when Pinch ( young boy) stood to close to the fire and then sat in the water bucket.

The great deer had saved their bodies, and Pinche's asurd jump had saved
their souls, for Nokomis said shortly after that her own grandmother had
believed that the soul of the Anishinabeg is made of laughter. If there is
no laughter, the soul dies. Pinch brought laughter back to life. He brought
their souls back into their bodies. The harder they laughed the more they
knew, now, they would survive.

I can relate to this experience, only a few days after our baby died we had a day that brought joy back into our life and lifted the grief and sadness. We had an entire dinner full of deseret. I had been decorating cakes, we had leftover brownies, ice cream, pudding, M & M's, and I don't remember what else. I just remember taking being silly and laughing again. Although this wasn't the type of meal I typically set before my family, it was exactly what was needed that day.

Doctrine and Covenants 42:45-46 says

"Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection.

And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for
it shall be sweet unto them; "

We had felt sorrow and grief, and peace because we have a hope in the resurrection, but we needed to again feel JOY. Isaac's favorite scripture, maybe not at the time, but shortly thereafter and for a long time was, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." Kyle will always be remembered in our family with JOY, for he brought joy to all who saw him, with sorrow, for we wish that he could have stayed to be part of our earthly family longer, and as our strength, for our testimonies of joy, of love, of the resurrection, and as an eternal family were strengthen through his short existence her on earth.

Digital Scrapbooking: Preserving History in the Digital Age

2008-10-16T22:11:00.000-06:00

I taught a class this week on Digi Scrapping to a couple of women from church. I had a lot of fun putting together the presentation and I also learned a lot of new things. One of the very first questions that I was asked was, "How did you learn all this." Honestly, I don't remember not knowing how to use a computer. We got our first computer, a 8088 in 1988 I think, I was about 12 years old. My Dad and I spend a lot of time working together on that computer, learning how it worked, and ever since I've become more and more dependent, and independent on a computer.

I think that digital scrapbooking is one of the amazing reasons that computers have been invented. You can read my other posts about Digi Scrapping here and here. Preserving our heritage is so important and I'm so glad that I've been able to use the computer to tie these two loves of mine together. I want many more people to be able to learn to save their history, on the computer, and from the computer, so I'm offering to teach anyone that wants to learn more about the computer, and how to save their family history for future generations.

You can request the handouts by posting a comment.

House Numbers and Water Barrels

2008-10-11T22:00:00.000-06:00

We finally have house numbers on the front of our house. I lived here for about a 18 months before I even realized that we didn't have house numbers, and since then we have had at least 2 ambulances, 2 fire trucks, and a wide variety of other people coming to our house. It's not like we've never been to a hardware store, Lowe's was almost my second home last fall when we where in a state of major remodeling on our house. The numbers just never got bought, until last night. It only took Brad 10 minutes, and now our house is no longer "unplottable."

Another project that has been in the wings just off stage for the last year was filling our water barrels. I got a great deal about a year ago on 2 large blue 55 gallon drums for water storage, and during the construction and organizing phases they just sort of floated around, waiting for the perfect home. (Once filled they are very very heavy). After my trip to Lowe's last night we finally had the missing part, the coupler that connects house water to the hose to fill the drums, and after only a slightly damp catastrophe we know have 110 gallons of drinking water ( not counting what water is in the 2 water heaters.) The next step is learning how to turn off the water to the water heaters to protect our water in case of an emergency.

We had a very busy and very productive day, we also restocked our 72 hour kits, (I have a shopping list), rehung the curtain rod over the sliding glass door, fixed Brad's recliner, filled the dumpster, loaded Brad's truck with cardboard, and made room in the garage to park a vehicle. It's that time of year, we had snow already this weekend.

Habits Study

2008-10-09T15:26:00.000-06:00

Higher Up and Further In - Ten Habits of a Happy Homeschool

Free Habit Study Cards

Reviewing the Cards - Sticker Systems

In An English Garden

Habits Blog Carnival

Laying Down the Rails

Character Journal

Mealtime Expectations

Power of Good Habits

LDS General Conference October 2008

2008-10-08T23:00:00.001-06:00

I stumbled upon a couple of great websites with some fantastic ideas for getting more out of General Conference with Kids.

Mormon Mamma - Making Conference Memorable has some great ideas on ways to prepare kids for conference, and then to wrap up afterwards.

Linking from that page I found this great matching game of current LDS apostles, I did it in 1:00.3, that's one minute and a tiny tiny bit, with no mistakes, on my first try! Can you beat me? Match the Apostles - This comes from the LDS Greats website and it looks like they have a lot of great stuff.

Apple Butter

2008-10-04T23:18:00.001-06:00

The other day I was reading some blog - somewhere - about applebutter. I thought, oh yea, I need to remember to do that with my apples, then I almost forgot.

The whole family pitched in this afternoon to make applesauce from the jonathan apples we picked last week. We would have gotten about another 16 quarts, but all of the sudden this evening I remembered, apple butter. I did a quick search, found a few recipes, and then let Brad choose his favorite. He chose . . . Crock Pot Apple Butter from Southern Plate. Of course, even though I've never made this recipe before I am adapting it to fit the ingredients I have on hand.

General Conference with our Kids

2008-10-04T16:54:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful day watching to general conference today. I had planned on making applesauce this morning while listening to conference, but we weren't ready, the kitchen was still a big mess from breakfast. The kids all quietly gathered in the tv room with the notepads, coloring pages, and began watching conference. Even Kevin played quietly throughout the session. Rebecca took notes, lots of notes, and the spirit was in our home. I just couldn't bring myself to interuppt such a peaceful setting, so the applesauce had to wait until between sessions.

I really enjoyed Elder L. Tom Perry's talk about preparedness. Although I was able to listen, I wasn't able to take notes, so I look forward to being able to read the talk, and listen to it on my mp3 player. It is so wonderful that the church has the talks on the website within days to read and listen to again. I'm looking forward to using this talk to organize our family preparedness. It will be a great one to use for famiy home evening next week.

This is a Mother's Room!

2008-09-30T23:10:00.000-06:00

I walked into this Mother's Room and exclaimed, "This is a Mother's Room" All told, there are twelve rocking chairs, 1 changing table, and three large diaper pails, plus a handwashing sink. WOW! Where did I find such a mother's room, in a new chapel on the BYU Idaho Campus. We were attending church in Rexburg to witness the blessing of my nephew Carson Freeman. I have never seen such a large mother's room, and this one was never even half full while I was there, but according to my sister-in-law they have a lot of babies being born in Rexburg, and this mother's room was located in a building with 2 chapels - so it could very well be full someday. That is a sight I would love to see.

We recently got a new mother's room in our chapel, but it still only has 2 rocking chairs. We have pulled in a couple of folding chairs, and it is very often full, and we take turns using the chairs.

Carson and MaryAnn

2008-09-27T12:53:00.000-06:00

The wonderful thing about digi scraping is that if you have a digital camera and a laptop, you can scrapbook anywhere. We are in the middle of our weekend roadtrip to Rexburg Idaho. Everyone else was playing Wii so I took the opportunity to take pictures of the babies and here is the result!

Stand Up Mouse

2008-09-25T22:46:00.000-06:00

I went to the doctor today and he said I needed to get a "standing up mouse." I've never heard of a standing up mouse, but I guess when you have a problem like mine a mouse that stands up is the best kind solution.

Ok, so he also said that I have a repetitive stress injury in my right wrist, and I already knew that it came from using the computer. If I avoid the computer it gets better, but digi scrapping and blogging are so much fun, besides all of the other work that I have to do on the computer it is hard to avoid the computer.

It's amazing how all the muscles and nerves in your hands can be taken for granted. Cooking, opening doors, changing diapers, signing checks, etc, etc, all are difficult when your wrist twinges if you twist i the wrong way. I've been icing my wrist, and giving it breaks for a few weeks now, but when I woke up in pain this morning I finally decided I'd better take care of me so I could keep taking care of others. I enjoy a break every once in a while, but doctor visits aren't exactly my idea of "alone time". I've been to the doctor twice this week(Isaac got stung by a bee, and his foot swelled up), and I have 3 appointments next week for MaryAnn, and now I I also have to go see a hand therapist, to get some therapy and strengthen my wrist.

So tonight, my husband ordered me a new mouse, I wonder if I can teach it to roll over, play dead, or any other tricks besides standing up!

2008-09-21T20:09:00.000-06:00

I scrapped yesterday's pictures already!

We Did It!

2008-09-20T23:16:00.000-06:00

I was joined by all three of my girls, Rebecca, Emily, and yes, even MaryAnn (only 5.5 months old), and my sister Malinda, and my sister-in-law Emily. We would have liked to start the race sooner, standing around in the rain isn't as much fun as splashing through the puddles. It was fun to join with 13,000 other women in having a "bad hair day" and yet we were celebrating being women!

MaryAnn joined me for the Special Achiever's Course of the 2008 St. Luke's Women's Walk. She was tucked into her sling, covered in a blanket, and buttoned inside my coat. While she was dry(I'm not talking diaper's) and happy we had a great time. It not only was an overcast day, it poured, it thundered, we saw lightening, and it poured, and it poured some more. By the time the walk started we were soaked, yet our spirits were still high.

I did feel a little let down that I didn't complete the whole course, since I committed to this walk I've been walking almost daily to prepare. However, I knew that I could have completed - so I instead took care of MaryAnn, you never know when a baby is going to say, "Ok Mom, I'm tired of being wet(soaked to the skin) and hungry" After having to stop at the Jackson's convenience store about a quarter of a mile into the walk to feed her, and found out that she wasn't as protected as we thought we knew that her needs had to come first.

I'm already looking forward to next year, my girls are quite so sure!

Date Night - all by Myself?

2008-09-09T15:55:00.000-06:00

Last Friday night I took myself on a date, by myself, no husband, no baby, just me. I even spoiled myself, I bought 2 new pairs of shoes, one pair for church, and one pair because I desparetly needed them. I've been wearing old moccasin for a long time, and all my lace up shoes were lousy. Since I'm doing the wo men's walk in 2 weeks I figured I'd better get a decent pair of shoes and get them broke in before September 20th.

Ok, so usually a date does consist of 2 people, but my husband had been sickish all week and wasn't feeling up to going out (shopping) with me, and our live in babysitter, was visiting her Aunt and Uncle for the weekend, so I had no other choice, but to go by myself while my husband watched a movie with the boys and the baby slept peacefully.

The best part of the evening was browsing peacefully through Deseret Book. I had time to explore, and look at books, to get ideas for Christmas presents (I do my present buying almost exclusivly at DeseretBook), without the pressure of making decisions.

Here's a few of my great finds - that I may purchase in the near future.

(I only bought the 2 items I had on my list!)

This reminded me of the American Girls book "The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls " that I mentioned in Spa Night with the Girls. My sister has a great beauty quote on her bathroom wall, that I love, maybe she'll post it in the comments for us - it talks about inner beauty. This book looked like it incorporated inner and outer beauty.

It looked like a great book, and it will probably appear in my home in the near future as a Spa Night read.

I have been trying to read the Book of Mormon and figure out who's who and what the geneology is, and some of the different war scenarios, so this book really caught my eye. It would be a fun book to study and learn a lot more about the Book of Mormon. I find that the better that I understand the storyline, the easier it is to understand the messages.

I love John Bytheway, we listened to his tapes over and over as teenagers. I still have some of his tapes and the time is soon coming that I will be sharing them with my kids. What a great collection, and take a look, he was done so many different projects - there are 46 different products.

So many books, so little time!

Earaches - My plan of attack

2008-09-08T21:56:00.000-06:00

Isaac began complaining of an earache yesterday. He didn't seem to understand that while we were in the car driving to Grandpa's house there just wasn't anything that I could do about it. When we got there I had him lay down and put a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide in his ear. It is a weird feeling, and the kids wait until I tell them they can roll over and drain it out, but they ask for it again when their ears hurt again.

After the hydrogen peroxide I usually use Wally's Ear Oil, just a drop or two of that in your ear is very soothing. Sometimes I'm extra nice and warm it up in a jar of hot water, but usually I just use it room temperature. Since we were at my Dad's I started asking what he might have, he suggested Olive Oil. Olive oil it was, it has medicinal and pain relieving properties as well. Isaac requested more drops throughout the evening.

This morning first thing I loaded up all the kids and took them to my friendly neighborhood chiropractor. (Most of the kids were fighting runny noses.) They all got a good tune up. The chiropractor said Isaac's "c-1 was lateral", I think? Ok, so I'm not sure how chiropractic works exactly, but I know that it does. Ever since Rebecca escaped having tubes in her ear after a few appointments with the chiropractor he is my doctor of choice for most ills.

We've also done ear candling as well. I had forgotten about that, but Isaac hadn't, he requested it today, and since we had an ear candle left over from few years ago, we did it. His ear was still hurting off and on today, so we will head back to the chiropractor tomorrow. It is a much simpler solution than 10 days of forcing a healthy child to take an antibiotic.

Treacle Fudge - Not a Hit!

2008-09-08T21:16:00.000-06:00

I promised to make Treacle Fudge in my Read the Book - Go Deeper Post.

Treacle was was not a hit at our house. Rebecca and I made it for Family Home Evening treat tonight. It was pretty funny, I had the recipe and invited her to come help me. We had it almost all the way made before she figured out that it was from Harry Potter. Finally, she says, 'it's from Harry Potter, I know who Rosmerta. I thought I recognized the word Treacle."

Here's the recipe in case it ever disappears from the mugglenet website
Rosmerta's Treacle Fudge

Treacle Fudge is a sweet treat from Mrs. Weasley or a tooth-breaker from Hagrid. Be sure yours doesn't get too hard! (Many thanks to Aurora for this recipe)

Ingredients:
½ cup light cream or evaporated milk
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup molasses Directions:Step 1: In a large bowl, mix cream, brown sugar and salt together.Step 2: In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove from heat and add molasses.Step 3: Add the chocolate mixtures and cream mixtures together. Pour mixture into a pan and let cool.Step 4: Cut into squares after cooled and serve. Enjoy!

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I learned the treacle is a byproduct of making sugar, similar to molasses, can be used as a remedy against poison, or as a table syrup. (www.treacle.net)

However, the fudge is very rich, our was very runny, more like a syrup. I like molasses, so I thought it was good, and Kevin really enjoyed it! No one else liked it, Brad made quite the face. I think that it would make a nice syrup over vanilla ice cream.

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Another side note - I mentioned that I also learned that in latin "accio" means, "I summon". Just a few minutes ago Rebecca came and asked if she could look up what some of the other curses or spells meant, because she doesn't know what they all are for. YES! This "inspire, not require", and "go deeper" concept actually works. I spent time today reading mugglenet.com and it was quite interesting, I'm sure she can learn quite a bit, maybe latin could be in our future?

Valiant 10 Girls

2008-09-07T23:29:00.000-06:00

I had a wonderful experience today teaching the Valiant Girls class. I love being their teacher, and some weeks we have great lessons, and other weeks I feel like it flopped. Of course, I'm not as prepared the weeks that it flops, so it goes to show that the problem is all mine.

I was prepared this week, and it was such an amazing lesson. The chapters were 3rd Nephi 8-11. This is when Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem, and the earth shakes and their is darkness for 3 days. Then, Christ speaks.

I downloaded chapter 9 onto my MP3 player. I set the stage by have the girls sit in a semicircle, with everything under their chairs. Usually we sit at a table with our Book of Mormon's open. I wanted them to concentrate on the spirit today, not on the written word. I read to them some of the verses and told them my story about being in the tent at Bruneau when I thought the tent was going to fall down. I turned out the lights and explained that it was total and complete darkness. I tried to turn on my flashlight, but it did not work. However, I explained that even in the midst of chaos and darkness, it is possible to feel peace.

I then turned on the MP3 player and we listened the Chapter 9, when is almost entirely a direct quotation from the Savior. Having it read in a male voice, while we sat in near darkness was a neat experience. As the Savior lists the names of the cities that were destroyed, I paused the reading, and encouraged them to think how they would feel if he was saying that Boise, Meridian, Kuna, Eagle, Salt Lake City, had been destroyed. It was so powerful.

I turned on the lights and explained that the people were then able to rebuild their lifes. To find family members, to build new houses, to gather to the temple in Bountiful. I read to them how Heavenly Father introduced Jesus to them, and how he descended into the midst of the people.I asked them who had been in the conference center. We tried to guess at how many people the center could seat. We guess in the thousands, I just looked it up and it is 21,000. I suggested that the "multitudes" that were at Bountiful could easily have been the same size, yet Jesus invited each one to come and feel the prints in his hand and in his feet. We compared that to how long it took for the thousands of people to say "goodbye" to President Hinckley. The best info I could find quickly said 100,000 people in 2 days. I know that we don't know the numbers or the time to visit Jesus, but it doesn't really matter, the point was made that it was a truly unique experience and one that those people cherished.

I read a few more verses, quotes from the Savior, allowed the girls to ask questions or share feelings, and then it was time to go. Our class time always passes so quickly, I wish that I had more time with these girls.

I had a rare treat of sitting with them during Sharing Time, usually I have to care for MaryAnn, and as they were leaving several of them told me how much they enjoyed the lesson today. That meant so much to me, the spirit was so strong, and I so wanted them to feel the spirit and to feel Heavenly Father and Jesus's love for them. I was able to give most of them a hug as they expressed they appreciation for the wonderful lesson.

I know that every lesson can't be as powerful, but I hope and pray that these girls are having spiritual experiences in our class that will help them in their lives.

Read the Book - Go Deeper

2008-09-04T22:56:00.000-06:00

At my book group last week I shared a Harry Potter story and got some great advice along the way. First, the flashback, Brad is listening to the Harry Potter series on his pocket pc while he does yard work, and in the truck on his commute. Grandma Glasgow read book 7, then book 6, then book 7 again. Most of the family has watched the movies this summer (I've caught bits and pieces), Rebecca read the entire series this summer, with only little breaks. Emily is on book 4(she skipped 2 because it was lost). Uncle James has the entire series memorized ( well, maybe not quite but almost).

When Rebecca finished the series Brad and I agreed that she needed to read something else for awhile, some classics. She however, wanted to start the entire series again. After about 2 days she came crying to me, and explained how hard it was for her to see everyone else reading Harry Potter and for her to be "forbidden" to read it. We agree that she would read a "classic" between every Harry Potter book, but then , what was a classic? I helped her pick out some books that "might be" classics, but at least she was expanding her horizons.

I finally got around to finishing my reading of "A Thomas Jefferson Education". Reading the chapter on classics led me to a great dinner time conversation with my family. I asked them to help me decide if Harry Potter was a classic.

I got this far and realized I had already written about this topic is this blog post Classics - Chapter 5.

However, the point I wanted to make tonight was that when I told this story in my book group I was given this advice -
"Read the Books." I've read the books, I was the first one in my family to read the books, years ago. I enjoy them, but I've been telling myself that I don't have time to read them again, that I need to read other classics, to further my education. The next piece of advice struck me however, "Go Deeper".

"Go Deeper" what does that mean. Well, find something in the book that inspires you to learn more, and then learn more. Some suggestion that I recieved were find out what all the names of the characters mean, learn more about England, study dragons, etc. Ok, I get that - so I came home and started reading the books.

I asked the girls yesterday, How did Hermione get to Diagon Alley. She was muggle born, the paperwork the Harry got didn't tell him where to buy his school supplies, so how did Hermione find out. Someone suggested the she read in a book, but what book, she didn't know she was a witch.

I finished the second book today, and just looked up treacle fudge - google found "Results 1 - 10 of about 53,300 for treacle fudge. (0.27 seconds)" So, next week we make treacle fudge, I hope it turns out like Mrs Weasley's and not Hagrid's.

The other thing that I realized as I have been rereading the series is that I'm understanding the stories better, and picking up on new and different information. I'm still learning, and seeing the stories in a new light. I read these books as an adult, I can see how as a child she can really gain from rereading the book.

Again, I stand corrected.

I'm Committed

2008-09-04T22:41:00.000-06:00

I wrote about the book Running with Angels a few weeks ago - so here's the update, I'm committed to running in the St. Luke's Women's Walk. I decided to commit when I went to girl scout camp with Emily. The lady that I drove up with has walked several years in a row and she has a muscle wasting disease. I decided that if she could do it that I could. I came home and started walking nearly every day. It's about a half mile walk around the loop that I live on and I'm up to for loops (apx 2 miles) in half an hour.

It feels so wonderful to be out walking - I've always really enjoyed walking and being outdoors. Some days I get to go alone, some times I take the kids, or random subgroups of kids, and sometimes the whole family goes together. Now that I've started taking Kevin in the stroller it is more of a workout. When Kevin was walking we had to go slow, his legs are short. I listen to my mp3 player when I go alone or just with the babies. I'm able to exercise both physically and spiritually and it is a great blessing in my life.

Pamela Hansen listed 10 techniques in her book - I'm just going to list them here, so that I can come back to them and expand on them as I have time.

1. Seeking and expressing gratitude for divine and earthly help.
2. Rejuvenating myself physically and mentally
3. Having a plan and holding myself accountable.
4. Rearranging my priorities.
5. Replacing bad habits with good ones.
6. Recording measurements and feelings.
7. Staying motivated by trying on clothes in a smaller size.
8. Listening to inspiring music.
9. Making a dream/nightmare photo book.
10. Learning from life's lessons.

Ideas and the Classics

2008-09-04T17:35:00.000-06:00

I found this quote written down in my quote collection the other day and it has stuck with me as I've been reading and thinking about classics.

Brilliant People talk about ideas,
Average people talk about things,
small people talk about other people.

I remember leaving a playgroup years ago feeling disgusted and frustrated with the conversation amoung the mothers, it was so gossipy. I had wanted to talk about something more, worthwhile, and felt put down and left out of the circle of women.

Another time I was was two women and although I enjoyed myself I again felt left out of the conversation because it was about "Things" - the latest movie, the next big sale, etc. None of which interested me.

I felt at home the day I walked into a homeschooling mother's weekend. There really were other women who were striving to learn, to better themselves, to become better mothers, wives, and teachers to their children.

I am still woefully ignorant about many ideas, but I find myself having more ideas to discuss at the dinner table as I read the classics to myself, and especially with my family. It is wonderful to be able to discuss ideas, instead of just how many times I had to change the babies diaper.

Digi Scrapping Part 2

2008-09-03T22:20:00.000-06:00

It's been almost 4 months since I wrote my first blog article about digi scrapping - you can find it here.

Since that time I've been scrapping like crazy, except of course for the last week. I have been so busy trying to regain control of my house and getting prepared for the coming homeschool year. I'm guess I'm going through a withdrawal, and even now when I could scrap for a little while I'm having a creativity block. It been a whole week, and it's like I've lost my momentum, and I don't know where to start. I knew the time would come that the pace that I had set at almost a page a day for 3 months couldn't last forever. Besides, MaryAnn is to big to nurse while using the computer.

I did get to share my excitement this weekend with my cousin, I thought that since I knew she was good with Photoshop she would have already been into digi scrapping, but it turns out she was a paper scrapper. She is probably hooked now though. I've also addicted my sister to digi scrapping and I've been able to teach her how over the telephone and lots of emails. The digi scrapping thing is spreading, and it is so wonderful.

My Dad sent me an email today - and I thought this quote fit perfectly with the scrapbooking craze.

A Birth Certificate shows that we were born
A Death Certificate shows that we died
Pictures show that we lived!

It just so true, a picture can really make the story come to life. I've been working on my Grandma's life history for years, but since I discovered her photos in June I've really been "on fire" and my love for her and my retention of her stories has increased. Take this picture of her cheerleaders group. Grandma and her friends formed a cheerleader group, just because. Don't they look like they are having so much fun! You tend to forget that your parents and grandparents were young once.

I promised to get back to you on scanning. The best way to scan newer pictures is with a commercial scanner. I looked up lots of places online to mail my pictures off to to have them scanned, and the prices were high, and they wanted to send my precious photos across the ocean to be scanned in India or some other country. However, I was lucky enough to find out that my local Heritage Makers' consultant had access to a comercial scanner. I got about 800 pictures scanned in a weekend, for apx 25 cents a picture. It was wonderful, now I have so many more pictures of my kids in the pre-digital era to scrapbook.

However, when I discovered Grandma and Grandpa's boxes of photos I new that a the speedy commercial scanner wasn't going to work (it works with a sheet feeder). I found this program, VueScan . It has an automatic scan feature that allows you to scan a lot of pictures in a fairly short amount of time, and it automatically saves them to a file. I was putting about 5 -8 pictures on the scanbed at a time and scanning about every 10 seconds and it worked great. I was able to scan the picture in and keep them from deteriorating even further much faster than I will ever be able to process them, identify them, and scrapbook them. I found that it is easier to scan them in and the print them out to take to my Grandparents to identify them. That way they can write on the front of the picture, and I can read off the front of the picture when I process them on the computer. It is easy to get confused, so come up with a system before you get to overwhelmed with photos. If you want more info on my system, just email me throught the contact form.

Once I started getting captions for the photos I had to figure out how to save the caption with the picture, no matter where the picture was or who I emailed it to. I found several great programs, and although Picasa doesn't have all the features, it had a great price, FREE, from Google. Picasa will allow you to edit your photos, to add captions, and to search photos based on the captions, the directory names, and the file name. WOW! Important Note: Add captions, not keywords. If you add captions then email the photo to you family the captions will go with the photo, it is saved as part of the file name. If You use keywords it is only saved in the database on your computer. You can get Picasa here from Google for free.

Picasa has many neat features, it allows you to add photos to your blogger blog, you can create web albums to share with friends and family, you can easily send photos as email, and many more features.

Here's another great page by Nancy!
Till next time - remember, Pictures show that we lived!

Olympics

2008-08-14T22:27:00.000-06:00

Do I want my kids to be olympians? At one time I thought that I did. Brad and I were married in 1997, so it was probably during the 1998 or 2000 Olympics that I thought how great it were if our kids found something to excel in and could compete in the Olympics. I wanted them to have a chance to "Be all they could be" and at the time since I was in the middle of my college career I was under the impression that to be the best you could be you needed to be athletic or have a great career.

Since that time I have struggled with that concept. I've had my kids enrolled in gymnastics, ballet, gymnastics, clogging and gymnastics again. They seem to like gymnastics the best, yet that doesn't mean they are on the road to gold. After listening to an interview with an Olympics gymnast where they talked about the discovery of her gymnastics ability at age 6 and the dedication to her sport since then my kids are far from the path that leads to the Olympics. I was scrapbooking this page of my girls in ballet and the girls couldi't even remember being in ballet. Yes, that was six years ago, and they were only 5 and 3. When I realized how little they remembered from their younger years my first thought was, "Why did I spend all that money on ballet classes and costumes." Well, no use beating myself up about it, however I could have used the money in more productive ways, but at the time I was still under the mistaken belief that I wanted my girls to become "olympians" or at least "great and famous" in whatever they did.

Personally my struggles have been learning to find fulfilment in my role as a wife and mother. I never really new why I was going to college, other than because after graduating as valedictorian from high school you were supposed to go to college. As a college student your goals are centered around preparing to get a great job, and take your place in society. I was lucky that when I got married I realized that even if I only left the work force to raise 1 child to age 6 I would practically have to start all over again in my career since I was a Computer Science Major. I was blessed to find a degree in General Studies and and wonderful Mentor and Counselor in Dr. Bitterwolf. He encouraged me in taking the kind of classes that I wanted to take, ones that would prepare me for the the role I knew that I really wanted, that of a wife and mother. However, although I was in classes like Child Development, Education, and Communications I still struggled with the thoughts of I should be preparing for a paying "Career". I got a great college degree, and learned a lot about life, but at what expense, $400 a month for the next 10+ years of my life. College is a tough lesson, even now.

When I started researching homeschooling I found this wonderful article by Diane Hopkins called "A College Degree for Girls? I don't think so. An Education? Why, of Course!" (More I Love Homeschooling Volume 2 by Diane Hopkins) She explains in this article how I felt while I was in college and gives some great ideas for alternative ways to get a great education and be prepared to take our rightful place in society as wives and mothers.

Now that the Olympics has rolled around once more I have taken the chance to reflect on the change in my attitudes over the past 10 years. I do want my children to succeed, to be happy, but most of all I want them to be prepared for the Celestial Kingdom and as President Hinckley said, "Women, for the most part, see their greatest fulfillment, their greatest happiness in home and family." (Teaching of Gordon B. Hinckley p387) I don't want my children to be famous, I don't want them to be dedicated athletes, I want them to be christians who are dedicated to serving the Lord, and prepared to raise a family, and fulfil whatever mission in life the the Lord calls them to serve.

Justice, Mercy, and Forgiveness

2008-08-13T22:20:00.001-06:00

I just watched a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, that I recorded awhile back, called "Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness". It really kind of tied together some of the ideas that I have been thinking about lately. Let me back up and explain.

Last year we decided, truth be told, we felt strongly prompted, that we should add onto and remodel our house so that my grandparents could move in with us. However, about a month in to the process our general contractor quit. Long story short before the addition was complete, I and my entire extended family, learned more about construction, hands on, than we ever wanted to know. We also went through, 3 plumbers, 3 electricians, 2 concrete contractors, 2 sets of framers, 2 lawyers, and lots of visits by the city inspectors. We are still in the middle of finishing up the landscaping.

We may or may not have had a case against the general contractor, and part of us really wanted to go to court, prove that we were right, that he did us a great injustice, and get him to own up, repent and repay. I however, was counciled by our Bishop, who also happens to be a lawyer, to take into consideration that this process would in all likelihood take at least a year to complete, and that I needed to consider the physical, mental, and emotional toll that would take on me as a pregnant homeschooling mother of 5 children. We decided that we had already forgiven them, and even if we did have a case, it didn't ruin us financially, just set us back a little, and we learned a lot of things and grew closer together as a family, however, didn't justice need to be satisfied? This is the question that I struggled with in the small moments of self pity that crept up on me.

Earlier this week I was reading the July 2008 Ensign Article entitled, "Hope, Healing, and Dealing with Addiction. I really was touched by this section.

Sometimes [people] mistakenly assume that extending forgiveness also means restoring trust. Yet trust and forgiveness are two separate issues. A person can repent and be forgiven long before he or she earns trust again.

I didn't really know how to explain it myself, but this sort of sums up what I had been feeling about all the mess we had with the construction process of our house last year. I felt like I had done my part to forgive them, yet I wouldn't recommend them to anyone else, or hire them again. So I had been struggling with, "Had I really forgiven them." I've always believed that all things were given us for our learning, and we learned, now we needed to move on and not give up a year of our life trying to exact justice.This explains it, yes, I've forgiven, but they haven't done anything to earn my trust. The next steps, repentance, and earning trust, are up to them.

Watching this movie tonight showed how this man went from wanting his wife's memory cleared of wrong doing in traffic accident, to wanting justice, the driver locked up, to understanding the driver's remorse, and then executing mercy as he asked the court to reduce the charge, and allow the young driver to pay his price to society by allowing him talk to youth about what happened, and save the lives of others. This was a much greater way to honor his wife's memory, to move forward and save the lives of others, most of all of the young man who had killed her. Mercy overcame Justice, what a powerful blessing. I'm so thankful that we decided to allow forgiveness into our hearts, to know that justice will win in the end, but mercy is even better.

A side note: as I was sitting down to write this I found out that the husband of one of my young women leaders and longtime family friend was killed today in a motorcycle accident.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/1263/story/468772.html
http://www.idahostatesman.com/westada/story/470001.html

Running with Angels

2008-08-11T22:50:00.000-06:00

Running with Angels by Pamela Hansen was another great book that I had a hard time putting down.

The part of the book that touched me the most was her candid admissions of guilt, low self esteem, and her judgemental attitude towards herself and others. Although I have spent most of my life overweight, I have been very blessed to have a great self esteem and love for myself. I don't spend time putting myself down and wallowing in self pity. My eyes were opened to see how others behave and think of themselves differently. I wrote about this subject about a year ago in a little different manner. Read "Gift of Identity" on my other website.

I also read this article in the "Girl Scouts Leader" Summer 2008 magazine called "Girl Culture" a couple of months ago and realized that unlike those suffering from eating disorders who believe themselves to be fat, I have a different self image of myself. Whenever I see myself in a picture or the mirror I am often surprised at how large I am. My mental self image is of a much smaller person, sort of the opposite of this girl shown in this art therapy picture. I don't consider this to be a bad thing, I don't feel that the size of me is the real me - and I don't remember ever feeling like I've been judged because of my weight. I discussed this briefly with Grandma Mackley and she feels the same way I do, she knows she is overweight, but she doesn't let it bother her.

Brad and I have been talking a lot about self confidence and self image this week. He is in the middle of a performance review at work and that is one thing his boss things he needs to work on. His boss recommended "Jijitsu". I've been pondering and talking to my brother about how we were able to be so self confident, and so far the only thing that I could come up with is the Og Mandino books that my Dad was always reading. I remember He recorded the essay "The Greatest Miracle in the World" onto tape and we would listen to it over and over, and we often had other aspirations to read in the bathroom. I remember really enjoying Og Mandino's books and would highly recommend them.

I liked that Pamela pointed out that we need to care for ourselves, and for our bodies that are really a gift from God. She gave some great tips on how to get started, and talked about the importance of rewards, and of having someone to check in with, to be accountable to. My junior year in college I was able to loose about 50 lbs. I was exercising and making healthy food choices, and meeting weekly with a nutritionist. That weekly meeting was very helpful to keep me on track and to help me learn better skills for choosing healthy foods. I also was at a time in my life that I was thinking about my body as more than just my body, I was getting married, and was thinking about having children. I knew that I needed to be healthier for my children. However, it is now 11 years later and I am 25 lbs heavier than when I began my first weight loss program. A lot of things have happened in the intervening years, including 6 pregnancies.

So often I've been guilty of eating because I was tired, or busy or stressed. I am also an emotional eater, if I'm happy I celebrate, if I'm upset I comfort myself.

Unlike Pamela I have never had a desire to run a marathon, but I do want to be a happy and healthier me. I think (notice I'm not 100 percent committed yet) that the time has come for me to focus on my body. I may have to read this book again sooner rather than later.

Twin Falls Temple

2008-08-11T22:49:00.000-06:00

We started out of family camping trip by going to Twin Falls to see the new temple. We planned to camp at Bruneau Sand Dunes on our way back so we had to pack and pack. As we filled our trailer I said, "It's a good thing we aren't pioneers, we are taking more than a handcart just for 3 days." Brad's comment to me gave me a lot to ponder, he said, "I think we were meant for different things." It was fun to pretend that like those that settled the Rocky Mountains that we had to travel quite a ways to go to the temple, even though we were able to get there in only 2 hours, we put a lot of thought and effort into packing for our trip.

I was so excited to be able to take the kids to the open house. In only 1.5 years Rebecca will be old enough to do baptisms in the temple and this was such a great opportunity to begin to teach her about the importance of the temple and to show them the beautiful work that goes into God's house. Unfortunately, Brad and I aren't very good examples of the importance of temples, even now that we live within 2 miles of the temple we don't make it there very often.

The girls had gone to the Spokane Temple Open House, but they were both under 2 so they don't have any recollection of meeting Aunt Malinda at the temple and getting to see some of the work that she was doing, and bringing home a small piece of granite(Malinda, correct me if I'm wrong) that was leftover from the temple.

Although I know that Kevin probably won't remember this trip through the temple he was so reverant, he folded his hands and followed along with everyone else.

Rebecca and Emily both have tickets to go to the dedication since it will be broadcast here in our building. I wish I could go, but I will stay home with MaryAnn and the boys. Rebecca asked me yesterday if she could find some names of ancestors so that when she is 12 she can do thier baptisms in the temple. I told her I thought that was a grand idea. It had been my plan for several years, eversince I heard my friend Tammy talk about doing research with her 11 year old daughter. We got started today by downloading PAF and Rebecca inserted everyone in our family. We are going to learn to do it, the right way, together. We are going to make sure we have the documentation to go along with the data.

Almost Sisters

2008-08-04T22:25:00.000-06:00

I read a great book in two days. I could hardly put it down. It was Almost Sisters by Nancy Anderson, Lael Littke, and Carroll Hofeling Morris. It was recommended by someone in the Enrichment Night book group that I attend monthly(when I can). I got it from the library and let Grandma Mackley read it first, she really enjoyed it and pointed out that it was book one of a trilogy. I finished reading it today, so tomorrow I'll have to go discuss it with her.

I identified with a lot of the different trials that these 3 LDS sisters were going through, the grief of of feeling guilty over not being sure that I wanted a baby and then miscarrying, of feeling like I have to make everything all right for everyone else, and not taking time for myself, of wanting to expand and have something more, be it a "career" or someway to change the world, but also wanting to be the best mother and wife that I can be, the conflict that comes from being 1 part of a couple, and many more. I feel like these ladies are my best friends and I wish I could be part of their little group, that I could meet up with them and share my feelings and insights with them.

I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Three Tickets to Peoria, and am glad that the third book in the series, Surprise Packages, comes out this week. I found the website for the the three "almost sisters" who wrote the books, www.virtualsisters.net I can't wait to poke around their a bit more and read their biographys.

Spa Night with the Girls

2008-08-01T13:02:00.000-06:00

I had an enjoyable spa night with my girls last month. We had been planning it for about a week so they were really looking forward to it. We left Daddy downstairs to play with the boys and we headed up to my bathroom with our swimming suits, nail polish, and a few books.

Here are a few of the books that we had to peruse during our relaxing evening.

This is the first book that I share with my kids, from the time that they are old enough to sit on your lap to be read a story this book would be appropriate as it introduces them to the idea of families. There are pages in this book just for parents - so read it yourself before giving it to an independent reader.

I love this book for my girls - it really covers a lot of things that I probably never would have thought to cover - especially since I am not a girly girl. I tell my girls that to I am willing to talk to them about everything, but that since I don't want to forget or leave anything out we will use the book to help remind us what needs to be covered. It also gives them a place to refer back to and to study. I always remind them that if they have any questions to come and talk to me any time, with discretion. We do discuss how it is important to remember that some discussions are private and may need to wait until we can be alone.

This book explains it all - in living color, with cute cartoons, but with an appropriate attitude, maybe not reverance, but respect and with the disgression needed for a first introduction to how babies are made. Be aware, you may blush the first time you read this, so be prepared to read it a few times before sharing it with your child. I allow my children the option to have me read it to them, or they can read it themselves. They usually choose to read it to themselves, but I'm sitting right there with them to talk about it if they want.

While we were reading and discussing these books, and other topics, we were soaking in my huge bathtub (all three of us fit) in our swimming suits, and then painting each others nails. We had a great time and I look forward to many more spa nights with my girls as they are entering their 'tween and teen years.

* My girls are 9 and 10 and this was a second discussion for the 10 year old. She was excited to tell her younger sister some of the things she remembered - and it was great that I could "listen in" as she told what she remembered.

Kid Insulation

2008-07-21T16:26:00.000-06:00

21 July, 2008 - 15:26 — nancyg

"I grew up in a cave." or at least that is what a least one of my friends at college thought. So it kind of became my mantra for a few years anything I tried to convince him that I was a good little girl that really didn't know much about the world. I may have been naive and unexperienced, but the more I learn about the world the more I'm not sure that I wan to know.

http://www.happynews.com/news/952007/protecting-children-insulation-vs-i...

My Mom emailed me this article - this is a particulary interesting topic to me because I homeschool my kids, but I don't feel like my kids are isolated, especially not compared to my life, "in a cave." I am providing good insulation for my kids.

Case in point, Isaac was pretending to be preganant yesterday with a baloon under his shirt. Emily told him that boys can't be pregnant, but Isaac retorted that he saw one on the news that was pregnant. This turned into a great discussion on how the news (and other worldly organizations) try to confuse us either deliberalty on inadvertantly. We discussed General Mills box tops program. I said it is "good" that they want to donate to schools, but it a huge waste of time for people to cut out little boxtops, send them to school to be collected, counted, rewarded, and to receive a little amount of money for the huge amount of time. Wouldn't it be better for the people to donate some money, and some time with students than cutting out cardboard.

After they understood this concept I returned to pregnant men. I explained that it was really a girl, who was pretending to be a guy, that was pregnant. I explained that it is one thing for kids to pretend to be Mom's or Dad's because that is how they learn about the world, but that sometimes adults get mixed up and pretend to be something that they aren't because they are confused. I pointed out that Satan's job is to confuse us and keep us from being the best that we can be.

We have wonderful conversations like to fairly frequently and I know that I am adding insulation to my kids so that they will be prepared to go out into the world.

I'm posting the article here in case it disappears from the internet - you never know - it is is part of my Stand Firm Kit.
http://www.happynews.com/news/952007/protecting-children-insulation-vs-i...
**************************************

Protecting Your Children: Insulation vs. Isolation

(Stock photo/Brad Killer) :: We should prepare our children for what they will see and experience in the real world. Instead of putting blinders on their eyes, we put love and respect in their hearts. We teach them right from wrong and lovingly explain to them why wrong behaviors and decisions are not in their best interest.

Craig Harris
HappyNews Columnist
Updated: 6/3/2008

How do we protect our children from the evils of the world? Do we shield them from thoughts, morals, and ideas that are contrary to our own? Do we hide them from the dangerous and immoral influences out there?

I think a mistake some parents make is trying to isolate their children from the world. We can't shield their eyes and ears from every evil. Even if we could, it wouldn't last. The day would come when they fly from the nest and our protective shield is taken down.

I submit, then, that we should not attempt to isolate them from the world, but insulate them from it instead.

Some parents shield their children to point of letting them watch very little television. The children are not allowed to see movies that are not G-rated. They can't read most of the books in print because their content is objectionable for some reason. Video games, magazines, newspapers and the internet are all screened to make sure only positive values are let through.

On the surface, this seems perfectly healthy. But when you think it through you realize you might not be doing the children such a big favor after all. For one thing, you don't want your children to grow up culturally or socially ignorant. For another, you may be setting them up for a culture shock that may well overwhelm them. One day, they will be exposed to nearly everything you are hiding from them today. How will they handle that if they are not prepared for it?

We all joke that we'd like to hide our kids in a closet until they grow up, but some parents virtually attempt to do this. Every aspect of their children's lives are controlled, filtered, and protected to the point that they may as well live in Antarctica. Then the day comes when the kids walk out the front door and the protective filters are all gone. They see, hear, read, and experience the real world with its ugliness and hatred. Some will find it new and exciting, and rebel against every value that has been placed on them. Others may go back into hiding.

Am I saying that we shouldn't filter what our children see and experience? Of course not, and reasonable limits should be set on everything. My wife and I don't prescribe to premium movie channels because there is too much trash there that we don't want in our home. Some movies, magazines, books, internet sites, and TV shows have no place in front of your children and you have the right and responsibility to block them. And our filters should be set higher for younger children. I fear, however, that some parents try to go too far.

Instead of isolating them, we should insulate them. We should prepare them for what they will see and experience in the real world. Instead of putting blinders on their eyes, we put love and respect in their hearts. We teach them right from wrong and lovingly explain to them why wrong behaviors and decisions are not in their best interest. We show them the benefits of a life lived against the grain.

Isolation places barriers between them and the world while insulation prepares them for its realities. Isolation teaches them that no one else's opinion should even be considered. Insulation allows them to hear other ideas with confidence in what they believe. Isolation encourages the children to be dependent on their parents, but isolation encourages self-discipline. Isolation eventually breaks down, but insulation can last for a well-rounded, satisfied lifetime.

You can contact Craig at lcraigharris.blogspot.com

Math Instruction at our house

2008-07-21T16:00:00.000-06:00

I just found this article on math instruction in which 12 children ages 9 - 12 learned all the math normally taught in grades 1 - 6 in 20 hours. That is 20 teacher contact hours. The students worked hard on their own, because they wanted to. It is amazing what students can learn when they are ready and want to learn.

http://www.mountainlaurelsudbury.org/Rithmetic.asp

I had read a similar article in a magazine a few years ago.

In the November-December 2004 Home Education Magazine an article called "Just Do the Math!" actually quotes this article on the website. This article in the magazine was quickly added to my Stand Firm Kit because it helped to define my educational philosophy. I don't have to push education on my kids, if I provide love and support, when they are ready to learn something they will.

I do provide them with opportunities, we have pay day(they get an allowance) we have contracts ( they work to earn extra money), and I even have workbooks. They choose when and if they do them. Somedays Emily will do 6 or more pages in her math workbook just for fun. WE play games, ok - really, they play games with Grandpa Glasgow. Grandparents are a huge influence in our life and a wonderful addition to our education.

Right Start Math by Dr. Joan A. Cotter ( www.alabacus.com ) is my math program of choice because of the manipulative and games that are abundant. When we have used the textbooks we enjoyed them, but really, we don't use them much and only occasionally do we even play the games, but if I had to recommend a program this is the one I would recommend. Just buy the games and the book on how to play the games and you would have a great math program.

Digi Scrapping

2008-05-12T21:52:00.000-06:00

I have entered a new world, that I didn't know existed, but that I knew should exist. Somehow, I closed my eyes for a few years and it grew up and has flourished and I just now discovered it.

In early 1998 I started digi scrapbooking, however, I don't think that it even had a name back then. This is one of the first layouts I created. I remember decided long ago that I would create my pages in landscape format because they made better desktops and screen savers, and they fit in binders with pages protectors. I was a poor college student and now with 5 kids cheap is still good. Here is one of the first pages I created in Microsoft Picture IT.

On and off through the intervening years I have continued to create pages of my kids as time permitted. In college I learned to use Adobe Photoshop, just enough to want to take the class again. I still mostly used Picture IT, because I owned it and Photoshop was prohibitly expensive. I was excited to purchase Photoshop Elements when it first came out, however, I still used my newer version of Microsoft Picture IT Platinum 6. In 2006 my husband bought me a new scrapbooking program for my birthday, Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Designer Deluxe, which took me a long to learn to like. However, this is what launched me full force into becoming a digiscrapper. I created this layout shortly after my 5th child was born.

I got such rave reviews from everyone that was lucky enough to receive my emails. Several people asked me how I made it, so I did a search to find where they could purchase the program that I was using. However, as I did my search, I found so much more. DigiScrapping! I was amazed - however, not surprised. I've thought for years that it was easier and made much more sense to create on the computer. I just didn't know that people were finally designing for the computer. Amazing and Wonderful!!

Raspberry Road Designs was one of the very first websites that I found - http://www.raspberryroaddesigns.blogspot.com/ . Susan Darter has created some amazing scrapbooking kits, just like what you might find in any paper scrapbooking store, but even better, you can use the papers and elements over and over. Susan has been creating since at least 2005 and has many of her kits on her website that you can download for free. They are amazing and the backbone of my scrapbooking collection right now.

I also happened onto GOTTA PIXEL http://www.gottapixel.net/ - This website hosts a store, forums, challenges, and an online scrapbooking community. I have enjoyed the challenges, and learning new ways to scrapbook as I look at other peoples pages. I have done more scrapbooking in the last 15 days than I have probably done in the last year, and I have had so much fun. I'm very lucky that I can digiscrap one handed, because I've also done a lot of nursing my 6 week old baby while scrapping. I highly recommend joining a digiscrapping community - the best way to learn and grow in any area is to join with others who are working together to praise, encourage and challenge each other while working hard together.

Some frequently asked questions might be - how do I get my photos onto the computer, especially old photos? What program should I use to digi scrap? How do I get my pages off the computer and into my scrapbook? How do I learn to digi scrap?

I'll give you just a couple of links, but remember, these are just the very tip of the iceberg, and I've not used these companies, I'm just letting you know that they are out there, as I find more I will come and add them to the list and maybe someday I'll have a recommendation.

Scrapbook Programs
These are the first programs that I was recommending - however, I would now have to say that if you want the best quality you might do some more research. These however, would probably be really easy to use and great for getting started or for kids. My children ages 7 - 10 all know how to use Microsoft Picture it and could also probably use anyone of these programs with just a little bit of help.
http://scrapbooking-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

I recommend this one mainly because it is a free trial download. I love trial versions. My kids have used this one and I would recommend it for the price, the full version is only $40. My sister in law - who has never digi scrapped until last week purchased this one and is hooked already. http://www.scrapbookmax.com/

I am using Adobe Photoshop Elements, which I purchased around 2000. It is a harder program to learn how to use, but very powerful. There are many newer versions, I'd have to research to find out the cost. I highly recommend adobe products if you can afford them.

Printing
http://www.sbtoshare.com/ - this website allows you to get your digital scrapbooks printed, or get copies made of paper scrapbooks. It looks like it has a great service.

Scanning - I'll have to get back to this section, my information is on the other computer right now.

How - the quick answer is tutorials. Most of the website devoted to digiscraping offer tutorials and there are also people you can ask for help in the forums.

This is where I have to get on my soapbox about the internet. You may have to be careful surfing the web because there are bad things out there, but the internet community is an amazing place to find intelligent and generous people. I am always amazed that so many people will take the time to create tutorials, digiscrapping kits, podcasts, educational games, etc and then give them away for the taking. It's a big big world out there in cyberspace, but it is a wonderful amazing place full of the most caring and generous people. Find a community, stay awhile, and make some new friends.

There is so much more out there once you start looking you may get lost, I know that I've spent many hours just on these few website in the last two weeks and occasionally I find myself sidetracked onto other websites. I suggest you find one and stay with it for a few weeks so you don't get overwhelmed. Build a community, connect with the other people, learn from them.

Oh yea, I almost forgot to show you some of my newest scrapbook creations.

Credits
Font - Primary Print

Background - Best Friends Boys Project 253 - http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/PrintLab/pl_projectDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&catOID=-13781&objOID=96964

Alphas - World Tour Alpha - Raspberry Road Designs http://raspberryroaddesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/Freebies

Nancy

Diaper Crazy

2008-05-08T10:10:00.000-06:00

My family has gone crazy - diaper crazy. I decided that I would like to try using cloth diapers with MaryAnn. I*m not sure why, advertising I guess. I have been reading Mothering Magazine the last two years. Somehow I discovered it about the time that Kevin was born. They have lots of ads for cloth diapers, and if you haven't seen an ad for cloth diapers boy are you in for a surprise. Diapers have changed in the last 30 years since I wore cloth diapers. I also have run across several articles in the last few months on the benefits of cloth diapers, and the environmental impact of disposable diapers. I*m not an environmentalist. I love the outdoors, in a clean sort of way, on an occasion. I do recycle, when it is convenient for me, which is frequently isn*t. However, as I*ve learned more about cloth diapers I decided that might be a good way to go.
I placed an order for a sample pack of cloth diapers before I left for the hospital. As we walked in the door from the hospital Brad saw the package, we made it as far as the dining room and he was opening the package of diapers. Everyone was ooohing and aaahing over brand new cloth diapers, they were all a little bit different as we wanted to find out what kind we liked best. I just stood there laughing about how excited they all were over diapers. Have you ever seen anyone ooh and aahh over disposable diapers?
It took several days before I had the diapers washed and prepped for use. I have to admit, it was fun and exciting. The first night I put cloth diapers on MaryAnn I took a picture at each diaper change. I had waited until bedtime to put these diapers on her so I could enjoy the time, and practice all by myself in the middle of the night when it was just MaryAnn and I.
I like cloth diapers. I always thought how lucky I was to live when we had disposables, but now I feel blessed to live when there have been wonderful advances in diaper covers, diaper pins, snappis, and most of all washing machines. I feel good using cloth diapers. At the first Emily asked if I wanted a cloth diaper or a "real" diaper. I think my family would now agree that cloth diapers are *for real* even if that means we are becoming peculiar.

Why I spent $100 for a Doll - and bought 2

2008-01-18T00:02:00.000-07:00

I dislike shopping for dolls. I tried to find a doll for each of my kids one year for Christmas. One problem was I had a toddler boy. I wanted to buy a doll for him. I thought boys need to learn to be Dads. I knew as a toddler he would also want everything that the girls wanted. It was so hard to find dolls that were cuddly, didn't walk or talk, and weren't wearing teenage or adult style clothing. Luckily I finally found baby dolls that I like, and my girls (and boy) played with them and loved them for a few years. However, they were growing up and I was afraid that they were beyond the doll stage. However . . .

My girls were invited to participate in a co-op based around the American Girls series of books. Through this co-op we were also introduced to the dolls that went along with the books, with time period accessories. When I first saw the dolls I couldn't believe or imagine buying a doll that cost almost $100. However, after I studied the catalog, participated in the girls group studying the categories, and talked with a friend of mine whose daughter had a doll I was almost convinced. What changed my mind was an article written in the Vision Forum Catalog(www.visionforum.com). Here is an excerpt -

"When a girl plays with a doll . . . she is preparing to be a mommy someday. Her first role model is her own mother, and her first opportunity at role playing is with her dolls. One of the sweetest aspects of being a mother is seeing my daughters imitate me as they play together with their dolls." - Beall Phillips(Vision Forum Catalog)

After reading this I was like, YES, this is what I want my girls to learn. Barbie dolls and Sweet Streets just aren't the same. I want them to be able to carry their doll around, to cuddle with their dolls, to sew clothes and blankets for their dolls. So I convinced my husband and for Christmas they received their dolls. The girls named them Sariah and Emily, and somedays they are around all day long, I look down the lunch table and there is Emily, with a plate and a cup, and a little bit of food. We have made blankets, and clothes. One of my favorite memories is last halloween. Emily and her doll Emily both dressed up as Idaho Vandal Cheerleaders, and Rebecca's doll Sariah was Julie Andrews, starring as Maria Von Trapp. It was so fun to make the costumes for their dolls.

Cheerleaders

Since falling in love with the dolls the night I opened them I have happened upon other wonderful dolls. I would love to become a doll collector, as long as I could collect the historical knowledge as well. Here are some websites for other wonderful dolls that I have found.

http://www.visionforum.com/beautifulgirlhood/
http://www.faithandfriends.com/
http://www.alifeoffaith.com/

I'm so glad that my girls (ages 10 and 8) still play with dolls. I'm also looking forward to getting my new doll in April. After 2 boys, I'm ready for a new baby girl in our home.

Gift of Identity

2007-04-19T18:05:00.000-06:00

19 April, 2007 - 05:05 — nancyg

I am part of a online community that is studying the living scriptures, words of the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are currently studying the April 2007 General Conference Addresses. As we read the articles we are encouraged to highlight, make notes, write down thoughts and ideas, share our thoughts and impressions and really study and learn from the articles. Occasionally I will write a more formal response to the readings.

This is response to the article
Daughters of Heavenly Father by Susan W. Tanner
http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-690-39,00.html

I have come to realize more poignantly recently the huge gap in understanding who we really are, Daughters of a Heavenly King, and how many people feel about themselves. As this subject came up for discussion with my friends recently they said I had been blessed with a "gift" in knowing who I was, in always feeling like I was a wonderful person, my Gift of Identity, of knowing that I am a Daughter of God, a wonderful and unique person in my own right.

I never realized what a huge blessing this has been in my life - and that others struggled with this issue, and probably don't even realize what a struggle it is. I must thank my Heavenly Parents and my Earthly Parents for this wonderful gift. I can't say that I remember any specific incident that taught me to be so self confident, but I'm sure that although it may have been a spiritual gift from Heavenly Father I was blessed to grow up in a home where I was always respected and treated like a Child of God.

FIND ARTICLE ABOUT DRIVERS ED

It has been awhile (years) since I've thought about my young womens personal progress, but I remember loving the Young Women values, and how important it is to remember that I have divine nature. I look forward to the day when my daughters become Young Women and we can learn the Young Women theme together and I can teach them more about their divine nature.

Of course, that starts with teaching them that they are Children of God. We have been memorizing "My Gospel Standards" and it is a tough thing to memorize. I think it may be an even tougher thing to internalize. The June 2006 Friend Sharing Time has some great ideas on how to learn more, I'm excited to rev up our devotionals again and really learn about these great words for my Children, God's Children.Friend February 1997 Friend October 2005 - Bookmarks

Sister Tanner says, "The Spirt gives us glimpses into who we are. Often the Spirit speakes to us when we pray, read the scriptures, ponder upon the Lord's Mercies to us, receive priesthood blessings, serve others, or feel loved and affirmed by others." Although I don't rmembe specific instances, I always remember feeling loved by my parents, and my family. Ok, yes, there were times when we fought, hard, and passionately, but we always loved each other. I also remember many, many priesthood blessings that I recieved as a young adult, by different priesthood holders, that stated, "Your Heavenly Father loves you." That always brought tears to my eyes and a wonderful feeling to my heart. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me, and I know that it was important to him that I learned that and internalized that. I want to share that feeling of being loved, not only by Heavenly Father, but by eartly parents with my children and with all Children of God.

Sister Tanner spoke of Moses and his experience speaking with God and learning that he was a Son of God, and then afterwards being buffeted by the wiles of the cunning one. Our children need to learn to recognize the difference between good and evil to be able to resist tempation. How do we (as adults) learn this difference and then teach it to our children. We learn to feel the Spirit in our lives by going to the temple, attending our church meetings, having the Spirit in our homes and actively seeking to feel the Spirit. If the Spirit is only an occasionaly visitor we won't notice the buffetings of Satan in our lives. I am so thankful for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives as we are able to homeschool our children. I know that they will be able to resist temptation better, because they will recognize the lack of protection from the Spirit.

I am so thankful for the home and family that I was raised in that allowed me to feel the Spirit and the love, to learn and to grow, that taught me about Heavenly Father and his true gospel, that valued following our leaders, and listening to the Prophet so that I can now build upon that solid rock and continue my progression into the Celestial Kingdom by really studying, pondering, and teaching my family upon a sure foundation.

A Thomas Jefferson Education Overview

2007-04-07T09:11:00.000-06:00

I found this great overview of a Thomas Jefferson Education in my files and contacted Jody Jarvis. She was kind enough to give me permission to post it on my website. I love this educational philosophy. When I discovered the Thomas Jefferson Educational Philosophy and began to figure out what is was all about I was so excited to find that someone had put a name and some definitions to what I was feeling was how I wanted to raise my family. I am still just a beginner, so I'm so glad to have found Jody's overview that explains the very basics of what I am learning myself. I'm so excited to share it with you.
- Nancy

A Thomas Jefferson Education Overview By Jody Jarvis 2005
Every single individual born to the earth has the potential for greatness. Many do achieve greatness. How is it that household names such as Gandhi, George Washington, and Mother Teresa achieved this greatness and how can one duplicate the process? The answer can be found and it begins with education. In a nutshell, Thomas Jefferson Education is Leadership Education. For a more thorough understanding of this educational approach, I suggest reading the book ‘A Thomas Jefferson Education’ by Oliver DeMille, available now through the Nevada library system (there is a copy in Douglas County Library). Also there are articles available through George Wythe College: ‘A ThomasJefferson Education in our Home’ by Rachel DeMille, and ‘Core and Love of Learning: a Recipe for Success’ by Oliver and Rachel DeMille. You can purchase these publications, including the book, through http://www.gwc.edu;/ much of what follows is excerpted from Dr. DeMille's book.

Oliver DeMille named this approach, ‘A Thomas Jefferson Education’ because this is the type of education that Jefferson received through the mentoring of George Wythe. Wythe was a signer of the Constitution and a great leader of that time. Dr. DeMille researched as well, the education of other great leaders throughout time and found that they all had very similar educational experiences. He found this approach lacking today and so he founded George Wythe College, in Cedar City Utah. TJEd, as it is commonly referred to by those that follow this approach, is founded upon certain principles which can be applied to any educational method. They are known as the 5 Pillars of Leadership Education, namely:

1) Classics,
2) Mentors,
3) Simulations,
4) Field Experience, and
5) God.

This approach to education has trained great leaders from Washington, Jefferson and Abigail Adams to Lincoln, Churchill and Gandhi. There are seven keys to being a great teacher. Many of them are similar to the 5 pillars of a leadership education. These keys are:
1) Mentors,2) Classics,3) Inspire, not require,4) Quality,5) Structure time, not content,6) Simplicity, and7) You, not them.

With this approach, a person's educational journey is divided into phases. Whether a student starts on this journey from birth or finds this approach later in life, everyone still needs to go through all the phases. The phases are:

1) Core Phase,
2) Love of Learning Phase,
3) Scholar Phase,
4) Depth Phase, and
5) Mission Phase

Core Phase is spent at home, learning to work, play, and love. This is when a person's core values are determined. Character development is a priority, routines are learned and practiced, and relationships are developed. This is not to say that academics are kept totally out of the picture. If a student in Core Phase desires to learn to read or do math, etc., they may do so, but there is no requirement placed upon the student to achieve anything academically. Keep it simple.
Love of Learning Phase is just what it sounds like. The student develops their innate love of learning during this phase. Everyone is born with the desire to learn and grow. This phase fosters that desire by giving the student opportunities to explore life, academics, and their own possibilities, interests and aptitudes. Time is structured so that the student gets into the habit of studying, but the content of that time is determined by the student. It is often during this phase that a person may get a glimpse into what their personal mission in life might be. During this phase is when "inspire, not require" really comes into play. For a student to really learn something well, for them to internalize it, they need to be inspired to want to learn, to love learning.

Scholar Phase is the time for intense studying. By this point the student has developed good habits in their Core Phase so they can work hard on a task. Through the Love of Learning Phase they have gotten an idea of what they might want to do with their life, where their talents lie, what their abilities are. Now it is time to buckle down and study. A student may be found studying for 10+ hours a day because they want to learn and grow and fulfill their life's mission. Of course, they may find through this intense time of studying that they have a different path to follow in life than they originally thought. They might change lanes part way through and begin to pursue a whole new avenue. This is the time to expect quality work. It is either ‘A’ Acceptable or ‘DA’ Do Again. Mentors play a much larger role during this phase helping the student to reach their goals.

In Depth Phase the student has found their niche in life and is pursuing it with real gusto. This could be the time for college. The student has decided what they want to learn about and they go into real depth in their studies of it.

Mission phase is applying what the student has learned to life through such venues as a career or teaching others, etc.

Many educational philosophies, styles and approaches can fit into this model of leadership education. For example, the Charlotte Mason approach is wonderful for the Core and Love of Learning Phases. So is unschooling. The Well Trained Mind or text books such as Saxon Math can be utilized well for a student in the Scholar Phase. TJEd is not a curriculum, but rather a set of principles around which one molds their education.

One of the core principles of TJEd is studying the classics. Without classics one cannot get a good leadership education. What is a classic, you might ask. As defined by Dr. DeMille a classic is a work that one can experience many times over and receive something new from it each time. Classics are not limited to literature but also can be found in art, math, science, etc. A classic can assume the form of a movie, a piece of music, or even a person can be considered a classic.
Why study the classics? Classics teach us about human nature. They allow us to experience, in an intimate way, the greatest mistakes and successes, of human history. If we learn from these mistakes and successes, we will make fewer mistakes and have more successes. Learning how others think, feel, and act allows us to predict behavior, it helps us to develop empathy, compassion and wisdom in our relationships with others.

Classics bring us face-to-face with greatness. As we study the characters, real or fictional, in the classics, we are inspired by their greatness, which is the first step to becoming great ourselves. Who we are changes as we set higher and higher standards of what life is about and what we are here to accomplish.

The classics take us to the frontier to be conquered. Human beings need a frontier in order to progress. In the past the frontier was geographical; today it is internal. In classics we can often experience other people's characters more powerfully than in real life because the author lets us see their thoughts, feelings and reasons for and consequences of their choices. The classics help us see the quest in others to conquer a frontier and how their choices failed or succeeded. Classics force us to turn off the TV and computer, to quietly study, ponder, think, ask, cry, laugh, struggle, and aboveall feel, change, and become. Then, because we are better, we must go out and serve.

The classics force us to think. First we think about the characters in the work, and then we think about ourselves. Sometimes studying a classic can be difficult. But if we persist, one day all the exposure to greatness will awaken us and change us for the better. The classics can be hard work and that is exactly what is needed to learn to think. The classics make us struggle, search, ponder, seek, analyze, discover, decide and reconsider. The experience of doing something wholesome and difficult changes us for the better.

The classics connect us to those who share the stories. Each culture is different because it has different shared stories. Different stories define each family, each religion, and each nation. And members of each connect themselves with the stories – they make the stories part of their personal story. Our personal set of stories, our canon, shapes our lives. And the characters and teachings ofour canon shape our characters – good, evil, mediocre or great.

Thomas Jefferson was a great man as well as a great leader. He had what would be considered a liberal education. His education is what helped him and the other founding fathers of America to dowhat they did. He got his education through studying the classics with the assistance of his mentor, George Wythe, by practicing what he learned through simulations both in his mind and with hismentor. He then applied what he learned to life, with the help and guidance of the ultimate mentor, God. We have a need for great leaders today, too. Who will they be? Your children? You? A Thomas Jefferson Education is the way to help raise the leaders of tomorrow.
- Jody Jarvis

After reading the article you may be interested in learning more about TJED and Jody has some other great information on her website Jarvis Academy.- Nancy

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Time Out–for MOM!

Mortality–Our Temporary Home

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If I Listen with My Heart

The Skin that I’m In

The Good Heart

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Cinderella

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