Movie Monday: Modest is Hottest

“Many of you are trying too hard to be unique in your dress and grooming to attract what the Lord would consider the wrong kind of attention. In the Book of Mormon story of the tree of life, it was the people whose ‘manner of dress was exceedingly fine’ who mocked those who partook of the fruit of the tree. It is sobering to realize that the fashion-conscious mockers in the great and spacious building were responsible for embarrassing many, and those who were ashamed ‘fell away into forbidden paths and were lost’ (1 Nephi 8:27–28).” -Elder L. Tom Perry

Sleep Deprived...Obviously

So you know you are running low on sleep:

• when you sit down at your computer and start making faces at the picture of your baby on your desktop. Yeah, that was weird!
• Or even worse, you read the word babe and literal think, so do you say that baybeh? Even after several attempts it is confusing to you and then suddenly it clicks and you determine that you are losing it. Yeah, I'm losing it alright!

So I think that tonight I will very willingly follow the counsel given in D&C 88:124 -

"...retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary..."

Well, I'm off to climb into bed, if I can remember where I put it.

WOWW: A Parent's Example

The prophet Brigham Young said: “We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate.”

On Sunday during one of the talks a sister shared a quote that stuck out to me. I don't recall exactly how it went or what the stat was but here is the idea: A lot of the time (a percent was given) when we get after our children we are disciplining them for something that they have seen us do.

The week prior to this I had a random conversation with a lady working at the cash register at Wal-mart about this very topic. I am not even sure how it came up. She told me about how she has a pet bird that loves to be squirted with a water bottle so one day when her granddaughter was over she let her try it. She loved it. Later she heard her son say, "who taught her how to work a spray bottle." The grandmother confessed. The reason for the questioning: the little girl got a hold of some Windex and now knew how to work it. Ooops!

On another occasion the granddaughter said to her, "Shut up, Grandma." She got after her and wondered where she got it from. Just a few minutes later her dog started barking and she yelled, "Shut-up, Spot!" (can't remember the real name) We truly do teach our children or other's children when we don't even realize it.

Wow! Wake-up call! I am recognizing even the smallest things that transfer over to my son. Sometimes the things that I do are not bad or wrong but when imitated by a toddler they are not the best. Example: I wiggle my little girls hands to help her dance to music so of course my son wants to do this but I get after him for being to rough. Now looking at it boy does it seem so unfair that he is getting in trouble. Was that really his fault...No! he watched Mommy do it.

Let us be good examples to our children. Let us think before we act. Let us be examples in word and deed. Let us be able to say, "Do as I say and do" and not "Do as I say not as I do". Let us think before we discipline our children, they might just be doing something just like Mom or Dad, maybe we are the ones who need a little correcting. Just a thought.

Movie Monday: Scripture Power

As many of you know we love the song "Scripture Power" at our house and sing the chorus before we do family scripture study everyday so when I found this video I just had to share. Enjoy!



Video by Jenny Phillips

To read a few past posts that involve scripture power and scripture study click HERE.

What We Believe: God is Truly Our Father

Click to Enlarge

This article is taken from the January Ensign.
The PDF version of the magazine can be found HERE.

To learn more about our basic beliefs, visit Mormon.org.

The Option of Adoption From Many Perspectives

Several months back I read this beautiful ariticle in the Ensign and I cried. What a wonderful blessing adoption can be for all sides. I have only selected portions of each moving story from the article but I think they portray the feelings and the love of each individual perfectly. I have also felt that I should add an additional perspective of Adoptive Parents as I know of a wonderful couple (Calvin and Whitney pictured above) who are hoping to add a beautiful child to their family through the miracle of adoption. So read on.


Now here is a glimpse into the option of adoption from many perspectives:

Birth Mother
Giving birth to a beautiful little girl was miraculous. I loved holding her and rocking her. She was so beautiful, and I cried many times her first night on earth. I knew that the next day would bring heartache when it was time to say good-bye.

What made that pain bearable was knowing that placing her for adoption was right. It was the hardest—but most right—thing I have ever done. I signed the papers through sheets of tears and then leaned on family and friends for support.

Birth Father

Andrea and I considered marriage and keeping our baby. We considered not getting married and sharing custody of the baby. And we considered adoption, although it certainly wasn’t our first choice....The more real to us the baby became, the less our decision was about us and the more it was about our daughter. Andrea and I both acknowledged that many adoptive parents could provide our daughter with things that we couldn’t: a stable marriage, a permanent home, and a temple sealing. We wanted these things for our child, and before long, through LDS Family Services, we found a family we thought might be a good fit.

Grandparent

Of course, it was natural for my wife and me as grandparents to want to watch this grandchild grow up. But we knew that neither we as grandparents nor Katie as a single mother could give this child the love, time, and direction that he needed. This was not about us or our feelings. It was about what was best for the baby.

The day our grandson was born was a bittersweet one. What a beautiful baby! It would have been easy to change our minds—after all, children are raised by single mothers and grandparents all of the time. Surely we could do it too. But we knew the Lord’s will, and we knew that it was in this child’s best interest for the adoption to proceed. After spending two days with our daughter and grandson in the hospital, my wife and I watched with tears streaming down our faces as Katie handed her son to the caseworker. She exclaimed, “I can’t believe I just did that!” and ran back to her hospital room to cry. My wife later commented that she had never seen greater love than she did as she watched Katie that day. Adoption, she said, truly is about love.

Child
I knew I lived in heaven before I was born. I knew Heavenly Father gave agency to all. I knew redemption was possible for the people whose choices not only affected them but created a child as well. I knew Heavenly Father had a plan for me, and that His plan mercifully provides second chances for everyone involved in an adoption. I feel gratitude to the woman who carried me and made a decision that may have been unpopular with some. I imagine my birth mother as a pillar of strength, and I pray she has been blessed for her sacrifice and hope for the future for all of us.

Adoptive Parents - A few words from their letter to birth parents.

A bit about Calvin in Whitney’s words:
I fell in love with Cal from the very beginning. When I first met him it was his eyes, his sense of humor, and the way I felt so comfortable around him that first attracted me to him (they are high school sweethearts - seen at left). He is amazing in every sense of the word. Calvin loves the Savior and honors his Priesthood. He has an amazing testimony and lives his life quietly teaching others about the gospel by his example.

A bit about Whitney in Calvin’s words:

She loves to laugh and when she does, it makes everyone in the room want to laugh right along with her. She’s loyal, thoughtful, and full of charity. The second you meet her, you like her.

To us, family is everything. We have a strong testimony of the eternal nature of families. We feel it is vital that our children know that their Heavenly Father loves them, their parents love them, and their birth parents love them. We will teach our children each day of this love.

To learn more about this wonderful couple, hoping to adopt, click HERE.

If you are pregnant and want to learn more about your options, click HERE.

And in closing the wonderful scripture shared in the Proclamation, “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Again, what a blessing adoption is for all who are involved.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Compliments

I hope that each one of us will be a better husband or wife, kinder to one another, more thoughtful, more restrained in criticism, and more generous with compliments.

(Gordon B. Hinckley, A Time of New Beginnings.)

As grateful partners look for the good in each other and sincerely pay compliments to one another, wives and husbands will strive to become the persons described in those compliments.(Russell M. Nelson, Nurturing Marriage.)

I try to not be a particularly naggy or critical wife but I know that I fail in this area sometimes but I hope not too often. But as I have read over these quotes the thought crossed my mind that even though I may not be overly critical I don't think I am very generous or consistent in giving compliments to my wonderful husband. He really is wonderful.

Although I am not perfect at giving compliments one of my biggest pet peeves are the actions of those I'd like to call "Spouse-Beater-Downers". You know what I am talking about-the people that tend to tell you every negative thing their spouse has done or said or not done or not said. It would make me so sad to hear that my husband was out telling everyone the dumb things I've said or done. I hope to be a "Spouse-Builder-Upper". I hope that whenever I speak of my husband, whether he is present or not, I can share only the kind and wonderful things he does for me and our family.

Once again I think I can learn a lesson or two from my little boy. Here are a few recent statements of encouragement/compliments he has made to me:

Example 1:

"Mom, you're precious."

"What does precious mean."

"Important."

Example 2:

I couldn't get his button done on his shirt and this is what he said when I finally succeeded:

"You did it Mom! Whoo-hoo! Way to go, I'm proud of you."

Example 3:

While eating lunch-

"Mmm-mmm, tastey, tastey."

I hope that we all can strive to give more words of encouragement, more sincere compliments, and leave the negative, critical, or discouraging words alone. I love the thought that compliments can stretch us to become better as we strive to truly become what the compliment describes. Let us give more sincere compliments to those we love.

Movie Monday: Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful

What makes YOU feel beautiful in the eyes of the Lord?