This week we rediscovered the joy of homemade playdough. I've had this recipe for years and made it many times, but not for a number of months. We've had some of the "store" playdough around so there didn't seem much point. However, when Sophia got the store playdough out to play with the other day, the last of it was pretty much unusable. I promised her we'd make some more. The next morning she pulled out the playdough toys first thing after breakfast and I remembered that we had to make some or she'd have nothing to play with. I started pulling out ingredients and realized that my jar of alum was almost empty. Alum is the one ingredient that you might not typically have on hand. It is found in the spice section of the grocery store. We had to make a quick trip this morning to get some more. The playdough mixes up very quickly and this recipe doesn't require cooking on the stove like some do. You need some boiling water but that's as much cooking as is needed. I always do the initial mixing and kneading as the dough is extremely hot when you start. But as it cools slightly I divide it up between the kids so they can knead it while it is still nice and warm. It is a warm fun experience. They love it. This stuff is so much better than the stuff you buy. It feels wonderful and smooth in your hands, and the kids love to pick what color we will make.
Here's the recipe:
2 1/2c flour
1/2c salt
1T alum
Mix these together in a bowl.
Boil 2c water
Add 3T canola or vegetable oil
20 drops food coloring
(add some essential oil for scent if you like)
Add the liquid and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate most of the dry ingredients. Then carefully use your hands and continue mixing everything together. Eventually I dump it out on the counter and knead it until it is nice and smooth. Store in a ziploc bag. I guess you could put it in the fridge but we never do. When it starts to dry out or get nasty we just toss it and make some more.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
The Temple - spending time in His House
My only sister and her husband have never lived terribly close to us. They have lived in Florida, Arizona, spent a summer in South America, and for the past few years they have lived in Virginia. When my sister was born I was eight years old. I enjoyed her as a baby, I had fun dressing her up and reading to her as she got a little older. When I was married she was twelve years old. We saw each other only once or twice a year and then less often than that after she was married. I loved her dearly; she was my only sister, but I didn’t' really get to know her well as an adult until a couple of years ago. March of 2010 my mother was going out to visit her in Virginia. One day, while talking on the phone, she suddenly said, "Why don't you come too?" She was not serious; she knew it and I knew it. But when I got off the phone I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was not pregnant and had no nursing baby. In fact, my youngest at the time was three years old. It really wasn't a bad time for me to take a trip like that. We made the arrangements and I flew out there to meet my Mom and sister and brother in law. We had a marvelous three days, spent mostly touring the Washington D.C. area. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, Ford's theatre, the house where Lincoln died, the Viet Nam Memorial, the Capital, the Jefferson Memorial, the Declaration of Independence….and the beautiful blossoming cherry trees. I also got to spend time in my sister's home. I got to meet her dog Bella. I got to walk the neighborhood where she walks the dog every day. I got to shop in her little grocery store on the first floor of her apartment building. I got to walk in her little neighborhood shopping district and see where she and her husband like to get a treat now and then. In short, by visiting my sister's home and neighborhood, I came to know my sister so much better. In her taste in furniture and décor, in her choice of music, in the pictures she had on the walls, I could see what was important to my sister. I could feel of her spirit and the sweet person she is, just by being in her home.
So what does this have to do with the temple? I desire with all my heart to know my Savior better. One of the ways I can do that is to visit His house. His house is the temple. I can read my scriptures and go to church. All those things are good. But I feel every time I go to the temple, a closeness to my Savior that I don't feel anywhere else. I really know Him better as I spend time in His house, just like I came to know my sister better by spending time in her house. I can feel His spirit there so strongly. As I listen to the words of the ordinances I can easily see what things are of greatest importance to Him. So, in order to get closer to my Savior…I can attend the temple as often as I can.
So what does this have to do with the temple? I desire with all my heart to know my Savior better. One of the ways I can do that is to visit His house. His house is the temple. I can read my scriptures and go to church. All those things are good. But I feel every time I go to the temple, a closeness to my Savior that I don't feel anywhere else. I really know Him better as I spend time in His house, just like I came to know my sister better by spending time in her house. I can feel His spirit there so strongly. As I listen to the words of the ordinances I can easily see what things are of greatest importance to Him. So, in order to get closer to my Savior…I can attend the temple as often as I can.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Why so Many?
Today I watched a Mormon Message with excerpts from Neil A Anderson’s talk, Children, from October 2011 General Conference. He talks about the faith that it takes to bring children into the world. As I pondered over the births of our nine children, I see how bringing these spirits into our home has tested my own faith, as well as helped it to grow.
When we were first married, Jerry and I received counsel from more than one source that we should postpone our family until I graduated (which was really only about one more year.) We studied the words of the prophets, prayed, and made our decision based on our answers, and not on what others were saying. We felt that we should start our family as soon as we could. Once the fall semester of school began we had health insurance. We immediately began our journey to beginning a family. Within 6 weeks we were expecting. I spent that year of school coping with morning sickness, fatigue and all the normal pregnancy related things. When the winter semester ended we moved to Salt Lake City to be closer to where Jerry had found a job doing computer aided drafting, and a couple of weeks after that, Brandon was born. He was three weeks early, but was fine and we came home and began life as a family. That was in 1992, a little less than a year after we were married. I never finished my degree in Early Childhood Education at BYU, but my time was being spent on things of much greater eternal importance. I quit school and have never looked back with any regret.
By the time Brandon was a year old I felt that it was time for another child. Kyle was born in April of 1994.
Benjamin came to us in 1996. After Benjamin was born, I was experiencing some challenges with health, and coping with caring for three small children ages 4 and under. We prayed about it and decided that we would leave a little bigger gap before our next child. In the spring of 1998 I felt ready to have another child. Benjamin was no longer nursing and I felt some of my strength returning. We were building our house that summer and life was a little hectic and stressful. Perhaps that made it take a little longer to get pregnant than what I wanted. But in the Lord’s time, we were expecting again. That was a new experience for me…to be wanting to be pregnant and to have a number of months in a row where I realized that I was not yet pregnant. Jacob was born in 1999. Nathan was born just over two years later in 2001. Olivia followed in 2003. I remember vividly the day that I knew it was time for another child to join our family. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was looking for something in a closet when I came across a box of baby things. At that moment the feeling hit me like a ton of bricks. Its time to have another child. That pregnancy was not the easiest. I nursed Nathan right up until a month before Olivia was born, which took a toll on my body. But I knew that Nathan needed the nourishment and was also not ready to wean. The first two years of Olivia’s life were very busy and exhausting. She and Nathan consumed much of my energy. But the Lord sustained me and helped me to take care of them. Once again, I was prompted that my body needed a rest and that I should not rush to have another child. Once again though, close to three years after Olivia’s birth the feelings returned that it was time to have another child. But I would need to wait a bit. I had had Lasik surgery done in November of 2005 and needed to wait until early spring to get pregnant. Those were long months for me as I knew that there was a child just waiting to join us. As soon as my touch up surgery was performed and I’d given my eyes a month to heal, we became pregnant again. That pregnancy went well. It was very apparent to me that the break I’d given my body (I’d had nearly a year of not nursing) had given me a lot of extra strength. It had been a wise and inspired decision. Emily joined us in January of 2007. After Emily’s birth I began to wonder if our family was complete. Even when she was three years old the promptings to have another child didn’t come. I talked to friends and relatives to find out what their experiences were with knowing that they were done having children. I felt none of the “we’re all here” feelings that people described, and yet I also didn’t feel that it was time to have a baby. And to make it so much more confusing to me….well, here I need to go back in time a little bit.
When Olivia was about a year old I was doing work in the Salt Lake Temple. While I had a few minutes to wait I heard a voice in my mind telling me that there was another child waiting to come to our family. Then, the voice said that it would be a boy and his name was David. Somehow I also got the feeling that this child was very special. It was a very spiritual experience and I was very teary for the rest of my work that day.
When I found out at my ultrasound that Emily was a girl, I was a little confused. But I was pretty excited that Olivia would have a sister. Over the next three years I occasionally thought about my experience in the temple and wondered what to think of it. Had I really received personal revelation? Was it just my own idea? Maybe the voice told me about a baby, but I got mixed up about the sex.
And then when feelings didn’t come that there was another baby, that confused me all the more. By the time Emily was three years old I had given away all of my baby clothes and was giving away Emily and Nathan’s things immediately as they grew out of them. I gave away my infant seat and my exersaucer as well. I did not however, give away my maternity clothes. That was my last hold out, just in case we did have another.
Early that summer, we had a pleasant surprise. We were expecting again. Jerry and I laughed and laughed and were overjoyed. We felt so happy to get this chance again. Of course, I thought of my temple experience pretty quickly and thought, “This must be that boy.” Imagine how surprised we all were when we went to the ultrasound appointment and the technician told us that without a doubt, we would be having a beautiful little girl in the spring of 2011. That caused quite a commotion. We hadn’t even considered girl names. Sophia has been an absolute joy to have in our family. We have enjoyed her and every one of her “firsts” so much. She is truly adored.
But, not long after her birth, I started to feel that there was yet one more child. Jerry and I spent a Sunday fasting and praying as to whether we were to have another child. Both of us received the same answer. We weren’t told that our family was complete, but we also weren’t told that we should try to get pregnant right away. Personally, I was praying that if there was another child, I wanted to get pregnant as soon as possible as I was almost 42 years old. Then we left it in the Lord’s hands. Within a few months we were expecting again. Right from the start of this pregnancy I felt that this was a boy. When the ultrasound confirmed it, I had a feeling wash over me that this was the child of which I’d been made aware of in the temple. David was born in May of this year.
I know there are those out there who question how many children we have chosen to have. But as I write this account I see the hand of God in each and every decision to have another child. As Neil Anderson says in his talk, I feel that I am helping to bring to pass the ultimate purpose of the Lord which is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. And before immortality must come mortality. Jerry and I are providing the mortal bodies and earthly experience that is so necessary to each and every one of Heavenly Father’s spirit children. Neil Anderson also quotes a mother of five saying, ““Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.”
I cannot think of any better way to have spent the last 21 years of my life, nor any better way to spend my next 20 years. I love motherhood. I love my children. I love my husband. I know that each of our children has been brought here in faith, raised by faith, and will go on to raise their own righteous families by faith. It does take faith to bring children into a world where children and the roles of mother and family are not valued. It does take faith to bring children into a world where finances are not stable and where wickedness and moral decay are rampant. There have been times when we have had no health insurance to help pay for the baby. There have been times when we wondered how on earth we’d have the finances to buy a van with yet another seatbelt. There have been times when we wondered how we’d get through another two years on too little sleep. But the Lord has sustained us through all the difficulties. And I know that I am fulfilling my mission in life and I will continue on in faith until my work on this earth is complete.
When we were first married, Jerry and I received counsel from more than one source that we should postpone our family until I graduated (which was really only about one more year.) We studied the words of the prophets, prayed, and made our decision based on our answers, and not on what others were saying. We felt that we should start our family as soon as we could. Once the fall semester of school began we had health insurance. We immediately began our journey to beginning a family. Within 6 weeks we were expecting. I spent that year of school coping with morning sickness, fatigue and all the normal pregnancy related things. When the winter semester ended we moved to Salt Lake City to be closer to where Jerry had found a job doing computer aided drafting, and a couple of weeks after that, Brandon was born. He was three weeks early, but was fine and we came home and began life as a family. That was in 1992, a little less than a year after we were married. I never finished my degree in Early Childhood Education at BYU, but my time was being spent on things of much greater eternal importance. I quit school and have never looked back with any regret.
By the time Brandon was a year old I felt that it was time for another child. Kyle was born in April of 1994.
Benjamin came to us in 1996. After Benjamin was born, I was experiencing some challenges with health, and coping with caring for three small children ages 4 and under. We prayed about it and decided that we would leave a little bigger gap before our next child. In the spring of 1998 I felt ready to have another child. Benjamin was no longer nursing and I felt some of my strength returning. We were building our house that summer and life was a little hectic and stressful. Perhaps that made it take a little longer to get pregnant than what I wanted. But in the Lord’s time, we were expecting again. That was a new experience for me…to be wanting to be pregnant and to have a number of months in a row where I realized that I was not yet pregnant. Jacob was born in 1999. Nathan was born just over two years later in 2001. Olivia followed in 2003. I remember vividly the day that I knew it was time for another child to join our family. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was looking for something in a closet when I came across a box of baby things. At that moment the feeling hit me like a ton of bricks. Its time to have another child. That pregnancy was not the easiest. I nursed Nathan right up until a month before Olivia was born, which took a toll on my body. But I knew that Nathan needed the nourishment and was also not ready to wean. The first two years of Olivia’s life were very busy and exhausting. She and Nathan consumed much of my energy. But the Lord sustained me and helped me to take care of them. Once again, I was prompted that my body needed a rest and that I should not rush to have another child. Once again though, close to three years after Olivia’s birth the feelings returned that it was time to have another child. But I would need to wait a bit. I had had Lasik surgery done in November of 2005 and needed to wait until early spring to get pregnant. Those were long months for me as I knew that there was a child just waiting to join us. As soon as my touch up surgery was performed and I’d given my eyes a month to heal, we became pregnant again. That pregnancy went well. It was very apparent to me that the break I’d given my body (I’d had nearly a year of not nursing) had given me a lot of extra strength. It had been a wise and inspired decision. Emily joined us in January of 2007. After Emily’s birth I began to wonder if our family was complete. Even when she was three years old the promptings to have another child didn’t come. I talked to friends and relatives to find out what their experiences were with knowing that they were done having children. I felt none of the “we’re all here” feelings that people described, and yet I also didn’t feel that it was time to have a baby. And to make it so much more confusing to me….well, here I need to go back in time a little bit.
When Olivia was about a year old I was doing work in the Salt Lake Temple. While I had a few minutes to wait I heard a voice in my mind telling me that there was another child waiting to come to our family. Then, the voice said that it would be a boy and his name was David. Somehow I also got the feeling that this child was very special. It was a very spiritual experience and I was very teary for the rest of my work that day.
When I found out at my ultrasound that Emily was a girl, I was a little confused. But I was pretty excited that Olivia would have a sister. Over the next three years I occasionally thought about my experience in the temple and wondered what to think of it. Had I really received personal revelation? Was it just my own idea? Maybe the voice told me about a baby, but I got mixed up about the sex.
And then when feelings didn’t come that there was another baby, that confused me all the more. By the time Emily was three years old I had given away all of my baby clothes and was giving away Emily and Nathan’s things immediately as they grew out of them. I gave away my infant seat and my exersaucer as well. I did not however, give away my maternity clothes. That was my last hold out, just in case we did have another.
Early that summer, we had a pleasant surprise. We were expecting again. Jerry and I laughed and laughed and were overjoyed. We felt so happy to get this chance again. Of course, I thought of my temple experience pretty quickly and thought, “This must be that boy.” Imagine how surprised we all were when we went to the ultrasound appointment and the technician told us that without a doubt, we would be having a beautiful little girl in the spring of 2011. That caused quite a commotion. We hadn’t even considered girl names. Sophia has been an absolute joy to have in our family. We have enjoyed her and every one of her “firsts” so much. She is truly adored.
But, not long after her birth, I started to feel that there was yet one more child. Jerry and I spent a Sunday fasting and praying as to whether we were to have another child. Both of us received the same answer. We weren’t told that our family was complete, but we also weren’t told that we should try to get pregnant right away. Personally, I was praying that if there was another child, I wanted to get pregnant as soon as possible as I was almost 42 years old. Then we left it in the Lord’s hands. Within a few months we were expecting again. Right from the start of this pregnancy I felt that this was a boy. When the ultrasound confirmed it, I had a feeling wash over me that this was the child of which I’d been made aware of in the temple. David was born in May of this year.
I know there are those out there who question how many children we have chosen to have. But as I write this account I see the hand of God in each and every decision to have another child. As Neil Anderson says in his talk, I feel that I am helping to bring to pass the ultimate purpose of the Lord which is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. And before immortality must come mortality. Jerry and I are providing the mortal bodies and earthly experience that is so necessary to each and every one of Heavenly Father’s spirit children. Neil Anderson also quotes a mother of five saying, ““Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.”
I cannot think of any better way to have spent the last 21 years of my life, nor any better way to spend my next 20 years. I love motherhood. I love my children. I love my husband. I know that each of our children has been brought here in faith, raised by faith, and will go on to raise their own righteous families by faith. It does take faith to bring children into a world where children and the roles of mother and family are not valued. It does take faith to bring children into a world where finances are not stable and where wickedness and moral decay are rampant. There have been times when we have had no health insurance to help pay for the baby. There have been times when we wondered how on earth we’d have the finances to buy a van with yet another seatbelt. There have been times when we wondered how we’d get through another two years on too little sleep. But the Lord has sustained us through all the difficulties. And I know that I am fulfilling my mission in life and I will continue on in faith until my work on this earth is complete.
Monday, July 8, 2013
I Want to Be a Mother
When I was a little girl I had a journal that someone had given me that was a record of my school experiences. It had a section for each elementary school year. It had places for my school pictures, class pictures, a pocket for my report card, places to list my favorite subjects, and my friends. Each year it also asked the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It had a blank line for me to fill in and I thought long and hard about this question every year. I think I filled in "teacher" multiple times, and I think I put "airline stewardess" once. One time I think I even put "dentist."
It boggles my mind now, that I never once thought to put that I wanted to be a mother. You see, for as long as I can remember I have looked forward to motherhood. When I was young I couldn't wait to be a babysitter - the closest thing in my young mind to being a mother.
After high school I attended BYU. A few weeks after the end of my 4th year at BYU, our first child was born. During that year of classes (which I attended amidst morning sickness and other pregnancy related discomforts) I received advice from numerous sources that I ought to finish up my degree after the baby arrived. After all, I had only one class and my student teaching left.
But I had no desire for that. I had waited my whole life to be a mother and not even a college degree could entice me to give up one minute of raising my baby. My college years ended when he arrived.
I have never felt that not finishing my degree was a sacrifice for me. I learned much at BYU and am so grateful for that experience. It helped me to grow up and prepared me to be a wife and mother. I have never in the last 21 years yearned to go back and finish. I consider my life raising and teaching 9 children to be the ultimate "student teaching" experience. I don't need a piece of paper or letters after my name to feel that I am in the midst of accomplishing something great.
Yesterday I asked a couple of my daughters (age 9 and 6) what they wanted to be when they grow up. Immediately, (no prompting or prep) they both chimed, "a mother." I was ecstatic. I am grateful that my example of a mother has been a good one. Even though mothering can be exhausting, frustrating, and difficult, I have truly tried to regularly express to my children how much joy being a mother brings me. I tell them often that I would not change my life and decision to be a mother for anything.
Our daughters develop attitudes toward motherhood, good or bad, by watching us as mothers. Even as young as two, they are watching what we do. Earlier this summer I was at the playground with the children. I had our brand new baby in the Bjorn carrier to keep him out of the wind which was pretty wild that day. He was wide awake and I needed to be walking to keep him happy. I decided to walk around the sidewalk that goes around the perimeter of the park. It is a quarter mile long and you can see the whole sidewalk from the playground so I felt comfortable leaving everyone to play while I did so. On my second time around I looked back to see my little girl, age two, about halfway around the loop. She was carrying her baby doll, which she had insisted on putting in her little car seat and bringing to the park. After seeing my tiny little girl taking this big walk around this big sidewalk, I turned around to go back to meet her so we could walk together. She told me that she was taking her baby for a walk. She was truly in "mother" mode that day. She'd seen me walking with my baby (I'd told her that I needed to walk with him to keep him happy) and decided that her baby needed a walk to keep her happy as well. This same daughter regularly sits on a chair and "nurses" her dolls, and stands holding her baby, swaying back and forth the way I know she's seen me do countless times. These little ones really are observant! As Moms we need to be careful what they observe of our behavior and attitudes towards our mother and home duties.
President David O. McKay said concerning the importance of motherhood:
“This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, whose immortal souls will exert an influence throughout the ages long after paintings shall have faded, and books and statues shall have decayed or shall have been destroyed, deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God. In her high duty and service to humanity, endowing with immortality eternal spirits, she is co-partner with the Creator himself.” (Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, pp. 453–54.)
It boggles my mind now, that I never once thought to put that I wanted to be a mother. You see, for as long as I can remember I have looked forward to motherhood. When I was young I couldn't wait to be a babysitter - the closest thing in my young mind to being a mother.
After high school I attended BYU. A few weeks after the end of my 4th year at BYU, our first child was born. During that year of classes (which I attended amidst morning sickness and other pregnancy related discomforts) I received advice from numerous sources that I ought to finish up my degree after the baby arrived. After all, I had only one class and my student teaching left.
But I had no desire for that. I had waited my whole life to be a mother and not even a college degree could entice me to give up one minute of raising my baby. My college years ended when he arrived.
I have never felt that not finishing my degree was a sacrifice for me. I learned much at BYU and am so grateful for that experience. It helped me to grow up and prepared me to be a wife and mother. I have never in the last 21 years yearned to go back and finish. I consider my life raising and teaching 9 children to be the ultimate "student teaching" experience. I don't need a piece of paper or letters after my name to feel that I am in the midst of accomplishing something great.
Yesterday I asked a couple of my daughters (age 9 and 6) what they wanted to be when they grow up. Immediately, (no prompting or prep) they both chimed, "a mother." I was ecstatic. I am grateful that my example of a mother has been a good one. Even though mothering can be exhausting, frustrating, and difficult, I have truly tried to regularly express to my children how much joy being a mother brings me. I tell them often that I would not change my life and decision to be a mother for anything.
Our daughters develop attitudes toward motherhood, good or bad, by watching us as mothers. Even as young as two, they are watching what we do. Earlier this summer I was at the playground with the children. I had our brand new baby in the Bjorn carrier to keep him out of the wind which was pretty wild that day. He was wide awake and I needed to be walking to keep him happy. I decided to walk around the sidewalk that goes around the perimeter of the park. It is a quarter mile long and you can see the whole sidewalk from the playground so I felt comfortable leaving everyone to play while I did so. On my second time around I looked back to see my little girl, age two, about halfway around the loop. She was carrying her baby doll, which she had insisted on putting in her little car seat and bringing to the park. After seeing my tiny little girl taking this big walk around this big sidewalk, I turned around to go back to meet her so we could walk together. She told me that she was taking her baby for a walk. She was truly in "mother" mode that day. She'd seen me walking with my baby (I'd told her that I needed to walk with him to keep him happy) and decided that her baby needed a walk to keep her happy as well. This same daughter regularly sits on a chair and "nurses" her dolls, and stands holding her baby, swaying back and forth the way I know she's seen me do countless times. These little ones really are observant! As Moms we need to be careful what they observe of our behavior and attitudes towards our mother and home duties.
President David O. McKay said concerning the importance of motherhood:
“This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, whose immortal souls will exert an influence throughout the ages long after paintings shall have faded, and books and statues shall have decayed or shall have been destroyed, deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God. In her high duty and service to humanity, endowing with immortality eternal spirits, she is co-partner with the Creator himself.” (Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, pp. 453–54.)
Monday, July 1, 2013
Why a blog?
Anyone who knows me very well, knows that computers are not my forte. I could not live without them however. There are things in my life that they make so much easier and more fun. But I seem to be a bit technologically challenged. It takes me some time and quite a bit of repetition to learn something new on the computer. For quite a while now my mother has been bugging, ok, not really bugging, but just encouraging me to share some of my daily experiences with mothering and raising a family on a blog. My children and husband have been after me as well. I've resisted a little because of my "challenge."
I've always blown off the idea, thinking that I don't have time…and besides, my life is not that interesting or spectacular, but for some reason, now seems to be the time to try it. If nothing else, the writing will be good for me. I've not been the best journal keeper over the years and it saddens me that so many fun and wonderful things have happened that I really don't remember details of. Anyone reading this who is just starting their family - write, write write, and record with pictures and video, as much as you can. Maternal amnesia will eventually kick in and things that you think you will never ever forget, will become just dim memories…..yes, even the day that your sweet little girl ate chocolate syrup for breakfast and then threw up all over Walmart. (That really did happen in our family.)
Writing helps me appreciate the special little things that happen every day. It helps me see miracles and the hand of the Lord in my life. And hopefully I can express to my children and family the joy that I have in partnering with God and my husband in raising righteous children in a home filled with faith.
I've always blown off the idea, thinking that I don't have time…and besides, my life is not that interesting or spectacular, but for some reason, now seems to be the time to try it. If nothing else, the writing will be good for me. I've not been the best journal keeper over the years and it saddens me that so many fun and wonderful things have happened that I really don't remember details of. Anyone reading this who is just starting their family - write, write write, and record with pictures and video, as much as you can. Maternal amnesia will eventually kick in and things that you think you will never ever forget, will become just dim memories…..yes, even the day that your sweet little girl ate chocolate syrup for breakfast and then threw up all over Walmart. (That really did happen in our family.)
Writing helps me appreciate the special little things that happen every day. It helps me see miracles and the hand of the Lord in my life. And hopefully I can express to my children and family the joy that I have in partnering with God and my husband in raising righteous children in a home filled with faith.
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