Rain, Rain, Go Away...I guess I'll go eat worms!

My 9-year old son loves worms and bugs. Last summer he caught a preying mantis and put it in a glass quart jar with a long stick and some live grass hoppers. The pm ate the grasshoppers alive! He politely left the heads. Sick.

The last couple of days have been rainy. After school, Josh proudly reported that he collected worms all the way to the bus stop on the way to school. "Where did you put them when you got to school?"

"You don't want to know, Mom."

You betcha. The kid is a natural mind reader, I tell ya. ("Survivor-Idaho Falls", anyone?)

On the way home, he did the same thing. And he put all the unsuspecting worms together in one clump for the corresponding picture. And then he put them in the garden. He did wash his hands before eating dinner. Thankfully.

Conference Tidbits

*We may be able to afford it, but we don't necessarily need it.
*Reverence invites revelation.
*In times of distress, let our covenants sustain us.
*The Lord always suits the relief of the burdened individual.
*You can't text message faith!
*Remove your watch when you enter the temple.
*Spectator discipleship: it is not enough to observe gospel living from the sidelines. You can't plant a seed in the morning and expect corn-on-the-cob for dinner.
*I'm trying to become what my spouse already thought I was!
*Keeping the commandments in these latter days will be a badge of honor in the eternities.
*Divine compassion is never absent, no matter how abandoned we may feel.
*The future is as bright as our faith!
*You can't be a lifesaver if you look like everybody else on the beach.
*You're never alone when you can see the temple: Home + Holy Temple=Holiness to the Lord.

We had a great Conference weekend. It was very quiet and family oriented. Luckily the weather cooperated, so Sunday's sessions were listed to outside in the sunshine. Josh listened to all 4 sessions reverently! Yea Josh! Emma lasted for 3 sessions! The two toddlers...not so much of any. Emma at one point said to me, "I'm too bored to do anything!" Oxymoron if I ever heard one.

I had an interesting exchange with Josh and Emma following President Monson's closing remarks. When he said, "Now, a word of caution..." and preceded to talk about interent dangers, I asked my kids, "do you know what pornography is?" Emma said, "Is that if someone does a handstand and their shirt comes up a little?" I tried not to laugh. On a serious note, they didn't really know what it was specifically. Josh asked, "Is it like that game 'Club Penguin' game online?"

"Well, it can lead to unsafe people online, but pornography is when people take their clothes off and touch private parts of the body inappropriately for pictures or videos. It is dangerous because it puts images or pictures in your mind that you won't be able to stop thinking about or erase from your brain's hard drive. It is extremely dangerous to your spirit and mind. Because people can accidentally come across pornography on the computer, this is why your Dad and I do not want you using the internet at other people's houses, and only at home if Mom and Dad are around. This is what President Monson is warning people against because is so dangerous and destructive. If you ever see pictures that are confusing or gross, please, PLEASE come tell us!"
(Even the best filters are not full proof:( )

When the prophet says "Now a word of caution..." we better sit up straight and listen. Pornography is a subject we hate to have to discuss with our children (it's hard to discuss delicate issues like sex and addiction with kids, I think), but too many families mistakenly assume it will never be a problem for them. We are trying to make them aware of the dangers of the internet in an assertive, proactive, yet age-appropriate way. Heaven help our children's generation with all the evil swirling around them. How grateful I am for a Prophet to help guide our efforts to raise up a righteous posterity and find peace in our lives and in our homes.

When the choir was singing "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet", I felt a strong witness (one of many during this wonderful Conference)that President Monson is indeed the Lord's mouthpiece. I asked the kids, "Do you feel in your heart that President Monson is God's prophet on the earth today?" And they confidently answered, "Yes!" And I tried to identify the Spirit for them by saying, "That's your testimony! When you know something in your heart!"

I needed Conference. How is it possible that it gets better each time and trumps the last one?

April Fool's and a Happy Birthday to sweet Emma!

This morning, the kids came down to breakfast to dine on 'ostrich eggs.' At first, they stared blankly at their plates, then finally they started poking and then tasting. At last, they cracked a smile:) (Thanks for the idea Melissa!)

For lunch, JP and I met Emma for lunch at the school cafeteria. Since chicken burger with mushy fruit cocktail didn't wet my palate, I brought Arctic Circle happy meals for all of us. Tonight she had her two favorite friends over for cake and ice cream and her grandmas and grandpas and Aunt Nancy from Missoula. We had Tres Leches cake (so yummy) and white cake with cream cheese frosting.

Today is Emma Ann's seventh birthday. She came two weeks early so when we made calls from the hospital to let family know we were in labor, nobody believed us, given the date.:)

Emma was born weighing 7 pounds and 18" long. She had a fine crop of BLACK hair. She has been a wonderful daughter. Emma, I love how you are so unique. You do cute things that make us laugh, like last fall when you wore your swimming suit underneath your clothes to school for weeks because they were your 'garments.' Or last year when you used to smell things to tell if they were waterproof or not. Or like yesterday when you were four layers of clothing to school, including your Halloween socks. My nickname for Emma is "Punky Brewster." Anybody remember that sitcome from the late '70's and early '80's? That's Emma's sense of style and spunk. I also love how she is a hugger. She gives lots of hugs. She is a very smart student. She is a good peacemaker and babysitter. She is a talented little violinist with better technique and tone than some of my advanced students. Her favorite food is noodles and grilled salmon with butter sauce. She is playing soccer with a lot of confidence this year! And I love that she tells us she has "the power of speed." My favorite quality about Emma is her relationship with the Holy Ghost. She often tells me that she can feel the Holy Ghost because she is happy or she is sharing, or she told the truth. She also has a genuine faith in her Heavenly Father to pray anywhere anytime. She recently told me that she prayed 'silently in her head' that a certain thing would be okay when she was at school. And it was. How happy she makes me because she has learned at an early age how to identify the Spirit and that she has power to pray because she is never alone. We love you Emma! You are a joy!

Winter, oh I mean, Spring Break 2009

Here are some of the highlights of March 23-28, 2009...

Joseph and I are getting more life insurance. It's never fun to discuss the inevitability of death with your spouse, but it's all about self reliance I guess...

JP and I took the older kids to the Titanic exhibit at the museum. It was really good! I saw the same exhibit at the ZCMI Center in Salt Lake a few years ago. When you are admitted into the museum, you are given a boarding pass with an actual identity of one of Titanic's passengers. The boarding pass gives interesting facts about your passenger such as their age, destination, reason for traveling, people you are traveling the Titanic with, and boarding class status. All four of us had 1st class passengers; in fact, Josh occupied the most expensive suite on the Titanic. JP was a celebrated French sculptor going to Canada to present some of his art work and I was a 23-year old woman who was traveling to get her mind off of her 'impending divorce.' Emma was returning from attending a relative's funeral in London. You don't get to see your fate until you finish the entire exhibit and see the memory wall, which has a list of passengers listed under 1st Class, survivors and 'lost' and 2nd and third Class listed accordingly. The kids' favorite part was the ice wall, where the temperature of the ice was the same temperature of the Atlantic water that fateful night. So your chances of surviving were higher if you were a woman and if you were first class. Incidentally, Emma's person was the only one who perished in our company:( (See the first picture--kids holding boarding passes and replica first class dining plate) After the museum, JP took us to lunch at "Hot Diggity Dog", a yummy little hot dog joint. (100% real beef, might I add, because that's how we roll...)

Thursday we bought a trampoline. So fun! We have yet to get the enclosure put up. JP's waiting for warmer temperatures. (Darn that weather!)

Friday I took the kids to a matinee of "Bedtime Stories." Josh stayed behind to help Daddy assemble the trampoline. Who knew Adam Sandler could have a PG rating?

Friday night our Mud Lake cousins came for sloppy joes and a sleep over. This is a special treat because our family doesn't do sleep overs with friends. And Saturday, after we ate blueberry pancakes, bacon and orange juice, we took our cousins with us to Heise Hot Springs and pizza parlor. Holy cow, that's an expensive bath. Oh well, a good time was had by all, and I love the chance to prance around in my swim wear since I had my tummy tuck and breast augmentation. (just kidding). And I have to admit, after you see my hubster in a camouflage speedo, wet with sulfur-smelling mineral water, you'll never want to look at another man again. Candy for the eyes, I'm tellin' ya. He's my man! (To be said with a sultry southern accent.)

Now we're back in the swing of life again... practicing violin/piano, homework, scouts, soccer and earlier bedtimes. We're looking forward to General Conference this weekend. I'm confident we will find answers to our most pressing personal concerns if we listen with a prayer in our hearts. (And if the chitlins cooperate.)

Tending Roses

"Indian wisdom says our lives are rivers. We are born somewhere small and quiet and we move toward a place we cannot see, but only imagine. Along our journey, people and events flow into us, and we are created of everywhere and everyone we have passed. Each event, each person, changes us in some way. Even in times of drought we are still moving and growing, but it is during seasons of rain that we expand the most--when water flows from all directions, sweeping at terrifying speed, chasing against rocks, spilling over boundaries. These are painful times, but they enable us to carry burdens we could never have thought possible."

That is the first paragraph of the book "Tending Roses" by Lisa Wingate. I just finished the book and loved it. It was effective from the first page. Excellent fiction. I am a cheapskate, but I'm buying my own copy of this book. Has anyone else read it?

March Family Updates

Let's face it. It's expensive to be honest. I'm self employed with 25 violin students, so Uncle Sam doesn't adore me so much. Joseph and I are getting ready to pay our taxes. And it's expensive. I know of other music teachers that require cash only as payment for this very reason... they don't report their income. This is tempting, I admit. However, my temple recommend is the most valuable thing I own.

Joseph and I are going to the temple Thursday night with the Elder's Quorum presidency and their wives. Friday night, we're going to the We Surround Them party at Lezhai Gulbransen's. Everybody's invited! (She gave me permission to invite all of you out there in blogland) These parties are being hosted all around the country Friday the 13th. It will be interesting and uplifting.

As for an update on the kids, we just finished Parent Teacher Conferences; both of which went great. My kids are avid readers. Last trimester, Josh reached 221% of his AR goal and Emma has read every Junie B. Jones book the public library has in stock and is reading at a 4th grade, 2nd month reading level. Now she's on to Cam Jensen mysteries... Today she is excited because her dad is picking her up from school for a daddy/daughter date. Dun, dun, dun... to the library!
(Hey, whatever works, right?)

Caleb has been wearing his boots and coat for 45 minutes already, in anticipation of preschool this morning at 10:00. Yesterday in sacrament meeting, he was very IRREVERENT. That is being polite.

Elizabeth is potty training. There's something so cute about chubby bum cheeks in training pants, don'tcha think? There is nothing cute, however, about cleaning up urine off the floor.

That's the update... now if we could get some warmer temperatures, I think I'd be a new woman! Have a good week, everybody. Carry on!

I've Been Thinking...

My husband and I went to the temple Saturday morning and had a sweet time. I was thinking about ways I feel that Heavenly Father shows His love for us, and one of the greatest evidences of His love is temple work. Have you ever thought that it would be so much easier and more 'efficient' to do work for the dead in the masses and accomplish it so much faster? You could imagine an officiator saying, "You are baptized for and in behalf of..." and then name 10 individuals rather than just one. Or initiatory, or endowments; It really struck me how merciful the Lord is to let it all be done one by one. 3 Nephi 11 exemplifies this perfectly as well-- the Resurrected Savior allowed thousands of individuals to come and feel the prints of the nails in his hands and feet one by one. Wasn't seeing Him enough of a witness? Yet He loved them enough to allow them the time they needed to receive a personal witness. He really loves us as individuals, doesn't he?

Another thought I had recently has to do with handling our burdens. Often times we hear someone say, "The Lord won't give us anything we can't handle." That is a misnomer. Of course he gives us things we can't handle ON OUR OWN--he does that on purpose. For example, temptations, health challenges, broken hearts, death of a loved one, etc. We can, however, handle everything and anything with the Savior and His enabling power. That's the beauty of the Plan. On our own, we are nothing and our potential isn't very great, but with Him, the seeds of our godhood are limitless. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13

And finally, my favorite words to live by:

Repentance takes care of yesterday;
Faith takes care of tomorrow, and
the Holy Ghost takes care of today.