Saplings and Sunflowers

Growing up although I was not much of a sports person, I loved to watch basketball games.  And I still love to watch a good game.  In basketball, there is something that gives players a HUGE competitive edge in games.  It is the "home court advantage."  Statistically, NBA teams win around 60 percent of games in their home-court arenas. In the playoffs between 1999-2008, the team with home-court advantage in the playoffs won more than three out of four series.  To give this homecourt advantage to our families we must spend time in our Father's house.  Spending time with their own families is great.  But just as advantageous can be spending time with our perfect Father in Heaven who loves us infinitely and wants to give His beloved children who come to Him every advantage He possibly can.  Also to our advantage can be having a team of "ancestor angels" who can minister to them when we are not around. Here are some awesome promises from past general conferences abo

 When my husband was in graduate school we attended a meeting where a distinguished man spoke. He had been successful professionally, was happily married to a lovely woman, and was the father of a very large family. He spoke eloquently of his life and at one point, he posted a picture of himself as a teenager in his presentation. A wild-looking young man with long, fringed hair flashed on the screen. This picture looked nothing like the clean-cut, well-dressed man before us. The man related that in high school he had gone through a rebellious phase and this haircut reflected that time and attitude. Once, a woman had made a comment to his mother about her son's outlandish haircut and ways. His mother, irked by the comment, retorted "Maybe, God isn't finished with him yet!" I loved that phrase. This mother saw potential in her son and had hope for his future. She knew that with God, change is always possible. Another mother who I love is St. Augustine'

 When we lived on the East Coast we had a colorful church leader. Our family sorting donations at a local men's shelter He was actually an auctioneer.  He could talk ten million miles a minute and he had a lot of good down-home advice.  One Sunday he came to our congregation to speak.  He shared this advice from something he read and it has always stuck with me.  I found this on a website from  Missouri's Liberty High School : The Drug Problem in America The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, ''Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?'' I replied: "I had a drug problem when I was young": I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather. ... I was drug to the kitchen sink to have

I live in a fairly wealthy neighborhood.  When I enter houses around me I sometimes feel that I am being escorted into Buckingham Palace.  Perfectly shined floors.  Clutter-free countertops.  White baseboards.  It’s intimidating, to say the least. And, while I may never have things that clean, I want my house to be healthy and manageable.  I want to be able to find things and have some order. Unfortunately, my cleaning style for much of my life could have been summed up in the title of one of my favorite children’s books: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie .  I would start in the kitchen in the morning.  I would have unloaded approximately two cups from the dishes in the dishwasher when I would get a telephone call.  While talking on the telephone I would decide to work on folding laundry.  When I walked into the laundry room I would notice that the laundry room garbage had not been emptied.  I would take out the laundry room garbage sack and hang it on the front door handle because I would

I love this quote!  We have been in a bit of a "marriage rut" lately.  This tends to happen at the end of soccer season.  Cars zoom in all different directions and all of a sudden I sit down at the dinner table and realize that my husband has lost five pounds and is growing an afro.  Well, maybe that was just a dinner guest.  I'll have to check next Monday when I see him again... We heard of a couple who were both on second marriages who were given some advice as they were being married.  The advice was that they needed to make each other the top priority.  Nothing should come ahead of their spouse, including the kids.  This is advice that all of us, myself included, would do well to follow. The fact is that I can't think of anything that's better for kids than parents with a happy, stable marriage.  So, why do we put so much effort into fixing up our houses and our yards and buying fancy clothes and devices for our kids when that money might be better spent on a

If family finance wasn't already bad enough, Covid hit, and now we have discovered that many people find themselves in a state of financial despair.  Lost jobs, rising prices, strange income situations - they have all taken their toll. Our family is not wealthy by any means.  We live on the salary of one engineer.  But I have found that the following principles have contributed to peace about our family finances: Give first.   We have followed this principle throughout our married life.  We give before we do anything else with our paycheck.  We have chosen to donate to our church and also give money to humanitarian aid and other worthwhile  Save for the future.   Saving 10% is a good rule of thumb. Again, the savings comes out before we do other things.  We have been saving like this for years.  Now, as our children are going off to college we aren't stressed.  We saved money for these expenses a long time ago. Budget.   For years I did not budget well (the only thing that save