Saplings and Sunflowers

This photo is hitting a little too close to home.  Especially in the summertime with all of our children at home.  Yes, we love our children but we don't always feel capable of parenting them.  In our home this summer we have five boys, one girl, and untold numbers of little friends tracking dirt through our house.  We can go from nice to frazzled, bleary-eyed, and ranting in about an hour.  And often it is our spouses or children who pay the price.  So, what can we do to keep our cool when the days get long and hot?  One key, according to Psychology Today  is prevention.  And prevention means managing our stress before  it gets to epic levels. Here are some things you can do to recharge your batteries so that you don't fizzle out - and hey, you can remember these things using the word "recharge."  Now that's an added bonus! Rest : Go to bed before 10:30.  Get seven to eight hours of sleep.  Our tempers flare more easily ...

Partially-shoed son attempts to accelerate his chores. Promptly at 5:30 a.m., our children jump out of bed. We hear the quiet sounds of singing as they cheerfully get dressed, tidy their rooms, and begin their household tasks. They tiptoe up to our room with a wonderful homemade breakfast. With satisfaction we hear the vacuum running and enjoy the fresh scent of lemon cleaner as we sit in bed, reading books, and eating waffles made from scratch. Ha! Have we gone delirious? Yes. As any parent knows, getting children to work is serious work.  In our home chore time brings a chorus of whining and complaining, sometimes accompanied by tears.  Some children flee for the sanctuary of the bathroom.  Others try the camouflage technique of blending into the couch and hoping we won't notice.  But we try to hold firm to our summer deadline - chores must be done by eleven a.m., and before they play with friends or do anything fun, chores must be complete. Sometimes we fee...

  A Character-Building Summer Reading List for Boys I realized that I have been dropping the ball with some of my younger children and have not had expectations that they read the literature of the best and highest quality.  This has been reflected in their manners. If we want our boys (and girls) to learn kindness, honesty, and respect for others - where better than in the literature they read (and I lament the fact that many boys aren’t reading at all)?  Hopefully, we would not let our children eat a steady diet of junk food.  But are we as careful with the media that they consume?  Over the years I have put a lot of effort into studying book lists and also learning what great men have read.  Then I try to have these books available for my boys. I have taught my children to read using the Book of Mormon, and I consider that and the Bible the most important literature I will teach them. I have tried to read the Book of Mormon one time with each child: So...

I had years of disappointing birthdays stacked up behind me. Birthdays where my husband didn’t get the right gift. Or he forgot the flowers. Or my family just pretty much forgot the holiday altogether. Years where no one really emailed or called or not as many people as I had hoped. Or the cake wasn’t right. Or no card. Or the card message wasn’t long enough. You get the picture. It was getting to the point where I was dreading my birthday because it just never met my expectations. Expectation is the death of all joy.  So, I decided to try a different approach. Instead of spending all of my time mourning about what I wasn’t  getting for my birthday, I decided to make my birthdays giving birthdays.   I have had some wonderful adventures on my giving birthdays. One year I decided to do some service by leaving flowers on the grave of my dear friend Lois Price. I accidentally locked my keys in the car and my old school phone had run out of minutes. Here I w...

The other night I was awakened by an awful feeling of sadness at an opportunity that I had missed through my own mistakes.  My soul ached when I opened my Book of Mormon to 4 Nephi 1:9 and read the words ``there were many cities which had been sunk…and these cities could not be renewed.”  The Lord seemed to be telling me that the opportunity was gone.  “No, please give me another chance.”  But I felt that it was now too late.  I prayed to the Lord with a spirit of sadness.  “What can I do now?”  And the words seemed to come: “Forgive yourself.” I have yelled at my children.  Made cutting remarks to loved ones.  I have offended family members.  I have lost money.  I have broken things.  I have gotten in car accidents.  But I think that the mistakes that hurt the most are the ones where I disappointed God.  Where he was counting on me to do something or to not do something and I let him down.  Those ones really hur...

Photo by Juan Mendez from Pexels Jeffrey R. Holland said that the commandment to "be of good cheer" is one of the least obeyed commandments in the scriptures.  Sometimes, Christian believers can give the impression that they were baptized in a bucket of lemon juice rather than in the pure, cleansing waters of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  We should be smiling saints - with all that God has given us we most certainly should be looking on the bright side of life.   This Easter season is a wonderful time to remember that the word Gospel means "good news!"   Imagine the state of the world when Jesus Christ came on the scene.  Believers in God were trying to navigate a complex series of laws and rules where there was no hope for forgiveness.  Rather, any hope for salvation hinged on perfect obedience to legalistic religious obligations.  As far as all people knew, this life was the end.  There was no sure doctrine teaching life after death ...

Here I am standing with relatives on the site of the original family dugout I was out running yesterday.  I am trying to train for a half marathon.  As I was running an elderly gentleman in a truck rolled down his window and said something like, "Are you from Alaska?"  I kind of laughed, thrown off by what he meant.  Then I looked around and realized that there was snow on the ground and my hands were  a bit numb.  I had been running in the cold and hadn't even noticed.  Immediately I felt rather proud - I was becoming "Minnesota Tough." I first heard this term on a trip to Minnesota this past year.  There I learned about my ancestors from Minnesota - Anton Anderson and Maren Lund.  I learned that they came from Norway in the 1800s and settled in Western Minnesota.  They started out in Minnesota in a little dugout.  They endured blizzards, grasshoppers and an extremely inhospitable climate.  The family eventually grew to eight ...