Well, It IS Happier for Mommy...

Yesterday Lizzie got a new calling to be the Nursery Song Leader, and with the calling came the Primary Songbook so she could go over the words to the songs the kids already know.  It only took her about 10 minutes of going through the songs to undo a lifetime of brainwashing. 
I guess it was inevitable that she discovered the words to the song are not actually:

"When we're helping we're happy
and we CLEAN as we go...."


Oh well.  It was a good run.

The Trek!

It's possible that I am the last lds person on earth to go on a pioneer trek.  For those who are not lds, a pioneer trek is a reenactment of some portion of the Mormon Pioneers' journey across the central plains and mountains to Salt Lake City.  Generally (but not always) it's a youth activity, and it takes various forms, and is done in various places, but it always involves loaded handcarts being pushed and pulled by people--- as they were in that great migration of the 1850's.

 Handcart

So a year ago, when I found out that not only were we going, but we we had a chance to go on the real National Historic Trail, and push handcarts up this historically notorious place:

Rocky Ridge

I was IN.  Which was good, because The Brain and I were also in Charge.

Anyway - It was amazing.  There's no way to do an event like this without a crazy supportive ward -- and our ward jumped in right from the start. Then the committee, the support crew, the leaders, and the kids were all beyond wonderful - which really made it so we could do and see a LOT of cool things.

Silent River Crossings

 Noisy River Crossings

 Independence Rock

 Martin's Cove

 and of course

Rock Creek Hollow

And through the week, even through all the 

Wind

Rain

Mud

And seemingly endless walking...

...every single kid made it the whole 47 miles.  And some of us even walked an extra 3 so we could have bragging rights to 50 miles.

We had a blast!   We learned a ton about the pioneers, and why they did what they did.  But that wasn't really the point of the experience.  We never wanted anyone to have a testimony of the pioneers, or the trek. We wanted them to have a deeper relationship with their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

I was so proud of the youth for making the connection that Heavenly Father loves ALL his children, and he asks all of them to do hard things.  The hard things in our lives are different from the hard things the pioneers did, but that doesn't mean he loves any of us better or worse.   He just wants us all to know that we can do hard things with His help.  And that is the key -- to ask for His help.  Because with Him, we can and will get through all life's mud, wind, and rainstorms, and we will come through the other side more devoted to Him and to the gospel, and to our families, and to serving others.

I think they got it, because we had a special testimony meeting in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday after we got home.  And the bishop didn't want to cut the kids off, so he kept extending the time, and extending the time, until finally he had to cut it off at 2 1/2 hours because the next ward needed the chapel.  So basically I think we all understood a little better after last week, that when we do hard things, it becomes an opportunity to get closer to the Lord.

And that was really the point.

---------------------------------------------

 incidentally - -MY hardest thing of the week?
the absence of THESE along the trail.

I mean, srsly - how did people survive? 

luckily I have amazing people in my life who kept me hooked up to civilization.  

Conference Cliff Note Winner!

Because it just tickles me for Sister Dibb to take a contemporary phrase and give it a gospel meaning.

Also because it makes me laugh out loud to think about hanging this on my wall:

I chose this quote sent in by Beckers!  Congratualtions!  And I promise to mail your FABULOUS prizes in the next, you know, couple of months.   (kidding! gosh!)

(In case you missed the talk, she was referring to the Iron Rod.)

And thanks to everyone who sent in quotes, whether it was one or many, I loved them.

Conference Cliff Notes

YAY!  I love conference!!

Every October and April, the LDS church holds a worldwide televised conference.

It's always uplifting, and never fails to inspire me to do better. I also find that when I listen to these people speak with my heart open it's as if they are talking just to me. I hear answers to my problems, and find comfort in their stories and examples.

In short, it's several hours of time that really rests my soul, and then strengthens it.

Anyway, I'm always looking for The Quote. If you're a regular listener, you know what I mean. Usually there are one or two particular gems that are meaningful enough to speak to your heart, and concise enough that you could print it up in vinyl lettering and put it in a little niche of a wall somewhere that you will see it often.

 Soo watch or listen to conference here,
Saturday and Sunday, October 3-4, 2009
beginning at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. MDT both days, and each lasts about 2 hours. Hopefully you can catch at least an hour here or there.

....and send in your entries for The Quote. 

You can enter as many quotes as you like, but only one quote per comment. And as always, the first person to send in the winning quote  (read: The quote I like best)  will win a fabulous prize!


Previous winners are:

Laura with

"The future is as bright as your faith"
by Thomas S Monson

and

 Happy Mommy with

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."
also by President Monson.

I'm sensing a theme there.  No the winning quote does NOT have to be from Pres Monson.
Anybody want to play!?

Well, That Didn't Take Long...

This last Sunday, The Brain got sustained as the second counselor in our bishopric.  He is enthusiastic, and a little apprehensive about all the responsibility, but he'll do a great job.  I feel great about his new calling, especially the part where he was um, "strongly encouraged" to shave off his beard.

*** Sidenote***

It's been about a week now, and everywhere we go together, people do a double-take, and just can NOT get over how much younger he looks without the beard.

"I mean, seeeeeriously," they gush, "you look at leeeeast 10 years younger!"

 Almost every time the person will then look at me, and say

"Uhhh, you look good, too."

and then go right back to gushing a few more comments about The Brain.

Look people, it's ok with me if my husband looks great completely on his own. I don't need your pity compliments. (even though I know you're just trying to be nice)

***sidenote over***

Anyway I made it through Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School without offending anybody  *that I know of*  but Relief Society (the women's meeting) is where it all fell apart.  There was an older woman that I'd never seen before looking for a seat, and I motioned her over to sit by me.  She politely asked if the seat was taken.  Wouldn't it be great if I could've just graciously said  "I would love for you to sit here."?

But no.  No.  Graciousness doesn't come naturally to me.

So instead, I told her that she could sit by me if she had any chocolate. Which in my defense, is a perfectly fine thing to joke with the young women about (where I just spent the last 3 1/2 years) - but apparently not so much with strangers in Relief Society.

She looked shocked.  And even though I tried to laugh and tell her it was a joke, and she did finally sit down, she would only respond to my questions in yes or no answers.  I still don't know who she was.

It's going to take a little work for me to get onto this.  I think I'm learning, but in the meantime, I guess we're all going to have to brace ourselves for Sunday.

I just don't want to come home every week saying, "If no one is offended, it must not be Sunday."

And You Said It Was A Waste Of Time.

Well, this certainly opens up new horizons, doesn't it?



Credit goes here!

Nope. The Crazy is All Mine

So yesterday during Sunday School, we were discussing different ways of dispelling some of the crazy ideas people have about Mormons and the practices of the LDS church.
Someone mentioned my blog as an example of communicating to the world that Mormons are regular normal people.

I know, obviously not a regular reader, right?

Because I am all kinds of weird. But it's not because I'm a Mormon. Nope my crazy comes to me all by itself. In fact, if anything the Mormonism grounds me.

But I guess the blog is a good way to say hey, I don't have horns, I don't practice polygamy, and I very much believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior and consider myself a very strong christian. I try to live my life with a moral code - like most people I know, no matter what their religion.

(Hey, in case I forgot to mention it before, Mormons don't have horns, they get excommunicated if they are polygamists, and have very personal feelings about Jesus Christ being the Savior of all mankind.)

So I guess my point is: I'm happy to answer - or help you find answers- to any questions you might have about Mormons! Just email me and we'll look at it together.

But if we're picking a poster child for "normal" we may want to look elsewhere.

I'm just sayin'.

Hello From Under The Bus!

So last night, as previously mentioned, we took the youth ice skating. Yes it was bitterly cold, and no I did not really take smoothies. I wasn't actually in charge of refreshments. It was a young men's activity - and they had invited the young women along because, well, everything's more fun with the young women, right?(I mean, if you're a young man?)

But I was in charge of driving my own vehicle, and I am (with lots of help) in charge of all the girls. Which is why I have a policy that everyone rides home in the same car that brought them. Every driver is responsible to check his or her car for the correct riders, and then you can safely assume that everyone got home, right? RIGHT?

It's a simple system, but apparently you have to have everyone on board for it to work.

I guess one driver didn't really understand the system, prompting a discussion back at the church 30 minutes later of "Hey, where's Genna?"

Which was immediately followed by me making a phone call to Genna's mom to see if Genna had made it home, which she had not. Apparently though, she HAD called her mom to tell her that I (me) had left her there after she told me she was going to the bathroom. And Genna's mom was anxious to tell me how she felt about her being left behind. And let's just say she wasn't happy. (and I guess I don't blame her...)

As I listened to the frustration in her mom's voice, part of me wanted to say Hey!

• I wasn't in charge,
• I wasn't the driver who left her,
• She never told me she was going to the bathroom,
  

and you know what else?

• 37 other kids made it back to the right car at the right time. It's not like she didn't get the same directions as everyone else.

But I decided that the mature thing to do was to just let her get it all out and to apologize profusely.

I used to think that maturity was sort of an outlook on life based on experience and compassion that you can bring to a situation.

The older I get, though, I realize that maturity mostly means that I'm just too tired to get all into it, and I don't want to keep talking about it.


Just throw me under the bus. I'm getting used to it down here.

Sometimes I Wish I Were Jewish

No, really, I think Jewish people have it easier than I do in some ways, because so many rules are spelled out exactly for them. Not that I know anything about actually being Jewish. And I'm so anxious to talk about things I know nothing about. (Looks like I'm tempting fate with the possibility of being called a racist again. Because that was so much fun last week.) But from what I know, at least the very orthodox observers have extremely detailed rules for things they can and can not do on the Sabbath.

Mormons, on the other hand, are expected to study what limited guidance is out there, pray about it, and do what seems like the right thing. Which as you may imagine, results in every home having a slightly different idea about what it means to observe the Sabbath, and what activities are OK.

When I was younger, you know... back when I knew EVERYTHING... I thought that an ideal Sabbath day would consist of church, service, and family time. It would be enlightening discussions about the gospel, and visits to the elderly or the sick. And always it would include a large Sunday dinner, complete with homemade rolls and the good china.

Ahh, the dreams of youth. Every now and then I try to do that big Sunday dinner with a minimum of work.

(Hey, I can hear you laughing all the way over here.)

Maybe I'm just doing it wrong. Whatever.

This year, we're on the late schedule at church. Since there are 3 congregations that use our building, we rotate schedules at the beginning of each year. In other words, the same schedule comes around every 3 years. And yet, for some reason, every time we change schedules, my family is faced with the dilemma of rearranging and re-figuring our Sabbath activities and standards. (Oh, please - don't start rolling your eyes and telling me that the Sabbath should be the same no matter what time you go to church. You know you do the same thing.)

Though my personal preference is for the earliest time, the latest one is really the easiest to figure out, as far as practicality.

Sleeping of course, is an approved Sabbath day activity (you know, that whole "day of rest" thing), and my teenagers will normally sleep in until late in the morning.
But then what? It's still hours before the kids have to go anywhere, which makes it hard to find a pressing reason for them to get up and get dressed.

With The Brain and I in and out all morning for various church meetings, we can almost always count on our kids to have themselves ready for church on time... But not One. Minute. Earlier.

Can you imagine any other day of the week where you might not even get dressed until early afternoon?

I always feel a little bit sorry for the 12 year old deacon who comes to our door collecting our fast-offerings every month... having to get all dressed up in a suit and tie, just to ring our doorbell AT NOON and be met with morning breath and bed-head-hair. But I'm sure it makes for some good stories during their quorum meetings. And if we can't provide the ward with a little something to laugh at every now and then, well, I guess we aren't doing our job to sacrifice for the kingdom. (Was sacrificing our dignity part of the deal?)

The point is, I think the late schedule is somehow easier to keep the Sabbath because there seem to be less options.

The early schedule gives us too much opportunity for downfall. Once we're home (before noon), we've got nothing but time, baby. And energy. And there are ballgames on tv. And friends on the phone. And all that time reminds us that there is homework that could be done, video games to play, cartoons to be watched, and a hundred other things that are perfectly fine 6 days a week, but (at least for our family) don't fall under the category of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

If Moses had lived in this day in age, do you think he would be as tempted as I am to watch The Unit on Sunday nights?

Yeah, me neither.