A Post from Shad

I just found out that I have been doing it wrong all of these years.

Grateful Sunday

I'm grateful that General Conference is this weekend! I love to hear the prophets and apostles speak. Today I challenged my Young Women (and the sisters I visit teach) to choose a question, concern, problem, challenge, etc. that they need an answer to, and then to pray for Heavenly Father to give them an answer in General Conference. I've found that if I listen to Conference with a purpose, I am amazed at how many of the talks seem to have been written just for me!

Grateful Sunday

I am looking at my kitchen counter. It is covered with dishes from tonight's dinner. I am feeling sorry for myself because I have to put those dishes in the dishwasher. How lame am I?!?! At least I have a dishwasher. At least I have plates to put dinner on. At least I have food to put onto those plates. At least I have a healthy body and I am able to feed myself instead of having to be fed by someone else. And so, I should be grateful.

And I am.

So Much for Setting a Good Example

Peter has a bad habit of getting changed into his pajamas with his bedroom door wide open. Shad is constantly reminding Peter to close his door, with no success. Tonight Shad employed a different tactic. He said, "I see London, I see France, I see Peter's underpants." That did not make make Peter close his door. But it did make all 3 of my children run around the house repeating that oh-so-lovely verse for half an hour.

Thanks for that great parenting help, dear!

Grateful Sunday

Even though it has only been a week since I last blogged, it feels as if it has been a month. Life has been so hectic lately, and it only promises to get worse as the school year races towards a close. In all of the rush and insanity that makes up my life, I am grateful for those who help me to do all the many things that I manage to do.

This Sunday I'm particularly grateful for my two counselors in the Young Women presidency. Our ward was assigned to host a stake youth dance last night. We decided to have a St. Patrick's Day theme for the dance, since it is so close to that holiday. My first counselor, Becky, helped do the legwork to find the best price for a cake to serve as refreshments. The three of us cut out about 100 shamrocks to use as decorations. We decorated the cultural hall for the dance, served cake, and chaperoned. 

While planning this dance, we were also in charge of finding out prices for food to be served at next month's Youth Conference. My second counselor, Leslie, called a myriad of pizza places, trying to find out which restaurant would offer us the best deal on pizza for the conference's first dinner.

I am so grateful that Becky and Leslie support me. They've attended meetings when I couldn't (or when I felt it was more important for me to stay home with my family than to attend yet another meeting). They teach amazing lessons that fill the room with the Holy Ghost. They befriend the young women in our ward and set such a great example for me of willingness to serve. They have the sweetest testimonies. I am so lucky to get to work with them!

I also must mention how grateful I am for my husband's support of my calling as Young Women president. My calling keeps me busy, but he never complains about how much I need to do. He runs the kids here and there when I can't because I need to be with the Young Women. Last night, after only having slept for about 5 hours, he helped me set up for the dance and then stayed with me to chaperone. He spent more time at that dance than he did sleeping yesterday! He even took the first hour off of work so that he could help me until the entire dance was over and the building cleaned up!

I could not function as Young Women's president if it were not for the love and support of my husband and my two counselors. I am truly blessed!

Grateful Sunday

I'm grateful for people who see something good in me!

I substituted for Kris, one of the Family School teachers, Wednesday. My friend Leah called me the next day to pass on a compliment. Her son's teacher had a student author night Wednesday night, and Leah ended up in Kris's room with her son's group. Leah's teacher asked if Kris's room was a disaster when Leah's group arrived, because the teacher knew Kris had had a sub that day. Leah was able to tell her the room was in great shape, because I had been the substitute. Leah's teacher said something to the effect of that since I had been the sub, she was sure the room had been just fine after all.

It was so nice that Leah passed that compliment on to me. Things have been incredibly difficult for me with my kids lately and I haven't heard many nice things said to me lately. It really made my day. Thanks, Leah!

Bacon

Do you like bacon? I like bacon. It tastes delicious in breakfast burritos, on baked potatoes, and in my tossed macaroni recipe (one of my favorite meals). 

Shad LOVES bacon. He loves, loves, loves bacon.

But, unfortunately, Shad does not get all of the bacon that he desires, and I will tell you why.

I HATE the fact that my house smells like bacon for at least 24 hours after I've cooked it!!!

I made tossed macaroni last night. After the kids were in bed, I washed the pan that the bacon had been fried in. I loaded the dishwasher with all of the plates that we had used to eat the dish which included bacon. I wiped down the stove and counter with Clorox wipes (orange scent) to make sure all of the bacon grease was gone. Shad took out the garbage that held the paper towels that had absorbed the excess grease from the bacon.  I lit a triple berry candle from Salt City Candles (very powerful, yummy smelling candle) and left it lit for at least 2 hours. 

But, alas, this morning the house still smelled like bacon! I opened up the back door and turned on the ceiling fan (even though my children kept trying to shut the door because they were cold) to exchange the bacon-scented indoor air for some fresh-smelling outdoor air. I lit my candle, again.

It is now 29 hours since I cooked the bacon.

My house still smells like bacon.

I just may have to move!

Have I ever mentioned that I have an incredibly sensitive sense of smell?!

A Much-Needed Dose of Encouragement

The major work of the world is 

not done by geniuses. 

It is done by ordinary people, 

with balance in their lives, 

who have learned to work 

in an extraordinary manner.”

-President Hinckley Apr. 1996

I took the kids to the Botanical Gardens today and we saw daffodils popping up everywhere. It reminded me of this story ... I'm sure you've all read it before, but I'm posting it anyways.

The Daffodil Principle!

"Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over. "I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. "I will come next Tuesday," I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house, I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "Please turn around." 

"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.


It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. 

"Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."


For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ."

Financial Planning

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.

When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.

One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her natural beauty took his breath away. "I may look like just an ordinary man," he said to her, but in just a few years, my father will die, and I'll inherit $200 million."

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother.

Women are so much better at financial planning than men.

Grateful Sunday

I'm going to try and get back in the habit of blogging every Sunday about something I am grateful for.

Here are a few of the things I'm grateful for this week:

• My stepmom was released from the hospital in Orlando, was able to fly home without incident, and is doing well.
• Peter's and Laura's writing projects are done!
• I don't have any church meetings tonight.

The main thing that I am thankful for today is this: that in an uncertain world I have many things that I am certain of. The most important certainty in my life is that God lives, that His Son Jesus Christ atoned for my sins so that I can be forgiven when I repent, and that Christ's church has been restored to the earth once more. I'm thankful to have the Bible and the Book of Mormon to teach me how to be more like my Savior. And I am grateful that I can give these certainties to my children.