It's Time for General Conference!!!

 I love General Conference!!!

Twice a year, we Mormons, get together and listen to our beloved leaders teach us about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and how we can live our lives in a closer alignment with His. Well it's time for our second one in the year 2013.

Fall is a beautiful time for me and as General Conference approaches next weekend, I grow even more excited to hear the Word. It's time for a spiritual feast like no other. We, as adults, love this time but our families may not be as excited about sitting through several two hour sessions all weekend. Now is the time to prepare your family to enjoy and learn from these wonderful words of wisdom.

Here are some wonderful ideas to help with young children and teens have better experiences with General Conference.

Conference Squares

General Conference Bingo

General Conference Journal

General Conference Games

General Conference Activity Bags

General Authority Ties

General Conference crosswords

These are only a few ideas that can provide some good fun while your children learn. Maybe for family home evening you could discuss some fun things your family might like to do. You can plan breakfast menus and snack ideas, too, that might help your family find more joy in this time of spiritual training. There are so many different things that can be done so you can walk away with uplifting lessons from General Conference to change your heart for good.

For Adults;

I remember once, when my kids were young, that we went to visit some friends and we watched conference with them. It was so awesome to sit after a session was over and discuss the lessons we learned as adults. I was spiritually lifted through these conversations with other adults. This might be helpful to young single adults to help them gain more out of conference, too.

I hope what ever you decide to do that it will be uplifting and fulfilling in your life, and the lives of your families. I love General Conference and I hope you do, too!!!

Feel free to add other ideas to the list to share with other families that might be struggling with this time. Happy General Conference Weekend to all!!!

Barilla Pasta Company Stand

I just heard that the President of the Barilla Pasta company has made a stand for traditional family values by choosing not to feature gay couples in his commercials. There are many who are upset and calling for a boycott of the Barilla products. Why?

He has a right to his opinion. if he chooses not to do this it doesn't mean he hates gay people. It just means he has his beliefs and wants to stand strong in what he believes. There is nothing wrong with that. Why is it that you are good in the eyes of people when you stand up for things that don't match the teaching of the Bible but you are bad when you stand up for the good things in the Bible, like a man and woman only marriage? Looks like the scriptures are right, the day will come when bad things look good and good things look bad (Isaiah 5:20).

I am on his side. I don't approve of gay marriage and I will stand up for what I believe in but it doesn't mean I hate those who choose a different life style. I have a beautiful niece, who I absolutely love with all my heart, but she has chosen the gay lifestyle. Do I hate her or love her any less than the rest of my family, NO!!! I love her. My best friend in high school is gay but I don't hate her either. She is such a good person and a good example to me.

I actually think lesbians are strong women who know a lot about themselves. I have learned a lot from them about womanhood. But I don't think their choices are consistent with God's so I will stand for God at all times and all places.

The President of the Barilla Pasta company has the right to say what he wants and if there are those who want to boycott his products then I say to those who stand with Mr. Barilla we need to focus and buy his product to show support. Those who stand with him can also show support by blogging or commenting on facebook and twitter, or any other social media, that they stand behind him. He needs to know that we are on his side and support what he wants to do within his company.

Good luck, Mr Barilla, you have my support and I will let everyone know it!!! I will also let everyone know that I love my sweet niece, Alysha and my good friend, Barbara.  

It's Halloween Already?!

You know, I have never been much into Halloween. When my kids were young we would get dressed up and go trick or treating but that was about the most of it. I wasn't big in decorating or even baking treats for this holiday. However, as I was searching through Pinterest I found so many fun Halloween things that it got me a little excited about the day.

My daughter has already started Halloween fun with her boys and they are loving it. So this week I decided to get with it and find some fun Halloween things to share with you.

Crafting Chicks Halloween

Rantin' and Ravin' Halloween

Its Written on the Wall Halloween Games

Better Homes and Gardens Halloween

Pillsbury Halloween treats

4th Article of Faith

"We believe that the first principles and ^aordinances of the Gospel are: first, ^bFaith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second,^cRepentance; third, ^dBaptism by ^eimmersion for the ^fremission of sins; fourth, Laying on of ^ghands for the ^hgift of the Holy Ghost."

These are the steps we take to become members of God's Kingdom. We must have faith in Jesus Christ in order for all of the other steps to become successful. Having faith means to believe in Him and his saving grace. It doesn't mean we have to know for a fact but that there is something we feel in our hearts that cause of to have that belief that He is real and loves us. 

When we want to follow Jesus then we find we must give up on the things that cause us to sin  and do things that are not what Jesus would have done. This is where the repentance part comes in. We ask forgiveness of our past sins and promise to never do them again, but if we make mistakes we can remember that Jesus suffered for our sins so we can repent again and start over. However; the idea is that we "never" do it again.

After we have made this change in our life then the next step is to be baptized the right way and with the right authority from God. The correct way to be baptized is to do it like Jesus did, see Matthew 3:13. It says he came up out of the water, meaning he was under the water so the proper way to be baptized is to be taken under the water and brought back up like Jesus did. The proper authority is through the priesthood of God. You can only get that from God meaning He gives the authority to those who holds His priesthood.

The last step is not the least step but just as important as the rest, and that is to receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands again through the proper authority from God. What is the purpose of the laying on of hands in this process? It is to give us that promised Comforter always, to have the Spirit to guide our lives so we know we are doing the right things. Its a promise to have His spirit to always be with us. Now that is an awesome gift.

Its all pretty simple to understand, Jesus did his part now we have to do ours. We need to believe that he is our only Savior, then change our pattern in life to emulate His, become baptized, then receive our gift of the Holy Ghost. I love the Plan of Salvation. I hope you feel the same Spirit I do when I watch this short video of Jesus being baptized.

Jesus being baptized

Stay at Home Moms Find a Way

Hey!!! This is my 100th post, yea!!!! Thanks for viewing, I hope you will keep coming back.

Man, is our world in a mess. Too many of our young kids are getting into trouble, seeing a world that their young eyes should not be seeing, experiencing a world that they should never know. What happened?

I think back to a time in my life when things didn't seem to be as bad but now I know, as I read history, that my time was just starting to get bad. What things changed that caused kids to get into so much trouble, some ending up in jail? What changes happened to cause people in the world to just sit back and except what ever comes our way; to say well it's a different world now?

I believe there are many changes but the most important change began when mom left home to work for someone else instead of her family. I don't condemn women for this; I had to work outside the home while raising kids. Today's woman doesn't seem to have a choice but let's look back a little and see where the change happened.

Many studies have shown both positive and negative results of moms working or staying at home. For me, my mom stayed at home until she was divorced and had to work to support us. That was in the 60's when pay for women wasn't the best. This caused her to work longer hours for over time pay, which in turn caused us to be alone without adult supervision as much. We, my siblings and myself, were all in school but there were several hours we were alone. I was the oldest so I was left to watch over the rest, which wasn't the best of situations since I was almost raped at 11 years of age by an adult man. The Lord truly blessed me and let me escape from that situation but you can see why I am for moms being home to protect their young.

Woman's lib happened and was supposed to be something good but some of its purposes got mixed up and caused hardships on women and mixed responsibilities. There was a lot of good like getting equal pay for women doing equal jobs but as usual, things just went over board with cries of things that didn't really affect "all" women.

With mom's gone from home children are not protected, have no one to control their actions, and no one is there to care for their needs. Sure there are child care providers but that costs much of mom's pay check so that kind of defeats the purpose of mom working. Also, do you ever wonder where your kids moral values come from, perhaps you should be checking with the person who is with them the most hours of a day.

I don't want this to be about the problems of mom's not being there to raise their kids, actually, I am writing this to show another option for mom's. In today's world we see a growing change in mom's who want to stay home. I know I did, I love to work, and I loved my jobs, but I wanted to stay home with my kids so much so that I found jobs that did not take me away from home so much. One of those jobs was throwing newspapers, my kids came with me and we had some great experiences. I actually made most of my money that way believe it or not, 3 hours a day, 7 days a week but it was worth it. I made the amount of money that I would have had for our expenses less daycare costs by working out of the home. It worked for me.

Thank goodness for the Internet because many moms are creating their own home businesses. I think that is an awesome way to make it work; stay at home and make the extra money needed to help with the expenses. For those of us who no longer need to stay home, because our kids are grown, we can help by supporting these moms. I would rather buy from them so they are available to raise good, righteous, and responsible citizens, than to buy from a chain store.

Take some time to see what kinds of home businesses there are that could benefit you. I love that mom's want to stay home to be with their children. I do know the value of moms at home because I experienced my mom doing both. When she was home I could be a kid, but when she left to work, I had to become an adult and be responsible for my younger siblings. I can also see the difference in my kids because I sacrificed until they were in school, then when I started work my kids were at home for maybe a hour to an hour and a half by themselves until I was able to get home to them. It worked for us but we had to make sacrifices and that was worth it.

My kids weren't involved in a lot of after school activities, we didn't have expensive clothing, or electronics. But we had each other and were able to spend quality time together.

So I am willing to do what I can to help other mom's do what they desire. If its to stay at home and create a business, if necessary, then I will help by making purchases through their business. And if they choose to go to work then I would be glad to help find someone dependable and with the same values to watch over their kids; that helps home businesses too.

God created a family life because he knew we would all need a mom and dad in our lives to be there doing their part in raising a good righteous family. Mom's job is the principle care taker and nurturer of her children. It's hard to make everything balance in today's world. I know its a hard thing to do especially when we can't do anything but with God's help and a lot of sacrifice we can do this. And we can do this by supporting mom's who are trying to do both by being at home while making a few dollars to support their families.

Here are a few businesses that I am aware of.

Hello Sunshine Home Decor
Luv You Forever Baby Items and More
Spare Time Crafts
E Boutique
Made By Susie
La Bella Vita
Take Shape For Life
Women's Dream Team

If you would like to have your site featured on this page, please leave a comment and I will update my list!

Third Article of Faith

The Third Article of Faith states:

"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."

What does this mean? Jesus Christ is the only way back to our heavenly home. And that through his atoning sacrifice we can be saved simply by having faith in Him enough to be obedient to his laws and ordinance.

What are His laws? Jesus came and lived his life here on this earth to teach us how we should live our lives and then he paid the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind - that is to suffer for the price of our sins and lay down His life so we can over come death as He did. By doing the things Jesus taught we are following His laws.  What did he do?

He honored God first and foremost and then looked to the well being of all people ( see Matt 22:37-40). He taught lessons to His followers so they could understand His laws. By studying about Jesus' life on the earth we can come to know him and his ways better and become more like him. We can learn that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much that he sent His only Begotten Son to save us all. We can learn that our most important mission here is love all people and do what we can to help them on the right path. He taught, he loved, and he sacrificed.

What are His ordinances? The first ordinance is baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. We will talk more about that in another post. There are many other kinds of ordinances that are important to our salvation. We as Latter-day Saints also perform ordinances in the Temples which help us to have a higher understanding of God's ways. These things help us to become better people and develop a higher love of our brothers and sisters, which are all people. We make covenants with God to do certain things and He makes a promise to us to bless us with things we need in our lives. Ordinances are meant for our progression to be able to be successful in walking the path here in this life and to be able to walk the path home to heaven.

So, if we honor God by following the footsteps of Jesus, meaning to do as He did, then we are showing our love back to God. We are showing that we love them enough to do what Jesus did while he was here; to follow His example. Also, if we take care of each other, especially those who are needy - spiritually, physically, and mentally, then we are also doing the will of our Father in Heaven.

And, if we fulfill the ordinances and honor those covenants we make with God then we will be blessed and be able to return home successfully into the arms of a loving God.

But first we must recognize that the only way that could have ever happened for us is through the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His great love for His Father, and us, helped Him to fulfill His part of the Plan of Salvation. He did something that we probably will never fully be able to understand. But we can understand it enough to realize that we are sinners and that we need Him and his atonement in order to return home. Without Him we are nothing. We have to recognize that Jesus is the only way back to our heavenly home.

Through His sacrifice and through our obedience we can find peace and blessings in our lives in knowing that we are on the right path and working hard to help others to see that path as well. Its plain and simple, the plan is laid out in our scriptures. God wants us to be successful and return to Him so he has given us every tool we need to to do this. We just have to do our part by studying and understanding then being obedient to what He wants us to do. Jesus will do the rest.

That is pretty awesome. I am so glad He is on our side. I am so grateful that Jesus suffered and sacrificed so that we can return home, as long as we do what we are supposed to do. I know that Jesus loves us and I know that Heavenly Father loves us and through the fulfilling of the Plan of Salvation we can live for eternity in the most wonderful place ever. What more could we ever want?