Love with all your Heart: Plain and Simple

Dear Sisters,

We are seeing every day more and more hate among our fellow Americans. At one point, I was worried about terrorists harming us, but they don't have to do anything, because we are destroying each other with violent acts of hate.

I have asked myself so many times, "What can I do to help build the kingdom of God among people that are filled with anger and frustration, so much so that they think the only way to deal with things is to take the lives of others".

Here is the problem, as I see it, righteous women are not doing enough, plain and simple. I hear the voices of those who feel offended, and those who think they are have every right to say, do and take what ever they want. I don't hear Christian women standing up for what they know is right. An example; it is not hateful to fight for our privacy from the other sex in public bathrooms. We have to protect our children and ourselves. What is is more important protecting our children or giving anyone the option of using any bathroom they feel they want to use? There has to be another way, but it's not going to happen unless we stand up for what we know is right. Our side needs to be heard, but we have to do it in a way that is not hateful.

I have no issue with any person in this world, as long as they don't harm others. They can live whatever way they want, but if they ask me or include me in a conversation, I will stand for God's way and tell them their choices are not right in the sight of God and his people. But I will never make them feel like they are less than a child of God.

I have been praying lately to be more loving, of all people. It's not easy because I have lived a life time of certain ideals and beliefs. But I have found my lifetime has made me judgemental, and that is not right.  So, I need to make some changes through devoted prayer, and trying to not look at people with thoughts in my mind about the choices that others make. We can accomplish anything we set our minds to but it won't always be easy.

However, if we show God that we are trying then we will get the help we need to make things right. Now, I am not saying we condone the wrong that is being done, and just sit back while this great nation falls apart. No, we need to be heard and let the world know that we don't want certain things that are harmful to our families.

We have sat back for way too long, and not enough of us are willing to fight for righteousness. If we stand together we can make a mighty change, but we must stand together in love and unity. Don't be afraid that you will be labeled as a prud, or a bigot. Stand firm and strong in all that is good. We will have the angels to stand with us.

I get pretty frustrated with people who don't communicate, like at work, I send emails to people about issues and they don't respond. I don't know if they read my email, or are working on the issue, or even just ignoring me. How hard is it to email me back and say something like, "We are currently working on the issue and will get back to you by the end of the day", or something like that. It's a common courtesy.

I think the same thing is happening in the hate that we are feeling in today's world. We don't listen to each other. People are quick to blame another, and not even know the person they are mad at. More than half the people who die or get hurt by an angry person are innocent. If you have a beef with someone, go to the person, not someone else. How hard is that?

And, you don't have to go with malice in your heart. We all have good and bad days, if someone offends you, take a moment to see the whole picture. Do an act of kindness for that person, to see if they are just having a bad day. We can't walk in someone else's shoes, there are so many factors in a person's life that make them act the way they do. We never know what tragedy they have experienced, or what underlying problems that exist in their lives. 

All we can do is stop taking things personally, stop being selfish and see if we can help make someone's day better, in hopes of saving the lives of others.

Sister, if we are going to protect our families and friends, we need to start showing more love to all those we meet on a daily basis. A simple smile or hello, can make all the difference in the life of someone hurting; just a small moment can do miracles in a hard world.

The scriptures tell us the hearts of many will be cold, and we do see that today, especially in the lives of our young people. What can you do to help them feel love again? Many of them have been given a stinky life, and they know no other way. We are all given the Light of Christ in our heart to know right from wrong but without someone to lead and guide, that light can quickly be burned out. Stop judging and start finding a way to help.

Think about it but remember to never put yourself or anyone else in harms way. Lets talk more, share a Coke and smile, (teeheehee, I work for Coke). Recognize that we are all different and lets take a moment to see what another might be feeling. Find a way to show the love and blessing we have in our lives. Blessing don't have to be monetary, but can be a sincere listening ear.

Jesus showed us how to love all people, we don't have to agree with their life style but we don't have to hate them for it either. That goes for anyone who is living a life style that is not Christian, don't hate us either. We are not here to judge but to help. If you don't want religion or our help then that is your choice but don't take my religion from me. If I want to mention God or pray then let me because that is my safe place, that is how I feel.  If it is offensive to you simple tell me and I will see what I can do to still maintain my freedom of religion and allow you to maintain your freedom to not have to endure it.

It's time to act now before Satan gets into the hearts and steals the lives of our brothers and sisters. He can't ever win, but he can try to take as many lives down with him as he can. We can't let him do that. We are stronger than him, we will win the battle if we stand firm and show love to all people. We just need to communicate and have a loving heart; it's that easy, plain and simple.

All my Love

Service - This Is How We Can Become Like Our Savior

Hello My Dear Righteous Sisters!

Now that my children are grown I have been trying to find out what God would have me do with my time. I have looked at several different things but one thing I keep asking myself is how can I become like my Savior; how can I love as He loved?

I wanted to be able to see people through His eyes so that I could love them as He does. Earlier this month I had my eyes of understanding opened as I realized that to love everyone as He does is to do acts of service for them. When we serve our hearts are open and we begin to feel the love of our Savior in our lives and for the person/people we are serving.

Wow, that was very simple, or is it? Jesus lived a life of service and so can we. He was the perfect example of love and we should be looking to His life as our example. We do this by reading and studying the scriptures about His life. Once we know the scriptures we can act more like Him. We can make better choices and use of our time.

I learned that He wants me to be like Him, who is like the Father. There is no happier way to find peace and joy in our lives than to live like Jesus did. This world needs more people like Him. So, I thought that my blogs for 2016 should focus on how we can become more like Him. By becoming more like Him and doing what He did we will find peace and joy in our lives as we bring peace and joy to others.

However it's not always as easy as it sounds. The key to all of this is to act. We can learn everything about Him and how we should live our lives but if we do not act it will all be for nothing. The pure love of Christ is to act in service for our fellow man. We all have struggles in this world, its necessary for our growth, but we all need each other and those acts of kindness can help strengthen us and those we serve.

To serve one another is to love one another, and to love one another means we are becoming like Him who is the greatest of all.

Merry Christmas!!!

 All my love

Why do you Think Abortion is your Only Option?

Hello my Dear Sisters of this World,

I was out running errands this morning and saw a sign at the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Mango, Florida. It was talking about abortion and remembering the lives of the babies and their mothers. It made me think a little about this issue. I have participated in fasts and lots of prayers for this to stop but it's obvious that abortion is here to stay. I truly doubt it will ever go back to being an illegal practice, doesn't mean I will stop praying that it does, but I just think that it will never change.

However, a thought came to me, I call it inspiration, and it said we need to convince women that there are other options. If we can't make the practice of abortion go away then let's help women see the other choices they can make and why it is the best thing to do. Threats and making someone feel horrible about themselves hasn't worked, so there has to be a better way.

Lets look at this for a moment.  We should ask ourselves the question why does a women decide to do this? I can think of several reasons but I may not say them without it sounding hateful and I certainly do not hate these women who choose to do this. We can't walk in their shoes but we can show them that the other options can bring a sense of happiness in making a choice to let the baby live.

The Lord has commanded us not to take another persons life, it is a sin when we break a commandment and this is a commandment. But we can choose to avoid the sin by looking at the other options that are available when a baby is not the best thing for the mother at that time.

 “Thou shalt not … kill, nor do anything like unto it”  (D&C 59:6)

What are the options? Of course the best option is for the birth mom to keep her baby but sometimes that is not possible. So we have to think of other options with her. One choice is to have the child and give it up for adoption. Adoption is not a horrible thing. Have you ever seen a woman who is unable to have a child of her own. Her heart is so broken every time she see's a new baby. She knows that she may never hold a child of her own. Do you know that by making a choice to give her the baby will bring joy to so many people. It will bring happiness to the new mom, the baby, and giver of the life! That's a lot of good that is being done.

There are programs available where the birth mother can choose who she wants her baby to go to. That is awesome to be able to choose the home the baby will be raised. Some people are even good about letting the birth mother be involved in the child's life as well, now that is amazing. What a good heart on both sides.

 Life doesn't have to be filled with hatred and ill feelings towards one another, make any situation a good thing. The birth mom goes on with her life and still get's to see her child grow and the adoptive mom gets to raise a baby as her own. Peace (long sigh) of heart and mind. To me that is the only option. But there are other options, the key is to not make abortion an option.

We have to show love and not judgement to the birth mom, she needs moral support and sometimes financial support. What are we willing to do to avoid the decision of abortion? That is something that is between you, the birth mom and Heavenly Father. When we include Him in our decision we always choose the right one, doesn't mean life will be all wonderful and perfect, but it does mean it will be the right one and everyone will be blessed for it.

Now perhaps you are thinking about a very young girl, or a victim of rape, or even a mother who's life is on the line. Those are good examples of the fight today. People use those instances as a valid reason to have legal abortion options. But as I always say when we give in to something for the benefit of good, it gets abused and turned around so itis used for bad.

But even with those situations I would think the baby is worth fighting for as well. No, I have never been in that situation, nor have I known anyone that was ever in that situation but I would try to help the mom to see that the baby is a victim as well. We all experience challenges and trials in our lives but it's what we do with them that makes or breaks us. So if a person is raped, no matter the age, the mom can get help to get her through the tough times she will have in carrying the child. It will not be easy and it is a hard choice to make, but in the long run it can give the personal healing power to her soul.

As for the health of the mother, that is a tough one too. I think one of the saddest things in life is when a mother dies and leaves her young family. I'm sure it is one of the most unfair things in life. But God'd plan is one that we do not always undersand. The choice in all these situations is between the mother and God; we can not judge. We can only try to help no matter the choice.

I had a young friend who was pregnant and she did not want to be. I remember her calling me and asking for advice. I tried and tried to talk her out of the thoughts of abortion. She was a Christian but she was just so overwhelmed with grief. She had  broke up with the young man for a good reason but she did not want to raise a child alone. I was so heartbroken when she told me she had the abortion, but I couldn't let her see my disappointment in her decision.  I had made a lot of wrong choices in my life so I was not in a situation to judge her decision, all I could do is let her cry on my shoulder and be her friend.

I know she has her regrets but all we can do it try to help them make a good choice and if they don't , be as supportive as we can. I will not back down on my fight against abortion and the taking of a life. I believe woman should choice to save the life of the baby and then if she can not raise it , give it to a home where it can be raised in a good environment. Prayer and reflection on the situation will only aid in the decision. May God direct our lives for the good of everyone. And may He be allowed to direct your decision in the matter of abortion whether you are the birth mother or someone who cares enough to help someone make the best choice, and that is for all life.

Would Jesus have condemned the mother? No, he would have showed her love and support. He would have done everything He could to show her the best choices. And yes, he would have been disappointed if she chose to have the abortion. But we are given the gift of freedom of choice, and with that comes consequences of our choices. Not ones that are decided by people but ones that go with choices that are made.

We have to stand as righteous women and fight against evil. The person is not normally evil but the act of abortion is. I pray that God will direct your path to doing good in this fight for life. Love as Jesus loves and help build up His Kingdom.

All my love!!!

Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman?

Proverbs 31:10-31

"Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies." Let's find out why virtue is of great value yesterday and today. What is virtue?

Virtue is a pattern of thought and behavior that shows the highest of spiritual standards. For instance, its what you do when you think no is looking. It is your innermost thoughts and your actions from them.

Virtuous women focus on being righteous, doing a lot of good in the world around them. They try to be obedient to the commandments of God and help others to do the same.

I remember once, when my young sister-in-law was visiting my house, that we began talking about what makes a woman truly beautiful.  I told her that true beauty was inside her. She loved the Disney Princess's so I used that as my point of view.

We discussed the inner beauty of Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty" and Snow White. They were sweet and did good things that helped other people. They had positive attitudes that helped people to like them, etc.

I tried to show her the inner beauty that makes a woman beautiful. Then I asked her if she wanted to be known as the Queen who needed a mirror to tell her she was beautiful only on the outside or did she want to be the  princess who radiated beauty from the inside.

I heard from a woman once that said her mother told her to make herself as attractive as she could before she left home then once she left her house she was not to think of herself any more but to think of others that day and how she could help them. I agree with that thought. We should make ourselves look the best we can before we go out the door but then we need to focus on the Savior and what He would be doing if He was here among us. Then follow those steps throughout the day.

If we do that then the inner beauty will continue to grow. You can be the most beautiful woman in the world to the eye but age happens, and accidents happens, and then you become miserable because you can never gain back that beauty. But if you focus on the beauty where it really counts you will only grow more beautiful every day. This is where virtue begins, think not of yourself but of doing good for others.

More Service Project Ideas

The Young Men in our ward at church has dedicated the month of November by showing gratitude by doing service for others. They made a list of people who they were aware of that could use some acts of charity.

They planned the things that they would be doing and have been doing service on every meeting night so far this month. Doing service helps the heart to feel true joy. Its been proven to be very healthy for your mind and body. I can't think of one time that I have not felt so good after helping someone. Even a smile and good morning salutation to someone has given me a sense of doing good. I knew I was choosing to follow Jesus and do much good in this world.

Even small acts of service can bring happiness to both the giver and receiver. I have provided a link to a website that lists 30 different projects that can be done by you and your family, or friends. Take a look.

30 Service Project Ideas

Feel free to share some of your experiences with us. I know I would love to hear your stories.

Act in Charity

1 Corinthians 16:14
"Let all your things be done with ^acharity."

I told my son to not worry about doing any school work today, he is home schooled, and I told him to focus on his Eagle Scout Project that was coming due soon. When I got home from work I asked how much he got done, he told me nothing.

Then he proceeded to tell me why he got nothing done. He decided to sleep in some, then when he got up he spent time hanging out with his sister. He told her several times that he needed to get this assignment started. When he was finished hanging out with her, he started looking at some stuff and got distracted, so nothing got done. Needless to say I wasn't very happy with him.

I told him this reminded me of when we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to do things but we choose to ignore the prompting. He knew he needed to being working on his project but he did not act upon  that constant reminder in his head. When the Spirit tells us we should do something we need to act upon it.

But I can't say too much about my son, there have been many times when I have not acted in service when I really could have. It's easy to make excuses and move on. The sad thing is that once I justified why I couldn't do it,  I didn't think about it again until something happened and it was too late. Then I felt bad.

I heard a story by President Thomas S. Monson when he didn't act upon a prompting to serve and well...his heart was broken because he was too late (see the link for the story). But he vowed to never disobey  a prompting again. That is a goal for me, to try and never miss an opportunity to serve when prompted.


Acting upon Promptings

As righteous women we need to put our minds in a place where we can always hear the Spirit talking to us and act upon those promptings to do good. We are the answers to prayers; people plead for help and Lord whispers to us to do something so that we can be that answer to another s prayers. If we fail then we have not shown much charity in our hearts.

We need to serve with all our hearts. We need to be like our Savior and learn to love all people and do much good in this world. This is how we help build the Kingdom of God on this earth. Act in Charity. Act in Love.

What Does Charity Mean to Jesus?

1 Corinthians 13

I always thought of charity as showing love to people by giving to organizations that helped people, then I started reading the scriptures and found charity to show love for people by helping them in many ways and praying for them. But then when I began to really study the scriptures I found that charity is really something a lot more than showing love and helping where I could.

I love Paul and the things he taught. Reading this scripture has taught me what charity really means.

He says that charity is everything. He says that if you do everything you are supposed to do but you don't have charity then you are nothing. I thought about that for a moment, how do you do all the right things but not have charity?

I know that there were times when I would do things because I knew I was supposed to but I didn't really want to do it; like when I was learning about tithing. I wanted to take the money and use it on something else but I knew I was supposed to pay 10% of my increase. I had to learn that the blessings don't come if you do it with the wrong attitude. I knew if I paid an honest tithe and did it with a loving attitude that I was showing my love for my Father in this commandment. So this part of the scripture did make more sense to me; give it with my heart.

But charity means more than just loving through obedience; some of these were real eye openers to me.

Charity is long suffering: That means we are to be patient with others and with God, as long as it takes. We should forgive time and time again, for as long as it takes. We should continue to help people for as long as it takes. These things are not always easy but if we do this we will know charity in our hearts.

Charity envieth not: This means we are to be happy with what we have and not want what others have. There were times in my life that I wished I was blessed with certain things in my life, mostly material things, but then I realized that even though some people had materials things I had spiritual blessings which others did not, and spiritual blessings last longer than material ones. I found that I was happy with my blessings. It seemed that the more material things they had the more they wanted, they were never happy or satisfied.

Charity never vaunteth itself, was not puffed up: This means we don't go around bragging and feeling mightier than the people we serve. When we serve we have to do it with God in mind, that we are doing these things to help but not make anyone feel less of themselves for receiving. Christians are often accused of being mightier than, if we have charity in our hearts we will disprove that theory by helping people to realize that we act upon these things because we want to be more like our Savior, we want to do it because we love them. Jesus was not prideful in service to others.

Seeketh not her own: We are not to pick and choose who we give service and love to, we should be doing this every day as we go through our lives. If we see a need we help, we don't say well today I am going to do one act of service to help someone. We should be saying I will do what the Holy Spirit prompts me to do and serve where I am needed today.

Charity bearth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endueth all things: We should testify that we are followers of Jesus Christ and try to do as He did, we should testify of the truth we hold in our hearts, we should help others to hope for good things to happen, and we should help others to hold on and continue fighting the battle against evil. When we do these things, and help
others to to these things, we are showing true charity in our hearts. We are showing that we have the true love of Christ.

As righteous women we should seek for good things in our lives and find love in  our hearts for all people for they are our brothers and sisters, children of God. They are not more or less than we are. They are strong in some areas of life that we are not and we are strong in some areas of life that they are not, we can serve each other with the strengths we are blessed with: this is charity.

Paul concludes that charity never faileth, and that we should have faith, hope and charity, but the most important of all is charity.

With Faith and Hope Comes Charity

Moroni 7:47
"But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."

What is Charity? The scriptures say it is the pure love of Christ. We can find so much information in the scriptures regarding charity, as we are diligent in our study of that topic.

The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all our hearts, soul and mind. So lets think about that. We are to love Him with all our hearts. How do we love with all our hearts?

Have you ever looked at someone and your emotion just overwhelms you because you can feel the love for that person? For instance, looking at your new born child. Man, the love that pours out of your heart for that baby, you would do everything in your power to protect and provide for the child. I think that is an example of the love we should feel for God. 

That is how we love with all our heart. We have to open our hearts and pray for that love to come in. I remember once a long time ago, that I prayed for love in my heart for all people. Shortly thereafter, I saw a homeless person walking down the street and I began to cry for that person, I prayed for that person and asked how I could help that person. That was a start to how I could love with all my heart.

What is a soul and how do I love with all my soul? The scriptures say that a soul is your body and spirit combined (Abraham 5:7). We can show love with our souls by being obedient to the commandments of God. We show Him that we love Him when we are obedient. Didn't we as children want to please our parents so we would do as we were asked. The same with our Father, we show we love Him by pleasing Him in our daily actions.

How do we love Him with all our mind? This has to do with our thoughts. He needs to be foremost in our daily thoughts. When we put Him first we tend to see where there are needs in this world and find ways to act upon them. We are more aware of the direction our lives should be going. 

By doing these things, opening our hearts, being obedient, and making God our most important thoughts daily, we are beginning to understand and be able to show love to our Heavenly Father. Once we do this we will also be able to obey the second greatest commandment which is to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

We will be showing that we possess the Christ attribute of Charity. By serving God and helping our brother, we will know the pure love of Christ and as the scripture says whosoever is found with charity in the last days will be blessed and received by our Father in heaven. This is a attribute that we can take with us when we die and will find it to be a great treasure of joy.

Christmas Shoebox Project

When we lived in Utah I had the great opportunity to work on Hill AFB, at the chapel, where I learned a lot about different religions. I loved participating in a few of their activities like the one I am going to tell you about today. This program is called Operation Christmas Child.

My family loved this one. As I was searching today for good ideas for family service projects this came up as an option, then I remembered how much we enjoyed doing this and asked my family if they wanted to do it again, they did.

So for family home evening, Monday night, we will be going shopping and filling shoe boxes with gift items for these children, who otherwise might not have a Christmas. It's a fun project and easy to do, especially for younger children, but your teenagers will love it too.

The only catch is the collection date runs from Nov 18th - Nov 25th so it has to be done like now. Here is the link to show you where the closest drop off place is and some great ideas to fill the boxes:

Operation Christmas Child

Random Acts of Kindness

My youngest son will be turning 18 in January and then come summer he will probably be starting his mission for our church. My children have asked that we make this years holidays extra special. We talked about these like watching old Christmas movies, driving around looking at lights, and making goodies to snack on.

So I started looking for service ideas for my family to do this year as well and I came across an idea called "Random Acts of Kindness". I like what I saw and want to try this idea out this season. Take a look and see if is something that sounds fun to you.

Random Acts of Kindness

The website says this is for Valentines Day but you can do the same thing for Christmas. This is an easy project. Maybe an idea to enhance the goody bag is to add special messages attached to a few of the kisses. Maybe you can come up with another idea that would be more memorable to your family or to the families you service.

I'm going with this one as one of our projects this year!!!

Faith Can Create a Zion People

Many people are surprised to find out that Mormons believe in Jesus Christ. But it should be no surprise when they hear the real name of the Mormon church which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Faith in Jesus Christ

It is our faith in Jesus Christ that make us a strong people. It is our love for Him that knits us together as one, creating a Zion people. What is a Zion people?

Principles of Becoming a Zion People

Zion people act together as one, meaning our focus is Jesus Christ and doing as He did. We all have one purpose and that is the whole purpose for us being here. Every thing we do should be done with the goal of being obedient to the commandments and showing love to our fellow man.

We are to put God first and foremost in our minds serving Him with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. Then when we do this our hearts will be turn in love to our neighbor, all mankind. Through faith we can accomplish anything, even to become a Zion people.

Even if you are not Mormon, any Christian should have the same goals. When we all focus on God's plan and live it then we all become His children, also known as a  Zion people. Instead of fighting about who is right we should all be working together to fight against the evil that is slowing creeping into the lives of modern day families and our communities.

As righteous women we need to act upon faith and stand to fight against this evil by standing firm in holy places. We can create those holy places in our homes and where ever we are. Find the faith in your life and act upon it today. If we all stand together with one purpose we can do mighty things together and become His people, a Zion people, and help others to do the same.

What Are Our Blessings If We Have Faith?

John 14:6
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the ^away, the ^btruth, and the life: no man ^ccometh unto the Father, but by me."

All Christians know that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that He is the only way back to Heaven. We all know that His example is perfect and that we should follow it to become as perfect as we can be. And all Christians know that we will be blessed as we do the things we are commanded to do. Why do we do this, not knowing for sure that we all of it is real?

The key would is faith with hope right behind it. We have faith that as we start each day and commit to being obedient that our faith will lead us through the day successfully. We know that we will be greatly blessed as we do so. 

If we are obedient, and proceed with faith each day, we will receive the promised blessings. My youngest daughter learned a lesson in faith through prayer when she was 15 years old. I believe this was the beginning of her testimony of faith.

She had an enlarged spleen causing her to be sick which required surgery to remove it. She went through months of testing first to find an underlying cause. They never did find any reason at that time. So they went ahead and took out her spleen.

She was moved to her room after the surgery, they gave her pain meds to help her rest and recover. Shortly after she was settled in she started having breathing issues and a code was called over the intercom to take care of her emergency. 

After the trauma was over and she was breathing fine, the nurse told me that they had to  reverse her pain medicine which meant that she was going to feel the pain real bad. I sat beside her as the that reversing medicine started to work. The pain was so intense that she was climbing backwards up the head of her bed.

I grabbed her hand and had her focus on me a moment and I asked if she wanted a prayer, she did. The moment we began to pray I could feel her start to relax. By the time we were done, she had calmed down and went to sleep. But if you ask her about a time she knew her prayers were answered that is her first story. She knew that day that she was never alone, and that all she had to do was pray and she would feel the peace that she needed.

It is through our Savior Jesus Christ that we can know of peace and blessings in our lives. he loves us and we are to love him by turning our hearts to Him and testifying of His atoning sacrifice. There is no other way to return to heaven and have eternal life without Jesus. He is the only way!!!

Service Projects for the Family

Hello,

A this time of the year we start to feel a sense of excitement. The weather changes always get me excited not matter the season. But at this time of the year we are preparing for the holidays; fun times with family, gift exchanges, good food are only a few of the things that we get excited about.

I love spending time with my family, no matter the what time of year it is but at this time I feel the need to focus more on others than myself so I like to think about the kinds of service I can offer to others. I decided that in order to spend that time with my family and provide a need in the community that organizing family service projects would be a great idea.

SO, over the next few weeks on Saturdays I will offer some service project ideas that you and your family might like to do. I promise it will be a fun time for your family, great memories, and good teaching moments for your children as they learn to do for others.

Today, I would like to offer the idea of gift bags for kids who will be in the hospital on Christmas Day, no fun for them, but we can try to make it a little better for them by proving a bag of fun. Maybe you could even find a Santa suit and dad can dress up as Santa to deliver them. It doesn't even have to be Santa but maybe his elves. Looking for green and red costume ideas that time of the year should be really easy. Your kids could dress up as the elves, they would love it.

First, we need to make a gift bag. Here is how to make a paper gift bag.

I'm giving credit to the following link for the paper gift bags; Scrapbook Paper Gift Bags.

You will need the following:
1) 1 - 12X12 sheet of scrapbook paper
2) glue stick
3) scissors
4) tape
5) cardboard (cereal box)
6) ribbon
7) single hole punch

1. Start with a large piece of scrapbook paper (I used 12x12). Find a box around the house that is the size and shape of the bag you want to make. I used a box of spaghetti for one, and macaroni for the others. Fold  the scrapbook paper around the box as if you are wrapping a gift. Don't tape the paper to the box. Glue the edges together. (I added a couple of pieces of tape to the inside seam for extra support.)

2. Fold one end of the paper as if you are wrapping the edge of a present. This will be the bottom of the gift bag.

3. Use a glue stick on every fold of paper. I used a little tape for extra support.

4. Now remove the box from inside and pinch the sides of the bag to crease in the middle. You will be left with a little triangle on each side. You can fold the bottom over for easier storage.

5. Trim the top of the bag to whatever height you want the bag to be. I used fun scissors.

6. Punch little holes and attach ribbon handles. I also measured out a small rectangle of cardboard (a cereal box works great), and glued it to the bottom inside of the bag to make the bottom a little sturdier.

Now you have made some cute bags and an inexpensive cost. Now what are some good ideas to put inside?

1) coloring/activity books/crayons
2) reading books/comics
3) play dough
4) toys from the dollar store
5) stuffed animals
6) card games
7) movies
8) balloons
9) puzzles
10) drawing paper/pencils/colored pencils

These are just a few ideas that might be helpful. You can use your imagination and come up with some wonderful fun to keep their sweet minds off being in hospital during the holidays. Then, when they are made and delivered, pray for them and their families, then pray for gratitude that your child are not the ones in the hospital. We must always remember to thank God for what we have including our health.

Showing our Love for our Savior Jesus Christ

John  14:15

"If ye ^alove me, ^bkeep my ^ccommandments."

Simple words that make a whole lot of sense. I just read an article in the September Ensign that is called "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. Wow, now that was a good article. He helped me to have a better understanding of the Atonement and my role in it. I have provided the link to that article. 

His Grace is Sufficient


This is my understanding; Jesus paid the price for our sins in Gethsemane so that we could all return back to the presents of our Heavenly Father to be judged for our choices in life here on the earth. So the price has been paid for all of our sins. 

Does that mean we don't have to be good any more, NO, it doesn't. It means that we still have to avoid sin but if we fall short then the price has been paid for us. We still have to repent or answer for those sins. So in turn, Jesus now has the control of what we should be doing with our lives and what happens after we die.

He has given us a plan on how to live our lives so we can know true happiness. That plan included being obedient to commandments. If we keep His commandments then we are showing our obedience to Him and that we love Him. So the scripture of the day says that if we love Him we show Him by doing what He has asked of us. Those things are things that will make us know happiness. How simple is that? How good is that? I think  it's a great deal.

Those commandments aren't that hard either. The two greatest commandments are to love the Lord our God and put Him first in our lives, then to love the rest of the people in the world. Some days it may not be easy to love our brother but this is a challenge for all of us. We have to find ways to overcome the weakness and learn to love, if we can do that, we can do anything the Lord asks us to do.

Righteous women must be the example to all the world on how to love everyone. By doing this we are pleasing the person who paid the ultimate price through His love of all people. We are becoming like Him as He wanted us to do. His example is perfect and so we should show our love and keep His commandments.

Spirit of Contention

3 Nephi 11:29 - "For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another."

I can be pretty stubborn when I want to be but that is the key, I have to want to be, or...I find that when I dwell on an issue for a while I can get a little upset real easy. But I have been working on that weakness for a little while now, however, I think I still need to work on this.

Recently, we got a new Bishop, who I like a lot. He is a very good man and comes from an awesome family. But recently I found we had a difference of opinion in something concerning my son. Over the past two years I have been a volunteer at the Family History Library on the same nights my son has his youth meeting. Our routine has been that he would wait for me to pick him up when I was done but our new Bishop didn't like that he would be staying alone at the church so he took him home that night.

At first it bothered me then I let it fester until I was angry. I allowed myself to get caught up in the spirit of contention. It began to bother me so much that I couldn't sleep well that night. I had to pray for help to shake the feelings of anger. I didn't like the way I felt, nevertheless I wanted to be right about this.

The next morning I had calmed down and could see the error of my ways. I realized that he knew I was a single mom trying to serve the Lord through family history so he was probably doing something nice for me by taking my son home. I appreciate his kindness and had to ask for forgiveness for my thoughts and actions.

We can ruin relationships with people when  we allow things to fester inside of us. When we feel anger towards another person we are allowing Satan to influence our emotions even more. Righteous women have to work hard to avoid anger because we cannot be an example of our Savior Jesus Christ if we cause others to feel anger towards us. Self control of our angers and frustrations is a good tool to avoid Satan's promptings.

I have prayed for self control for certain things in my life, this certainly needs to be one of those things. The spirit of contention has ruined many people's lives. But we have a good example in Jesus Christ and we, as righteous women, should all be striving to follow in His footsteps. We can't love our brother if we feel the spirit of contention in our lives.

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!