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!!!

Quiet Toys as Easy as 1-2-3

When my children were young I would sometimes let them bring one toy to play with during family church time but they still weren't very quiet. My son would make action  figure sounds, or my daughter would pretend out loud. Sometimes it was embarrassing, and we were always afraid of taking away from the spirit of the meeting.

But President Monson said once in a Stake Conference, "Parents, don't worry that your children are not quiet during meeting times, we have to remember that they are big spirits in tiny bodies full of wiggles." We all laughed. But we still wanted to teach our children that they needed to be quiet and reverent at church.


So we went to coloring books or reading books quietly. That worked but never lasted the whole time of the family meeting. Then one day someone behind us let my children play with a quiet toy that they had made. It was awesome and my kids loved it.

Creating a Sunday bag is a good idea that can be helpful in keeping little ones quieter. A couple of treats, mess free, are good starters. Some picture books are good during the passing of the sacrament.

You can create your own sacrament books by finding pictures of the things Jesus did while on this earth. Put them inside a clear page holder and then put them inside a small binder. You could even create a book of nature (animals, flowers, etc) doing the same thing.

Here are some ideas that I have found for making quiet time toys. I hope they are helpful and easy as 1-2-3 to create.

Make a felt play board, the instructions are as easy as 1-2-3:
1) find a small box with a lid.
2) glue a piece of felt to fit the inside of the lid
3) cut out different kinds of felt pieces to create pictures, they store inside the box

 Make a seek and find bag:
1) take a zipper pencil bag with a window in it
2) fill it with beads and misc shaped items, shake it up good, after it is zippered
3) make list of the misc items for your children to seek for, while looking through the window,  among the beads, make sure you put in enough beads in it to make it a little challenging for the kids to find.

Lace Cards
1) Create a few patterns like the one in the picture and create cut outs from foam squares
2) Use a single hole punch and spread wholes about an inch apart.
3) Get shoe string laces to guide in and out of holes.

This last one is a Popsicle stick puzzle:
1) Paint Popsicle stick several different colors
2) create designs on white paper squares using different colors to match Popsicle sticks.
3) have children try to create the design on the paper using the Popsicle sticks.

Well, those are just a few ideas, there are tons more that are so easy to make and helpful in quiet time needs. Have fun creating!!!

Saving by Making Homemade Treats

This year I am trying to save as much money as I can but not everyone in the house understands that concept. So I tried to think of ways to save money but still meet the wants of my family. As I was browsing I found some cool recipes that keep the favorite treats in the budget. Yes, it may require more of my time to prepare them but this helps to keep up with two of my goals, savings and family fun.

Better than Krispy Creme Bites

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

 Mini Banana Cream Cookie Pies

Chocolate Cookie recipe

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

Do You Have Patience to Wait for Hope

Romans 8:24-25
"For we are saved by ^ahope: but hope that is ^bseen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

My oldest grandson is at the age when he wants to know if it's time yet. For example, he is going to Sea World this month, he wants to know if it's time yet. He wants to know how many days until Thanksgiving, and Christmas, etc. 

My daughter made a chain for Halloween, you know the one like the Christmas countdown chain. This helped him to know when it was time for Halloween. It save my daughter from a lot of days of him asking how many more days until Halloween. But, he learned to have hope that when that chain got to the end that it would be time, like promised.

I thought of this story when I read this scripture about having hope but are we patient enough to wait for it?

Hope requires patience, the Lord does things on His time. If we are patient we will receive the answer to a prayer, or gain knowledge of His ways, or receive blessings.  He does this to teach us more about having faith and hope. He teaches us to be patient and wait for the promised blessings. 

We can find strength in hope, we can strengthen others through hope. We can change the world with hope. With hope comes faith and charity, which is love. Hope is a powerful word that we need to use in our lives to become more like Jesus Christ. He taught us to have hope because He knows the good that can come from it. 

As righteous women we can shine the light of hope for all to see. We can be an example of being positive and having patience that good things will come our way as we move toward the Light daily and guide others to do the same. We can have hope in a troubled world, waiting patiently for the return of our Savior to rescue us from the evil that seems to get stronger each day. Hope will see us through, we just need to endure to the end, we were made to do this.

Digitalize your Photos Now Before it's too Late!

Last weekend I went to the Central Florida Family History Conference in Orlando, Florida; second year for me, 17th year for them. It was just as good this year as it was last year.

Family Search

We learned a lot about the Family Search website and all the new tools that have been added since last year. I was amazed. Family Search is a free website hosted my The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Family Search you can create your family tree, do research for your ancestry, they even have free online classes to help you build research skills.

At the conference last week the one thing that really caught my attention was being able to add your photos and stories of your ancestry online. This interested me a lot because I have tons of photos that I don't want to get rid of but are just stored in a container. So I took the class about digitalizing your photos.

The instructor told a story about some photos his father had left him, I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it here with you.

He was gone for the weekend with his wife and while he was gone his house caught on fire due to a bathroom light over the shower being left on. His bishop, who happened to live across the street, called him to tell him that his house was on fire. So he raced home.

On the way, all he could think about was the photos that his father had left him, 5 boxes full. His father had just passed away the year before so he felt like his father was dying all over again. When he got there he found several fire trucks and police cars all along his street. As he approached his house a fire man asked if he was the owner, at that time he saw all five boxes in the street. The fireman had told him he saw that it said dad's photos on the box so he saved them for him. What a hero.

Man, what a story, but it made me think of all the treasures I have in my home with photos. I new this needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. I work a lot so I don't have a lot of time right now to do this but I do have a daughter who has some time. We talked about making this her project. It was suggested in the class to get your kids involved because they seem to love all the new electronics.

He said if you have a smart phone or android that these were perfect for scanning pictures. Wow, I never thought about that. So there doesn't seem to be a need to go out and buy scanners to do this, no excuses. All you have to do is take the picture and lay it on a clean solid color, like white, and take the picture again with your phone then have your phone send it to your email address then save the photo in a file or a thumb drive, stored forever.

I loved it, I have two different kids of scanners at home so we will use that for awhile. One scanner is my printer and the other is a small photo scanner, both work good. I can use the printer for the larger pictures and the small scanner for the small photos. I kinda want to put everything else on hold and make this a family project.

That's my post this week, if you value those family memories you better start to think about how best to save them because you never know what disasters await you and then its too late.

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.

Worldly Treasures

Matthew 6:21
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

I used to buy things for my kids when they really wanted something, which was all the time. My mom did the best she could in giving us what we wanted but she couldn't afford much. I remembered that there were things I didn't have that I wanted in my life so I wanted my kids to have what I could give them.

One day, I watched a video about children from third world countries who had nothing and were starving. I cried, a lot. But in those tears I realized that my children had a lot of things. So I committed to not buying tons of needless things for my kids. I talked with them about the video and why we needed to make changes. We referred to this scripture and made our changes. We took the money and gave it to programs to help these children have more. It felt good.

When we die we can not take worldly things with us so why do we need to buy so much now?
Through this scripture we can see that the things we can take with us are knowledge, goodness, and everything that we retain in who we are; our character.

Who we become is the most important thing we can take with us. God gave us the gift of this life and now, we in turn, give it back with all we become in hopes of it being returned full of goodness and knowledge. 

We, as righteous women can find great treasures to fill in our hearts through studying the scriptures and doing good deeds. When we return to our heavenly home the Lord will know where our hearts were by all the good that pours out of them. Remember to seek after the true treasures that you should fill your life with.

Friday is Pizza Day

 OK, I'm trying to create a spiritual thought daily for this blog and help people understand what the righteous should be doing, but on Friday and Saturday I want to focus on some fun stuff. So today I have found some food ideas for Halloween, or just the month of October.

Did you know that there were National Food Days? I never did until I started researching for food ideas for October. I have add a  link for you to see what I am talking about.

October National Food Days

So according to the link today, October 11 is National Sausage Pizza Day. So I have found a recipes for pizza. My family love pizza on Fridays so I think we are going to have to plan to make this tonight.

Making pizza dough would be the first place to start. You can buy it already made, or from a box, or frozen food dough, or you can make it from scratch. Here is a recipe for pizza dough from scratch.

Pizza Dough, makes 1

3 cups of all purpose flour
1 pkge of dry yeast (25 ounce)
2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon of white sugar
1 cup of warm water (110 degrees F)

Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.Mix in oil and warm water. Spread out onto a pizza pan and add the toppings.
Bake 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Pizza Sauce - makes enough for 4 pizzas

1 - 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 - 6 ounce can of tomato paste
1 Tablespoon of ground oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon of dried minced garlic
1 teaspoon of ground paprika

In a bowl mix in the tomato sauce and paste until smooth. Add oregano, garlic and paprika. Spread onto the pizza dough leaving about a half inch from all edges. Add topping as desired (pepperoni, sausage, vegies), and cheese.

Here are some links to some other fun ideas with pizza ingredients.

pizza rolls

I can't find the recipe but something my kids really liked was crescent rolls with a tablespoon of pizza sauce, 1/2 string cheese stick, and any other topping like a slice of pepperoni. Roll it up in the crescent and bake according to crescent directions.
pizza treats

Enjoy!!!

What to do Between Sessions

OK, if you are like my family after a session of General Conference is over it becomes nap time. Or we all go our separate way doing what ever we want for a couple of hours. Is this beneficial? I guess it matters according to who you ask. We should be pondering the things we learned and marveling over them.

SO, here are a few ideas of things you can do with family or in groups, like during the Priesthood Session.

1) take short walks/hikes while talking about some of the talks given in conference
2) you can add a picnic to that, in your back yard, or on the family room floor
3) play games about things learned in conference (see ideas below)
4) watch a short scripture video
5) make a family conference video, ask questions to each person about what they learned and video tape
6) have children draw pictures of something they learned, or write in journals
7) create a fun craft time (see ideas below), or as a family prepare a snack for next session, or next day
8) go to graveyards to take pictures of family graves, or clean it up, put new flowers on, teach about family history, have a picnic there

These are just a few ideas to help make conference more memorable. The crafts may not be on as spiritual but if you add conversation about conference addresses in the activity it might benefit that way.

Games

1) Family Basketball - create a list of questions from the conference session just watched. If the person can answer the question they get to try to make a basket. You can do it as teams or individuals. Person with the most points wins the game.
2) Article of Faith Charades - have a person act out a word or phrase from an article of faith and have others guess which one then recite the Article of Faith.
3) Guessing Hymns - have a person clap out the tune of a hymn and ask who can guess it. Try to use most familiar ones.
4) Holy Ghost Game - make some kind of obstacle course, let everyone go through it once, then blindfold each person but a member of the team needs to tell the person which way to go and what to do to get through the course. Teach the concept of listening to the Holy Ghost or even the Prophets.

Crafts

1) Find a family service project - like creating holiday cards to soldiers, making gift bags for homeless, etc

2) Make Mosiac plates

3) Make Family Magnet Boards

4) Create your own coloring books using ideas from conference. You can even make coloring books to give to sick children in the hospital.

5) During the Priesthood Session, women can get together and make a quilt for a gift to someone in the ward or a local charity. You could make several simple lap quilts to give to the elderly in a nursing home. Be sure to take time to talk about things learned in conference. This can also be done with older children.

So that is a few ideas, I'm sure you will be able to come up with tons more. Happy Conference Weekend, use your time wisely.

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!

California wants what?!!!

So...Friday I was listening to the radio and heard only a small portion of something that almost made me go ballistic...I had to ask myself, if what I heard was true. So I started researching on the Internet. I still can't believe it but it seems California thinks that their children need to be able to use whatever bathroom they like or play sports on whatever team they like.

Ok, let me say this again, California is trying to pass a bill that allows children K-12 to use which ever bathroom they want according to what ever gender they feel they are. And if they want to play on a school sports team as a gender opposite of what their body parts tell them they are they will be allowed to play on the team of their choice.

Gender law

What is wrong with this picture; what problems do you see happening if this is passed; whats wrong with these people?!!! Has this world gone crazy? Do you think this won't happen anywhere else? Because it will or things will get even more wilder than that. How do we stand up against things like that? It's just wrong.

This is a very good time to stand up for truth and righteousness. It's time to stand up for God's plan and not man's. I have a good friend, since childhood, who is gay and she thinks things like this are extreme. She knows who she is and lives her life the way she wants but is bothered by others who take things to extremes like this.

I heard once that California sets a trend for the rest of the country so we have to watch what they do or get away with, so that we can avoid things like this from happening in our states. This is just plain wrong. I do not want to worry about our children having to deal with the selfishness of people who want to prove points. This is not a win for gays, its a win for selfish.

There are better battles to fight for than to put children in uncomfortable situations, perhaps even dangerous. I don't hate people who are gay. I am learning to love all people for who they are but I don't have to love what they do. I feel the same way about people who make choices to live together out of wedlock as I do for those who are gay. And, for sure, I am not perfect, I have situations in my life that others may not like. We all see life differently. But we have to pick our battles and this issue is one I can't ever agree with.

I don't know what I can do about this but I'm not stopping here. I feel like this is one where we have to protect the children. One small step at a time and we will see this becoming something even bigger and out of our control. I would love to hear some suggestions about how we can help protect the children or just stand up for what we know is not God's ways. I would love to help fight against this one. It's time to choose God's ways or Satan's way. I choose God's!

Kitchen Fun for Family Night

There have been times when our family night activity has been shared in the kitchen. We would plan a menu and all worked together cooking our dinner and dessert. Everyone having fun but they had no idea they were leaning new skills.

So it is with many things, if you make it fun, your families can learn and not even realize that it's a lesson. Some of our best memories are spent sitting around the table in the kitchen. Playing games, singing songs, or even decorating cookies can make good memories. Creativity is the key.

Here are some fun ideas you can teach your family in the kitchen:

First Aid
Holiday crafts
Creating 72 hour kits
Canning foods
Dehydrating Foods
Baking cookies or cupcakes for service projects
Organizing cabinets, good to do if you blind fold people to see if they can find what they need.

That's just a few ideas you can try. You can even make washing dishes fun!
Just spending time together can be the best memories, its not what you do but doing it together that counts.

Family Day

My how our young grow fast. I use to tell my youngest, who is now 17 years old, that he was growing too fast. I told him that the others took longer to get to his age than he is. He just smiled and gave me a hug. I always told him to come sit on my lap before he gets too big, He always did and remembers that as he sits next to me now and gives me a hug. I try to encourage him to come sit on my lap now but all I get is the hug with a smile. They grow up too fast.

There are so many things we need to teach them before they grow up but the funny thing is the more I learn the more I have to teach them, its like I can never keep up. But I do know its a continuous process. The only thing is, they don't listen as well when they get older so you have to give them as much time now to teach them what they need to know about life and choices.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encourages it members to have a night called Family Home Evening. This usually happens on a Monday night, once a week, and consists of a lesson, game or movie, and a treat. It can be a night out together maybe doing a service or taking a walk, or just a night of making good memories together.

I think about how fast they grow and how little time we have to teach them so it is important that we take advantage of teaching them important principles in life, having a family night can help in this matter. You don't have to be LDS to do this. And it doesn't have to be on Monday nights but it should be a weekly activity or as often as you can. There are several helps online for lesson plans and ideas for family night.

I was not a member of this church when I was real young but I remember my mom having nights that we would take turns listening to each others music and teaching each other to dance to it. It was lots of fun and good memories of sharing time together. She created a family night without even knowing about Family Home Evening.

Families are eternal and having good times together is important to our eternal relationship. I wasn't always good at having family night regularly but when I did I could see a change in the family relationships in our home. There was less arguing and more laughter which made me smile. I knew that in our house we will always have that eternal happiness now and later. Life is not always perfect but little things like family night and family prayer can make a big difference.

Worn Out

Sorry everyone, for being late on my post. This past week my daughter and her husband went out of town for a couple of days and I had the privilege of caring for my two grandsons, one being 2 years old and the other 6 months.

I have been blessed with five wonderful children of my own and have handled raising them just fine; but by the end of this weekend, taking care of my grandsons, I found myself totally exhausted. My hair looked wild and out of control, no makeup, and clothes dirty from misc children things (throw up, dirt from the play ground, baby slobber, etc).

I love my grandchildren with all my heart and enjoy spending lots of time with them but I think I have forgotten how hard it was to take care of little ones. God, in his infinite wisdom, knew that having children were for the young because us older women just can't keep up as well.

Personally, I think some of it has to do with the fact that as a mom you are in your children's daily life and you don't realize how much you do because you just do it, every day. But once your children are grown and you don't have little ones to take care of and then you are thrown back into the ring with them, well, its a real wake up call to how much work goes into their daily needs. Who ever said that a stay at home mom wasn't a job was definitely not a mom.

Ladies, we older women need to remember what it was liking taking care of our children and offer some help from time to time to the younger moms who can get quite overwhelmed with the awesome responsibility of raising children. We could offer to babysit a couple of hours, take food for dinner, do some laundry or housekeeping, or maybe even take time to just sit and talk (meaning let them talk, you listen).

I know I am still grateful for those wonderful ladies who helped me out when I was a young mom trying to balance life. Their kindness was so welcome. Who knows maybe someday they can return the favor when you are too old to do some simple things around the house or need  transportation to a doctors appointment.

Doing good for one another is the way our Savior showed us in His wonderful example while here on earth. I want to be more like him and this can be a way for me to reach that goal.

Lack of Responsibility Today

Hello,

I don't know about you but I have noticed a lot of disrespect and lack of responsibility in many people today. Let me give you a for instance of something that happened to me this past week.

I was on my way home from work and was sitting at a light where there was about 3-4 cars in front of me. A car behind me wanted to get in the turn lane because there was only one car waiting to turn left at the time. I was sitting at the spot where the turn lane formed so this car went around me but he was a little too close and his side mirror hit my side mirror knocking it backwards, thank goodness someone was smart enough to create a flexible mirror or he would have broken it. But the point is he didn't stop to see if he did any damage to my car, he just kept going in the turn lane. I found myself fuming a little because he wasn't getting out to see if everything was ok, or anything. Where was the responsibility in this? Was this considered hit and run?

So when the light changed his lane didn't move which gave me an opportunity to say something. So I rolled down my window and he did the same, he had a huge smile on his face. I told him, "I just want to let you know that my mirror is fine, but it would have been nice if you had stopped to say I'm so sorry, is everything ok?" Of course he had an excuse for everything and I had several cars behind me honking their horn (rude), but I felt better letting him know how I felt about his lack of responsibility.

There was no excuse for him not stopping and making sure all was well. But it made me think about how people seem to be more and more irresponsible today with the day to day events; when did this change? I remember as a kid being taught responsibility when  I did damage to any one's belongings. My parents were very strict with teaching us manners and responsibility of ones self. I knew as I became a parent that it was something I would teach my children.

Just a few years ago my youngest son and his friend was playing with a paint ball gun in his friends back yard, which was next door to our house. It went off by accident and hit the metal shed in the yard next to his house. They went running, and my son came home. After a few minutes of hiding he came to me and told me what had happened. So we discussed it and went to the old mans house and told him what had happened. We asked how my son could fix the damage but the old man was kind enough to let it pass, however, he did reprimand my son but also praised him for being honest.

I went to the father of my sons friend and explained what we did thinking he might do the same since it was actually his neighbor, but no, he did nothing about it; I was amazed. How does he teach his children to become responsible? I guess he doesn't.

I just can't stand it when people do this. We, as righteous women need to teach our young to be responsible for their actions. This helps to mold them into good citizens and kind people. It helps them to be ready to answer to the Lord for all they have done in this life.

 Can you imagine the excuses on Judgement Day? I might like to be around to hear some of those, how do you hide the truth from God? You don't, you take responsibility and make it right, "...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Special Gifts from God

My oldest daughter shared a blog post with me yesterday from a woman who planned for and expected the perfect life and family. However, God saw fit to give her a challenge by sending her a special gift from heaven by way of her second child.

You can find this post, here.

Please read this uplifting message from her. It's long, but if you walk away without red eyes or at least a sniffling nose then you may have to rethink your values in life. It is well worth the time to read. I loved her beautiful message maybe because I too received a gift from God that was one of the most wonderful experience in my life.

My first child was this gift that I wish was still in my life at this time but I was only allowed to have her on this earth for just under 4 years. Those 4 years were full of heartache but most of all they were joyful moments filled with love. I wouldn't trade them for anything except the opportunity to have more moments like those.

I remember thinking why was this happening to me. I just couldn't understand why this was happening with my baby. I remember the first moment I realized that my baby really was sick. When I walked through the ICU in Birmingham Children's Hospital I remember thinking why is my child in here; she wasn't as sick as these other children, but she was. It was a wake up call to how precious life really was.

I am so grateful for every minute I had with her. There were some tough moments, a couple of those were stop and go moments, but the time we did have with her were the best. I learned so much from her and I will be forever grateful. I guess I can't say that enough.

But after she returned home to Heavenly Father I remember getting angry at Him. There were so many times that she had bad episodes and he could have taken her at that time but he took her at a time when she was doing so well. Her meds were under control, we saw new growth in her abilities to master minor skills because she was going to a new school, and she was trying to communicate better. I was so happy, then she was gone. I just didn't understand what happened.

I remember feeling at peace right after her death though because I knew I was being carried in the arms of my Savior during this time but once it was all over and I began to wake up from this dream, I began to feel the anger. It was my mother's aunt who helped me see the whole picture.

She helped me realize that we are all God's children and we were here on loan until it was our time. She helped me see that we all had our time to return home to Him, she helped me think of all the good things I had been blessed with and that it was not a punishment for anything I did wrong in the past.

And most of all, she helped me remember that we were sealed for all eternity and we would be together again; and I was promised that I would be able to finish raising her in the Millennium. I then began to be grateful to a Heavenly Father who understood the love of a mourning parent by giving us the gift of eternal families. He knew about losing children because so many of us refuse to turn our hearts to Him. He knew the heartache and planned to make it better for us as long as we did our part.

Oh, how my love for Him grew. I knew I had some heavy duty praying to do, I needed to know He forgave me for my anger. I wanted Him to know I understood and would except His will in all things and that I was so very grateful for the plan of Happiness and eternal families. I knew He forgave me for my shortcomings and weaknesses and that He loved me. I knew everything was going to be ok after that. I would still feel the heartache but I knew I was going to be ok and there were promises of eternity.

Life goes on and I am glad to have had my sweet baby girl for the time that I had her. I pray for all those who have had losses or will have losses in their lives. I pray that they will know that He loves them and that everything will be ok; that they just need to keep the faith and trust in Him that all is well. Take the time to tell all your loved ones how much you love them daily and accept God's plan for you if He sends you one of His Special Ones; for that is one of the greatest blessings ever; to know He trusts you with the care of this very special spirit.