One step at a time

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood Session of the April 2013 Conference.

There were lots of missionary stories in this Conference (here and here, for example) but what stuck with me from this week was this quote by Elder Uchtdorf. It's not like this is an unusual metaphor (I feel like everyone always compares everything to babies learning to walk) but it's just such a good reminder of how God sees our faltering efforts—not with anger or impatience or annoyance, but cheering us on with love:

We have all seen a toddler learn to walk. He takes a small step and totters. He falls. Do we scold such an attempt? Of course not. What father would punish a toddler for stumbling? We encourage, we applaud, and we praise because with every small step, the child is becoming more like his parents.

Now, brethren, compared to the perfection of God, we mortals are scarcely more than awkward, faltering toddlers. But our loving Heavenly Father wants us to become more like Him, and, dear brethren, that should be our eternal goal too. God understands that we get there not in an instant but by taking one step at a time.

I do not believe in a God who would set up rules and commandments only to wait for us to fail so He could punish us. I believe in a Heavenly Father who is loving and caring and who rejoices in our every effort to stand tall and walk toward Him. Even when we stumble, He urges us not to be discouraged—never to give up or flee our allotted field of service—but to take courage, find our faith, and keep trying.

So you can cease to fear

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Afternoon Session of the April 2013 Conference.

This conference had two beautiful talks about peace. Elder Quentin L. Cook takes pains to point out that "universal peace" or world peace is not the same as the personal peace we have access to at all times through being righteous. "This [personal] peace," he says, "is a promised gift of the Savior's mission and atoning sacrifice" and it is "not just a temporary tranquility. It is an abiding deep happiness and spiritual contentment."

Elder Cook talks about how even with the "peace taken from the earth" (a prophesied condition of the last days which prophets have said is already upon us) and the world in commotion, we can still feel the Savior's peace. When he gave this talk in 2013, he referenced the September 11th attacks of 2001. When the attacks happened, I do remember feeling, probably for the first time in my life, fear and uncertainty from an outside event. Sam and I were newly married, soon to be parents, and I was realizing for the first time that "the world" could actually reach into my home, my family, and hurt us! But by 2013 those feelings had mostly faded as I was immersed in motherhood and homeschool and our soon-to-be six children (I was expecting Marigold at the time of this conference). So I may not have really needed this talk when Elder Cook gave it. But now…I don't know if it's because the state of the world really is more scary and confusing and wicked, or if it's because my children are growing up and leaving my home and it feels, again, like the world is more able to get in and affect our lives, but the need for personal peace feels so relevant, even urgent! It feels like something I can't live without.

Elder Cook quotes President Heber J. Grant talking about the Savior's peace: 

"His peace will ease our suffering, bind up our broken hearts, blot out our hates, engender in our breasts a love of fellow men that will suffuse our souls with calm and happiness." 

Doesn't that sound like exactly what we need right now? He also quotes words I love from Eliza R. Snow's hymn "Though Deepening Trials": 

Lift up your hearts in praise to God;

Let your rejoicings never cease.

Though tribulations rage abroad,

Christ says, “In me ye shall have peace.” 

Elder Richard G. Scott's talk also focuses on personal peace, specifically on how we can make our homes places of peace. I liked this quote so much that I used it as the foundation for our school-year theme, "A place of refuge,"  a couple years ago:

Many voices from the world in which we live tell us we should live at a frantic pace. There is always more to do and more to accomplish. Yet deep inside each of us is a need to have a place of refuge where peace and serenity prevail, a place where we can reset, regroup, and reenergize to prepare for future pressures.

The ideal place for that peace is within the walls of our own homes, where we have done all we can to make the Lord Jesus Christ the centerpiece.

It's comforting to think that even when we start to feel that "the world is reaching in" panic, even when out-of-family (or in-family!) events make us feel helpless and vulnerable, we do have a way to keep our homes peaceful:

When we obey the commandments of the Lord and serve His children unselfishly, the natural consequence is power from God—power to do more than we can do by ourselves. Our insights, our talents, our abilities are expanded because we receive strength and power from the Lord. His power is a fundamental component to establishing a home filled with peace.

And then this is my favorite quote of the whole conference:

When you feel that there is only a thin thread of hope, it is really not a thread but a massive connecting link, like a life preserver to strengthen and lift you. It will provide comfort so you can cease to fear.

I'm so grateful for the hope and peace the Savior and His gospel allow us. I'm grateful for the "connecting link" of my covenants with Him. I want and need His gift of peace in my life!

Valentine's Day

 

Valentine's Day has always (as long as I can remember, anyway) been a family holiday more than a romantic holiday for us. I love making valentines for all the kids every year and seeing the ones they make for each other. We set them out at each other's places at the breakfast table, and everyone is SO excited to run into the kitchen in the morning and see what is there!

Clementine's valentines were THE CUTEST this year. She is starting to try drawing different people and animals (instead of all gnomes, all the time…though there are still many gnomes) and I love every single thing she draws.

We were also all so delighted with the little "words" Clementine wrote for everyone. This was the valentine she made for Malachi. Tit tit tit, ha ha hu to you!

This one was for Abe. Hhhhhhhhhhh!

And a perfect penguin for Daisy, with the cheery sentiment "Ttii"!

For me, a bunny and "Timnihay."

Sam always draws the best things for everyone. I love my valentine full of bunnies. But the long-trunked elephants are a close second.

All my valentines gathered at my place

Daisy spent all week making these tiny cross-stitch valentines for everyone. So small and cute! I can't decide if I like the Caw or the fox or the elephant best.

I didn't get pictures of nearly all the valentines (the girls are getting SO artistic, Teddy spent hours on his, Gus made multiple valentines per person and selected the colors and drawings with SUCH care), but I did get a picture of this beautifully simple penguin that opened into a heart. Ziggy made it for Daisy.

The sky was really pretty that morning. Covered with vapor trails.

We decided at the last minute to make a bunch of Valentine's chocolates and sell them. Daisy made a flier and we just advertised them on our little neighborhood ladies GroupMe, and we thought we might get a pity order or two. We were okay with that, knowing we'd have no trouble eating them ourselves! But we ended up selling twenty-six boxes (four chocolates to a box)! We were surprised and pleased! Subtracting our costs and the amount of time it took, the earnings of the four kids who helped were…let's see…about $3.28 per hour. $13 each. Ha! Well, so it's not going to make us rich anytime soon. But we are going to pool the money we made and do something fun with it!

And it was fun making the chocolates, anyway. We pride ourselves on them being really good. As good as any we've had from professionals. We hope our customers were pleasantly surprised.

Caramels drying

Daisy made a tiny chocolate, of course

We made caramels (semi-sweet and milk, salted and unsalted) as well as orange cremes and raspberry cremes. The raspberries were particularly good this year (I think the freeze-dried raspberries we used were fresher than last year's). But really, they were all good. Caramels are always my favorite.

For our special dinner that night we had fondue and Abe and Malachi came to eat with us. We have finally collected three fondue pots, so (with our tiny crock pot too), we have enough for cheese and chocolate fondue for each side of the table! This simplifies things considerably!

It was a happy Valentine's Day for everyone!

You will have the comfort of His love

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the April 2013 Conference.

This conference had so many words of encouragement that felt directed specifically toward mothers about their families. Here is a sampling. 

• God will give us power to nurture our families! 

The same priesthood power that created worlds, galaxies, and the universe can and should be part of our lives to succor, strengthen, and bless our families, our friends, and our neighbors—in other words, to do the things that the Savior would do if He were ministering among us today. (Elder Ballard)

• Following our covenants—just living those ordinary acts of obedience—will give great protection to our homes. 

Latter-day Saints recognize the transcendent importance of the family and strive to live in such a way that the adversary cannot steal into our homes. We find safety and security for ourselves and our children in honoring the covenants we have made and living up to the ordinary acts of obedience required of the followers of Christ. (Elder Packer)

• Motherhood is a great work, and Heavenly Father loves us for doing it!

Our daily contributions of nurturing, teaching, and caring for others may seem mundane, diminished, difficult, and demeaning at times, and yet as we remember that first line in the Young Women theme—“We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us”—it will make all the difference in our relationships and our responses. (Sister Elaine S. Dalton)

• Serving those around us and keeping our own covenants is the best way to reach family members we are worried about. As we serve all of His children, God does miracles in the lives of our children.

Many of you have loved ones who are wandering off the path to eternal life. You wonder what more you can do to bring them back. You can depend on the Lord to draw closer to them as you serve Him in faith.…Your prayers and the prayers of those who exercise their faith will bring the Lord’s servants to help your family members. They will help them choose the way home to God, even as they are attacked by Satan and his followers, whose purpose it is to destroy families in this life and in eternity.…

My promise to you who pray and serve the Lord cannot be that you will have every blessing you may wish for yourself and your family. But I can promise you that the Savior will draw close to you and bless you and your family with what is best. You will have the comfort of His love and feel the answer of His drawing closer as you reach out your arms in giving service to others. …His arms are outstretched with yours to succor and bless the children of our Heavenly Father, including those in your family. (Elder Henry B. Eyring)

Teddy is 11…and miscellaneous other things

This is just a picture of Teddy looking mildly aware that I'm taking his picture. But there's something so Teddyish about it! I'm not even sure what. His tousled hair? His perceptive gaze? He looks old, too—as old as Abe looked when I started thinking, "Whoa, this boy is actually going to become a man at some point!" He is tall and strong for his age, and honestly seems like he ought to have been in Young Men's this year—but I'm glad we get him in primary for another year.

Never alone

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Relief Society Session of the October 2012 Conference.

I was really touched by the story Sister Linda S. Reeves told in her talk about a tour guide she met in Australia:

We found out that Mollie, a lovely woman in her 70s, has no children and has never married. She is an only child, and her parents have been deceased for many years. Her closest relatives are two cousins who live on another continent. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with the Spirit testifying to me, almost as if Heavenly Father were speaking: “Mollie is not alone! Mollie is my daughter! I am her Father! She is a very important daughter in my family, and she is never alone!”

I think it's so tender how the Lord remembered and loved his daughter Mollie so much that he even wanted to testify of it to a stranger. He wanted to remind Sister Reeves of the importance of every daughter in His family, and by doing so He also reminded her of her own worth. Sister Reeve goes on to say,

When we wonder if we are known by our Savior and our Father in Heaven or how well They know us personally, we might remember the Savior’s words to Oliver Cowdery:

“If you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.”

Earlier the Savior stated to him, “There is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart.”

The Savior reminded Oliver that He knew every detail of that pleading prayer—and remembered the exact time, the very night.

For some reason I'd never seen this scripture as a reminder of God's personal and tender knowledge of us. I always read it more as a gentle rebuke; telling Oliver "you should have remembered what I already told you!" But read this way, it's more like God saying, "Remember that special time You and I spent together? I will never forget it. I remember the details exactly. That's because it was important to Me." What an amazing reassurance of God's care!

And then I love the way Sister Reeves ended her talk:

Just as the Lord has testified to me that He has not forgotten His precious daughter Mollie Lenthal, I testify that He has not forgotten you! Whatever sin or weakness or pain or struggle or trial you are going through, He knows and understands those very moments. He loves you! And He will carry you through those moments, just as He did Mary and Martha. He has paid the price that He might know how to succor you. Cast your burdens upon Him. Tell your Heavenly Father how you feel. Tell Him about your pain and afflictions and then give them to Him. Search the scriptures daily. There you will also find great solace and help.

She speaks with the authority of one who knows God and has done these very things (and we learn from other parts of her talk that indeed she has, through some times of hard trial!). I love the image of this loving Father looking for and remembering each of His daughters, wanting to be close to each of us, caring about what is important to each of us, delighted as He watches each of us progress, and reassuring each of us that we are never alone.

Other posts in this series:

Faith in the atonement through our mortal adversities—by Rozy

Some exciting things

Great changes have been in the wind for Malachi (and thus, all of us!). He started college at BYU at the beginning of January. He and Abe are now both living at my mom's house in Provo, though Malachi still has a debate class up by us, so he is often home for a day or two on the weekend and sometimes comes to church with us. Abe is very persuasive, though, and likes Malachi to come to church with him (also Abe is the ward clerk so he just snatched Malachi's records from us without permission!😡), so it depends on the week. Either way, we miss Ky a lot! It seemed like he was hardly ever home before anyway, but it actually does feel quite different to have him gone-gone. Sitting at the dinner table feels strange without him. Sitting on the church pew feels strange without him. Having family home evening seems strange without him. Our family just doesn't feel quite the same, and I don't like it! Happy for him, of course—college is just the sort of place Malachi loves and thrives in—but sad that we feel smaller and less complete without our three big boys. They have set the tone at home for so long. We feel their loss!

My mom sneakily took this picture for me on Abe's and Ky's first day of school. Cute to see them heading off together like that!

And here was his first day of New Student Orientation from our end—heading off to Provo on the train. Ah, I miss that boy.

But what do you suppose all these multitudes of shoes signify? Even more changes afoot! (ha. ha.) Ky turned in his papers to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and (almost immediately, it seemed—only a week later!) got his mission call! We waited with great impatience until Wednesday night when he had a break from classes and could come home to open it! He invited a bunch of friends over for the great event, which was fun. Abe didn't want any fanfare opening his, and just opened it quietly on his own, and that was fine too—but it is fun and exciting to make an occasion of it. It certainly increases the anticipation.

Abe stepped up to help Malachi figure out how to get to his call letter from the missionary portal😄

And the assignment is to…Auckland New Zealand! Wow! I wish I had a recording of the happy shrieks and gasps from the listening crowd when he read it. I felt such a strong and immediate sense of "Yes! Of COURSE! It's so perfect!" that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of New Zealand before. Interestingly, Sam had a spiritual impression about five minutes before Ky read his call: "It's going to be New Zealand." He doesn't know why he was given such an impression, but it was kind of cool to see the Lord's hand at work. I had been praying all week that we, and especially Malachi himself, would know and feel that he was going where the Lord wanted him, and we definitely did! Ky is excited and happy. He will leave in mid-July.

We had a nice big crowd that easily gobbled up the eight Costco pizzas I had bought to feed the hordes!

Ky had lots of good friends show up for him and it was a very happy night!