Wrapping it up

Thank you so much for joining us on our exploration of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. I have enjoyed so much the wonderful posts that we have enjoyed this past two weeks.

What an uplifting experience for me, and I hope for you.

I have a testimony of the truthfulness and validity of these amazing things contained in the proclamation.

I have seen it work small miracles in my life. I have seen it work in others lives as well.

I know that our Heavenly Father has given us these revelations for our day. 

He wants us to live worthy. 

He wants us to treat others with love.

He wants us to return to him.

He waits for us.

This wonderful proclamation shows us one of the most important ways to do that, through our families. 

He loves us and knows what we go through. 

He is our Father.

We can taste a little of that feeling in our own family.  It is a sacred thing, to have these families.

Thank you for joining us in this celebration of this amazing blessing we all have:

Family.

Here is today's prize.  What a way to finish off the celebration.  A lovely reminder of where we go to be together. 

We can be sealed for eternity. 

We can achieve exaltation. 

We can live with our Father in Heaven if we live up to our covenants that we make in our sacred temples.

Deep Impact

Last year I was asked to guest post for Cocoa at Chocolate on my Cranium for a celebration she was hosting.  I had been following her blog and participating in a few different things she had been doing, and generally felt that she was a wonderful woman who I had alot in common with.  When she emailed me asking if I want to participate in a celebration of family, I thought, "Hey, why not?!  I love my family and I know what the Proclamation is." 

I didn't think about what an impact it would have on me.

I have a wonderful set of parents that are a great example to me.  I have a pretty extensive family, and married into another pretty decent size family.

We all get along pretty well (there are disagreements, but who doesn't have them?!  We always end up loving each other again!) and we spend time together.

What more could I learn?

Since I thought I should maybe know a bit more about the topic of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, I started to study it.

Oh boy!

Turns out that although I had read it a few times, and knew it was inspired doctrine, I didn't really have a testimony of the truthfulness that it contains.

I now know:

Family in Society

The family is a topic near and dear to my heart, and the Family Proclamation is inspired from beginning to end.  I was thrilled to be asked to participate in this celebration and so today I get to write a few of my thoughts on the following portion of the Proclamation: 

“We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets. We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.”

What a powerful declaration of doctrine!  I love the clarity of these words for our day and time.  I am going to tackle this sentence by sentence.  The first line speaks well to the world, but how can it be applied in our own lives?  The faithful LDS family may not be struggling with issues of chastity or abuse, though there are some who do.  However all of us need to be aware of the last portion of this line and how broad an area it encompasses:

“Individuals who… fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God.” 

Just what is covered under the heading of family responsibilities?  The Proclamation’s previous paragraphs are a wonderful overview of these responsibilities, and I encourage you to read them.  We are to put regular maintenance into our relationship as a couple, our relationship with each child, and as a family unit.  We are to provide for physical and spiritual needs, to teach our children.  Depending upon the season of life you find yourself in, one of these areas may be harder than another.  A personal example in my own life is finding the balance between building my relationship with my spouse while we have all these young children to care for.  We’re currently expecting our 7^th blessing in 10 years – there have been babies and toddlers aplenty in our house and we have had to get creative to make time to strengthen our marriage.  When date nights out of the house have been unlikely to happen we’ve done things like put the children to bed early and have a date night at home with games, a movie, or special food.  It’s not easy to balance things, but with prayer and a continual evaluation we are able to make course corrections as needed. 

The second sentence in my portion of the Proclamation says: “Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”  This warning is a wonderful reminder to search the scriptures and the words of the prophets of our day!  What calamities have been foretold for individuals, communities, or entire nations if we do not protect and strengthen our family?  Disintegration of the family unit can begin in a very small way.  What is this start of the decline in a family unit?  Very often it is allowing the good or better to take up all our time, leaving no room for the best, most essential things.

Satan is just as happy when we fail to make time for Family Home Evening as he would be if we were to commit some major sin of immorality. 

Being Peas in a Pod

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed."

When I read this paragraph two things stuck out to me.  First, the word preside and second, the term equal partners.

I believe the word preside is often misunderstood.  Some may think it suggests to rule but that is not the case at all.  To preside is simply a means of keeping things in order.  Some ways that my husband presides in our home and in our family are by calling us together for family prayer or scripture study or by leading discussions in family councils.  While we still make decisions as a couple or as a family, we all look to him to lead us or to organize the implementation of our decisions.  Men, or women, who believe the priesthood gives husbands and fathers the authority to exercise unrighteous dominion over their wives and children are seriously mistaken and should study D&C 121:34-46.

The distinction between preside and rule leads into the second term - equal partners.  By recognizing that my husband presides over our family does not make me, the wife, dependent on my husband.  But, I am also not independent of him either.  Elder Bruce C. Hafen says the gospel teaches that husbands and wives are interdependent with each other.

TOGETHER IS THE BEST PLACE TO BE

How do we become equal partners in our relationships and still find balance with our responsibilities to our homes, children, church callings, extended family and friends?

The first step, I believe, is to be best friends with your spouse.  Everything that follows is made so much easier when your spouse is your biggest fan, your personal cheering section.  Be your spouse's secret keeper, dream believer.  One mistake I think a lot of women, and men, make is using their friends as their confidants instead of their spouses.

Family Home Evening

One thing I think I value most about one of the simple truths taught in our church, is the setting aside time for just our family.  Once a week we set aside the whole night to just spend as a family.  Sometimes that includes friends or extended family, but we are always together.  No hustle and bustle of daily life intrudes. 

This is bliss for me.

When thinking on the interesting, insightful and so very applicable to this time, truths taught in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, I realised that there was much for us to teach our children.  One FHE just will not cover it.

Dh and I would also like to prayerfully discuss and ponder each topic as they come up. 

As a result, I have put together a list of basic points (with some links) contained in the Proclamation' first couple of paragraphs, just to get you started.  This is what we will be using this year as a basis of our family home evenings.

"...marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children."

• Discuss our "love story".  I would love for our kids to know that their mom and dad love each other.  If we can show them that we did from the start, all the better.
• Talk about our Heavenly Father, he has a wife, she is our Mother.  We have families in heaven with a Mother and Father who love us.

"All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God."

• Discuss differences in people.  We have different colors in our family, different heights, different choices that people have made. 
• Tell our kids that no matter what we do, we are ALWAYS children of God.
• Sing I am a Child of God.  Discuss the lyrics in the song.  What does it mean to each child?

"Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."

• Discuss how mom's and dad's have different "jobs".  We are all different, not just body parts, but the ways we react and love.
• Talk about the Priesthood and the value it holds in our lives. 
• Talk about Mothers and how mothers give birth to children and nurture them as they grow.
• Explain that Heavenly Father knows us, and we were the gender we are now, in heaven.

"...His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life."

A Good Way of Looking

“Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

Our first week of school, I took my children out to a slough behind our house for a little nature study session. We were having a lovely time listening to the breeze as it floated through all the weeds around the slough. We dipped in a bucket and drew out a sample of brownish water to look at. We sat down to draw what we saw around us. Suddenly, my daughter pointed out a deer that had walked into the field about 50 yards from where we were. The buck noticed us about the same time and he stopped his walk and stared at us. My first thought was “How wonderful! This will be a perfect nature study class - we can observe him walking through the field.” My second thought was “Get out of here!” This was no peaceful, gentle deer; in fact, he was downright aggressive. He turned and trotted right toward us as we were sitting on the ground. We quickly gathered our stuff and as he continued toward us, I told him to shoo. He grunted back at me and darted toward us again. I finally told the kids to run and stayed between him and my kids as they made their way (screaming no less) to the safety of the fence. Thankfully, he turned and wandered away as soon as it was apparent that we were all heading into our yard. It took several minutes for us to stop shaking and I was extremely grateful that I didn’t have to sacrifice myself to an angry buck’s hoof in order to protect my children.

Later that evening, the missionaries stopped by. They asked how our day had been and I told them about the angry buck. They laughed through their disbelief at his behavior. Usually the deer around here are aggressive around dogs and such but we were sitting quietly and didn’t seem at all (in my opinion) to be a threat to him. I joked that maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Maybe the next animal coming though our field would have been a hungry cougar and the Lord wanted us in the house. One of the Elders commented “That’s a good way of looking at it, I guess.”

I stopped to think about that phrase…”a good way of looking at it.” It’s so true - we always have a choice about how we see something in our lives. I thought about a few of the other things that have been going on in our house & family lately and thought maybe I should see if we are choosing the “good way of looking at it” instead of getting caught up in the stress, frustration and the “bad way of looking at it.”

It was exactly a week before our much anticipated summer vacation and we hit a deer causing enough damage to our van that we wouldn’t be able to take it to Vancouver Island. (It’s been a rotten summer for deer and our family!) We were all okay and the first thing we did to calm the children was pray together on the side of the road. We got home and started assessing the damage and the vacation plans. We came to a crossroad in our decision about how to react. The first impulse was to be angry and bitter that our vacation was going to be ruined. That’s definitely not the “good way of looking at it.” On the other hand, we could pray that the Lord would help us find a solution and do everything we could to solve the problem. One way teaches our children to look for the bad when things happen to them. The other way teaches them to be hopeful, to pray and have faith. We prayed and looked for solutions and at the last minute a way was opened up for us to go and we had a wonderful time exploring Vancouver Island together. I’m glad we chose the “good way of looking at it.”

Marriage Essentials

I am so excited to be writing this blog post for Jaime today. I’m also really nervous and very humbled. I have been given the section of the Proclamation stating

"The Family is ordained of God.  Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.  Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity."

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

 

I love this statement. If there is one thing in this life that I value above all else it is my little family. My husband and children are everything to me. My world basically revolves around them. I have a huge testimony of the previous statement.

Being married has changed me irrevocably. I have learned more about myself in the last 11 and a half years than ever before. I have learned tolerance and patience and how to express love properly. I’ve learned how to put others first and how to try to overcome being selfish. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to spend eternity with this man (even on days when he drives me a little nutty!) and that he chose to spend it with me.

I also have a huge testimony of children being born “within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.” I could not do what I do without the knowledge that I have my husband to help me with things. I am so grateful to have his support and love when dealing with our children. I think that a child deserves to have two parents to love and raise him. I know that not all situations are ideal.

When I was 8 years old my father passed away leaving my mother to raise three kids ages 8, 6, and 4. It was very difficult for her, looking back now that I am a parent I realize how truly amazing a feat she accomplished. She had to be mother and father to us as well as bread-winner. I think that she is incredibly strong to have raised us so well.

Growing up the way I did has led me to appreciate even more the blessing I have of having a father and priesthood holder in my home. I have also in my short experience with marriage and children have dealt with having my husband work away from home for two weeks at a time. It was an extremely hard time for us. I was at home with my kids who at the time were 8, 6, 19 months, and 2 months alone. I experienced what the life of a single mother is, and I can tell you that for me it was not pretty.

Having my husband home at the end of every day made all the difference in the world. Having the knowledge that he was coming home and I was going to have someone to talk to and give me some perspective on minor daily issues, having help with our amazing, yet sometimes out of control children. I think that all children need two parents where possible if only to give them a break from mom!!!

All it Took Was a Bump on the Head

On August 8^th I got an email from Jaime asking me to do a guest post on her amazing blog (no pressure) on this paragraph from “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”:

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children, “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives-mothers and fathers-will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

I was thrilled to be invited to be part of this “Celebration of Family”.  I was in the middle of a month long vacation celebrating our family when I got the email.  My parents are originally from Vermont and still own a cabin on the lake with my mother’s siblings there that we go up to for a couple of weeks each summer.  All my aunts, uncles, and cousins still live in New England.  My parents had spent the last 18 months on a mission in Seattle, Washington and my sister’s family lives in the Ukraine, so we all met in VT to welcome my parents back East.  I thought I could write an inspirational blog post about family easily!  What a better place to ponder the topic than by the lake.  At “Camp” we have chosen to have no phone, TV, or Internet service (I checked my emails at my Aunt’s house, if you are wondering how I got Jaime’s email).  Not to mention cell phones don’t work there either.  What else did I have to focus on besides my family? 

So, I thought, pondered, waited for inspiration to come….But it didn’t…What is my problem?  My family is my whole world!  My whole blog is a bunch of ramblings about my family-how could I not think of one thing to describe how important it is to me?  This is our first year homeschooling and this summer we actually studied the Proclamation to the World for a week in our morning devotional.  I have a testimony of every word of it and yet I couldn’t figure out what to write about having the best job in the world: being a mom?!   

Then my old friend entered: SELF DOUBT.  I realized I really don’t write at all…I ramble (I am sure you picked up on that already…).  I started to wonder if I could really write anything that would benefit anyone else.  I write to journal and scrapbook not “inspire” like all the other awesome blogs I read…. And I only have one child (not by choice-we wish we had several more)-surely someone with 3 or 4 could do a better job on the topic…there are people way more qualified than me to write about the solemn responsibilities of loving and caring for children…and rearing them in love and righteousness.  I thought I was going to give myself an ulcer when I had one more day to get my post into Jaime and I still had…NOTHING!  Then I bumped my head (literally) and I knew what I was going to ramble about.

MY Family Proclamation

How do we celebrate our own family proclamation?  I have a guest poster that is another person dear to my heart (as have all of them been, but this one is even more special to me...), my baby sister.  She is not a baby anymore, but I waited a long time to get her, so she will always be my baby sister to me!  Here is HER family proclamation in pictures:

"...marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God..."

"...the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children..."

"...the first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife..."

"...husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children..."

"...Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness..."

Children are a Blessing

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife.  We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.  We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.  We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed.  We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

As many of you know, I homeschool my children.  This is our third year.  We have enjoyed it beyond measure, as I am sure you have gleaned just a little if you have read a few posts.  One of the things that has been my greatest blessing, is the opportunity to teach my children about the law of chastity. 

WHAT?! 

Yes, I really said that.

We really love the fact that our children can come to us, we can teach them and we don't have to re-teach things that have been "learned" in a setting that is less than holy.

This is not to say it is bad any other way, this is just a blessing we have had as we homeschool our children.

Something that is this sacred is something I want to teach my children. 

The church has put out a guideline that we are following (in a basic sense) to teach children about the sacred holyness of their bodies as well.  (find it here)  I have loved reading the inspired words as I teach my children some of the truths.

President David O. McKay said: "The home is the best place in the world to teach the child self-restraint, to give him happiness in self-control, and respect for the rights of others.

I feel that the first contribution of the home to the happiness of the child is to impress him with the fact that there are bounds beyond which he cannot go with safety; second, to teach him to be considerate of the rights of others; third, to have him feel that home is a place where confidences and consolations are exchanged; and fourth, to have him cherish the thought that home is a haven of seclusion and rest from the worries and perplexities of life” (“Home … and the Strength of Youth,” Improvement Era, Aug. 1959, p. 583).

I came across this video as I was downloading Mormon Messages on my computer the other day off iTunes.  I am linking it here for you to watch when you get a chance.  There is a wonderful message in this small clip.

One thing the video (above) says is that we need to take time to study out and then pray about our standards. Then once we set them, we need to never change our minds. To never deviate from the path we have set for ourselves.

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin taught: "One of the most pervasive deceptions in recent years is the notion that immorality is normal and acceptable and has no negative consequences.  In truth, immorality is the underlying cause of much suffering and many other problems that are prevalent today, including rampant disease, abortion, broken families, families without fathers, and mothers who themselves are children.  (Ensign, Nov. 1994)

I find it interesting to think about the fact that immorality is the underlying cause of so many heartaches in our society.  If we only teach our children to have standards that are high and follow the standards set out in the "For the Strength of Youth" booklet, we can possibly save some of our youth the heartache that follows. 

The Blessing of Eternal Families

I have been greatly blessed.  I have an eternal family.  I have been a part of an eternal family my whole life and I was thrilled when I was able to start my own eternal family almost 12 years ago when I married my sweetheart in the temple.  We have been blessed to add four amazing young men into our eternal family and it is a blessing each day to teach them and watch them learn and grow.  I am fortunate that I have never had to watch any of my children, or my siblings or even my parents leave this world.   I look forward to seeing my sweet grandparents again someday.  I know that it is only possible because we have had those sealing ordinances through the generations that bind us together for eternity.   

One of my deepest fears has always been that my husband or one of my children would die and leave me behind.  It is a comfort to me that I know that no matter what happens I will have my family – FOREVER.   

When I think of this topic, my mind goes to a friend of mine.  She has given me permission to share her story.

“When I was about 20 weeks pregnant in the summer of 2007, I was scheduled for a routine ultrasound. You know, the one where they tell you the sex of your baby. So I was very excited going into it. I could not have imagined then how I would feel just a few moments later when they told me there was a “problem” with my unborn son. Nor could I have forseen how my world would come crashing down when a specialist, looking again at my baby through ultrasound, would say words like, “no brain material,” and “probable fetal demise.” I do remember coming home from those conversations, looking at baby toys he would never be able to use, and furiously wishing I could burn them all.

Well, the pregnancy weeks continued to fly by, and my baby was still growing. The date for his delivery loomed. The doctor in charge kindly but gravely reminded us beforehand of the likelihoods: our little guy wouldn’t make it through labor, or if he did, he would never be able to really be aware of anything, play, laugh, or even smile. My husband and I looked at each other and decided that we’d better name him right then, before he was even born, "just in case." The name we chose was Xavier Michael Wolfe, a name that, to us, conveyed his mighty strength of spirit and of our love for him—our great love of someone we’d never even met.

Labor began, and surprise! Xavier arrived just fine. We did have a couple of scary moments, but really, he seemed pretty much like any other newborn—beautiful and perfect.

As he grew a little bigger each day, more challenges did develop, but at the same time, so did his abilities. For instance, he enjoyed playing Peek-a-boo with Grandma. He had a love of music from the beginning, and would sing along when he felt so inclined. He helped me (mommy) sing a duet once as I was at the pulpit and he sat with Grandpa and Grandma in the congregation. His participation was impromptu, but brought lots of smiles to those listening. He was always very aware of everything. And yes, he even learned how to smile. The day we caught the first one on camera was one of the happiest moments of my life. He always was my ray of sunshine, and that only became more true as time went on.

And so he grew and grew. But the specter of death that had always hovered in the backs of our minds now made a serious appearance as our little Xavier became gravely ill, and was hospitalized in Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The time was July of 2009, 2 months before his second birthday. This was not the first hospital stay in Xavier’s little life, as he ended up having about 7 or 8 in total (I lost track). But this time was different. The doctors had nothing more they could do for him that would allow him to stay on this earth. So we knew it was his time to go. That exchange, for me, was like tearing out my heart and handing it to the doctors to be carried away. When we went back into his room, though, Xavier was SO happy—probably the happiest I’d ever seen him. He, too, knew it was time, and he was ready. He wanted us all to be okay, too.

The next 48 hours were beyond excruciating with waiting. He passed away in his sleep a little after 1 a.m. a day and a half after the conference with the doctors. I have never heard my husband cry like he did that night. Then came the numbness of the funeral and burial, and the desolating hole left in my life in the absence of my little “son”-shine.

Mission Impossible?

Today is a blog hop!  I love blog hops, because this is where I get to read about you!  I would just post the giveaway, and then the linky, but because I actually did this one...you get to hear from me too!

When the topic for this blog hop was suggested, I was excited but also a bit wary.  My family does not have a mission statement, and we are not really very "typical" in things.  Often we do things a bit different than everyone else.  We may have done this differently than others, but probably got to the same place as you...but, I am going to show you how we got to where we are with ours.

I LOVE brain maps.  I need to have a list, and visual lists are always wonderful. 

I had everyone make a big bubble of things that we do as a family.

Divine Destiny

I am so grateful to Jaime for asking me to be a part of celebrating one of my favorite things, FAMILY! What could be better. I was asked to do it while we were away enjoying a fun filled family vacation. I thought the timing was perfect.

My topic was "In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life."

10 years ago this September 11th, I was due to become a mother for the very first time. I woke up and rubbed my massive belly. I said to the babe inside, "Well, today is your day. Today is the day you make me a mother" I got my breakfast, said my prayers and sat down on the couch to watch the morning news. When I turned on the television, I thought "That is a horrible movie, who could ever make a movie like that?" Then I switched the channels a few times. Then I realized that it was not a movie. At that time, only one World Trade Centre had been hit. I remember sitting there and all of a sudden seeing the second one hitting the building. At that moment, I rubbed my stomach. I had this little babe inside of me that was supposed to be born today and this was happening? How could I bring a child into the world on such a day?

I prayed. I prayed and said to my Heavenly Father "I know that this child is supposed to come today. I also know in my heart that there is contact in the Spirit world between those who have not yet come and those who have passed on. If you need this little one to stay and help comfort them, I am okay with that." I felt immediate peace and a peace like I have never felt before. I knew that he was not coming that day. I knew that when the time was right, he would come. And I was okay with that.

I have been blessed for 10 years with my son, "L" in my life. I have been taught by him for 10 years. L is one of the most caring and loving individuals I know. The first 5 years with him were difficult. He didn't talk much but once he opened up, L has said some of the most inspiring words I have heard. He seems to "know" when people need love and attention. He "knows" when someone has hurt feelings and will go out of his way to help them feel better. He is a comforter in our home. I think back to Sept 11th and think of what that day may have taught him in the pre-existence. I honestly believe that he learned to be so loving and compassionate to those who lost their lives that day.

A Taste of God's Love

My Dad was kind enough to be my "man blogger"!  I have been lucky enough to have a father who is an amazing man, a wonderful priesthood holder, and someone I consider very wise.  Here he is:

"All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."

About ten years ago I sat in a beach chair on the edge of a huge wave pool located in a great and spacious building known as The West Edmonton Mall.  (If I can be convinced to go to the pool, I can often be found doing just that—sitting and watching—while family members get their kicks out of swimming in someone else's bathwater.) On this day I took note of the thousands of people making use of the indoor water park. There were big ones, little ones, round ones, thin ones, saggy ones, vain ones, modest ones, tough ones, wimpy ones and shy ones. Some were tanned from exposure to the sun, others had obviously been doing the fake and bake thing, and some got their tan from a tube. Some were yelling because they were having fun, some were yelling because that seemed to be their preferred mode of communication with spouse and children, others yet were quietly enjoying an opportunity to relax.

Amidst all this “people watching” my thought process went something like this: There are a lot of people here... everyone is so different... some would be easy to get along with, some are jerks... there are a lot of people on this planet... it's mind-boggling to think about how unique each of the Earth's inhabitants are... And then I pondered long and hard on this one: How is it possible that Heavenly Father can know and love all of these people individually and intimately? It wasn't that I was doubting what we've been taught; I was simply wondering how it is done.

Our Father's Plan

To start of the celebration of something I treasure so very much, here is Laura:

I put my oldest son (who I call Buddy on my blog) down for his morning nap one morning many years ago.  I always had at least an hour to do housework, to exercise, or just to collapse on the couch.  On this particular day, I'm not sure what I did.  But I do remember I was in the middle of something I couldn't leave when I heard him waking up.

I called out to him, "Mommy is coming.  Just give me a second."  As I hurried to finish whatever I was doing, I tried to keep a running chatter going so he could hear my voice and know I was close.

But my approach didn't work.  Instead of my voice calming him down, he got more and more hysterical.

You see, he knew I could hear him.  But he didn't know why I wasn't coming.  He couldn't see me and he couldn't understand my words well enough to know what I was saying to him.

So he thought I was just ignoring him.

Weekend Adventures

This past year as I study the Family: A Proclamation the the World, and am hosting (with 3 other wonderful ladies) the Celebration of the Family, I have been thinking on family and my ties to them. 

One place I am trying really hard to work on is the ties I have with my extended family.  As a result I was thinking back to something a friend had shared with me.  Every other year (I think) she and all her sisters, and sister in laws, and mom get together for a trip.  They go away without kiddies (except for the breastfeeding ones) and spend time just being girls.  I wanted to that!

On Friday it came to fruition.  My Mom, sister, and one sister in law and I went to Calgary and stayed overnight.  It was such a blast. 

We went to dinner together and laughed so hard.  We sat in the hot tub, laughed some more.  We slept (sort of) and got up to shop together.  We all have VERY different tastes, but spent a lovely day together.  After eating some dinner (with more laughter) we travelled home.

As soon as I got home (and let me tell you, I missed my men!) I was greeted by three of them, but was missing my little one.

Celebrate Family

Last year many of you remember or participated in the Celebration that Cocoa and Jocelyn hosted.  It was all about The Family: A Proclamation to the World, a document that is a wonderful, inspired piece of scripture.  I was blessed to write a guest post for Cocoa and got to write a few posts here on my blog as well.  (whew, that was a lot of links!)

This year I get to host the celebration here, on my humble little blog!  Along with Cocoa, Jocelyn and Shannon, The Redheaded Hostess, we are going to have a two week celebration filled with some amazing guest writers, prizes and blog hops!  So be sure to check out all three other blogs as well.

Grab a button.  Spread the word.  We would love for everyone to join in.





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Want to hear more?!

I have some amazing guest writers I want to introduce you to.  If you want to check out their blogs this next little while, I am sure you will love it.  I have a very diverse group of people here, some I have known FOREVER...some are newer friends, some are blogging family stuff, some blog photography, some blog general stuff (like me) but something that they all have in common is that I admire each one of them.  In brackets beside each, I will add a post or two to introduce you to them a little.

Laura at Living a Big Story (Here, Here)

Jim at Writing With Light (Here, Here) 

Jocelyn at My Crazy Life (Here, Here)

Mindy at The Oler Family (Here, Here)

Carrie at One More Thing (Here, Here)

Connie at Holladay Happenings (Here, Here)

Shauna at Fish Tales (private) and A School of Salmon (Here, Here)

Cassi at Peas and Mayhem (Here, Here)

Tristan at Our Busy Homeschool (Here, Here)

Amazing.  Seriously, go to these blogs and check them out.  The writers are wonderful.  I have been inspired in so many ways by each of these people.  See the lone man on there?  That is my Dad.  He is an amazing man so I was really grateful he would be the token man on my list. 

There are going to be four blog hops for you to also participate in.  For those who have never participated in a blog hop before, you write a post about that subject and link it up.  The linky will be on all four host blogs and your link will show up on all of them.  Here are the subjects, think about them.  Participate, I would love to see what you think.

Monday September 12th - Family Mission Statement.  Does your family have one?  What is it?  How did you get it?  What inspired you to write that one in particular?

Thursday September 15th - Photo Essay - Using family photos to illustrate sentences from the proclamation.  When you read a line in the proclamation, does it stand out to you because of something in your family?  Can you illistrate some of the proclamation with photos from your family?

Monday September 19th - FHE ideas using the proclamation

Thursday September 22nd - How the Proclamation has impacted your family or you personally.  Do you have an experience that you love that has inspired you?  Do you have some way that the proclamation has impacted your family?

I am so excited for these two weeks.  We will start it on the 9th of September and go until the 23rd of September.  So be ready to comment away, participate in the blog hops, post the button above and spread the word on your blog, enter the giveaways, and get ready to be uplifted, inspired and have some fun.

I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I know I will!

Cheers