Letters to my children--Walking

Dear N, M, E, S, and B,

Just today I was thinking that I should liven up these posts with pictures.  I still think that I should and probably will, but here is another thought.  My grandma and I used to write letters back and forth to each other and they rarely contained pictures, but still kept my attention.  One thing people used to do when writing letters was to spice it up by buying cute stationary or cards to write on.  Interesting that the world has changed so much.  While you can still buy stationary and cards, it's not that common to actually get a letter on stationary.

I have been thinking about this post for about a week.  I finished thinking about it while I did my 20 mile hike on Tuesday.

One of the things my Grandma taught me was about walking.  She lived in Hyrum, Utah.  Almost everywhere you could go in Hyrum when I was a kid, there were square blocks.  If you walked all of the sides of a square block, you would walk one-half mile.  When I went to stay with my Grandma in the summer for a week, there was something that was the same every day.  Every day, Grandma Jennie went for a 2-mile walk.  The great thing about walking where there are square blocks is that you can choose a different route each day.  Grandma would let Jodi and I choose which roads to walk along.  Sometimes we were in the neighborhoods and sometimes we'd be out in the country near farm lands.  Sometimes (ew!) we'd end up near the meat packing plant.  Sometimes we'd scale steep hills, which from a distance looked like they sent straight up, but when you climbed them didn't seem difficult at all.

I really liked the daily walks.  Imagine my surprise when a few years ago, I read a book which included information that one of the most healthy things and older adult can do is to walk on a daily basis.  How did my Grandma know that?  She didn't have access to a book that told her so--at least I don't think she did.

Then, just recently, I met a man on one of my walks and had a short conversation with him.  He was probably 65 or 70 years old.  He said that he walks 10-12 miles per day.  I don't know if he meant literally, seven days a week.  Or if he meant Monday through Friday.  Either way, this was really impressive to me.

I feel lucky that in 2010, I was able to do many long walks, building up to a 24 mile walk, and many long hikes, culminating in a 22.5 mile hike.  It took a lot of training to get to that point.  Now, two years later, I can still do a 20 mile hike and with a lot less training than it took me to get there before.

This has made me wonder about my life in the years to come.  I recently made a goal to go on a backpacking trip every year for the next 20 years.  That will take me to almost age 60.  Can I do it?  I'm pretty sure I can if I train to do it and keep it up.  It's a very exciting prospect to me.  I just talked to Angie today about a pilgrimage that people do in Spain (?) called "The Way," which maybe is more formally called "The Way of St. James."  She said that she wants to walk it.  It's 500 miles long.  I told her that when she goes, I want to come along.

So, my point with this whole blog is to say that I think one of the single most important things you can do for your health is to walk.    Develop the skill of walking and continue doing it.

You all have a very good start on this habit.  You are the people that have done some of my long walks and hikes with:

Nathan and I did a 21.5 mile hike in the Porcupine Mountains.  Boy, that was quite the day.

May and I did a 17 mile hike in Pinckney Recreation Area on the Potowatomi Trail.  It rained that day and we slipped in the mud.

Elijah and I did a 22.5 mile hike in Waterloo Recreation Area.  We got kind of lost on what was supposed to be a 20 mile hike, making this the longest hike I've ever done in a single day.

May and Elijah and I did a 20 mile hike in Waterloo.  Waterloo is the home to many hills and is a good place to train if you are going to hike in the mountains out West.

Nathan and I did a hike along the Manistee River.  That's some crazy fall time beauty there.  It was nearly a perfect day weather-wise and I wished we had a tent and camping supplies with us.


Sariah and Brigham joined everyone on a 10 mile hike on the Chapel-Mosquito Loop in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, not once, but twice.


All of this is impressive, but equally impressive are all of the smaller walks and hikes that we have done to train for the longer hikes and also just to get around to the different places that we have wanted to see such as waterfalls in the U.P., hikes to see spring/summer/fall wildflowers, hikes to find reptiles/amphibians/birds, etc.

A walking habit will help your health for life.  A walking habit will provide for you hours of enjoyment.  A walking habit will keep you connected to nature.  A walking habit is a good way to connect with other people. A walking habit will connect you to your Grandma who you never knew.  A walking habit will help keep us close as a family.

Love you all,

Mom

Concerts galore!

We've gotten to attend some phenomenal concerts recently.  I feel so lucky about the programs our kids are involved in.  The teachers and directors have got to be some of the best there are out there.

First off, we attended the Spring Choir Concert.  Sariah finished up her year in Cantabile and has already been accepted into the next choir called CMS Singers.  She worked hard this year because she knew that CMS Singers sing more challenging music and they sometimes get to go on little trips around the state.  Congratulations Sariah.  Elijah and May will continue singing in MSU Children's Choir.  Their choir has taken huge strides this year and are sounding incredible together.  Nathan's Young Men's Chorus got to work with MSU's A-cappella group, the Acafellas, which has been a dream of mine for him.  They sounded phenomenal.  The three older kids are rewarded with a week of choral camp in Ithaca, New York with other choirs and choir directors, staying with host families.

Next, we attended Nathan's Orchestra concert.  Nathan's orchestra teacher and his intern do astounding things with the orchestra and the concerts are always enjoyable.  It's no secret that I love the sound of the cello and Nathan and his cello cohorts always provide great sound at the concerts.

Sariah had her first jump rope show this year!  Like May, Sariah didn't know much about jumping rope when she started with the Jump Rope Club.  By the end of the year, she was jumping like a pro and plans to continue with the club next season.

Brigham and Sariah performed songs and dances tonight at Red Cedar's annual International Festival of Cultures.  Mrs. Melissa Sigh is an amazing elementary music teacher (Elijah has her for orchestra this year in fifth grade too!)  The kids learned songs in several languages and my favorite dance was performed by the third grade class.  It was an Indian Dance with music in the background and a chant by the kids (I should post a video of this, but they take so darn long to upload).

Mrs. Sigh writes grant proposals so that she can pay for amazing Michigan musicians to accompany the kids' singing.  We are so lucky.  This was Brigham's first year and I'm so proud of both Brigham and Sariah for learning so many songs and performing them.  Our school has kids from many nations who speak many languages.  They wear clothing from their countries of origin and do this musical event every year!

May also had her final band concert for the year tonight and I was sad to miss it.  She continues to enjoy flute and Joseph and Nathan both told me that the seventh grade band was better than the eighth grade band.  Go 7th Graders!!

Elijah plays the viola and his first orchestra concert is next week.  The night is open so that the whole family can enjoy that.

The four oldest kids have recently started taking art classes from their teacher named Stormi.  They all love her and all four of them have begun painting masterpieces.  They all want to work on birds almost every time they go to art.  Coming up soon, they will get to take part in sidewalk chalk art (you know those really cool 3D sidewalk art pictures?).  I can't wait to see what it looks like.  May also entered art into a contest at school.  I'll have to take some photos of their work and share it here

The final thing that's been going on is not a concert or a show.  Nathan is doing a big conservation/community benefit project at our local nature center.  So far we've put hours into service for the nature center and also a couple of hours a day doing point counts for birds around the part.  Nathan chose seven locations according to their varied ecology.  He goes to each location daily if he can and takes a five minute point count.  He's come a long way in identifying birds by sight, but also by ear.  It's great to see him work as I accompany him as often as I can.  We have made some cool discoveries of plants, butterflies, caterpillars, insects and mammals.  I thrive in the outdoors and it seems that Nathan does too.  Here are some photos of Nathan taking his point counts and a couple of the cool critters we've found lately (Mourning Cloak caterpillar and Painted Turtle).

Nathan is being given the opportunity (by Kalamazoo Nature Center) to come try out bird banding on the weekends.  If the guy who runs this is impressed with what Nathan can do, he'll let Nathan help out with Fall Migration bird banding.  This is an exceptional thing for Nathan to be a part of.  Go Nathan!

Early Birthday

We celebrated Brigham's birthday early this year. He's so excited to turn four and showed me all the finger combinations for ways to make four today.

Brigham is such a great kid. If you don't know him already, I wish you could. He brings so much joy to our family.

Here's the cake:



Here are the road signs:



Here's the birthday boy opening his Laffy Taffy's and blowing out his candles:




We had such a fun celebration today and next week, I get to take Brigham to the zoo on his real birthday.

I am running an infirmary

The other night, Joseph said, "We're running a hospital here!" I said, "I'm running a hospital; you are running an ambulance service." My flu preparedness kit is coming in handy, but we've still made various runs to the drugstore/pharmacy. The pattern is this: kids get sick, Joseph gets sick, finally I cave in and get sick at the tail end. I'm still holding out, mostly, and I always carry this ridiculous hope that I will be spared. Let's hope they got the correct virus for flu shots this year and that I don't have to wait in line for three hours at the Health Dept. for H1N1 shots!

I am trying to keep five kids medicines, schedules, etc. straight. This is good brain exercise which will deter Alzheimer's disease in my later years! Elijah did go to the hospital, but did not need an overnight stay. Everyone seems to be on the mend.

I Sink So

The other day I was rolling out tortillas on the kitchen table. Brigham came out and started digging through the markers. He picked one up and took off the lid. I looked over and told him "Nope, you can't color with markers. If you want to draw, you have to use crayons." I know, I'm stunting his future art career! He was angry with me about this but tried to calm himself and say, "Can I use it a little bit?" "No, sorry!" He looked over at me and decided that it was his turn to censure my activities. "NO rolling!"

Today, he brought out May's hot pad weaving supplies. He told me, "The kids can't play, they are at school." He proceeded to try to stretch the loops over the frame and I worried that this would be an activity that was likely to get him really frustrated. He'd occasionally say, "I need help, pease!" I looked over later and he had put about seven loops on the frame.



Then he started to criss-cross them and he told me, "See, mom, I made a game. I sink so."



Brigham has just recently started singing with me when I sing to him before his naps and at bedtime. His favorites are Eency Beency Spider (as he calls it), Lady Moon, and I am a Child of God. He especially likes the songs with hand motions and I cannot begin singing until he is ready to go with them. Then he needs a hug and a kiss, a hug and a kiss and a hug and a kiss.

On Saturday, Joseph read a book called "The Missing Piece" by Shel Silverstein. It's a nice story about how anticipation of an event is sometimes better than the event itself. It has a cute little rhyme that repeats a few times throughout the book. Yesterday, we looked over and Brigham was leafing through the book singing, "I lookin' for my missin' piece," and then said, "Then he rolled away." (It is a circle with a pie shape cut out of it looking for the pie shape that will make him whole. He rolls around looking for his missing piece.) I love watching him learn to love books!

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And just for the record, since my posts are few and far between, here are the Thanksgiving pies.

Clockwise starting at 12 o'clock: Banana cream, Key Lime, Chocolate cream, Cherry, Pumpkin, and Berry in the middle

My dad came and we had a GREAT Thanksgiving together. He told stories of past Thanksgivings and stories from when he was a kid. Joseph's parents came to be with us on Sunday since Nathan was ordained a deacon and passed the sacrament for the first time that day.

Grandpa

My kids had a wonderful time with their Grandpa. They kept telling me what a nice person he is. He left on Thursday. Poor little Brigham didn't understand. When we pulled into our own driveway on Saturday, he wondered if we would find Grandpa inside the house.

Someone to look up to!

Brigham has decided he likes books. Consequently, he often takes one his favorites and hands it to someone to read to him. I just happened to pick up my favorite book from my early childhood on my way out the door to vacation. Before I even got it out, my dad made a comment about how he used to read "Home For a Bunny" to me when I was a kid. I got that very book out and he read it several times to Brigham. Full circle. It's a wonderful thing!

Getting Rid of Clutter

In our family Christmas letter that we sent out, we announced that we would be putting our house on the market this Spring and moving to a bigger house. As unexpected things have come up, we've begun to realize that we are in this house to stay. There are some big challenges associated with that decision.

1. We don't have enough room for all of us to sit down at the table for dinner.
2. We only have one bathroom, which translates to one toilet. We have five young kids. Take a moment to imagine the chaos.
3. We are "bulging at the seams," as I like to say.

A couple of years ago, I went through our possessions and weeded a ton of stuff out and had a yard sale. Then, last August before we went to Utah, our basement flooded. I decided that since I had to move everything anyway, I might as well sort through and have another yard sale. Plus, we rented a huge garbage bin and the whole thing was hauled away full.

Here I am again, already needing to de-clutter. We have so much "stuff" that I feel like I can hardly clean my house. The goal this time is to really strip away many of our possessions. It's really painful. I have kept a lot of things over the years. For instance, though I got rid of most of my college notes, I still have the ones for my favorite classes (Advanced Invertebrates, Marine Biology, Parasitology). Things like these are going to have to go.

I can see the benefit of having gone through these things several times. It makes it easier. I saw things in August that I thought I couldn't or shouldn't part with that just make sense to get rid of this time around. In fact, this time, I plan to go through everything twice. I'm working on the first time through right now and for the past week since we got home.

My vacation really prepped me for this. The house we stayed in wasn't cluttered, of course. I want to live like that. I think our house will always be a bit crowded, but it doesn't have to be cluttered. The time off also cleared my mind and helped me get rested in preparation.

My kids aren't going to like it. I've already had some discussions with them, telling them that we're going to get rid of most of the toys. I've told them that it's going to be difficult, but that we are going to do it. I've already had some run-ins with one of the girls over some of her toys. I might not be very popular for a while.

We're also going to put some work into the cosmetics of our home. I'm excited about that part. We've lived here for nine years and little has changed. We painted the whole house white and have left it that way. We'll shake things up a little bit. We still want to keep it light because of the winter months here, but it will feel good to have some change.

Sweet!

I must say that I have the sweetest and kindest friends and family. I appreciate you lending me a hand and offering to help me in my time of need. Seriously, thank you.

Now, I need to address the wording of my gratitude statement. Some of you may balk at being called sweet. That's o.k. I completely understand. Hopefully this won't embarrass Joseph as I explain.

This weekend I was going through old picture albums and journals. In one of the albums I came across an old list. It was Joseph's hopes for his future wife. Now come on. Most of us either wrote a list or had a mental list of some kind. Mine went something like this (and just so you know of my shallow-ness, I think it was in this order):

1) Good looks (check. oh yeah!)
2) Brains (check!!! He's an absolute genius.)
3) Money or the potential for making it (check, we'll never be rich, but I don't care anymore)
4) Returned missionary (check, loves the people of Guatemala and wants to go back)
5) & etc

Anyway, Joseph's list was something I had come upon before he even asked me to marry him. I gasped as I read it. There were things I would never qualify for. One item in particular. Sweet. Now some of you know me and some of you really know me. I have a super saucy side. I've never once thought of myself as sweet and it certainly wasn't my goal then. (Though I love sweet people.) Still, my good husband, then boyfriend, decided to marry me. I can only guess that he saw my potential and had a store of superhuman patience for the wait for my transformation (still waiting, I assume).

New topic:

Some of you know that I like to blog and that if I'm not blogging, something is wrong. More than one caring person has called or e-mailed to say that they noticed I wasn't blogging, is everything ok? I'm so touched by that! This is just a heads up to say that I won't be blogging much at all for the next two weeks or so. Don't worry. I'm gonna be o.k.!

Healthy Heros

This post goes out to Julie, a friend to me in a crucial and difficult time of my life and marriage. I'll never forget how you listened to me go on and on about my problems. I called you almost every day and you listened to me complain, cry. You listened to my desolation. You didn't let me give up. You told me I could do this. You loved me. I'll never forget!

So, I'm approaching parenting (finally!) in a new way. It's not that I haven't done this in the past, I just haven't done it consistently or with as much anticipation and excitement for the results as this time. I'm working with a new awareness and it's pretty exciting. The whole deal is that every interaction is meant to create RELATIONSHIP. Rather than me barking out orders of things that have to be done NOW, I'm trying to take the time to explain how things work and why they need to be done. When a child misbehaves, rather than dishing out an immediate consequence, I'm trying to look eye to eye and lovingly explain why it's a problem and how I'd rather they don't repeat that action. I guess I'm willing to do this several times over if need be. This is still in the works. I don't have it all figured out. It's a good thing I believe in a God who works in my life every day, every hour, every minute, if need be.

I look for extra opportunities to build relationship as well. We listen to CDs in the van each morning, but we turn it off when we drop May and Elijah off at their school, so they don't miss anything. That means I have a few minutes with Nathan before I drop him off at his school. We have a deal that he gets to sit in the front seat to and from school because otherwise he'd have to be cramped between two car seats in the back. Sometimes we just flip on NPR but the last few days I'm talking to him more.

Last night I sat Nathan down to answer some questions about himself. My sister, Jodi, has started doing this with her kids (she also writes in their journals on their birthdays each year about the preceding year) . She sent me her questions and so I've begun to record the answers from my kids. One of the questions was, "Who is your hero?" Nathan answered, "Well, it used to be President [Gordon B.] Hinckley, but now it's President [Thomas S.] Monson." I thought he made an excellent choice.

This morning as we were driving away from the Elementary School, we saw Nathan's fourth grade teacher, Mr. Ulrich. Mr. Ulrich was just who Nathan needed last year. He thought Nathan was spectacular at a time when Nathan was really down on himself. I said to Nathan, "Maybe Mr. Ulrich is a good hero?" Nathan agreed, but obviously thought his previous choice worked better. Now here comes the part that Julie taught me. She teaches her kids something that she first learned herself called "Healthy Heroes." I can relate to this also. There isn't any one person who is perfect. I can choose a hero, but there may be a way in which they disappoint me. Then, my tendency is to trash the idea of hero. Why have a hero that will ultimately just let me down. The idea of "Healthy Heroes" is to find many, many people, all with different characteristics that we admire, while also realizing that they will have their shortcomings as all people do.

I taught Nathan about this today and told him to look for heroes all around him. I enjoyed it and I think he was listening. After all, it's about relationships, right?

Trying New Household Tricks

I've been reading a great blog fairly regularly. It's called "The Lazy Organizer" and it's got lots of ideas for...well, organizing (home, time, etc.)...but also it's a place where people share ideas about lots of other things. I like it a lot and I've been gleaning some ideas that I'm trying to put into practice.

One idea came from the blog writer herself, Lara Gallagher. She said something to the effect of "If Momma's working, then everyone is working." I liked that idea and started watching what was going on in my home. I realized that even though my kids do chores, there are lots of times when I'm the only one working. Many times I'm working and still being pulled in several directions at once and it's very draining.

Lately, I've tried to be aware of times when I'm working that one of the kids could be helping me or doing a job in the close vicinity. One of those times was this past Saturday. My husband had just finished sanding the wall so that he could prime it and had vacuumed up a lot of the dust. I turned around and there was the vacuum, all dusty-dirty, and there was also a son in need of something to do. I immediately enlisted him to start wiping down the vacuum (isn't it funny when we have to clean the things that clean our house?? I've always thought it an oxymoron). I also grabbed a cloth and started working. It was great! My son didn't mind helping at all and we got to accomplish something while having extra time to interact on a more personal level.


We also took Lara's idea of a Mom's bank (I think she calls hers a credit union.) You can read more about that here. So, we've separated out the kid's allowance from their jobs. They have to do jobs simply because they live here. They get their allowance with some stipulations. 20 percent to savings, 10 percent to tithing, 10 percent to their charity of choice, and the rest stays in their "checking account." For now, they are all responsible for buying their shoes and socks plus whatever toys or extras that they want. This is all done on paper and makes things so much easier than having all the cash around. We're just in the first month and I'm sure we'll have some kinks to iron out, but I'm glad for the new system.

To read more from Lara, click here!

A Bushel of Beans

A few years ago when I volunteered for the nursery at church every week, a lady brought in a plastic storage container about a quarter full of rice and beans (dry) and some cups so that the kids could dig through the beans. It was a great idea for a tactile activity for kids. I took the idea home and bought this large under-the-bed box and filled it about a third full of beans, lentils, and rice. We have a whole range of different size containers and scoops as well as a funnel. We use it mostly for a Family Home Evening activity. The kids (all ages, Nathan is 11 and still gets into it!) just love to get it out for digging, dumping and burying. It really just takes a broom and dustpan afterward to clean up. Occasionally we've put treats in there for them to dig through and find.

This was Brigham's first time and it took him about five minutes to warm up to the idea. By the time I had come back with the ice cream, wild horses couldn't drag him away!

See what other people are talking about today at Talk about Tuesday!

Family Corner

copyright Amanda Welch Photography

We finally got a family picture this past fall with all the members of our family and got it up on the wall in the living room. Underneath that is a copy of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." In addition, my sister gave us a Family Home Evening board for Christmas this year and today Joseph helped me put it together and hang it on the wall. Despite an outrageously contentious morning, we're really family centered around here.

Old Time Radio

I think we may try something new. This suggestion came from "The Read-Aloud Handbook." There is a website that offers thousands of old radio shows burned onto a CD as MP3 files. It is found here:

www.otrcat.com

I clicked on the 'Children' link. Once there you can click on any individual show for a synopsis. Generally you can get between 30-80 episodes for $5.00.

I recently read about a family with no t.v. The idea is in my head now and I'm wondering how we might get along without one. I like having the t.v. to send my kids to when I'm feeling burned out and I need some quiet. I don't know if I could let it go. Joseph and I have also relied pretty heavily on that object at times. For instance, after Brigham was born and we were dealing with his colic, we watched every single episode of Little House on the Prairie. Lately, we've watched a slew of Hallmark Films, Jane Austen, some PBS documentaries etc. What would life be like without a t.v., dvd's and vhs? Could these radio shows fill in? Funny how I feel like I'd be depriving us if I took away the t.v. Poor little Brigham couldn't watch Thomas the Tank Engine.

Family Goals

On New Year's Day 2008 ,we made three family goals to try to accomplish:

1) Read stories from our ancestor's lives.

2) Make it to sacrament meeting every week (and on time so we don' t miss the sacrament).

3) Exercise as a family once a week.

Nathan's school genealogy project gave us a good start on reading family histories. We have yet to actually sit down and read a story, but we've been talking about it.

We've been trying hard to meet goal number two. Having church at 11:00 am instead of 9:00 am has helped. Not as much as you might think though!

Today was our first family exercise session. We went to the YMCA where Nathan was having his swimming lesson. We reserved a racquetball court and brought our jump ropes. I've checked some books about jumping rope and we are all hyped up to practice and try out some of those tricks we've been seeing lately. Jump rope is a tough sport! We're planning on doing swimming, jump rope, and basketball during the cold weather months.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

A tribute for my dad on his birthday! My dad has been present at every baby blessing and every baptism. This is not just for my little family, but my siblings' families too. I know that the kids will remember this. It shows them how important and loved they are.

For his birthday this year (I think that's the reason), he got all of us a webcam so that we can keep in touch and see each other more than every 4-5 years. Last night we were trying to iron the kinks out and get it figured out. We didn't get to talk to Dad, but we did get to talk to Mark. I wasn't sure I'd like it, but it's really fun and Sariah ,who was still up at 11 pm, loved it too. She wanted to show Mark her Webkinz. What fun to have the cousins video conferencing!! Thanks Dad!

If you are interested in this, check out SKYPE.COM. These webcams were about $16 each. I'm not sure where he got them, but they are Philips brand and work just fine for what we are trying to do. Skype calls are free from user to user!

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

A couple of weeks ago, Joseph asked me how he could help more around the house. I told him that I actually like to cook, but the after-school hours are really taxing to me because I'm trying to get dinner started and the kids are all pretty needy. I asked him if he'd be willing to come home and take over the care of the kids while I finish up dinner. He agreed and since that time there have been several nights when there are kids three abreast on his lap and one standing looking over his shoulder while he reads a picture book.

In December, I had put a lot of Christmas stories on hold at the library, but since they can be checked out for up to three weeks at a time, it took until January for us to get them into our home. Joseph read one of these books the other night. It's called "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey."

It's about a boy who loses his father in the war and in a subsequent journey with his mom to his new home, he also loses the nativity scene that was so special to their family at Christmas time. His mother hires a local wood-worker to make a new nativity scene. The man seems gruff and reserved, nevertheless the widow asks if she and her boy can come and observe him carving. Through the interactions with the boy, and the thinking about the nativity scene, and working through the grief of his own wife and baby the wood-worker is transformed and the widow and her son find peace.

This book was also made into a movie. My library doesn't carry the DVD and so I requested it from MelCat. It was well worth it. One I'd like to own despite my current philosophy of not buying more! The film used CGI visuals(computer generated imagery--stunning!), the music was very nice, and the acting was great. My kids loved it! Although it's about a nativity and shows Christmas-time, it's a lovely movie that can be viewed all year long.

21st Century Update

WARNING: Further examination of religious and political topics!

After I posted about Nathan's problem with religious discrimination at school, my awesome brother (Check out his blog: http://testingtodd.sirrub.com/ . He's got great politics and technology commentary.) made this comment:

Todd is in the front. My other awesome brother, Mark is in the back.

When we lived in MA I was afraid to tell anyone that I was LDS. I am not sure where the fear came from, but it was there. I actually did not like to talk about my religion or my beliefs until a few months ago. I had a baptist missionary drop by. A simple question turned into a 2 or 3 hour conversation. It was great. I was able to see that I had a lot in common with that missionary. I also tried to show him that we had things in common. I really felt good after that conversation. It made me realize what I believed and why. The thing that I think is really funny is that members of our faith are in government. Check this out...the senate majority leader is LDS, the Secretary of Health and Human Resources is LDS, and there are a handful members of the house and senate that are LDS. In the past, Ezra Benson was the Secretary of Agriculture. Those are the people just of the top of my head. Many CEOs and presidents of companies are LDS (like Marriot, General Mills, etc). So, like every other faith, our members contribute greatly to society and somehow we are all okay. I don't even want to turn to sports (ahem...Steve Young). I guess that as long as us Mormons keep our distance everyone is okay. I guess Dr. Kings dream doesn't apply to us. Oh well. Could be worse.


This leads right in to what we did last night for Family Home Evening. Yesterday as I was putting Christmas decorations away, I found a pile of books. Serendipity! There was a book called "If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King" by Ellen Levine. I brought the book down to the living room and May picked it up and read most of it. I was so impressed. She said they had read from that book in school. She was incredulous at how African Americans were being treated. I asked her if she would share five things she learned with us for Family Home Evening. She wasn't very willing at that point, but once we started discussing what the holiday was all about, she willingly chipped in.

Nathan taking in this great book.

We read just a bit of MLK's, "I Have a Dream" speech. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." We talked about non-violent civil disobedience like sit-ins and marches. I felt very enlightened by the end of our discussion.

This ties back to Todd's comment because as we read snippets from this book, I tied it back to being LDS. Not to take away from Dr. King's message, which is very important in it's own rite, but just to expand upon the idea and apply it to my own situation. "I have a dream that my five little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their religious affiliation, but by the content of their character!"

I also saw other links to my religion that I thought were interesting. Here is the one that stuck out the most to me. After his house was bombed Dr. King said, "If I am stopped, this movement will not stop. If I am stopped, our work will not stop. For what we are doing is right. What we are doing is just." This reminded me so much of when the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed by the mob in Carthage Jail. People thought that if they stopped Joseph Smith, they would stop the progress of the church, the building of temples and churches, the very faith of the people. This was not the case and Joseph Smith, much like Dr. King said that very thing a few years before his own death, though much more eloquently than I can, "No unhallowed hand will stop the work from progressing, persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assembly, calumny may defame, but the TRUTH of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God are accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say, "THE WORK IS DONE!"

Along other lines, I am impressed as we hold family scripture study each night and Family Home Evening every week, just how much there is to teach my children! I'm so grateful for the chance I have to teach them. When we were less regular with our family time, I didn't even realize the depth and scope of what I would like to give to my children. I am thankful for prophets who encourage us to do these things!

Our Dinner Table

Our dinner table set with our "Special" (Birthday) plates and cups.

Clockwise starting with the white one: Cindi, Sariah, May, Nathan, Elijah, Joseph

Brigham will get his when he turns two in May.

The Light of the Body

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. --Matthew 6:22





And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings. --Doctrine and Covenants 88:11



Photography by Joseph

Cousins!

May, Mindy, Brigham, Elijah, Samuel, Nathan, Daisy, Sariah

Joseph downloaded his pictures to the computer which included a fun visit we had from Joseph's brother, Jim, and his family. They decided to move from Washington D. C. to Utah and we were one of their stops on the way! Beside a visit from my sister Jodi and my nephew Tyson a few years ago, this is our only visit from cousins and the kids just loved it! That's one thing we really miss being so far away from both of our families.