Repost and Some Thoughts a Day Late

I was reading the following post today and I just loved it. It was a record of one amazing weekend, and I just thought I’d post it because this past weekend was just about as amazing, but I don’t have time to write about it (I was trying to get Live Writer fixed… it’s fixed, but I have to leave for the gym in about 10 minutes!)

So here’s a repost of July 6, 2009 for your reading pleasure:

Sunny Day
originally posted July 6, 2009

Ah, the sun, the sand, the shore, the waves crashing on the beach, a perfect ending to a perfect weekend. We spent the day on the beach in Santa Cruz with the Wildes. It was fabulous. We didn’t even really do much. Just bummed around on the beach. I like bumming on the beach better than bumming at home – you’re bumming around either place, but at least when you go out to the beach you feel like you’ve done something that day.

Mostly, Russ and Dan went out on the boogie boards, and Michelle and I sat near or in the tent with the babies, while Vince jumped around in the sand, explored the rocks, ate bananas and sandwiches, and made friends with some other little kids on the beach.

The babies were pooped after a while. Okay, well, Ethan mostly slept the whole time. Joseline was awake for the most part, but she was bored with Ethan (since he was just sleeping) and kept squawking at me, begging me to take her out to see the ocean.  When I did, she would just stare at the waves crashing on the shore. It was really just a peaceful day. No rush to do anything. Just … living. That pretty much describes our weekend! (oh yes, that and potty training Vince – which has been WAY wonderful)

I got some pretty great shots – even with my dinky camera. It actually works really well out in the sun. Indoors is where it has problems.

On the way home we stopped at “Top-a-Lot Yogurt” in Santa Cruz. It was a self-serve frozen yogurt place. Think DIY Coldstone. You grabbed a cup, filled it with your choice of 6 different flavors of frozen yogurt, and then topped with any of dozens of toppings from candy pieces to fruit to sauces. Then they weigh your treat and you pay 39 cents per ounce of goodness. I think our total (including Vince’s chocolate ice cream topped with marshmallows) was something like $11. And Russ got a HUGE bowl of ice cream with just about every topping that had anything to do with peanut butter (pb cups, Butterfinger pieces, peanut butter syrupy stuff, chocolate syrup, etc). I should have taken pictures of the place. There are way too many things to think about these days now that we’re taking a two year old to the potty all the time.

This evening, some new friends from Delta Co. came over to hang out. It was a lot of fun. They have a daughter just about Vince’s age, and they are both potty training, and they both had accidents tonight. It was adorable. Okay, well, it was fun having friends over. The kids were exhausted, but they played pretty well together, considering. Joseline went to bed almost as soon as we got home. She was worn out from the beach, even though all she did was hang out in the tent with sleeping Ethan! I’m super ready for bed, but I’m waiting for Russ to finish some Chinese homework.

All in all, I am very satisfied with this weekend. I told Russ that I am neither anxious for him to go back to work tomorrow (like I usually am after the weekend – geez, just go back to work already! You’re messing up our routine!), nor sad to see him go back to work. It’s like the weekend was perfect, and I am completely content for life to just continue as normal! I think that is the sign of a perfect weekend.

Potty Training Vol 2 Issue 1

Three #1's in the potty, one #2 in the potty, and three #1 accidents on the floor (two on the carpet - Adam and Christy, Penny is now officially forgiven...) already off to good start - although I did try quitting twice, Russ kept talking me back into it. That little girl can hold her pee entirely too long. She would go for over an hour without going pee. Silly girl.

I'll update again tomorrow and hopefully post a picture.

I'm just ready to be done with diapers.

For a little while, at least.

-- Post on the go

Of Sleds and iPhones

This was back in November, when it snowed so much it was almost up to my knees, but I never got around to posting the pictures.

On this particular snow day, Russ had the van at work and so I walked half a mile in the snow with the kids to the nearest park (and probably the nearest hill – we live in a very flat part of the valley). Vince loved sledding, but I think Joseline was really cold, so... not quite as happy as V. I don’t blame her. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the park (I was pulling her in the purple sled because the sidewalks weren’t clear enough for a stroller. I need to get one of those bike trailers that converts to a sled with a harness and then get myself some snow shoes and just take the snowy world by storm with my little babies in tow! 

By the time we were ready to get home, I patted my pocket to make sure my phone was still there, and to my horror, it was gone. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I went down the hill on a sled, because I knew that I had it when we got to the park. The kids were screaming because they were cold and tired, so I knew that I didn’t have time to look for it right then. Thankfully it was fully charged, so I figured I could go find it when Russ got home. Well, then he wasn’t going to be home until really late, so I called my sister and asked if she would mind watching the kids and lending me her phone so I could go find mine.

Russ got home just as my sister got here, so she went with me to find the phone. It was dark and cold and the world was (thankfully) quiet.

Christy called my phone over and over again, but ... nothing. Then, when I was near the place where we had been sledding down the hill, I heard something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but then I told Christy to call again, and I HEARD IT!! My phone! Ringing triumphantly under the snow somewhere. I didn’t know exactly where it was, but I had a good idea, so I started digging like a dog in the fresh snow just at the bottom of our sledding hill. My hand hit something hard and I heard the ringtone fly past me, landing behind me. MY PHONE! Relatively unscathed, too. I hadn’t seen a hole in the snow where it would have fallen down, so I figured that when I went down the hill, it must have slid out of my pocket and then through the side of the 12”+ snow in front of our sled track.

I still can’t believe I found it. I had resigned myself to never finding it until the snow melted again, but there it was.

Ha ha, and just a few days before that, I had dropped it in the toilet (it fell out of my back pocket). My poor phone has been through a lot, but it still works great!

And for your viewing pleasure, a (very) short clip of Vince going down the hill. I forgot that I had it zoomed in for picture taking before I started the camera, and this was the last time we went down the hill before we left.

Monday Musings - Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Babies

I love these babies so much. They are growing up entirely too fast, even though I enjoy teens more than small children, it doesn't soften the fact that time is passing too quickly.


Joseline is learning so many new words (in English AND Portuguese). Some of my favorites:
"Mão" - cat (she also says 'gato')
Agua - (water, which she also uses as the word for juice until we correct her and then she will either say 'sumo' or 'jus')
'ctente' - how she says Vincente's name
'cima' - up
'templo' - temple, of course. She recognizes the temples and loves to point them out. We feel blessed to live so close to so many temples.
'finha' - i.e. 'fofinha' - literally 'little soft' but it is the word we use for 'snuggle' which is the word we use for their favorite blankets
'o-mea' - oatmeal
'sammy' - sandwich (which we actually call 'sammy''s, so she's saying this one correctly
'scare' - she uses this word when she gets scared - seriously. The other day she fell off her chair at the kitchen table and when Russ was holding her, she said 'scare!' which meant she was scared.
'appy' - not referencing apps for the iPhone, this is her word for 'apple' (and, coincidentally, 'banana' and all other fruit)
'oo aa' - (monkey sound) this is her word for 'monkey'
'game' - when she wants to play a game on my iPhone

She is working on two word (and more) combos, as well. My favorite so far was when Vince was sitting at the counter and Joss told Russ 'cima ctente' (which, if you see the glossary above you'll know means 'up Vincente'). She was telling us that she wanted to sit up by Vincente. It was awesome.

Russ has a harder time understand Joseline's 'baby Portuguese' than I do. He may speak Portuguese better than I do, but I speak baby better in ANY language! Ha - okay, probably just baby Portuguese, but that's most likely because my Portuguese is closer to baby Portuguese than real Portuguese anyway.

Vincente is like a walking Star Wars soundtrack. He can sing the main themes from just about the entire sound tracks from 5 of the 6 episodes (VI is PG13, so Vince has only seen that one once with Russ).

Last night Russ let him watch A Knight's Tale. He brought up his Ironman action figure sitting on a toy motorcycle and had a baton in his other hand. He said 'Mamãe I want to show you something!' and he proceeded to act out a jousting scene with his ironman, motorcycle, and the baton. It was awesome.

Well, my kids are sweet and beautiful, and that is all. I love my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful babies.

-- Post on the go

Are You There?

I am approaching the 100 reader limit on my blog, and I’m not sure how many people really read it, anyway. So you will be getting an email from me asking whether or not you read the blog. If you do, please respond to the email, or comment on this post. If you don’t, then ... well, you won’t even know that I removed you, and you probably aren’t reading this post, so it doesn’t make sense for me to even be saying this.

What on earth are you doing?

Vince was watching PBS kids shows online while I was downstairs folding laundry... I came upstairs to find this. I guess it was more comfortable? And what’s up with the no clothes getup? I swear the child loves to be naked (except for the fact that he doesn’t want me and Joseline to actually see him naked... hence the underwear...)

A Little Backwards

I have been trying really hard to get my life in order. I have been working on being more productive, getting more things done, and taking better care of myself and all of the temporal needs of my family.

In all that quest to be an “effective mother” – meaning, having a clean house, a stocked pantry and fridge, and dressed and bathed children – I realized that I have been seriously neglecting the thing that matters most.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said this:

“As we turn to our Heavenly Father and seek His wisdom regarding the things that matter most, we learn over and over again the importance of four key relationships: with our God, with our families, with our fellowman, and with ourselves. As we evaluate our own lives with a willing mind, we will see where we have drifted from the more excellent way. The eyes of our understanding will be opened, and we will recognize what needs to be done to purify our heart and refocus our life.” (emphasis added)

I studied this talk back in January on my scripture study blog, My Soul Delighteth, but I think that maybe back then my mind wasn’t as willing to see where I may have drifted from “the more excellent way” – but last night as I prayed for the Lord to help me be a better wife and a better mother, I prayed for help to “do the most important things.” And then something President Uchtdorf spoke about came to my mind.

“...it’s rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and minutia—even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives.” (emphasis added)

I am a list maker. Ask my husband. I have your usual grocery lists and menus, but it doesn’t stop there. I have priority lists of things to buy, projects to complete, debts to pay off, books to read... even that list goes on and on. My to-do lists are complex and list every possibility for my day. Well, they did until last night when I realized exactly why I am experience that “increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in [my life].”  It was because of the darn to-do lists. Sure, the laundry needs to be done, and the dishes need to be washed, and lunch and dinner need to be served, and groceries need to be bought. But the most important thing to do is spend time with my little ones. “We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e,time.”

I was trying to get into a strict, “efficient” routine that would help me feel like I had accomplished a lot during the day. But those accomplishments were temporal, not spiritual – not eternal. They were things that were going to last only in this life, only in this moment, and would not be as significant as the relationships that I can form with  my children right now while they are small.

From my journal last night: So I am going to try something new. Something completely different. Before the kids wake up, rather than trying to scramble and get things done, I am going to spend time with Heavenly Father and myself, meditating and studying the scriptures. Then, when the kids get up, rather than attemping to distract them so that I can complete yet more items on my to-do list, I will simply BE with my children.

It won’t be horrible if I actually get some chores done. It will be especially good if the kids help. They can sort laundry, fold laundry, help empty the dishwasher, help wash the table, help cook. I have had a little bit of a disconnect between being a mother and being a homemaker. I think that I felt like I could only wear one hat at a time (I could be a mother, but not at the same time as being a housekeeper, and neither of those at the same time as being a cook, or a courier or chauffeur). But really, the only hat I have is mother. And it is by far the most important.

The most frustrating (or rather, enlightening) part of this whole ordeal is that I just read and studied this talk barely a month ago! Why didn’t I figure it out then? I’ll tell you why. I am one of the most stubborn people in the entire world, and it takes an average of 3-4 months for me to admit that I was ever even wrong. Seriously. I think it used to take a lot longer than that when I was younger, but I have improved – probably thanks to my sweet, patient husband.

So far the past few days have been great. I have been spending more time with the kids, and less time doing dishes and laundry and washing toilets and vacuuming and cleaning up,  but you know what, my house still looks fine (not pristine, like I might like it to be, but it’s not unsanitary or cluttered or anything like that). And my kids are happier (especially Joseline – she has been a little cranky child for a looooong time, and finally she’s been pretty happy, only throwing the normal toddler fits, instead of just being ornery all the time.Vincente is being more helpful and loving.

And I feel more relaxed, and closer to Heavenly Father.

Vincente and Joseline playing on the air mattress with a friend. 

But who wouldn’t be closer to Him

around these little angels?

My Wednesday Wandering Post

Wednesday Wanderings moved over to Child’s Play – so here is the link to WW from last week.

Monday Musings – Things that Matter Most

There are things that matter, and things that matter most. Being showered, dressed, and looking nice? Sure that matters. But if it takes away the time I get to play with  my kids, I’d rather be wearing my jammies all day and playing Star Wars with my 3 year old in his undies, and my baby in her diaper.

Because that matters more than getting dressed in the morning.

Especially when we’re all sick.

Snakes and Snails

Vincente with my friend Jessica’s red-tailed boa, Houdini

The Year of 2010 was quite the adventure. There was all the moving around... and then there was all the wildlife! Throughout the year we encountered 4 snakes (only one of which was a captive bred snake – and two of which I’m pretty sure were rattlers), 3 lizards (the small one pictured, and then our two bearded dragons – the first one (Lizzy) had a parasite and died, the second (Elvis) is alive and well!) , 1 nest of baby birds, and a turtle. Most of these creatures were found at or around my parents house in Arkansas.

Vincente with a turtle my brother and sis-in-law
found in their garden – eating their cucumbers
A little lizard we found stuck in a spider’s web in my parent’s garage.
We kept him in this jar for a little while so the kids could view him, then we set him free. I was amazed that a lizard could get stuck in a spider’s web!
A little garden snake we saw in the front yard of our new house after we destroyed it’s habitat – the overgrown flowerbeds!
A rat snake my mom found stuck in the netting over her berry bushes. We weren’t sure if he was dangerous, so we called Animal Control and they took him away. Mom wanted to keep him so he would scare away (or eat) the critters that go after her berries.
The nest of baby birdies in my parents garage/carport.
One of the birdies perched on a bike, learning to fly!

Monday Musings – The Principle of Adoption

Some of you may know, and some of you may not know, that adoption has already played a significant role in our lives. Russ was adopted by his step father when his parents were married 20-something years ago. Russ and his older sister are children from his mother’s previous marriage. This picture is a picture of Vincente with Russ’ biological paternal grandmother. She’s a sweet lady, and lives close to us, and we are very happy to have her in our lives. Our kids love her and she has helped us out a lot.

Russ hasn’t had any contact with his biological father other than a few letters they exchanged while Russ was on his mission.

Most of you also know that we are in the process of getting our foster care license from the state of Utah, with the intention to adopt teens out of foster care. We would love to finalize our first adoption this year. We’ll see how things go.

Adoption is a gospel principle, and I am excited to be able to participate in this wonderful experience. We are all adopted into Heavenly Father’s family by obedience to His laws, and those who are not of the house of Israel can be adopted into the lineage of Abraham. Brigham Young said this about it, “They will be broken off from the wild olive tree, and be grafted into the good and tame olive tree, and will partake of its sap and fatness.” This is part of what I feel adoption is about – especially adoption out of foster care – it is taking those tender branches who have been  broken off and grafting them into your own tree to give them life. These teens, left broken from their family trees, must find a tree to be grafted in to, or they will most likely wither and dry out.

I just read an article by a mom who just adopted two teens out of foster care, and she said it this way:

I also didn't just adopt Aubrianna that day, I adopted more than that, I adopted her history, her culture, her ancestors. We are all linked. If you can picture the grafting of a healthy branch into a healthier tree, well, that's one way to look at it. But what I did, was to cut her family tree vertically down to include her roots and we are grafting that into the trunk of my tree. Her roots will mingle with mine and we will grow as a family - two families, to begin with....

I think that it’s important, also, to remember where these kids came from and include their roots, as well. This was beautifully put.

For those of you who may “worry” about us adopting teens out of foster care – I feel like it’s the most sacred work I could do. I am not naive in any way when it comes to fostering teens (trust me, the eight 4 hour long classes we have attended this month have done a lot to show me exactly how real and messy it can and most likely will be) – but just because something is hard, scary, or messy doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing – and someone has to do it.

Out of nearly 1300 licensed foster families in the state of Utah, only about 120 will accept teens. That’s less than 10%.

I feel like the Lord will give us strength to bring these children into our homes and into our lives and help us raise them. Of course they will still have their own accountability – but their chances of success in life are much higher if they have a safe place to screw up. If they can screw up in our home, instead of alone on the streets, we can lift them up off their knees, dust them off, give them a hug, and tell them to try again. Everyone needs a family, and who are we to be selfish with ours, and keep it to ourselves. We already want to share our family with all of our friends – everyone is family to us. These children are just unique in that they don’t have another family to belong to. We are that family.

Rolling Along

We bought Vincente a “big kid bike” with training wheels for his 3rd birthday. We haven’t really lived in one place long enough for him to ride it a lot (until now) but while we were at my parents’ house in Arkansas he did get out a few times.

These pictures are from the first time he REALLY rode. He pedaled himself all the way down the street and back. He had a hard time stopping if he was going downhill, but he was really good at pedaling. He told me, “When you got really strong feet, the rollers will go.” Apparently, he has really strong feet.

We’ve been out a few times since we moved into our new house, but not frequently enough for Vince to really get the hang of the bike thing. We’ll be working on it this year, I assure you.

 

If you’re wondering why he’s only in shorts – it was probably 90-100 degrees that day (even if it was overcast) and around 40-50% humidity.

Monday Musings - Mother’s Day In

Well, the pictures below have almost nothing to do with what I’m writing about, but I need to post pictures, so here you go.

I went to my in-laws house last week and spent the night. Russ was gone, so it was just me and the kids. And today, while I was thinking about how refreshing it was to go there, I realized exactly why (besides the fact that I really like them!).

I love my babies. So much. And I always need their cuddles and love. But I also need a little time to myself.

One solution to this dilemma is to take the kids to a daycare, get a sitter, or otherwise remove them from my presence (or me from theirs). But whenever I do this, one of two things happens:

1.) If I left the kids because I needed to get something done (take a class, run errands, etc) I end up completely focused on the task, and I end up not really having time to myself.
2.) If I left the kids because I “needed time to myself” or went on a date with their Papai, I end up thinking (or talking) about the kids the whole time.

So I’ve discovered what is actually more refreshing for me:

Having the kids where I am (in the same house, but not necessarily climbing all over me, needing me to feed them, wash them, potty them, etc etc) but having someone else be the primary caregiver for them. That means, if they come running to get on me, the other person who is taking care of them comes and gets them and takes care of their needs. But they are still around for me to go give love and kisses to, or play with for a little while. Or if I decide I want to feed them a snack, I can – but all the pressure of caring for the children is removed.

Sometimes Russ does this (takes care of the kids while I’m still around), and I feel great afterward. It’s like just enough of a break without feeling like I’m “getting away” from my kids. I don’t want to get away from them, but knowing that I don’t have to be the one making sure their every need is met at every second is a nice breather for me.

I think that is what makes me feel like a new person. Heck, what makes me feel like a person instead of solely a source of sustenance for two small children and a pillar for a grown man.

(p.s. funny story about that snowman – a few weeks later, Vince was asking, “Let’s go outside and make a Vincente-size snowman so I can put the carrot in his nose. Not a big snowman.” Ha ha. Cute kid.)

There is Sunshine in My Soul

For those of you who might not remember, or don’t know, my oldest brother passed away last August after a 9 month battle with cancer.

Shortly after he passed, me and the kids moved half way across the country to be closer to Russ while he was attending some training for his job. Then, a month later when he graduated from that school, we moved back to Utah. The next several weeks were a struggle and a commotion – we were trying to get into our house, get Russ a job, get financing arranged for the house, and the list goes on. Then Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the new year hit, and I didn’t have two seconds to sit down and really process everything.

Russ left for some more job training a few weeks ago, and as I got into a rhythm with the kids, all the grief hit me.

It happened on Sunday at Stake Conference as a sweet lady behind us held Joseline, Vincente colored quietly, and I was alone with my thoughts for the first time in months. I wanted to cry and cry and cry, but sobbing loudly in the middle of Stake Conference would probably not be appropriate, so I tried to contain it, and managed with only a few tears. On Monday, I was so depressed I could barely move. I didn’t want to do anything but sit and cry – but I knew that I couldn’t cry in front of the kids – not the way I needed to – and I didn’t really want to be crying alone. So I held it in.

On Tuesday we went to spend the night at my in-laws house. It was actually perfect. I was still kind of in a funk the whole time, but my mother in law and little brothers took care of the kids, loved on them, kissed their boo boos, and fed them while I just kind of stewed. Then on Tuesday night, after everyone was in bed, I decided to write a little in my journal. I was able to work through a lot of my grief – writing in my journal is usually very therapeutic for me, and this time was no exception. I won’t share with you everything that I wrote, but I think that one of the things that I ache for the most is the relationship that I might have been able to have with my brother if he was still alive.

Well, Wednesday morning and afternoon I was still in a bit of a funk, but by the evening, I was feeling better, and last night I went to bed for the first time in months without feeling as if I wouldn’t really care if I didn’t wake up the next morning. I was ready for the next day last night when my head hit the pillow – even though I was going to bed late (after midnight). My husband, and maybe other people who know me, know that without a full 8 hours of sleep, I’m pretty grouchy in the morning and don’t want to get out of bed. But even with a late night (and a lonely one at that!) I was still anxious to get up with my alarm clock and start the morning off right!

Then yesterday there was some sunshine, and today has been sunny all day long – that probably has a lot to do with it as well. But I feel renewed, now that I got a lot of that grief out.

It’s not all over – the healing is not done – but it has finally started, after nearly 5 months. And it will continue until I see my brother again after this life. But at least I’m not standing still, knee deep in sorrow. Sure, I’m still knee deep in it – but I’m walking toward dry land. I can see it off there in the distance and I know that if I just keep moving (talking about him and the hurt inside) I will get to that dry land, and he’ll be there, and I might get a second chance with him.

Fact Sheet

Back in 2008, shortly after the talk was given, I posted several of these “facts” from Elder M. Russell Ballard’s General Conference talk.

I’d like to share some more of the facts today, and I will actually be posting one fact each day on my Facebook page until I run out of facts. And then when I run out of facts, I’ll probably start posting the articles of faith.

First, “Mormon” is a nickname for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members are often referred to as “Mormons,” “Latter-day Saints,” or “LDS.” The term “Saint” means “member.”

Second, the Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York with Joseph Smith as its first prophet and president. Today it is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with President Gordon B. Hinckley as the present prophet.

Third, there are now over 13 million members in 176 countries and territories. About 6 million of these are in the United States, making us the fourth largest Christian denomination in America. As one of the fastest growing Christian faiths in the world, we complete a new chapel every working day. Members pay a tithe, which is 10 percent of their income, making this and other programs possible.

Fourth, local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members. Both men and women serve in assigned leadership positions.

And fifth, Mormons are well represented in politics and government. (In the United States, for example, there are 16 members in Congress, from both political parties.) Members also serve in high and trusted positions throughout the world in business, medicine, law, education, media, sports, and entertainment.

We believe in the eternity of the soul, that God is the Father of our spirits, and that we can return to Him after death.

We believe that Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, and we try to model our lives after Him and His teachings. We commemorate Christ’s atoning sacrifice in our Sunday worship services, similar to taking communion in other churches. We accept as fellow Christians all who believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind. Many Christians do not understand that we have much common ground with them. Joseph Smith taught that Jesus Christ is the core of our belief, and everything else is an appendage to it (see Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 44). The name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We believe the original church that Jesus established was lost and has been restored again in our day. The priesthood, the authority given to man to act in the name of God, with apostles and a prophet to lead us, has been restored as have all necessary ordinances of salvation.

We believe in and we use the Holy Bible, both the Old and New Testaments.

And we believe in the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture which support and authenticate the Bible and testify of the ministry and divinity of Christ and of God’s ongoing revelation to man. Indeed, the Book of Mormon is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”

Mormons place particularly strong emphasis on family as the basic unit of the Church and of society. We have a deep commitment to marriage (defined as a union between one man and one woman). Polygamy, a limited practice in the early pioneer days of the Church, was discontinued in 1890, some 117 years ago.

Families and individuals, whether members of our faith or not, can attend Sunday services in our chapels. Here we worship together, instructing one another from the scriptures.

Latter-day Saint families are encouraged to hold family home evenings weekly, usually on Monday nights. This provides a regular and predictable time for parents to teach values to their children and to have fun together. We invite those not of our faith to adopt this practice with their own families.

The Church has auxiliary programs for women, youth, and children as a support to the family. These programs provide such things as religious instruction, opportunities for Christian service, sports, drama, music, and Scouting.

And there is also much focus on extended family, genealogy, and personal family history, providing young and old with a stronger sense of roots, identity, and belonging. The highest and most sacred ordinances of our faith relate to our families, both living and dead, and some of these ordinances take place in our temples.

One of the fruits is a longer life. Studies show that practicing Mormons are healthier and therefore live longer than the national average. In 1833 the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith the Word of Wisdom, which is the way to live in order to enjoy a long and healthy life.

Second, those who are married in and attend the temple regularly have a divorce rate far below the national and world average.

Third, we achieve an educational level that is higher than the national average.

Fourth, over 70,000 members volunteer at their own expense to serve for 18 to 24 months in humanitarian efforts, Church service assignments, and full-time missionary service throughout the world.

And fifth, we place strong emphasis on self-reliance and a solid work ethic. We encourage active involvement in our communities and in providing service to others. The Church continues to donate substantial money, goods, and services to humanitarian causes around the globe, including untold hours of labor donated by members to assist in disaster cleanup and relief.

I think I will be going more in depth about these and some other facts on my scripture study blog. Maybe I’ll do a “Mormon.org” type series or something. Hmm...

Monday Musings... on Saturday

It’s been a while! I have been meaning to post a few things on the blog – what we’ve been up to lately – but the being “up to” has taken up all our time, which leaves not much for blogging!

Today I have a training class for getting our foster care license. My awesome sister Christy and her husband are coming over to hang out with the kids while I’m gone, since Russ is at some more job training for about two weeks. Hopefully I will be more on the ball this next week (not to mention not having a husband, so I’ll probably have a lot of time to spare...) so I’ll post Christmas pictures and get more regular again.

My goal this year is also to print the last 3 years of blogging into blog books. I will probably print one for each year. When I started posting pictures, that was the idea – that I would print the blog to make a journal/scrapbook... mostly because while I used to LOVE scrapbooking, being a mom has kind of taken up most of my time. I may even add in entries from some of my other blogs – combine them into one big book.

My other goal is to get all of our family videos (all the clips I took over the past several years) organized and edited and put on to DVDs so we can have easily-watchable family videos.

It’s going to be a year of personal history for me. Personal and family history. Preserving today’s memories and experiences for our kids.

Above are the gingerbread houses we made with some friends before Christmas. I will be posting about that over on Child’s Play. I will also be posting a tutorial for Borax snowflakes over there.

Feel free to check out my scripture study blog for my thoughts on October 2010 General Conference – my topic of study right now. Also, here is an interesting blog post (from someone else’s blog) about President Packer’s talk from General Conference.

Other than that, we’re just hanging out. I’ve got lots of Christmas pictures to post, and thoughts about that – and I need to post our Christmas traditions somewhere for next year (along with my thoughts about how to make next year a little more... smooth sailing, and help us remember the reason for the season).

And, to end on a happy note – a picture of Joseline (taken by Vince)

Joseline in Shoes

Joseline is surely all girl. She loves my shoes, Vincente’s shoes, her own shoes. I’ll go in my room and see all my shoes taken out of the closet, because she has been playing with them. She absolutely loves to wear shoes. She’s learning to put on her own shoes – something Vincente still struggles with. She also likes to dress herself – another thing Vince still doesn’t enjoy.

What a girl!