Good Intentions

I have them.

Really I do.

I have these ideas and goals and I am great about keeping a journal and writing things down. But something seems to always poke its head into my great master plan and make these desires of mine so much harder to implement.

I think it's called....

LIFE.

Some days are simply going to be better than others. I was reading the Ensign during a brief moment of quiet time and came across two quotes that reminded me very quickly that ups and downs are part of the Lord's Master Plan. And even if I don't include those disappointments on my "to-do" list, they are necessary and essential for my own personal growth.

I needed this reminder. Especially on the day that they came.

And especially today.

Remember my word for 2010? It is "Organize." I have been trying harder than ever to organize my days. This includes deciding when I will get up in the morning, what we will eat for each meal, what time of day to exercise, study, ready scriptures, etc, etc. I am making greater efforts to make Saturday nights a time to prepare for the Sabbath. Last night I was trying very hard to make sure kids were bathed and rooms were picked up and my meal plan for Sunday was in order. In my attempt to save some time Sunday morning I asked Hallie if she wanted to put curlers in her hair so that her hair would take little time to do the following day. To make a long story short, we put curlers in, she slept, she woke up, we took the curlers out, she look darling, and.....started to cry.

She didn't like her hair.

I kept telling her she looked beautiful and that we needed to hustle to get to church on time. (remember I fly solo every Sunday morning so each moment is precious in terms of being on time for me) She cried and cried. I tried to console. Didn't work. The clock was ticking. Somehow I managed to get it all together and we were about ready to walk out the door when Hallie looked in the mirror one last time and started crying again. Now, I KNOW this isn't a big deal, but for some reason, it was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I wasn't mad. No. I was simply, "tired." I was tired of the complaining. Complaining over hair, outfits, shoes, meals I put on the table each day. I was tired of asking time and time again to pick things up, to set the table, to "talk nice." I was tired of ungrateful attitudes, I was tired of the feeling like, "jump higher mom, higher" AND I will say it and some of you may even gasp at this one but I have to say it. In this moment I was tired of doing Sunday mornings by myself. (gasp, heart attack, breathe!)

I also know, this is a bad attitude.

I also know I need to change it.

I text Rod and told him what was happening at our house and within minutes he was home being the super parent. He talked to Hallie. He told her about being grateful and threw in a little lesson about repentance. Hallie apologized and we managed to make it to the last 2 hours of our meetings. It was a great meeting. I'm glad I didn't throw in the towel and give up because of those silly curlers. I would have been the one to miss out.

Elder Packer said,

"It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal.

Teach our members that if they have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, to stand steady and face them. Things will straighten out.

There is great purpose in our struggle in life." -Boyd K. Packer

And Elder Maxwell said,

“One’s life … cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free. …

“Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, ‘Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!’ …

“Real faith … is required to endure this necessary but painful developmental process.” -Neal A. Maxwell

Yes, today was a bit discouraging. Yes, I had a minor breakdown. Yes, I will have days of discouragement but I am so grateful for these two little quotes that made their way into my mind today. And more importantly, for those two little girls that keep me hopping and learning each and every day.

(And I'm grateful Elder Packer reminded me that I am normal)

Happy Sunday to you.

Story Time

Right now in this moment, my girls are both happily napping. This sort of things doesn't happen very often now that Hallie is 5 and, "doesn't need a nap" (she reminds me).

Before this afternoon's nap, I told the girls chapter 2 of a story I started yesterday (yes, my bedtime/naptime stories have chapters and I make them up as I go). This afternoon, after the story, I heard the girls breathing louder.... and deeper.... and I knew they had drifted off into the, "land of nod" (Rod and I had read in Moses that morning and the land of Nod is the first "land" that came to my mind as I created our newest story time adventure). Now, I'm not super creative but my girls sure think my stories are great. I'm so glad they think so. One day I know they'll be too big or too "cool" for stories at bedtime but right now, they LOVE them. Most of mine include fairy dust and some sort of trip to get fingernails painted and make-up done. The girls are usually the main characters and sometimes I pop into a story or two myself. Today's chapter included magic chapstick and each time we put it on and licked our lips we'd taste our very most favorite treat.

Hallie's favorite: Oreo cookies
Sam's favorite: Pink Birthday Cake
Mom's favorite: Strawberry Smoothie

I love the moments when I can see, through the glow of the night light, their smiles grow bigger and bigger when they love a particular part of a story. I love when I get them giggling so hard that they ask me to "rewind" the story and tell them that part again. I love this stage of life. I love their innocence...and love for girly things like flavored chapstick.

Thanks for another great story time girls. I will get busy and think of chapter 3.

Love these two.

Money well spent

Out of all the Christmas loot, Sam has taken to the $2.47 lip gloss and eyeshadow from Claire's with the greatest passion.

(I find her like this regularly)

BirThdAy giRl

Today was HER day. When the partying and cake eating and present opening were all said and done she hugged me and said,

"Mom, I think you are such a great human."

Thanks hon. I'm so glad you think so.

2010 Word

I am so inspired by so many of your "words" for 2010. I have never done this before but decided that I wanted to have a word too. I have been thinking about this for a few days now and even had a nice lengthy discussion with my husband about it on our date last night. He was laughing at me and even threw out a few ideas of his own. BUT, today I was completely inspired as I sat and listened to the lessons given in Sunday School and Relief Society. The discussion in both classes made mention of goals/resolutions/commitments/etc. I, like many of you, LOVE the new year feeling of starting fresh and resolving to be better. As I sat in church today I thought of my pantry (I know, I know, my mind was wandering a bit) but the reason I thought of it was because on January 1st I cleaned that bad boy out and MY goodness it feels good to have a clean pantry! This made me think about other areas of my life and how absolutely GOOD it feels when things are in their proper place.

Choosing just one word is a hard task but here it is in all its glory!
Like it?

I sure do.

It encompasses so many areas of my life. It is a word that can keep me on track. It is a word that can remind me about "every needful thing." Sometimes I get so distracted and neglect the things that are the most needful. I learned this principle of organization very well in the mission field. (remember those awesome blue missionary planners??) I loved that while serving we would have these planning sessions and we would fill up those blue planners with plan A and plan B and sometimes even plan C! But the important thing was, we had a plan, we were organized in that plan, and miracles happened.

Now, I don't have those stylish blue planners in my life anymore but just like I would plan out my day and pray over that schedule so hard every single night, my days don't have to be any less organized or any less likely to be full of miracles now! I really think that organization is the key. If I have a plan, I am much more likely to get results AND I am much happier. And even better, if I include the Lord in my organizing, there is no doubt that great things can happen. Remember when He organized the world? He said that there was, "matter unorganized". He had a plan to make it organized. Sometimes I feel like my life is a little bit like ,"matter unorganized." But, with His help, it can become a life of order.

Now, just like I threw out expired cans of soup and stale crackers from my pantry, there may be things in my life that I just need to throw out to help me in my quest for organization. I am still evaluating in this department but I am excited for the task and for the goal to be more aware and in tune with the most needful things in my life.

Happy New Year to you all and cheers to organizing...{the needful things}.

Money Tree

When I was younger my parents would tell me that, "Money doesn't grow on trees." For Christmas this year my siblings and I decided to put together a money tree made especially for dear mom and dad. The reasons for doing so are as follows:

Years and years....and years ago, when I was probably 6 years old, a lovely little commercial was constantly being played around the holiday season. It was a commercial that encouraged young little kids to call Santa. Of course a commercial like this had my brother Ben and I staring at the TV with stars in our eyes! What were two little Santa loving children to do?!

Call, of course.

Call, many, many, many times.

At almost a dollar a minute this added up very quickly. When my mom got the bill she was stunned...then perplexed....and then.....very, very MAD.

We laugh at this little event every single Christmas but back then, when money was so very tight, a 200 dollar phone bill from the North Pole didn't do much to help the parents get into the Christmas spirit.

This year we decided to pay my parents back and so, the idea of our money tree was born. Underneath the tree, we had a little picture of us kids sitting on Santa's lap those many years ago. On the branches, we tied dollar bills and included this poem.

1-976-Santa

A long time ago when we were really small

We were watching TV and the man said to call

1-976-Santa was the number he told

ask your parents if you're under 18 years old

So we dialed the number on our telephone

And got connected to Santa at his North Pole home!

Requests were made, Ky wanted a doll

Ben, a GI joe, but that wasn't all

Santa kept us just a talkin' as the minutes rolled by

Ho, Ho, Ho he said, with a twinkle in his eye

We hung up the phone and continued with our day

Until we forgot some things we wanted to say

So back to the phone we pressed on the dial

"Well, Hello," Santa said, again with a smile

At a dollar a minute Santa kept the conversation going

We were innocent kids and had no way of knowing

We hung up the phone completely satisfied

Til mom got the bill and wanted to cry

"What on earth is this?!" she asked her young ones.

As she pulled out her wooded spoon to spank our little bums

We dodged the wooden spoon, Twas the "season" after all

But we learned a good lesson, to ask before we call

So these many years later we present you with this tree

And hope that you'll accept our apology

Merry Christmas

love,
Ben, Ky, Derek, and Tyra

I hope you all had a good Christmas! Santa sure remembered me this year....probably because of our long phone chats back in the 80's. Tough to forget the kid that calls you 30 times. ;)

Merry Christmas!