Instead of cleaning the pencil drawer in the kitchen...

Hi friends, how was your conference weekend? Mine? Well, you know that scripture about "opposition in all things"?  That's pretty much our typical conference weekend.


Wonderful messages... when I was able to listen. I'll comment on conference in another post. Our kids are in such different phases in life, it's hard to come together and do one thing at the same time. Anything. Well, lately, we can watch "Puss in Boots" together. (at least that's SOMETHING!) Man, I LOVE that movie... I think we've watched it at least 8 or 9 times this weekend and it still makes me laugh.

"What a strange thing to give a cat boots, but WHOA! I look GOOD!" :)

Okay, I'm getting off the subject...


Anyway, this week is Spring Break and I'm already feeling discouraged (Yes, I know it's only Tuesday).


I always wake up in the middle of the night feeling so worried about the future and about my kids and just  kind of hopeless.... I pray really hard to go back to sleep and escape that feeling and escape the dark... sometimes I am lucky... other times, I just have to wait for the sun to come up so that feeling will subside.


I try to read my scriptures everyday, but sometimes I need a bit more. I know this sounds terrible, but I need some simple language of our day that I can relate to. Sometimes my mind is so full (and my house is so noisy) it's hard to concentrate on the language of the scriptures. When I feel like this, I turn to the Church magazines. This morning, I found a great article (of course I did!) called, "Taking Time to Talk and Listen" by Rosemary M. Wixom, the Primary General President.  I also like hearing a woman's point of view now and again, we see things differently, and I can relate better.


This article didn't magically "fix" my family or instantly make me a better Mom, but it gave me HOPE and made me SMILE -- that is BIG for today.


Here's a few of my favorite points:


"Time together is precious time -- time needed to talk, to listen, to encourage, and to show how to do things."


"If we desire our families to be together forever, we begin the process TODAY. Spending time talking with our children is an investment in our eternal family as we walk the path toward eternal life together."


She talked about Helaman and the stripling warriors, "It was 'the words of their mothers' that taught them. While talking to their children, those mothers taught the word of God."


"Satan futilely attempted to prevent the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in this dispensation when he tried to halt a critical conversation between Joseph Smith and God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ."


My FAVORITE QUOTE: "The adversary would love to bind our tongues—anything to prevent us from expressing verbally the feelings of our hearts face to face. He delights in distance and distraction; he delights in noise; he delights in impersonal communication—anything that would prevent us from the warmth of a voice and the personal feelings that come from conversing eye to eye."


“If we listen with love, we won’t need to wonder what to say. It will be given to us … by the Spirit."


"One Latter-day Saint father said: “I do a greater amount of good when I listen to my children than when I talk to them. … I have gradually learned that my children don’t want my ready-made, time-proven, and wise answers. … To them, being able to ask their questions and to talk about their problems is more important than receiving my answers. Usually when they get through talking, if I have listened long and well enough, they really don’t need my answer. They have already found their answer."


Sister Wixom said, "Last spring, while I was visiting a class of young women, the teacher asked the class to write our 10 priorities. I quickly began to write. I have to admit, my first thought began with “Number 1: clean the pencil drawer in the kitchen.”


HA!!!! This made me laugh right out loud -- that's something I would think of first. Why are most of us women like that? It's hard not to focus on all the mess around us and the things we should get done.


Nephi wrote: “We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ.” Why? “That our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26)


All I can do is change ME. Try to do better each day. Love my family more and hope for miracles.


One of my FAVORITE quotes from "Puss in Boots" is said by none other than "Frisky Two Times" himself:

"It is NEVER too late to do the right thing!"