God's Word in the Big Storm

We haven't seen sunshine here in Michigan for several days now, so my children have been talking a lot about the BIG STORM.  I personally have never witnessed a day of storms like the one we encountered last summer.

It all started with me, our 6 children, and my niece and nephew... yes... it's true.  Because my husband had to work, it was just me and 8 kids.

We embarked on our long journey to drive from southwest Missouri all the way to Utah.  We had been excited for months to go on this trip, but we traveled only 45 minutes before we had to stop to get a flat tire fixed.  There we were in a car shop in Joplin, MO for several hours waiting for our tires to be set right.  It was a bit disheartening knowing I had wanted an early start in order to reach Denver, CO in good time that night.  At one point, a technician informed me that I had severe problems with the front axel as well, and he explained that it would be a significant cost and take the whole day to fix.  I was in literal shock for a few minutes until he returned to tell me that he had mistaken which vehicle was mine... ours was fine except for the flat tire!  Phew!!  Feeling that stress even for a few minutes put my nerves on edge a bit!!

After that encounter, I prayed harder for our safety.  I was feeling the weight of all these precious lives in my hands, and I began to question the prudence of taking this trip.  All of a sudden, I realized that we hadn't had our scripture study. There was only one other person in the waiting area, so we held our scripture study right then and there.  I read in the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 58.

All of us were in awe as the following verses stood out in our hearts and minds:

Verse 10:  "Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength..."

Verse 11:  "Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him."

(I could feel the energy in my soul begin to swell!  I felt trapped in this lobby with no functioning vehicle, so deliverance was important!)

Verse 12:  "And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies..."

(At this point I said with passion to my 8 kids sitting in the lobby, "We are a small force!!!  We will take courage and conquer!"  Right then, the only other person in the lobby scanned the kids and said, "Ummm... I don't think your force is so small!!"  We laughed and felt renewed by the message given in the scriptures.  We were certain that those scriptures were meant for us to read at that very moment.)

Little did we know how important those words would be as our trip continued!  Our flat tire was only the beginning of our troubles!!

We were finally released.  They assured me that all was well with the vehicle, and we piled in the van again to head west.

As we drove, we noticed the sky darkening around us.  We were in Kansas, and it continued to darken more and more looking quite scary.  I had a very sick feeling in my stomach and turned on the radio to see what the weather conditions were.  Yes... there was a tornado warning in the area, and they named a town where it was worse with a possible sighting of a tornado.  They said the name of a small town.   I don't recall the name of the town now.  However, I do recall that right as they said the name of that town, we looked over at the sign on the road, and it was the exact town we were headed into at that very moment!!!!

I yelled out for the kids to pray!!  I handed the phone over to one of the older kids and told them to call Abe.  I didn't talk on the phone; it was storming too bad.  I had to use every bit of my concentration to drive.  They told him our situation, where we were, and to pray for us because we were going to drive as fast as we could to get out of there!  I wasn't about to get off the highway and enter the town!!  The darkest portion of the sky was north of the highway.

There was a strange energy in the van... it was exciting yet very real and life-threatening.  Again... We needed deliverance... and faith!!!  We passed the area of tornado watches but the storm was not yet over....

We drove through hail, horrible downpours of rain, winds, and segments of road where it seemed like we were entering nighttime.  The weather updates said the storms would continue for hours, but we were going in the right direction to escape the worst of it.  We could see clear skies in the distance, so we continued to drive and pray.

Just when we couldn't see any storms in our close proximity, Mariah needed to stop to go potty.  I had everyone pile out to go to the bathroom.  We were only in there for a few minutes!  By the time we came out, the winds were blowing so hard that we could hardly stand up straight.  There were lots of people at the gas station, and everyone started jumping in their cars to get out of there.  We did too!!!  We were not chasing the storm; we were running away!!  This one was a dust storm- no rain.  It was so strange.  The kids kept commenting on the swirly things on the side of the highway.

We drove away from that storm as well, and it was peaceful for a while.

At one point of our trip, we saw a golden eagle in the distance.  I thought, "Oh how majestic and graceful."  It was gorgeous, but it continued to come toward our windshield!!!  I thought, "Surely it will change it's course any second now!!!."  My niece in the front seat, the kids in the back, and I screamed at the top of our lungs as if we were in a horror movie!!  I put the breaks on hard- but not too hard or else our big 12 passenger van would have flipped.  Because we swerved a bit, the eagle flew upwards right at the last millisecond.  The eagle would have shattered the windshield!  We actually saw its wings span across the windshield!!  We couldn't believe its size!  We couldn't believe the miracle of our safety.

As nighttime approached, we drove through a different kind of storm.  We witnessed the most beautiful lightning storm of our lives.  There was no rain- just lightning.  I had always been told that the car is a safe place from lightning.  In my entire life of growing up in southern Missouri where thunderstorms rock the entire base of a home, I have never seen the sky light up like this!!  We were traveling in Colorado at that point.  It was amazing to watch!! Because the landscape was flat, it felt like we were in a light show under a dome.  I blasted the music, and the lights in the sky danced to it.  We later found out that those lightning storms were the cause of the devastating Colorado fires last summer.

The lightning storm died down as we drove our last 45 minutes into Denver, Colorado.  We were truly strengthened as the scriptures said we would be.  I made my phone calls to all those who were concerned about us and told them we were all well.  We checked into the hotel and "poured out our souls in prayer to God" giving gratitude for our safety, for the peace, for the strengthening of our faith, and for our deliverance.  

What a miracle that all 9 of us were safely sleeping in a quiet hotel... the storms were gone.

What a miracle that because we remembered to read the scriptures, we were able to receive the strength we most definitely needed through the literal storm just as God's words return to me throughout my spiritual storms.  Some storms take me by surprise, some I know are coming- so I try hard to get out of them as fast as possible, and yet others I am able to see the beauty/blessings within the storm.

...but in the end, we see the power of God in all.

How Bad Do You Want It?

I home-school my kids.  Yesterday, Tyson had a hard time focusing on his work... wrestling during Spanish class etc.

When the principal (my husband) came home, he gave Tyson a serious talk upstairs in his office about how he needed to respect his teacher (me of course).  Tyson insisted that he just didn't get enough time to run around, so it was hard for him to hold still.  Knowing he had played half the morning and also played at scouts, I decided to give him an opportunity to let out his extra energy... to run around.

I took Tyson to the YMCA for a late night training run with me!!

We ran a couple of hard miles.  Then, we did some sprints... that's when the tears started.  On the first lap, he started off strong.  Tyson is a faster sprinter than I am.  As we came up the last straightway, I started to gain on him.  I yelled to him to go harder because I was coming up behind him.  I saw his forward motion hesitate and lose momentum.  He only had a few feet to go, but he slowed down!!  

I talked to him about not being intimidated by those coming from behind.  I told him he just needed to keep doing his best and to keep pushing through to the end no matter what.

He is starting spring football next week, so I reminded him that this would help him run his touchdowns in the final quarter.  As we were about to run our final sprint, Tyson thought he couldn't run anymore.  I knew he could or else I wouldn't have pushed him.  

We were the only ones left in the track/gym area except for a young man in his early 20's.  As that young man began to leave, I said, "See?  He's an athlete..."  That's all I was able to say before this young man turned around to come talk to Tyson.

I told him that Tyson was struggling a little with the pain he was feeling as he ran.

He said, "Hey man!  If you want it bad enough, there is no pain!!"  He talked to Tyson about how he was recruited to play college basketball... how he played through the pain... and worked hard for what he wanted.  He also told Tyson that he had watched him running on the indoor track there several times.  He encouraged him and told him he was doing a great job.  

Wow!  You should have seen the look on Tyson's face!!  He was determined.  He didn't have a pout on his face anymore.  There was no look of pain or exhaustion.  Right before he ran the last sprint he said, "Has anyone ran this lap in 10 seconds?  How about 20 seconds?"  I told him to go for his very best!  

We ran around the final corner, and I yelled out, "Go harder!!  This is it!!"  

This time he didn't hesitate.  This time he lengthened his stride.  He did it!!  He finished his final sprint with a personal best time ever!

...and for this morning's home-schooling?  Well, Principal Daddy will be very impressed with how well Tyson is staying on task.  

...and for me?  I learned something too from the young man in his early 20's.  If I want a home of absolute peace and beauty bad enough, there is no pain that will stop me from lengthening my stride.  Yesterday, I too was feeling tired in my motherly duties and sick of the cold, dreary weather and wanted to cry.  The pain is there, but as I focus on what I want more than the pain, I remember the great worth of my endeavors.  

This experience reminds me of fasting.  We are told not to focus on the hunger/pain but to focus on the spiritual blessing we are striving towards.

I thank God for placing special people in our path each day to teach and remind us of HIS almighty principles.  That young man's words were a miracle to me and to Tyson.

We Are All Champions!!!

Last week I took my children to the YMCA to be tested to know which level of swim lessons I should put them in.  I wasn't sure if I was going to even put Jackson in swim lessons because he was about to start swim team through the middle school the following week.  Jackson had never been on a swim team before, and I told this instructor that I just wanted to see where he was in his progress.

After watching Jackson, the instructor told me that at swim team the other kids will all be several laps ahead of him.  She said that he would have a really hard time keeping up and by her tone tried to discourage me from putting him through that experience.  I felt so worried for him that I decided to put him in the swim lessons along with swim team.

The more I thought I about this swim instructor's comments, I felt 2 things:

1.  I felt so worried for Jackson that he might be the last one every time that I almost took him out of swim team before he ever even started!

2.  Because I felt upset that she thought he was so bad, I wanted him to prove her wrong and turn out to be an amazing swimmer.

All weekend I felt worried about his first day at swim team.  I warned Jackson that some of the kids were excellent swimmers- that they have been doing swim team for years, so he might fall behind.  I encouraged him to remember to swim as fast and as hard as he could in every drill they gave him.

I bought him all the special swim wear, head wear, and goggles, and I prayed for him to have a good experience.

Yesterday when he came home from his 1st day at swim team, I watched him very closely... he was smiling! His lips were blue from the cold water.  I asked him if he had fun- he said he did.  I asked him if he was able to keep up.  He said, "I did great!  I swam next to a girl who was older than me, and I even beat her!!"

Immediately, two thoughts ran through my mind:

1.  I felt disappointed in myself for even worrying about the swim lesson instructor's opinion.  How many times do people think negative things about us, and we prove them wrong?  I knew Jackson could swim!  He got 3rd place in a triathlon last summer.  He can do anything!!  Isn't it more fun to prove someone wrong?  We all love the underdog who rises to the top.

2.  I was of course happy that he was able to keep up, but even if he was lapped 5 times by all the other kids... WHO STINKIN' CARES??????  I was so mad at myself for even beginning to care!!

Jackson was not worried one bit if the other kids were going to be faster than him.  He was just excited to try something new.  I cared because I wanted to protect him from pain and what I perceived as him losing.

God corrected my perspective quickly when HE reminded me of an experience last fall during Jackson's cross-country season.  There was a young boy on his team who came in last at every meet... by a long way.  Helping the coach, I actually ran beside him at most practices cheering him on.   He had the best attitude... trying his very hardest with his physical capabilities.  At one of the meets that wound through the forest, this young boy got lost because he was so far behind the others.  He ended up having to quit because he didn't even know where he had gone, and the coaches had to go find him on the trail.

This poor young boy was devastated because after all his training he didn't get a chance to finish... but nobody made fun of him.  I remember middle school as being the hardest years of all my years of school because the kids were so mean!!

I couldn't believe the hearts of his teammates.

At the following meet, this same young boy was coming in last place again.  All the other middle school kids finished their race; but instead of running off to get their snacks and water, his teammates, including Jackson, all ran back to find this young boy on the trail.  I didn't realize what was happening until the pack of middle school boys came running down the hill together towards the finish line.

I sobbed as I watched this young boy run with a look of determination and satisfaction that I had not witnessed before.  His teammates ran with him as he ran his very hardest.  Just before this young boy reached the finish line, his teammates dispersed and wildly cheered him on.  All of us as spectators cheered louder than we ever had before.  This young boy was not lost anymore... did not lose.... he had won!  He was the champion of bringing middle-school aged boys together to act in the greatest level of kindness and teamwork.  Nobody told those boys to jump in and find their teammate.  They just did it!!

What if his mother had tried to protect this young man from doing what he really loved?  I watched her at the end of each race putting her arm around her champion.  Yes, we try our hardest to protect our children from pain.  As parents that is our job, but sometimes in our effort to protect, we don't allow them to grow in their courage and strength.

Knowing that his swim instructor said that he would be one of the worst swimmers on the team, Jackson still went forward with excitement and courage to his first day of swim team.  He knew that if he was last, he would still be learning and growing in the process.  He also knew that he had a fight in him to be better than others thought he could be.

At the triathlon where he placed 3rd, I didn't mention that he was in last place by a long shot after the swim.  Abe, his sister and brother-in-law, and I cheered him on but figured we'd be there for quite some time after all the other competitors finished.  We were shocked when after biking and running, he was in 3rd place in his age group!

Nobody else should limit us.  If God puts the desire in our hearts, HE will find a way to make it happen if we too believe in HIS power. 

We can have the courage to try new things... even if it means we're not the best!  We are all champions in the process of learning!!

The following are just a few pics from one of the kids' triathlons last summer... purely for enjoyment. :-)  They're CHAMPIONS for sure!

The Happy Morning Musical

Cute little Jayden loves his cuddle time when I curl him up in my arms and feed him his bottle or sippy cup, but he absolutely refuses to hold his own bottle.   Anytime I try to make him feed himself and place the bottle in his own hands, he arches his back, screams, takes the bottle and literally chucks it across the room!  I silently laugh at the explosion of anger from such a small baby.  How dare I make him hold his own bottle during his cuddle time... or any time for that matter?

Last night, I was talking to Tyson about how sad I was that I had not been singing enough to Jayden and Juliana since my voice had been hoarse for years.  Just recently, after a couple of surgeries over the last year, it had been slowly returning.  It still sounded scraggily, but at least I could croak out some sounds.

Both last night and this morning, I decided that I would attempt to use my voice.  Tyson is my child who has been unceasingly praying for me to be able to sing again; so this time, instead of scolding baby Jayden for his temper tantrum, lowering my eyebrows, and shaking my head in disapproval, I decided to instead calmly retrieve the bottle while I sang a sweet hymn to him.  BOTH times, his infant anger subsided!

It didn't happen all at once; it was a process both times...  I sang a few sweet hymns, and at first he stopped screaming; then he stopped arching his back.  Next he just stared at the bottle; and finally, very slowly, he grabbed his own bottle and placed it into his mouth!!

Tyson was sitting by my side both times.  After watching the power of music two days in a row, the look on Tyson's face was priceless!  He had observed Jayden screaming and fighting this simple duty for weeks, and now we both witnessed this small miracle of a peaceful hymn.  He was also pleased to hear his mother sing- even with a weak voice.

Well, I was feeling pretty confident about the power of music, so I tried it on the next child who displayed defiance!!

Shortly after, Juliana, my 2 yr. old, had her turn.  I had been cuddling Jayden, Juliana, and Mariah in my arms for a while, but then I needed to get up and get some things done.  The other two ran off to play; but Juliana, the queen of cuddling, did NOT want to be put down yet.  She screamed and cried the most devastating sounds.  I carried her in her room to get dressed, plopped her down, and began singing to her!!  With the biggest smile on my face, I sang over her cries:  "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!!"  (A crackly voice doesn't sound as bad on this song.)  She couldn't help herself.... she clapped her hands!!  She continued to clap her hands as she began dressing herself.

Honest to goodness... THIS is how she returned!!

I believe in the power and miracle of music!  I hadn't wanted to sing because my voice didn't sound as pretty as it used to.  They didn't care!!  The power was in the happy, peaceful heart...  Although my voice was crackly, scraggily, croaky, and weak they still knew it was happy music!!

Now lets see if my singing will have the same affect on my older children. :-)  My thoughts are that it will!  Who can resist a happy heart?

This picture is from last night's Family Home Evening...  not a staged picture!  Abe played the piano, and all the children rushed to his side to sing along... well the youngest two just wanted to bang on the piano. :-)  I thank God for the opportunity to have happy music as a blessing in our lives.

Small and Simple Goals

I loved General Conference weekend!   In my last post, I explained a little bit about what General Conference is. :-)

After listening to several hours of inspiration over the last two days, I made several new goals!!  I'm excited to improve.  I felt encouraged when President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a member of the presidency of our church, advised us to start progressing where we are right now.  He assured us that God would give us light as we take new steps closer to Him.  I also appreciated Elder Jeffrey R. Holland reminding us that imperfect people is all that God has ever had to work with.  He also said that in our quest for faith we should lead with what we do believe!!  That's exciting to me!!!  There is so much I believe in.  When I think about what I don't do well or don't understand, it becomes like a cancer in my soul and spreads negativity.  I love a positive approach.  As Elder  Holland said, "Fan the flame of your faith!!!"

I'm going to start today and continue to BELIEVE in the miracle that I can be an instrument in the Lord's hands no matter how far away I am from perfection.

My goals:

1.  I want to read my scriptures with my husband every night.

2.  We read scriptures as a family in the morning, but I would like to read fun books as a family at nighttime as part of our bedtime routine.

3.  When my husband comes home from work, I would like to only focus on sharing the positive things the children have done throughout the day.

4.  I would like to make family scripture study a more effective tool to better prepare my children to be future missionaries.  I want to help them to develop unshakable testimonies of their Savior, Jesus Christ.

5.  I want to pray harder to know who is needing to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.

Elder Andersen assured us that the Lord would bless us with our very own miracles as we try harder to be missionaries.  I love miracles!!

Last Friday, I conversed for a short time with a sister who had been on her mission for only a couple of weeks.  I asked her if her mission was hard (because it was for me in the beginning).  She said that at first it was hard because she was expecting big miracles, and then she felt like she should start looking for the smaller miracles on a daily basis....  She didn't even know about my blog!!  Of course I agreed with her that there is great power in recognizing God's daily miracles.  It is in the small and simple things that great miracles come to pass.

I am putting my small and simple goals in writing so that I feel more accountable to them.  I will strive to achieve these goals with faith and hope that great miracles will come to pass in the lives of my family and those around us.

General Conference Miracle

General Conference weekend!!  During this weekend our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, along with many other General Authorities broadcast spiritual messages of inspiration and revelation over internet, satellite, and television to the entire world membership- translating that message into 92 languages.  There are over 14 million members including 65,634 missionaries serving throughout the world.  We watch three 2-hr. sessions on Saturday (one of those is just for the men), and two 2-hr. sessions on Sunday.  

This weekend takes place twice a year, and our family always looks forward to the messages we'll hear.   We prepare by praying that our hearts will be open to know the improvements we should make in our own lives.  I am always comforted by many of the messages feeling as if the speakers are talking just to me!

Yesterday, the unexpected happened....

Abe set up our projector to show conference, and the children were all in the family room ready to watch it.  Mariah brought milk and cups in for everyone so that nobody would have to leave to get a drink, and the boys all had their notepads and pencils ready to take notes.  

It was 5 minutes before start time, and Abe and I had just started a disagreement over a silly matter.  We both became frustrated.  The choir was singing, and conference was starting!!  We hadn't resolved our concern yet, so we kept talking!  Right then, one of the kids came around the corner and said, "Why are you guys letting Satan stop you from watching General Conference?"  

Ouch!!  It hurt to hear that, but of course it was the adversary because we had absolutely no problems all morning until 5 minutes before we would hear our prophet's message!!  We had been waiting for General Conference to start for 6 months- why were we letting a silly matter keep us from watching? 

Still feeling grumpy but trying to be humble, we both sat down to listen to the opening prayer.  After a couple of talks on forgiveness, repentance, the importance of marital relationships, and Satan's attempts to destroy the family, I felt like they were giving the talks just to me again.  Abe and I apologized to each other from across the room... to which the children gave their (parental) smile of approval.  

We had a beautiful, uplifting experience watching conference today because two miracles took place... 

*The exact message I needed to hear was spoken right when I needed to hear it.  Because we chose to listen to God's word, God's miraculous power softened our hearts and sent the negativity away.

*The other miracle was that our children recognized whose influence it was that started our disagreement, and they also understood why that negative influence was trying to enter our home at that particular time. 

I believe that when something really great is about to take place... baptism, marriage, scripture study etc., the adversary tries extra hard.  I don't like to talk about the adversary, but I do believe it is important to recognize that he is real so that we can better fight his influence. 

I'm grateful our children understood the cause of our conflict and had the courage to bring it to our attention.  

I'm also grateful that we can send that ugly influence away quickly and simply by humbly calling down the powers of Heaven.

A Body of Strength in Christ

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak to the students at the Institute of Religion at the University of Michigan.  I spoke on the subject of Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things in Christ which strengtheneth me."

I love that scripture!!  As I prepared, I kept envisioning a body of strength, so I spoke on what and who should be in our heart, mind, and body in order to be truly strengthened.  This image of a body kept returning to my mind, and I thought I might use my oldest child Jackson as my body of strength.  My plan was to tape my topics on his personal body.  I even had my posters made to do it; but it was just a thought, and I never asked Jackson if he would be willing to be my "body."

Before I actually spoke, Abe and I decided that it might be better to send the kids upstairs to a play area, so we wouldn't have to worry about keeping them quiet.  I knew I wouldn't have Jackson's help, but I figured he would enjoy being with the children upstairs.  I thought to myself, "Maybe I didn't need that part of my talk after all."

Just as I was about to start speaking, Jackson came back down the stairs and sat beside me.  He said, "It felt dark and sad upstairs, and I felt like I wanted to come hear you talk instead."  Surprised, I said, "Jackson, I was hoping you would be here because I really wanted you to help me during my talk!"

He did help me, and he did fabulous.  Out of all my children, the one whose help I had wanted, returned.  It was special to me as I realized the Spirit had guided him.  Even more important though was the look on his face when he realized that he had followed the Spirit.  He had the sweetest look of understanding that God really does communicate with us.

Even later that night, on our two hour drive home, out of the blue Jackson said, "Mommy, I'm really glad I was there to help you today."  Once again, his face said it all... he knew that the Holy Ghost had spoken to him, and he had followed.

For a mother to see her child recognize the Holy Ghost's influence is one of the most beautiful things in the world.  My hope is that my children will have enough experiences while in my immediate care; so that when they go off on their own, they will have the knowledge and faith to turn to and listen to the One/Ones who have never failed them...  God, their perfect Father in Heaven... God, their Savior and older brother, Jesus Christ... and God, the Holy Ghost, who constantly whispers guidance and comfort to their hearts.