Family Home Evening

On Monday nights, we hold something called Family Home Evening.  This Monday was special because my husband's parents were there with us too.

We started off with an opening song; Tyson played the piano while Jackson led the music.  After the song, Jordan gave the opening prayer and Abe conducted our family meeting.  Five yr. old Mariah gave the lesson.  We didn't help her at all, so we all wondered what wisdom she would impart to us tonight.  She brought out little toy prophets and warriors from the scriptures and told a story about repenting.

She said, "It only took one bad guy to not listen to the prophet and then a bunch of others didn't listen either."  Then, she held up the only female toy person and said,  "... but she listened and obeyed!!"  There were a couple of snickers from an older brother who recognized that the scriptures never mentioned the woman in that particular story.  Mariah flashed him a hurt look, and I flashed him a "you better stop it" look.  I realized right then that Mariah knew the power of a righteous woman.  She went on to explain how important it is to listen to the prophet and obey.  We all thanked her for her lesson.  Her testimony and lesson truly were inspired.

We ended our simple Family Home Evening with a prayer from my father-in-law.  After his prayer, my father-in-law spoke to us about the importance of having righteous traditions to follow.  I looked at both of Abe's parents feeling so much love in my heart for them and feeling so grateful for their righteous examples for our children.

Many, many years ago, Abe's parents allowed the missionaries to enter their home.  Abe's dad completely changed his life and converted to Christianity.  Abe's mom was always a Christian but felt a desire to listen to the message the missionaries were sharing as well.   

Just a few years ago, one of those missionaries shared an important part of Abe's parents' conversion story.  It is a miracle that they witnessed with Abe's parents; and their miracle has had a powerful influence on our lives and thousands of others. 

Abe was only 8 years old when the missionaries came to their home to teach them about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They told Abe's parents to pray and ask God to know if what they were teaching was correct. 

When the missionaries returned, Abe's dad informed them that he had not felt anything after his prayer... he had not received an answer.  He also informed them that he was done with the missionary lessons; he even had their books in his hands ready to return them.  

One of the missionaries then felt inspired to ask:  "Well, how did you pray?"  Abe's dad said, "I asked God if it was true and ended my prayer saying, 'In the Most High God.'"  This fearless missionary pointed out that Abe's dad didn't say, "In the name of Jesus Christ" at the end of his prayer.  

Continuing in his boldness, the missionary asked him to pray again right at that very moment and to finish the prayer including the words:  "In the name of Jesus Christ."  This was a significant request because up to this point, Abe's dad was not even a Christian!

I'm grateful that he was humble enough to pray again!  

According to this Elder, the moment Abe's father ended his sincere prayer in Jesus's name, the room and their hearts filled with the Holy Ghost... Abe's parents had received their answer, and they were baptized shortly after.  One year after their baptism, they were sealed as a forever family through a beautiful ceremony in the Washington D.C. Temple.  

Since then, Abe's dad has served as a Bishop or a member in the bishopric in almost every ward they've lived in.  Abe's mom has been the president of almost every auxiliary at every level of leadership.  They also served as missionaries together in Sri Lanka for a year and a half.  I list all these wonderful opportunities they've had for service to point out 2 things....

One... I'm so grateful this missionary was bold in his service to God.  Because he did not fear, a family of great influence came to know Jesus Christ through HIS gospel.

Two... So many times we end our prayers too quickly almost mumbling the finishing words:  "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."  I'm grateful to be reminded of the power of speaking and having faith in HIS name.  I will speak those words with more respect and honor for HIM.

Small and Simple Things

We came home from our trip, and the kids dumped all their suitcases, dirty clothes bags, half-eaten food containers, toys, and books all over the floor.  The kids and I walked circles around the disaster trying to be productive, but the mess was so overwhelming that we kept getting distracted between the piles.

We were wanderers feeling overwhelmed at the task at hand.  Every time we come home from a trip, my natural instinct is to attack the entire mess all at once, and every time those efforts fail because we're working haphazardly.  I finally came to my senses and reminded everyone to just start at one side of the room and work their way to the other side.  I tell them (and myself) not to worry about the overall mess; just take one thing at a time.

Once we got organized, stopped stressing about what we hadn't done, and took our mess piece by piece, our efforts became very efficient!  

This same principle was sharpened into my mind tonight at our friend's farewell open-house.  He was leaving on a mission to Bolivia!  This is the same place where I served my mission.  Feeling the excitement of his upcoming mission and remembering my mission, I talked quite a while with this young man's parents in Spanish.  His father asked me if I was teaching my children Spanish.  I told him that I was trying to teach them by immersion... which means I was trying to talk with the children all throughout the day in Spanish instead of English.  I expressed to him my frustration in sticking with the immersion plan because my kids don't understand what I'm saying.  Inevitably, after multiple blank stares from my children, I gave up speaking in Spanish at all, and I felt like my efforts had been in vain.  

I literally feel guilty every day that I'm not teaching my children Spanish.  I have been praying for a long time trying to figure out how I can teach them Spanish while continuing to be productive in their other subjects.

This father said it simply, "All you need to do is spend 15 minutes a day teaching them one Spanish word a day."  At first my thought was, "Oh that's not enough!!  I want them to be able to speak it soon!!  That plan will take forever."  

Then I did an analysis... I had been working haphazardly trying to teach all the Spanish all at once.  Kind of like the pile of mess all over the floor after a trip....  I wasn't taking it one step at a time, and we were getting nowhere.  I could even try to teach 2 words a day.... but not the whole darn language in one day!  All of a sudden his wisdom hit me!!  The kids would know WAY more Spanish at the end of the year than they know now if I would just start by taking small, simple steps on a daily basis.

Oh my gosh!  This was not only an answer to my prayer about my Spanish lessons, but it was also a great reminder to me as to how I should attack my daily life.  

I am quite Gung-ho about life, and I don't have much patience to wait for things to happen.  I want to make things happen right away.  While this may be a good trait in certain circumstances... I believe the Lord would like me to take a step back, start at the beginning, and be patient with the process of not being able to do everything all at once.  With these thoughts, the scripture, Alma 37:6, came strongly into my mind:

"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

I am so excited to have a plan!!!  I commit to teach my children Spanish starting tomorrow by small and simple means.  I believe this great father was an answer to my prayer, and I'm grateful for the timing of when I received my answer too!  I had just cleaned my house after a trip by taking it one step at a time, so my heart was ready to receive his similar advice on the subject of teaching Spanish.  

I believe great things shall be brought to pass as my children learn Spanish.  I believe that the more talents we develop, the more the Lord is able to use us for HIS grand purposes.... My hope is to teach my children to eventually be fluent in Spanish, so they can be a greater instrument in the Lord's hands... to be able to bear testimony of Christ to even more people.  Alma 37:7 further explains the importance of putting forth our small- yet best efforts:

"And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." 

The Race for the Airport!!!!

I left southern Missouri Thursday night and drove all night so I could make it back to Michigan before my husband, Abe, had to leave on the airplane the following day.  I had the four youngest children with me for the week, and Abe had the oldest two.  I needed to get the children from him before he left for his trip... and I needed a kiss from Abe at the same time. :-)

Oh it was a rough night.  I stopped about 8 times to try to sleep; but every time I stopped, my baby would scream because the roar of our van quieted down when I slowed down.  In an effort to keep the other three young children asleep, I quickly turned the van around and got back on the highway each time.  It wasn't until 7:30 am that I finally took a 3 hour nap in front of a gas station.  That refreshed me for a while until around 11:00am when I my eyes would not stay open another minute.  The kids were all wide-awake, so I asked the two oldest children to amuse the two youngest while I closed my eyes for just a few minutes.  Those few minutes quickly turned into 30 minutes.  I looked at the clock and knew I didn't have time for any more stops.  

Because of my previous stops, I would be cutting it really close to the time Abe would have to enter the airport and board the plane.  I had been praying for our safety, but I hadn't prayed that I would make it to meet up with Abe in time...  At the realization of my time closing in, I said a prayer asking God to help me make it to Abe before he had to leave on the plane.

Keeping my eye on my time of arrival on the GPS, I hoped I wouldn't miss him by only a few minutes.  It would be close... after driving all night long, it didn't seem fair that I could miss him by such a small margin of time.  I tried to call Abe, but he wasn't answering his phone.  He was probably taking care of last minute details before his trip.

I finally arrived to our home town.  Abe and I were to go directly to the airport to meet.  I pulled up to the stop light to turn left into the airport, and there Abe was facing me at the stop light!!  He was turning right into the airport at exactly the same time.  What are the chances that we would arrive at the same light at exactly the same time?  I mean... really... the same time!!

How amazing!!  That meant I would get to kiss him and successfully get our two oldest boys, but that also meant he was running REALLY LATE!  He should have been there long ago.  He parked, kissed all of us, delivered the children, and ran into the airport.  

Only a few minutes later, he came running back out.  He had forgotten his ID at home!  Luckily we only live about 8 minutes from the airport, but it was now 1:00pm, and his plane was scheduled to leave at 1:30pm.  I raced home.  

On the way, Abe asked me to pray that he would find his ID quickly.  Since it wasn't with him, he had no idea where it was.  

I pulled into the driveway like  a race car.  He ran into the house, searched in pockets and on desks.  Meanwhile, I was praying that he would find it... he said he had a sudden thought... an answer to a prayer... his other coat pocket!!  He found it, grabbed it, jumped in the car, and we were off to the airport again!  

I have to say... I am a pretty good driver in my big, mean Ford E350 Van.  I was safe... but I was fast!  

As I drove, we were both eyeing the clock hoping they would hold the doors open for him.  We hit a red light... grrr...  There's no time for a red light!  That inopportune red light did give me an extra kiss though... how nice... a silver lining to a red light!:-)  We arrived again to the airport by 1:15!!  Record time!  Abe raced in, and we waited a while to see if a gloomy Abe would emerge from the building.  Nope!  All looked good from where we were.

Abe had a different story from inside the airport... 

As he went through security, they decided for the first time ever that Abe's shoes were unacceptable.  They looked them over for a while then finally released him and his shoes, but then they stopped and were very concerned about his bag.  Abe asked them, "What seems to be the problem?"  They responded, "Well, it looks like there's a knife in your bag.... We need to really check this out."  

They opened his bag, dug around for a while, and finally found Abe's butter knife from a previous road trip where he had packed a lunch.  They- very slowly- explained to Abe why they were going to have to confiscate this "weapon" of his.  Precious minutes passed by!!  Abe anxiously assured them that all would be fine with him if he lost the butter knife forever stating that he had a million butter knives at home.  He also sincerely assured them that it really was an accident that the butter knife was even in there.  They finally released him... only after they searched his bag one... more... painfully slow... time.  

Finally free, Abe sprinted to his gate and made it!!!!!!!!!  Yay!!!!!  They let him in!!  He was finally off! 

I believe there were a few miracles here...

*I feel like God orchestrated it so that Abe and I would meet at the light at exactly the same time.  We didn't have to waste any time searching for each other in the parking lot or in the airport.  Because it was so exact, I was able to easily recognize that it was God's hand that united us in such a timely way.  That was not a coincidence!  

*Also, if I had not been there right at that time, Abe would not have had time to get back into his own car, check it out of the parking lot, and drive home and back again in time.  I was already in my car right at the door as if I were a taxi service just ready to whisk him off.  Every minute mattered, and I'm certain he would have missed his flight had I not been there with the van running.

*Even with his delayed security ordeal, the doors stayed open for Abe to get on his plane.  As silly as his butter knife was, it could have taken even longer!!  After all, he was carrying what they considered to be a weapon!!

I thank God for daily miracles.  It was a rough night and a rough time getting on that plane, but God doesn't stress about the storm that arises on the way.  HE just makes sure we get where we need to be going... in HIS time.

A Visit From Melody

Many of us are suffering the loss of Melody this week.  She peacefully left this Earth with both of her boys beside her bed.  She had a smile on her face.  The viewing was beautiful; I have never, in my life, seen so many people at a viewing before.  The people were lined up through the church, out the door, and down the street.  She and her family are loved that intensely... that dearly.  Her life touched so many others by her years of simple acts of love.

I love her... knowing I had to leave for Michigan immediately after her viewing, I wanted to find some video of us together because my heart needed it.  Melody was my best childhood friend, and we had millions of memories together.  I said a prayer for help because my time was so limited.  I began the search through my mom's old videos.   Most of them were labeled with things like track meet, band concert, etc.  I grabbed the oldest tape thinking that one would most likely have something with the two of us.  Nothing was labeled on there indicating anything about Melody, but I put it in the VHS player anyway just in case.  I was trying to figure out my mom's machine because it was displaying some weird symbols.  Without pushing play, I randomly pushed rewind and fast-forward several times.  I finally hit the play button... 

I couldn't believe my eyes!  After my random button pushing, the VHS tape was cued at the very beginning of the best video clip I could have found!  Melody and I were doing back-hand springs together in her back yard!  We were full of life and vigor!  I had talked of this memory over and over, and I literally leaped for joy as I watched us leaping together.  She felt so present... right there with me.  

My heart felt a rush of gratitude.  I know it was the only spot where we were together because in my complete surprise and disbelief, I scanned the tape to see if there was any other video of Melody.  Those few minutes of us doing back-hand springs were the only few minutes on the entire tape of us together.

I know God allowed Melody to lovingly guide my hand to the exact spot on that 2-hour tape, so that I could watch that special memory.  I felt like Melody was saying, "Here we are!!  Stop here!  This is it!  This is the video you need to remember me by!"  

That was my visit from my angel Melody... my tender miracle.

As I sit here in Michigan, far away from all my friends and family who share this deep love for Melody, I already miss their "knowing" hugs and love... our time was bitter sweet.  I now have a very special image in my mind of me and Melody... full of life!!  Tears stream down my face as I thank God for the gift I received. 

A Better Plan

Tonight is my angel friend's viewing, and I am leaving this evening after the viewing to travel back home.  I will be driving through the night, so I knew I needed an especially good night's sleep last night.  I went to bed shortly after midnight last night, and my sweet baby Jayden woke up wide-eyed at 5:30am!!  I groaned.... "No, not today Jayden... of all the mornings."  I prayed really hard explaining my situation to my Heavenly Father that THIS morning I really needed my baby to go back to sleep.  I wanted to be well-rested, and I had a lot to do today.  I just KNEW he was going to answer this prayer because it was extra important to me, and it didn't seem like a big request... I just needed my baby to sleep.  I got up, made Jayden a bottle, and snuggled back in bed with him.  As he was quieting down and actually acting sleepy again, I started to thank Heavenly Father for more rest...

Just as the words began to leave my lips, Jayden gave one big cough and threw up his entire bottle all over my neck, in my hair, down my back, and all over the sheets and pillows!!! Within seconds, I was up, out of the bed, with sheets off the bed, and into the shower with baby Jayden.  I have to admit... I had a few grumbles to God saying, "This sure isn't what I had in mind!"

I showered and started packing up the clothes when I realized I should read my scriptures to have the Spirit with me.  As I sat quietly, the thought came to me that God was answering the other, more important, part of my prayer.  I had asked God to help me be well-rested and to get everything done in time.  The thought came to me that being well-rested could mean a nice afternoon nap closer to the time I would be leaving anyway.  Sleeping closer to the time of departure would help me as I drove through the night... and because I got up so early, I was getting everything packed up much earlier than I had planned leaving time for that afternoon nap.

Feeling that impression overwhelmed me with the knowledge of  God's great love.  He answered my prayer with a better plan than I had come up with. 

Realizing that God had done what was best for me even though I had asked HIM for a slightly different plan, I remembered that I must and can rely upon HIM without any fear.  Often, I hear people saying in humor, "Be careful what you pray for, He just may give it to you.... Don't ever pray for patience or humility because you don't want the trials God will send you with."  People's comments like this have made me afraid to pray for Christlike qualities that I really do want to develop.  I DON'T LIKE THIS!! 

 The reason I don't like this is because it paints God in light that HE is so cruel that he'll make us suffer great things just because we were foolish enough to ask for it.  I don't believe HE works this way.  I believe God is so loving that when we pray for patience or humility, HE opens our minds and our hearts to be able to use the trials that are usually already coming our way as a tool to learn more patience and humility. Life just plain stinks sometimes, and we often have rotten things happen to us.  We have a choice to pray and ask God to learn qualities that would make us more like Jesus Christ amidst those trials, or we can "be careful what we pray for" and not really communicate our deepest wishes to God.  We don't ever have to be careful for what we pray for when our prayers are sincere!  Our Heavenly Father loves us more than we can imagine. HE really does want us to be happy. 

I was reminded of this in my simple prayer this morning for my baby to go back to sleep... He listened to my requests and allowed to happen what was best for me in the end.  I understand that God allows really hard trials to happen that don't give us much happiness at the time... believe me... I understand.  I also believe my Heavenly Father when HE says how much HE loves me.  I would never have to be careful to ask my earthly father anything because I trust that he will do for me what gives me the greatest happiness in the end.  My Heavenly Father has an even more perfect, eternal, unconditional love than my earthly father. We can trust HIM with any prayer.

We Are Not Alone!!

I'm still in Missouri with 4 of my children, so I had to make a quick trip to the grocery store.  As we went through the check-out line, I was disgusted once again by some of the magazines in plain view for my children to see.  Trying to save the rest of the world from viewing the magazines, Jordan said, "I'm looking for magazines to turn around that are immodest."  Mariah exclaimed, "There are too many!  They're all immodest- except for this one."  She was looking at a picture of Jennifer Hudson.  I was so grateful that Jennifer Hudson could show her beauty on the cover of a magazine in such a modest way.  I told them both not to look for the bad magazines- there were too many-so they should just look away.  Jordan looked up at the ceiling and elsewhere until we checked out. 

I'm not a prude... I'm really not.  I don't like it, but I get it... Some people want to wear tiny swimsuits in magazines, but I believe there is a HUGE difference in the sexual tone of many of these magazines.

Feeling very alone in my quest to have a safe, unsexualized place for my kids to go grocery shopping, I decided to do my part anyway and turned over the worst of the bunch- the Cosmopolitan magazine- which was featuring a sexy woman showing most of her chest. 

I recently made a phone call to a store manager about an even worse version of Cosmopolitan magazine in the check-out lane in Michigan.  He assured me they were looking into rearranging the entire check-out isles to not expose children to too much candy either... the candy was the priority???... I felt disappointed thinking that maybe the rest of the world doesn't think the sexually charged magazines are as bad as I think they are.

God reminded me of a miracle HE had given me a couple of years ago to remind me that my fight is not alone.

We were traveling, and my children and I stopped off at a gas station in Kansas.  The boys went to stand in line for the bathroom.  I was paying for my gas when they suddenly left the line and ran up to me.  Right at the bathroom entrance, at eye level for my small children to see, was a HORRIBLE magazine that was very sexually explicit in it's nature.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  This was definitely not just immodesty.  I couldn't even turn it over!  It was explicit on both sides!!  I quickly sent my boys to another part of the store- away from the magazine- and I called the employee over to see what was there.  I told him we needed to get rid of it.  He explained that it wasn't his store, so there was nothing he could do about it. 

I told him there was!!  (I didn't raise my voice, but I was firm.)  I explained to him that exposing children to pornography like this had to be against the law, so he had a choice to either take it off the rack or I would call the police to check it out.  The poor employee got a box for me.  He said he couldn't take it off the shelf as an employee, but he would let me do it.  Grateful for his cooperation, once again, I felt very alone in my quest to protect my children from the sexualized world as I quietly dumped the magazines into the box. 

Right then, a very big, tall man walked into the store and headed right toward me.  He said,  "My wife saw you in here and what you were doing... she told me I had no choice but to come in here and help you get rid of these magazines."  Towering above both me and the other employee he took down the whole magazine rack!  I was surprised and said, "These too?"  He said, "Yep, these need to go too."  The whole rack really was quite as nasty, but I had only demanded the worst to be gone.  The employee closed up the box and took the whole box to the back room of the store.

It was a miracle from God to let me know that my fight was not alone nor in vain.  Even though the world is accepting a higher level of nastiness, there are still many good people that are fighting for righteousness.  We are not alone in this fight- God wanted me to know this.  I believe this man's wife had wanted it gone for a long time, but they were empowered by my fight as I was strengthened by theirs.  My miracle couldn't have come from a better source either... HE sent the biggest man around to stand with me to fight the pornography.

Angels On Earth

My parents' congregation at their church is completely amazing.  Every time I visit, they open their arms up with so much love.  I brought one of my teenage nieces there to visit last Summer.  It was her first time ever visiting; and before I could even turn around, she was swooped off by one of the other teens.  By the end of all the church services, she had been invited to a couple of activities that week, and another girl was begging her to come to her house that week to hang out.  Their sincerity and warmth make you want to stay there forever.

I LOVE their congregation; but on this visit to their church, my soul was filled with such heart-ache for my sick friend and her family that I did not want to see anyone smile.  I was glad I was sitting in the very back.  Maybe nobody would notice me, and I could pretend like I was never there.

The services ended, and the most beautiful soul... an angel on Earth... noticed me right away.  She was the very 1st person who rushed up to me at the very back of the room.  Lori has down-syndrome, but she serves as the Primary secretary and does it well!  I love her so much-she is amazing!!  She gave me the tightest squeeze and biggest smile.  I could not have been hugged by a purer soul.   Her power to melt hearts is a miracle; her smiling face was perfect.  Angel Lori softened my heart to the love being offered around me.

The next day, when I received the phone call that my best childhood friend had died, I crumbled into my angel mother's arms while my 2-yr. old, Juliana, cuddled in my lap.  I told my mother that "Juliana Rain" had been named right.  She has a power to wash away sadness by her sweet little angel arms.  There I was with my arms entwined between these 2 angels, when my other 2 children in the room immediately began to paint.  Within moments, they presented me with their greatest gifts of love... a hug and a painting.

Jordan, age 7, explained to me that he painted Melody in Heaven and me on Earth.  I loved that he didn't draw us too far apart, and that he drew her smiling.  He knew of the beauty of where we go after death; my little angel Jordan had a perfect perspective of our lives to come.  I also knew of the beauty of our life after death; but to see it in a painting, helped me to visualize and absorb the truth of it all into my heart.  Angel Jordan softened my pain.

Mariah, age 5, brought me this picture.  She said, "Mommy, I painted a bird for each member of our family and wrote the word 'love' so you could feel peace."  Mariah brought my heart peace in such a simple, yet sincere way that only an angel on Earth could do.

Many, many other words of comfort and understanding have been offered by true angels on Earth.  I am deeply touched by the sincere empathy that can be sent and received across miles through the spoken and written word.  I thank God for sending so many Angels my way.  These angels on Earth have been a miracle to me.