School Fundraisers

A.k.a. The bane of my existance!!!

I loathe school fundraisers. Let me rephrase that. I loathe feeling like I need to go panhandling to family, friends, and close neighbors begging for them to purchase things I don't even believe in. Especially when I have to figure out which kid I'll let harrass which potential sucker...uh, buyer.

My greatest foe comes in the form of a book. Do you know the one I'm talking about? It's so colorful with many fantastic looking coupons, ready and willing for you to take a chance that you really will save more than the $20 it costs you to buy the book in the first place.

The only problem is, the coupons are typically for things you don't want in the first place! I don't care if I can get a family of four into Disneyland for practically no money at all. I have a family of six! I've never wanted a Ranch Burger and probably still won't want one even after the discount. Thank you very much. Not to mention most of the places are either so far north or so far south of where I live, by the time I drive there and back I've spent all the money I saved.

Sigh.

We have a new principal at the kids' school this year. He's been great, all the teacher's say so. But he seems really gung-ho about fundraisers. No sooner did we send back the empty book packets than a new fundraiser has started. Granted this one I can sink my teeth into. It's still difficult to try and tell the kids I can only buy one thing of cookie dough from each of them. Of course, it's cookie dough, and I love it. But it's a bit hard on the pocketbook, especially as I normally refuse to let the kids bug anyone else to buy some.

Why normally, do you ask? I've decided to let the kids loose this year, and give those of you who are smart enough to read this blog fair warning. So don't be surprised if you get a phone call asking if you'd like to buy some White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, or Pumpkin Chocolate Chip. Feel free to say no. I'm just tired of being the bad guy in all this.

Of course, if you'd like to jump ahead and volunteer to buy some, I won't decline ;)

Sunday Inspirations Sept. 21, 2008

I received today's inspiration last night during the General Women's Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don't know how many of you noticed one of the theme's that seemed to run throughout most of the talks. Perhaps I noticed it simply because it's something that's not only been on my mind a lot lately, but in my heart as well.

For me this particular theme was best illustrated in President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk, wherein he told of the difference between men and women through the example of making dinner.

His wife, he tells us, puts together a grand meal. The food is delicious to the taste, and she will often cook something from one of the many countries they've visited. Even the presentation of the dinner is remarkable to behold. Regardless of how wonderful the meal turns out to be, no matter how much those who had the pleasure of partaking say how much they enjoyed the meal, this sweet woman could always find a little something she should have done better.

"I really think this dish could have used a bit more curry," she might say. Or perhaps, "I might try putting in some cinnamon next time."

Then President Uchtdorf went on to describe how he prepares a meal. According to his wife his best dish is, "fried eggs...sunny side up." He also told us how he prepares his favorite dish. He slices a few pieces of french bread, then browns them on both sides.

"It doesn't matter that the eggs are a bit greasy, or if the toast is a bit burnt," he claims. He laughingly proclaims he feels himself a hero for having cooked anything at all!

Did anything click for those of you who saw the conference? All throughout the talks I heard snippets of, "Nothing we do seems to be good enough." This quickly translated to, "I don't seem to be good enough."

I'm thinking in particular of the women of this Church. Often it has seemed to me we place so much more pressure on ourselves to be more than perfect, because we have the restored gospel in place. We take too much upon ourselves until we're suffocating. We do something beautiful and then tell everyone what's wrong with it. We undermine ourselves when our Heavenly Father is ready and willing to tell us how wonderful we are.

We find too many things wrong with everything we do right.

Yet this is not God's view of us. We are creators by birth. We are God's children, the same God who created us in the first place. He have unto us two of His greatest traits: the desire to create, and extraordinary compassion.

This desire and ability to create comes so easily to some. I am one of those, because of the gifts my Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I take to things easily, I can pick up a new hobby as easily as I pick up my babies. I tinker at the piano, I've crocheted many an afgan, I can bake a mean cookie, I can draw a little, and take a few pictures.

Others don't necessarily understand that to create something goes far beyond what we can see and hear. It involves more than a beautiful voice or how well someone handles a paintbrush.

I know a woman who can create the sense of safety. I know another who can create a loving home, no matter who resides there. I know a woman who can create motivation in others. I know one who can create a smile in every person she meets. I know so many women who have the power to create magical things, though they rarely understand what they've accomplished.

Yesterday as I prayed before beginning my fast, a few words popped out I didn't expect. "Father," I said, kneeling next to by bed, "I- I-...I want to understand." That was it. I didn't know what it was I wanted to understand, I just knew I did.

A sister in the ward (local congregation) later dropped off a book, saying she felt greatly inspired that I needed to read it. Last night I went through the first four chapters and couldn't stop the tears from flowing. It was all about understanding. I hope to be able to share more about it soon.

Remember, the more you trust and rely on the Holy Spirit, the more your capacity to create will increase. It's when we trust too much in our weak, mortal selves that we loose sight of the extraordinary beings God has created.

Today my hope for all of you is to find the little things you create. Whether it be happy, healthy, well-loved children, a quilt you've been working hard on, answering a need you feel greatly inspired to follow, it doesn't matter. Just rejoice in the opportunity to create, to be like our Heavenly Father.

Rejoice in being a woman.

Book Review: Why I Believe the Book of Mormon

This book caught my eye one morning as I did my weekly grocery shopping at Walmart. I didn't recognize the name of the author, Tony Decker, but thought it might be worth looking at.

He claimed to have over 300 evidences of the validity of the Book of Mormon, classifying these into internal, expternal, and spiritual categories. After a short preface indicating these categories he goes right into things he's termed as evidence.

He starts at the beginning, 1 Nephi, and prints certain scriptures that mean something to him, then gives little comments underneath. There are no chapters, nor does he follow any sequence of events other than the timeline of the Book of Mormon. Early on I knew if I were going to make any semblance of the scattered evidences, I'd need to find a system of my own.

So I did. Grabbing my trusty Post-Its tags I began placing them on pages where I felt there were viable evidences, ones that those who'd never read the book before would have a hard time explaining away.

By the time I finished the book I almost had 40. Out of "more than 300."

I realize these are all external evidences. I focused mainly on these because this is where my own studies are taking me right now.

This is not to demean Mr. Decker's other evidences. After reading through most of his book I came to realize if one all ready has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, most of what he'd given would only help to strengthen one's testimony if studied and pondered with the influence of the Holy Spirit. They could and even would come to be internal and spiritual evidences, just as he indicated.

I did find his occasional references to what Joseph Smith could have possibly known or not known to become a bit tiresome. The flow of his book would have run smoother without his obviously biased opinions in some points. After all, though these evidences were a strong witness to him, as can be seen by his enthusiasm, it would not be to someone else. Especially if they had never read the Book of Mormon themselves.

I also wished he'd given more references to where he'd found some of his external evidences. While he did give references to some (such as John A. Tvedtnes,'s "Book of Mormon Names Attested In Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies), and others are easy to research online (like Chiasmus, a form of Hebrew poetry), most of his external evidences were left without the sources of the information he obtained.

About 1/4 into the book I began to wonder who this man was. Did he teach religion at a university? Was he a member of the Quorum of the Seventy? Is there anything beyond being an avid supporter of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon that qualifies him to write this book? I still don't have an answer to that, but perhaps it doesn't really matter.

There are some genuinely concrete evidences in there, ones which I've marked and plan to study up on. Beyond that if would I recommend the book? Perhaps. If one all ready has a testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon, loves to read, and wants to see what another member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints feels about the book. Otherwise I'd say, save your money for something a bit more organized and referenced.

It's the Little Things That Get You

They're certainly getting to me. In the last few weeks I've begun to pull out of the depression, and I've been blessed with many spiritual upliftings, but little things around the house are falling apart which gets to be pretty frustrating.

First there was the bathroom sink. I could tell it was clogged with an actual something down in the P-trap (I love that I know it's called a P-trap), so I pulled the pipe off, became incredibly grossed out at the horror held within, and put the pipe back on.

The only problem was when I turned on the water to see how well it would now flow, a good majority of the water ended up in the bucket under the sink. The pipe had corroded. I didn't realize how bad until I'd picked up a new part and took the rest of the P-trap out of the pipe leading into the wall. Giant chunks of pipe fell out.

Not a good thing.

It took some doing, and my husband's smart thinking, but we eventually got things running smoothly and I could stand tall and say I'd just finished my first ever plumbing job. That and it only cost us about $4 to fix (better than the last plumbing job that cost us over $400 earlier this year).

We weren't done, however. The next thing to give us a bit of trouble was two outlets located on the kitchen wall (this wall adjoins the bathroom). The outlet in the bathroom seemed fine. No problems. Unfortunately I used the other two in the kitchen to plug in several appliances.

My intelligent husband thought we might just need to replace the outlets as we'd recently painted. He took one while I took the other. With bated breath I waited until he flipped the switch in the power box...to no avail. Now, I wasn't feeling so good last night, so the thought of not having power for little things like the toaster and the microwave didn't go over well.

It's a good thing my darling spouse doesn't give up so easily. As strange as it seemed to me, he went into the bathroom to play with the outlet in there. In mere minutes the case was solved and I can now nuke things to my heart's content, and all for about a dollar.

The kicker was when my hubbs called this morning to let me know the furnace wasn't working. I thought my frozen toes were simply due to fever chills. Okay they were. Still, I knew this wasn't something we could easily fix ourselves.

So even as I sit here complaining about life's little problems I should be off the line so the guy can call and tell me he'll be here somewhere between ten and next week. I know this isn't going to go be fixed for under a hundred dollars.

Lately it feels like my husband's checks are being spent before he's even done earning them. Never fear. My indomitable optimistic outlook on life will soon blossom, and I'll be telling you how all of these things have actually been a blessing, especially since we're getting them taken care of before something worse happens.

I'd still appreciate a prayer or two. Or twenty three thousand.

Sunday Inspirations September 21, 2008

There are some Sundays when there seems to be a theme running through each meeting. This is never done on purpose, but rather seems to be within the designs of a loving God who manages these sorts of things from the other side.

Today was certainly one of those days. It was my turn to teach the Young Women, and the lesson was on repentance, in particular on the happiness it can bring to our lives. I can't begin to tell you just how intense the feeling of the Holy Spirit was for me during that time. Of course I can't speak for the girls, but my own testimony was strengthened.

As we began to speak on repentance and happiness in Sunday School as well, I though for certain this was the message I needed to continue to share...until one woman raised her hand.

"I've spoken of this before," she began. "I have a sister who is incredibly wealthy. She has opportunities opening up for her right and left. She travels, she has a big house and has chosen not to live the gospel. As far as I can see, she is happy."

Though the words were not uttered, we could all hear her continue on to say, "Happier than I am, and here I am at Church."

The teacher opened the discussion up to those of us in the class. Many beautiful testimonies were born, than Sis. A, who is a most remarkable woman, took a deep breath. I think all of us knew we were about to hear something we all needed.

"Please know I'm about to talk to you with all the love in my heart," she said. "I do not ask these questions to offend, but to bring things into perspective. Do you love your husband?"

She quickly nodded her head. Sis. A. turned to the husband and asked, "Do you love your wife?" He also nodded.

Turning back to the sister our teacher asked, "Do you love your children?" We all chuckled as she jokingly hemmed and hawed, knowing her little kiddies have proved to be a bit difficult. Still, when it came down to it, she said, "Yes."

The next question was, "Do you love your parents?" We all started laughing here. Her parents, recently returned missionaries, had decided to begin attending our ward in an effort to reactivate her daughter. I have no doubt this at times did not feel like an act of love, but rather of Mom and Dad still telling her how to live her life. Though it took a few seconds, and a lot more joking, she did eventually say, "Yes."

Then came the the words we all felt to the core of our beings. "You know, your mother gave you the answer earlier. The things of this world are in your face. They're loud. You can't think over the noise, you can't see past the the riches and money. They're there to distract you.

"The things of the Spirit are normally found in the quiet moments. It is the things of the Spirit that will bring us true and lasting happiness."

I felt the truth of this message so strongly I had to write it down in my scripture journal. I knew without a doubt she was right. I'd been teaching around the message to the young women for many months now, but she hit the nail right on the head.

Television, movies, computer games, Playstation, earning enough money, traveling, expensive jewelry, big houses, expensive cars, fancy clothes, etc. These things often bring temporary pleasure, but tend to distract us from what can truly bring us joy.

Too much lately I've heard others echoing the cries of friends, family and acquaintances that no matter how hard they work, they're simply not happy. No matter how much money they earn they are not fulfilled. Now matter how much time they spend taking their kids from soccer practice to piano lessons to everything else that keeps them busy, they never feel as though they've done enough.

But that is not where you find true happiness. It is in the quiet moments of life. The minute or two just after you've woken up, before it's time to get the kids going, or to get ready for work. The times you find yourself surrounded by silence. When the television and radio have been turned off, and you actually hear yourself think. It is in knowing you've spent your day in the service of your Lord, through His daily inspirations.

As our teacher joked, sometimes it might take putting on a blindfold, locking ourselves in the bathroom, and putting in the ear plugs to be able to hear these inspirations. There will be times life does become so hectic we actually have to carve out a few minutes to ourselves, but it's vital to our entire well being to make it happen.

Allow me to end with this. We as the children of God are fighting a daily battle. The distractions of Satan work to keep us from what will make us truly happy, from that which will carry us through the hard times. Even seemingly harmless things can bring about dire results if not dealt with immediately. We must try to be vigilant in finding the quiet moments so as to keep ourselves anchored in that which will bring us true happiness.

The Gift of Time

I'd made plans to go back to school this year. Having attended the school orientation and experienced a (rather unsatisfactory) visit with the academic advisor, I was all set to go. Then my depression became overwhelming and I was forced to take a step back. It was too much. It was too soon.

My Heavenly Father basically told me to chill. While I still need to get back into school, I don't have to do it NOW! This is rather hard for me, seeing as how I love to learn and looked forward to getting into some classes.

Our Heavenly Father knows us so well. He knows what we can handle, He knows what we can't. He has promised to never put more on our shoulders than we can carry. Too bad it doesn't stop us from doing the same to ourselves.

I'm notorious for not being able to say no. I'm a people pleaser and want so very much to help others, to make them happy. While in many ways this is an admirable trait, it can also lead me into turbulant waters, and I constantly find myself drowning in an ocean of good intentions. Over the years I've not only had to learn to (occasionally) say no, but I've had to learn it's okay to be listless every once in a while.

Once I decided school was not meant to happen immediately I felt a great weight taken from me, but it's left me with an awful lot of free time. This was my own doing, thinking I'd be filling it up with studying and homework and whatnot. So I've had to figure out what to do with this time.

Here's what I've discovered: sometimes Heavenly Father gives us the gift of time so that we might do things we normally couldn't get to. I've focused more on my children in the last month than I did all summer. I've been reading a lot of serious books that have been shelved for months now, because I didn't have the time or the brain power to read them. I was able to go through the kids' rooms and started throwing things out (soooo much easier to do when they're at school and can't see the horror!). I've even read a few books just for the pleasure.

I'm back to creative writing, which I've put on hold with this blog as well as the blog with LDS Blogs. It took a few challenges at Faith Writer's, but I've also discovered something else - I don't want to write to win any more. I want to write for the sake of bringing about stories and poems others can enjoy. I've even been toying with the idea of a blog for this express purpose, to share with others my creative side. I think this could certainly fill up some of my extra hours.

So here's my challenge to all of you who are struggling to fill in unexpected free time. Look for something you've been meaning to do for a long time, have wanted to do for a long time, or have thought about starting up, AND DO IT! Don't worry if it seems silly, or useless, or isn't something others are interested in. Have some fun. Do something that's just for you. Be grateful for the gift you've been given. If you're not sure how to handle the extra time pray for what your Heavenly Father would ask you to do with it.

Odds are if He's given you the gift, He has a purpose behind it.

Karate Kids!!

Tonight was the next big graduation, where the fate of three children was held in the balance. Would they be asked to remain in the realm of yellow belts, a happy color to be sure, but not where they wanted to be? Or after months of hard work, dedication, and repeated turning of Mom into "crazy-karate-lady", would these three, young, starry-eyed kidlets be allowed to continue on to the new and (apparently hectic) world of orange belts.

To be honest I wasn't sure. During the test I found myself wandering the halls with the baby trying to keep her out of everyone's hair. Every time I passed by the glass doors, I caught sight of one of the kids doing something wrong. I haven't cringed that often in one night in a loooong time. Obviously they did an awful lot more right :) (Can you see the lesson in that? I just figured out my next post on LDSBlogs.com!)

I'll let the pictures say it all.