This Is The Way

It took a couple of detours, but, my daughter has finally got to the point where she comes to visit and I listen to all her concerns, give my own advice and wisdom, encourage her, direct her in her own relationships, to make them strong, reminding her to communicate openly and nicely when needed. The other day, she couldn't wait to tell me all their happenings, she was bursting at the seams. She told their experiences of house hunting, and wanted to give every detail about one they really loved, their plans, etc. She was happy and it was so fun to hear her talk of painting and planting gardens. She even asked if she could get a few recipes. She said they eat out every night and she wants to start cooking to save them money. Shocking! But very exciting! Ever since she met Chris, she has been doing so well by leaps and bounds. They talk of getting married and it won't be long now. I was hoping they would marry before moving in together, but, I will be happy that she is doing so well. Chris also has a young 4 year old son, Trea (Tray). She is already in the mommy mode, taking him to pre-school, hanging out with him and taking care of him, in fact, he has asked her if he can call her mommy. He loves her to death. He really wants to have a real family with a mommy and daddy home. Chris is getting full custody of him and Trea couldn't be happier. She was asking me the other day what to do with him all day, she was worried about the cost of it. I told her that she could do things that didn't cost like going to the library or to the park, he also loves coming over here to play with Kaydon. He is always asking her when can they go to her house meaning our house. She doesn't have to entertain him the whole time, he can just play. Christina has been more family oriented lately, she has made it to see Jonathon's band show the other night. She wants to go and see Danielle cheer at a game. She has more of an interest in her siblings and what they are doing. She has come a long way. I keep thinking, this is the way it should be.

Love...No Trouble at All

I've been reading and finished While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin. Wow! Another great book. Can recommend this book to anyone to read. It's a faith promoting, historical fiction book of World War II. Three different lives becomes intertwine with one another. Loved learning about the Jewish people, whom we have direct lineage with.  It's very sad what happens. In this book it gives great Bible stories like Queen Esther that help us understand that God allows these kinds of things to happen but it doesn't mean he he's not there.Everything happens for a reason. We can't always see the whole picture and understand why things happen, but, we need to have faith that God knows what he's doing. We need to continue to do those things he has asked us to do, like keep the commandments, pray, read scriptures, go to church. We can't turn our backs on Him when things aren't going the way we think it should. Very good book. It ends the way it should, I will leave it at that, maybe you will read it, so I won't give away too much.

Something in the end stuck out to me, I will need to give the couple of sentences before for it to sound right. It reads, "I finally realized why I always had so much trouble telling Sally how I felt. It was because what I felt wasn't love. A man in love should have no trouble at all. Even if he's tongue-tied, he should overflow with ways to express how he feels. I was dazzled by her beauty and by the fact that she would even look twice at a guy like me." Not sure why it stuck out to me,I guess sometimes I feel doubt, but I loved it. Sometimes people have a hard time expressing themselves when it comes to verbally saying I love you, but it should show in other ways. It really becomes necessary to let others know you do love them. If not, sometimes there can come into a persons mind doubt, in what they once knew. People need reassurances that the feelings that made them get married in the first place is still there, if not stronger than before. If a couple loves each other, it shouldn't be no trouble at all to express it in one way or the other where the other has no doubt. We need to remember to smile and make it easy for the other to communicate.

I love when Ron sends me text or email love notes. It reminds me of the days when we first began. he would leave smiley notes either in my car while I was at work and I would find them when I got off or he would leave them in the bathroom of my apartment. I would find them after he had left. Little reminders that someone cares and loves you. It makes the day a whole lot sunnier and happy. It leaves no doubts.

It's also nice to get a kiss hello once he walks through the door from work, it communicates to me that everything is alright, I'm glad to be home. While staying in their home on a quick vacation stop, I've been impressed with my brother-in-law Jim who kisses his wife Rebecca and he seems to always be in a good mood, discusses his day when he comes home from either work or church business. It's not just a quick kiss, it's a kiss that in every way expresses his love for her. It's like watching a love story. Sweet! You got to love it.

What kinds of ways do you express love to one another? 

Priorities and Using Time Wisely

In August, a couple of weeks before school began, I started studying the Relief Society declaration or theme and I really love what it says and it keeps me in line with what I should be doing. It reads:

We are spirit daughters of God, and our lives have meaning, purpose, and direction. As a worldwide sisterhood, we are united in our devotion to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Exemplar. We are women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity who:

• Increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study.
• Seek spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. 
• Dedicate ourselves to strengthening marriages, families, and homes. 
• Find nobility in motherhood and joy in womanhood.
• Delight in service and good works.
• Love life and learning.
• Stand for truth and righteousness.
• Sustain the priesthood as the authority of God on earth. 
• Rejoice in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny, and strive for exaltation.

I have really taken this to heart. As the new school came closer, I sat down to decide how I would spend my time when the kids were in school, using this guide. Because I have all my kids in school all day, I wanted to spend my time wisely and actually improve myself at the same time. I made a list of things I could do to fill in my time once I was done with my morning chores.

1. Volunteer at school
2. Go do temple work
3. Do family history-I have lots to do 
4. Indexing
5. Work on my autobiography "My Beautiful Life"
6. Work on my personal history scrapbook
7. Go to the gym or workout at home
8. Go to institute class on Wednesdays
9. Make treats for kids to eat after school or special treats for Ron
10. Prepare meals/cook
11. Organize or clean something in the house (bathrooms, closets, cabinets, etc.)
12. Work in gardens-keep up on weeding
13. Work on vacation scrapbook
14. Work on kids scrapbooks
15. Visit teaching
16. Service in community/neighbors
17. Visit with neighbors
18. Read a book
19. Read scriptures/lessons
20. Watch movies-only on Fridays when everything is done.
21. Work on my next New Year's project- postcard birthdays -it's never too early to begin on projects
22. Blog

This is my list, it's not in order of importance, and I'm not limited to this, but, it gives me an idea if I don't already know what I want to do for that day.  We recently had a Relief Society lesson given by one of the ladies in the Presidency about Priorities and Spending our time wisely.  I felt good about it because I feel like I'm already doing this. A normal day for me looks like this, lets take a Monday:

6:00am- ready the waffle mix, set the dishes we will use for breakfast, put dishes from night before away.
6:30am - wake everyone up for family scripture study and family prayer
7:00am (depends when we are done)- 8:00am- cook waffles, ready a tub of hot soapy water for washing dishes when kids are done eating. They don't all eat at the same time, they have different times they need to be to school. During this time I'm usually signing planners or looking over notes from school, helping with homework, sometimes the younger kids will do homework before school, especially if they know they have soccer practice or whatever after school. I'm able to get into some workout clothes and make up my bed, tidy my room, and bring the laundry to the pantry room. Of course I'm reminding either Kaydon or Dallon to bring me their basket of laundry to wash (I will combine either of theirs with mine but not both), I'm also  reminding kids to brush their teeth, make up their beds, tidy up rooms. I feel like I'm forever reminding them. Luckily, some of them don't need to be told.
8:30am- send last of the kids to school, by this time I'm done washing the dishes, cleaning counters, the kitchen is clean and perfect. I feel it is important to get these types of chores done as soon as you can, it helps you enjoy the rest of the day without worrying about it.

As soon as everyone leaves the house I begin a load of laundry, that way I don't have to compete for water pressure. By the time I'm done with my morning workout, either at my house or by going to the gym, I'm   ready to switch clothes into the dryer or sometimes I wait to wash clothes after my workout, because I only want to do one load of laundry a day, sometimes on Mondays I have two, because I take Sunday off. It's more manageable that way. A load a day will keep the mountain of laundry away. It's good to keep up on laundry, if not it becomes stressful and we don't want to do it. When I'm done with the workout and laundry is begun, I begin my scripture assignment I have given myself. It usually takes me 30 min. or more to read and ponder. I love to read when everyone is gone, this gives me the quiet time I need to really focus on what the scriptures are saying to me. After reading scriptures, I fold the clothes and I work on a project, I decide on the project by looking at my list above. Sometimes I wake up before my alarm clock goes off and I will think through my day and the things I want to do with my time. Depending on the meal of the day, I might need to do some preparing ahead of time or I decide to make kids an after school treat, so I will do that. On Tuesdays or Wednesday's I like to clean all the bathrooms to my perfection, as the kids and my perfection differ.  The other day I spent all of my remaining time on typing some of my autobiography. On Monday's I like to work on weeding the gardens. It depends what I'm in the mood for that day. I have decided that I was not going to write a to-do list this year, that way I don't feel confined to just that, but I would have projects in mind and if I got those done than great but if not, I would be okay with that too. When the kids come home, it's about helping with homework, taking kids here or there, Activity Days and all about Them. I had my "me time" and I feel good I can help serve my children in this way, although, sometimes it can get crazy if I have more than one thing going at a time. After dinner and when the kitchen has been cleaned I can relax and read a book, right now I'm focusing on books by Lynn Austin, I would like to finish all of her books. Around 7:30pm I remind the younger boys to take their showers and get ready for bed. Family prayer is usually around 8:30pm this year. After everyone has been sent to bed, it gives me an hour to read from my bedside book, right now that is Gordon B. Hinckley's "Standing For Something". It gives lots of great things to improve on and I love books that help remind me what I need to be doing. I only read those types of books before going to bed.

The Relief Society lessons Sunday also focused on how we need to love what we do, she talked about the hard parts of being motivated when we get overwhelmed. I wanted to comment but didn't, but I will here. I love being a mom and a wife and being at home. There has been times when I have felt discouraged, neglected or unappreciated. This year I have come to know through music like Jessie Clark Funk, Hillary Weeks, Jenny Jordan Frogley or Mercy River & Jenny Phillips that that's not the whole purpose of being a mom or wife. Our Father has come to depend on us as women to be faithful, to remember who we are and why we are doing the things we get to do as mothers and wives. He is dependent upon us to do our part, to be nurturers, to be teachers, to give support, to be an example as Christ is an example. We need to do it with a smiling attitude. We've made covenants and Father is the reason we do these things, we do it to please our Father in Heaven, to show our love and gratitude to Him. When we give it our all, to be all we can be during our day, he is going to give us the feeling of great satisfaction, the kids or even our spouses may not notice the things you have done, but the Father will notice and that is what counts, He is pleased when we remember why and who we are doing it for. We are doing it for Him, we are doing it for our Children and Spouses because we love them, we want to make them happy, safe and create an environment that has order, peace and love. A healthy environment that kids can grow in the gospel and know truth. So, next time you are feeling unappreciated, look to the Heavens and you will get all that you need. Nothing goes unnoticed and you will be blessed for your efforts guaranteed. I'm grateful for inspiring music that reminds me throughout the day who I am, that I'm a women with responsibility and God is dependent on me to do my part. he loves me and wants me to be happy. When we do all that we can and should be doing, we will. As for priorities and spending our time wisely. We should put God first and all other things will fall into place. There is only 24 hours in a day but when we put God first, everything that we wanted to get done will and we will have time to spare for ourselves. Everything is in perfect balance and we will have peace by the end of the day. I know this to be true as I have experimented with my new school year routine. I have found great satisfaction by the end of the day. I feel lucky and blessed to have the gospel in my life, to know who I am and what is expected of me. I don't want this message to sound as if I'm saying "Hey, look at me and how great I'm doing" but a message that will help and inspire those who may be struggling. In Relief Society they asked us to share how we spend the time in our day, there were others who were willing to share. I wanted to share here today in hope of helping others. Maybe you could share what you do and inspire others too. I encourage you to look over the Relief Society declaration and ponder how you can work this into your life. It is a guide that will not only make you stronger spiritually, but, will make you happier as you follow and implement these words into your life. Let us find our work a little more joyful, that our children and spouse will see smiles and a good attitude.

Chicken Piccata Pasta Recipe

I got to make this recipe for my extended family last night and I was happy with the result of it. I can't make this with just my little family, they won't eat it. But, I love it. Although, I noticed some of them actually ate some. Hmmm. I'm thankful for special occasions that allow me to cook this and many other recipes that I normally can't make. Picky eaters, I'm cursed, but blessed.

Chicken Piccata Pasta

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
2 T. olive oil, divided
1 1/2 T. lemon pepper
3 cans of chicken broth
2/3 c. onions, chopped
12 oz. uncooked angel hair pasta
1 lemon
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz) quartered artichoke hearts in water, drained
1/4 c. capers, drained (near the olives in most stores)
chopped fresh parsley and grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

In mixing bowl, combine 1 T. olive oil, lemon pepper and chicken. Toss to coat. heat remaining oil in large, deep skillet over med/high heat until hot. Add chicken; cook and stir 10 min. or until chicken is golden brown and is cooked all the way through. Take the chicken out and set aside. In a med/large saucepan bring to boil the broth. Add onions to skillet until fragrant, slowly add broth and uncooked pasta to skillet; cook uncovered, 7-8 min. or until pasta is tender. Stirring occasionally. Zest lemon 1 T.  and juice the lemon for 2 T. Add zest, juice and cream cheese to skillet; stir until cream cheese is equally distributed. Add chicken and artichokes. Cook covered, 1-2 min. or until heated through. Remove skillet from heat, stir in capers and garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese.