Mormon Bloggers

Domesticity: n. 1. The quality or condition of being domestic. 2. Home life or devotion to it. Years ago my daughter attended a teen girl conference with the theme All About Me.  My husband and I mock those words whenever she wears the T-shirt. She hates it when we do that. But the phrase cries, [...] All Content Copyright (C) 2007-2009 TJ Hirst. No content may be reproduced without the copyright owner’s express written consent.Domesticity–It’s Not All About Me  Read More →

A couple of weeks ago, in a house on the street behind us, the family was cooking dinner.  They had chicken out on the grill on their patio.  They went inside to check on something, and when they came back out, there were flames shooting from their propane tank to their house.  They quickly got everyone out of the house and made sure they were safe.  The fire department came and put out the fire, but they will be out of their house for 4 months while they get a whole new roof, new carpet, and wall board (from the water).  In a matter of minutes their lives changed drastically. I came way too close to that 15 minutes ago.  I was blow drying my hair when my dryer stopped for a few seconds then started going again.  I thought the power had flickered.  It did it again and I pulled it away from hair to look at it.  And then it sparked.  From the base of the blow dryer, a huge orange spark shot out and I heard it sizzle.  Now, if I had... Read the rest of this entry »

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So, I had a request to show the after pictures of our first house.  First, I have to show you the in-between, after all the weeds were mowed down.  We were on 1/2 acre, so the back yard was enormous! Yes, that’s a boat in the yard.  It came with the house.  We thought it would make a really cool sandbox.  Except when we tried to move it, it completely fell apart.  It was rotted all the way through.  So we had to just junk it.  Along the back there used to be a cinderblock fence.  It was crumbling and falling apart.  We stacked them up, and eventually gave them away.  All the neighbors had built privacy fences anyway! We hired some men to scrape down the yard and level it.  Finally, it was time for the sod. We laid sod twice…once in the spring and once in the fall.  We had to spread out the cost.  So these 3 pallets of sod only covered 1/2 of the backyard.  After it was delivered, I remember standing and looking... Read the rest of this entry »

If you don’t remember the story of our first house, go here. So after 2 years, we were emotionally ready to try again for a house.  We weren’t actively looking, just talking about it.  It was scary. One day my mom called me and said she had seen a cute house just a couple blocks away.  I lived right around the corner from her, so I went over to her house and we drove over.  This is what I saw from the front: It looked so cute.  The house was locked up, so we went around looking through the windows.  When we got to the backyard, this is what we saw: Wow.  It was a mess.  Those are all weeds.  Completely overrun.  They were taller than me in most cases.  It was bad.  Come to find out, the inside had been worse.  The people that had lived there had several families living there, including: a man with a warrant out for his arrest who was living in the crawl space underneath; several people who lived in the detached... Read the rest of this entry »

When I was pregnant with The Chocoholic, we decided it was time to finally get a house.  We had been married 6 years and felt we needed to bite the bullet and just do it.  We didn’t know how we were going to do it, but The Doctor said we would figure out a way. The Doctor did a lot, and I mean a lot, of research and found programs and grants and we found a home builder and decided to build a house. I was so excited!  I started packing and we checked on the house regularly.  I had the baby on December 4th, and continued to pack during the month.  Packing and Christmas are so much fun! A couple of weeks after Christmas, we got a disturbing phone call.  We had been going FHA with our loan because we couldn’t afford to get a conventional loan (we had no down payment).  Apparently, our builder had failed their inspection.  They had falsified documents to FHA and hadn’t been doing things on our house that they were supposed to.  So FHA was pulling... Read the rest of this entry »

Subtitle: Making Sure That Future Generations Remember The Lord Sunday, 21 June 2009, is Father’s Day and though my father is no longer with me, I cherish the sweet memories of him and take time to reflect upon the things that he taught me through his example. In doing so, I turn back the pages of time to 24 June 2001, Father’s Day, and the Sacrament talk that I presented to the congregation of the Annapolis Maryland Ward. This morning I would like to take just a few minutes to address the sacred topic of fatherhood and the divine role of fathers in the Plan of Salvation. By virtue of the Priesthood of God and by the power of the Holy Ghost, fathers can and should be the greatest influence for good in the lives of their wives and children. Every father should rise to new levels of leadership and service in his home. Every young man that is not yet a father should prepare himself for this calling in this life and in the eternities. President Ezra Taft Benson once said, “A... Read the rest of this entry »

With the celebration of Mother’s Day being next Sunday, 10 May 2009, I wanted to share some of personal memories and reflections of my dear beloved mother, Frances Mae Harmon Brown (24 September 1937 – 12 June 1997), who was indeed the best and most positive influence for good in my life. She was my first and best school teacher in the school of life. I love her and miss her very much. She passed away after a battle with breast cancer while I was still on active duty in the United States Navy serving in the far away country of Iceland. She was not only my mother, but a very dear and true friend. This Sacrament talk was presented to the congregation of the Annapolis Maryland Ward, of the Annapolis Maryland Stake of Zion, on Sabbath Day morning, 8 May 2005, Mother’s Day, and is subtitled “The Debt of Love I Owe. I was serving as the Second Counselor in the Annapolis Maryland Bishopric at the time. In Alma 56: 47-48 we read, “Now they never had fought, yet they did not... Read the rest of this entry »

Family is a very important part of my life. And the fact that my family and I can be together forever is even more important to me. I would like to share a talk with all of you from my personal archives that I delivered on Sabbath day afternoon, 20 October 2002, to the congregation of the Severn Ward, in Odenton Maryland. At that time I was serving as a member of the Annapolis Maryland Stake High Council. I am currently serving as the High Priest Group Leader for the Annapolis Maryland Ward. Good afternoon Brothers and Sisters. I bring you love and greetings from our Stake Presidency with whom I had the privilege of meeting with this morning. I wish to extend to all of you their sincere love and appreciation for each of you and all that you do as you humbly serve in this Stake of Zion. On September 23, 1995 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a proclamation which emphasizes the importance that our Heavenly Father places upon the family. The title of that proclamation... Read the rest of this entry »

“No other success can compensate for failure in the home” -David O. McKay Knowing President McKay’s warning for the family has never been more important than today. Decreases in moral checks and controls have left society with little inhibitions and lots of immorality. Narcissism (egotism or love of self) runs rampant through the mentality of act now, pleasure seeking and little responsibility. Gone are the days when society helped parents teach values and virtues to be not only good citizens, but responsible followers of Jesus Christ. Schools teach children little or nothing of fidelity, accountability, or family values. Through the assault of billboards, advertisement and the personal persuasion of teachers and classmates, today’s children must face off against an offensive world. Because of these challenges, it is the responsibility of families, mothers and fathers, to raise their children and teach them according to the laws of God. Families are the most... Read the rest of this entry »