Mormon Bloggers

Aloe, Key Chain (Teach) and Squeeg I have some pretty amazing kids! Did I tell you that before? See that cute girl in the middle? That’s Teach and the other two are her very best friends. They have been close since elementary school and even though they are all attending different universities, they still find time to do stuff together. Squeeg and Aloe both have blogs of their own. I love  Read More →

“And I may have seen it from her back, how she pulled herself together and shifted her weight from one place inside her body to another, from where she was, to where she thought maybe I was.” -Per Petterson, I Curse the River of Time Don’t forget to enter my A Blogtastic Extravaganza Giveaways going on now!  Read More →

Jerry, a friend, Harry & Alien When we were asked to open up our home to some Chinese boys, I didn’t want to! I was too busy. I was behind, and my house wasn’t up to par. After much justification and being resolved to say no, my conscience got the better of me. After all, I lectured myself, I’ve been so blessed with a nice home, a comfortable living and I need to share and be hospitable to others. I knew that. And these were young teenagers too. So I reluctantly -out of obligation to my way too active Jiminy Cricket conscience- said yes. These boys actually came from smack dab, right in the middle of mainland China. I was surprised they could even come. They have no brothers or sisters, and for the most part have no cousins nor aunts and uncles. That’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? Each family is only allowed one child. These boys were able to travel abroad because they are under 18 and came on a short, study abroad program. After 18,... Read the rest of this entry »

Sharing Time: How do you express love?  Read More →

Elder Clayton Christensen, then an area authority seventy, taught us in a stake conference a few years ago that maxim that the church is not a resort for the perfect, but a hospital for sinners. He said if we didn’t smell tobacco in our sacrament meeting, then we probably weren’t working hard enough to reach out to others (either in missionary work or reactivation). King Benjamin taught a similar principle: our obedience to God’s commandments does not put him in our debt, ever. We are always in His debt; we are nothing; without the atonement, we are worthless (see Mosiah 4). In our zeal to protect our home and family from evil (which we should do), how do we hate sin and love sinners? How can we judge (being sinners ourselves)? Mosiah 4 speaks of sharing our substance with those in need; does that extent to our sharing our love with fellow sinners who are also seeking a path home? I believe it does. I remember when someone shared his love with me. I was a new Sunday School... Read the rest of this entry »

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints champions marriage. We believe that “marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” In this video, listen to different married couples talk about how they express and build love in their marriages. Hear also words of counsel about love and marriage from Elder Richard G. Scott from his recent LDS General Conference talk, “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage” If you are married, what do you do to express love to your spouse?    Read More →

Blogging at home. This post might make more sense if you read “Left-Sided Goat-ness” first. Anyways, that post became a talking point for my family, as well as for one of my dear friends and her family. Several situations came up where it fit perfectly… However, I didn’t realize what I wrote until several days after the post went up and then had one of those ah-hah moments. There I was in the foyer last Sunday, waiting for my daughter, reflecting on goat-ness in general and where I am in regards to this principle. You see, I was patting myself on the back because of how I talk to everybody, and how I look past mortal trappings for status such as money, position, education, etc. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Then I was thinking about people I know who try so hard to promote their own status whether it be looks, money, husband, connections, education, talents, family name, whatever. And how some of them pass others over socially because they’re not good enough... Read the rest of this entry »

Joel and I were reading a Conference talk from last April by Walter González called “Followers of Christ.” Brother González said: “The Savior has promised, “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Followers of Christ pattern their lives after the Savior to walk in the light. Two characteristics can help us recognize to what extent we follow Him. First, followers of Christ are loving people. Second, followers of Christ make and keep covenants.” The loving people comment caught my eye. In fact I haven’t read past there yet. This idea was enough to capture my focus and attention. Can I honestly describe myself as loving? Not just to my family, but to others in my path? Do I love my own family enough? Are my words and how I spend my energies telltale signs of being a “loving” person..? I would say not enough. It is such a simple formula. Following Christ = being a loving person. Simple,... Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I had the great privilege to teach a lesson at church on family responsibility (basically, parenting).  A week ago I was irrevocably convinced I was the last person on earth qualified to teach that particular lesson and almost called to back out.  As the week progressed I thought to myself, “If any of my neighbors are in class on Sunday, I’ll have to feign immediate illness.”  They would surely call me out as a completely unqualified hypocrite.  But the Holy Ghost does wonderful things when you turn over your life in humility.  When it was all said and done, the 35 minutes I spent in front of the class was the most spiritual time I’ve ever felt while teaching. Here are some of the things the spirit taught to me:  My kids are children of our Heavenly Father.  They have His spirit, and their spirits studied with Him, learned from Him, and grew to maturity before they were given the opportunity to come to me. When... Read the rest of this entry »

Para me dar um pouco de esperança  Read More →

Efrain from Peru Elder L. Tom Perry described the New Testament last General Conference in a way that resonated with my soul. “This year all of us have the opportunity to study the words of the prophets in the New Testament in Sunday School. While the Old Testament is a study of prophets and a people, the New Testament is focused on the life and influence of the only Man who came into mortality with dual citizenship in heaven and on earth—our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.” “The world today is so saturated with doctrines of men that it is easy to forget and lose faith in that all-important account of the Savior’s life and ministry—the New Testament. This sacred volume is the centerpiece of scriptural history, just as the Savior Himself should be the centerpiece of our lives. We must commit ourselves to study it and treasure it!” If I were to pick only one of the most pivotal passages in the New Testament, and if I were limited to only that one... Read the rest of this entry »

Squirt was an awkward, featherless, mess whose mother was MIA, so my mother found him and took him under her wing because that’s the kind of thing my mother did. Squirt soon became family, riding on whomever’s shoulder or finger was available. One day we were working in the yard–I can still picture the scene perfectly in my head–Mom turning dirt with a shovel, Squirt perched on the top of the shovel blade, jumping into the freshly turned earth whenever anything juicy surfaced.  The moment was golden.  Until the neighbor’s cat came.  Squirt trusting, and not a seasoned flyer, sputtered across the lawn with the cat in pursuit.  I was closest.  Mom yelled, “Grab the cat, grab the cat!” But the cat didn’t need saving.  The bird did.  So, I tried to rescue the bird but the cat caught him instead, ripping his frail body... Read the rest of this entry »