Mormon Bloggers

Some blessings are obvious – a child being born, good health, a new job, and answered prayers. It’s hard to recognize the blessings in disguise.  It might be obvious later, but at the time they feel like curses.  My husband’s Patriarchal blessing talks a lot about blessings in disguise, so we’re constantly trying to sort out where we have made mistakes or what was meant to be because it led us in the direction God wanted us to go.  If I hadn’t become violently ill in college, I never would have met my husband.  I wanted a career in music, so I went for it.  I wanted to stay by my home and had no plans to go to Utah, but when I had to take a break from school, my parents suggested I go there to live on my own.  If I couldn’t go to school, I could at least learn to be more independent.  I was completely against moving to Utah, but it grew on me when I thought about how I could be near my brother and a couple of my cousins.  I met my husband through... Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I woke up and it was my 35th birthday.  Much to my husband’s surprise and worry, I started to cry. I’m not crying because I’m older or because I found my first white hairs recently.  Nineteen years ago, my sweet aunt died the day after my birthday.  She was only 36 and left behind three children ages 8, 6, and 4.  It was devastating.  It hit me hard how young she really was.  As a teenager, I knew she died tragically young.  I just didn’t quite realize how young 35 would still feel.  I found myself thinking, “I can’t imagine being taken from my children a year from now, but it could happen.” I also thought of my friend who only lived until she was 39 and how quickly the cancer took her.  I examined whether I am living my life the way I want to and the way I should be.  If I knew this year would be my last, what would I do?  Why shouldn’t I do it now? My aunt was also an amazing inspiration to me.  She was paralyzed... Read the rest of this entry »

Not too long ago, there was some controversy over a talk given by sister Julie Beck.  She said things people didn’t want to hear – especially women.  Or maybe it was the way the message was taken.  I heard it and was surprised by the uproar afterwards. Put simply, Sister Beck said it was important for LDS women to make good homes for their families.  And why is this offensive?  Because we have bought society’s silly myth that there is something demeaning about creating a good home.  Is it always fun?  No.  Neither is any job.  But somewhere in time, we allowed what we do for a living to reflect on who we are.  I value women very much.  I appreciate the many jobs they are able to perform and I know it can be absolutely necessary for moms to work outside of the home, but I have to say, I am grateful my mom was there for me throughout every day.  I would have loved her still if we had been in daycare, but I needed her to be home to teach me about life’s... Read the rest of this entry »

I am more excited than I have been in a long time.  I have been invited to attend Time Out for Women with friends and we’re going to make a weekend out of it the end of April/beginning of May.  I am really looking forward to getting a break from the constant cooking, cleaning, transporting children, etc.  My whole 13 years of marriage, I have never had a girls’ getaway and now that I have four children, I think I have definitely earned it. What better combination could I ask for than a weekend of fun and spiritual uplift?  As I read about the program, I was even more excited to see that the main theme is hope and happiness, especially that those two things can be a choice.  I know happy people who have extreme trials and remain positive and unhappy people with much lesser trials.  I try to be the happiest person I can be and am looking forward to hearing the differing perspectives on this, especially since this has been a rather uncertain time for me, especially financially. ... Read the rest of this entry »

I have four kids.  Last night my mom took my three sons overnight and we only had our daughter at home.  The plan was to go out to dinner and bring her along, but then my husband got called to work because he is on-call for the week. Then he got called to another job where he ran into more troubles than he expected. At 10pm, he brought us home some Thai food after my daughter and I ate an appetizer of ice cream.  (Yeah, I know.  Healthy.) After we put her to bed, we laid down to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, fell asleep, and finished watching it in the morning.  I really didn’t like it.  If I had to describe it in one word, it would be “depressing”.  I think it had good potential, but I didn’t like the immorality in it or the choices he thinks he has to make for the sake of his daughter.  Also, I can’t figure out what’s supposed to be so lovable about him other than he’s Brad Pitt.  Of course, it’s also a really unrealistic... Read the rest of this entry »

It seems I have to learn the same lessons over and over again.  As I took a break today due to my cracked, bleeding heels – a problem I have in Winter, I was kicking myself because once again, I failed to be consistent in putting lotion on my feet every night.  My life would be so much easier if I would just take a little bit of time every day to do the things I need to prevent problems.  It is a much bigger pain to have so much trouble walking around than to just take a few minutes to apply lotion.  But every Winter, I just want to use it once and be done with it.  I only follow this routine until it’s bearable and then I’m complaining about the pain in no time. As I thought about this, I realized it applies to so many things.  How many problems would I avoid if I took a little time every day to pray, read the scriptures, and set aside just a couple hours a month to go to the temple?  I bet I would ease a lot of my trials if I did these things, but I continue to... Read the rest of this entry »

Is there a more important decision than who to marry?  What could make a bigger impact in a person’s life and the children to follow?  I am in a strange situation now that some friends of mine have chosen to get divorced.  Before their marriage, there were red flags galore.  They were already fighting with each other.  Now there is a child involved and one of them wants me to write a statement on their behalf as a judge determines custody arrangements. What really shocks me is that I have met more than a few people who got married because they felt guilty.  One guy paid for a woman to move to another state and she felt too guilty to break it off.  I told her, “You are never obligated to marry anyone!  It was his decision to move you up here with his money.  You are saving him a lot in the long run if you leave now.”  She got to the point where she tried to leave, but she stayed because his kids were begging her not to go. Another friend wouldn’t break... Read the rest of this entry »

As I mentioned in a previous post, my family is dealing with a lice outbreak courtesy of my sons’ school.  It’s embarrassing even though it can happen to anyone.  I needed help to deal with my hair especially, but I was too ashamed to call anyone and ask, but I did pass on the info to our church just so someone would send out an e-mail that it was possible everyone had been exposed.  Then a couple nights ago, my good friend and Relief Society president called to ask how we were doing and she offered help.  A couple people had offered to help with our laundry.  I was really nervous about that because I figured it would up their chances of getting it.  I told her what I needed the most was someone to go through my hair because it had to be done every day for the next two weeks or so and my husband was gone for long hours during the week.  My mom came over two days in a row, but that’s hard for her to keep up and she has arthritis in her hand. I was so touched that... Read the rest of this entry »

I’m embarrassed to say that my family is currently battling lice.  I’ve never experienced this before and it’s very overwhelming.  It’s hard to overcome the stigma that if you have lice, that means you have poor hygiene and are lower class.  I am grateful that a well-loved friend of mine went through it this summer.  Her family is definitely hygienic and well-off.  This experience is hard enough, so it’s a tremendous blessing that she was an example of how it can happen to anyone. I had a great laugh when she told me a girl at church teased her daughter for having lice.  Not too long afterwards, that little girl got lice.  Moments like that are rare.  I’m also grateful for all of the advice she gave me and products she brought over that she never used.  I haven’t needed them yet, but I love that they are a reminder that her family’s lice went away.  I keep hearing about lice that are resistant to medication and it terrifies me because... Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday night:  I ask all of my children to gather their church clothes so we won’t be looking for them in the morning. Survey whether we have needed snacks and quick breakfast items. In preparation for faking sick in the morning, my oldest child who is unhappy about not having enough time watching TV says he doesn’t feel good. Sunday morning:  Attempt three times to wake up children. Oldest son brings the trusty barf bowl into his bedroom and proceeds to cough and gag over it, possibly even trying to produce actual vomit.  Doesn’t happen.  Child is faking, parents are annoyed, child is told if he wants to watch any TV anytime soon, he better get dressed for church.  In a moment of miraculous healing, child makes himself some breakfast. Late for church for some reason.  Sacrament meeting ends, husband goes to teach class while bringing our 16-month-old daughter, and I head to the piano to play for Primary (our Sunday school for kids). Chorister teaches a nice song... Read the rest of this entry »

Just a little bit before Christmas, we finished the Old Testament as a family!  We were so proud of ourselves and it was an interesting experience.  I can’t say we heard every word, but with four children, we read every day – usually a whole chapter unless it was especially long.   Sometime into Leviticus, we decided to add a chapter of The Book of Mormon each night because it just wasn’t uplifting like we needed our scripture study to be. My husband and I marveled at the interesting way they lived in the Old Testament and behavior that seemed so much like cavemen.  I’m not saying they were cavemen, but it is bizarre how Abraham felt the need to lie about Sarah being his wife in case someone tried to kill him to get to her.  I can’t fathom living in a time like that.  How did she feel, I wonder?  He took his lie so far, he let another man “marry” her.  Can you imagine men offing people to take their wives?  Can you imagine women putting... Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday night my computer died.  I didn’t know it was dead.  I knew it was ticking me off when it denied access, telling me it failed some group client thingermabob, and I had no idea what to do.  I did search after search and after going to ward choir, I asked a few of my computer savvy buddies if they knew anything about this Vista induced message.  One man said, “That’s over my head.” This other man talked about it being a security issue that was put in place and offered on the spot to take my computer home with him.  This ended up being a really good thing because it was much easier to fight the urge to try “one more thing” like I had been doing the past 24 hours.  It was good to have it gone. I wanted to know what I could do for him.  I told him, “I’m a really good cook.  Maybe I could make a few meals for your family?”  He said he only eats his wife’s cooking, but she confided in me that he really likes the peppermint... Read the rest of this entry »