Mormon Bloggers

The attractive woman seated next to me on the plane was asleep. I was stuck in the middle seat – I had offered her the window to score some points with her. She had a pillow tucked up against the window, with a flimsy blanket wrapped around her. Careful not to wake her, I carefully lifted the edge of the blanket and slid my hand underneath until I reached her leg. She didn’t stir… Wait a second! You thought?  After all this time? It was my wife! You people. {shakes head} Do you think I would take a middle seat for anyone other than my EC? My EC, my loving Eternal Companion and I are traveling to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. Yup, the big silver. We are pretty happy about it, but I have noticed that the farther away you get from the church, the bigger deal it is to people. 25 years? Congratulations!That’s amazing!How did you ever do it? In my mind, 25 years is great, but it is just a “blip” when I’m planning on spending forever with her.... Read the rest of this entry »

“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 →

A disclaimer:  I have absolutely no authority to voice my opinion on any subject. I am not a professional counselor. I am not a professional “Life Coach”. I am not your church leader. I have absolutely no business telling anyone how to run their life. But here I go again anyway…  — Half my life. That’s how long I’ve been married. It is a nice feeling – I like knowing that my life with my EC has eclipsed my life without her. It has been a great 25 years so far. One of the reasons I can look back fondly is because we rarely fight. In fact, I can say with 100% confidence that we have not had a single fight, quarrel, argument, disagreement or cross word yet. Today. There are a couple of odd things about arguing with the person I love most in this life. #1: We rarely argue about anything that is actually very important. It is always dumb little stuff. (In retrospect) Think about the last argument you had. What momentous concept was it... Read the rest of this entry »

The Echo ‘Twas a sheep not a lamb That strayed away in the parable Jesus told, A grown-up sheep that strayed away From the ninety and nine in the fold. And why for the sheep should we seek  And earnestly hope and pray? Because there is danger when sheep go wrong: They lead the lambs astray. Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,  Wherever the sheep may stray. When sheep go wrong,  It won’t take long till the lambs are as wrong as they. And so with the sheep we earnestly plead For the sake of the lambs today, For when the sheep are lost What a terrible cost The lambs will have to pay. -C.C. Miller, as read by Elder Richard J. Maynes, Establishing a Christ-Centered Home  Read More →

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 »

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The Pharisee and scribes came to Jesus and criticized his disciples because they didn’t wash their hands when they ate bread. They were being trivial. They were holding up a tradition as if it were a holy benchmark. Jesus taught an important truth when he answered: “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” Matthew 15:11 The words we speak to each other and about each other describes who we are, what the condition of our heart is and defines our character. Not the idealistic words about religion and philosophies, but the words we use to communicate our moods, concerns, relationships and opinions of others. You cannot be too careful about what comes out. Words have an energy of their own and they linger in the air long after they are spoken. They hover in our aura and follow us around for days. I don’t know how that is, or why that is, only that it works like that. We feel terrible when... Read the rest of this entry »

I am related to a lot of talented people.  For a variety of reasons many of them have developed those talents into business ventures.  My father-in-law has a beautiful philosophy on the family and it’s ability to support each other by recognizing individual talents and expanding upon them.  As I’ve considered offering my first giveaway it seems appropriate to do my part in supporting them by sending a little extra business their way.  So, with that in mind, I’d like you to meet my… …Father-In-Law… Duane Hiatt Interesting Fact #1: Duane and his wife Diane brought 15 hilarious and thoughtful people into the world.  After Diane passed away from ovarian cancer, Duane and his 15 kids relied on their faith that the family is central to the Lord’s plan and that He had a plan for each one of them.  A year later an equally faith-filled woman named Sharon came into their lives and together the 17 of them continued onward... Read the rest of this entry »

This post has been long time in the making. As in years of hindsight and weeks of pondering how to put this idea into words. A couple of verses in Matthew 5 prompted me to pick this post idea back up again: 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. What makes bad chemistry between individual sisters in a ward or a stake? There must be several different causes. If there is any understanding I could pass on, it would be one of the lessons learned later in my own life: Do not to buy into, or run around picking up everyone else’s bad chemistry against other people. Especially when someone is trying hard to prejudice sentiment against someone. Let me explain this a bit. Everyone has bad chemistry with someone, but THEIR bad chemistry does not necessarily need to be MY bad chemistry. ... Read the rest of this entry »

If you get full of yourself and puffed up, you’ll end up looking like a fool… Section 136 of the Doctrine & Covenants is revelation touching the Saints’ exodus out west. Along with the instructions of how to form companies and who is to be at the heads of companies, come the wagon train rules. Rules to live by, rules to get along with each other, important thoughts to remember when all else fails… Some of the simpler ones are: If you borrow, return it. (vs 25) If you find it, make diligent effort to return it to the owner. (vs 26) Keep your promises to each other. (vs 20) If you get puffed up and full of yourself, you’ll look like a fool. (vs 19) Don’t get in fights, if you cant be nice – don’t say it. (vs. 23) Don’t envy what your brother has. (vs 19) Verse 27 caught my eye this morning: “Thou shalt be diligent in preserving what thou hast, that thou mayest be a wise steward; for it is the free gift of the Lord thy... Read the rest of this entry »

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints held their annual General Conference this weekend.  Available almost immediately world-wide via internet streaming and radio broadcast, I still appreciate the blessing of living in Utah and being able to watch it live on network tv.  This year I tried to keep my boys interested with coloring pages and crafts that taught the names of the leaders who were speaking.  For the first time in many years I was able to enjoy all four sessions without too many child distractions.   So many of the messages spoke directly to troubles or worries I have in my life, but the talk I can’t get out of my head today was by Elder Lynn G. Robbins. The difference between “doing” and “being.”  I asked my husband last night what he needs from me-how I can be a better wife and make his life more enjoyable.  I was expecting a long list of chores like “put away the laundry instead of leaving it folded... Read the rest of this entry »