Mormon Bloggers

LDS General Conference Center seats more than 21,000. Sometimes I find myself wanting to copy and paste a whole General Conference talk or at least most of it. These quotes about pain and trials are priceless. They all come from Kent F. Richard’s talk given at the April 2011 Conference. These are superior, discussion-promoting quotes that I would consider for any Sunday School or Relief Society lesson on the same topic. The first is a great ice-breaker to get a class participating: “I have pondered about the purpose of pain. None of us is immune from experiencing pain. I have seen people cope with it very differently. Some turn away from God in anger, and others allow their suffering to bring them closer to God.” “Like you, I have experienced pain myself. Pain is a gauge of the healing process. It often teaches us patience. Perhaps that is why we use the term patient in referring to the sick.” Brother Richards also quoted two wonderful apostles: Elder... Read the rest of this entry »

A young lady walked around the room while leading and explaining stress management to an audience.  She held a raised glass of water, and everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, ‘half empty or half full? She fooled them all… "How heavy is this glass of water?"  Answers called out ranged from 8-ounces to 20-ounces. She replied, "The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. “That’s the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding... Read the rest of this entry »

For the last 4 years, I have been very bitter.  Bitter that I had to go to work when The Princess was only 2 years old.  I was able to be home with all 3 of my boys, and I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be home with my girl.  But over the years, I have received several revelations.  I have talked about this several times here.   But in the last month, I have come to the biggest revelation of all, which has eased the bitterness. Heavenly Father knew I was going to have to go to back to work, and he prepared the way for me.  Back in 1998, I was prompted to go back to school.  I didn’t know why at the time.  It took me 2 years, another child, and 2 carpal tunnel surgeries, but I made it through.  I got my Bachelor’s degree.  And then I didn’t use it. But, when it was time that I had to go back to work, I had a degree to use.  I didn’t have to go and work at Wal-mart for minimum wage.  I didn’t have to work nights... Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from Thursday’s post… Scott and Kelly, David’s friends from Wright-Patterson A.F.B. arrive sometime on Thursday. Seeing David for the first time, with all those medical bells and whistles attached is sobering. I remember my own shock through their eyes. Scott and Kelly turn out to be some really good friends and we enjoyed getting to know them and reminiscing about David. It did my heart good. Mental note to myself: Never underestimate the power of a few kinds words and the gift of simply your time and company! The ICU nurses think David will regain consciousness around noon today while they take his ventilator out. We’re all excited. In my head, I’m weighing all the thoughts and emotions best to express to David for the first time. I settle on the simpler ones like “I love you” and “glad you’re OK”… Our anticipation turns to deep disappointment when David has to be sedated again. Have you seen the movie... Read the rest of this entry »

Mom & David – North Shore, Oahu Hawaii Continued from yesterday… David was life-flighted by helicopter from the accident scene. An accident he still has absolutely no memory of. It took place in the late afternoon on a very rural road out in the middle of nowhere. We don’t know how he was found, whether someone else was involved, who called 911, etc. No accident report yet and we haven’t heard back from the sheriff. But the life flight pilots shared their story with us. And David remembers the helicopter ride. It took them nine minutes to reach the WVU Ruby Memorial Hospital, a specially designated trauma level one hospital. The only trauma level one hospital in West Virginia, the only one for quite a ways around here on the East Coast. David, as badly hurt as he was, was conscious and communicating when the pilots loaded him up. He rattled off his social security number and all his contact info as well as mine. The pilots said “we knew... Read the rest of this entry »

The story of Jesus walking on the water has so much personality. In just a few verses, the account is rich with perspective, depth and self-reflection. I used to think that the Savior was chiding Peter for his seeming lack of faith, which prevented him from walking on the water. Then, with the help of my friend Janie, the admonition from the Savior to Peter became something more meaningful, even gracious and hopeful. The story starts off with John the Baptist being beheaded through the efforts of a scheming, dancing seductress. When the disciples tell Jesus, he reacts by seeking to be apart and finding some solitude in an unwanted desert place. He gets there mostly by ship. When the crowds find out where he is, they follow him on foot. When he discovers the multitudes have followed him, he takes compassion and heals all their sick. But now they are in the middle of nowhere, where Jesus originally went to be alone and there is no way to feed the crowds. They are far from home. Next... Read the rest of this entry »

A few months ago, I was feeling horrible.  I was struggling with multiple things that were weighing me down and I wasn’t handling them well.  I am sure you could all tell by the tone of my blog.  I know my mom and sisters’ did.  One morning, the kids had all gone to school and I hopped in the shower.  As the warm (okay, scalding hot) water rushed over me, my tears were released and I bawled and bawled.  The shower is a great place for that because you don’t need a tissue! Anyway, I was sobbing and mourning over some choices that my son was making.   How was I supposed to go on with my life when I felt like such a total and complete failure as a mother?  My child was choosing a path that was not right.  What if I had just held him a little tighter, or a little longer as a baby? What if I had smiled more and yelled less? What if I had played more and cleaned less? What if. As I stood there and cried, I asked my Heavenly Father how He... Read the rest of this entry »

I know it has been ages since you have heard from me, and you probably think that I might have died but I am still here!  And I hope that this blog post will make up for the lack of my writing the past few weeks.  So I am now serving with an incredible missionary Elder Zayne Callahan as my companion, and we have been working hard the last five weeks and have been busy with teaching, which is one reason I haven’t written anything here.  Anyway, his birthday is coming up soon, so just a few days ago, his older sister sent him an Easter/early birthday present.  In that present, he received a few little toys and trinkets to play with as well as some rattlesnake eggs.  You might be wondering why on earth a missionary’s sister would give him something like rattlesnake eggs, but they are quite cool!  We showed them to all of the other missionaries here in the Referral Center (RC), and they were quite surprised at the contents of this package. At this point,... Read the rest of this entry »

The Savior is “the resurrection and the life” and the LOVE. In honor of Easter I’m borrowing from one of my very favorite blogs, “Pitterle Postings” Somehow this fits neatly into my reflections on the Savior and Easter and what life is about. The Hard Loveby Patricia A Pitterle Photo by Patty Ann © 2011 My sweet baby, toddled forwardweaving to and froleft and righton two chubby unsteady legs.She wobbled too far to one side,and like a tree in the windtoppled over.I picked her upkissed her tears awayand set her on her feetto try again.Love can seem so hard!She did not understandwhy I would not rescue herfrom the trials of her world.Her vision only saw the pain. The rewards to comewere hidden from her view. My sweet daughterwondered out into the big, bright, beautiful world.She skipped off to schoolholding a backpack in one handand a lunch box in the other.With a smile and a waveshe started her journey.The bus brought her homelater that day.With... Read the rest of this entry »

You know it’s going to be a good Sunday when you show up to church and your chapel is covered in graffiti and eggs. For the umpteeth time. And, it actually was a great day. It never ceases to amaze me how everyone acts when these things happen. We just carry on with our Sunday schtuff as normal. No wailing of injustice or promises of retribution. Some of the brethren went out to clean off most  Read More →

This began as something very different.  Trivial, in comparison, it seems like now. I started this post and intended to finish it last week real quick before I went to teach. Didn’t happen. Oh well, I’ll be back in like an hour. I’ll just finish it then. No big deal.  After an enlightening 4 hours, I was back with a new perspective and high on…something. I’ll call it…the Holy Ghost. You  Read More →

I like a great bargain as much as the next girl, but I am not a fan of shopping in general. There are too many choices – and I always seem get the dressing room furnished with the circus mirror. This Christmas I won a gift card to a fancy department store at my husband’s work party.  I had been inside this store three in my life – never once buying anything. This particular store had an outlet  Read More →