NO PERMIT REQUIRED

I need to prepare a Christmas lesson for YW -- any suggestions? I like to think outside the box.  Does anyone read this?  Anyone?

As a young 21 - 22 year old senior in college, I drove around in my VW Golf, with a sign taped onto the glove box that said  "YOU ARE IN CONTROL."  Well, my fiance, soon to be husband, used to tease me and tell me that I needed to give birth to a "litter."  He was of the view that I had the same Type A personality that a cat has.  In his experience, cats mellowed out after they had their first litter.  This is not scientific mind you, just anecdotal.   I didn't mellow out any time soon, as I am sure the 4 step-children we had custody of within the first 6 months of our marriage can attest to.  I didn't mellow out for a long, long time.  Too long, in fact.  Bless those 4 beautiful children who had to endure my obsession to control them.  Not to be misunderstood, there were A LOT of things that we needed to get a handle on and control was the only way to go about it.  But I took farther than was necessary or healthy.  "Little General" became my hu

I am grateful.  Gratitude is a very liberating virtue for me.  When I am truly grateful for everything, I feel joy.  I believe at this moment I am truly happy.  I am grateful for everything I am blessed with.  I am grateful for a wonderful husband who truly serves the Lord.  He is a towering example to me and to our family of someone who wholeheartedly gives himself to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  His example is one that keeps me striving to be a better person.  I want to be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, servant and child of my Heavenly Father because of my husband.   I am indescribably grateful for my children.  My patriarchal blessing says this:  "Your children will respond to your love and teachings and will be a joy to you."  This is so true.  I love my children and get such joy and satisfaction out of being their mother.  They teach me so much.  Each one of my children taught me some of the most incredibly valuable lessons I have learned in my

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn_awAPYlGc

I am a starter.  I am not a finisher.  First of all I am not really a project person to begin with.  I do not (at least not at this time in my life) find myself getting giddy over decorating, sewing, drawing, painting, creating, cleaning, sprucing, organizing, hanging, matching or any other thing that may fall into the "project"/"creative" category.  I have no vision.  I cannot see a white room with nothing in it, and visualize a finshed project with paint, carpet, furniture, bedding, draperies, pictures, and other finishing touches.  A blank canvas is pretty much always a blank canvas to me. I don't do any of that except out of necessity. Not to be misunderstood, I do get some satisfaction out of doing it, but therein lies the problem.  Ninety-nine percent of the time "doing it" means starting it -- not finishing it.  There is no satisfaction in starting.  In fact, it only creates more stress, makes me feel worse about myself and proves to my family I

All you need to know is that while left alone and free to explore the house on his own (for about 15 minutes yesterday a.m.) the family dog peed in 3 - three - 3 different places.  Can you say Hooray!! for carpet cleaners?!

New Study Offers Reality Check: No Child Left Behind is Increasing Dropout Rates According to researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas-Austin, Bush might want to more correctly rename “No Child Left Behind” to “Lets Leave a Lot More Children Behind”. Their recent study found that Texas' public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), directly contributes to lower graduation rates, especially for minorities. Teachers and administrators are essentially rewarded when minority students drop out, so retention efforts are now virtually non-existent. Why retain students that make it impossible to comply with NCLB, is the unspoken question with a no clear answer. By analyzing data from more than 271,000 students, the study found that 60 percent of African-American students, 75 percent of Latino students and 80 percent of ESL students did not graduate within five years. The researchers found an overall graduation rate of o

I'm trying to remember that everything testifies of Christ.  The rising and setting sun certainly helps.

I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think -- SOCRATES I believe this to my core. My husband lives his life this way. He is an extraordinary example to me. I try and live my life this way. Our family is better for this.

I have been working at the computer today. During the 6 or so hours I have been at the computer, I have wasted - just a guess mind you - about 3.5 of those hours facebooking, stumbling, tumbling, etc. Maybe that's a problem. Hypocrite - because I am relentless when it comes to my children and their homework, etc. being done before computer time. It is a problem. Maybe I want something more from myself. Maybe, just maybe this would be a good place to start. Self discipline.

Notice I did not say "crisis." There is no "crisis," just lots of empty space and time. Messy space and messy time. No order. No deadlines. No motivation. I suppose the timing is perfect. Long days filled with no kids, no noise, nothing "to do," or maybe too much "to do." I need to find something. What something? I.Do.Not.Know.

But what if I want something more from myself , but I don't know what it is or how to get it?

A Jump Rope Workout That Burns Belly Fat Updated August 7, 2009 (From the Fitness Black Book Blog) Have You Ever Actually Tried to Workout by Jumping Rope? Seriously…most people have just played around with a jump rope back in Elementary School. A lot of people think of jumping rope as more of a game or a kid's toy…the ironic thing is that it is actually an extremely effective form of exercise. Almost every person I know could easily walk at a brisk pace for 15 minutes, but I bet less than 1% of the population could jump rope for that long. So What Muscle Groups Does Jumping Rope Target? The answer is just about every muscle in the body. I think it works muscles that rarely get used. After my first time jumping rope, I was sore in many muscle groups…especially in the calf muscles and abs. In fact, if you are really trying to get ripped abs, jumping rope will help big-time. Your core really gets worked hard since your abs have to contract to stabilize your entire body as it propels

I like to think I am good at teaching my children things. I like to think. Then I realize that what I am actually good at is telling them things. Not the same thing. Telling them something is good. Teaching them something is better. I am continually stumbling my away around the whole good, better, best thing. I am constantly immersing myself in the "good" and justifying myself. Then I get lost. Really. Really. Lost. Good is NEVER good enough. I am okay with that. I don't get depressed. I only get empty. I am frustrated. I micromanage. I am bugged. I am distracted. This is just one thing. There are more. I am okay with that too. Isn't that why I am here? I have a lot of faith that I will get there -- eventually, I will be my very BEST.

I'm waiting for something profound. Check back soon. I've got some things percolating.

We baptize our kids on their birthdays. On Friday we baptized and celebrated with the very last one. These are my favorite birthdays. Lots of family, lots of good friends and the opportunity to remember what is REALLY important. Here is the birthday girl and some of the fun we had.

Worth reading, I promise.

I have a few years of parenting under my belt. More than some of you and not as much as others. I also have a tremendous age range between my 9 children - the oldest being 33 years old and the youngest being 7 years old. Very briefly and succintly, these are a few things I wish I had done differently, better, earlier or more. I wish I had **Helped my children understand their personal relationship with their Heavenly Father earlier in their life. He is real and active in their lives and they need to be accountable to him (even more so than their earthly parents). The choices they make, the way they live their lives should be about pleasing their Father in Heaven; and by default pleasing me :) **Personally rely on the Lord more and the "world" less. Included in my definition of the "world" is our Latter-Day Saint "world" that occasionally made/makes me feel like I am not doing the "right" thing. I am just a steward of these beautiful spirit

When an angry outburst to a child ends up to be an answer to prayer that said child was praying about earlier - can it get better than that? Relieves my guilt over the outburst even if my frustration was justified.

By the time I finish tweaking, fixing, copying and editing, I don't have time to actually post something.

Now that church starts at 9:00 and ends at 12:00; and all kids are above the age of 5; and I have given up the ridiculous guilt complex I used to impose on myself about "needing" to spend time with our family members, I can have a beautiful Sunday afternoon/evening. Chicken enchiladas and red beans and rice for "dinner" about 1:30, (with help from the hubby, of course) a little cleaning in the kitchen to wash all the pans and dishes I messed up, in bed for a nap around 2:30, sleep until 5:44 (YEA!) and I am one happy camper. Home evening around 6:15 - we reviewed our 2009 goals. What does it mean when most family members don't even remember what their goals were? Home evening treat and the Sunday is almost over. Four girls start school tomorrow after a 2 week long spring break. Yea, 2 WEEKS! It has been good. A little of this and a little of that.

SOMETHING I FOUND FASCINATING -- IS IT BECAUSE I AM OLD? The slow death of handwriting Christmas cards, shopping lists and what else? The occasions in which we write by hand are fewer and fewer, says Neil Hallows. So is the ancient art form of handwriting dying out? A century from now, our handwriting may only be legible to experts. For some, that is already the case. But writer Kitty Burns Florey says the art of handwriting is declining so fast that ordinary, joined-up script may become as hard to read as a medieval manuscript. "When your great-great-grandchildren find that letter of yours in the attic, they'll have to take it to a specialist, an old guy at the library who would decipher the strange symbols for them," says Ms Florey, author of the newly-published Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwritin