** My favorite quote overheard while Trick or Treating: "The Grim Reaper can go home and go to bed if he loses his manners." Spoken by the Grim Reaper's no nonsense mother.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Happy Halloween!
Crazy things are in season this time of year. Tonight we dined on monster foot! It was surprisingly tasty.
** My favorite quote overheard while Trick or Treating: "The Grim Reaper can go home and go to bed if he loses his manners." Spoken by the Grim Reaper's no nonsense mother.
** My favorite quote overheard while Trick or Treating: "The Grim Reaper can go home and go to bed if he loses his manners." Spoken by the Grim Reaper's no nonsense mother.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Setting a Precedent
"...[J]ust after the Supreme Court's decision forbidding Bible reading in the schools [and six months after ruling that prayer in school was unconstitutional], President McKay said:
"Decades later it is evident that President McKay had prophetic vision in warning of the pernicious effects of these two Supreme Court opinions. ...In fact, under the influence of these decisions and their progeny, the public schools have become (1) proponents of atheism, or (2) hostile to religion, or (3) at least indifferent to religion.'Recent rulings of the Supreme Court would have all reference to a Creator eliminated from our public schools and public offices...'Evidently the Supreme Court misinterprets the true meaning of the First Amendment, and are now leading a Christian nation down the road to atheism.'
"...Exercising prophetic vision President McKay saw that the school prayer case- which I reasoned to be defensible and probably even essential as a ruling on the facts before the Court- would set in motion a chain of legal and public and educational actions that would cause religion to be separated from education and lead to the current hostility toward religion that threatens religious liberty in our society. For me that was a powerful learning experience on the folly of trying to understand prophetic vision in terms of worldly wisdom."
-Dallin H. Oaks, "Life's Lessons Learned"
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Snowball
The more news stories I read, the more I realize how inspired the "Proclamation to the World" was when it was introduced 17 years ago. As gay marriage proponents have begun to push countries to accept their lifestyle as equal and moral, it seems that the world's stance on morality and gender in general is going haywire!
- This article reports of a couple in Canada who are raising their 3rd child as "genderless".
- These articles highlight 2 different countries (Sweden and France) that are pursuing legal roads to create "gender equality" by eliminating the words "him/her" and "mother/father" and replacing them with gender neutral words.
- Director Nick Cassavetes (Director of "The Notebook") regarding the purpose of his new film "Yellow" and incest: “I’m not saying this is an absolute but in a way, if you’re not having kids – who gives a damn? Love who you want. Isn’t that what we say? Gay marriage – love who you want? If it’s your brother or sister it’s super weird, but if you look at it, you’re not hurting anybody, except every single person who freaks out because you’re in love with one another. ...This whole movie is about judgment, and lack of it, and doing what you want."
Monday, October 22, 2012
Juxtaposed
Mother dear, I love you so. Your happy, smiling face
Is such a joy to look at; it makes home a lovely place.
This is the song the speakers filled our car with this morning when I pulled out of the garage to drive my son to school.... immediately after I had just lectured him about dilly-dallying in the morning. Needless to say, I felt a little silly and a little undeserving and I had half a mind to turn the music off, but I was afraid of drawing my son's attention to the irony as well.
I guess I got a lecture this morning too.
Is such a joy to look at; it makes home a lovely place.
This is the song the speakers filled our car with this morning when I pulled out of the garage to drive my son to school.... immediately after I had just lectured him about dilly-dallying in the morning. Needless to say, I felt a little silly and a little undeserving and I had half a mind to turn the music off, but I was afraid of drawing my son's attention to the irony as well.
I guess I got a lecture this morning too.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Breakfast of Champions
This morning I had oatmeal for breakfast. I don't know how you like your oatmeal, but I like to mix in some sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, flour, and chocolate chips. Then I drop spoonfuls of it onto a pan and bake it in the oven. It's delicious! And did you know that oatmeal is heart healthy. Bonus!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Majority Rules at the Dinner Table
A few weeks ago, I was in an unusual mood. I was actually excited to make dinner! A new chicken recipe was the cause for my enthusiasm. As I grocery shopped, I remembered I had a bag of potatoes at home and decided homemade mashed potatoes would make a nice accompaniment. Homemade mashed potatoes on a weekday? Crazy! Some fresh cherries would complete the ensemble. Dinner was on the table by 5:15, much earlier than our average 6:30 dinnertime. I was pleased with myself and my meal. I was feeling like a regular Paula Deen.
It didn't take long for reality to pop my swelling pride. While my husband complimented me on how great everything was, my children obviously felt differently. My son didn't touch his plate. My daughter was busy pushing pieces of chicken into her mashed potatoes. I looked at my husband with irritation. "This is great!" he exclaimed in an effort to distance himself from the behavior of our offspring. (In the past, he has been innocently grouped with my children during my rants of "Nobody likes anything I cook/ It is so unrewarding to cook for you people!"). He has has learned that constant compliments and eye contact are the key to imprinting his innocence in my mind, and therefore his survival. Despite my obvious strike out with the kids, I patted myself on the back for my efforts.
By the end of dinner, my son had eaten enough dinner to qualify for dessert. My daughter had given me her fork and was attempting to shove her dinner in her highchair seat. I looked at my husband. In a dejected tone he reassured me, "I really liked it. I wish that you would make it again." But he already new the truth. "Thank you," I said, acknowledging his appreciation, "But, I'm sorry. It'll probably be a while until I make this." A person can handle only so much rejection. It's majority rule at our dinner table.
It didn't take long for reality to pop my swelling pride. While my husband complimented me on how great everything was, my children obviously felt differently. My son didn't touch his plate. My daughter was busy pushing pieces of chicken into her mashed potatoes. I looked at my husband with irritation. "This is great!" he exclaimed in an effort to distance himself from the behavior of our offspring. (In the past, he has been innocently grouped with my children during my rants of "Nobody likes anything I cook/ It is so unrewarding to cook for you people!"). He has has learned that constant compliments and eye contact are the key to imprinting his innocence in my mind, and therefore his survival. Despite my obvious strike out with the kids, I patted myself on the back for my efforts.
By the end of dinner, my son had eaten enough dinner to qualify for dessert. My daughter had given me her fork and was attempting to shove her dinner in her highchair seat. I looked at my husband. In a dejected tone he reassured me, "I really liked it. I wish that you would make it again." But he already new the truth. "Thank you," I said, acknowledging his appreciation, "But, I'm sorry. It'll probably be a while until I make this." A person can handle only so much rejection. It's majority rule at our dinner table.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Quotes: Elder and Sister Holland
As promised, here are some quotes from the radio interview of Elder and Sister Holland that I really liked:
Sister Holland
"I just think at the heart of a woman's soul is that need to nurture and care for her children. She may not realize it at the time those babies are little when it's hard- they cry, it's demanding, 'How did I get into this?', 'How can I get out of it?' But, when you get to be my age you realize that's where you really needed to spend [your time]."
Elder Holland
"We lived through the days when the Black Panthers and the Chicago Seven and, you know, when we thought the [Yale] campus was going to be leveled. We lived through that. I sent Pat out to live with somebody at a great distance from New Haven, because we didn't know whether it was going to be burned to the ground. So this is kind of first hand experience. It's a little old now, but we lived it. It was a tumultuous time. I think people were seeking for values. We know all that history. We don't have to relive the 60's and the 70's. But that's what was happening. ...
"But I think, what I believe was wrong, again if it doesn't seem coming from the wrong source for a man to say it, maybe a woman should say it. But I think the model was wrong. What seemed to be the talk was, 'How do I get out of the home? How does a woman get out of the home?' So to speak, or maybe even out of marriage or out of whatever. When I think that model should have been turned 180 degrees and it should have been, 'What do we do to guarantee that men stay in the home? Or that men contribute in the home?' I'm all for shared work load- we can do the dishes together, and we can do the laundry together, and we can pay the bills together, and we can figure out what the income tax is together. But it seems to me, to just think of ways to get away from family and away from home was exactly diametrically opposite to the model we should have been pursuing. And that is, 'In such times how do you keep fighting to stay in the home, including a husband, including a father?' That he does not just blissfully walk out the door and take his little briefcase, and go off and never have another thought all day, or all week, or all month about the greatest responsibility that he has. And that is to be a husband, and a father, and a grandfather.
"Now I know that sounds like someone from the LDS church who might be an Apostle saying that. Well, so be it. I believed it then and I believe it now. I think all the forces that spin us centrifugally away from the home, we have to fight that and have those forces reversed as best we can, and have that circle coming back into the home for men and for women. And it takes work, and we can do a lot more together than we do, and it can be terrific."
Elder Holland
"This is a contest in which the victory has already been won. We already know who wins. The irony is we're still trying to figure out which team we're going to play for. Which seems to me crazy! You play for the winner. You go with the team that wins. And the Savior has already won all of this. He's overcome the world. He's handled the problems. He is the light at the end of the tunnel. That's why you keep going. And he'll send angels when you're a little weak in the knees, and he'll answer your prayers every time, in every way. Maybe not the way you want, but they'll always be answered."
Sister Holland
"I just think at the heart of a woman's soul is that need to nurture and care for her children. She may not realize it at the time those babies are little when it's hard- they cry, it's demanding, 'How did I get into this?', 'How can I get out of it?' But, when you get to be my age you realize that's where you really needed to spend [your time]."
Elder Holland
"We lived through the days when the Black Panthers and the Chicago Seven and, you know, when we thought the [Yale] campus was going to be leveled. We lived through that. I sent Pat out to live with somebody at a great distance from New Haven, because we didn't know whether it was going to be burned to the ground. So this is kind of first hand experience. It's a little old now, but we lived it. It was a tumultuous time. I think people were seeking for values. We know all that history. We don't have to relive the 60's and the 70's. But that's what was happening. ...
"But I think, what I believe was wrong, again if it doesn't seem coming from the wrong source for a man to say it, maybe a woman should say it. But I think the model was wrong. What seemed to be the talk was, 'How do I get out of the home? How does a woman get out of the home?' So to speak, or maybe even out of marriage or out of whatever. When I think that model should have been turned 180 degrees and it should have been, 'What do we do to guarantee that men stay in the home? Or that men contribute in the home?' I'm all for shared work load- we can do the dishes together, and we can do the laundry together, and we can pay the bills together, and we can figure out what the income tax is together. But it seems to me, to just think of ways to get away from family and away from home was exactly diametrically opposite to the model we should have been pursuing. And that is, 'In such times how do you keep fighting to stay in the home, including a husband, including a father?' That he does not just blissfully walk out the door and take his little briefcase, and go off and never have another thought all day, or all week, or all month about the greatest responsibility that he has. And that is to be a husband, and a father, and a grandfather.
"Now I know that sounds like someone from the LDS church who might be an Apostle saying that. Well, so be it. I believed it then and I believe it now. I think all the forces that spin us centrifugally away from the home, we have to fight that and have those forces reversed as best we can, and have that circle coming back into the home for men and for women. And it takes work, and we can do a lot more together than we do, and it can be terrific."
Elder Holland
"This is a contest in which the victory has already been won. We already know who wins. The irony is we're still trying to figure out which team we're going to play for. Which seems to me crazy! You play for the winner. You go with the team that wins. And the Savior has already won all of this. He's overcome the world. He's handled the problems. He is the light at the end of the tunnel. That's why you keep going. And he'll send angels when you're a little weak in the knees, and he'll answer your prayers every time, in every way. Maybe not the way you want, but they'll always be answered."
Monday, October 1, 2012
Elder and Sister Holland
Last school year, I listened to several interviews of church leaders on the Mormon Channel during lunch time or my daughter's nap. They are in a series titled "Conversations" and found under the Radio Series menu. They are really inspiring and a neat way to get to hear our leaders talk in a more personal/informal way about their lives and challenges. It's refreshing to be reminded of the fact that our leaders are not perfect and have not had perfect or easy lives. But, they do have amazing faith and commitment. I listened to and highly recommend: Ep.1- Elder and Sister Bednar, Ep. 15- Sister Beck & daughters, Ep. 16- Elder and Sister Costa, Ep. 22- Elder and Sister Holland.
The other day, I reacquainted myself with the interview of Elder Holland and Patricia Holland conducted by Sheri Dew, Episode 22. They each have given talks that rank at the top of my "favorites", and I find them to be such inspiring and dynamic people. I loved listening to how they raised their family (particularly Patricia's strength) and the faith it took for them to fulfill their various callings. For my reference, and yours, here is a summary of the interview. Tomorrow I will post a few of my favorite quotes.
Minutes 1-32
The other day, I reacquainted myself with the interview of Elder Holland and Patricia Holland conducted by Sheri Dew, Episode 22. They each have given talks that rank at the top of my "favorites", and I find them to be such inspiring and dynamic people. I loved listening to how they raised their family (particularly Patricia's strength) and the faith it took for them to fulfill their various callings. For my reference, and yours, here is a summary of the interview. Tomorrow I will post a few of my favorite quotes.
Minutes 1-32
- Discuss son being recently called as President of UVU
- Raising children at BYU when working as BYU President
- BYU football 1984
- Building the Jerusalem Center
- Juggling demands of BYU President/Jerusalem Center/Raising young family/Sis. Holland serving as General Young Women counselor
- How they've made their marriage work
- Childhoods and what impacted their development
- What forges a strong marriage/ Early challenges in their marriage
- Witnessing the attack on womanhood, motherhood, and home
- Elder Holland's message of not giving up, faith, and hope
- What it means to be ordained an Apostle
- What they've learned living internationally
- Reorganizing the Bahrain Stake
- One thing each wants the audience to know about the other
- Testimonies of the Gospel
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