Monday, May 25, 2009

Obamaman

Our little miracle

Yesterday I dropped a paperclip into the printer while it was feeding and the clip got jammed. There seemed to be no possible way to get it out. I tried all night. I had resigned myself to the fact that we would need a new printer (after I just bought $100 worth of ink for this one) and Alyssa came into the room.
I decided that we would think positively and we would pray together that the clip would come out. We prayed and then ran the printer just one more time and guess what? It spit the clip right out.
Praise and Glory to the Lord who cares about my stinking printer and my daughter's faith.
The little miracles sometimes mean the most.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Alyssa's play



Love Story



I'm not usually a Jon Schmidt fan or a Taylor Swift fan but I loved the cello in this.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Adam's tower



I know, it's sideways, but I don't know how to fix it so just turn your head ok? Thanks!

Construction with Math blocks



Adam and Andy decided to make use of the rock collection and the math blocks. Andrew figured out that they could even use just 3 legs as long as they balanced it with a rock. Adam wanted a stable base instead.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Blessed are thou Mother

BLESSED ART THOU, MOTHER

Blessed art thou woman
For thou shalt be called Mother
Yea, and thy chores and thy tasks
Shall follow thee all the days of thy life.

And thou shalt eat the bread of thine own baking
And Thou shall dwell forever in a
Filthy house, if thou doest not choose
To clean it thyself

Thou shalt arise before the cock croweth
And thou shalt say unto thine self,
“Where are the offspring
Which were given me? Yea, the sun
Has risen high in the sky, and the
Hour is getting late; wherefore, I
Have been long at my labors.”

And thou shalt go and find thy
Offspring prostrate on their cot.
And thou shalt say unto them, “Haste,
Arise and shine, for I have many labors
For thee to perform, Wherefore, I have
Been many hours already preparing the way”

And thine offspring shall linger in sleep
And shall say unto thee, “Thou didst
Not watch the late, late, late show
As I did last night and mine eyes are
Heavy and mine bones acheth.”

And thou shalt say unto thy offspring,
“get thee up from thy cot
ere I lay hand upon thee
and go ye hither and scrub a sparkling tub
for thou has left black rings upon its sides.”

And thy offspring shall say unto thee,
“I will go and do thy bidding—in a minute.”

And thy rage shall know no end and thou shalt weep and wail and knash thy teeth mightily.

Nevertheless, thou shalt scrub a sparkling tub thyself and glory
Shall be added unto thee, for thou didst
Not strike the lazy beast.

Thou art blessed above all others
And thy descendents shall call thee
Blessed, for thou preparest a table before them
Thou cookest meat and all manner of tasty vittles
And they shall sit at the table with thee
And partake with thee.

And they shall add glory to thy crown
For they shall let thee also wash the dishes,
If thou wilt.

And when the night falleth, thou shalt be pooped
And thy offspring shall say of thee,
“She is an old woman, wherefore
She neither goes dancing, nor does she
Watch the late, late, late show.”

Thy art and thy craft shall make thee called on
And thou shalt labor at many tasks in the kingdom
For whosoever asketh, thou do his bidding.

Thy back shall acheth with arthritis,
Thy cane and thy husband
Shall be thy support
Thy veins shall be varicose in thy aching legs
But thou shalt do thy labor with a smile,
Neither shall thou gripe
For in the day that thou doest,
Thy name shall be mud.

Nevertheless, thou art blessed for
thou art crowned with the angels
On the second Sunday of May on each
And every year.

Wherefore, thou shalt be blessed above
All others for thou art Mother
And thou shalt find peace and joy in
Thy offspring forever and ever,
If thou endureth to the end!

by anonymous

Monday, May 4, 2009

Some good advice

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57216/The-storms-are-here.html


President Gordon B. Hinckley highlighted the "portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed" in an October 1998 general priesthood meeting address. He called on members to put their homes in order.

Now, more than a decade later, the storms are here.

"The economic clouds that have long threatened the world are now fully upon us," said Elder Robert D. Hales. "The impact of this economic storm on our Heavenly Father's children requires a gospel vision of welfare today more than ever before."

Speaking to priesthood and Relief Society leaders in a newly released DVD created by the Church, titled, "Basic Principles of Welfare and Self-Reliance," Elder Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve begins the discussion by sharing "a gospel vision of the priesthood principles of welfare."

Priesthood-based welfare principles are both temporal and spiritual, he said. They are eternal, and apply in every circumstance, whether rich or poor.

"This, then, is the gospel vision of welfare: to put our faith in Jesus Christ into action. We serve others as the Spirit directs," he said.

What, then, he asked, are these principles of welfare? How can we apply them as spiritual and temporal building blocks in our daily lives?

The first building block is to live providently. "This means joyfully living within our means and preparing for the ups and downs of life so that we can be ready for the rainy-day emergencies.

"Provident living means not coveting the things of this world. It means using the resources of the earth wisely and not being wasteful, even in times of plenty. Provident living means avoiding excessive debt and being content with what we have.

"We live in an age of entitlement," he continued. "Many believe they should have all that others have — right now. Unable to delay gratification, they go into debt to buy what they cannot afford. The results always affect both their temporal and spiritual welfare."

When we go into debt, he said, "We give away some of our precious, priceless agency and place ourselves in self-imposed servitude. We obligate our time, energy and means to repay what we have borrowed — resources that could have been used to help ourselves, our families and others."

To pay debts and avoid future debt requires faith in the Savior, Elder Hales said. "It takes great faith to utter those simple words, 'We can't afford it.' It takes faith to trust that life will be better as we sacrifice our wants in order to meet our own and others' needs.

"I testify," Elder Hales declared, "that happy is the man who lives within his means and is able to save a little for future needs. As we live providently and increase our gifts and talents, we become more self-reliant. Self-reliance is taking responsibility for our own spiritual and temporal welfare and for those whom Heavenly Father has entrusted to our care. Only when we are self-reliant can we truly emulate the Savior in serving and blessing others."

To live self-reliantly raises the question, "How do we obtain Heavenly Father's help so that we have enough for our own needs and also enough to serve others?"

Fundamental to the principles of welfare is the payment of tithes and offerings.

"With the payment of tithes, we also learn to control our desires and appetites for the things of this world, to be honest in our dealings with our fellowmen, and to make sacrifices for others.

"As our faith grows, so will our desire to keep the commandment to pay fast offerings," Elder Hales said. "Freely giving allows us to follow the pattern of the Savior, who freely gave His life for all mankind."

Some of the most important welfare building blocks have to do with preparing for the future.

Three areas of preparation for the future include:

Budgeting for the future by making a spending and savings plan, carefully making and keeping a family or personal budget, reviewing the budget in a family council allowing children to learn and practice wise spending habits, and to participate in planning and saving for the future.

Education for the future by earning educational degrees or vocational training and finding gainful employment. Work hard to become a valued, essential part of the organization. For those seeking employment, "This is an opportunity to rely on the Lord, to grow, and to be strengthened. If you are seeking a new job, increase your faith in the Lord's desire and power to bless you."

If necessary, change lifestyles, and possibly the place of residence, to live within your means. Above all, express your gratitude in prayer for all that has been given to you.

Spiritual preparation for rainy days. This comes by keeping the commandments, praying, reading the scriptures, and relying upon the Holy Ghost. "By our obedience we store up the faith we need to meet the vicissitudes and challenges of life.

"Keeping ourselves unspotted from the world — being 'good' in this way — we are able to do good for our brothers and sisters throughout the world, both temporally and spiritually."

The 9th ward

http://www.9thwardcartoons.com/

The 9th ward blogspot...Just funny LDS jokes.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Been busy

Wow, I just realized how long it's been since I've really posted here. We've been so busy lately.
#1 priority has been decisions about Alyssa's schooling next year. She has decided to go to Open High School Utah, although "go" may not be the appropriate terminology. It's an online high school where we get to skype conference and use online lessons rather than go to a brick and morter school. She'll be able to get a degree and also take concurrent credits online via the college.
Exciting but definitely a big step for us. I think it will be great though.
My friend and I went to a board meeting last week and we were both very impressed by what we saw. The board members are all working hard to get it going and they all seemed like wonderful people. I have confidence that they will turn out a thorough program with a value system that is important to us.
They will offer the core classes this year and the rest of the classes will come from BYU.
#2 is deciding what to do for the boys. We have enjoyed the K12 online route but I feel like I am lacking in some of the things I'm teaching through K12. We may cut it down and do our own math this year. I LOVE teaching textbooks and although they're expensive, they're worth every dime.
They want to do an engineering class and I don't know a thing about that so we're going to try to find a teacher for co-op who is willing.
Besides their regular classes they have their orchestra instruments, Spanish, and Latin.
#3 is still trying to figure out the gluten free thing. Ana is doing much better since we figured out the celiac. Alyssa really wanted good whole wheat bread the other day and it started me craving also. We just can't do it here because of the crumb and dust factor. Ana also has a lump near her eye. We need to schedule a surgery and get it taken out. That's kind of scary but the dr. said that it should be benign since it hasn't grown much. We're hoping for the best on that.
#4 is exercise. I've been gone for 2 hours a day at the gym. It's worth it, I feel great, but it definitely takes a lot of time out of the day. Twice a week the kids come with me and we all go swimming.
#5-200, just the normal everyday stuff that keeps us busy...spring has sprung, we're planting our garden veggies and trees, keeping up with the new Nigerian Dwarf goats, and trying to get the yard in order.
Now off to bed so we can get a great start to the day.