Pictures from June, thanks to Grandpa

Beware--there will be LOTS of pictures in the next three posts! We got some great pictures from Grandpa and Grandma, and I had to share some of what we did during their vacation with us.

We were able to go see Emma's Kindergarten graduation program!

With her great teacher

Of course, the airplane had to be displayed

Think Devan's ready to fly it?

Sophie, Caytie, and Gracie going for a walk in the "limo"

At the lake in our neighborhood

Gina and Gracie at a petting zoo at the library Summer Reading Kickoff

Scott chillin' with the bunnies

Emma takes care of the goat

Everyone in the bounce house!

Sprinklers in the back yard!

Scott's final baseball game

(And Ben's final time pitching, to his relief!)

3rd place--go Tigers!

Scott's Baptism

Daddy's buttermilk pancakes to start the day!

Gracie and Caytie approve.

So do Emma and Scott

Eating lunch at the Flying Fish before the baptism

We are a happy family!

Ben and Scott

Us, before the baptism

It is a strange thing to watch your first child get baptized. On one hand, you are so pleased that he has chosen to follow the example of Jesus and experience a cleansing rebirth. On the other hand, you want to pull him back to childhood, to keep him innocent and close. And then there is the fact that you have to process it all while scrambling to make sure everyone is ready and on time while eight months pregnant with a house full of ten extra people (though very glad they could all come!).

Scott is a wonderful son, and I am thrilled that I get to be with him each day on his journey through childhood and choices. Ben and I are so happy with the example he's setting for his sisters.

Eating dinner at the lake that evening. Watch out for chiggers!

At the "beach," as Gracie called it

Can't keep the kids (large and small varieties) out of the water!

More pictures!

Assembling crepes for Sunday lunch

The mighty Chef Ben at work. SO YUMMY!! Thank you!

Walk around the neighborhood

Dallas Farmers Market

Fort Worth Stockyards--we're the little people watching from across the street.

Scott riding a rather piggish looking bull

Outside Riskey's Barbecue

Gracie, Gina, Grandma, Caytie, Kelly, Sophie, and Christina cooling off

CUTE COUSINS!

Walking home from the pool.

Thanks for coming to visit us this summer!

Mothers Part 2

Mothers Who Know Are Nurturers

Mothers who know are nurturers. This is their special assignment and role under the plan of happiness. To nurture means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world. Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate. Nurturing mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a "house of order," and women should pattern their homes after the Lord's house (see D&C 109). Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work. Helping growth occur through nurturing is truly a powerful and influential role bestowed on women.

(From "Mothers Who Know," by Julie Beck)

Let me tell you about the first 30 minutes of my day today. I was awakened by my three girls who were ready for breakfast. (Ben is out of the country this week--in Argentina! He usually does the breakfast duty.) I look over and saw that Tess had spit up in the night, and she has a goopy eye, probably from her loving 2-year old sister poking it repeatedly. I can clean it up later--the others need their food. But first, the cat needs his, or he will trip me as I try to get everything else done. While feeding him, I see he has spilled his "droppings" out of his litter box, which he does when he wants it cleaned. No time for that--I need to feed the girls. The table is sticky from a root beer spill from dinner that didn't get fully cleaned. No time for that--just get the food out for the girls, because the baby is crying. Now she has a leaky diaper, too.

I get that cleaned up, as well as the spit up and the eye, and come back to the table, where two of the girls are on it, wiping up a spill. Thanks for the help ladies, but be careful coming down. Oh, there goes Gracie's cereal, all over the floor, her blanket and Little Lamb, and herself. That one needs immediate attention. While cleaning that, I look over to see the cat licking something on the carpet. Can it be? Yes, it's cat throw up. (Ben's department...how far away is Argentina?) No time for that--the baby needs breakfast NOW.

While feeding the baby, the girls finish breakfast and start playing, which erupts into a chase over a stolen toy, which results in a time out, which generally requires a blanket and Little Lamb to bring needed comfort. She does not calm down without an intervention, which comes after the baby is full, and results in starting a load of laundry to clean the milk soaked lovies. While loading the clothes (can't do a load unless it's full!), we get our first call from Ben...in Argentina. Guess what--his needed parts for the job he is there to do are held up in customs, so he may have to stay longer! I get the couch (baby mess) and the carpet and litter box cleaned up, and sit down to have some breakfast.

Was my house a house of order this morning? Maybe not from an outside perspective, but I like to think that it was. There is definitely chaos when there are five kids and one adult, but it was OK--everything that happened was manageable, and I knew what to do to fix it. And today, I did it with patience. (That is not always the case.)

I like this quote from Sister Beck: "Growth happens best in a 'house of order,' and women should pattern their homes after the Lord's house." I have come to accept that fact that at this stage of our lives, our home will never be as clean as a temple--or even a church building. I just cannot keep up with the mess. But I don't feel guilty about it, because I don't think that's what she means we need to do (although I need to keep trying to keep the physical house clean). What we need to focus on is the spiritual climate of our homes. We have a stewardship over these little spirits that we've been given from our Heavenly Father. Do they have the tools they need to thrive? Are we teaching them how to use them? Are those kids happy and growing and challenged and pure?

When I was growing up, I remember that many, many people would say when they came into our home that there was a special feeling there. That's my goal now. I want my home to have a "climate for spiritual and temporal growth." I know that I have a huge role in making that happen.

Mothers Who Know

I was recently reminded of a talk Julie Beck gave in General Conference in October 2007 called "Mothers Who Know." I remember that it received some criticism from some women in the church, which surprised me, because I don't think I've ever felt more empowered and justified for what I do as a woman as when I heard this talk. I vowed that I'd cut it out and memorize it...and never did. But this time, I at least printed it out, and want to write some of my thoughts about some of the parts of the talk. My goal is to write a bit about each "mothers who know" points, but we'll see...this may be it.

This is the part I've been thinking about the most:


Mothers Who Know Do Less
Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord's kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.


"Doing less" always sounds good to me. The problem is that in this case, in order to do less, I think we have do to more. It's all good to say that we will have less media in the home, but then what do we fill the time in with instead? It's so much easier to just pop in another movie for the kids instead of making those cookies together, or cleaning the playroom, or even reading those library books that have been unopened on the table for a week. And I carefully avoided scheduling too much for the kids this summer, since I knew it would be hard to transport them while pregnant and then later with a newborn, but now, with two more LONG weeks before school starts, I sure wish they had somewhere to go! I am wondering how we can fill the time without the fighting and tattling and hurt feelings that have become so common this summer.

We talked today in Sunday School about the difference between "enduring to the end" and "building the kingdom." Many of us moms commented that for us, they are intertwined as we figure out how to enjoy (endure) being a maid and all the other less desirable mom jobs while striving for those beautiful teaching moments with our kids (building the kingdom). We have to make it through all the messiness of daily living in order to be blessed with those moments where we can reflect and say, "OK, that makes it all worth it."

Sister Beck is saying that if we aren't there for our family, even if it's because of over scheduling with good things, or letting ourselves be overexposed to the media, then we won't be available for those opportunities to laugh, sing, talk, and "exemplify."

What have my kids learned from my example this summer?

What am I permitting that does not bear good fruit eternally?

What more do I need to do to do less?

I know the answers to the questions above--I'm well aware of my shortcomings. But I see that I have strengths, too, and I can use them, with this reminder to "do less," to prepare my family to face the world without fear. As Sister Beck said, that is power.