I'm hurting today. Please keep me in your prayers!
Something about it being October now. Pulling out the cool-weather stuff, and just seeing those clothes I wore last winter. The pajamas I wore after coming home from Benjamin's funeral. Realizing that a year ago today was when Janice arrived to help me get ready for his arrival. Seeing the babies that were his age turning one. All these things brought the sharpest pain I have felt in a while.
and I saw
An aardvark,
Blue's Clues,
a cat,
Delores,
an earwig eating sunbeams,
a ferret,
Garreth,
Hedwig,
an inchworm,
a Jackalope,
kangaroo,
lion licking a lollipop,
and. . . . .
{Hummer's turn, for the last letter we were going to do because it was getting late}
I went to the zoo, and I saw an aardvark,
a cat,
a zebra,
a person,
some flowers,
{"Say something that starts with M!"},
Ms. Dickens,
Matilda,
Magenta,
and Mommy!"
So glad to know my son thinks I should be in a zoo. :)
. . . . excerpt from our Family Home Evening. . . .
I have SO been counting down the days to our Relief Society Broadcast tomorrow night! Yippee! It's especially exciting because Pres. Monson will be addressing the women of the Church for the first time since becoming our new prophet.
I wanted to share these words from the meeting in 2003, when our beloved Pres. Hinckley addressed his remarks "To the Women of the Church". He focused on each different life situation of the women in the audience--single sisters, older women, empty nesters, young mothers. I love that he gave specific counsel to mothers who are raising sons. (Um, that would be me. :))
{Nurture your sons with love and counsel. Teach them the importance of personal cleanliness, of neatness in their dress. Sloppy ways lead to sloppy lives. Instill in them a sense of discipline. Keep them worthy of service to the Church as missionaries. Give them things to do so that they may learn to work. Teach them to be frugal. Labor and frugality lead to prosperity. Teach them that nothing really good happens after 11 o'clock at night. And do not spoil them. If they go on missions, they may be compelled to live in circumstances that you would not wish for them. Do not worry about them. Give them encouragement.}
I love what he said to young mothers, too! To hear these words of love and support brought me such strength! I always come home from these meetings wanting to squeeze my children and play with them and kiss my husband and all the same time. :)
{How blessed you are, my dear young mothers. You have children who will be yours forever. I hope that you have been sealed in the house of the Lord and that your family will be an everlasting family in the kingdom of our Father.
{May you be given strength to carry your heavy load, to meet every obligation, to walk side by side with a good and faithful and caring man, and together with him rear and nurture and bring up your children in righteousness and truth. Nothing else you will ever own, no worldly thing you will ever acquire will be worth so much as the love of your children. God bless you, my dear, dear young mothers.}
I am so grateful to live in a day when the Lord has sent prophets to the earth! Tomorrow night I hope to hear words of comfort and strength sent straight to my heart from my Father.
Thank you so much for your feedback! I loved your visit. :) Ya'll are awesome.
I have a renewed zest for attacking this thing again!
(If anyone else wants to chime in, go right ahead. It will take me awhile, but once it's done, I'll probably won't want to touch it for a LONG time. :) So now's your chance!)
I am frustrated.
I thought that it would be very cool to have a 3-column blog. So I spent literally hours making it that way.
Then everything seemed squished. I couldn't get stuff to fit right. I'm very claustrophic, and it was painful for me to look at my posts. It was just so darn hard to read the thing! So I've changed it back to something simple. (VERY simple.)
Before I fancy it up again I want to know what you think. Did you like the 3-column version of Mama's Boys? Is it nice to have the sidebar stuff all near the top, instead of needing to scroll down through weeks of blog posts to see it all? Does that part even matter, or is my post content more important?
I absolutely LOVE all your comments. They make this seem more like a conversation. I do enjoy talking to myself (scary, I know), but I tend to start becoming a hermit in my little cave, and you all help me retain some semblance of normalcy. :) My hope for this blog is to provide a peaceful, comfortable, fun place for you to "visit me" and my family, and for us to talk about life, and the things that make us happy.
So come on in! Move those books off the couch so you can sit down, have some chocolate milk, and give me your HONEST opinion. . . . .
~Mama
I wandered into this somewhere in blog-land, and thought it sounded so fun! You choose the books you want to read between now and December 20th, and write up a post. As you finish the books, post reviews on your blog, and add them to her list for other readers to come and enjoy! :) If you're interested, it's hosted here at Callapidder Days.
I'm only going to name 3 books for the challenge, to give me better odds of following up on it. :) (Although most likely I'll read way more than three!)
Anna Karenina - I made sure to ask my brother Didier to recommend a translation, since he took a Russian Lit class at BYU before his mission, and since he's the one who encouraged me to read this book!
He says the one he read was translated by Aylmer and Louise Maude. Got it from the library, and I'm ready to go. . . .(Good thing, too, because it'll probably take me the whole three months!)
Authentic Happiness - This one was recommended (and given!) to me by Dr. Wallace Goddard, who happens to be in our stake*. (Maybe you've read his articles in Meridian Magazine.) He has been teaching the most wonderful firesides bi-monthly, with a focus of strengthening marriage and parent relationships. At each one he has stacks of lovely, new books. He lets us take one and keep it on the condition that we READ it by the next fireside. Awesome!
Old Testament (KJV) - I am embarrassed to admit that I have never read the entire Bible. Most of the New Testament, yes, but my Old Testament knowledge in particular, has been sadly lacking. I started reading it cover-to-cover in 2002, 
and now I'm at the end of Isaiah. Yay! One of my new year's goals for '08 was to finally finish the OT, so this will be my final push!
*mormon language :) = a group of local congregations--like a diocese in the Catholic church
