My Apologies...

to...

the neighbors who lost weight and gained it all back...

I was judgemental.

to....

the HUGE man at the buffet last week.

I was judgemental.

to....

the lady where I work who waddles from her heavy weight.

I was judgemental.

I am ashamed that I was so unfeeling about your weight.

And, now that judgment has come back to haunt me.

Because, you see, last year, I lost weight.

But, now it is all coming back and I'm on the other side of the coin.

Wondering how it could happen....

Wondering why I can't control this situation....

Wondering WHY I have been so unfeeling towards others who continually struggle with their weight.

And, so to you, I apologize.

The Devil in the Story

Earlier this week, I went to do a temple endowment session.

I try to go to the temple every other week, but I haven't been for awhile since we were gone the entire summer.

And, I usually do initiatory.

But I decided to do an endowment.

It was just so amazing to me how REAL the Satan in the movie seemed to be.  He was smiling, slick, went in close to Eve's face.  He was, to use the word in the temple, very beguiling.

And, I realized - again - that is how he is in real life.

He's so beguiling that it's easy to be persuaded to his way of thinking.

Oh, I want to stay away.

I need to get the devil out of my life and not listen to his beguiling ways.

I'm grateful for the Gospel and the perspective it brings to my life.

I love the Savior and His Lite.

Dear Young Mother....

Thank you for your visit today with your two young children.  I appreciated and enjoyed it.

I saw you look with a little envy at the clean kitchen counter; the living room floor without any Legos or dolls scattered around; the decorative blanket on the couch that wasn't draped into tents covering all the furniture; no Play Dough scrunched into the carpet.

I notice you looked at the bowl of candy and nuts sort of longingly as if they would not last a minute at your home and they would be scattered all over the coffee table.

You apologized profusely when your son started to bang on the table with your keys and when he started to whine and your daughter began to cry.  You felt uncomfortable during the visit because my home is so quiet, so orderly, and I know yours with four young children is hectic, cluttered, noisy, and filled with LIFE.

But, let me tell you this:  YOU NEEDN't HAVE HAD ANY OF THOSE FEELINGS.

Because, you see, I totally get it.

I've been there - just exactly where you are.

I've walked into a home with small children and felt so uncomfortable and awkward and out of place and like, "what am I doing here?"

SO, here's the thing; TRULY......

EVERYTHING will change.

I'm sure you get tired of hearing people tell you how quickly it will pass.....

Not when you are struggling to change ANOTHER diaper, wipe up another runny nose, hear the whiney cry of, "Mom, I'm hungry," trip over another toy car, spend a sleepless night with a child who is coughing and fevered, look with dismay at the piles of laundry scattered all over the house, get the kids buckled in the car only to have one of them say they need to go potty; feel like you can't take another minute of the chaos, noise, fighting, whining, bickering, teasing, screams, tantrums, clutter.

Oh, yes, beautiful young mother; things WILL change - it may not seem to go quickly when you are in the thick of it, but it will happen.

And, you too will have an orderly home, a quiet home, no fingerprints, no dust, no scattered toys on the floor, no cookie crumbs in the carpet, no noise.  And, you too, will have a young mother visit you.

You will look with fond memories and think, as I often do, I've been there.  It was hard, it was a challenge, it was lonely, it meant long hours; but now, I reap the rewards of having done it by enjoying being with my adult children; they are good, they are inspiring, they are good parents of their own.  They bring me great JOY that I may have missed in the day-to-day struggle of raising them.   

Now, I will be content with this situation knowing I fought the fight.

I will enjoy this time in my life.

And, then the grandchildren will come rushing thru the front door and you will smile and say with GLEE, "Let the Destruction and the FUN begin!"

The Way to Happiness

Family.

Last night I spent time with my wonderful brother and two of his children and 8 of his grandchildren.

They are just so good and perfect.

And, it's always a joy to be spend time with them.

I do love my family.

The People in Our Neighborhood

I just love my visiting teacher, Wendy Dupras; she's so pleasant, interested in others, and just plain GOOD.

She represents the people in our neighborhood

Just good, good people.

And, it's such a blessing to know them.

Make Up Your Mind!

RAH and I both have a hard time making up our minds, but he even more so than I.

Well, we have been going back and forth on a very major decision for about one month.

We'd settle, then change our minds.

This morning, after much consternation and wavering, RAH made a decision.

And, I'm so grateful that it turned out the way it did.

I'm silently giving thanks for the outcome.

And, on an entirely different note; it's very hot outside.

An Answer to a Prayer

No one has ever really said that to me before; but this morning....

when I offered to tend Jessica's little girls on Friday morning at ten....

She just sort of stared at me for a minute.

Then, she said...

You are an answer to a prayer...my friend wants me to come can peaches at ten, but she wanted me to get a babysitter so the girls wouldn't be in the way.  It's amazing you offered for just the day and time I needed it.

I was thankful and glad to be able to help.....

And, it's easy and fun to tend her three delightful daughters!